Wednesday, February 9, 2011

Tort reform? Not in Obama employment agency.

February 9, 2011
 February 9 is … Toothache Day. Why celebrate this?
BRUCE A. BRENNAN BLOG FROM THE WORLD AND MY MIND
The news as I see it and the views as I want them.

In 1870, the United States Weather Bureau was authorized by Congress. We think people always just sat around and talked about the weather, but it took an act of Congress to do something about it! The weather bureau is officially known as the National Weather Service (NWS) and is a department of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
The National Weather Service protects the life and property of U.S. citizens by issuing forecasts and warnings for natural disasters such as hurricanes, tornadoes, floods, and severe weather conditions. NWS communicates this information to the populace through an intricate and varied network. The NOAA Weather Wire Service or NWWS is the primary satellite communications system for NWS transmission. Warnings and other services are delivered in this manner to newspapers, radio and TV stations and emergency agencies. More than 6400 individual products are transmitted every day. NWS also generates data to be delivered to the public over a nationwide network of FM radio transmitter sites. Most of the U.S. including Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, Guam and American Samoa can receive these broadcasts. Cable TV weather channels and AM radio channels also broadcast this information.
No matter how you learn the weather forecast, the age old question still seems to be, “So how’s the weather?”
Glad to see the drug addict Lindsay Lohan has now become a thief. She will be arraigned today for felony theft of a $2,500.00 necklace from a L.A. Jewelry store. She had enough cash on her to pay for the necklace when she stole it. She should have stolen a brain or some self respect.
This is a bad idea and I am a lawyer. How can the U. S. Government become a referral agency for private industry?
In an unprecedented and controversial move, the White House has launched a new program at the Department of Labor which will refer workers who have complaints about their bosses to a toll free number at the American Bar Association, where they can get a lawyer to work on their case on a contingency fee basis. More than 40,000 workers annually contact the Department of Labor with complaints about their bosses. But Labor can’t get to all of them, an estimated 10%, because of budget constraints, the White House says. So the White House has instead launched a program for “unresolved complainants” with the ABA. Workers will now be provided a toll-free number that connects them with ABA lawyers nationwide who are experienced in things like alleged workplace abuses of minimum wage, overtime and family medical leave laws.  The White House in a statement says this is “a new effort between the federal government and private bar to assist complainants” who may need help with “worker rights.” In a statement, the ABA calls this new alliance “unprecedented.”  But will this create more lawsuits against companies? Will it stymie job creation at the very companies the President says he needs to help lower the high unemployment rate, including small businesses? Will this new program simply make it easier for lawyers to get business they may have garnered anyway?  And since Vice President Joe Biden says the lawyers will be working on a contingency fee basis, and not pro bono, doesn't that pretty much guarantee that the lawyers will be more apt to earn those fees via lawsuits against businesses?  Moreover, will the government set up an ABA referral service at Labor for small businesses and employers who are having trouble with miscreant employees or are being harassed by frivolous lawsuits filed by troublemaking workers? 
Small businesses may have cause for further concern, given the controversial, allegedly anti-business history of the officials the Obama administration has nominated to oversee these new programs.  The White House has also enlisted the ABA to launch a toll-free hotline number at the Department of Housing and Urban Development to help homeowners with foreclosure issues, as well as a separate ABA toll free number to help veterans at the Department of Veterans Affairs, too. An ABA release notes that its new toll-free line at the Labor Dept. will help workers who may be part-time or independent contractors in the agricultural, construction, or hotel industries.  Already, the Department of Labor has more attorneys than any other department besides the Department of Justice, sources note.  In a video briefing on the White House’s website, Vice President Joseph Biden says that this new ABA government program is part of his Middle Class Initiative. The Vice President noted that “it’s not enough to say that everyone has the same legal rights” or “has equal access to justice.” The Vice President also noted that in an estimated one half of all civil cases, one party has no legal representation, and that the economic crisis has created “more unrepresented litigants.” 
Who in the hell thought this was a good idea? Is anyone driving the bus in Washington D.C.?
The President of Egypt, Hosni Mubarak, appears to be heading for Germany. He and his staff is concocting an elaborate lie saying he needs an extensive medical checkup and will head to Germany for it. He will never return to Egypt as President. I don’t see why he is concerned about saving face at this late date. How do you explain to your citizens “I need medical services but what we have in Egypt is not good enough for me.”? He must have stolen money hidden in Germany.
John Paul Getty III, the heir to an oil fortune who was thrust into the spotlight in the 1970s after being kidnapped by Italian mobsters, has died. He was 54 and had been wheelchair-bound and in need of constant medical care since 1981, when a drug overdose left him paralyzed and almost blind. Getty passed away Saturday at his family's country home in southern England. The cause of death was not disclosed. This guy led a tragic life compounded by his billionaire grandfather’s cheapness. His grandfather refused to pay the 17 million dollar ransom saying he had 14 other grandkids and if he paid for one he would have to pay for them all. His father, a drug addict who had abandoned the family, did not enough money to pay the ransom. The kidnappers later cut off one of their captive’s ears and mailed it to a newspaper with a new ransom demand of 2.8 million. Getty, Sr. negotiated the amount down to 2.2 million and paid it. The figure paid was the legal maximum that was tax deductible for old granddad. Life never got much better for John Paul Getty III after his release from over five months of captivity.
Births on this date in history:
1909 Carmen Miranda [Maria do Carmo Miranda Da Cunha] Marco de Canavezes Portugal, vocalist/actress (Copacabana, Date With Judy)
1914 Ernest Tubb Texas, guitarist/singer (I'm Walking the Floor over You). Edgar Alan Poe’s favorite song.
 1914 - Gypsy Rose Lee (Rose Hovick) actress, dancer, stripper: You Can’t Have Everything, The Trouble with Angels, The Stripper, My Lucky Star; subject of Broadway show & film: Gypsy; sister of actress, June Havoc; died Apr 26, 1970.
1914 - Bill Veeck Baseball Hall of Fame owner: Cleveland Indians, Cleveland Browns, Chicago White Sox; promoter: outrageous door prizes, ingenious promotional schemes [Bat Day, fireworks, exploding scoreboards, player names on backs of uniforms]; signed AL’s first black player [Larry Doby: 1947] and oldest rookie [42-year-old Satchel Paige: 1948]; died Jan 2, 1986.
Events from this date through history;
1825 House of Representatives elects John Quincy Adams 6th US President
1849 Roman Republic declared
1861 Jefferson Davis & Alexander Stephens elected president & Vice President of CSA
1861 Tennessee votes against secession
1861 Confederate Provisional Congress declares all laws under the US Constitution were consistent with constitution of Confederate states
1863 Fire extinguisher patented by Alanson Crane
1867 Nebraska becomes 37th US state
1870 Grant signs the bill establishing Federal Meteorological Service
1871 Federal fish protection office authorized by Congress
Music at the top of the charts on this date;

