The top Republican in the Senate said Sunday that GOP lawmakers "may well" vote for a jobs bill this week.
Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., prefers a costlier version drafted with GOP input and he didn't commit his support to advance the legislation on Monday to a final vote this coming week.
The pending measure would provide businesses that hire the unemployed a one-year break from payroll taxes and a $1,000 tax credit if those workers stay on the job for a full year. The cost is estimated at $13 billion.
The measure would extend a tax break for small businesses buying new equipment, provide a $20 billion infusion of highway and transit money, and help states and local governments finance big public works projects.
Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., upset Republicans this month when he scrapped a bipartisan measure that had many more proposals that weren't directly aimed at boosting job growth.
Reid dumped business tax breaks and other items on wish lists sought by lobbyists. But he also took out provisions to extend unemployment insurance for the long-term jobless and health insurance subsidies for the unemployed that expire on Feb. 28.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/22/2010 00:00 ||
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Demand needs to be there, giving a tax break to hire when Im unsure what else the employees will cost (healthcare etc), and when I still do not have enough solid demand for growth, and do not have solid credit markets to go to for growth...
Stupid.
The way to get demand going: let people keep more of their money, and cut government spending (including the green jobs crap and the healthcare takeover) so people don't worry about government debt spurring inflation.
Once again McConnell demonstrates why he and his old "big government" GOP buddies are part of the problem instead of the solution.
#2
Good thing there is a lot of difference between the Rethugs and the Dhimmicrats these days, and that they don't insist on tripling down on stupid at every opportunity.
Except its insulting and grossly unfair to real whores. At least with them you know you're getting screwed, expect it, and might even enjoy it. And usually the application of various antibiotic(s) will clear up any 'extas' they might give ya...
Former House Speaker Marco Rubio now has a whopping 18-point lead over Gov. Charlie Crist in the Florida Senate primary, a new Rasmussen poll (442 LVs, 2/18, MoE +/- 5%) shows.
Primary Election Matchup
Rubio 54 (+5 vs. last poll, 1/27)
Crist 36 (-1)
Und 7 (-4)
The numbers come as Rubio is coming off a well-received appearance before a national audience of conservative activists, while Crist is attempting to step up his efforts against him. Crist now has a net-negative job approval rating among the Republicans surveyed, with 48 percent approving and 49 percent disapproving. He's also viewed unfavorably by 44 percent, favorably by 54 percent. Rubio's fav/unfav split is 67 / 15.
Rubio now leads by 11.6 in the RCP Average.
The primary is August 24. Rasmussen says that both Crist and Rubio "have large leads over likely Democratic nominee, Congressman Kendrick Meek." Those numbers will be out tomorrow.
Sen. Barbara "Call me Senator" Boxer, facing a tightening race for a fourth term, is pounding the new Democratic mantra -- jobs, jobs, jobs -- while her signature issue, climate change, languishes on Capitol Hill.
"I know that job recovery is paramount -- I've known this for years, and we can do this with clean-energy jobs," the Rancho Mirage Democrat said in an interview last week. "It works."
Boxer may have a bit more selling to do in the Coachella Valley -- and across California, where higher than average unemployment and collapsing state revenues have created a financial crisis.
Against that backdrop, Boxer, who last won her seat with 58 percent of the vote, faces perhaps the toughest re-election fight of her Senate career this fall.
The Republicans lining up against her include former Hewlett Packard CEO Carly Fiorina; Tom Campbell, a former California congressman and academic; and state Assemblyman Chuck DeVore.
They depict her as a classic, big-spending liberal who's numb to the pains of working people and to the effects of record federal deficits and debt.
A recent Rasmussen survey of likely voters showed Boxer leading each of the three but lacking 50 percent against any of them, which is considered a sign of potential vulnerability for an incumbent.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/22/2010 00:00 ||
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dumb as a box of hair, she needs to goooooo
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/22/2010 8:52 Comments ||
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One simple question and her answer will put the nail in her political coffin. What have you done, "Call me Senator" for the water in the central valley of California? Zippo. Nada. Blank. Nothing.
Posted by: Art ||
02/22/2010 9:46 Comments ||
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I think of Rancho Mirage as being a fairly conservative area...out in the desert where Republicans play golf and farmers grow dates and grapefruit. It's where Gerald Ford lived out his retirement. It's certainly not Santa Monica.
George Will on Sunday took on Donna Brazile's claim that the Republicans are the Party of No.
After fill-in host Terry Moran on ABC's "This Week" asked Brazile if President Obama is guilty of not challenging dissenting members of his own Party, the Democrat strategist went into the predictable talking point about the gridlock in Washington all being the fault of Republicans.
