Sunday, August 31, 2008
Labor Day
Tomorrow is Labor Day. Tomorrow is the Start of the Republicn national Convention. It will be a busy day for me as it is also payday! By the way, my house is still staying very cute. I will post more pics here soon. For now, enjoy the pics of cute puppies.:)
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
Sunday, August 24, 2008
Sad News
Update: Two children die in car
Sheriff's deputies find twin 3-year-olds after search in Montara
By Phil Anderson
The Capital-Journal
Published Sunday, August 24, 2008 at 7:47 p.m. CDT
Twin 3-year-olds died this afternoon after being shut inside a car for more than two hours in the Montara area just south of Topeka, officials said.
The twins, a boy and a girl, were last seen about 1 p.m. and were reported missing about 1:40 p.m., officials said.
The children were discovered about 3:15 p.m. inside a silver, four-door Daewoo car parked in the driveway of their home.
Shawnee County sheriff's Sgt. Akim Reynolds said the boy was found in the front seat of the car. The girl was found in the back seat.
Sheriff's deupties performed cardiopulmonary resuscitation on both children before emergency medical responders arrived on the scene.
The girl was pronounced dead at the scene. The boy was taken by American Medical Response ambulance to a Topeka hospital, where he was prounounced dead.
Reynolds said the doors to the car were unlocked.
The temperature at 2 p.m. was 77 degrees. Reynolds said the temperature inside a car with its windows up could be 20 to 30 degrees warmer.
Deputies responding to the children's home, 6801 S.W. Windsong, conducted a search in the neighborhood and enlisted the assistance of a Kansas Highway Patrol helicopter before the twins were found inside the car.
No foul play is suspected, though the mother was being questioned by detectives, Reynolds said.
Autopsies are to be performed on the children, and the case remains under investigation.
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Sheriff's deputies find twin 3-year-olds after search in Montara
By Phil Anderson
The Capital-Journal
Published Sunday, August 24, 2008 at 7:47 p.m. CDT
Twin 3-year-olds died this afternoon after being shut inside a car for more than two hours in the Montara area just south of Topeka, officials said.
The twins, a boy and a girl, were last seen about 1 p.m. and were reported missing about 1:40 p.m., officials said.
The children were discovered about 3:15 p.m. inside a silver, four-door Daewoo car parked in the driveway of their home.
Shawnee County sheriff's Sgt. Akim Reynolds said the boy was found in the front seat of the car. The girl was found in the back seat.
Sheriff's deupties performed cardiopulmonary resuscitation on both children before emergency medical responders arrived on the scene.
The girl was pronounced dead at the scene. The boy was taken by American Medical Response ambulance to a Topeka hospital, where he was prounounced dead.
Reynolds said the doors to the car were unlocked.
The temperature at 2 p.m. was 77 degrees. Reynolds said the temperature inside a car with its windows up could be 20 to 30 degrees warmer.
Deputies responding to the children's home, 6801 S.W. Windsong, conducted a search in the neighborhood and enlisted the assistance of a Kansas Highway Patrol helicopter before the twins were found inside the car.
No foul play is suspected, though the mother was being questioned by detectives, Reynolds said.
Autopsies are to be performed on the children, and the case remains under investigation.
Reader comments are the sole responsibility of the person posting them. You agree not to post comments that are off topic, defamatory, obscene, abusive, threatening or an invasion of privacy. Click here for our full user agreement.
Friday, August 15, 2008
One can only hope
One injured in rollover
The Capital-Journal
Published Friday, August 15, 2008
An eastbound Ford Explorer flipped over Thursday afternoon on Interstate 70 near I-470 and S.W. Wanamaker.
Joshua Bessette, of Topeka, was attempting to pass a vehicle on the left and lost control, according to a highway patrol report.
Ann Williamson / Topeka Capital-Journal
An eastbound Ford Explorer flipped over Thursday afternoon on Interstate 70 near I-470 and S.W. Wanamaker. Joshua Bessette, of Topeka, was attempting to pass a vehicle on the left and lost control, according to a highway patrol report. He was taken to an area hospital with injuries.
CJVideoRush Hour Roll Over Accident
More videos from CJOnline.com
He was taken to an area hospital with injuries.
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Reader Comments
Posted by: pitafersure at Aug. 15, 2008 at 2:05:48 pm
How is this person still driving?
http://www.shawneecourt.org/doe/search.jsp?caseNumber=&first=Joshua&middle=&last=Bessette&CV=Y&CR=Y&DM=Y&PR=Y&TR=Y&mob=&yob=&location=internet
Posted by: pitafersure at Aug. 15, 2008 at 2:07:39 pm
http://www.wibw.com/home/headlines/27004679.html
Posted by: pitafersure at Aug. 15, 2008 at 2:13:44 pm
http://www.cjonline.com/stories/101303/dai_policefire.shtml
Posted by: hpgma5 at Aug. 15, 2008 at 3:19:16 pm
I wondered the same thing,pitafersure. He has been to court too many times to count for traffic violations and also some criminal charges. Maybe there needs to be a way to confiscate the car, not just his license since he apparently thinks lsws do not apply to him.
