The Lawyers are coming...the Lawyers are coming!!!

Really?  Watch out for the red part below…implication:  the taxpayers will by default be paying for the cleanup…unless “the attorneys” save us from the evil oil companies!  Quick question….is BP too big to fail?

 

Attorney General Holder Dispatches Justice Department Team to Monitor British Petroleum Oil Spill

Apr 30 01:12 PM US/Eastern

 

WASHINGTON, April 30 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Attorney General Eric Holder announced today that he is dispatching a team of attorneys from multiple divisions within the Justice Department to New Orleans to meet with the U.S. Attorney and response teams and to monitor the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

"The British Petroleum oil spill has already cost lives and created a major environmental incident," said Attorney General Holder. "The Justice Department stands ready to make available every resource at our disposal to vigorously enforce the laws that protect the people who work and reside near the Gulf, the wildlife, the environment and the American taxpayers."

The team will be led by Ignacia S. Moreno, Assistant Attorney General for the Environment and Natural Resources Division, and Tony West, Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Division, and will include relevant United States Attorneys. The combined group from the Department plans to make a site visit and meet with representatives from federal agencies working on the response.

A coordinated response continues with a comprehensive oil well intervention and spill-response plan following the April 22, 2010 sinking of the Transocean Deepwater Horizon drilling rig 130 miles southeast of New Orleans. More than 1,000 personnel from federal, state and local agencies are involved in the response effort both on and offshore, with additional resources being mobilized as needed.

SOURCE U.S. Department of Justice

 

 

What could go wrong...

Really?  This is what we are heading towards?  Brought to you straight from California…coming to a Booger King near you!!

Santa Clara County says no to fast-food toys

Justin Berton, Chronicle Staff Writer

Wednesday, April 28, 2010

No toy for you, Junior.

Not if you live in unincorporated Santa Clara County, where the Board of Supervisors voted Tuesday to ban restaurants from giving away toys with children's meals that exceed set levels of calories, fat, salt and sugar.

The ordinance, which the board passed by a 3-2 vote, is believed to be the first of its kind in the nation. The target is the fast-food industry and what critics call its practice of marketing unhealthful food to children and fueling an epidemic of obesity among the young.

"This ordinance breaks the link between unhealthy food and prizes," said the law's author, Supervisor Ken Yeager. "Obviously, toys in and of themselves do not make children obese. But it is unfair to parents and children to use toys to capture the tastes of children when they are young and get them hooked on eating high-sugar, high-fat foods early in life."

$1,000 fine for violations

Representatives for the California Restaurant Association, whose members include chains that opposed the ordinance, have 90 days to offer an alternative to the legislation. Violations under the version the board approved Tuesday would be punishable by fines of as much as $1,000 for each meal sold with a toy.

Yeager said he hopes the law will inspire cities and counties across the country to follow suit like "ripples that create a wave."

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/04/28/MNLA1D5QFV.DTL#ixzz0mWK8KRYF

 

Boston Marathon

One of the perks of living in Hopkinton is the fact you get to be one of the few people to watch the start of the Boston Marathon. They pretty much block all the roads leading into town about 5:30am ... which explains why I was not at work today ... there was no way for me to get to work.

Kade really enjoyed the whole thing. He was really into seeing the start and understanding everything. His school (Center School) is actually about 50 yards from the start line...so for the week leading up to the big race ... they teach the kids about Patriots' day (the race is always on Patriots day) and the Boston Marathon. They even have runners from Kenya and other places come int an talk about their home countries and why they race.

To be honest, it was really quite amazing to see. There were about 25,000 runners in the race this year and almost all of Hopkinton was on the Green. I think we ran into just about everyone we know in town over at the Fried Dough stand....yeah...that's right...we all celebrated the runners by wolfing down some Fried Dough at 10:30 in the morning! The worst part of it all...we showed up right at 10:00am when the elite men's field was starting...so we got to see the winner Kenyan (Robert Cheruiyot) head off down the hill towards Boston. By the time we were finished watching the next heat head out, eat our fried dough, play on the playground, walk back to the car, drive home and turn on the TV...Robert was just crossing the finish line in Boston (2hrs 5 mins later)! That was really amazing! Anyway, here are some pics...

