Republicans who hate the Post Office should experience what I did with "the private sector".

My son came home with a great report card, so I rewarded him with a toy that you pretty much have to order to acquire. So, I went to trusty ol' Amazon and did so expecting the relative hassle-free delivery one can expect from the USPS (and UPS, for the most part). Well, that didn't happen. Amazon assigned the delivery to Ontrac. Ontario, for those of you who haven't had the pleasure, is the kind of companies Republicans LOVE: Low overhead, low wages and terrible customer service.

When you go to their website, you see professional-looking drivers in clean, well-marked vehicles. But what you really get is some kid driving a beat-up van with a hard-to-read sticker on the side. That's if you are lucky enough to see them at all. They arrive and they drive off, claiming that no one was home if if you were. They leave no sticker, make no attempt to knock or call your apartment on the front box. And before you realize what's happened, the package is being returned to sender. I was a lucky one in that regard. I did not find my item thrown over a fence, or onto a balcony. But it took time and threats to Amazon to finally get it. And from now on, I will only do buy thing from business that use the USPS or UPS.

Welcome to the Republicans' dream of America.

Jeb Bush Doesn't Want to Talk About Past Wars

lorida Governor Jeb Bush said Friday that he has little interest in discussing the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, which started while his brother was president, as he aims to run a joyful campaign focused on outing a positive vision of the future.

"I won't talk about the past," Bush said in response to a reporter's question about his foreign policy speech planned for next week in Chicago. "I'll talk about the future. If I'm in the process of considering the possibility of running, it's not about re-litigating anything in the past. It's about trying to create a set of ideas and principles that will help us move forward."

Bush also declined to answer a question about how he would combat the Islamic State militant group, saying he'd talk more about foreign policy next week. The answers will help increase anticipation around his talk on Wednesday at the Chicago Council on Global Affairs. A governor from 1999 to 2007, Bush is better known for views on domestic issues, such as his advocacy for charter schools and support for easing immigration laws.

Bush spoke on Friday during a news conference in Bonita Springs, Florida for the Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy's annual "Celebration of Reading" event.


http://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2015-02-14/jeb-bush-doesn-t-want-to-talk-about-brother-led-wars

Meet Kate Brown

Brown, a Minnesota native who attended law school in Oregon, was first elected to the state House in 1992. A few years later, she joined the state Senate, ultimately becoming the state’s first female majority leader. She is in her second term as secretary of state, winning tight general elections in 2008 and 2012.

Political observers note that Brown is more liberal — or at least a more orthodox Democrat — than Kitzhaber, who developed a reputation as a maverick who occasionally bucked his party. While Kitzhaber pursued education and pension reforms that rankled labor interests, Brown is a favorite among public-sector unions.

Though some note that she has made a few enemies in the state legislature — almost a necessity in her two-decades-long political career — Brown has a reputation as being kind, sociable and funny. Political experts note that her personality has made her a significantly better retail politician than Kitzhaber — who, despite winning a record four gubernatorial elections, was often seen as reclusive.

Still, while experts agreed that the incoming governor is smart and a well-liked politician, she isn’t viewed as a major star. Many described her record as secretary of state as unexceptional and cast doubt on her skills as an administrator.


Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2015/02/kate-brown-oregon-governor-115198.html#ixzz3RgVqjEFI

San Francisco Water Manager Faces Suspension After Seen Urinating In Reservoir

SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF) — A $111,000-a-year San Francisco water manager will likely be suspended after he was seen urinating in a reservoir that supplies drinking water to nearly 2.5 million Bay Area residents.

The San Francisco Chronicle reports Public Utilities Commission employee Martin Sanchez could receive a five day suspension without pay after the Jan. 6 incident took place at the Priest Reservoir in the Sierra foothills.

A commission insider sent the SF Chronicle an anonymous complaint that alleges a number of employees saw Sanchez urinating “several times” in the reservoir.

Utilities commission spokesman Tyrone Jue said the reservoir had been drained for maintenance at the time and poses no health danger. Still, Jue said his action were “not acceptable.”



http://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2015/02/09/san-francisco-water-manager-faces-suspension-after-seen-urinating-in-reservoir/

Dumbest Headline Ever: "Californians soften stance against measles vaccine"

Parents whose children have been quarantined after they were exposed to measles are scrambling for child care or taking weeks off from work. Many who have long resisted vaccinations have a newfound fear of the virus and are flooding pediatrician offices looking for the shots. Some pediatricians are running low of vaccine and others are calling parents to ask them to vaccinate their babies. Some are warning families not to bring contagious kids into crowded waiting rooms.

Altmann, a Los Angeles pediatrician, firmly believes in the importance of vaccines, but like all newborns, her 3-week-old son, Maxton, is too young to have received any. That makes him particularly vulnerable not just to measles but to whooping cough, mumps and a slew of other diseases that can put babies like him in the hospital.

