Cream rises to the top.  Many are aware of the saying, often delivered in a smug tone, to explain the inevitable emergence of a person into a position of leadership and power.   The words are delivered with an inflection that implies the certainty of the occurrence as well as our daftness for not seeing it […]

It seems that David Cameron and his Coalition partner, Nick Clegg, wish to give UK firefighters a drubbing in the latest pension dust-up. Some Significant UK/NA Pension Differences UK and North American firefighter pensions are roughly comparable up to a point but then significant differences emerge.  UK firefighters operate under a tiered benefit system: the […]

United Kingdom public sector workers, including firefighters in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are engaged in a titanic national struggle with the “Coalition” government made up of the Conservative Party and Liberal Democrats. The Coalition is currently set on weakening pension benefits. (These Liberal Democrats are not the ones your mother warned you about, […]

“A well regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.” Stephen Hoppler of Rockaway Township, New Jersey, is  serious about his second Amendment right and has gone to court in order to win back the 12 or so […]

Like competing Kamikaze pilots fighting for the controls, Harrisburg, PA, politicians are dueling in court for who has the right to place the city in either formal bankruptcy or the State’s legislative equivalent. Harrisburg, the capital of the state, is on the financial ropes after borrowing hundreds of millions of dollars for a failed trash […]

Don’t you think that first Thanksgiving was so simple? Or, maybe elemental is the better word.  Participants were expressing thanks for their  very survival.  They had made it through that first year, with some important help from the natives.  They had roofs over their heads and the bounty from a successful harvest was stored away. For […]

A rainy and foggy Tuesday of Thanksgiving week was the perfect reason for a road trip south to check out some very valuable real estate and to hear history in the (re) making. Many will know that Virginians dominated the early years of America and you can, over the course of a longish day, visit […]

We’ve all had those “my ass is dragging days” but a South Florida woman recently found out why she was feeling so poorly. The AP reports that as part of a plan to gain employment at a “nightclub” she decided that her tush could be improved with the addition of a few curves. Enter one […]

  Driving by the J. Edgar Hoover FBI building will never be the same again. Last week’s release of the film “J. Edgar” adds a new chapter in the telling of the titan’s story. Directed by Clint Eastwood, it is a series of somewhat choppy narratives covering Hoover’s life, his relationship with his mother, the […]

A Level 7 Incident After the explosion involving reactor facility 4, the decision was made to evacuate all “non-essential” personnel and 650 workers left the site, leaving just 70 to continue the stabilization work. In addition to the three reactors, there was also concern that the spent fuel pools might be losing water thus allowing […]