HSKR

"The survey also found that those who viewed the Miley-the-twerker pages were 5 times more likely have voted for Obama."

OK, I made that up, but you believed it, didn't you?

You have to give Obama credit if Syria abandons their chemical weapon program. Obama carried a big stick and looked crazy enough to use it.

 

If Syria does a 180 and abandons chemical weapons completely...that's huge. Frankly, I don't think we care if Assad stays in power.

I would agree. If we can get out of this simply by talking big, that is a win for the US and well done by Obama. If Saddam gassing hundreds of thousands of his own people wasn't justification to go into Iraq to people, then Assad gassing 1000 surely isn't.

Detroit is Detroit, not all of America or the world and it's been dominated by Democrat rule for half a century, but by all means keep reaching. It must be sad to live in a world where you can never hold the obvious culprits accountable because of your political beliefs.

it would be, and that is why i do not live in that world. i clearly placed blame on the mayors of omaha for their debacle. i did not know their party because i really do not care; i do not live in omaha, nor vote there. what i care about is how they ran the city; i do love omaha. obviously they did poorly. i can separate the politician from my own politics.

Fair enough. If you don't want to get into the D's and R's, fine. I just felt it had a big impact as to why it got to that point but I'll leave it at that. I will give you props for acknowledging that this is a problem and it needs to be resolved unlike others on here. My prediction is the Mayor will lower pensions come next contract and the union will fight like hell against and they will meet somewhere in the middle. Problem is it will still be too much and it will take several rounds of contract fighting to get it were it needs to be.

It's 100% a left or right issue because it was the left who organized these unions and got the politicians in place to vote in favor of these outrageous contracts that we all are paying the price for these bad decisions. To say it's not a left or right issue is laughable. If liberals really wanted people to be fairly compensated, cities wouldn't be in the mess that they now are in and Detroit might actually be a nice place to live.

 

You do realize that there is more to Detroit's bankruptcy than the city pensions, right? An auto industry that failed to stay relevant and ahead of the times likely being the largest contributor. Once those jobs starting going, so did the city's population (In 1990, over 1 million; in 2011 700,000). This was followed by the city's tax revenues declining, and led to the inability to pay it's creditors. Certainly the pension situation didn't help matters, but that is just one creditor the city needed to pay. To place blame solely on the democrats for the Detroit fiasco is... well... mind-numbingly partisan and myopic.

FALSE. They didn't lose 300K population because they weren't relevant, the manufacturers moved jobs out of the country because once again, the UNION jobs and pensions were killing them. Take about mind-numbingly partisan and myopic and rewriting history. If you want to lay some bipartisan blame down, I'd agree that NAFTA (started by Bush I, finished by Clinton) had a big negative effect on manufacturing. I would have had no problem signing it with Canada, but the mistake was including Mexico because of their low wages. Then throw in the fact that Detroit was already paying union workers way too much plus crazy pensions and it was a no brainer to move them south.

also, surely you are not blaming the demise of detroit solely on unions? a failure with many complexities. because that would be laughable.

 

 

Unions? No. Democrats? Yes.

it must be nice to live in a world where all of america's (earth's?) problems are the fault of one party, rather than the complexities of a failing political system and changing global politics.

Detroit is Detroit, not all of America or the world and it's been dominated by Democrat rule for half a century, but by all means keep reaching. It must be sad to live in a world where you can never hold the obvious culprits accountable because of your political beliefs.

So Bowyer's points get deducted before the chase points are reset, so in reality he isn't punished at all points wise. Sounds like Gordon is ticked. Pretty sure Bowyer won't have a chance to win the championship if he is in position come Homestead, if Gordon has any say.

It's 100% a left or right issue because it was the left who organized these unions and got the politicians in place to vote in favor of these outrageous contracts that we all are paying the price for these bad decisions. To say it's not a left or right issue is laughable. If liberals really wanted people to be fairly compensated, cities wouldn't be in the mess that they now are in and Detroit might actually be a nice place to live.

this is the same issue with most of the problems in america, caused by the left or right. politicians are beholden to a few groups with a lot of money or influence and everyone else gets left out. but i guess it is just easier to blame unions for all of the problems of american cities.

