UPS

I Hate When That Happens

                                UPS Truck Strikes Mentor House


Authorities are investigating a Monday evening crash in Mentor that sent a UPS truck into a house.  (I hate when that happens)

Mentor Fire Department Battalion Chief Terry Szabo said crews were called out at about 7:30 p.m. to the area of 7198 Lake Shore Blvd. for a motor vehicle accident.

Szabo said a UPS truck, headed westbound, sideswiped a white car going the opposite direction before continuing through a neighbor’s yard and into the living room of the house at 7180 Lake Shore.



You can read the whole story here plus pictures and video.


Uncategorized

The American Sellout

Wednesday, July 6, 2011





Mexican trucks: Today’s attack on the middle class





Once again the multinationals are having their way with the U.S. government at the expense of the American middle class. Today U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood and his counterpart in Mexico signed away thousands of good American trucking and warehousing jobs by agreeing to open the border to Mexican trucks.

The Teamsters will fight to keep the border closed to dangerous trucks, as they have for almost two decades. Teamster General President Jim Hoffa had harsh words for the agreement:

Opening the border to dangerous trucks at a time of high unemployment and rampant drug violence is a shameful abandonment of the DOT’s duty to protect American citizens from harm and to spend American tax dollars responsibly.

This so-called pilot program is a concession to multinational corporations that send jobs to Mexico. It erodes our national security. It endangers motorists. It ignores the rampant corruption among Mexican law enforcement. It lowers wages and robs jobs from hard-working American truck drivers and warehouse workers.

It adds insult to injury to force U.S. taxpayers to pay for monitoring equipment on Mexican trucks so Mexican carriers can take away their jobs. The DOT shows more loyalty to the Mexican people than it does to Americans.
The Owner-Operators Independent Drivers Association isn’t pleased either. Their press release said small-business truckers and drivers are fuming about the deal. Said OOIDA President Jim Johnston,


If the agreement is good for the U.S. why the hell is he (Secretary LaHood) sneaking down there to sign it?” … Why not let the public see the details before signing the agreement? Seems like the Administration is dead set on caving to Mexico’s shakedown regardless of the costs to the American public and our tax coffers.
And Rep. Peter DeFazio, an Oregon Democrat, filed a bill today to limit the pilot program and forbid the U.S. government from spending taxpayer money on equipment for Mexican trucks.  DeFazio said,

…three issues must be addressed in the cross-border trucking program: safety, security and job loss. I have sent several letters to DOT asking them to address these issues. My calls for caution have gone unanswered. My legislation puts the brakes on a bad deal for American truck drivers and the traveling public…As we debate deep and harsh cuts to programs that help middle class families, it is outrageous that taxpayers are being told to foot the bill for the Mexican trucking industry to comply with American safety standards…



Posted by Teamster Power at 2:32 PM

Uncategorized

Prepare For the Attack



Super PACs target Colorado

Karl Rove ‘s Crossroads GPS is buying online and TV political ads.