1944 My Heart Tells Me - The Glen Gray Orchestra (vocal: Eugenie Baird)
Shoo, Shoo, Baby - The Andrews Sisters
No Love, No Nothin’ - Ella Mae Morse
Pistol Packin’ Mama - Al Dexter
1952 Slowpoke - Pee Wee King
Cry - Johnnie Ray
Anytime - Eddie Fisher
Give Me More, More, More (Of Your Kisses) - Lefty Frizzell
1960 Teen Angel - Mark Dinning
Where or When - Dion & The Belmonts
Handy Man - Jimmy Jones
He’ll Have to Go - Jim Reeves
1968 Green Tambourine - The Lemon Pipers
Spooky - Classics IV
Love is Blue - Paul Mauriat
Skip a Rope - Henson Cargill
1976 50 Ways to Leave Your Lover - Paul Simon
Love to Love You Baby - Donna Summer
You Sexy Thing - Hot Chocolate
Sometimes - Bill Anderson & Mary Lou Turner
1984 Karma Chameleon - Culture Club
Joanna - Kool & The Gang
Running with the Night - Lionel Richie
Show Her - Ronnie Milsap


BRUCE A. BRENNAN
DEKALB, IL 60115
COPYRIGHT 2011

VISIT ANY OF THE SITES LISTED FOR REVIEW, RESEARCH, ORDERING MY WRITING PRODUCTS OR TO CONTACT ME.
Go to web sites below to buy books by Bruce A. Brennan. It is still a good time to purchase an interesting and inexpensive read. My second book should be available by February 15, 2011. More information will be forthcoming.
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/ (do a quick search, Title, my name)
http://www.smashwords.com/ Do a Title or author search, Check this site out.
Check out the site below. Paybox is a new site, competing with PayPal, etc. Sign up is free. It seems good for small businesses or ebay users.

“Of all forms of caution, caution in love is the most fatal.”


















Tuesday, February 8, 2011

Youngstown, Ohio needs the Boy Scouts.


