“Safest Big City in America” drops yet another notch. It is not a coincidence that with both a lack of new officers for a growing population
and tying the hands of the officers we have from making appropriate arrests (thanks to the likes of the IPA, the Mercury etc) that the crime rate in San Jose is going up.
It is frightening to think that New York, and Honolulu are “safer cities” than we are. They have huge drug and gang problems there. YIKES! Either they have more Police Officers then we do, or they have a tougher judicial system than we do, or all the thugs are moving to San Jose!
I politely disagree with you on your point. The nightclub crowd has been saying the SJPD has been cramping their style for at least 15 years, yet for 6 years in a row San Jose still came in first place for the safest large city in America. SJPD has had the same staffing level since the mid 1990’s doing more with less. Our city is now paying a price. I personally think it is important for officers to solve “petty crime” and nip problems in the bud. When petty crime has happened to me or one of my family members it suddenly wasn’t so petty.
It’s not just the Mercury News that is stumbling into the mire, but other portions of the old Knight Ridder pretentious empire are too.
The latest is that McClatchy newspapers, headquartered in Sacrament, which seized the Miami Herald in the 2006 “trade & trade again” newspaper deal that deconstructed Knight Ridder, is trying to sell the Miami Herald which has all the bad habits pursued by the Mercury News.
“The bid to sell The (Miami) Herald continues the fallout from McClatchy’s $4.5 billion purchase in 2006 of Knight Ridder, the newspaper chain that had owned the Miami paper. Largely as a result of that deal, one of the biggest in the industry’s history, the company has about $2 billion in debt, payments on which eat up much of its cash flow.”
First place 2nd place, third base! Who gives a shit. Move the naughty clubs out of the down town.They never should have gotten permits to cluster so many in one given area to begin with. Who are the LANDLORDS that collect the rents? Chew on that one Kathleen!
END OF PROBLEM, Already!!!!!
Blinders
What bugs me are these people you see waiting to cross the street at an intersection and they are pushing the button to activate the “WALK” symbol but they don’t just push the button once. They stand there pushing the button over and over and over again as though that’s going to speed things up. People this dumb should not be allowed to vote. If they are here illegally they should be deported immediately.
That being said, I do have something positive to say; The new design of those buttons is more user-friendly than the old ones. You can use the palm of your hand, your fist, or even your elbow. This can be useful if you’re carrying bags of groceries or potted poinsettias. The old buttons were hard to push, you had to use your thumb, and if your thumbs were sore you basically had to resort to jaywalking or wait for a kind stranger to come along.
Yes, the new buttons are an improvement but I think they could have mitigated the problem of MRBP (multiple repeated button pushing) if they had included some sort of tactile or audio feedback in the design so that the button pusher would be confident that the button was actually doing anything. It seems to me that this might be the root cause of this problem.
Imagine a San Jose free of the scourge of this sort of offensive behavior!
Reed campaigned as a tough fiscal manager, but he is asking for a billion dollars from the Federal government. All we heard in Santa Clara from ninnies like Brian Darby and the Mad Stare Guy, Bailey, is how great San Jose’s fiscal management was under Reed.
Now we see Reed walking around Washington with a tin cup.
#7- Blinders said, “Move the naughty clubs out of the down town. They never should have gotten permits to cluster so many in one given area to begin with.”
I couldn’t agree with you more. Recently, when McEnery tried to deny a club owner whose club was causing problems DT a permit, he was ordered by the court to give the guy one any way. Go figure.
I spoke recently with a good family friend who works for the SCC sheriff’s department. He disapproved of SJPD tactics downtown and even commented on the general arrogance of some San Jose cops when they insist on carrying their weapons into the courthouse (not allowed).
On the other hand, I’ve seen greater patrolling of my parents’ neighborhood in Evergreen after there was a break-in and robbery at gunpoint. That was a serious crime which commanded a great response from SJPD and still does to this day. I would like to see more of this activity from our law enforcement.
Unless we see more arrests for drunk-driving (not drunk-walking), I think we may be wasting police resources downtown.
“Definitely one to watch”.
You’re right about that. Hell, Congress is going to bail out the UAW (they’re not *really* bailing out Chrysler and GM) so that we taxpayers will be directly footing the bill for autoworkers’ retirement benefits.
