Weekend Roundup...
Well, gang...here we are staring at the Labor Day weekend, and I'm sure all of you are chomping at the bit getting that "last gasp of Summer" into your personal record books, right?
So, without any further ado, let's crack open the recently de-classified files and see what's been going on.
** From the "Just Another Brick In The Wall" Department:
President Obama's "message to our children", which is scheduled to air on 8 September at 1200 hrs is meeting with mixed reactions from parents.
Some are saying it's perfectly fine, as former President Bush (senior) did something similar back in 1991. Other parents are concerned this is a facade for something a bit more "insidious".
I'm on the fence on this one.
My take, is that IF Obama sticks PURELY to education, and the value of STAYING IN SCHOOL, without any hype or any rhetoric about "service", then that's fine. If, on the other hand it DOES appear to be laced with subliminal messages or propagandized words or phrases, then I would have to look a bit deeper into it.
But let's be honest, people. This administration has WAY too many questions surrounding it, and we're basically getting NO answers along the way, aren't we? So, in the best interest of our nation, and especially our children, perhaps it IS in EVERYONE'S interest that we approach this speech with "caution", and be willing to ask questions when and if we feel the need to.
I mean, I sure wouldn't want MY child to grow up to be another Van Jones...would you?
** From the "Innocent victims? Really?" Department:
Got an update on that double homicide on Fort Wayne's S/E side late Tuesday night:
Coroner IDs slain mother, daughter / Holly Abrams-The Journal Gazette
The Allen County Coroner’s Office has identified the mother and daughter shot to death inside their south-side home Tuesday.
Danita Shang James, 49, and her daughter, Keysha Zitia James, 31, were pronounced dead inside their home at 3417 Oliver St., moments after police arrived.
Officers were called to a shooting at that address, just north of Oxford Street, about 11:30 p.m. Tuesday.
Both women were shot to death, according to autopsy results. Their deaths were ruled the county’s 14th and 15th homicides this year.
Police, meanwhile, said they have few details on what might have prompted the killings.
They have said they believe it was a home invasion. Moments after gunshots were fired, a witness reported seeing two men running from the area. Both men had their faces covered, officer Michael Joyner said.
"It’s highly probable the individuals seen running from the house were in the house," Joyner said.
Police have not released a motive for the killing or suspect descriptions, and no arrests have been made.
A neighbor said the James women lived at the Oliver Street home for about a year and that Keysha James had a son and a daughter. Police said two other people, including a child, were in the home at the time of the shooting, but were not harmed.
Danita James spent time in prison and has used the aliases "Donita" and "Denise" in the past, Allen County Jail officials said.
She was convicted in Allen County on two counts of theft and one count of dealing cocaine.
She was released from prison in January, according to Indiana Department of Correction officials.
And by the looks of those photos, both of them had MUG SHOTS...so much for being the "model" neighbors that some would want you to believe they were.
People have weird ways of DEFINING things these days.
For example, whenever you hear about an INNER CITY neighborhood as being a "quiet" neighborhood, that doesn't mean what the words say. It DOES mean that the area has FEWER gunshots, drug deals, muggings, loud music than say that "other" neighborhood a few blocks over. But, compared to what we know to be a NORMAL neighborhood, yeah, it's still noisier than hell!
I suppose if one were DEAF, most ANY of these blighted areas (including MINE) WOULD be considered QUIET...but that's just me.
** From the "See? It Can Happen To You" Department:
Club-goer charged with passing phony $100 bills / The Journal Gazette
A Fort Wayne man faces a formal counterfeiting charge, accused of passing fake money at a local club.
Noah McIntosh, 25, of the 5700 block of Woodlea Avenue, was being held in lieu of $2,500 bail.
Police said McIntosh passed three $100 counterfeit bills July 19 to pay for drinks at Piere’s Entertainment Center, 5629 St. Joe Road. An off-duty police officer working security at the club was told about the bills by a bartender, court records filed Thursday said. Police noticed the bills "felt unusual" and had no security strips in them.
Last week, Fort Wayne police said they had noticed an increase since May in the number of people reporting counterfeit money.
Now, it's yet to be determined if THIS guy is the one making all this "funny munny", but you can be SURE the SECRET SERVICE is having a nice, LONG talk with him. And there is a line of OTHER federal agencies just WAITING their turn to "chat".
Yeah, the U. S. Treasury department is like that.
They don't take kindly to OTHER people making THEIR money...they much prefer to PRINT THEIR OWN, regardless of the (lack of) value backing those bucks up these days.
** From the "We're Not getting OLDER, We're Getting BROKER" Department.
Hidden pockets of elderly said to be in poverty
By HOPE YEN -AP - WASHINGTON –
The official poverty rate for Americans 65 years and older has stood for years at 10 percent, the lowest rate among age groups. But the true rate could be nearly twice that high, according to a revised formula created by the National Academy of Sciences that is gaining favor among public officials, including some in the Obama administration.
