Governor Walker - Koch Prank

It does not surprise me that a politician will never shut up but Governor Scott Walker (R) of Wisconsin was all to eager to talk with David Koch about his union busting agenda. If you don't know who David Koch is then you need to think extreme right wing of the Republican party. Except this was not David Koch calling.

A prankster called the Governor and surprisingly was able to get through posing as David Koch. And the Governor didn't have to be prompted to spill his guts on all the dirty political tricks he is willing to pull against Democrats to bust the public service unions in Wisconsin. Listen in from You Tube to part one...



And then we have part two...



This Governor is not a man of the people when people in his own state legislature can not get through to him but a billionaire financier from California can. His agenda is single minded and it is anti union across the board. When he praised President Ronald Reagan for firing the air traffic controllers it is just the beginning of the end of this mans political career.

Governor Scott Walker gets the scumbag of the year award for being a double dumb ass for falling for a prank call and for just being a total ass. If he honestly believed in his legislation to break the unions, he would have included all unions in the state bargaining agreements. Not leaving out certain ones because of public safety or any excuse he gave. He didn't include all of the states public employee unions because some of them actually back him, and those that don't are screwed.

Papamoka

Zynga Mega Billions

If you happen to play Mafia Wars, or Farmville, or Cityville, and the list goes on then you already know who Zynga is. They are your Facebook drug dealer that you always feel the need to click and click and click and click. You click on the games so much that your computer mouse is an abused animal that puts you at the top of PETA’s hit list. I have a constant fear that the Zynga task force unit is going to break my door down on a daily basis. And yes I am addicted to Zynga online games.

Out on Wall Street, the folks at Zynga are up for a huge pay day with the company being valued at almost ten billion in an initial public offering. The number of visitors to the online gaming site is unreal at 275 million users per month. That leads the company to the street in their IPO to raise $500,000,000.00. That is a sweet payday for them.

Zynga, the company behind many of the Web’s most viral games, is in advanced discussions on an investment that would value the company at nearly $10 billion and could pave the way for an initial public offering next year.

SNIP

Zynga has emerged as one of the fastest-growing companies on the Internet, propelled by the popularity of games like CityVille and FarmVille.

In CityVille, which began in December, users create and manage virtual cities, constructing buildings and collecting taxes.

The game, like most in Zynga’s stable, has flourished on Facebook, where it reigns as the site’s top-ranked game with 96 million active users a month, according to AppData. FarmVille is second, with 51 million players.

All together, Zynga’s games attract more than 275 million users every month on Facebook, making it the most popular gaming service on the platform and a major contributor to the social network’s revenue. – New York Times

I’m thinking that I need to create an online game at how fast you can bounce the checkbook. Or how about adding more duct tape to your vehicle so it passes inspection? Zynga has a gold mine thanks to all of the people addicted to Facebook but that was an article we already discussed here.

One thing is sure, Mark Pinkus, the big dog at Zynga will never have to worry about borrowing lunch money ever again. Good for him and all the people behind the scene at Zynga! I just wonder what level he is in Farmville, Mafia Wars and…

Papamoka

Renewable Energy Job Creation

Republicans are proposing slashing the DOE budget by two billion, in areas where renewable energy breakthroughs are playing a huge roll in America’s energy independence. As we all know, the republican’s are very concerned with saving money at the federal level as long as it doesn’t touch their pockets or friends with campaign donations pockets. You know the players as big oil, big coal, and mega electric industries with their more than generous checkbook to the GOP political base.

The Continuing Resolution as it stands would slice over two billion dollars from the DOE's budget alone and would have detrimental impacts on the state of American energy innovation. The budget cuts would force the layoffs of scientists and engineers, shrink the capabilities of laboratories and universities to perform the most critical cutting-edge energy research projects, and, by cutting funds for highly-leveraged loan guarantee programs, steer private sector funds away from American entrepreneurs and small businesses looking to demonstrate and deploy their innovative energy technologies on American soil. – WattHead Energy

It’s going to be hard to stop the renewable energy industry now that it is rolling along and the dividends being paid are in long term good paying Green jobs. Jobs are about to pop up in Wyoming that were born from many of the same programs the Republican’s are slashing to the bone regardless.

Gestamp has partnered with Ohio-based Worthington Industries, Inc. to create a joint venture, Gestamp Worthington Wind Steel, LLC. Together, they will produce towers for wind turbines constructed in the North American market. The initial production facility will stand on 30 acres in Cheyenne, and could employ as many as 150 people when fully operational.

The proposed facility will produce utility-scale towers for 2 to 3-MW wind turbines. The partners plan to begin shipments of 80 to 100-ft long tower sections in early 2012. – Windpower Engineering

Holy crap, who’d of thunk that renewable energy funding would have created long term jobs? How can that be possible if it’s renewable energy? Isn’t that an oxymoron? Or as some on the right side of the aisle that don’t believe in science would suggest, it takes more energy to build a solar panel than it creates in its working lifetime. WRONG!

Could it be that the American economy is broken, busted, out of money because it plays favorites with far too many old industries such as oil, coal and electric? Where are the budget cuts for those industries in the Republican money saving plan? They don’t exist is where those cuts are? The DOE budget for administering fossil fuels is cut but the subsidies are not. You know why, I know why, it’s just more of the same pretentious and shamefulness of politics and our government at work.

My good friend, a conservative at heart, is constantly telling me that the government should stay out of business peoples business. I agree to a point. I don’t agree that the monopoly that is our archaic energy system in America should be given a free ride over new technology that is beneficial to our children’s health, energy independence, and future.

