One Chicago Public Schools manager must have really been jonesing for a cup of coffee when officials say she spent nearly $70,000 of the district's money to buy 30 cappuccino/espresso machines for a high school program. But five months after the machines were purchased, 22 remained unopened, one disappeared and three were being used at two schools--though not in the culinary arts program for which they were intended, the district's inspector general said Tuesday.
Officials in a department dealing with work-school programs allegedly separated the purchases to make them appear they came from 21 different schools and were under $10,000. By doing so, the purchases did not have to be competitively bid or win school board approval, said Jim Sullivan, the district's inspector general. As a result, he said, the district overpaid for the coffeemakers by more than $12,000. "They sat unused for a number of months . . . by not letting the schools know they were coming, it turned out at the time to be a waste of money," Sullivan said.
Anybody at the Trib bother to check out to which vendor the orders were placed? Who the owner of said vendor is related to? Who the owner has given money to in recent election campaigns? Sheesh, I gotta tell them everything ...
Posted by: Fred ||
01/08/2009 00:00 ||
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they should use those things to replace the ritalin they give the students
Even in the wacky world of Big Apple real estate, this is a tale for the ages: a hot-dog vendor has agreed to pay the city $81,701 more a year to peddle franks on the north side of the Metropolitan Museum of Art entrance than on the south side 100 feet away.
In what may be the epitome of the location-is-everything maxim, the Parks Department has auctioned off the food-vending rights to the north-side entrance of the museum on Fifth Avenue at 82nd Street for $362,201 and the south-side entrance for $280,500, both to first-time vendor Pasang Sherpa.
The rents increase over the five-year term of the contract, to $384,371 and $297,669, respectively.
"That [north] side is more busy," explained Sherpa. Many museum visitors use the nearby 86th Street/Lexington Avenue subway express stop to the north.
"It's just the flow of traffic," agreed competitor Dan Rossi, who set up shop without permission and isn't paying the city a cent, citing a regulation that lets veterans like himself bypass the bidding process.
Parks Commissioner Adrian Benepe said all bidders were made aware they wouldn't be getting an exclusive franchise, and added the lofty results were a "pleasant surprise."
Sherpa, 50, who used to sell jewelry on Canal Street, outbid the New York One hot-dog company by a total of $65,000 a year, as well as a third bidder.
With more than 5 million visitors a year, the Met is a hot-dog seller's paradise since the nearest eateries are blocks away.
The location has also become a cash cow for the Parks Department, which has been able to increase vending rents steadily on what might be the most expensive retail space per square foot in the country.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/08/2009 00:00 ||
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D **** NG, forgot the source but IIRC ARTICLE > Milyuhns and Zilyuhns and Tilyuhns of CATS/FELINES were repor being shipped to CHINA [restaurants] to be killed and served as Entrees = Main Courses???
#6
1 in 10 visitors get a dog on way in or out and take home $.25 per dog it would be doing alright thats $125,000; and that is a very low end guestimate - that is regular commuters not counted and/or take home more per dog.
#9
Just imagine how much a land Value Tax would raise USA wide! You could get rid of harmful taxes on Income, profits, inheritance, purchases & tariffs and have enough left over to give every U.S. citizen a dividend that would make immigration less problematic (no dividend).
I know it might be a bit too capitalistic for you guys to run the whole country like a business, but I think it's a good idea.
#10
the met is on 5th avenue in a residential area. There are NO restaurants nearby, IIRC. You buy a hot dog, OR you pay the outrageous amounts at the museum restaurant, OR you walk all the way to Lexington avenue. I doubt they are making only .25 per hot dog.