Posted by: pitafersure at Aug. 15, 2008 at 4:43:23 pm
No need to confiscate his vehicle, looks like he did that himself this time!
Posted by: wiseowl at Aug. 15, 2008 at 4:54:38 pm
Once a loser always a loser ahhhhh Josh?
OneRedKansan40 writes: This guy is a scumbag piece of shit and I hope he croaks.Soon.
The Capital-Journal
Published Friday, August 15, 2008
An eastbound Ford Explorer flipped over Thursday afternoon on Interstate 70 near I-470 and S.W. Wanamaker.
Joshua Bessette, of Topeka, was attempting to pass a vehicle on the left and lost control, according to a highway patrol report.
Ann Williamson / Topeka Capital-Journal
An eastbound Ford Explorer flipped over Thursday afternoon on Interstate 70 near I-470 and S.W. Wanamaker. Joshua Bessette, of Topeka, was attempting to pass a vehicle on the left and lost control, according to a highway patrol report. He was taken to an area hospital with injuries.
CJVideoRush Hour Roll Over Accident
More videos from CJOnline.com
He was taken to an area hospital with injuries.
Reader comments are the sole responsibility of the person posting them. You agree not to post comments that are off topic, defamatory, obscene, abusive, threatening or an invasion of privacy. Click here for our full user agreement.
You can rate each comment by clicking the or buttons.
To report an inappropriate comment, click the .
Please note that comment post times are in Eastern time.
Reader Comments
Posted by: pitafersure at Aug. 15, 2008 at 2:05:48 pm
How is this person still driving?
http://www.shawneecourt.org/doe/search.jsp?caseNumber=&first=Joshua&middle=&last=Bessette&CV=Y&CR=Y&DM=Y&PR=Y&TR=Y&mob=&yob=&location=internet
Posted by: pitafersure at Aug. 15, 2008 at 2:07:39 pm
http://www.wibw.com/home/headlines/27004679.html
Posted by: pitafersure at Aug. 15, 2008 at 2:13:44 pm
http://www.cjonline.com/stories/101303/dai_policefire.shtml
Posted by: hpgma5 at Aug. 15, 2008 at 3:19:16 pm
I wondered the same thing,pitafersure. He has been to court too many times to count for traffic violations and also some criminal charges. Maybe there needs to be a way to confiscate the car, not just his license since he apparently thinks lsws do not apply to him.
Posted by: pitafersure at Aug. 15, 2008 at 4:43:23 pm
No need to confiscate his vehicle, looks like he did that himself this time!
Posted by: wiseowl at Aug. 15, 2008 at 4:54:38 pm
Once a loser always a loser ahhhhh Josh?
OneRedKansan40 writes: This guy is a scumbag piece of shit and I hope he croaks.Soon.
Monday, August 11, 2008
Why I am not voting for Obama 2
DOW JONES REPRINTS
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Order a reprint of this article now.
What Is a 'Windfall' Profit?
August 4, 2008; Page A12
The "windfall profits" tax is back, with Barack Obama stumping again to apply it to a handful of big oil companies. Which raises a few questions: What is a "windfall" profit anyway? How does it differ from your everyday, run of the mill profit? Is it some absolute number, a matter of return on equity or sales -- or does it merely depend on who earns it?
Enquiring entrepreneurs want to know. Unfortunately, Mr. Obama's "emergency" plan, announced on Friday, doesn't offer any clarity. To pay for "stimulus" checks of $1,000 for families and $500 for individuals, the Senator says government would take "a reasonable share" of oil company profits.
Mr. Obama didn't bother to define "reasonable," and neither did Dick Durbin, the second-ranking Senate Democrat, when he recently declared that "The oil companies need to know that there is a limit on how much profit they can take in this economy." Really? This extraordinary redefinition of free-market success could use some parsing.
Take Exxon Mobil, which on Thursday reported the highest quarterly profit ever and is the main target of any "windfall" tax surcharge. Yet if its profits are at record highs, its tax bills are already at record highs too. Between 2003 and 2007, Exxon paid $64.7 billion in U.S. taxes, exceeding its after-tax U.S. earnings by more than $19 billion. That sounds like a government windfall to us, but perhaps we're missing some Obama-Durbin business subtlety.