 

also, surely you are not blaming the demise of detroit solely on unions? a failure with many complexities. because that would be laughable.

Unions? No. Democrats? Yes.

ESPN reporting that Truex is getting kicked out of the chase and replaced by Newman. Also, Bowyer gets docked 50 points ending his chase hopes as well as some other fines, crew chief ejections, etc. Didn't think NASCAR had it in them.

Not sure how he is going to make it living off of a measly $130K a year pension.

 

There isn't a bigger screw job to taxpayers at the local level then what cities throw away at these type of pensions. The irony is how all the flaming liberals scream when anyone in the private sector makes that kind of money yet when government employees do, it's fine.

Eh?

double 'eh?'

 

quite the strawman. is the converse true? the irony that conservative scream when anyone in the public sector makes that kind of money yet when private employees do, it is fine.

 

who is happy about this or how the police force was handled with fahey? both are disastrous, wasteful, and cheap (well, not so cheap) political pandering.

Why would that be an irony? Conservatives and most moderates believe government should be as limited as reasonably possible, including salaries and the private sector should be just that, private and up to them to determine what wages should be according to the free market. If you think that is an irony it proves how far to the left you are from the average citizen.

why would what you said be an irony? liberals think people should be fairly compensated. i do not know of many people, liberal or otherwise, would think a pension that matches the take home pay while working would be reasonable.

 

this is not a left or right issue as much as a problem of politicking and pandering. imo.

It's 100% a left or right issue because it was the left who organized these unions and got the politicians in place to vote in favor of these outrageous contracts that we all are paying the price for these bad decisions. To say it's not a left or right issue is laughable. If liberals really wanted people to be fairly compensated, cities wouldn't be in the mess that they now are in and Detroit might actually be a nice place to live.

NASCAR has some serious credibility issues to deal with today after Bowyer purposely spun to bring out a caution and take the win away from Newman and give the chase spot to Bowyer's teammate Truex Jr. It also inadvertently allowed Logano to get a lap back and enough positions to take a chase spot away that would have went to Gordon. Being a Gordon fan I wasn't too happy but I feel even more sorry for Newman who is leaving that team at the end of the season and had to win the race to get into the chase and he made the move to do just that. Would have been a great story but instead we now have spingate. I see no difference in this then point shaving in other sports.

It figures this came from the same organization that once tried to qualify with jet fuel in the car. Cheaters will be cheaters.

From a national standpoint, ND-USC is obviously the big game to watch concerning ND rivalries. ND-Michigan was easily the second biggest game. After that, the Mich State's, Purdue's, Navy's, etc don't matter at all. The people that watch those games are either national ND fans or college fb fans watching because one of those teams have a good chance to beat ND that year and they want to see ND lose and may flip it over if the see the score is still tight in the second half.

I can guarantee you that there is no other team in college football more people watch in hope that they lose than ND.

Pensions in general are just a disastrous way to do retirement. It involves a lot of easy promises today and a whole lot of praying tomorrow that your actuaries didn't screw up on who's going to die when and that the markets and economy in general behaves. There's rarely a happy ending to this story. Public employees should get the same thing the rest of us get: a 401k with matching contributions from the employer. Unfunded pension liabilities (including the biggest one: Social Security) are going to bring this nation to financial ruin unless we get it under control.

Well put. Absolutely agree.

Not sure how he is going to make it living off of a measly $130K a year pension.

 

There isn't a bigger screw job to taxpayers at the local level then what cities throw away at these type of pensions. The irony is how all the flaming liberals scream when anyone in the private sector makes that kind of money yet when government employees do, it's fine.

Eh?

double 'eh?'

 

quite the strawman. is the converse true? the irony that conservative scream when anyone in the public sector makes that kind of money yet when private employees do, it is fine.

