Tuesday, October 25, 2011

Herman Cain is a Koch Brother? Who knew...



Herman Cain's deep ties to Koch brothers key to campaign

By Associated Press, Published: October 16

IOWA CITY, Iowa — Republican presidential hopeful Herman Cain has cast himself as the outsider, the pizza magnate with real-world experience who will bring fresh ideas to the nation's capital. But Cain's economic ideas, support and organization have close ties to two billionaire brothers who bankroll right-leaning causes through their group Americans for Prosperity.
Cain's campaign manager and a number of aides have worked for Americans for Prosperity, or AFP, the advocacy group founded with support from billionaire brothers Charles and David Koch, which lobbies for lower taxes and less government regulation and spending. Cain credits a businessman who served on an AFP advisory board with helping devise his "9-9-9" plan to rewrite the nation's tax code. And his years of speaking at AFP events have given the businessman and radio host a network of loyal grassroots fans.
The once little-known businessman's political activities are getting fresh scrutiny these days since he soared to the top of some national polls.
His links to the Koch brothers could undercut his outsider, non-political image among tea party fans who detest politics as usual and candidates connected with the party machine.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/long-ties-to-koch-brothers-key-to-cains-campaign/2011/10/16/gIQAKTLPoL_story.html

Wednesday, October 12, 2011

Yay! Instant Camera access on iOS 5.



From a locked screen,
Double-click,
Right there, bottom right, CAMERA!
And it starts fast too.

Yaaaayyyyyy!

Blackberry | We are all missing the point...

 Blackberry is down and it is a big deal, but...

How is it we aren't talking about the fatal service and security flaw in their architecture?


Messaging and Browsing go through RIM?  Seriously?

"The messaging and browsing delays ... were caused by a core switch failure within RIM's infrastructure," it said. "As a result, a large backlog of data was generated and we are now working to clear that backlog and restore normal service."

I'm not sure why anyone would think this is a good idea.

Read more: http://www.montrealgazette.com/BlackBerry+outages+spread+North+America/5538017/story.html#ixzz1aaTAW9xr

Tuesday, October 11, 2011

I'm calling BS on this. | Federal Times biased?

 According to Federal Times:
"Federal employees are being increasingly concentrated into higher  paygrades without taking on greater responsibility, according to a  Federal Times analysis of government data."
http://www.federaltimes.com/article/20111010/BENEFITS01/110100301/1001

Is this just sloppy work or a bias?

How, exactly, does Federal Times know that employees aren't taking on greater responsibility, unless they interviewed the employees?
They clearly haven't and state the same at the end of the article.

They talked to senior management? Because they are so aware of what is happening at the ground level?

What I see are GS staff doing more and more, as their co-workers have retired or left for better opportunities.  The climate is so bad now (no pay raises for 2 years, no support, no help, no new staff filling critical roles) that many are fleeing the federal ranks and most would not consider entering the federal workforce.

You can't fix the problem of the federal workforce by blaming the staff.

Friday, October 7, 2011

An ad I had not expected



I wonder if they get much business from this.

And...  now my mind is stuck on euphemisms.



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