In the past week, babies in day care centers across the country, including California and Illinois, have been diagnosed with measles, causing health officials to worry that other infants at the centers will become sick.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that babies get their first measles shot at 12 to 15 months of age. They suggest vaccinating babies at 6 months if they will be traveling abroad.



http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2015/02/08/california-measles-reaction/22977863/

Donald Trump Returns to Iowa 'Strongly Inclined' to Run for President

or real estate developer and reality television host Donald Trump, flirting with a presidential run has become a familiar preoccupation, and the 2016 election is no exception.

Trump has been booked as the keynote speaker at the Lincoln-Reagan Day Dinner on May 15 in Pottawattamie County, Iowa, the Des Moines Register reported Sunday, in another sign that he is seriously considering hopping into what could prove a crowded Republican presidential field.

While Trump floated the prospect of running in 2000 as an independent candidate, and again in 2012 as a Republican, the billionaire best known for his "you're fired" tagline on the NBC reality show The Apprentice, never did actually mount a campaign.

"I was leading in every poll. ... I regret that I didn't stay in," Trump told the Register of his chances in 2012. "I would've won the race against Obama. He would've been easy. Hillary is tougher to beat than Obama, but Hillary is very beatable."



http://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2015-02-09/donald-trump-returns-to-iowa-strongly-inclined-to-run-for-president

Greece Reaffirms Rejection of Bailout Before Emergency EU Meeting

(Bloomberg) -- Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras reaffirmed his government’s rejection of the country’s international bailout program two days before an emergency meeting with the euro area’s finance ministers.

Tsipras vowed to increase the minimum wage, restore the income tax-free threshold and halt infrastructure privatizations in a speech that sets him on a collision course with the country’s creditors.

“It is the irrevocable decision of our government to honor the mandate of the Greek people and negotiate an end to the European Union’s austerity,” Tsipras said in an address to parliament marking the start of a three-day debate on his government’s policy platform. “We aim to work with our partners in Europe to achieve these goals.”

Tsipras, who came close to tears at one point during his speech Sunday evening in Athens, also said he would ask for World War II reparations from Germany and the repayment of forced loans Greece made to the Nazi regime during the country’s occupation.


http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-02-08/tsipras-plans

'Frozen' Is The Latest Thing That 'Fox And Friends' Thinks Is Ruining America

If anyone can find a way to connect 'Frozen' to the downfall of the American male, it's 'Fox And Friends.'

On Wednesday morning, Steve Doocey devoted an entire segment to the beloved Disney film's secret agenda: emasculation of men everywhere.

"Are movies like the Disney smash hit about an ice queen and her sister empowering girls by turning our men into fools and villains?" Doocey asked. "It would be nice for Hollywood to have more male figures in those kinds of movies," he said later in the segment.

Yes, if only there were more male protagnists in Disney movies! Oh wait...

Doocey also welcomed his female guest (not a fan of 'Frozen,' either) by saying, "thanks for having your children allow you to come be with us on TV while you're normally getting them ready for school and whatnot."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/02/04/fox-and-friends-frozen_n_6616072.html?utm_hp_ref=media

TPM: Why Mindy Kaling Refuses to Talk about Race—and Why I Care So Much

It’s easy to conflate her character with Kaling herself, so it makes me wonder what inspires these throwaway lines. In real life, Kaling has been reluctant to discuss race, and in some cases has become visibly frustrated by it: In an interview at the Paley Center, she remarked that she is sometimes angry her show isn’t 75 years in the future so she wouldn’t be the first South Asian female showrunner, tasked with representing all South Asians. At a panel at SXSW, she shut down an inquiry about the diversity of her own cast by saying, “I’m a fucking Indian woman who has her own fucking network television show, OK?”

Until now, I was hesitant to write about Kaling and race, lest I sound like I’m criticizing the only South Asian woman on TV for not being South Asian enough. It’s frustrating when people presume a pioneer will become an unwilling leader in a struggle with which they may not identify. We expect too much from women in public, I tell myself. Optics matter, and the fact that she is on TV makes it more likely that someone like me could be, too. It’s hard for me not to overlay my own expectations onto Kaling—like her, I am a Bengali female writer in my mid-thirties who grew up in an East Coast suburb.

But I’m also a feminist who cares about racial justice, so it’s impossible to ignore her often defensive, flippant responses to questions about race, or her flat-out refusal to discuss how her identity impacts her character and her own career. Kaling is hardly the first South Asian in the public eye who avoids talking about race in an attempt to be “just like the rest.” Conservatives like Bobby Jindal and Nikki Haley (who, like Kaling, tweaked their names to sound more American) have worked very hard at constructing an identity that is explicitly not Indian.

Kaling denies being a Republican, but her television alter-ego has made several comments on the conservative side—she’s into guns, wants to “get” the terrorists and thinks recycling makes us look poor. In an interview with Charlie Rose, Kaling said she loves giving her character libertarian or off-color lines, different from what you’d expect from someone with a marginalized identity. It makes Lahiri “weirdly patriotic,” she explained.


http://talkingpointsmemo.com/theslice/why-mindy-kaling-refuses-to-talk-about-race-and-why-i-care-so-much

Sneaker Pimps - 6 Underground (VIDEO)