Beware of smiling faces–grining lawmaker unveils plan to dismantle Social Security, Medicaid and Medicare

Makes you want to move to Wisconsin doesn’t it? Not!!

Here’s the latest attack on middle America from the Greed Only Party. Rep. Ryan plan’s on leaving seniors out in the cold.

Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan officially unveiled his much-anticipated 2012 budget yesterday, which he dubbed the "Path to Prosperity," which includes ambitious plans to dismantle Social Security, Medicaid and Medicare. National media tripped all over itself calling it a "conversion" of traditional Medicaid into a voucher program rather than actually report it as an elimination of the program all together, even though it actually changes the system from a national coverage plan to a voucher system that leaves seniors on their own to find private insurance instead.

Story here

Spies and news anchors: Like ABC, Fox Had FBI Mole In Its Midst

From the Smoking Gun this morning…

“Turns out ABC wasn’t the only television outfit to have an FBI mole in its ranks during the 1990s, according to bureau memos.

A “Fox Network News Anchor” was enlisted by New York agents in mid-1992 to obtain the name of a confidential source being used by fellow Fox journalists who were then preparing a story about Jimmy Hoffa’s murder for the syndicated tabloid show “A Current Affair,” records reveal.”

The Buick is back! No, really …

Buick not only survived, it’s now starting to thrive. For the first two months of the year, the nameplate, which is being positioned as a mid-luxury brand, outsold Lexus, a vehicle brand that has long been dominant in the U.S. luxury market.”  Story here

I bought a 1956 Buick hard top off my Dad in 1968 (Photo left – not mine, but one like it) when I was a senior in high school.(hail Azusa High!) Back then gas was .19 a gallon! Can you imagine? My buddies and I all would kick in a dollar and we’d fill ‘er up and go adventuring. Aaaaaaahhh…those were the days my friend…we thought they’d never end.

As the sun slowly settled into the West the clouds glowed bravely

This photo was taken by Carl Young of Fortuna from his front porch. Thanks Carl …

Monster calls suit over mouse in can a 'shakedown'

If I drank this crap, which I don’t, I’d be resting easy now. The drink maker says it was impossible for a rodent to enter the manufacturing process to get in the can. They think the guy left the can open for a long period of time...

Probably right after this photo was taken…

 Story here.

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Top 10 US Corporate Tax Avoiders Named on Senate Floor

While you’re making out your taxes due April 15th, corporate America is laughing all the way to the bank!

Despite the Supreme Court 's finding that corporations are basically people in the eyes of the law, corporations themselves cannot be moral or immoral -- they are entities, not sentient beings. We have a system that rewards the gamers, where winners take all, and influence peddling is rife; where the defense for a highly profitable company not paying taxes is that it is within the law.

“Despite complaints about the U.S.'s burdensome 35% corporate tax rate, two-thirds of American corporations pay no taxes in a given year. In a speech last week on the Senate floor, Senator Bernie Sanders (pictured here) (I) of Vermont called out the top 10 corporate tax avoiders:

Among those actually getting money back from the Feds:

• ExxonMobil made $19 billion in profits in 2009, paid no federal income taxes, received a $156 million rebate

• Bank of America received a $1.9 billion IRS refund despite $4.4 billion of profits

• General Electric had $26 billion in profits, and $4.1 billion refund (GE made it onto another top 10 list of top corporate lobbyists in 2010, spending $39 million)

• Chevron nabbed a $19 million refund after making $10 billion in profits

Wall Street made the list as well; the Senator's office notes,"Goldman Sachs in 2008 only paid 1.1 percent of its income in taxes even though it earned a profit of $2.3 billion and received an almost $800 billion from the Federal Reserve and U.S. Treasury Department." Full Story.

The cow jumped over the...

Now here’s a real cowgirl!

I never heard of riding cows before, but that just shows you how little I know. Apparently there was a time when it was common to ride cows in Europe!

“When Regina Mayer's parents dashed her hopes of getting a horse, the resourceful 15-year-old didn't sit in her room and sulk. Instead, she turned to a cow called Luna to make her riding dreams come true.”  Story Here

Now you too can be an expert on radiation exposure…with this

H&P Industries Inc: Wipe-maker shuts doors after U.S. Marshals arrive

For months now, FDA officials have been aware H & P Industries has had a problem with contaminated Povidone Iodine Prep Pads, but just fooled around playing politics instead of instantly taking them off the market.

How does this kind of thing happen? Can you say Lobbyists? Bribe, bribe, and more bribe.They’ve probably been aware for a long time, but it’s become so public lately they had to perform a “dog and pony show” and send in some U.S. Marshals in a dramatic attempt to sooth the public outrage. Only in America…

“A Wisconsin firm accused of making contaminated medical pads and wipes is closed after U.S. Marshals on Monday arrived at H&P Industries Inc. with orders to seize products.”  Story here  image source

Family dog kept missing boy alive, sheriff says

A mixed Labrador retriever was being hailed as a hero after it was found with a 22-month-old boy who had gone missing the night before.

"That dog is what kept him alive," Kershaw County Sheriff Jim Matthews told The State newspaper of Columbia, S.C.

Wearing only a T-shirt and diaper, Tyler Jacobson had gone missing from his Elgin, S.C., home on Friday night. His mom and her boyfriend told police that he vanished after leaving the family bedroom, where they were watching TV, to get some juice, The State reported.

Temperatures had dipped into the 40s overnight, and while police searched with bloodhounds and a helicopter until midnight, they couldn't find the boy.

The search resumed the next morning, when the boy's crying led rescuers to him. He and his family's dog were behind a neighbor's home across the street.

Linda Harr, who lives in the house near where Tyler was found, said she had heard the helicopter and thought a criminal was on the loose. "So I locked the door," WIS TV reported her as saying. "The last thing I was gonna do is go outside."

"I just wish I'd have known, I could have warmed him up, called the cops," she said.

Emily DuBose, another neighbor, called it surreal. "Just thinking that a dog would watch a baby over the night, it's kind of like a movie instead of real life," WIS TV quoted her as saying.

Matthews noted that living conditions in the boy’s home were “deplorable" and that the state Department of Social Services had been notified, The State reported.

Story source  photo source