In principle, how are these Republic Window & Door workers any different? Or any other laid off worker for that matter? You say “yes” to one group of deadbeat panhandlers, it’s kind of hard to justify saying “no” to another.
What a can of worms.
What a mess.
What a shame what’s happened to our country.
After watching our great leaders in washington give 700 billion dollars to rich white men whose poor investing choices led to the collapse of the financial sector, it would be pretty silly to say no to hard working people who are being tossed out on the street.
Your friend who works for the Sheriff’s department is quite incorrect. Police Officers are absolutely allowed to be armed while in court. Please go to the criminal court on Hedding or traffic court for proof and your friend should definitely do such.
17: The officers working at the court are allowed their weapons. Anyone who just happens to be a cop cannot simply carry a gun inside, though. You honestly could not infer that from what I wrote?
Historically, thousands of individuals and companies have for one reason or another, wound up in a position where they are unable to meet their financial obligations. This is unfortunate but it is nothing new.
Restructuring under the bankruptcy laws is the remedy. Some people get stiffed.
I know. That’s not fair, but life’s not fair. You pick yourself up and move on. You don’t go whining to the taxpayers.
The can of worms was opened 2 months ago when the financial institutions were bailed out. We wondered then where it would stop. Now we see that it won’t. It was wrong to bail out Fannie and Freddie and it’s wrong to bail out the UAW. Yes, the UAW. Do you honestly think Congress would even be considering this if it wasn’t under pressure from the UAW? Hell, GM has a market cap value of less than 3 billion dollars and Congress wants to give them 10 billion and you think this is not about the unions? Get real. Their unrealistic extortive demands resulted in the overproduction of high-margin SUVs and trucks over the last several years and that’s what managed to support their bloated salaries, pensions, and health care benefits up until now. They had a good run but they finally managed to kill the goose that lays the golden eggs. Not my problem. Not your problem.
What’s next? When the State of California goes bankrupt will it be fair to ask the people of North Dakota to pay the millionairish pensions of thousands of California’s Government retirees just because of the egregious mismanagement that’s gone on in Sacramento over the last 15 years?
It’s not just the manufacturing sector that wants a bailout. Sunday’s Murky News reported that many employees of our local high tech companies want their options re-priced, since they are “under water”. Since when was a stock option meant to be a guarantee of profit? If they get their options re-priced, I want the price at which I bought their stock re-priced, as well. And my mutual funds, as well, I demand they be re-priced.
BCS DECLARES GERMANY WINNER OF WORLD WAR II
US Ranked 4th
After determining the Big-12 championship game participants the BCS computers were put to work on other major contests and today the BCS declared Germany to be the winner of World War II.
“Germany put together an incredible number of victories beginning with the annexation of Austria and the Sudetenland and continuing on into conference play with defeats of Poland, France, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Belgium and the Netherlands. Their only losses came against the US and Russia; however considering their entire body of work—including an incredibly tough Strength of Schedule—our computers deemed them worthy of the #1 ranking.”
Questioned about the #4 ranking of the United States the BCS commissioner stated “The US only had two major victories—Japan and Germany. The computer models, unlike humans, aren’t influenced by head-to-head contests—they consider each contest to be only a single, equally-weighted event.”
German Chancellor Adolph Hiter said “Yes, we lost to the US; but we defeated #2 ranked France in only 6 weeks.” Herr Hitler has been criticized for seeking dramatic victories to earn ‘style points’ to enhance Germany’s rankings. Hitler protested “Our contest with Poland was in doubt until the final day and the conditions in Norway were incredibly challenging and demanded the application of additional forces.”
The French ranking has also come under scrutiny. The BCS commented ” France had a single loss against Germany and following a preseason #1 ranking they only fell to #2.”
Japan was ranked #3 with victories including Manchuria, Borneo and the Philippines.
No, I meant white men. It will be white men who benefit most from the bailouts. The CEO’s of Lehman Brothers, AIG, Merrill Lynch, and Bank of America are all white.