February 8, 2011
 February 8 is … Kite Flying Day
BRUCE A. BRENNAN BLOG FROM THE WORLD AND MY MIND
The news as I see it and the views as I want them.

AOL has agreed to buy the Huffington Post for 315 million dollars. Along with the web based news blog, AOL gets Arianna Huffington as part of the AOL management team. AOL, once the internet darling, has been falling from grace for years. This move is being made to get Arianna Huffington on board. Love her or hate her, she is a media giant that will shake things up at AOL. The 315 million dollars is viewed as a hiring fee for her, the web site is a throw in.

Two young punks were arrested for the Youngstown, Ohio fraternity house shooting. They were apparently told to leave the party. They did but came back shooting. Over a dozen lives and families were shattered by these animals but I am sure some goody-two-shoes will tell whoever will listen that the shooters are the real victims because of their upbringing and environment. If that is the case, let’s kill their parents and burn down their neighborhood. That should take care of that.

Chicago businessman William D. Boyce incorporated the Boy Scouts of America on this day in 1910. He didn’t, however, conceptualize the scouting movement. The Boy Scouts were originated by Englishman, Sir Robert S.S. Baden-Powell. It seems that Mr. Boyce was visiting England and one foggy day in London town, he lost his way. A young boy guided him, but refused any monetary reward. A surprised Mr. Boyce queried as to why. The boy replied that he was a Scout and Scouts did not accept a reward for doing a good turn. This gesture of good will so inspired Boyce that he searched out Baden-Powell to learn more about the British Scouts. Upon his return to the United States, he formed the Boy Scouts of America. Boyce’s Scouts, and all those who followed, included along with their good deeds, outdoor camping, community service projects and other fun and educational projects. These are all part of the merit badge system for boys from eleven to seventeen years of age. Younger boys start out as Cub Scouts and older young men join the Explorers post.  Salute a Boy Scout today!

Police are going to pay for this one although had they been more diligent it may not have made any difference. Investigators suspect robbery may have been the motive in the slaying of a young couple found dead inside their Ohio home last week, police said. Johnny Clarke, 21, and his girlfriend, Lisa Straub, 20, were found Jan. 31 with bags over their heads and their hands bound with duct tape. Police said the couple were victims of homicide. Cathy Stooksbury, a detective with the Lucas County Sheriff's Office, told the Toledo Blade that investigators suspect the homicides were part of "a robbery gone bad." The couple was last seen alive on the night of Jan. 30, when Clarke picked Straub up from her job at a T.G.I. Friday's restaurant. Clarke's mother, Maytee Vasquez-Clarke, placed the first 911 call at 1:21 a.m. Jan. 31. She indicated that her son was talking to a friend around 11 p.m. when, according to the friend, something suddenly happened and the phone went dead. "He was telling her he was going out the door, and all she heard was the phone drop and my son saying in the background, 'Who are you? What do you want? What are you doing here?' She said she just drove by the house and the house looked ransacked. All the lights are on. My son's not answering," Vasquez-Clarke said in her first call to 911. Sheriff's deputies were dispatched to the home but did not see anything out of the ordinary, police said. Vasquez-Clarke placed a second call to 911 at 2:07 a.m., again asking police to investigate. Authorities were dispatched to the home a second time but again saw nothing indicating any problems, police said. Clarke's mother had a "gut feeling" that something was wrong. After the deputies left the residence a second time, Clarke's mother; his father, John P. Clarke; and an unidentified female cousin went to the Straub residence and made the horrific discovery by peering inside a window.

On this date in history;
1918 - The Stars and Stripes, the weekly newspaper of the American Expeditionary Forces, was published for the first time.

1960 - U.S. Congressional investigators began exploring the influence of payola in the radio and record industries. Alan Freed and American Bandstand host, Dick Clark, among others, were called to testify.

1985 - The Dukes of Hazzard ended its 6-1/2 year run on CBS television. The series was credited with using more stunt men than any other TV series in history. The show had used as many as eight cars per episode when the crash sequences got complicated. Waylon Jennings did the theme song, The Dukes of Hazzard (Good Ol’ Boys).
1990 - Singer Del Shannon (Charles Westover) shot himself in the head with a .22 caliber rifle at his home in Santa Clarita, California. He was 50. Shannon’s first and biggest hit was Runaway, which hit number one in the U.S. April 24, 1961. His other top-20 singles included Hats Off to Larry, Little Town Flirt and Keep Searchin’ (We’ll Follow the Sun).