Easter (78 photos), by Jennifer Cavagnaro

I'd like to share my Snapfish photos with you. Once you have checked out my photos you can order prints and upload your own photos to share.
Click here to view photos

Great Grandparents Visit (30 photos), by Jennifer Cavagnaro

I'd like to share my Snapfish photos with you. Once you have checked out my photos you can order prints and upload your own photos to share.
Click here to view photos

Bath time Surprise

Quick one:  Last night I was giving the kids a bath. 

 

Kade: “I am proud of my wiener!”

Mom: “Do you know what a wiener is?”

Kade: “A hot dog….I am proud of my hot dog!”

 

Jen is convinced that I coached him on this…but alas I cannot take credit. 

 

Septic Tank Pumping Frequency Chart...the best blog topic ever?

Seeing as how we are first time septic tank owners….I needed to do a little research to see how often one should pump out their septic tank (I know gripping stuff).  I found this chart on the web and it implies that for our needs (1,500g w/ 5ppl) we need to pump about every 3 years.  Anyone out there have experience and can help calibrate if this is about right?

 

Table I. Septic Tank Pumping Frequency in Years

.	Household size - Number of Occupants

.

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

Tank-Gallons

Septic Tank Pumping Frequency in Years

500*	5.8	2.6	1.5	1.0	0.7	0.4	0.3	0.2	0.1	--
750*	9.1	4.2	2.6	1.8	1.3	1.0	0.7	0.6	0.4	0.3
900	11.0	5.2	3.3	2.3	1.7	1.3	1.0	0.8	0.7	0.5
1000	12.4	5.9	3.7	2.6	2.0	1.5	1.2	1.0	0.8	0.7
1250	15.6	7.5	4.8	3.4	2.6	2.0	1.7	1.4	1.2	1.0
1500	18.9	9.1	5.9	4.2	3.3	2.6	2.1	1.8	1.5	1.3
1750	22.1	10.7	6.9	5.0	3.9	3.1	2.6	2.2	1.9	1.6
2000	25.4	12.4	8.0	5.9	4.5	3.7	3.1	2.6	2.2	2.0
2250	28.6	14.0	9.1	6.7	5.2	4.2	3.5	3.0	2.6	2.3
2500	30.9	15.6	10.2	7.5	5.9	4.8	4.0	3.5	3.0	2.6

 

 

Tax Day Conspiracy...probably not........but beneficial...absolutely!

1. Have you ever contemplated the reasoning behind choosing April 15^th as tax day?
2. Have you ever wondered why national elections are held on “the first Tuesday after the first Monday of November”?
3. Have you ever thought about these two things together (and wondered if having tax collection be ~6 months away of elections is really a “coincidence”)?

 

 

“Answer” to Question 1:

“Congress passed the Sixteenth Amendment to the Constitution, which allows for the implementation of personal income tax, on February 3, 1913, and chose March 1 of the following year as the filing deadline. The deadline was changed to March 15 in 1918, and, as we learned at Tax History Project, to April 15 in 1955. Moving back the date from the end of the tax year served two purposes -- it gave the IRS more time to handle the work and, more importantly, more time to hang on to your money before issuing you a refund.”

 

“Answer” Question 2:

“The Constitution does not stipulate the date of national elections, just that the Electoral College electors should be chosen on the same day throughout the United States. When the United States was first founded, Congress met in December and usually adjourned in March. This was largely because it was the only time farmers could be away from the land. A 1792 law established that presidential elections should be held sometime in November, which gave enough time to count the votes before the new congressional session started. But the dates of local, state, and congressional elections varied from state to state and year to year. In 1845, the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November became the official presidential election date. And in 1872 the Apportionment Act added the election of members of the House. (In case you were absent from school for this: Senators were chosen by state legislature until 1913.) But why Tuesday? Many people had to travel to get to the polls, so Monday was allotted as a travel day because Sunday was a day of worship. Nov. 1 was out because it is a Catholic holy day of obligation, All Saints Day.”