"I think President Obama is leading," she unsurprisingly said. "But unfortunately, you have a Republican Party that has decided that by saying no, they can, you know, perhaps gain more at the polls this coming fall."
Will was having none of this, and smartly countered, "I want to say something in defense, particularly to Donna, of being the Party of No. The Republican Party elected its first president because he said no to a bright idea a Democratic Senator had."
Posted by: Fred ||
02/22/2010 00:00 ||
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"But unfortunately, you have a Republican Party that has decided that by saying no, they can, you know, perhaps gain more at the polls this coming fall."
She is right. The Republicans need to say "HELL NO!" not just "no".
#2
Sometimes little children need to hear the word "no" so they learn where the boundaries of acceptable behavior are. Sometimes you have to slap their wrists or even spank their little butts.
#5
Saying NO to stupiod, incendiary or destructive ideas isn't obstructionism, it's maturity and sanity.
This idea that the best way is always the middle way, or that government has a role to play in every aspect of life, we just need to moderate what that role is, is nuts.
The best reatment for cancer isn't a slower growing tumor, it's no tumor! The cancer of government growth into every aspect of our lives is the cancer that will destroy America. Saying NO to it isn't wrong, it's life-saving! What kind of a moron doesn't get this simple fact?
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/22/2010 19:02 Comments ||
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If they are the party of NO, then the Dems must be the party of Duhhh. I mean, they had a big enough majority that they didn't need a single Repug vote (in theory) to pass whatever they wanted, and still couldn't manage to do it.
If you want Ohio politicians to give you the time of day, the annual fee -- as totaled by one of the wisest of Capitol Square's magi -- is now more than $130,000.
In 2008, it would have been $119,000.
That's a 9.2 percent increase over two years -- far more than the all-items Consumer Price Index, which over the past five years has climbed an average of 2.6 percent a year, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland.
What the fundraising frenzy means is that the hidden surcharge for Ohio politics (passed on to Ohio taxpayers as anti-consumer laws, bulging utility bills and sweetheart public contracts) is going through the roof.
The fund-tracker, who prefers not to be named, is a Statehouse lawyer-lobbyist of long standing, a gentleman of the old school -- i.e., a member of an endangered species. He saves every single fundraising invitation he gets. He also keeps track of the price of the cheapest single ticket to each of those events. Then he runs a total.
For the year that ended Jan. 31, the total cost of one ticket to each event would have been $130,388. For the comparable 2007-08 period, the tab would have been $118,880.
"Maybe the politicians don't know we are in hard economic times, or maybe it's an inflation factor," he wrote me.
He's correct on both counts.
First, some officeholders don't know how the rest of Ohio lives. You don't see hard times in Columbus bars and bistros; you see high times, and people (generally, men) telling each other how great they are. And most officeholders get top-shelf health insurance, courtesy of taxpayers, and will collect cushy, guaranteed pensions. (Health insurance is "socialism" only when you don't want someone else to have it.)
Second, inflation is a factor, though it's maybe not so much "price inflation" as "threat inflation." Obviously, political campaigns cost lots of money, especially for TV ads. But this is also key: A "mine's bigger than yours" campaign fund can spook potential challengers.
So the collection basket gets passed. For instance, the Republican Senate Campaign Committee in Ohio, according to Gongwer News Service, plans an April fundraiser. If you'd like to be a "gold sponsor," that'll be $5,000. Silver ($2,500) and bronze ($1,000) sponsorships are also available. And for $500, well, they'll let you in the door.
Meanwhile, term limits have touched off "everyone for her- or himself" fundraising. So first-termers from Anytown, Ohio, hold fundraisers at such swank sites as the Athletic Club of Columbus, or the Capital Club, in the headquarters building of Huntington Bancshares.
Few if any attendees of these long-range frolics -- held by Democrats and Republicans alike -- will be from that legislator's hometown. But woe to the lobbyist who doesn't at least send a check.
Democrats' dicey prospects up the tempo -- and the ante. Democrats run the House 53-46; Republicans could win it back. And Democrats run the Apportionment Board 3-2.
The Apportionment Board will redraw General Assembly districts in 2011 to suit the party that runs the board. For Democrats to keep running the board, at least two of these three Democrats -- Gov. Ted Strickland, state auditor candidate David Pepper, secretary of state candidate Maryellen O'Shaughnessy -- must win this fall.
Polls show Strickland's GOP challenger, former U.S. Rep. John R. Kasich, in the lead. And pending a Republican primary, the GOP's likely auditor candidate (Delaware County Prosecuting Attorney David Yost) and secretary of state candidate (Dayton-area state Sen. Jon Husted) are formidable.
