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Check out Bao Bao
Bao Bao, the four and a half month old giant panda cub, in her indoor habitat at the Smithsonian's National Zoo in Washington, D.C., on January 7, 2014. Bao Bao was born to the zoo's female giant panda Mei Xiang and male giant panda Tian Tian.
March 14, 2015 at 9:26:53 will be epic... Why?
No need for an approximation sign....imo
Supreme Court extends whistleblower protections to employees at private firms
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A divided U.S. Supreme Court ruled on Tuesday that employees at private firms that contract with publicly traded companies are subject to whistleblower protections.
In a 6-3 vote along non-ideological lines, the court ruled that two whistleblowers were legally protected against retaliation after they raised concerns to their employer, Fidelity Investments parent FMR LLC, about how some mutual funds were being managed. Whistleblowers at public companies already are protected from employer retaliation.
The court was interpreting part of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, a 2002 law passed by Congress that set standards for all U.S. publicly traded company boards, management and public accounting firms.
Although Fidelity’s mutual funds are public companies and are required to file reports with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, management services are provided by private companies under contract with the funds, including Fidelity Brokerage Services LLC.
In the majority opinion, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg wrote that the “mischief to which Congress was responding” when it enacted the Sarbanes-Oxley law made it clear that the protections should extend to subcontractors, including investment advisers, law firms and accounting firms. Congress passed the law after accounting problems brought down energy company Enron Corp and communications provider WorldCom Inc.
Ginsburg questioned whether Congress, “prompted by the Enron debacle, would exclude from whistleblower protection countless professionals equipped to bring fraud on investors to a halt.”
More here: http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/03/04/supreme-court-extends-whistleblower-protections-to-employees-at-private-firms/
Iowa teens face hunting license suspension and fines for killing eagle
Two Iowa teens have been charged and will have their hunting licenses suspended after allegedly shooting an eagle last month.
Poweshiek County Sheriff Thomas Kriegel said that the two 15-year-old boys had been charged with unlawful manner of conveyance (loaded gun), shooting a rifle from the roadway, prohibited hunting near buildings or feedlots and killing protected non-game, according to KCCIM.
One of the teens was also facing additional charges for violations of conditions of minor’s school license and operating a motor vehicle without registration.
The cases were being referred to juvenile court.
The Iowa Department of Natural Resources (DNR) was expected suspend the teens’ hunting licenses, and seek restitution for veterinary bills.
More here: http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/03/04/iowa-teens-face-hunting-license-suspension-and-fines-for-killing-eagle/
Patrick Stewart performs Shakespearean death scene to help Stephen Colbert fight Obamacare
On his show on Monday night, Stephen Colbert noted that the Republicans are having a genuinely difficult time finding real horror stories related to President Barack Obama’s Affordable Care Act (ACA), also known as “Obamacare.”
Colbert welcomed “Star Trek: The Next Generation” actor Patrick Stewart, who offered to play a victim of Obamacare if that will help.
“We’ve all heard about the lives that the Affordable Care Act has ruined,” Colbert said.
Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA) told the story during her response to the State of the Union Address of “Betty” in Spokane, Washington, who allegedly saw her insurance premiums skyrocket because of Obamacare.
Local reporting revealed that Betty had — for political reasons — deliberately refused to avail herself of subsidies that were available from the government to pay for her insurance.
“Poor Betty is not alone,” Colbert said. “In fact, so many Obamacare horror stories have been debunked at this point that the Los Angeles Times speculated that maybe there are no genuine Obamacare horror stories.”
Colbert went the extra mile, however, and managed to find one such victim, Louisiana’s Chuck DuPrey (Patrick Stewart).
“Well, hello, Stephen!” said Stewart/DuPrey, in what could only be a deliberately terrible Cajun accent.
He assured the host that he was not an actor.
More and see the video at: http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/03/04/patrick-stewart-performs-shakespearean-death-scene-to-help-stephen-colbert-fight-obamacare/
"Lexophile" is a word used to describe those that have a love for words, such as:
"you can tune a piano, but you can't tuna fish", or "to write with a broken pencil is pointless."
A competition to see who can come up with the best lexphillies is held every year
in an undisclosed location. This year's winning submission is posted at the very end.
.. When fish are in schools, they sometimes take debate.
.. A thief who stole a calendar got twelve months.
.. When the smog lifts in Los Angeles U.C.L.A.
.. The batteries were given out free of charge.
.. A dentist and a manicurist married. They fought tooth and nail.
.. A will is a dead giveaway.
.. With her marriage, she got a new name and a dress.
.. A boiled egg is hard to beat.
.. When you've seen one shopping Center you've seen a mall.
.. Police were called to a day care Center where a three-year-old was resisting a rest.
.. Did you hear about the fellow whose whole left side was cut off? He's all right now.
.. A bicycle can't stand alone; it is two tired.
.. When a clock is hungry it goes back four seconds.
.. The guy who fell onto an upholstery machine is now fully recovered.
.. He had a photographic memory which was never developed.
.. When she saw her first strands of grey hair she thought she'd dye.
.. Acupuncture is a jab well done. That's the point of it.
And the cream of the wretched crop:
.. Those who get too big for their pants will be exposed in the end.
Obama, the feckless tyrant
President Obama is such a weak strongman. What’s more, he is a feeble dictator and a timid tyrant.
That, at any rate, is Republicans’ critique of him. With Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Obama’s critics pivoted seamlessly from complaining about his overreach to fretting that he is being too cautious. Call it Operation Oxymoron.
Last Wednesday, I sat in a House hearing and listened to Republicans describe Obama exercising “unparalleled use of executive power” and operating an “uber-presidency.” They accused him of acting like a “king” and a “monarch,” of making the United States like a “dictatorship” or a “totalitarian government” by exercising “imperial” and “magisterial power.”
But after events in Ukraine, this very tyrant was said to be so weak that it’s “shocking.”
“We have a weak and indecisive president that invites aggression,” Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) proclaimed Sunday on CNN.
Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) told the annual gathering of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee on Monday that Obama has “a feckless foreign policy where nobody believes in America’s strength anymore.”
Rep. Michael Turner (R-Ohio) told Bloomberg News that “we’re projecting weakness.” Rep. Ed Royce (R-Calif.) told CNN that recent events make “the administration look weak.” And Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Rogers (R-Mich.) told Fox News that the administration is “playing marbles” and that the Russians are “running circles around us.”
More here: http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/dana-milbank-obama-the-feckless-tyrant/2014/03/03/73470bdc-a320-11e3-84d4-e59b1709222c_story.html
Found on the Obama Diary
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Hometown: Northern California
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