 

who is happy about this or how the police force was handled with fahey? both are disastrous, wasteful, and cheap (well, not so cheap) political pandering.

Why would that be an irony? Conservatives and most moderates believe government should be as limited as reasonably possible, including salaries and the private sector should be just that, private and up to them to determine what wages should be according to the free market. If you think that is an irony it proves how far to the left you are from the average citizen.

I agree that Fahey (D) followed up by Suttle (D) were both disasters for Omaha. I think you have (D)etected a pattern here.

Well my company received health insurance renewal information today. Our renewal date is January 1st. However, we have the option of renewing sooner, Dec 1 or Nov 1, which would buy us another year before being subjected to ACA changes. The real meat & potatoes;

 

If we renew Nov 1, premiums increase 13%

If we renew Dec 1, premiums increase 14%

If we renew Jan 1 (when the ACA aka Obamacare is in effect) premiums increase 38.8%

 

Boy, things are really looking up. Now to decide if we renew in December and drop health insurance next December or just get it out of the way and drop it now. This Obamacare deal is just great. Actually, I really don't care. Dropping it will save me a ton of time worrying about it and comparing plans.

The reality is this is going exactly as they planned.

We should remove employers from healthcare entirely anyway. It's absurd to put this burden on employers. Why don't we require employers to provide group food plans for their employees? Or group housing? Group transportation?

I guess the rest of us all need to be so lucky to have your life's work experience and actually believe employers provide healthcare as if it's some kind of requirement. What the hell?

4-7

5-6

Don't forget those were the last two seasons of Bill's previous stint and Kstate. They sucked without Bill but they also sucked before he left last time.

A quick lesson on Syria

After reading that I come to the conclusion that there will be no quick or easy solution in Syria, or solution at all.

So she threatens other people's jobs and legal action to remove a person who she does not like, and that of course makes her the hero.....

 

Stothert negotiated the current fire contract that she is now fighting....

 

She is going to replace him with a good little yes man. And its likely to be bad for people, anyone ever complain, "Damn, the fire department got here too fast" The city is growing, so of course cutting the fire department makes sense right? Sometimes you need to pay to have services.

False. She is not fighting it. Why would she? It runs out at the end of the year. What she is doing is getting rid of the union hacks and appointing responsible leadership that will negotiate the next contracts in the best interest of the taxpayers of the city of Omaha, not the bloated union pensions.

Are you sure this isn't all Bushes fault? That seems to be the last missing piece of your response.

You are missing a huge point. This was a personal vendetta between the fire chief and Stothert.

 

That included $150,000 to pay University of Nebraska Medical Center consultants who supervise the department's emergency medical service. They replaced Stothert's husband, Dr. Joe Stothert, after he was dismissed by McDonnell and Mayor Jim Suttle.

 

http://www.omaha.com...e-of-no-layoffs

 

Petty and dirty. I do not trust Stothert, it would not surprise me to see her brought up on corruption charges before her term is done.

Glad you brought this up! It probably explains to Judaka why I mentioned the OFD members had already gone against her. Petty and dirty? Yea, I can go with that as long as you agree it came from both sides equally. Stothert did nothing but shove it right back in the fire unions face with the backing that her husband did it for free and now they want $150,000 more of taxpayer money to cover that cost. If the main point you get out of this is you don't trust Stothert and not the fact that the city of Omaha is drowning in Union debt we probably don't have much more to debate with each other.

If $150,000 is a huge point then what is $320 million to you?

BTW, you want to make a wager on those corruption charges?

Haven't read through the whole thread but how the heck did I miss Arrested Development when it was on Fox? Great show.

http://www.ketv.com/...2z/-/index.html

 

Getting rid of the old fire chief so you can actually try to meet your budget. I do kind of feel sorry for the old chief. Not sure how he is going to make it living off of a measly $130K a year pension.

 

There isn't a bigger screw job to taxpayers at the local level then what cities throw away at these type of pensions. The irony is how all the flaming liberals scream when anyone in the private sector makes that kind of money yet when government employees do, it's fine. There isn't a government job in the entire state of Nebraska that deserves that kind of pension, not even close.