Papamoka

Hand Made Soap

I’ve never been one to use any all natural products when it comes to bathroom shower products. Shaving cream comes out of a can, always has for as long as I’ve been alive. Shampoo for the hair has always been something that comes in a plastic bottle that the instructions tell you to wash rinse and repeat. Boring reading but it gets the job done. Soap to shower with has never been something that I have ever thought of till recently. Having a girlfriend that is into nothing but all natural things tends to tweak your thought process when you read on your regular brand of soap that it was made somewhere via a mysterious process that might be next to a nuclear power plant that has a record keeping problem for what happened to ten tons of missing spent fuel, there might be a reason for concern. I like to read in bed but I don’t feel the need to have my body soap residue provide the light.

A friend of mine just opened her own hand made soap business, and being my friend for many years I felt the need to try her product to support her entrepreneurship. Or I just needed a shower and she had soap that I needed. Either way, I was amazed at her soap product the first time I tried it. Tea Time is one of the soaps that I received and the soap is incredible. The feel of the soap on your body is so different from anything that has a name brand. I didn’t just feel clean, I felt refreshed and ready to tackle anything ahead of me for the day.

I don’t do product endorsements but I feel the need to do one for my friend Chell that owns Huckleberry Glen. Chell makes soap in her home by hand with all natural ingredients and each bar is labeled with all of the ingredients. I actually checked the label twice and there is no mention of any dye’s or chemicals that I could never pronounce or even dare to try and spell. Chemicals with long names and strange placement of letters in them is something to watch for if you want all natural ingredients for anything you want in contact with your body.

Check out Huckleberry Glen and try the soaps. I highly recommend the product and I don’t do endorsements unless I believe in the product. She has all kinds but I’m hooked on the Tea Time soap for now. Huckleberry Pancakes, Star Dust, North Wood, Honey Oatmeal, Coffee, Sweet Rose, and of course my favorite, Tea Time are just some of the soaps she has available. Amazing stuff that lathers up good and it is nice to know that it is all made by hand with all natural ingredients. Check the site often because I hear from the grapevine that she is coming out with other soaps that just might be up your alley.

CLICK HERE to visit Huckleberry Glen and thank you for supporting a hard working mom starting a small business here in America.

Papamoka

Death of American Innovation

The United States of America has long been known for its abilities to produce the next great machine. Expanding our nation’s abilities by building products in factories and relying on its workforce to innovate original designs, streamline production, increase product quality, and in return supply a living wage to our citizens. Innovations come from people making a product in a factory and being proud of the next great widget that they were a part of from the start. They don’t come from an office worker sending a production order to be built overseas or just over the border where wages are disgustingly low but corporate profits are high.

More and more, American companies are outsourcing their manufacturing out of the country and that is a potential blow to our future economy no matter how you look at it. The cost savings today to the American companies are paid for in lost American jobs for future generations. This then begets a “Do you want fries with that” economy. An economic engine where two cars in every driveway, parents being able to send the next generation to college, and the demise of the American dream of home ownership will not be realistic to sustain.

Over at the New York Times they have a great piece on this subject by Louis Uchitelle…

“The big debate today is whether we can continue to be competitive in R&D when we are not making the stuff that we innovate,” she says. “I think not; the two can’t be separated.”

THE loss of manufacturing capacity, measured in lost workers, is startling. From the high point in the summer of 1979, through last month, employment in manufacturing has fallen by 8.1 million, to 11.6 million, with most of the drop in just the last decade. While consumers have benefited from lower prices, made possible by unrestricted imports, on the other side of the ledger are tens of billion of dollars in lost manufacturing wages.

Something else is gone, too. “We had a storehouse of knowledge and skill built up in these workers and we can’t use it now,” says James Jordan, president of the Interstate Maglev Project, promoting a high-speed rail technology that uses special magnets to levitate and propel trains. Maglev was invented in the United States, but equipment based on that technology is manufactured and used today in Japan.

Mr. Jordan argues that as manufacturing’s presence — and status — shrinks in America, the odds of a Henry Ford or a Thomas Edison or a Steve Jobs appearing in the next generation are reduced. -New York Times

How do we fix this? My thoughts are the same as they always have been. Make it costly to corporations that want to export existing manufacturing jobs out of the United States. When you come right down to it, we should have a “Keep the Jobs in America” campaign and it doesn’t matter which political party wants to get behind it. Either party that does back such a movement will deserve thumbs up from the next generation of innovators. People that will be thankful that they will not have to look forward to a thirty plus year career at Walmart stocking shelves full of products that used to be manufactured for good wages right here at home.

Feel free to comment and shout out on products no longer made in this country. It would be interesting to see a list of industries that have died but were born in the USA.

***Yet another related Posts from Gun Toting Liberal concerning Walmart and their selling out of America...

Papamoka

Bachmann Backpedals on VA Cuts

Thanks to people like you that responded to this and other blogs, Congresswoman Michele Bachmann is reversing her position on cutting disabled veteran benefits. Click HERE for the original post that first brought up the subject. Thankfully, she saw the public outrage over this issue and decided to remove this particular section from her proposals on reducing the size of our federal government.

We have this to report from her congressional web page…

"One point on my discussion list was a $4.5 billion proposal that would affect payments made to our veterans. That discussion point has received a lot of attention and I have decided to remove it from consideration. The problem of government spending must be solved, but not on the backs of our nation’s war heroes. I have always been a proud supporter of the United States military and I continue to stand with our veterans. In the months ahead I look forward to working with our Veterans Service Organizations to ensure that we fulfill our commitments to those who sacrificed so much in their brave service for our country.” Michele Bachmann

We will keep you updated when she pulls another batshit loon move. I’m sure it won’t be long.

Papamoka