KEYTLaw » You Can’t Make This Up

City Council In Illinois May Ban Eye-Rolling

On the Net — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 19:06:11 +0000

Forbes: “Citizens’ right to sigh in exasperation also threatened. . . . Reportedly, Darlene Helsop had hoped to speak to the finance committee about its plan to hire a state lobbyist, but wasn’t given the opportunity to do so. She sighed and rolled her eyes, to the great irritation of committee chairman Stephen Hipskind. “Making faces behind the mayor’s back is disruptive, in my opinion,” he said, and he ordered Helsop to leave.” The city council apparently asked its attorney if it could change it rules to ban eye rolling as disorderly conduct.

Senator Who Served in Vietnam Evasive on Paying Taxes on His $7 Million Yacht After Getting Caught with Hand in Tax Cookie Jar

On the Net — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 15:26:23 +0000

Boston Herald: “John Kerry bails on taxing questions. Sen. John Kerry, hounded by questions over whether he is dodging state and local taxes on his ultra-luxe $7 million sailing yacht, yesterday slammed his car door on a pack of reporters demanding to know if he would pony up to the cash-strapped commonwealth. . . . Kerry . . . wouldn’t specifically address whether he’d cough up some $500,000 in state use and local excise taxes.”

See “John Kerry – A One-Man ‘Benedict Arnold’ Corporation.”

Update: “Sen. Kerry to pay taxes for docking yacht in RI.”

Audit Finds US Cannot Account for $8.7 Billion of $9.1 Billion Spent on Iraq Reconstruction

On the Net — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 15:18:01 +0000

Here’s a perfect example why nobody in their right mind wants the U.S. government to be in charge of anything important other than national defense. An audit finds that the U.S. has no clue on what happened to $8.7 billion of $9.1 billion spent on reconstruction in Iraq. Really! This is not a joke.

Government Insanity – Small California City Pays Three Employees $1.6 Annual Salary

On the Net — Sun, 25 Jul 2010 13:27:11 +0000

More proof that the taxpayers exist to pay for the ruling class. Orange County Register: “the city manager of Bell [California], Robert Rizzo, receives a salary of $787,637 as the top bureaucrat in a city of about 38,000 residents, mostly Latinos. Bell’s Police Chief Randy Adams makes $457,000 a year while Assistant City Manager Angela Spaccia gets $376,288. This might not sound like a lot to you but Bell is one of the poorest cities in L.A. County.” That’s a combined salary of $1,620,925 for the three imperial city workers. The police chief makes more than the head of the Los Angeles (population 3.8 miillion) Police Department. Four of the five members of the part time city council make almost $100,000 a year. When Rizzo retires, he will become the highest paid retired California employee at over $650,000 a year.

See “California Official’s $800,000 Salary in City of 38,000 Triggers Protests.”

Millionaire John Kerry Who Served in Vietnam & Pushes Higher Taxes for Americans Docks Yacht in RI to Avoid MA Taxes

On the Net — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 16:57:37 +0000

How do these people continue to get reelected to office the ruling class? See “Sen. John Kerry skips town on sails tax,” which reports that

“Sen. John Kerry, who has repeatedly voted to raise taxes while in Congress, dodged a whopping six-figure state tax bill on his new multimillion-dollar yacht by mooring her in Newport, R.I. . . . Sources say Isabel [the Vietnam vet's new yacht] l sold for something in the neighborhood of $7 million, meaning Kerry saved approximately $437,500 in sales tax and an annual excise tax of about $70,000.”

More proof that taxes are for the little people.

Obama Awards $1.45 Billion Loan Guarantee to Company Promising 85 Jobs

On the Net — Sun, 11 Jul 2010 23:39:01 +0000

Daily Caller reports from the “it’s not our money that the US doesn’t have so we can spend as much as we like, especially if we say its for green energy” department: “Abengoa Solar, which received $1.45 billion from the Department of Energy, admits on its website that it will use the money to build a plant in Arizona that will create only 85 permanent jobs.”

Dictatorship of San Francisco May Ban Sale of Pets except Fish

On the Net — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 14:22:26 +0000

San Francisco Chronicle: “Sell a guinea pig, go to jail. That’s the law under consideration by San Francisco’s Commission of Animal Control and Welfare. If the commission approves the ordinance at its meeting tonight, San Francisco could soon have what is believed to be the country’s first ban on the sale of all pets except fish.”

Ever Vigilant Consumer Product Safety Commission Always Looking for Reasons to Justify Its Existence Now Warning Parents About Opening Windows

On the Net — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 20:16:35 +0000

From the your tax dollars at work department. No. We did not make up the warning from the Consumer Products Safety Commission that appears under the headline in bold below. After reading it, I can’t wait for possible future announcements from the CPSC that may warn parents about the dangers of children:

Falling down stairs
Opening kitchen drawers and playing with knifes
Putting hands in garbage disposals
Swallowing can openers that contain excessive levels of lead
(Infants) falling into open toilet bowls and drowning
In Iowa being attached by a shark.

CPSC Urges Parents and Caregivers to Consider Safety Before Opening Windows

Opening windows in your home to enjoy the warmer temperatures may seem harmless, but windows have proven to be sources of injury and death for young children. In recent weeks, several children have fallen from windows and U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) data indicates that on average, about eight deaths occur yearly to children five years or younger while an estimated 3,300 children five and younger are treated each year in U.S. hospital emergency departments. Hospitalization was required for about 34 percent of these children after falling from a window.

These deaths and injuries frequently occur when kids push themselves against window screens or climb onto furniture located next to an open window.

“The deaths and life-altering injuries we have seen here at CPSC are heart-breaking and in many cases preventable,” said CPSC Chairman Inez Tenenbaum. “We want parents and caregivers to think safety before opening the windows where young children are present.”

“Window falls increase dramatically during the spring and summer months but they can be prevented,” said Chrissy Cianflone, Director of Programs for Safe Kids USA. “It takes active supervision on the part of the parent or caregiver, and a device called a window guard. Screens are meant to keep bugs out, not kids in. Window guards are easy to install and have a release mechanism in the event of an emergency.”

“The window fall season is upon us. The harmless act of opening a window to enjoy the beautiful weather can lead to tragedy unless parents and caregivers of young children exercise proper safety precautions,” said Mindy A. Bockstein, Chairperson and Executive Director of the New York State Consumer Protection Board. “Let’s not be lulled into a false sense of security by window screens but properly install window guards and follow other safety measures.”

More Evidence that the American Education System Gets an F for Not Educating Americans

On the Net — Sun, 04 Jul 2010 15:56:48 +0000

I love Jay Leno’s “Jaywalking” where he goes on the street and asks people simple questions about the United States. It’s funny, but very sad. Americans can tell you who won American Idol, but don’t have a clue about the history of our great country. This video is about the 4th of July and U.S. history. Do an experiment and ask people under 45 the questions Jay asks. The American education system has failed recent generations of Americans because it has not educated young people. At the end of the segment, Jay asks a grandfather the questions that stumped the other people and he rattles correct and immediate answers to every question. It’s proof that at one time the U.S. education system educated young people about the history of the United States.

Litigating the Number of Men vs. Women in College Sports: The Ongoing Folly of Title IX

On the Net — Sat, 03 Jul 2010 20:04:34 +0000

Minding the Campus: “Connecticut’s Quinnipiac College, best known for its political polling, is now at the center of the newest round in the controversy over Title IX and women’s sports. In a trial that opened last week, a federal judge must decide whether competitive cheerleading should count as a sport for gender equity purposes. The case illustrates the complexities — and some would say, the inanities — of the debate over gender and college athletics.”