Usa Thread

[Steve]

Apparently the state court ruled that this is legal.

I do know that some of the little hick towns nearby do have a high turnover rate - as the rate of pay is lower then others. The cost to these little hick towns is high - as the training is extensive and costly. Some spend a year or two locally then move onto the cities and towns that pay more. One would think that the town would raise the pay for retention purposes. But they don't as the ordinary citizen think that all civil servants are paid too much. So these little hick towns actually pay a lot more in other ways. Not taking into account the turnover rate and cost of training.

 

Not sure about other states but in my state any qualified (passing score) veteran gets hired first. The veteran goes to the top of the hiring list.

 

On a side note, ever since 911, the police's powers have grown exponentially. There is a change in how they engage the public. Its very adversarial and this is across the country. It started with a vastly more aggressive approach with inner city minorities, NYC's stop and frisk policy being the most known. However, a lot of middle class, suburban, white encounters have become far more prevalent. Because of technology, these enounters are being videoed. Police are now trying to confiscate your own property when they are caught over-reacting. The courts have been dismissing cases of police brutality where they would not have before. The conspiracy theorist in me sees this as a concerted effort. There have been a plethora of cases across the country. The Occupy movement was always a peaceful movement and whether one agrees with them or not, they made great effort to keep it non violent. However, pretty much every city they went to the cops instigated them. It seemed like it was all coordinated with each city. This is just a drop of the incidents nationally, in cities large and small:

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2014/02/18/cops-allegedly-beat-unarmed-dad-to-death-in-front-of-his-family-then-they-confiscated-the-camera-that-recorded-it-all/

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2014/02/18/they-just-killed-the-dude-holy-sh-video-captures-moments-officers-open-fire-on-man-they-couldnt-subdue/

http://thefreethoughtproject.com/cop-breaks-home-warrant-kill-unarmed-teen-judge-dismisses-case/#VppZpm1qWlclJDmZ.01

http://thelibertarianrepublic.com/8-l-officers-wont-punished-firing-103-times-two-unarmed-women/#axzz2thsgeYmu

[Flashermac]

Great. One more reason not to go home.

[cavanami]

U.S. diplomats to Obama: Ambassador nominees should really know something about their destination

 

http://news.yahoo.com/u-s--diplomats-to-obama--ambassador-nominees-should-really-know-something-about-their-destination-135030697.html

 

Please, presidents, stop picking big campaign donors to be ambassadors whether or not they know anything about the country where they’d be posted and are clueless about foreign affairs in general...

 

...The report landed at a time when a handful of Obama’s nominees — some of them seemingly picked for no reason other than to reward them for scooping up vast piles of re-election campaign cash — have raised eyebrows in Congress....

 

Obama’s ambassadorial picks have had a rough go of it recently in their Senate confirmation hearings. The nominee for the top U.S. post in Norway, hotel executive George Tsunis, called one of the political parties in the ruling coalition a “fringe element†and described the country as having a president (it’s a constitutional monarchy). Colleen Bell is a producer of the soap opera "The Bold and The Beautiful," but put in a performance of the Stammering and the Not-Up-to-Speed when she couldn’t say what America’s interests in Hungary were.

 

Democratic former Sen. Max Baucus, nominated for the top diplomatic job in Beijing, told former colleagues, “I’m no real expert on China†— a weird statement from the lawmaker who until recently was chairman of the Senate Finance Committee that overseas trade issues. And Obama campaign donation “bundler†Noah Bryson Mamet, tapped to be ambassador to Argentina, had this to say when Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., asked whether he’d ever traveled there: “I haven't had the opportunity yet to be there. I've traveled pretty extensively around the world, but I haven't yet had a chance.â€...

[Flashermac]

The US Ambassador to Thailand has plenty of experience in Latin American and virtually none in Asia, yet Obama appointed her. She has long been criticised as being pro-government and pro-Yingluck, but she is still here ... pissing of many Thais with her non-neutrality.

 

Still, the ambassador in my Peace Corps had to be replaced rather suddenly, after he made an insulting comment about the Thai queen in public!

[unit731]

They (presidents) ALL do this.

Go back to any president - and read up on the political hacks that were appointed ambassador.

Must I bring up Regan/Bush/Clinton/Bush ?

 

Must be a slow news day to bring up this subject. None of the news media that harps on this - ever go back to the previous presidents.

 

Time to move onto something important.

 

I once gave a nice Thai gal 2,000 Baht. A gift. But I did expect something in return.

[Flashermac]

They (presidents) ALL do this.

Go back to any president - and read up on the political hacks that were appointed ambassador.

Must I bring up Regan/Bush/Clinton/Bush ?

 

 

 

Go ahead.

