SoCalDem
SoCalDem's JournalPolitical Conventions should be held in mid-August
The whole city of DC seems to be pretty "empty" then , and congress seems to be gone during most (if not all) of the month.
Pushing it near labor day...and into September seems to present a whole host of issues, from sports to weather & back again.
Maybe even July..(after the 4th)
They should also be held in places that can accommodate LARGE crowds under cover, in case of rain, so they don't have to do last-minute-scrambles like what's happening now. It's too bad that so many people will get left out now at the last minute..
I guess Kaine picked Charlotte.. bad choice during hurricane season when storms can kick up anytime..
Odd screencap from Yahoo (Michelle Obama's speech)
I know there is more after the "ho"..but they had to know how many letters would display..so why type anything 
The 10 Investments That Made Paul Ryan a Millionaire
Business InsiderBy Walter Hickey | Business Insider – 7 hours ago
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/the-10-investments-that-made-paul-ryan-a-millionaire.html
Thanks to the personal finance disclosure that members of congress are required to submit — and the folks at the Center for Responsive Politics who maintain a database of the documents — we were able to look into the investment decisions of Wisconsin Congressman Paul Ryan, who as of last week, is now the official Republican vice presidential nominee.
According to the documents, Ryan has benefited from a number of trusts and inheritances that make up most of his wealth, but his investments over the years have cemented his net worth somewhere between $927,000 and $3.2 million.
http://l.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/jrKpIxD86oDy3tO4LzN7UA--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7cT04NTt3PTMxMA--/
We think that this is one of the rental properties Ryan bought. (Google Streetview)1. A brief stint as a landlord made Ryan some early cash.
As a freshman representative, Ryan bought three rental properties in his hometown of Janesville, Wisc., in Feb. 1998 He paid between $100,000 and $250,000 for the properties, financing them with a mortgage from Anchorbank SSB. He collected between $15,000 and $50,000 per year in rent from tenants, and in 2000 bought a fourth rental property. By that point the properties were worth between $250,000 and $500,000.
He flipped the real estate in 2001.
2. Ryan Limited Partnership, an investment group, has made Ryan a lot of money.
Ryan owned a 21.37% stake in RLP well before he joined Congress, and the asset has grown from a worth of $45,358 in 1998 to somewhere between $100,000 and $250,000 in 2011. That partnership has diversified its portfolio over the years, and has made a brisk trade in stocks and mutual funds. Dividends alone were worth $5,000 to $15,000 last year, although they were higher prior to the recession. Current RLP assets include Altria Group, Amazon.com, Apple, Google, McDonald's, Philip Morris, Starbucks and Visa.
snip
We are a punitive nation at heart
1....Not rich?..you must be lazy, undeserving, and not smart enough to get a good job..you deserve to live a miserable life, scratching to stay current with your bills
2....Food stamps user?...you must be lazy, and are definitely undeserving..you deserve scorn & derision
3....Unexpected pregnancy?..you must be stupid, careless, a harlot, or all of the aforementioned..you cannot choose what happens next.. you deserve to have to support that child alone, and don't even think of asking for help
4....In debt?....you must be a spendthrift, careless with money..
5....No health insurance?..see #1
6...Old & sick...and poor?..you did not save enough and it's too bad, but you are screwed.
7...Find yourself incarcerated?.. too bad for you.. you deserve to be punished forever..even after you serve your time..and while you are in jail, it's ok if additional harm comes your way..
The general "theme" lately seems to be all about blame & punishment...except when it comes to the super-rich/powerful who seem to be saints..just looking out for us all..
Louisiana asks for $3.4M labor emergency grant ( Say it ain't so, Bobby)
Apparently they laid too many people off..
http://www.ktbs.com/news/Louisiana-asks-for-3-4M-labor-emergency-grant/-/144844/16468862/-/4adipiz/-/index.html
Louisiana asks for $3.4M labor emergency grant
Published On: Sep 03 2012 06:02:37 PM CDT
BATON ROUGE, La. -
Louisiana's labor department is asking the federal government for $3.4 million to pay unemployed state residents to help with cleanup work after Hurricane Isaac.
The Louisiana Workforce Commission said Monday that it's filed a request for an emergency grant from the U.S. Department of Labor.
The commission estimates the grant could pay salaries for about 450 people, along with career counseling and other work force assistance. Residents directly harmed by the storm would get priority for the work.
