News Cut: August 28, 2012 Archive

The helicopters: If not a training exercise, then what?

Posted at 10:51 AM on August 28, 2012 by Bob Collins (7 Comments)

The local media is getting criticized in some quarters today for not reporting deeply enough on these Blackhawk helicopters which have been circling over Minneapolis as part of some "training exercise."

The problem, though, is the media doesn't have the information available -- yet -- to say there's something more sinister going on.

But let's not let that stop us. You got us. They're preparing for the invasion by U.N. troops searching for the soft spot in our nation's defenses.

It's not like we weren't told.

Why just last week down in Lubbock, Texas, Judge Tom Head predicted civil unrest in the event President Barack Obama is re-elected.

"He's going to try to hand over the sovereignty of the United States to the UN, and what is going to happen when that happens?," Head asked.

"I'm thinking the worst. Civil unrest, civil disobedience, civil war maybe. And we're not just talking a few riots here and demonstrations, we're talking Lexington, Concord, take up arms and get rid of the guy.

"Now what's going to happen if we do that, if the public decides to do that? He's going to send in U.N. troops. I don't want 'em in Lubbock County. OK. So I'm going to stand in front of their armored personnel carrier and say 'you're not coming in here'.

For the record, an official with the United Nations says no invasion is in the works.

The world of bosses

Posted at 12:10 PM on August 28, 2012 by Bob Collins (2 Comments)

Bosses are in the news today. How does your stack up?

In Seal Beach, California, Kristen Joseph, 28, said she had an awkward conversation with a manager at Hennessey's Tavern on Aug. 20 when she requested for some time to pump breast milk for her 6-month-old son.

"He said it was disgusting. He said he didn't want me to spray all over his office. I was just appalled at what he had to say," Joseph told CBS Los Angeles.

"When I told him it was against the law for him to deny me of that, he kind of just went off," she said.

In Ohio, some coal miners say they had to attend a Mitt Romney rally earlier this month. The coal mine owner closed the mine and didn't pay the miners, Cleveland.com reports today.

His workers say they were intimidated into attending the rally, a charge the owner denies, although he acknowledges that when he closes the mine, none of the miners get paid.

"We had to close it for security reasons. The Secret Service would not allow us to be conducting a mining operation underground when we had people there. Now what is so newsworthy about that that? The Plain Dealer has to make a news issue about it? It's a security issue. Yes, we closed the mine for one shift. We did not have the mine closed for more than the one shift that Gov. Romney was there," the owner said.

The bike buffer

Posted at 1:14 PM on August 28, 2012 by Bob Collins (7 Comments)

Should drivers be required to give bicyclists three feet of room?

It's a controversy in California where the State Assembly has approved a measure requiring the three-feet of buffer. Drivers would be allowed to cross double solid yellow lines to provide bicyclists enough room, KPBS reports.

A similar measure was vetoed by the governor last year under the theory that it gives bicyclists a false sense of security.

But some supporters say having the law would give motorists more awareness of cyclists.

What say you?

(h/t: Julia Schrenkler)

Rules aimed at bank execs hitting 'little people' hard

Posted at 1:36 PM on August 28, 2012 by Bob Collins (2 Comments)

Richard Eggers could be the poster boy for both sides of the banking business. He's either a victim of greedy corporations or the victim of regulations strangling businesses and eliminating jobs, depending on your view.

Eggers, the Des Moines Register reports, lost his job as a Wells Fargo customer service representative this summer after it was discovered he put a cardboard cutout of a dime in a washing machine in Carlisle, Iowa on Feb. 2, 1963.

"It was a stupid stunt and I'm not real proud of it, but to fire somebody for something like this after seven good years of employment is a dirty trick when you come right down to it," he told the newspaper.

It's happening to a lot of people.

New rules to weed out executives and mid-level bank employees with questionable backgrounds, are ensnaring the little people instead.

The rules ban the employment of anyone convicted of a crime involving "dishonesty, breach of trust or money laundering," the paper says. And they're not wasting time making distinctions because the penalty is a $1 million a day fine.

The rules are hitting minorities hardest, according to one attorney.