RandySF
RandySF's JournalIt's the time of night I hate most.
Just woke on the couch after another exhausting day at work in a job I absolutely hate. Thinking about my unemployed wife and a son who is too smart for the safest (from bullies) Catholic that we can afford. I'm supposed to have a one-on-one meeting with my boss (who caused a coworker just today to go home sick) one day after lodging a complaint against her with HR. I'm supposed to be grateful for all that I have, but I feel that I have is a lot of stress, bills to pay and a family to feed. Things are supposed to get better, but when does that ever happened? Where is my American dream? When do I give my immigrant wife the life she always dreamed of before she came to America?
This is Halloween. We read stories and see movies about things that go bump in the night. But the scariest movie is nothing compared to the fear created by knowing you are just a few paychecks away from total ruin and at the tender mercies of an unpredictable boss.
Video: Dems Call GOP Concerns About Obamacare 'Bull$#!%'.
I call it BULLSHIT.
Democratic advocacy group Americans United For Change has released a new web video video responding to the GOP's criticisms of the rocky Obamacare rollout. The clip, which is entitled "The Republican Crusade For Health Care: Bull$#!%," accuses Republicans of having made "46 votes to repeal or dismantle the Affordable Care Act" and "16 votes to shut down the government to keep healthcare reform from going into effect."
"After four years of fighting tooth and nail to kill it now the Republicans want healthcare reform to work?" a narrator asks in the video. "Bull$#!%."
McAuliffe up big in early voting
Democratic candidate Terry McAuliffe is winning the early vote in the Virginia governor’s race, a new poll found.
The survey, conducted by the Democratic firm Public Policy Polling for the League of Conservation Voters, a liberal environmental advocacy group, found McAuliffe taking 57 percent of early voters, compared with 39 percent for GOP Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli.
That margin is similar to current GOP Gov. Bob McDonnell’s early vote leads in 2009: four years ago, according to figures from the state Board of Elections cited by PPP, he led among early voters by 18 points as well, 59 percent to 41 percent.
McAuliffe has opened up a consistent polling lead over Cuccinelli in the race with just two weeks left to go until Election Day. An NBC/Marist poll of the race last week found McAuliffe up by 8 points among likely voters.
http://www.politico.com/story/2013/10/poll-terry-mcauliffe-virginia-98675.html#ixzz2iWT1VZbB
NRA/tea-bag Republican has AR-15 stolen from garage.
DUNN, N.C. -- The Dunn Police Department is investigating the theft of an AR-15 assault rifle from the home of U.S. Rep. Renee Ellmers.
Investigators said they were called to the home on Kingsway Drive last Wednesday for a report of a breaking and entering.
According to a police report, Bret Ellmers' said the rifle was left leaning against a gun safe the day before in the garage, which had been left unlocked. Bret Ellmers told officers he and his son had left the rifle in the garage after going target shooting. The report does not say whether the weapon was loaded.
The gun, a gun case, and a GPS unit were taken. The total value of the items was put at $1,100.
Ellmers spokesman Thomas Doheny says the congresswoman was in Washington when the rifle was stolen but declined to discuss details, citing the ongoing police investigation. He added that, as a mother, Ellmers is concerned that the rifle was left unsecured.
"Her family is very big on gun safety and she wants to get to the bottom of this herself," Doheny said.
Ellmers is a political conservative aligned with the tea party. In the 2012 election she was endorsed by the National Rifle Association and other pro-gun groups.
http://abclocal.go.com/wtvd/story?section=news/local&id=9297000
Hawaii special session on marriage equality begins Monday.
The special session is scheduled to begin Oct. 28 and is expected to last about a week. Gov. Neil Abercrombie called the session after two U.S. Supreme Court rulings gave gay marriage proponents momentum to push for the laws to be changed in the state.
Hawaii currently recognizes same-sex civil unions that grant many rights similar to marriage but does not label the unions as marriage.
Opponents of the bill have said they think it should be considered during regular session, or put to a vote.
http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Hawaii-AG-State-has-authority-on-gay-marriage-4897734.php
GOP Candidate For Arizona Governor Arrested For DUI In 2004
Arizona Republican gubernatorial candidate Christine Jones was arrested in 2004 for drunken driving, a pair of Arizona newspapers reported on Tuesday.
According to the Arizona Capitol Times and the Phoenix New Times, paperwork filed on April 14, 2004 in Phoenix Municipal Court showed that Jones had a blood alcohol level above the legal limit of .08 after she was pulled over. She was cited for impared driving and making an unsafe lane change.
Two years later, Jones, an attorney and former executive for the internet hosting company GoDaddy, was convicted on a pair of misdemeanors, according to the newspapers.
"There was no one in the car with me at the time, there was no accident and fortunately no one was hurt," Jones said in the statement to the publications on Tuesday. "I went to court and paid my dues like everyone else. It is a mistake that I very much regret and I am not proud of that night."
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/arizona-gov-candidate-jones-arrested-for-dui-in-2004
Reid: "I was dealing with illogical and irrational people. I was damned scared."
With the sense that he had his full caucus' backing, Boehner put together a final offer that funded the government and lifted the debt ceiling, while ending the federal health care contributions for members of Congress and delaying Obamacare's medical device tax.
It was another bit of defiance against Obama's demand that reform of his health care law was off the table, and despair began to set in at both Reid's office and the White House. One senior administration official said concerns heightened that Tuesday that the country would default. Reid shared the fear.
"Oh, yeah," he said when asked if there were moments he thought the country would hit the debt limit. "Oh, yes. Absolutely, absolutely. People were giving speeches that it wouldn't hurt anything. Of course there was worry. I was trying to be logical and rational dealing with illogical and irrational people. I was damned scared."
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/10/22/obama-reid_n_4136996.html
BART strike over!!
KTVU is reporting right now that labor and management have agreed to end the strike!
Halloween is a sacred time for this dad.
As we get closer to Halloween, it really hit me how important the day (and night) is to me as a dad. You can celebrate Christmas (or whatever holiday you celebrate with your family) with your kids well into their adult years, but they are only small for a short time, and you only have so many opportunities to go trick-or-treating with them . And that is why Halloween is so close to my heart.
Two BART employees killed in accident by reported scab worker.
An informed transit insider tells us that the BART train that struck and killed two workers on the tracks near the Walnut Creek station on Saturday was on a strike-related training run at the time of the accident.
"They were practicing training people how to operate and have the skills in the event of an extended strike," said the source, who was not authorized to speak on the record.
The source, however, said BART's official description - that the train was on a routine maintenance run at the time - may also be true. The source was referring to a statement by Paul Oversier, BART's assistant general manager, that the train was returning to Concord after hauling two cars that had been defaced with graffiti to the maintenance yard in Richmond.
Reached Sunday afternoon, Oversier declined to comment, saying the accident is now under review by the National Transportation Safety Board, and everyone "is under direct orders not to discuss the incident."
http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/matier-ross/article/Insider-BART-training-for-strike-when-2-killed-4912280.php
Profile Information
Gender: MaleHometown: Detroit Area, MI
Home country: USA
Current location: San Francisco, CA
Member since: Wed Oct 29, 2008, 02:53 PM
Number of posts: 59,438