Maybe they have in mind profit margins as a percentage of sales. Yet by that standard Exxon's profits don't seem so large. Exxon's profit margin stood at 10% for 2007, which is hardly out of line with the oil and gas industry average of 8.3%, or the 8.9% for U.S. manufacturing (excluding the sputtering auto makers).
If that's what constitutes windfall profits, most of corporate America would qualify. Take aerospace or machinery -- both 8.2% in 2007. Chemicals had an average margin of 12.7%. Computers: 13.7%. Electronics and appliances: 14.5%. Pharmaceuticals (18.4%) and beverages and tobacco (19.1%) round out the Census Bureau's industry rankings. The latter two double the returns of Big Oil, though of course government has already became a tacit shareholder in Big Tobacco through the various legal settlements that guarantee a revenue stream for years to come.
In a tax bill on oil earlier this summer, no fewer than 51 Senators voted to impose a 25% windfall tax on a U.S.-based oil company whose profits grew by more than 10% in a single year and wasn't investing enough in "renewable" energy. This suggests that a windfall is defined by profits growing too fast. No one knows where that 10% came from, besides political convenience. But if 10% is the new standard, the tech industry is going to have to rethink its growth arc. So will LG, the electronics company, which saw its profits grow by 505% in 2007. Abbott Laboratories hit 110%.
If Senator Obama is as exercised about "outrageous" profits as he says he is, he might also have to turn on a few liberal darlings. Oh, say, Berkshire Hathaway. Warren Buffett's outfit pulled in $11 billion last year, up 29% from 2006. Its profit margin -- if that's the relevant figure -- was 11.47%, which beats out the American oil majors.
Or consider Google, which earned a mere $4.2 billion but at a whopping 25.3% margin. Google earns far more from each of its sales dollars than does Exxon, but why doesn't Mr. Obama consider its advertising-search windfall worthy of special taxation?
The fun part about this game is anyone can play. Jim Johnson, formerly of Fannie Mae and formerly a political fixer for Mr. Obama, reaped a windfall before Fannie's multibillion-dollar accounting scandal. Bill Clinton took down as much as $15 million working as a rainmaker for billionaire financier Ron Burkle's Yucaipa Companies. This may be the very definition of "windfall."
General Electric profits by investing in the alternative energy technology that Mr. Obama says Congress should subsidize even more heavily than it already does. GE's profit margin in 2007 was 10.3%, about the same as profiteering Exxon's. Private-equity shops like Khosla Ventures and Kleiner Perkins, which recently hired Al Gore, also invest in alternative energy start-ups, though they keep their margins to themselves. We can safely assume their profits are lofty, much like those of George Soros's investment funds.
The point isn't that these folks (other than Mr. Clinton) have something to apologize for, or that these firms are somehow more "deserving" of windfall tax extortion than Big Oil. The point is that what constitutes an abnormal profit is entirely arbitrary. It is in the eye of the political beholder, who is usually looking to soak some unpopular business. In other words, a windfall is nothing more than a profit earned by a business that some politician dislikes. And a tax on that profit is merely a form of politically motivated expropriation.
It's what politicians do in Venezuela, not in a free country.
See all of today's editorials and op-eds, plus video commentary, on Opinion Journal1.
And add your comments to the Opinion Journal forum2.
URL for this article:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121780636275808495.html
Hyperlinks in this Article:
(1) http://online.wsj.com/opinion
(2) http://forums.wsj.com/viewtopic.php? t=3556
This copy is for your personal, non-commercial use only. To order presentation-ready copies for distribution to your colleagues, clients or customers, use the Order Reprints tool at the bottom of any article or visit:
www.djreprints.com.
See a sample reprint in PDF format.
Order a reprint of this article now.
What Is a 'Windfall' Profit?
August 4, 2008; Page A12
The "windfall profits" tax is back, with Barack Obama stumping again to apply it to a handful of big oil companies. Which raises a few questions: What is a "windfall" profit anyway? How does it differ from your everyday, run of the mill profit? Is it some absolute number, a matter of return on equity or sales -- or does it merely depend on who earns it?
Enquiring entrepreneurs want to know. Unfortunately, Mr. Obama's "emergency" plan, announced on Friday, doesn't offer any clarity. To pay for "stimulus" checks of $1,000 for families and $500 for individuals, the Senator says government would take "a reasonable share" of oil company profits.
Mr. Obama didn't bother to define "reasonable," and neither did Dick Durbin, the second-ranking Senate Democrat, when he recently declared that "The oil companies need to know that there is a limit on how much profit they can take in this economy." Really? This extraordinary redefinition of free-market success could use some parsing.
Take Exxon Mobil, which on Thursday reported the highest quarterly profit ever and is the main target of any "windfall" tax surcharge. Yet if its profits are at record highs, its tax bills are already at record highs too. Between 2003 and 2007, Exxon paid $64.7 billion in U.S. taxes, exceeding its after-tax U.S. earnings by more than $19 billion. That sounds like a government windfall to us, but perhaps we're missing some Obama-Durbin business subtlety.