 

 

Great advice for kids of all ages...

Bill Gates recently gave a speech at a High School about 11 things they did not and will not learn in school. He talks about how feel-good, politically correct teachings created a generation of kids with no concept of reality and how this concept set them up for failure in the real world.

Rule 1: Life is not fair - get used to it!
Rule 2: The world doesn't care about your
 self-esteem. The world will expect you to accomplish something BEFORE you feel good about yourself.
Rule 3: You will NOT make $60,000 a year right out of high school. You won't be a vice-president with a car phone until you earn both.
Rule 4: If you think your teacher is tough, wait till you get a boss.
Rule 5: Flipping burgers is not beneath your dignity. Your Grandparents had a different word for burger flipping: they called it opportunity.
Rule 6: If you mess up, it's not your parents' fault, so don't whine about your mistakes, learn from them.
Rule 7: Before you were born, your parents weren't as boring as they are now. They got that way from paying your bills, cleaning your clothes and listening to you talk about how cool you thought you were. So before you save the rain forest from the parasites of your parent's generation, try delousing the closet in your own room.
Rule 8: Your school may have done away with winners and losers, but life HAS NOT. In some schools, they have abolished failing grades and they'll give you as MANY TIMES as you want to get the right answer. This doesn't bear the slightest resemblance to ANYTHING in real life.
Rule 9: Life is not divided into semesters. You don't get summers off and very few employers are interested in helping you FIND YOURSELF. Do that on your own time.
Rule 10: Television is NOT real life.. In real life people actually have to leave the coffee shop and go to jobs.
Rule 11: Be nice to nerds. Chances are you'll end up working for one.

 

USA Today Graphic outlining spending/revenue at Federal level since 1941

http://i.usatoday.net/news/graphics/2010/2010-04-13-deficit/deficit-va.jpg

Question for you...

Now the government runs the student loan program…yeah! It is supposed to save money because there is no more pesky middle-man (a.k.a., job producing private company)…well damn...that just makes sense (unless you work at that pesky middle man company).

1. According to staffordloan.com the current “subsidized rate” for a student loan is 5.6% and the “unsubsidized rate” is 6.8% (FYI – Stafford loans are amongst the cheapest around). Most folks end up with big PLUS loans which run about 8% today.
2. According to USTreas.gov the rate on a 3-month T-Bill is 0.16% (you know…where *they* are getting the money)

Question 1: If the US government is basically pocketing well over 5.5% on each dollar loaned out…where is the incentive to keep college affordable? The more you borrow…the more they make. Moral Hazard?

USAToday.com: The change, included in the health care overhaul bill that cleared Congress last week, has caused considerable turmoil in the banking industry, which stands to lose billions of dollars in federal subsidies. But for borrowers, the change will be much less drastic. Interest rates for federal student loans won't change, nor will the limits on how much you can borrow. And Uncle Sam is no pushover: If you fail to repay your loans after you graduate, you'll still face stiff penalties.

If the interest rates “won’t change” …and there is no middle man…the gov’t benefits…not the students. I just can’t fathom why saint Obama never thought to pass some of those savings along to the students. Gee, this kind-of-sort-of looks like a “working model” that can be replicated by Team Obama in the future à any lending extended through a private entity can be brought “inside” to boost Federal “returns”.

Question 2: Can you think of any other industry where this model may be applied???

Question 3: Can you think of any issues that may arise from the gov’t controlling who gets loans and at what rate?

In all fairness, the regulations imposed upon the “private lenders” basically made them an extension of the gov’t…but there is just something different about direct control vs. indirect control. And before everyone brings up the recent banking fiasco…just ask yourself…is it better to have “loved and lost” than to have “never loved at all”? Without creativity/risk there is no advancement. Entire industries have arisen from private lenders taking “good” risks (i.e., biotech, computers, green-tech, etc). The banking mess was in fact bad…very bad….but please don’t label ALL private investment as bad…