Now, don’t feel threatened: not all white men are rich and not all rich men are white. However, according to the U.S. census bureau, 87.93% of the richest 5% of the people in the U.S. are white. http://pubdb3.census.gov/macro/032005/hhinc/new05_000.htm
While China may be increasingly powerful economically, and investment from other countries where the top capitalists are not white is coming in, in the U.S. wealth is racially stratified with white people having greater wealth than any other racial group.
That is why I said the federal government did indeed “give 700 billion dollars to rich white men.”
#24 – Downtownster: The Federal Government gave $700 Billion to CORPORATIONS AND THEIR EMPLOYEES, not rich white men. Where, in any news media, did you hear/read that that money was being given to rich, white men, like “CEO’s of Lehman Brothers, AIG, Merrill Lynch, and Bank of America” for their own personal use? Why do you have to make everything about race? Why can’t you just comment on whether or not you agree with the bailout, leaving race out of it? I don’t agree with the Bailout, but you are stepping out of line when you make broad, unsubstantiated statements about white people. It makes everything you say lose credibility.
By the way, modern corporations are incredibly diverse, and give a lot of money to minority non-profits. Corporations like Lockheed Martin, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Cisco, and others pride themselves on the diversity of their workforce, INCLUDING THE TOP MANAGEMENT AND EXECUTIVES. Many of these corporations give money to scholarships for minorities, as well as pay their employees college tuition. Try broadening your education to other areas before making stereotypical remarks. That is, unless it is too threatening to you to educate yourself on the facts.
You wrote “The officers working at the court are allowed their weapons. Anyone who just happens to be a cop cannot simply carry a gun inside, though. You honestly could not infer that from what I wrote?”
Again, you and your friend are incorrect. Officers from any other agency who are in court on criminal matters for that particular agency can be armed while in court, not just the bailiffs and deputies “working at the court”.
13. No, we will be bailing out the auto companies, not the UAW.
If the companies had followed prudent financial policy, they would have set aside money for employee pensions that they knew they were contractually obliged to pay, each year over the previous several decades.
Instead, they decided to take that pension money to Las Vegas and and invest it in the slot machines, reasoning that when they made that big win they would be able to afford to pay pensions plus bring in tanker ships full of single malt Scotch for the management team.
Suddenly it turns out that the “Introduction to Reckless Gambling” course at Harvard Business School may have overlooked a few details. Now the companies have to pay their contractual obligations out of current revenue instead of the money they should have been investing for the last 40 years to pay for it.
If they can’t weasel out of their financial commitments, it’s now up to the taxpayers to bail them out.
Do you think the company that makes blades for GM windshield wipers should be forced to take 15 cents on the dollar for the money that GM owes them? So then they will tell their employees, “I’m sorry, we can only pay 15% of your salary.” How would you like your employer to say that to you? Why should the UAW be treated any differently than any other creditor?
If you don’t pay the mortgage on your house, and the bank forecloses, do you call the bank “deadbeat panhandlers” because they want to collect the money you owe them?
In spite of that, the UAW has offered to renegotiate contracts with the auto companies, but I’ve yet to hear of any response.
8. I will pass along a suggestion that I read in an Australian newspaper. It was really intended for children, but it might be applicable anyway.
The “Walk” signal is controlled by a gnome who lives inside the box. Every time you press the button, it causes a hammer to hit the gnome on the head. If you press the button too many times, the gnome might get annoyed and go on strike.
It was the first day of a school in USA and a new Indian student named Chandrasekhar Subramanian entered the fourth grade.
The teacher said, “Let’s begin by reviewing some American History.
Who said ‘Give me Liberty, or give me Death’?”
She saw a sea of blank faces, except for Chandrasekhar, who had his
hand up: ‘Patrick Henry, 1775’ he said.
‘Very good!’
Who said ‘Government of the People, by the People, for the People,
shall not perish from the Earth?’
Again, no response except from Chandrasekhar. ‘Abraham Lincoln,
1863’ said Chandrasekhar.
The teacher snapped at the class, ‘Class, you should be ashamed.Chandrasekhar, who is new to our country, knows more about its history than you do.’
She heard a loud whisper: ‘F*ck the Indians,’
‘Who said that?’ she demanded. Chandrasekhar put his hand up.
‘General Custer, 1862.’
