From the Cleveland Plain Dealer.

Click on the photo for the entire story. 

Rep. Dennis Kucinich sues cafeteria over olive pit in sandwich

Published: Wednesday, January 26, 2011, 12:51 PM     Updated: Thursday, January 27, 2011, 12:22 PM

By: Sabrina Eaton, The Plain Dealer

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Rep. Dennis Kucinich has rapped a U.S. House of Representatives cafeteria with a $150,000 lawsuit for selling him a vegetarian sandwich wrap in 2008 that he says caused dental damage when he bit into an olive pit.

The lawsuit that the Cleveland Democrat filed Jan. 3 against operators and suppliers of the Longworth House Office Building cafeteria says the sandwich he bought there "on or about" April 17, 2008 "contained dangerous substances, namely an olive pit, that a consumer would not reasonably expect to find in the final product served."

Biting into it caused serious "permanent dental and oral injuries requiring multiple surgical and dental procedures," the legal documents say. They contend the congressman is entitled to damages for future dental and medical expenses and to compensate him for pain, suffering, and loss of enjoyment.

From CNBC via Yahoo News.

Which by the way is pretty good for stuff that is likely to not get picked up by the more traditional services.

As always click anywhere below to link up the entire story.

Government can’t print money properly

By Zachary Roth

As a metaphor for our troubled economic and financial era -- and the government's stumbling response -- this one's hard to beat. You can't stimulate the economy via the money supply, after all, if you can't print the money correctly.

Because of a problem with the presses, the federal government has shut down production of its flashy new $100 bills, and has quarantined more than 1 billion of them -- more than 10 percent of all existing U.S. cash -- in a vault in Fort Worth, Texas, reports CNBC

"There is something drastically wrong here," one source told CNBC. "The frustration level is off the charts."

More than 1 billion unusable bills have been printed. Some of the bills creased during production, creating a blank space on the paper, one official told CNBC. Because correctly printed bills are mixed in with the flawed ones, even the ones printed to the correct design specs can't be used until they 're sorted.

Thanks to Dougy F. for this one.

Here's one reason you can barely do a workout.

In an effort to evade the truth, municipal governments have taken a lessons from the Federal Government and are cooking the books in order to cover up the extent of their promised but unfunded pension liabilities.

Cynical Roany will take this opportunity to point out that by and large, the very same people calling for transparent accounting at the corporate level are lying through their teeth via their own accounting practices at every single level of government ......... federal, state and local.

Click the chart below to catch the very simple three paragraph story that comes with this chart.

Or probably more important to you, this here little gear here will take you to another Clusterstock story which ranks the ten cities in the deepest doo-doo.

I like Porter Stansbury.

Many, many years ago I bought one of his newsletters, ended up not using it much and called and asked to cancel.

I'm pretty sure it was Porter that picked up the phone.

I had my money back on the next statement, no muss, no fuss.

That's a good businessman in my opinion.

Even if it wasn't Porter that picked up the phone.

The following is a piece he published for Casey's Daily Dispatch.

He's in a mood.

I don't blame him.

This Is Why There Are No Jobs in America

By Porter Stansberry
Saturday, August 21, 2010

I'd like to make you a business offer.

Seriously. This is a real offer. In fact, you really can't turn me down, as you'll come to understand in a moment...

Here's the deal. You're going to start a business or expand the one you've got now. It doesn't really matter what you do or what you're going to do. I'll partner with you no matter what business you're in – as long as it's legal.

But I can't give you any capital – you have to come up with that on your own. I won't give you any labor – that's definitely up to you. What I will do, however, is demand you follow all sorts of rules about what products and services you can offer, how much (and how often) you pay your employees, and where and when you're allowed to operate your business. That's my role in the affair: to tell you what to do.

Now in return for my rules, I'm going to take roughly half of whatever you make in the business each year. Half seems fair, doesn't it? I think so. Of course, that's half of your profits.

You're also going to have to pay me about 12% of whatever you decide to pay your employees because you've got to cover my expenses for promulgating all of the rules about who you can employ, when, where, and how. Come on, you're my partner. It's only "fair."

Now... after you've put your hard-earned savings at risk to start this business, and after you've worked hard at it for a few decades (paying me my 50% or a bit more along the way each year), you might decide you'd like to cash out – to finally live the good life.

Whether or not this is "fair" – some people never can afford to retire – is a different argument. As your partner, I'm happy for you to sell whenever you'd like... because our agreement says, if you sell, you have to pay me an additional 20% of whatever the capitalized value of the business is at that time.

I know... I know... you put up all the original capital. You took all the risks. You put in all of the labor. That's all true. But I've done my part, too. I've collected 50% of the profits each year. And I've always come up with more rules for you to follow each year. Therefore, I deserve another, final 20% slice of the business.

Oh... and one more thing...

Even after you've sold the business and paid all of my fees... I'd recommend buying lots of life insurance. You see, even after you've been retired for years, when you die, you'll have to pay me 50% of whatever your estate is worth.

After all, I've got lots of partners and not all of them are as successful as you and your family. We don't think it's "fair" for your kids to have such a big advantage. But if you buy enough life insurance, you can finance this expense for your children.

All in all, if you're a very successful entrepreneur... if you're one of the rare, lucky, and hard-working people who can create a new company, employ lots of people, and satisfy the public... you'll end up paying me more than 75% of your income over your life. Thanks so much.

I'm sure you'll think my offer is reasonable and happily partner with me... but it doesn't really matter how you feel about it because if you ever try to stiff me – or cheat me on any of my fees or rules – I'll break down your door in the middle of the night, threaten you and your family with heavy, automatic weapons, and throw you in jail.

That's how civil society is supposed to work, right? This is Amerika, isn't it?

That's the offer Amerika gives its entrepreneurs. And the idiots in Washington wonder why there are no new jobs.

DEA seeks Ebonics experts to help with cases  

By GREG BLUESTEIN

The Associated Press 
Monday, August 23, 2010; 9:56 PM  

ATLANTA -- Federal agents are seeking to hire Ebonics translators to help interpret wiretapped conversations involving targets of undercover drug investigations.

The Drug Enforcement Administration recently sent memos asking companies that provide translation services to help it find nine translators in the Southeast who are fluent in Ebonics, Special Agent Michael Sanders said Monday.

Ebonics, which is also known as African American Vernacular English, has been described by the psychologist who coined the term as the combination of English vocabulary with African language structure.

 

A far more truthful and accurate accounting of events.

Rachel Slajda at Talking Points Memo produced the following mashup of Arlen Specter campaign ads.

Along with some other rather profound flaws, George W. Bush sure was a damn poor judge of character.

According to CMAVision.com.

Joining Venezuela, Argentina, and Greece among other notable bastions of fiscal responsibility, California sprints into the top ten list of likely international deadbeats with a very impressive 20% probability of default.

Can Sam be far behind?

Not a chance!!!!!

Owning your own printing press is a good thing ... for everyone but savers.