Archive for January 23, 2012
About Those Jobs Mitt Romney Created at Staples
I’m watching NBC’s Republican presidential debate in Florida. Romney just bragged about creating jobs at Staples.
Wow. What a guy.
Take a look at the pay scale for those jobs:
USA Wins Again — We’re #1 in the Developed World in Teen Pregnancies
The U.S. teen birth rate is the highest in the developed world with about 400,000 infants being born to mothers ages 15-19 every year, federal officials say.
Researchers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta analyzed data from the 2004 to 2008 Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System — self-reported pre-pregnancy contraceptive use among white, black and Hispanic females ages 15-19 with unintended pregnancies resulting in live birth involving 27 states and approximately 75 percent of all live U.S. births.
Fifty percent of these teens were not using any method of birth control when they got pregnant, and of these 31.4 percent said they believed they could not get pregnant at the time.
Twenty-one percent said they used a highly effective contraceptive method, 24.2 percent used the moderately effective method of condoms and 5.1 percent used the least effective methods, such as rhythm and withdrawal.
Follow Up on the Jewish Newspaper Editor Who Called for Obama’s Assassination
Remember my January 21 post about the Jewish newspaper editor who called for Obama’s assassination? Here it is in case you need a refresher.
Well, here’s the latest:
The owner and publisher of the Atlanta Jewish Times has resigned under pressure after writing a column suggesting that Israel might consider assassinating President Barack Obama, a Jewish news agency reported Monday.
Andrew Adler wrote the Jan. 13 column suggesting that the assassination would be among Israel’s options in dealing with a hostile Iran equipped with nuclear weapons.
According to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, a global news agency, Adler is “relinquishing all day-to-day activities effective immediately” and is seeking a buyer.
Look for Adler to sign on as a Fox News “contributor” any day now.
Cat Owned by Democratic Official Slaughtered — “Liberal” Painted on Side of Corpse
The race for the Arkansas’ third congressional district took a gruesome turn on Sunday, when the campaign manager for Democratic challenger Ken Aden came home and found his cat slaughtered with the word “liberal” painted on the corpse.
According to a press release sent out by the Aden campaign, “The family pet, an adult, mixed-breed Siamese cat, had one side of its head bashed in to the point the cat’s eyeball was barely hanging from its socket. The perpetrators scrawled ‘liberal’ across the cat’s body and left it on the doorstep of [Jacob] Burris’ house.”
Burris, Aden’s campaign manager, told The Huffington Post that it was his 5-year-old son who first saw the atrocity. He had taken his children out to fill the family car with gas before going to church, and the young boy was the first one out of the vehicle when they returned.
This is terrorism.
I’m fighting the desire that harm be done to the person(s) who did this.
375-Year-Old French Bank Cancels Debts of Paris’ Poor
This is a perfect story to read as I head out to do my volunteer time at the food bank:
Photo: Wikimedia
Just as France was being chastised for excessive national borrowing with a sovereign debt downgrade, thousands of lucky French people had their financial obligations forgiven after the country’s oldest bank decided to simply wipe their slate clean.
Granted, it’s a small slate. The 3,500 clients who benefitted from the bank’s largesse had debts of 150 euros or less (about $190) with the Crédit Municipal de Paris, also known as the “Mont-de-piété,” the bank of the poor, which has for centuries allowed the needy to get loans against their valuables—a kind of ethical pawnshop, or the original microlender. The small kindness was welcome for many.
“I’m very happy, it’s the first time I get something for nothing,” said Geneviève, an elegant woman in her fifties who was at the bank to get back a gold coin and a small wedding band she had pawned three years ago. “There came a point when I needed money. They’re not worth much but they’re important to me.”
The unexpected gift is a way for the bank to celebrate its 375th anniversary. The Crédit Municipal de Paris was created in 1637 by Théophraste Renaudot, a doctor, journalist and philanthropist who wanted to combat poverty by giving the needy access to fair banking.
Rand Paul’s Red Hot Hypocrisy
Not making this up:
Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), son of White House hopeful Ron Paul, was detained by the TSA Monday after refusing a pat-down, his dad tweeted Monday.
The father-son pair, both renegade libertarians within their party, are harsh critics of TSA searches they brand intrusive, and have called for the agency’s elimination.
“My son @SenRandPaul being detained by TSA for refusing full body pat-down after anomaly in body scanner in Nashville. More details coming,” the Texas Republican congressman wrote.
[...]
The younger politician was heading to Washington to address the March for Life, a massive Pro-Life [anti-choice] rally marking Sunday’s 38th anniversary of the Supreme Court decision legalizing abortion.