At that point, a student in the back said, ‘I’m gonna puke.’
The teacher glares around and asks ‘All right! Now, who said that?’
Again, Chandrasekhar says, ‘George Bush to the Japanese Prime
Minister, 1991.’
Now furious, another student yells, ‘Oh yeah? Suck this!’
Chandrasekhar jumps out of his chair waving his hand and shouts to
the teacher , ‘Bill Clinton, to Monica Lewinsky, 1997!’
Now with almost mob hysteria someone said ‘You little shit. If you
say anything else, I’ll kill you.’
Chandrasekhar frantically yells at the top of his voice, ’ Michael
Jackson to the child witnesses testifying against him- 2004.’
The teacher fainted.
And as the class gathered around the teacher on the floor, someone
said, ‘Oh sh*t, we’re screwed!’
And Chandrasekhar said quietly, “I think it was the American people, November 2, 2000.”
I spoke today with a Santa Clara County Deputy Sheriff who workks the court security. He informed me that in U.S. District Court, no-one gets in with a weapon…period.
In Santa Clara County Superior Court, except Family Court in Park Center Plaza, uniformed officers can wear their sidearms. Plain clothes officers can do so also, and they are given a badge or sticker to identify them as peace officers.
In family court (meaning divorce court), NO-ONE gets in with a weapon, since family courts are far more dangerous than the criminal courts.
I believe that this family court rule is because there have been instances of sworn peace officers bringing guns into family court and waving it about …presumably in a hearing on custody/visitation/support that didn’t go his way.
Oh, NOW I get it.
That WAS the day that Nancy Pelosi, Zoe Lofgren, and Barney Frank were all reelected.
Good one, jaymock!
But seriously, your choice of an Indian name puts me in mind of Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar who, as a young man enroute from India to England to pursue his graduate degree at Cambridge University, passed his time aboard the ship working out the calculations that ultimately predicted the existence of black holes. His work was rejected by the scientific community in England. Embittered, he left England and came to the United States. He went on to become a prominent astrophysicist and an American citizen. He was a brilliant, gentle, kind man who greatly contributed to his adopted country.
I saw Sgt. Bobby Lopez on the news last night talking about the 3 Officers who committed suicide in the past month and a half. I was deeply saddened to hear this. My deepest sympathies are with the family and friends of these Officers. They are in my thoughts and prayers. And for you Officers out there reading this, many of us out here support and appreciate your service more than you know. May God bless you and keep you safe.
“I believe that this family court rule is because there have been instances of sworn peace officers bringing guns into family court and waving it about …presumably in a hearing on custody/visitation/support that didn’t go his way.”
If this has happened we can thank in very large part unscrupulous attorneys who don’t give a rat’s ass about what is best for the families and are willing to rip apart a family to pad their bills. I have seen this many times first hand with friends and it is disgusting, driving fathers and mothers to the point of desperation. Also, can you please relay a first hand experience of a peace officer “waving it (a gun) about” or is this just what you “believe” about what “presumably” happened?
#34- Steve,
I disagree with JMO. The reason, as I understand it from a Court Clerk, that Officers are not allowed to carry weapons in family court is because there have been cases where a client has grabbed a gun from the Officer’s holster and shot someone in a blind rage. (There have been many cases over the years detailing the shooting of a judge, an attorney, an ex-spouse, etc.)
“Safest Big City in America” drops yet another notch. It is not a coincidence that with both a lack of new officers for a growing population
and tying the hands of the officers we have from making appropriate arrests (thanks to the likes of the IPA, the Mercury etc) that the crime rate in San Jose is going up.
http://kliv.com/pages/3383129.php?
It’s not a lack of officers. It’s a consolidation of them outside nightclubs, solving petty crimes.
It is frightening to think that New York, and Honolulu are “safer cities” than we are. They have huge drug and gang problems there. YIKES! Either they have more Police Officers then we do, or they have a tougher judicial system than we do, or all the thugs are moving to San Jose!
It is amazing to me how much cheaper it is to get an education outside the US!
http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_11149215
#2 Nam,
I politely disagree with you on your point. The nightclub crowd has been saying the SJPD has been cramping their style for at least 15 years, yet for 6 years in a row San Jose still came in first place for the safest large city in America. SJPD has had the same staffing level since the mid 1990’s doing more with less. Our city is now paying a price. I personally think it is important for officers to solve “petty crime” and nip problems in the bud. When petty crime has happened to me or one of my family members it suddenly wasn’t so petty.