That's why Ohio Republicans are pawing at the starting gate -- and both Ohio Republicans and Ohio Democrats are foraging for donations like hogs rooting for truffles.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/22/2010 00:00 ||
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And for real Ohioans, unemployment and the housing collapse are acutely painful, and tax revenues for local and the state government are shrinking. Party on, pols!
Thousands of disabled Bay Staters in dire need of federal aid are facing longer delays after a Patrick administration decision to furlough more than 80 percent of the workers handling their claims, officials and advocates say.
The move sets up a battle between the state and the federal government, with the nation's top Social Security honcho calling Gov. Deval Patrick's decision "incomprehensible" and saying he cannot rule out legal action.
"I can't conceive of how anyone would think this would make any sense," U.S. Social Security Commissioner Michael J. Astrue told the Herald. "Massachusetts isn't saving money. I just think it's incomprehensible."
Astrue said the Patrick administration told him that 228 of 272 employees in the state's two Disability Determination Services Offices, which process thousands of disability applications a year, are to be furloughed. So far, 14 DDS managers have been furloughed. Astrue questioned the logic in furloughing the workers when the office is federally funded.
Robert Bliss, a Patrick administration spokesman, acknowledged that the state will see no savings by furloughing the employees.
"The issue is equal treatment" of all employees, he said. "We have asked state employees to share the sacrifice across management and through concessions from state employee unions."
Posted by: Fred ||
02/22/2010 00:00 ||
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Robert Bliss, a Patrick administration spokesman, acknowledged that the state will see no savings by furloughing the employees.
But it certainly may slow the bleeding from the rubber stamping of bogus Social Security disability claims, which appear to be skyrocketing nationwide.
"The issue is equal treatment" of all employees, he said. "We have asked state employees to share the sacrifice across management and through concessions from state employee unions."
Hey, bud, union rules never were needed to make sense. When you have them, you have to work around and with them.
#5
As someone who receives Social Security Disability (with good reason), I know from experience that the DDS Offices almost always deny the first claim. I ended up hiring a lawyer specializing in Social Security disability law. My time before the judge lasted less than 10 minutes, and my last application was approved.
Many of the people filing for Social Security disability don't meet the requirement that they have a condition that renders them unemployable. That is the most common determining factor in approving or disapproving SSDI.
As for Deval Patrick, picking a fight with the US Government is NOT a good idea. The fed can win by simply withholding ANY funding to Massachusetts. I don't remember if the government has ever done something like that before, but it's within their capability.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
02/22/2010 16:44 Comments ||
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The leading concrete testing company in New York and its owner were convicted on Wednesday of falsifying the test results of different concrete mixes that were eventually used in some of the most prominent projects in the city. The verdict was a stunning defeat for the company, Testwell Laboratories, whose officials had denied any intent to defraud and said that any wrongdoing was limited to bookkeeping errors.
Jurors are still considering a more serious charge, enterprise corruption, against Testwell and its owner, V. Reddy Kancharla. It carries a maximum sentence of 25 years in prison. The jurors had yet to reach a verdict on that count when Justice Edward J. McLaughlin of State Supreme Court in Manhattan asked them to deliver the verdicts they had decided.
Testwell, a 41-year-old company with headquarters in Ossining, N.Y., was hired to evaluate the strength not exactly, as it says farther in the article
of concrete used in projects including the new Yankee Stadium, the Freedom Tower and the Second Avenue subway line. Prosecutors and others familiar with the case have said that any falsified tests did not create safety hazards, although the stadium's concrete pedestrian ramps have been troubled by cracks that required repair. There are a great many things involved in premature concrete cracking. Mix design is only one of them.
The convictions delivered on Wednesday dealt with what are known as mixed-design reports. Not mixed designs, moron, MIX designs. The design of concrete mixes or proportions.
For these reports, testers are supposed to put different concrete recipes through an eight-week analysis that involves making several batches of concrete and storing them in controlled environments. Each batch must then be put to a strength test that involves applying pressure until the concrete cracks, prosecutors said. Based on these tests, the inspectors recommend a formula for a project, prosecutors said.
But on hundreds of occasions, Testwell skipped these tests, instead relying on strength estimates tabulated in a computer program, prosecutors said. Hey Frank, this looks like 47V, F, and W and 84 B and O, whaddaya say we just estimate the average? That's what the computer says.
In his opening statement, Paul Shechtman, who represents Mr. Kancharla, attributed inaccuracies in reports to either errors or bad practices by low-level employees. The worst he's done is bill for tests instead of educated estimates.