 

From the article:

 

"In recent history, presidents have largely stuck to a 70-30 ratio of career diplomats to political appointees, according to data compiled by AFSA. In his first term, Obama nominated 63 percent career to 37 percent political. His second term so far shows nominees running at 53.2 percent to 46.8 percent."

 

That is why it made the news.

[Flashermac]

FDA Finally Admits Chicken Meat Contains Cancer-Causing Arsenic

 

 

After years of sweeping the issue under the rug and hoping no one would notice, the FDA has now finally admitted that chicken meat sold in the USA contains arsenic, a cancer-causing toxic chemical that’s fatal in high doses. But the real story is where this arsenic comes from: It’s added to the chicken feed purposely!

 

Even worse, the FDA says its own research shows that the arsenic added to the chicken feed ends up in the chicken meat where it is consumed by humans. So for the last sixty years, American consumers who eat conventional chicken have been consuming arsenic, a known cancer-causing chemical.

 

Until this new study, both the poultry industry and the FDA denied that arsenic fed to chickens ended up in their meat. The fairy-tale excuse story we’ve all been fed for sixty years is that “the arsenic is excreted in the chicken feces.†There’s no scientific basis for making such a claim, it’s simply what the poultry industry wanted everybody to believe.

 

Now the evidence is so undeniable that the manufacturer of the chicken feed product known as Roxarsone has decided to pull the product off the shelves. Interestingly enough, the manufacturer that has been putting arsenic in the chicken feed for all these years is Pfizer — the very same company that makes vaccines containing chemical adjuvants that are injected into children.

 

Technically, the company making the Roxarsone chicken feed is a subsidiary of Pfizer, called Alpharma LLC. Even though Alpharma now has agreed to pull this toxic feed chemical off the shelves in the United States, it says it won’t necessarily remove it from feed products in other countries unless it is forced by regulators to do so.

 

As reported by AP:

 

“Scott Brown of Pfizer Animal Health’s Veterinary Medicine Research and Development division said the company also sells the ingredient in about a dozen other countries. He said Pfizer is reaching out to regulatory authorities in those countries and will decide whether to sell it on an individual basis.â€

 

But even as its arsenic-containing product is pulled off the shelves, the FDA continues its campaign of denial, claiming arsenic in chickens is at such a low level that it’s still safe to eat. This is even as the FDA says arsenic is a carcinogen, meaning it increases the risk of cancer.

 

The National Chicken Council agrees with the FDA. In a statement issued in response to the news that Roxarsone would be pulled from feed store shelves, it stated, “Chicken is safe to eat†even while admitting arsenic was used in many flocks grown and sold as chicken meat in the United States.

 

What’s astonishing about all this is that the FDA tells consumers it’s safe to eat cancer-causing arsenic but it’s dangerous to drink elderberry juice! The FDA recently conducted an armed raid in an elderberry juice manufacturer, accusing them of the “crime†of selling “unapproved drugs.†Which drugs would those be? The elderberry juice, explains the FDA. You see, the elderberry juice suddenly becomes a “drug†if you tell people how it can help support good health.

 

The FDA has also gone after dozens of other companies for selling natural herbal products or nutritional products that enhance and support health. The FDA is also waging a war on raw milk which it says is dangerous. Currently in America, thee is a food and drug regulatory agency that says it’s okay to eat arsenic, but dangerous to drink elderberry juice or raw milk.

 

 

http://www.collectiv...ausing-arsenic/

[Flashermac]

Teen's Facebook post costs father $80k

 

One Florida teen's Facebook post cost her dad $80,000.

 

Dana Snay's father, Patrick Snay, had settled an age discrimination case with his former employer for that exact amount, after which his daughter posted to Facebook:

 

"Mama and Papa Snay won the case against Gulliver. Gulliver is now officially paying for my vacation to Europe this summer. SUCK IT."

 

Patrick Snay had been the headmaster at Gulliver Preparatory School in Miami for years until the school decided not to renew his contract back in 2010.

 

The Miami Herald reports Patrik Snay, now 69, claimed age discrimination and retaliation involving his daughter in a subsequent lawsuit against the school.

 

The school settled with Patrick Snay for $80,000 with the stipulation that he and his wife not discuss the suit with anyone. Clearly his daughter didn't get the memo about confidentiality.

 

Her post made the rounds among her friends, who are current and former students at the school, before reaching the school's attorneys, who then told the family they violated the deal.

 

...

 

 

http://m.palmbeachpost.com/news/news/teens-facebook-post-costs-father-80k/nd4Sn/

[cavanami]

Gotta luv Jesse...

 

[Flashermac]

Jesse is not a VN vet. He has admitted that himself. He was stationed in the Philippines as Navy UDT and on standby or something and thus "supporting" the war. That allows him to wear the VN Service medal and South Vietnam's campaign medal, the same as the guys who spent the war in Thailand.

 

p.s. But he's a cool guy anyway.