Tuesday, December 11, 2012

@10:29, 12/10/12

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1
N.Y. / Region

Senators Propose Tax Breaks for Storm Cleanup

Senators Charles E. Schumer of New York and Robert Menendez of New Jersey modeled their Hurricane Sandy measure on 2005 legislation passed to help those affected by Hurricane Katrina.
Hurricane Sandy (2012); Tax Credits, Deductions and Exemptions; Hurricane Katrina (2005); Hurricanes and Tropical Storms; Disasters and Emergencies; 

Senators  Schumer and Menendez are setting disaster recovery policy.
They seem to be missing the necessary building code changes.
If the city is allowed to rebuild as it was it will be just as vulnerable
if and when there is another such event.
2
Opinion

Inventing Democracy

South Africans have some advice for Egypt, Libya and other countries trying to emerge from oppressive rule.
Constitutions; Courts and the Judiciary; Democracy (Theory and Philosophy); Middle East and North Africa Unrest (2010- ); 

The report comes down to "The faithful do not learn".
 
3
U.S.

Corporate Money Allowed for Inaugural Donations

President Obama’s 2013 inauguration will be low-key, compared with 2009’s festivities, but this year corporate donations, with some exceptions, will be welcome.
Inaugurations; Presidential Election of 2012; United States Politics and Government; 

a "Quid pro quo".
I am not offended.

4
U.S.

Storm Sirens’ Last Wail

A decision to dismantle tsunami sirens on the Oregon coast has some residents concerned that the new warning system — texts and phone calls — will not reach everyone.
Tidal Waves and Tsunamis; Disasters and Emergencies; 

"God loves us"
The faithful do not learn.

5
U.S.

Holiday Boxes on Stoops Bring Reports of Thefts

As more consumers order gifts online, they are being advised to be proactive against thefts, by tracking packages and requiring signatures upon delivery.
E-Commerce; Gifts; 

Accounting is necessary.
 
6
Business Day

In Troubled Times, Clothes Still Make the (Business) Man — and Woman

Globally adept executives tread a middle ground between business-boring and fashion outré.
Fashion and Apparel; Suits (Apparel); Business Travel; Corporations; 

"Get a good make up and the part plays itself."
"judge the mind and not the uniform."  R. Fineman
7
Business Day

Senate Passes Russian Trade Bill, With a Human Rights Caveat

The Russian government quickly assailed the human rights conditions contained within the legislation, and its legislators promised retaliatory language.
United States Politics and Government; International Trade and World Market; Human Rights and Human Rights Violations; 

The Senate is sure that Joe (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_McCarthy)
was Right.
Let the State Department work.
 
8
World

Pragmatism for Dutch on Gay Marriage

The steady expansion of rights for same-sex couples in the Netherlands reflects a broader societal shift, in which the Dutch have been quietly rearranging their family structures over the past decade.
Same-Sex Marriage, Civil Unions and Domestic Partnerships; Civil Rights and Liberties; 

I was dragged around the history of the Plymouth Colony.
The Dutch have not cared what one believed beyond loyalty to the Dutch state since they freed themselves from Spain.
9
Business Day

European Central Bank Cuts Growth Forecast

The bank’s move is a reversal from previous optimism that the euro zone economy would start to recover next year.
European Sovereign Debt Crisis (2010- ); Euro (Currency); Interest Rates; Euro (Currency); European Sovereign Debt Crisis (2010- ); Euro (Currency); 

The monsters are still in charge.
http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/12/11/bleeding-europe/
"