 

 

 

I'd guess getting rid of him had more to do with this than anything.

 

http://www.wowt.com/...es/9204832.html

 

"the latest analysis of the police and fire pension plan shows that it is under-funded by more than $320 million. That's $40 million worse than projected last year."

 

Highway robbery.

Agree with the pension analysis, but this will probably galvanize most of the OFD against her and possibly the new fire chief if it is perceived that he/she is not acting in their best interests (i.e. pensions).

 

That was already a done deal before she was even elected, in fact that was part of the reason she was elected. She isn't there for the best interest of the OFD and their bloated pensions, she is there so Omaha doesn't go down the same path Detroit has. If she can't be buddies with the firemen then so be it. She needs to do her job and so far it looks like she is.

You seem to have a lot of pent up hostility.

Why would you say that?

All new oil and refined product pipelines have to be inspected before put into service. If they are not; PHSMA, EPA, DOT, OSHA and a lot of others will have a heyday with the company installing and the company that owns the pipeline. Pipelines that are used to transport " hazardous " materials need to be inspected yearly for defects. This is a new rule that they implemented in 2010 I believe. It used to be every 5 years, which in my eyes was to long.

Please leave facts out of this discussion. Instead we would all prefer if you could just post some cheesy opinion pieces. Thanks.

http://www.npr.org/b...rth-dakota-dark

 

 

 

What we have here is an immense and startlingly new oil and gas field — nighttime evidence of an oil boom created by a technology called fracking. Those lights are rigs, hundreds of them, lit at night, or fiery flares of natural gas. One hundred fifty oil companies, big ones, little ones, wildcatters, have flooded this region, drilling up to eight new wells every day on what is called the Bakken formation. Altogether, they are now producing 660,000 barrels a day — double the output two years ago — so that in no time at all, North Dakota is now the second-largest oil producing state in America. Only Texas produces more, and those lights are a sign that this region is now on fire ... to a disturbing degree. Literally.

...

When oil comes to the surface, it often brings natural gas with it, and according to North Dakota's Department of Mineral Resources, 29 percent of the natural gas now extracted in North Dakota is flared off. Gas isn't as profitable as oil, and the energy companies don't always build the pipes or systems to carry it away. For a year (with extensions), North Dakota allows drillers to burn gas, just let it flare. There are now so many gas wells burning fires in the North Dakota night, the fracking fields can be seen from deep space.

Can't blame the oil companies for not piping it out of there since there is so much opposition to building any new pipelines. I guess you could say that image is another "glaring" example of environmentalists reaping what they sow.

BTW, I'd love to see a night sat image from July because I bet you could have seen Lac-Megantic, Quebec quite easily as well.

http://www.ketv.com/...2z/-/index.html

 

Getting rid of the old fire chief so you can actually try to meet your budget. I do kind of feel sorry for the old chief. Not sure how he is going to make it living off of a measly $130K a year pension.

 

There isn't a bigger screw job to taxpayers at the local level then what cities throw away at these type of pensions. The irony is how all the flaming liberals scream when anyone in the private sector makes that kind of money yet when government employees do, it's fine. There isn't a government job in the entire state of Nebraska that deserves that kind of pension, not even close.

 

 

 

I'd guess getting rid of him had more to do with this than anything.

 

http://www.wowt.com/...es/9204832.html

 

"the latest analysis of the police and fire pension plan shows that it is under-funded by more than $320 million. That's $40 million worse than projected last year."

 

Highway robbery.

Agree with the pension analysis, but this will probably galvanize most of the OFD against her and possibly the new fire chief if it is perceived that he/she is not acting in their best interests (i.e. pensions).

That was already a done deal before she was even elected, in fact that was part of the reason she was elected. She isn't there for the best interest of the OFD and their bloated pensions, she is there so Omaha doesn't go down the same path Detroit has. If she can't be buddies with the firemen then so be it. She needs to do her job and so far it looks like she is.