It’s not just the Mercury News that is stumbling into the mire, but other portions of the old Knight Ridder pretentious empire are too.
The latest is that McClatchy newspapers, headquartered in Sacrament, which seized the Miami Herald in the 2006 “trade & trade again” newspaper deal that deconstructed Knight Ridder, is trying to sell the Miami Herald which has all the bad habits pursued by the Mercury News.
“The bid to sell The (Miami) Herald continues the fallout from McClatchy’s $4.5 billion purchase in 2006 of Knight Ridder, the newspaper chain that had owned the Miami paper. Largely as a result of that deal, one of the biggest in the industry’s history, the company has about $2 billion in debt, payments on which eat up much of its cash flow.”
http://www.heraldtribune.com/article/20081207/ARTICLE/812070347/2055/NEWS?Title=McClatchy_puts_Miami_Herald_up_for_sale
First place 2nd place, third base! Who gives a shit. Move the naughty clubs out of the down town.They never should have gotten permits to cluster so many in one given area to begin with. Who are the LANDLORDS that collect the rents? Chew on that one Kathleen!
END OF PROBLEM, Already!!!!!
Blinders
What bugs me are these people you see waiting to cross the street at an intersection and they are pushing the button to activate the “WALK” symbol but they don’t just push the button once. They stand there pushing the button over and over and over again as though that’s going to speed things up. People this dumb should not be allowed to vote. If they are here illegally they should be deported immediately.
That being said, I do have something positive to say; The new design of those buttons is more user-friendly than the old ones. You can use the palm of your hand, your fist, or even your elbow. This can be useful if you’re carrying bags of groceries or potted poinsettias. The old buttons were hard to push, you had to use your thumb, and if your thumbs were sore you basically had to resort to jaywalking or wait for a kind stranger to come along.
Yes, the new buttons are an improvement but I think they could have mitigated the problem of MRBP (multiple repeated button pushing) if they had included some sort of tactile or audio feedback in the design so that the button pusher would be confident that the button was actually doing anything. It seems to me that this might be the root cause of this problem.
Imagine a San Jose free of the scourge of this sort of offensive behavior!
Reed campaigned as a tough fiscal manager, but he is asking for a billion dollars from the Federal government. All we heard in Santa Clara from ninnies like Brian Darby and the Mad Stare Guy, Bailey, is how great San Jose’s fiscal management was under Reed.
Now we see Reed walking around Washington with a tin cup.
The award for best response to a “no-notice” layoff due to collapsing economy goes to:
Workers at Chicago’s Republic Windows and Doors. They are occupying their factory rather than accepting that the company’s bosses and creditor (Bank of America) have washed their hands of it all:
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5ildwrFjwHYjvJPX2edZgBnNb8EEQD94TKFUO0
Definitely one to watch in these post-bailout times.
#7- Blinders said, “Move the naughty clubs out of the down town. They never should have gotten permits to cluster so many in one given area to begin with.”
I couldn’t agree with you more. Recently, when McEnery tried to deny a club owner whose club was causing problems DT a permit, he was ordered by the court to give the guy one any way. Go figure.
#5 Steve,
I spoke recently with a good family friend who works for the SCC sheriff’s department. He disapproved of SJPD tactics downtown and even commented on the general arrogance of some San Jose cops when they insist on carrying their weapons into the courthouse (not allowed).
On the other hand, I’ve seen greater patrolling of my parents’ neighborhood in Evergreen after there was a break-in and robbery at gunpoint. That was a serious crime which commanded a great response from SJPD and still does to this day. I would like to see more of this activity from our law enforcement.
Unless we see more arrests for drunk-driving (not drunk-walking), I think we may be wasting police resources downtown.
Downtownster #10,
“Definitely one to watch”.
You’re right about that. Hell, Congress is going to bail out the UAW (they’re not *really* bailing out Chrysler and GM) so that we taxpayers will be directly footing the bill for autoworkers’ retirement benefits.