By Kurtis Lee
The Denver Post

Posted: 07/09/2011 01:00:00 AM MDT
     Eight months after the 2010 midterm elections, Colorado is once again a targeted swing state by so-called super PACs.
Crossroads GPS, an independent conservative advocacy group started by Karl Rove, announced Friday that it has launched $291,190 in TV and Internet ads here for the next two weeks.
     Nationally, the organization will spend about $7 million in the two-week span, with ads also airing in North Carolina, Iowa, New Mexico, Nevada and Virginia.
     “It’s a taste of things to come,” said Eric Sondermann, a local independent political analyst. “These super PACs are going to be much more the norm than the exception between now and the 2012 election.”
     Officially known as independent expenditure-only committees, super PACs represent spending by individuals, corporations or unions advocating for or against candidates. However, expenditures cannot be in direct cooperation with a candidate or political party.
     Sondermann said the groups’ presence in Colorado speaks to the pivotal role the state will play in the 2012 election.
     In 2010, Colorado was the No. 1 state in attracting outside money as PACs pumped millions into the U.S. Senate race between GOP hopeful Ken Buck and incumbent Democrat Michael Bennet.
     “It was a new phenomenon in 2010, but the list of targeted states seems to be shrinking from then till now, which puts even more of a premium on Colorado’s nine electoral votes,” Sondermann said.
     This is the second phase of Crossroads’ summer-long, $20 million nationwide effort attacking Democrats and President Barack Obama on government spending and the national debt.
     “After the Supreme Court’s ruling in Citizens United vs. Federal Election Commission, it allowed corporations and unions to use Treasury dollars to make independent expenditures and electioneering communications,” said Mary Brandenberger, a Federal Election Commission spokeswoman.
     Last month, Crossroads churned out its first phase of summer funds, which was $5 million in ads — spanning 10 states, including Colorado — that went after Obama’s record on the economy.
     In response, Priorities USA, a pro-Democratic group started by former Obama staffers Bill Burton and Sean Sweeney, began a multistate advertising campaign “to inform voters about the source of the Rove ads and the truth about the Republican economic record.”
     “Republicans are playing a familiar game: When the facts aren’t behind them, they simply ignore the truth,” said Rick Palacio, the Democratic Party state chairman, about the latest ad campaign by Crossroads.
     “Karl Rove is afraid that when the American people see a president working for them, Republican political fortunes suffer, so he and his allies will do whatever they can to undermine the president.”
     Ryan Call, the GOP’s state chairman, said he doesn’t expect these outside groups to supplant the traditional roles of candidates and political parties.
     “Reminding Colorado voters about Obama’s failed leadership on the economy is certainly a role that some of these outside groups will play,” Call said.

Action

Several Thoughts for the Day

1. Do not argue with an idiot. He will drag you down to his levelI Wonder What You Meant By That?
and beat you with experience.
 2. The last thing I want to do is hurt you. But it’s still on my list.
 3. Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear
bright until you hear them speak.
 4. If I agreed with you, we’d both be wrong.
 5. We never really grow up, we only learn how to act in public.
 6. War does not determine who is right – only who is left.
 7. Knowledge is knowing a tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is not putting
it in a fruit salad.
 8. Evening news is where they begin with ‘Good Evening,’ and then
proceed to tell you why it isn’t.
 9. To steal ideas from one person is plagiarism. To steal from many is research.
10. A bus station is where a bus stops. A train station is where a train stops. On my desk, I have a work station.
11. I thought I wanted a career. Turns out I just wanted paychecks.
12. Whenever I fill out an application, in the part that says, ‘In case of emergency, notify:’ I put ‘DOCTOR.’
13. I didn’t say it was your fault, I said I was blaming you.
14. Women will never be equal to men until they can walk down the
street with a bald head and a beer gut, and still think they are sexy.
15. Behind every successful man is his woman. Behind the fall of a
successful man is usually another woman.
16. A clear conscience is the sign of a fuzzy memory.
17. I asked God for a bike, but I know God doesn’t work that way. So I stole a bike and asked for forgiveness.
18. You do not need a parachute to skydive. You only need a parachute to skydive twice.
19. Money can’t buy happiness, but it sure makes misery easier to live with.
 20. There’s a fine line between cuddling and holding someone down so they can’t get away.
 21. I used to be indecisive. Now I’m not so sure.
 22. You’re never too old to learn something stupid.
 23. To be sure of hitting the target, shoot first and call whatever you hit the target.
 24. Nostalgia isn’t what it used to be.
 25. Change is inevitable, except from a vending machine.
 26. Going to church doesn’t make you a Christian any more than
standing in a garage makes you a car.
 27. A diplomat is someone who tells you to go to hell in such a way that you look forward to the trip.
 28. Hospitality is making your guests feel at home even when you wish they were.
 29. I always take life with a grain of salt. Plus a slice of lemon, and a shot of tequila.
 30. When tempted to fight fire with fire, remember that the Fire
Department usually uses water

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