At the top of the music world on February 8th through the years:

 1951 My Heart Cries for You - Guy Mitchell
Tennessee Waltz - Patti Page
If - Perry Como
There’s Been a Change in Me - Eddy Arnold
1959 Smoke Gets in Your Eyes - The Platters
The All American Boy - Bill Parsons
Stagger Lee - Lloyd Price
Billy Bayou - Jim Reeves
1967 I’m a Believer - The Monkees
Georgy Girl - The Seekers
Kind of a Drag - The Buckinghams
There Goes My Everything - Jack Greene
1975 Fire - Ohio Players
You’re No Good
Boogie on Reggae Woman - Stevie Wonder
Then Who Am I - Charley Pride
1983 Africa - Toto
Baby, Come to Me - Patti Austin with James Ingram
Shame on the Moon - Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band
Inside - Ronnie Milsap
1991 The First Time - Surface
Gonna Make You Sweat (Everybody Dance Now) - C & C Music Factory
featuring Freedom Williams
Play that Funky Music - Vanilla Ice
Daddy’s Come Around - Paul Overstreet

On this date in history;

1964 1st appearance of Beatles on "Ed Sullivan Show" (73.7 million viewers)
1964 GI Joe character created. Military had to be ready to stop the British Invasion.

OH,    GO FLY A KITE.

BRUCE A. BRENNAN
DEKALB, IL 60115
COPYRIGHT 2011

VISIT ANY OF THE SITES LISTED FOR REVIEW, RESEARCH, ORDERING MY WRITING PRODUCTS OR TO CONTACT ME.
Go to web sites below to buy books by Bruce A. Brennan. It is still a good time to purchase an interesting and inexpensive read. My second book should be available by February 15, 2011. More information will be forthcoming.
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/ (do a quick search, Title, my name)
http://www.smashwords.com/ Do a Title or author search, Check this site out.
Check out the site below. Paybox is a new site, competing with PayPal, etc. Sign up is free. It seems good for small businesses or ebay users.

“One family builds a wall, two families enjoy it.”







Monday, February 7, 2011

Wanna bet it was a super game?


February 7, 2011
February 7 is … Charles Dickens Day. It was the best of days; it was the worst of days.
BRUCE A. BRENNAN BLOG FROM THE WORLD AND MY MIND
The news as I see it and the views as I want them.
Just a few of the Super Bowl Proposition bets available for yesterday’s game. How would you have done – NO CHEATING

Bet Pittsburgh Steelers: Point Spread +2 1/2 (-105) --- Money Line +115
Bet Green Bay Packers: Point Spread -2 1/2 (-115) --- Money Line -135
Over/Under 45: -105

What will be the result of the Super Bowl XLV Coin Toss?
Heads: -105
Tails: -105

Total Passing Yards - Ben Roethlisberger
Over 240 1/2 Passing Yards: -125
Under 240 1/2 Passing Yards: -105

Total Passing Attempts - Ben Roethlisberger
Over 31 1/2 Passing Attempts: -115
Under 31 1/2 Passing Attempts: -115

Total Completions - Ben Roethlisberger
Over 19 1/2 Completions: -115
Under 19 1/2 Passing Yards: -115

Team to win the opening coin toss
Steelers: -105
Packers: -105

Team to score first in the game
Steelers: -105
Packers: -125

The first score of the game will be?
Touchdown: -180
Any Other Score: +150

Total Passing Yards - Aaron Rodgers
Over 275 1/2 Passing Yards: -140
Under 275 1/2 Passing Yards: +110

Total Passing Attempts - Aaron Rodgers
Over 35 Passing Attempts: -135
Under 35 Passing Attempts: +105

Total Completions - Aaron Rodgers
Over 23 1/2 Completions: -115
Under 23 1/2 Passing Yards: -115

Will there be a score in the first 7min 30 seconds of the 1st quarter?

Yes: -175
No: +145

Steelers - Total Points
Over 21: (-120)
Under 21: (-110)

Packers - Total Points
Over 24: (-115)
Under 24: (-115)

Steelers Total 1st Half Team Points
Over 11 1/2: (-120)
Under 11 1/2: (-110)

Packers Total 1st Half Team Points
Over 12: (-120)
Under 12: (-110)

Team to Receive the Opening Kick Off
Steelers: -105
Packers: -105

Team to get 1st down of the game
Steelers: -110
Packers: -120

The first 1st down in the game will happen on a Pass or Run play?
Passing Play: -200
Rushing Play: +160

The first team to score in the Super Bowl 2011 was: Green Bay, pass from Rodgers to Nelson.