Bleeding Europe

Europe has surprised me with its political resilience — the willingness of debtor nations to endure seemingly endless pain, the ability of the ECB to do just enough, at the very last minute, to calm markets when the financial situation seems ready to explode. But the economics of austerity have played out exactly according to script — the Keynesian script, that is, not the austerian script. Again and again, “responsible” technocrats induce their nations to accept the bitter austerity medicine; again and again, they fail to deliver results. The latest case in point is Italy, where Mario Monti — a good guy, deeply sincere — is leaving early, ultimately because his policies are delivering Italy into depression. (And yes, for the record, this means that Italy won’t get the full Monti.)
So what’s the answer? Stay the course, say the Eurocrats. It will work any day now — the confidence fairy is coming!
Kevin O’Rourke has it right: Europe has become the continent where good times are always just around the corner.
It really is like medieval medicine, where you bled patients to treat their ailments, and when the bleeding made them sicker, you bled them even more."
10
Business Day

Bank of England Holds Interest Rates at Record Low

The decision comes a day after the government said Britain would miss debt-reduction targets and the growth forecast was cut for 2013.
Interest Rates; European Sovereign Debt Crisis (2010- ); 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liquidity_trap
"A liquidity trap is a situation described in Keynesian economics in which injections of cash into the private banking system by a central bank fail to lower interest rates and hence fail to stimulate economic growth. A liquidity trap is caused when people hoard cash because they expect an adverse event such as deflation, insufficient aggregate demand, or war. Signature characteristics of a liquidity trap are short-term interest rates that are near zero and fluctuations in the monetary base that fail to translate into fluctuations in general price levels. "

"Conceptual evolution

In its original conception, a liquidity trap refers to the phenomenon when increased money supply fails to lower interest rates. Usually central banks try to lower interest rates by buying bonds with newly created cash. In a liquidity trap, bonds pay little to no interest, which makes them nearly equivalent to cash. Under the narrow version of Keynesian theory in which this arises, it is specified that monetary policy affects the economy only through its effect on interest rates. Thus, if an economy enters a liquidity trap, further increases in the money stock will fail to further lower interest rates and, therefore, fail to stimulate."  . . .
The rest is noise.

11
N.Y. / Region

Verdict Reached in Fatal Bus Crash Case

The fate of Ophadell Williams, the bus driver accused of causing the deaths of 15 people in the Bronx last year, will be learned Friday morning.
Decisions and Verdicts; Traffic Accidents and Safety; Buses; Murders and Attempted Murders; 

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/08/nyregion/ophadell-williams-driver-in-fatal-bus-crash-found-not-guilty-of-manslaughter.html

" A bus driver accused of being so tired that he caused one of the deadliest crashes in New York City’s history was found not guilty of manslaughter and negligent homicide on Friday, underscoring the difficulty of prosecuting drowsy driving despite successful efforts to use the courts to discourage other dangerous habits while at the wheel."
Regulation must not stand in the way of profit.

12
U.S.

Administration Weighs Legal Action Against States That Legalized Marijuana Use

Voter initiatives allowing recreational use in Colorado and Washington State are a dilemma for the president.
Law and Legislation; Marijuana; State Legislatures; 

http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/subjects/m/marijuana/index.html?inline=nyt-classifier
No announced resolution of the legal questions.

13
Technology

Dismayed at Google’s Privacy Policy, European Group Is Weighing Censure

European data protection officials are drafting plans to censure Google over its online privacy policy if the company does not eventually meet regulators' demands to revise it.
Privacy; Computers and the Internet; Regulation and Deregulation of Industry; 

You can't do that; we do that.
No one should do these things without informed consent.

14
Sports

Gardner and Yankees Reach a Deal

Outfielder Brett Gardner and the Yankees agreed to a one-year, $2.85 million contract.
Wages and Salaries; Baseball; 

The business of baseball will probably destroy the game of baseball.
I am waiting for patents on pitches and plays.
 
15
Opinion

The Full Israeli Experience

In a neighborhood where there is no mercy for the weak, how should we expect Israel to act?
Politics and Government; Defense and Military Forces; Palestinians; 

I can be paranoid without help.
Do a one state solution and remove the irritant.
Take the occupied territories inside the borders of Israel.
Hunt down the bandits.  
Dane-geld does not work.
The faithful do not learn.