After the guilty verdicts on Wednesday, Thomas D. Thacher II, president of Thacher Associates, a company hired by Testwell customers to review several of Testwell's projects, said: "Anybody who is certifying as to issues that affect safety and structural integrity must be double-checked. It's too easy to cheat and the incentives are too great, and the Testwell conviction demonstrates that." I agree, Tom. But he was not certifying to safety or integrity, and I bet you stand to gain some work out of his failure.
The journalist referred to it as "mixed designs". It is the design of a concrete mix -- a mix design. This is not falsifying tests, this is guessing about the best mix based on experience, backed up by the computer, when you should be running a test in case the gravel hardness had changed, or sand gradation was different from the last 200 mix designs.
But if you use the wrong mix design, it is only not an optimum mix. That hurts the contractors, not the State or the Customer. If the mix design is poor, more of the concrete tests in the field will fail. Failing concrete is replaced. If those tests are falsified, then you have a right to worry about the public good. As it is, it is just as likely that these estimates resulted in concrete just a little too strong.
A bit of perspective, too: In over 4,000 tests at my previous project, which I recorded and plotted, where the one mix design was prepared for 4,000 psi concrete, we had about 4 tests below that minimum. So few, and so close to the minimum that the specifications say they can be ignored. The average for the 4,000 psi mix design was 6,250 psi. The highest strength was over 8,000 psi. The wrong mix design might have resulted in the average being 6,100 psi, or 6,500 psi. Failing concrete would still be replaced.
This is a show trial, by an overzealous prosecutor, with ignorant attornys, and even dumber jurors. If he gets more than probation, it'll be a travesty. But it's New York City, and The New York Times.
Here endeth this session of Rantburg U. Thank you, Professor Bobby.
Posted by: Bobby ||
02/22/2010 14:39 ||
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"Testwell skipped these tests, instead relying on strength estimates tabulated in a computer program"
Oh, so they are using a computer model instead of actual observations. I thought the government was fine with that?
#3
I was at an indoor range in Knoxville once, and a fellow from a local company researching new 'cinder' blocks to be cheaper and lighter, yet bullet resistant for HUD projects.
Their test block not only failed to stop the rounds from a 9mm, they blew through it like it was styrofoam. The guy laughed and said "Back to the lab!"
A clear example of that no matter how nice your model, it's not reality. I do have to say, at least they were going to try again, not sell it on the basis of their models.
#4
Agree with Mr. Bobby, programs are fine and most concrete suppliers use them for estimating and building recipes, but real trial batches are required by Caltrans spec. Our lab takes sets and the plant usually has their own cylinders - we compare breaks. I wouldn't pour a high-strength mix without real tests. We poured a stair span on the downtown ped bridge that was 8,000 psi last Friday.
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/22/2010 19:09 Comments ||
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Silentbrick, I used to frequent an indoor range in Knoxville. Probably the same one you were in. BrerRabbit and I went there on lunch hour.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
02/22/2010 19:31 Comments ||
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I am appalled and would come down on Mr. Kancharla like a ton of ... concrete. Basically he didn't do what he promised and on a safety issue that, on failure, could kill hundreds or thousands of people.
It carries a maximum sentence of 25 years in prison.
Good.
Posted by: ed ||
02/22/2010 21:54 Comments ||
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OK, reading further, this was pre-construction stength testing. Further testing should catch substandard materials and workmanship after the concrete is poured, unless it's Mr. Kancharla doing that testing too. But that's god awfully expensive and wasteful to rip out concrete structures and start again from the foundation.
The testing system is designed to catch both incompetence and fraud. When the watchdog is crooked, the system breaks down.
Posted by: ed ||
02/22/2010 22:09 Comments ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
The top Republican in the Senate said Sunday that GOP lawmakers "may well" vote for a jobs bill this week.
Sen. Barbara "Call me Senator" Boxer, facing a tightening race for a fourth term, is pounding the new Democratic mantra -- jobs, jobs, jobs -- while her signature issue, climate change, languishes on Capitol Hill.
If you want Ohio politicians to give you the time of day, the annual fee -- as totaled by one of the wisest of Capitol Square's magi -- is now more than $130,000.
The leading concrete testing company in New York and its owner were convicted on Wednesday of falsifying the test results of different concrete mixes that were eventually used in some of the most prominent projects in the city. The verdict was a stunning defeat for the company, Testwell Laboratories, whose officials had denied any intent to defraud and said that any wrongdoing was limited to bookkeeping errors. 
The journalist referred to it as "mixed designs". It is the design of a concrete mix -- a mix design. This is not falsifying tests, this is guessing about the best mix based on experience, backed up by the computer, when you should be running a test in case the gravel hardness had changed, or sand gradation was different from the last 200 mix designs.