END OF FIRST QUARTER SCORE:         Green Bay 14             Pit. 0
HALFTIME SCORE:                                   Green Bay 31             Pit 10
END OF THIRD QUARTER SCORE:         Green Bay 21             Pit. 17

The FINAL SCORE:                                     Green Bay 31             Pit 25

I was off a little on the score in my prediction in Sunday’s blog but I had the winner right.                                   
Richard Dent, a defensive lineman from the 1985 Chicago Bears Super Bowl winning team was elected into the Football Hall of Fame on Saturday. The Hall of Fame, located in Canton, Ohio, will officially enshrine him and six others into the Hall in August, 2011. I had Bears season tickets, at the north 44 yard line directly behind the Bears bench for over 25 years. I saw Dent play over 50 times. He was a fine player but was in a complicated defensive system surrounded by many fine players. I do not think he deserves to be in the Hall of Fame. I do, I realize, have a high bar for election into all of the major halls’ of fame. They are called a Hall of Fame though, not a Hall of Pretty Good.

StubHub, the online ticket broker says this year’s Super Bowl tickets, the general low-end tickets, the ones costing around $3,000.00, are up 50% over last year’s prices. I guess the New Orleans feel good story did not translate well to the pocket book.

Why don’t we understand everybody in the world does not embrace democracy like we do? We keep trying to force it down the throats of people around the world. Democracy has been around, on a major scale, for less than 250 years. Other forms of government have been in use centuries longer. President Bush was roundly criticized for trying to export American ideals and democracy during his two terms as president. Why isn’t President Obama being held to the same standard? Leave Egypt alone. They will figure their problems out without our help. We cannot adequately run our own nation. Why run Egypt? Why would Egypt or any foreign country listen to us now as we fall from our once glorious perch? I would rather live in this country over any other place on the planet. I hope my children and their children can say and mean that in fifty years. I am not sure they will be able to.

America has developed into a broken moral compass. We have a conscious when it suits our needs. We fight all the fights, as long as oil in involved, not just the good fights. Isolationism served this country well throughout our history. We were bullied into WWI and attacked before we would enter WWII. Isolationism was the way it was in the Far East for centuries. The problems with the Far East started once the rest of the world got involved in their affairs. Why don’t we sit out a few of the major world crises over the next decade or so and see how the world does? At some point, the young bird has to fly on its own.

Well that did not take long. The California school shooting was not the last for 2011. In Youngstown, Ohio, two men involved in a dispute at a fraternity house party left the house and then returned, firing shots into the crowd early Sunday killing a Youngstown State University student and injuring 11 other people, a police chief said. Youngstown police Chief Jimmy Hughes said the house just north of the Ohio campus had been bustling with 50 or more people, some as young as 17. Six of the injured were students, authorities said. "These guys were in the location for a little while before the shooting occurred," he said. "Something happened that they became unhappy. They had some type of altercation." Investigators are trying to identify the shooters based on accounts from eyewitnesses, and the people who were shot have told police they had no problems with the suspected shooters, Hughes said. Members of the university-sanctioned Omega Psi Phi fraternity lived at the house, YSU spokesman Ron Cole said.
The Mahoning County coroner's office identified the dead student as 25-year-old Jamail E. Johnson. He was shot once in the head and multiple times on his hips and legs, and an autopsy is planned Monday, said Dr. Joseph Ohr, a forensic pathologist with the coroner's office. The 11 injured were taken to nearby St. Elizabeth Health Center, and eight of them had been treated and released by early afternoon, hospital spokeswoman Tina Creighton said. She said she could not release the conditions of the other three.

This is more evidence everything is fine in America. Let’s go half way across the World and help people who are not our citizens and who have not asked for our help. Screw our young population. They will have to learn o deal with disappointment.


BRUCE A. BRENNAN
DEKALB, IL 60115
COPYRIGHT 2011

VISIT ANY OF THE SITES LISTED FOR REVIEW, RESEARCH, ORDERING MY WRITING PRODUCTS OR TO CONTACT ME.
Go to web sites below to buy books by Bruce A. Brennan. It is still a good time to purchase an interesting and inexpensive read. My second book should be available by February 15, 2011. More information will be forthcoming.
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/ (do a quick search, Title, my name)
http://www.smashwords.com/ Do a Title or author search, Check this site out.
Check out the site below. Paybox is a new site, competing with PayPal, etc. Sign up is free. It seems good for small businesses or ebay users.

“One man tells a falsehood, a hundred repeat it as true.”