Why am I loitering? Why are YOU loitering?!

 

Cops take old armored car and build dedicated surveillance vehicle that can sit in one place and record 700 hours of video then jump out of it to charge man with loitering.

Peacemaker: Lauderdale police put trouble spots under surveillance

Obama’s campaign manager says “Bring home the troops!”

I just noticed an email I got on Jan 4 from Jim Messina, the campaign manager for Barack Obama’s 2012 reelection bid. Discussing Iowa’s Republican primary he says [my emphasis]

The extremist Tea Party agenda won a clear victory. No matter who the Republicans nominate, we'll be running against someone who has embraced that agenda in order to win -- vowing to let Wall Street write its own rules, end Medicare as we know it, roll back gay rights, leave the troops in Iraq indefinitely, restrict a woman's right to choose, and gut Social Security to pay for more tax cuts for millionaires and corporations.

Now there is a lot of partisan nonsense here but the one that really stuck out was “leave the troops in Iraq indefinitely” I thought that the all the US soldiers had left which is a pretty big deal for Obama to take credit for. Why is his campaign manager so out of touch with what his boss is actually doing?

FCC Chairman makes his wife happy

It finally happened! The FCC has come down hard on the boogey man that no one else was willing to stand up to. The dreaded loud TV commercial.

"This is an issue people care about. My wife has wondered for years when we were going to do something about this," said FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski during a meeting Tuesday. "Bottom line, the FCC is quieting a persistent problem of the TV age, or loud commercials."

Well if just one man gets a little more peace at home from this, I guess the additional government regulation was worth it.

During their mandated spot checks for compliance (there’s a new job created right there!), what is the criteria for the commercial being louder than the program? What if it’s a commercial for Independence Day comes on during after a hushed Tiger Woods putt?

Krugman uses the D word

If Paul “we just needed more stimulus” Krugman is finally using the word “depression” you know its bad.

It’s time to start calling the current situation what it is: a depression. True, it’s not a full replay of the Great Depression, but that’s cold comfort. Unemployment in both America and Europe remains disastrously high. Leaders and institutions are increasingly discredited. And democratic values are under siege.

Guns and gold, my friends.

Go McDonalds Go!

San Francisco decides happy meals are unhealthy and you should not entice children to eat them by including toys. Does McDonalds simply stop selling toys? Do they change their meals to have less fat or salt in order to keep the toy?

No, they just offer the toys for a $0.10 donation to charity if you buy a happy meal.

Sometimes you just plain can’t regulate peoples behavior. Don’t even try. Money, like life, finds a way. That is what capitalism is all about.

PS. Can I count that $0.10 as a carbohydrate-credit? How many toys do I need to buy to offset some happy fat slob who chows down on 3 Big Macs in a sitting? I smell a new therma-geddon type business opportunity!

No Credit? No Christmas.

That will be the phrase you hear if Chuck Schumer gets his way. It really frustrates me to see the guys who, in the name of poverty, keep impoverished people from getting things they want or need.

U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer is pushing retailers to clearly show how layaway plans can actually cost a consumer more than using a credit card.

Schumer is asking major retail associations to advise their members to more clearly present their layaway fees to customers. The Democrat says the ultimate cost of a layaway with a $5 fee can equal 40 percent interest over two months.

…

Schumer says if retails don't comply, he will ask the Federal Trade Commission whether the practice is deceptive or misleading.

Which ultimately means trying to kill layaway. You know what happens if some of these people can’t get layaway (and they can’t get credit)? They can’t get their items. Period. End of Sentence.

Shut down these sneaky conniving retailers who just want to bilk their customers and instead let the customers deal with the banks instead! The banks won’t try to pull that kind of stuff.

Oh my! Mr Cain! That tickles!

I’m not necessarily a Herman Cain fan (see my comment here) but did anyone notice anything odd about the latest Cain accuser’s account of the incident?

She said

he suddenly reached over and he put his hand on my leg under my skirt and reached for my genitals. He also grabbed my head and brought it toward his crotch. I was very, very surprised and very shocked.

Now most news outlets left it at that which is quite a shocking statement.

But the way she described her own reaction perplexed me and was left out of many news wire accounts

I said: ‘What are you doing? You know I have a boyfriend. This isn't what I came here for

This is a little stunning. She described his actions as something that is not just harassment but sexual assault/rape and her reaction is not “Hey perv! Get the *#$@ off me!!!!” It’s a more subdued “Hey you know I’m not available. Besides that’s not why I’m here”

and then

I told my boyfriend Mr. Cain had been very sexually inappropriate with me

I’m sorry, randomly trying to grab someone’s lady bits is more than “inappropriate.” In fact it is well beyond “very inappropriate.” Its criminal.

Now I really have no idea what went on in that room 14 years ago, but when the alleged victim describes her own reaction as so disproportionate to the description of the crime something is amiss. Either the instigating event or the response is off. The question is which one?