Maybe they have in mind profit margins as a percentage of sales. Yet by that standard Exxon's profits don't seem so large. Exxon's profit margin stood at 10% for 2007, which is hardly out of line with the oil and gas industry average of 8.3%, or the 8.9% for U.S. manufacturing (excluding the sputtering auto makers).
If that's what constitutes windfall profits, most of corporate America would qualify. Take aerospace or machinery -- both 8.2% in 2007. Chemicals had an average margin of 12.7%. Computers: 13.7%. Electronics and appliances: 14.5%. Pharmaceuticals (18.4%) and beverages and tobacco (19.1%) round out the Census Bureau's industry rankings. The latter two double the returns of Big Oil, though of course government has already became a tacit shareholder in Big Tobacco through the various legal settlements that guarantee a revenue stream for years to come.
In a tax bill on oil earlier this summer, no fewer than 51 Senators voted to impose a 25% windfall tax on a U.S.-based oil company whose profits grew by more than 10% in a single year and wasn't investing enough in "renewable" energy. This suggests that a windfall is defined by profits growing too fast. No one knows where that 10% came from, besides political convenience. But if 10% is the new standard, the tech industry is going to have to rethink its growth arc. So will LG, the electronics company, which saw its profits grow by 505% in 2007. Abbott Laboratories hit 110%.
If Senator Obama is as exercised about "outrageous" profits as he says he is, he might also have to turn on a few liberal darlings. Oh, say, Berkshire Hathaway. Warren Buffett's outfit pulled in $11 billion last year, up 29% from 2006. Its profit margin -- if that's the relevant figure -- was 11.47%, which beats out the American oil majors.
Or consider Google, which earned a mere $4.2 billion but at a whopping 25.3% margin. Google earns far more from each of its sales dollars than does Exxon, but why doesn't Mr. Obama consider its advertising-search windfall worthy of special taxation?
The fun part about this game is anyone can play. Jim Johnson, formerly of Fannie Mae and formerly a political fixer for Mr. Obama, reaped a windfall before Fannie's multibillion-dollar accounting scandal. Bill Clinton took down as much as $15 million working as a rainmaker for billionaire financier Ron Burkle's Yucaipa Companies. This may be the very definition of "windfall."
General Electric profits by investing in the alternative energy technology that Mr. Obama says Congress should subsidize even more heavily than it already does. GE's profit margin in 2007 was 10.3%, about the same as profiteering Exxon's. Private-equity shops like Khosla Ventures and Kleiner Perkins, which recently hired Al Gore, also invest in alternative energy start-ups, though they keep their margins to themselves. We can safely assume their profits are lofty, much like those of George Soros's investment funds.
The point isn't that these folks (other than Mr. Clinton) have something to apologize for, or that these firms are somehow more "deserving" of windfall tax extortion than Big Oil. The point is that what constitutes an abnormal profit is entirely arbitrary. It is in the eye of the political beholder, who is usually looking to soak some unpopular business. In other words, a windfall is nothing more than a profit earned by a business that some politician dislikes. And a tax on that profit is merely a form of politically motivated expropriation.
It's what politicians do in Venezuela, not in a free country.
See all of today's editorials and op-eds, plus video commentary, on Opinion Journal1.
And add your comments to the Opinion Journal forum2.
URL for this article:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121780636275808495.html
Hyperlinks in this Article:
(1) http://online.wsj.com/opinion
(2) http://forums.wsj.com/viewtopic.php? t=3556
Sunday, August 03, 2008
Update
Well, my folks are heading out of town today. They are going down to Texas to pick up some equipment in San Antonio. They will stop in Tyler on their way to visit an aged relative. They return on Sunday. I have made the trip from Topeka Kansas to San Antonio, Texas and believe me, it is a doozy. I mean it is a long one. Talk about a loooong drive. I drove there with my grandpop years ago to pick up some equipment and had to stop and rest overnight in Waco(yes, THAT Waco). Actually, Waco is a pretty nice place. At least what I saw of it was. Anyhoo, while the folks are out, I am the one in charge of making sure that the money gets to the bank. I love doing this. Making deposits. I like to do paperwork, call me crazy.My manager is also out of town, gone on vacation to the Ozarks. Sounds kind of nice, but I just cannot be outside in this extremely hot weather. Yes, Topeka, Kansas , is undergoing a heat wave-heat advisory for the next week or so. I have to water mom's p[lants while she is gone every other day, too. I don't mind, considering all of the help she has given me with my house. It only takes about an hour and a half to do anyway, including the drive to mom and pops house.
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