RSS 2.0It Is A Tuesday . . .
Topic: Just Thinking
Posted by Everyman - 12:58:31 EDT
That could, with almost no adjustment at all, be a Thursday.
I hate it when that happens.
And that's all I'm saying . . .
For now.
That could, with almost no adjustment at all, be a Thursday.
I hate it when that happens.
And that's all I'm saying . . .
For now.
Sometimes, you have no choice.
Unless you're Hillary, back behind the cameras, staying out of it if you can.
Or W, who's unafraid of getting wet and understands that the Marines have better things to do.
Just for the hell of it, neither full of sound nor fury, and signifying very little . . .
Maybe.
No captions offered.
None needed.
To me.
Here in the Northeast, during the winter, we try to stay up with the weather forecast each day, and if there's snow in the forecast - and sometimes a lot of it - we decide to stay home from work, and to keep our kids out of school, if school has not already been cancelled by the adults in charge.
We have email alerts.We have auto-calls.
And we stay home.
I suspect we'd use the same approach if there were any possibility of a tornado coming.
And so we hunker down, and see to it that the kids do, too.
Better safe than sorry.
But then, how could this be?
Rescue crews were searching Tuesday for survivors and victims of a massive tornado that had devastated a suburb of Oklahoma City, grinding up entire neighborhoods and pulverizing two elementary schools.The swath of destruction from Monday afternoon’s storm in Moore, Okla., was up to a mile wide and 20 miles long.
Massive funnel clouds were videotaped in Oklahoma on Monday. One massive tornado struck Moore, Okla. killing dozens.
A total of 24 people were confirmed dead as of Tuesday morning, said Amy Elliott, a spokeswoman for the medical examiner’s officer. The number was considerably lower than the 51 fatalities reported in the hours after the storm, but Elliott cautioned that the numbers were still preliminary and were likely to rise as search and rescue efforts continued.
Where were those who should have taken the necessary precautions?
Where were the adults?
These kinds of storms have hit there before, with savage results, multiple deaths, widespread destruction of property.
Who decided, once more, to roll the dice, figuring that while it might happen somewhere, it wouldn't happen there?
How sad . . .And how unbelievably stupid.
Could be a faux oops, I'm thinking.
Just one more reason to stay on our toes . . .
I suppose.
Inside or out.
You have to love it.
No, really.
Flame-resistant overalls are the latest reason to be optimistic about America’s future.The US shale boom is creating plenty of new jobs in the oil and gas industry, but it’s having a number of knock-on effects as well. Energy-intensive industries have been bolstered by the influx of cheap natural gas, for example.
And a new sector has appeared to help support the rapidly growing number of oil and gas workers in America. Firms that feed, house, and, as the the WSJ reports, clothe these workers are capitalizing on this energy revolution, too.
Back in 2010, a spate of refinery accidents across the country killed workers without the proper protective equipment. In response, OSHA drafted a memo requiring workers in the industry to wear flame-resistant clothing. That memo, combined with the 180,000 new jobs created in the oil and gas industry over the past five years, has led to a surge in sales of protective clothing and footwear. That surge is expected to continue; sales of protective clothing are projected to rise by 43 percent in the next four years.
Manufacturers like Carhartt and Wrangler aren’t just selling more clothes and boots, they’re selling higher-quality products.
The WSJ reports: "The appetite for fracking gear is leading clothes makers to send research and development teams to consult with oil-field workers in Texas and North Dakota, in the same way Nike Inc. taps elite athletes to test out its track shoes and football cleats."
The clothes are getting lighter, more breathable, safer, and better looking.
From the backs of OSHA's high-fashion models right into your closets at home.
Is capitalism crazy . . .Or what?
I'm putting my money on the latter.
No more here on the scandals besetting us in our nation's capitol and beyond.
They are all important, they are all dumbfounding, they are all ingloriously corrupt, each in its own way, and there are, I believe, more to come.
But - the reason for the face plant here - there are finally others to write about such matters, poorly or well, and more importantly, they have the knowledge, and the ability - the talent and expertise and experience - to do right by us with their writing. Not all will, of course, and some, with partisan zeal, will do so poorly to suit the ideological narrative for which they've become creatively supine and to which they have made themselves subservient and obsequious. But others will do better, and in the end, most of the story will get told, and the opportunity, at least, will be there for us to act on at the polls, if we so choose. Whether we will so choose is anyone's guess at this point, and I would tend to bet on the under.
We'll deal with other stuff here, for the most part - some of it undeniably frivolous and wholly unworthy of even my meager talents - and leave the heavy lifting to others.
We will, as I'm doing today, have our own thoughts to share if we think that important parts of the story are being under-played or missed altogether.
Over, then, and mostly (if not entirely) . . .
Out.
Update:
As I said . . .
Q.E.D.
Further Update:
And then . . .
Worried - scared - yet?
And who is the judge who approved a subpoena in such a case?
Name(s), please.
Not here for the subject matter - I swore off that, just this morning - but for the vividness of the language.
Think of it, if you have to think anything (which is not part of the procedure), as a . . .
Bend-over.
"'It was pretty much a proctology exam through your earlobe,' said Karen L. Kenney, the coordinator for the San Fernando Valley Patriots . . ."". . . a tea party group in Southern California that was sent an IRS questionnaire with more than 100 questions on it . . . . Some groups, including several interviewed by The Washington Post, were asked to provide names of donors or membership lists, which experts say the IRS cannot legally do."
The San Fernando group first submitted its application for nonprofit status in the fall of 2010, which was after the IRS’s Cincinnati-based “determination unit” had implemented its politically charged screening criteria. The group wrote the agency a $400 check to fast-track the process, but 19 months went by before the group heard anything, Kenney said.So they stole $400 from this group! How many other $400s were pocketed on false pretenses?
I've had my share of dealings with the IRS, some of them conducted by the agency with considerable malevolence and for reasons similar to those involved in the current scandals in the news (finally).
The simile is . . .
Apt.
More than that I will not say.
At least for now.