In principle, how are these Republic Window & Door workers any different? Or any other laid off worker for that matter? You say “yes” to one group of deadbeat panhandlers, it’s kind of hard to justify saying “no” to another.
What a can of worms.
What a mess.
What a shame what’s happened to our country.
#13 John Galt
I know what you mean.
After watching our great leaders in washington give 700 billion dollars to rich white men whose poor investing choices led to the collapse of the financial sector, it would be pretty silly to say no to hard working people who are being tossed out on the street.
But you have to give it to the workers at Republic Window and Door: their tactics are much preferable to those of the “less flexible” high tech worker who recently shot up his former office-mates, killing three after his layoff.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/11/18/tech/cnettechnews/main4613687.shtml
Let’s hope more people choose sit-ins and protest, rather than the latter route during these hard economic times.
Downtownster
Nam #12
Your friend who works for the Sheriff’s department is quite incorrect. Police Officers are absolutely allowed to be armed while in court. Please go to the criminal court on Hedding or traffic court for proof and your friend should definitely do such.
17: The officers working at the court are allowed their weapons. Anyone who just happens to be a cop cannot simply carry a gun inside, though. You honestly could not infer that from what I wrote?
10 MHz Days & Downtownster,
Historically, thousands of individuals and companies have for one reason or another, wound up in a position where they are unable to meet their financial obligations. This is unfortunate but it is nothing new.
Restructuring under the bankruptcy laws is the remedy. Some people get stiffed.
I know. That’s not fair, but life’s not fair. You pick yourself up and move on. You don’t go whining to the taxpayers.
The can of worms was opened 2 months ago when the financial institutions were bailed out. We wondered then where it would stop. Now we see that it won’t. It was wrong to bail out Fannie and Freddie and it’s wrong to bail out the UAW. Yes, the UAW. Do you honestly think Congress would even be considering this if it wasn’t under pressure from the UAW? Hell, GM has a market cap value of less than 3 billion dollars and Congress wants to give them 10 billion and you think this is not about the unions? Get real. Their unrealistic extortive demands resulted in the overproduction of high-margin SUVs and trucks over the last several years and that’s what managed to support their bloated salaries, pensions, and health care benefits up until now. They had a good run but they finally managed to kill the goose that lays the golden eggs. Not my problem. Not your problem.
What’s next? When the State of California goes bankrupt will it be fair to ask the people of North Dakota to pay the millionairish pensions of thousands of California’s Government retirees just because of the egregious mismanagement that’s gone on in Sacramento over the last 15 years?
It’s not just the manufacturing sector that wants a bailout. Sunday’s Murky News reported that many employees of our local high tech companies want their options re-priced, since they are “under water”. Since when was a stock option meant to be a guarantee of profit? If they get their options re-priced, I want the price at which I bought their stock re-priced, as well. And my mutual funds, as well, I demand they be re-priced.
This whole bailout plan is a slippery slope.
BCS DECLARES GERMANY WINNER OF WORLD WAR II
US Ranked 4th
After determining the Big-12 championship game participants the BCS computers were put to work on other major contests and today the BCS declared Germany to be the winner of World War II.
“Germany put together an incredible number of victories beginning with the annexation of Austria and the Sudetenland and continuing on into conference play with defeats of Poland, France, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Belgium and the Netherlands. Their only losses came against the US and Russia; however considering their entire body of work—including an incredibly tough Strength of Schedule—our computers deemed them worthy of the #1 ranking.”
Questioned about the #4 ranking of the United States the BCS commissioner stated “The US only had two major victories—Japan and Germany. The computer models, unlike humans, aren’t influenced by head-to-head contests—they consider each contest to be only a single, equally-weighted event.”
German Chancellor Adolph Hiter said “Yes, we lost to the US; but we defeated #2 ranked France in only 6 weeks.” Herr Hitler has been criticized for seeking dramatic victories to earn ‘style points’ to enhance Germany’s rankings. Hitler protested “Our contest with Poland was in doubt until the final day and the conditions in Norway were incredibly challenging and demanded the application of additional forces.”
The French ranking has also come under scrutiny. The BCS commented ” France had a single loss against Germany and following a preseason #1 ranking they only fell to #2.”