'Green Mile' star and Chicago native Michael Clarke Duncan dies at age 54
Dammit-to-hell.. I loved that guy 
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-michael-clark-duncan-obituary-20120903,0,976243.story
Tribune newspapers
6:39 p.m. CDT, September 3, 2012
Michael Clarke Duncan, the tall and massively built actor with the shaved head and deep voice who received an Academy Award nomination for his moving portrayal of a gentle death row inmate in the 1999 prison drama "The Green Mile," died Monday. He was 54. The Chicago native rose to fame playing a hulking death row inmate with a special psychic gift in the 1999 film, adapted from the novel by Stephen King. The role, which cast him opposite Tom Hanks, earned him Academy Award and Golden Globe nominations.
snip
Standing 6-foot-5 and weighing roughly 315 pounds, Duncan parlayed his considerable size into a career as a Hollywood security guard, working for the likes of Will Smith and the rapper Notorious B.I.G. His first movie role came in 1998's "Armageddon" with Bruce Willis; Willis later helped the fledgling actor land the "Green Mile" gig.
snip
Clarke had been in a romantic relationship with reality TV star the Rev. Omarosa Manigault, best known for her time on NBC's competition series "The Apprentice." The two often frequented red carpet events together, including Perez Hilton's recent 34th birthday bash and more high-profile movie premieres, like "The Green Hornet."
He suffered a myocardial infarction July 13 and never fully recovered.
Publicist Joy Fehily released a statement from Manigault, who was engaged to Duncan, saying the 54-year-old actor died Monday morning in a Los Angeles hospital after nearly two months of treatment.
Copyright © 2012, Los Angeles Times
It's a real advantage to us that Romney's tone-deaf
Imagine the scenario:
Convention's going along & he sends his minions to buy every bit of bottle water & energy bars they can get their hands on..and as soon as the party's over, they truck it in/fly it in/whatever and photo op of them giving it to the red cross & then they leave..
Instead, he tells a woman to go home & call 211
Heckova job, Mittens 
Isaac renews old debate about Louisiana levees
Posted: Friday, August 31, 2012 5:23 pm | Updated: 7:24 pm, Fri Aug 31, 2012.
http://www.wdtimes.com/news/national/article_506565d4-8725-531d-b056-e650835c4eeb.html
Associated Press
When Hurricane Isaac whirled into the Gulf Coast this week, the federal levee system protecting New Orleans did its job. But the patchwork of floodwalls shielding subdivisions outside the city and rural fishing and farming communities was no match for the drenching storm. As the cleanup began Friday, an old debate grew more urgent: Is it worth billions of dollars to build better levees in areas that are sparsely populated and naturally flood-prone? Since Hurricane Katrina in 2005, the Army Corps of Engineers has backed away from the idea of extending protection across much of south Louisiana, citing doubts about whether improved levees would work and whether the money could be better spent elsewhere.
None of that sits well with locals, who feel abandoned.
"Each time you have a hurricane, you are going to spend enormous amounts of money on search and rescue, rebuilding churches, schools, everything, just like right here in Ironton," said Charles J. Ballay, district attorney of Plaquemines Parish, as he rode atop an airboat looking for stranded residents. "This was a Category 1 storm and look at what it has done."
snip
About 1 million people in coastal Louisiana live outside the massive levee system that protects greater New Orleans, and almost all of them are at risk of flooding during a major storm. For decades, Louisiana has pressed the federal government to erect larger, stronger levees in areas vulnerable to hurricanes. The calls for better protection intensified after Isaac. "These people don't deserve this," Democratic Sen. Mary Landrieu told WVUE-TV near Braithwaite, a community flooded to the rooftops when a nearby non-federal levee was overwhelmed by Isaac's storm surge. "We have to fight harder and stronger for protection for everyone. You know, on one side of the levee it's completely dry. Houses are safe. Families are going back to normal. And on the other side, it's a nightmare." Matt Ranatza, a farmer in Jesuit Bend, a town left out of the federal system in Plaquemines, said the situation makes him "insane." "There's a perfectly good levee right behind my house that they could have fixed, and that's the levee that was in danger of overtopping," he said. "For them to just say we're not going to do it there is criminal."
snip
Besides that, the Louisiana coast is steadily eroding due to rising sea levels, oil drilling and even levee building that stops spring floods from replenishing marshes. The state has lost about 1,900 square miles of land since the 1930s, and scientists warn that more will follow. Paul Kemp, a coastal geologist who heads the National Audubon Society's Gulf Coast Initiative, said many people in Louisiana are drawing back from the coast and behind the better levees systems. "Look at Plaquemines since Katrina," Kemp said. "It has not been rebuilt. It's a bunch of trailers. That's what the future holds: People will have a house behind the levee and then have something more disposable outside the levees."
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