The NAS formula would put the poverty rate for older Americans at 18.6 percent, or 6.8 million people, compared with 9.7 percent, or 3.6 million people, under the existing measure.
The original government formula, created in 1955, doesn't take account of rising costs of medical care and other factors.
"It's a hidden problem," said Robin Talbert, president of the AARP Foundation, which provides job training and support to low-income seniors and is backing legislation that would adopt the NAS formula. "There are still many millions of older people on the edge, who don't have what they need to get by."
If the academy's formula is adopted, a more refined picture of American poverty could emerge that would capture everyday costs of necessities besides just food. The result could upend long-standing notions of those in greatest need and lead eventually to shifts in how billions of federal dollars for the poor are distributed for health, housing, nutrition and child-care benefits.
The overall official poverty rate would increase, from 12.5 percent to 15.3 percent, for a total of 45.7 million people, according to rough calculations by the Census Bureau.
Data on all segments, not only the elderly, would be affected:
- The rate for children under 18 in poverty would decline slightly, to 17.9 percent.
- Single mothers and their children, who disproportionately receive food stamps, would see declines in the rates of poverty because noncash aid would be taken into account.
Low-income people who are working could see increases in poverty rates, a reflection of transportation and child-care costs.
- Cities with higher costs of living, such as New York, Chicago and San Francisco, would see higher poverty rates, while more rural areas in the Midwest and South might see declines.
- The rate for extreme poverty, defined as income falling below 50 percent of the poverty line, would decrease due to housing and other noncash benefits.
- Immigrant poverty rates would go up, due to transportation costs and lower participation in government aid programs.
The changes have been discussed quietly for years in academic circles, and both Democrats and Republicans agree that the decades-old White House formula, which is based on a 1955 cost of an emergency food diet, is outdated.
The current calculation sets the poverty level at three times the annual cost of groceries.
For a family of four that is $21,203. That calculation does not factor in rising medical, transportation, child care and housing expenses or geographical variations in living costs.
Nor does the current formula consider noncash aid when calculating income, despite the recent expansion of food stamps and tax credits in the federal economic stimulus and other government programs. The result: The poverty rate has varied little from its current 12. percent.
Next week, the Census Bureau will publish official poverty figures for 2008 with a cautionary note about the shortcomings. The agency says it will expedite release of alternative numbers in the following weeks, because of the interest expressed by lawmakers and the Obama administration in seeing a fuller range of numbers.
"The current poverty measure does a very bad job of measuring the impact of quite a few of our anti-poverty policies," Rebecca Blank, the Commerce Department's undersecretary of economic affairs, said in an interview. "It isn't meaningless, but it isn't complete."
Although the White House Office of Management and Budget dictates how federal poverty is measured, legislation pending in Congress would require use of the National Academy approach.
Advocates are hoping the White House may act on its own.
Simon Norwood of Little Rock, Ark., 56, says he's still keeping faith in that promise.
A lifelong construction worker who receives food stamps, Norwood hasn't had regular work for months once jobs dried up in the housing meltdown. He doesn't dare to think about getting sick or injured because he doesn't know whether he could cover the expenses.
Now working a part-time, minimum-wage job, Norwood said it doesn't matter to him how the poverty numbers are sliced so long as people get a fair shake at getting assistance.
"I often tell my son, 'You've got to save your money. Live within your means,'" he said.
"Because you never know when things might take a turn."
Well, there you have it...as we age, we're gonna be poor...DAMN, and I was looking to the autumn of my years with a LOT more of the GOOD kind of "excitement" (as if my neighborhood doesn't provide ample diversion as it is), instead of all this BAD excitement.
Well, you ALSO have people moving BACK with their parents, placing undue financial burdens upon those of my generation. That wasn't mentioned in the article...guess the "pros" didn't take the time to check out those "blighted" areas of most cities, hmm?
It was a damn shame my Dad died THREE YEARS before he could retire (at age 60)...that sucked. He was basically ROBBED of some "quiet time" after serving his nation during WW2, and working like a dog since he returned, raising me, and taking care of a house and all the bills that accompany a family venue.
I know if he were alive today, THIS kind of story would KILL him. Maybe he was just "avoiding the rush".
In any event, people, we're FAR from being "out of the woods" on many of the basic tenets of living.
I'm a FIRM believer in the phase:
LIVING WITHIN YOUR MEANS.
Dad had a quaint saying:
"Never develop CHAMPAGNE taste, when you have a BEER pocketbook".
And I never did....thanks, Dad!
There's a message we can ALL get on board with, no matter WHAT our age.
We'll see all of you back here Monday, so have a great weekend, and...
Stay safe out there, America.