Japan was ranked #3 with victories including Manchuria, Borneo and the Philippines.
#16- Downtownster you said, “give 700 billion dollars to rich white men.” You meant rich corporations right?
Yet another giant crumbles:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28101775/?GT1=43001
#22 Christian
No, I meant white men. It will be white men who benefit most from the bailouts. The CEO’s of Lehman Brothers, AIG, Merrill Lynch, and Bank of America are all white.
Now, don’t feel threatened: not all white men are rich and not all rich men are white. However, according to the U.S. census bureau, 87.93% of the richest 5% of the people in the U.S. are white.
http://pubdb3.census.gov/macro/032005/hhinc/new05_000.htm
While China may be increasingly powerful economically, and investment from other countries where the top capitalists are not white is coming in, in the U.S. wealth is racially stratified with white people having greater wealth than any other racial group.
That is why I said the federal government did indeed “give 700 billion dollars to rich white men.”
Downtownster
#20
If it were not for the workers at the high-tech companies, and other companies, your stock would be worth zero.
Stop whining.
#24 – Downtownster: The Federal Government gave $700 Billion to CORPORATIONS AND THEIR EMPLOYEES, not rich white men. Where, in any news media, did you hear/read that that money was being given to rich, white men, like “CEO’s of Lehman Brothers, AIG, Merrill Lynch, and Bank of America” for their own personal use? Why do you have to make everything about race? Why can’t you just comment on whether or not you agree with the bailout, leaving race out of it? I don’t agree with the Bailout, but you are stepping out of line when you make broad, unsubstantiated statements about white people. It makes everything you say lose credibility.
By the way, modern corporations are incredibly diverse, and give a lot of money to minority non-profits. Corporations like Lockheed Martin, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Cisco, and others pride themselves on the diversity of their workforce, INCLUDING THE TOP MANAGEMENT AND EXECUTIVES. Many of these corporations give money to scholarships for minorities, as well as pay their employees college tuition. Try broadening your education to other areas before making stereotypical remarks. That is, unless it is too threatening to you to educate yourself on the facts.
#18 Nam,
You wrote “The officers working at the court are allowed their weapons. Anyone who just happens to be a cop cannot simply carry a gun inside, though. You honestly could not infer that from what I wrote?”
Again, you and your friend are incorrect. Officers from any other agency who are in court on criminal matters for that particular agency can be armed while in court, not just the bailiffs and deputies “working at the court”.
13. No, we will be bailing out the auto companies, not the UAW.
If the companies had followed prudent financial policy, they would have set aside money for employee pensions that they knew they were contractually obliged to pay, each year over the previous several decades.
Instead, they decided to take that pension money to Las Vegas and and invest it in the slot machines, reasoning that when they made that big win they would be able to afford to pay pensions plus bring in tanker ships full of single malt Scotch for the management team.
Suddenly it turns out that the “Introduction to Reckless Gambling” course at Harvard Business School may have overlooked a few details. Now the companies have to pay their contractual obligations out of current revenue instead of the money they should have been investing for the last 40 years to pay for it.
If they can’t weasel out of their financial commitments, it’s now up to the taxpayers to bail them out.
Do you think the company that makes blades for GM windshield wipers should be forced to take 15 cents on the dollar for the money that GM owes them? So then they will tell their employees, “I’m sorry, we can only pay 15% of your salary.” How would you like your employer to say that to you? Why should the UAW be treated any differently than any other creditor?
If you don’t pay the mortgage on your house, and the bank forecloses, do you call the bank “deadbeat panhandlers” because they want to collect the money you owe them?
In spite of that, the UAW has offered to renegotiate contracts with the auto companies, but I’ve yet to hear of any response.
8. I will pass along a suggestion that I read in an Australian newspaper. It was really intended for children, but it might be applicable anyway.
The “Walk” signal is controlled by a gnome who lives inside the box. Every time you press the button, it causes a hammer to hit the gnome on the head. If you press the button too many times, the gnome might get annoyed and go on strike.
27: Where do you get your information?
It was the first day of a school in USA and a new Indian student named Chandrasekhar Subramanian entered the fourth grade.
The teacher said, “Let’s begin by reviewing some American History.