16
Real Estate

Q & A

Rule, but no law, on carpeting requirements; subletting policies that differ; no entry for house-sitter.
Renting and Leasing (Real Estate); Real Estate and Housing (Residential); 

You have to tell your landlord.  
You do not have to tell them much beyond asking for another key.
It is not a sublet.
17
U.S.

Contributions Blackout Serves Many Functions

Texas’ annual campaign contributions blackout, which begins Sunday, is meant to convince somebody that money and voting are unrelated, but it serves other purposes as well.
Campaign Finance; State Legislatures; Elections, State Legislature; 

We are supposed to have short memories and not to keep records.
This is just a "modesty panel".  
Texas has "honest politicians" like Louisiana.

18
 
U.S.

Motherhood When Times Are Tough

Children are expensive, and more and more women in middle-income and upper-income societies are judging that they simply cannot afford to have as many children as they would like.
Birth Rates; Women and Girls; Women's Rights; Income; United States Economy; 

Draconian immigration policy has consequences.
Those nonexistent babies were supposed to get their families residency.
I am depending on those hard working immigrants for my Social Security.
Their children will pay for theirs.

If we acquire a child our costs will be high.  
I intend to hang in for another thirty years.  
I can't predict my abilities very far into the future.  Now, I am up for it.

19
Business Day

Consumer Borrowing Rises to $2.75 Trillion

Americans used their credit cards more often and borrowed more to attend school and buy cars.
United States Economy; Personal Finances; 

People are very self involved.
If the economy were as bad for the rest of the country as it is for me, Walmart would be bankrupt.
I think the economy is just that bad.  
Faith keeps the consumers spending.
That can't last.

20
Opinion

Checking the Costs of Homeland Security

Senator Tom Coburn is right to demand greater vigilance from Congress on the state of the program and its costs.
Federal Budget (US); United States Politics and Government; 

The Old South had some experiences during and after The Civil War that have left marks in the law.  
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reconstruction_Era
"The deployment of the U.S. military was central to the establishment of Southern Reconstructed state governments and the suppression of violence against black and white voters.[1] Reconstruction was a remarkable chapter in the story of American freedom, but most historians consider it a failure because the region became a poverty-stricken backwater and whites re-established their supremacy, making the Freedmen second-class citizens by the start of the 20th century. Historian Eric Foner argues, "What remains certain is that Reconstruction failed, and that for blacks its failure was a disaster whose magnitude cannot be obscured by the genuine accomplishments that did endure."[2]"
We as a nation have not had or wanted a National Police.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Posse_comitatus_%28common_law%29
"Posse comitatus is the common-law or statute law authority of a county sheriff or other law officer to conscript any able-bodied man to assist him in keeping the peace or to pursue and arrest a felon, similar to the concept of the "hue and cry". Originally found in English common law, it is generally obsolete; however, it survives in the United States, where it is the law enforcement equivalent of summoning the militia for military purposes

"In the United States, a federal statute known as the Posse Comitatus Act forbids the use of the United States Army, and through it, its offspring, the United States Air Force as a posse comitatus or for law enforcement purposes. A directive from the Secretary of Defense prohibits the use of the United States Navy and United States Marine Corps for law enforcement. No such limitation exists on the United States Coast Guard, which can be used for all law enforcement purposes (for example, Coast Guardsmen were used as temporary Air Marshals for many months after the 9/11 attacks) except when, as during WWII, a part of the Coast Guard is placed under the command of the Navy. This part would then fall under the regulations governing the Navy in this matter, rather than those concerning the Coast Guard. The limitation also does not apply to the National Guard when activated by a state's governor and operating in accordance with Title 32 of the U.S. Code (for example, National Guardsmen were used extensively by state governors during Hurricane Katrina response actions). Conversely, the limitation would apply to the National Guard when activated by the President and operating in accordance with Title 10 of the U.S. Code.[10]"


The Department of Homeland Security is probably unlawful.





















































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