Yesterday there was a little excitement here. I got up early to collect the data for January’s monthly report. Then I did my online shopping. Afterwards, feeling quite tired, I went to bed for my normal afternoon sleep. Less than an hour later, the fire alarm rousted me. A Mexican Restaurant on the ground floor of my building had a kitchen fire. So I threw on my clothes and my coat, grabbed my O2, and headed for the street, firefighters coming up the stairs as I was going down. I had to wait about ninety minutes, before I could return. Please don’t worry. The fire was in the opposite corner of the building from me. I was never in any danger. I never even smelled smoke. However, I’m bleary eyed, because I’ve had no sleep. I’m current with replies, although I was shorter than usual. Today is rest and recover time.
Jig Zone Puzzle:
Today it took me 3:35 (average 5:17). To do it, click here. How did you do?
Short Takes:
From City AM: ROYAL Bank of Scotland chief executive Stephen Hester has bowed to growing political pressure and agreed to waive his bonus.
Hester decided to forego the award of 3.6m shares, worth around £960,000, after the Labour party said it would force a House of Commons vote on the issue in a bid to make the government block the controversial payout.
Friends of Hester told City A.M. he had spent the weekend considering his options and had decided to relinquish his 2011 bonus after it became clear the political row would not die down. They said the issue was threatening to distract him from the job of nursing the bank back to health.
A big Hat-Tip goes to Patricia G who tipped me off about this item. She and other progressive British heroes protested this Bankster’s bonus until Parliament took note, and his greed gave way to self-preservation. Kudos to them!
From Reuters: The Indiana state Senate on Wednesday gave final approval to a new law allowing workers at unionized businesses to avoid paying union dues, the last major legislative hurdle to making Indiana the first "right-to-work" state in the nation’s manufacturing belt.
No state has approved a right-to-work law since Oklahoma a decade ago, and Indiana is being closely watched nationwide during a presidential election year. The Senate vote of 28 to 22 was followed by calls of "shame, shame" from members of the public outside the chamber.
Governor Mitch Daniels will likely sign the bill Wednesday.
Shame! Shame! It’s a black day for Indiana. :-(. Here’s Rachel.
Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
From Truth-out: Today, the nation is abuzz over Mitt Romney bluntly cold comment: "I’m not concerned about the very poor. We have a safety net there."
This is not a slip of the tongue. This is what he believes. We know, because he said it before.
Isn’t it ironic that Rmoney credits the safety net at the same time that he and his goose-stepping pals are fighting to destroy it. They are not concerned with the poor, because they govern exclusively for the benefit of millionaires, billionaires, and corporate criminals.
Cartoon:
13 Responses to “Open Thread–2/2/2012”
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Damn he’s a fast reader! Straight to the head of the class!
INVASION OF PRIVACY!! 🙄
4:05 Not too good.
I’m relieved to know you were in no danger. Get some rest.
It seems that Stephen Hester is one lemming who didn’t follow the rest off the cliff.
The world will be watching Indiana on Sunday when the Hoosiers protest on Game Day.
Mittens: “We have a very ample safety net and we can talk about whether it needs to be strengthened or whether there are holes in it. But we have food stamps, we have Medicaid, we have housing vouchers, we have programs to help the poor,” Romney said. “But the middle-income Americans, they’re the folks that are really struggling right now.” But, the RepublicanTs keep trying to cut huge holes in that safety net which also harms the middle class.
Pity the poor elephant going belly-up. NOT!
You beat the average by over a minute.
Thanks. I never even smelled smoke.
May it be long and loud.
Amen.
Amen again!
I ditto – we’re a vulnerable bunch – it sometimes takes a little excitement to remind us of it – glad you’re safe – get some sleep!
Thanks! I did!
3:57 All three of us (you, me, Patty) beat the average by over a minute. That’s pretty good! You, however, beat it by more than a minute and a half. Maybe it is time to revise the one minute rule.
A minute doesn’t leave me safe any more. I’m a little over a minute difference today.
Dam this cat reads fast, must have learned to skim over the pages like our so called goverment leaders.
Welcome HH! 🙂
Actually, I am a speed reader.
RBS — I’m glad that Hester did the right thing, although I’m not convinced that he really agreed with it. The Chairman of the board seemed to be the catalyst for move. I also liked that Fred Goodwin, previous RBS boss was stripped of his knighthood which at the very least, is a big social faux pas. It would be good to see a broad based investigation and criminal charges come out of this.
And US banksters? So far, they have gotten off scott free. There definitely needs to be a broad based investigation and criminal charges. Additionally, there should be no bonuses until the American people are paid back for the bail out funds, and Glass-Steagall should be re-instated.
Indiana — Wouldn’t that be something if the football players in town for the Super Bowl who are members of the players’ association, stood shoulder to shoulder in solidarity with the Indiana workers demonstrating against the right to work legislation! It won’t happen because they have contract clauses also, but just imagine. This legislation is a cancer that must be stopped, and the only way to stop it is to put the Republican/Teabaggers on Newty’s Lunar Express. Slavery was defeated almost 150 years ago and it must remain in the annals of history.
Mr Flip-flop Rmoney — He has found several ways to say “I’m not concerned about the very poor. We have a safety net there.” but he hasn’t found a way to mean it! He said he was the guy to fix any holes in the net. He, and his cronies will get rid of the holes in the net by taking away the net. They are like one BC politican years ago that was pictured in a political cartoon pulling the wings off of flies. Only this time, it’s not flies but the poor/working/middle classes of American workers. The Republican/Teabaggers do not represent the American people, they represent corporations and the 1%.
Cartoon — I’d like to think that there is not one Republican representative or senator in DC on behalf of Oregon, but that is almost too much to hope for. But at least Cornilles went down hard and Bonamici is soaring high!
Patricia A and others had to protest big time before he gave it up.
You’re right. It’s obscene.
I’m hoping that the do something to show solidarity.
Exactly.
We have one US Rep, but he’s from Eastern Oregon. Politically they think they are part of Idaho. WE have the other four Reps and both Senators.