Who said ‘Give me Liberty, or give me Death’?”
She saw a sea of blank faces, except for Chandrasekhar, who had his
hand up: ‘Patrick Henry, 1775’ he said.
‘Very good!’
Who said ‘Government of the People, by the People, for the People,
shall not perish from the Earth?’
Again, no response except from Chandrasekhar. ‘Abraham Lincoln,
1863’ said Chandrasekhar.
The teacher snapped at the class, ‘Class, you should be ashamed.Chandrasekhar, who is new to our country, knows more about its history than you do.’
She heard a loud whisper: ‘F*ck the Indians,’
‘Who said that?’ she demanded. Chandrasekhar put his hand up.
‘General Custer, 1862.’
At that point, a student in the back said, ‘I’m gonna puke.’
The teacher glares around and asks ‘All right! Now, who said that?’
Again, Chandrasekhar says, ‘George Bush to the Japanese Prime
Minister, 1991.’
Now furious, another student yells, ‘Oh yeah? Suck this!’
Chandrasekhar jumps out of his chair waving his hand and shouts to
the teacher , ‘Bill Clinton, to Monica Lewinsky, 1997!’
Now with almost mob hysteria someone said ‘You little shit. If you
say anything else, I’ll kill you.’
Chandrasekhar frantically yells at the top of his voice, ’ Michael
Jackson to the child witnesses testifying against him- 2004.’
The teacher fainted.
And as the class gathered around the teacher on the floor, someone
said, ‘Oh sh*t, we’re screwed!’
And Chandrasekhar said quietly, “I think it was the American people, November 2, 2000.”
# 12 NamTurk & Steve #17:
I spoke today with a Santa Clara County Deputy Sheriff who workks the court security. He informed me that in U.S. District Court, no-one gets in with a weapon…period.
In Santa Clara County Superior Court, except Family Court in Park Center Plaza, uniformed officers can wear their sidearms. Plain clothes officers can do so also, and they are given a badge or sticker to identify them as peace officers.
In family court (meaning divorce court), NO-ONE gets in with a weapon, since family courts are far more dangerous than the criminal courts.
I believe that this family court rule is because there have been instances of sworn peace officers bringing guns into family court and waving it about …presumably in a hearing on custody/visitation/support that didn’t go his way.
JMOC #29,
Oh, NOW I get it.
That WAS the day that Nancy Pelosi, Zoe Lofgren, and Barney Frank were all reelected.
Good one, jaymock!
But seriously, your choice of an Indian name puts me in mind of Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar who, as a young man enroute from India to England to pursue his graduate degree at Cambridge University, passed his time aboard the ship working out the calculations that ultimately predicted the existence of black holes. His work was rejected by the scientific community in England. Embittered, he left England and came to the United States. He went on to become a prominent astrophysicist and an American citizen. He was a brilliant, gentle, kind man who greatly contributed to his adopted country.
28
I have been on a jury twice and I have family in law enforcement.
I saw Sgt. Bobby Lopez on the news last night talking about the 3 Officers who committed suicide in the past month and a half. I was deeply saddened to hear this. My deepest sympathies are with the family and friends of these Officers. They are in my thoughts and prayers. And for you Officers out there reading this, many of us out here support and appreciate your service more than you know. May God bless you and keep you safe.
JMOC #30
“I believe that this family court rule is because there have been instances of sworn peace officers bringing guns into family court and waving it about …presumably in a hearing on custody/visitation/support that didn’t go his way.”
If this has happened we can thank in very large part unscrupulous attorneys who don’t give a rat’s ass about what is best for the families and are willing to rip apart a family to pad their bills. I have seen this many times first hand with friends and it is disgusting, driving fathers and mothers to the point of desperation. Also, can you please relay a first hand experience of a peace officer “waving it (a gun) about” or is this just what you “believe” about what “presumably” happened?
#34- Steve,
I disagree with JMO. The reason, as I understand it from a Court Clerk, that Officers are not allowed to carry weapons in family court is because there have been cases where a client has grabbed a gun from the Officer’s holster and shot someone in a blind rage. (There have been many cases over the years detailing the shooting of a judge, an attorney, an ex-spouse, etc.)