#12
one of my room mates in college worked as a hot dog vendor there in the late 80's. he 'subbed' the spot and rented the cart from the guy who had forked out for the license. he said he walked away with $350 on a slow day after expenses. also said the guy he subbed from made more that 2x that.
this was 20 years ago... i am sure they do better now
Posted by: Abu do you love ||
01/08/2009 22:40 Comments ||
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#13
by there i mean in the city.. i don't know what address he worked. said he had a decent spot, but couldn't get an in with anyplace real good as they get doled out as favors to people who "keep things running" i suppose that meant "i want you to give the best spot to my cousin's kid or jimmy the weasel will keep loosing your deliveries and you wont sell no hot dogs for a whiles"
Posted by: Abu do you love ||
01/08/2009 22:45 Comments ||
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More and more these days, my [writer for the liberal New Republic] morning newspaper reads like an ensemble comedy of errors cast entirely with Democrats: Bill Richardson probed! Blago busted! Charlie Rangel investigated! Eliot Spitzer ruined! Kwame Kilpatrick jailed! Bill "Freezer" Jefferson indicted! ... and so on. Ugh.
It's excruciating to watch all these Democrats clomp around in clown shoes. But, at least for now, it won't matter! Briefly, here's why not:
-Most of the Democratic scandals have been on the state or local level.
-The Democratic scandals are not linked
-The Democratic scandals do not involve top party leadership
-People do not yet think the Democratic president sucks.
#1
"[C]omedy of errors" & "Democratic clowns" - i.e. it's kind of funny, maybe even cute. Boys will be boys after all.
"Don't Matter" - i.e. we're in charge, and the media has our back, so it doesn't matter what we do and you had better damn well get used to that.
"People do not yet think the Democratic president sucks." - I'm not people? 49% of the country who voted against him aren't people? And what about that pregnant "yet"...
Chris Matthews, the host of the MSNBC program "Hardball," told his staff on Wednesday night that he would not run for the Senate in 2010 from Pennsylvania.
For much of the last year, Mr. Matthews had been considering entering the Senate race as a Democrat in his home state at the same time he was renegotiating his contract with NBC News. He had attended several meetings that had included Pennsylvania representatives as well as some major fund-raisers in the Democratic Party. But Mr. Matthews, who was once a top aide to the House speaker, Tip O'Neill of Massachusetts, and ran for Congress as a Democrat in 1974, never formally declared himself a candidate, a decision which would have forced him out of his position at MSNBC.
In an interview in October, Mr. Matthews said, "People have asked me about it. I've never told anyone that I'm running."
There has been speculation that Mr. Matthews, 63, was flirting with a Senate run as a way to give him some leverage in his contract talks. According to at least one earlier report, NBC was planning to ask Mr. Matthews to return but wanted him to take a drastic pay cut -- from $5 million a year to an amount closer to $1 million. Since that report, "Hardball" has bounced back in the ratings, especially during the presidential election season, and NBC News executives have expressed much more interest in retaining Mr. Matthews
Mr. Matthews declined to comment last night, as did executives form NBC News. But one executive said that discussions with Mr. Matthews for a new contract to remain on "Hardball" were continuing.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/08/2009 00:00 ||
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I thought Mr.Tingles was only in his 40s or 50s. Must be a good makeup person over at LSDNBC.
CHICAGO — An Illinois House committee might decide as soon as Thursday whether to recommend the impeachment of Gov. Rod Blagojevich, says Rep. Barbara Flynn Currie, the panel's chairperson.
"The House might act soon after that," Currie, a Democrat, said in an interview Wednesday. If the full House votes to impeach, the Illinois Senate would hold a trial to decide whether Blagojevich should be removed from office.
Blagojevich was arrested Dec. 9 on federal bribery and conspiracy charges. He was accused of trying to sell the U.S. Senate seat vacated by Barack Obama.
Roland Burris, who was appointed to the seat by Blagojevich on Dec. 30, is scheduled to appear before the committee today. State Rep. Jim Durkin, the panel's Republican spokesman, said in an interview that he wants to explore the circumstances of Burris' appointment. Burris and Blagojevich are Democrats.
"This appointment is tainted," Durkin said. "It's our duty to the people of the state to investigate the circumstances."
Burris submitted an affidavit to the committee this week saying he was approached by one of Blagojevich's lawyers on Dec. 26 about taking the Senate post and accepted two days later in a phone call with the governor.
Currie said Burris' testimony is not vital to the committee's conclusions about Blagojevich's conduct. "The affidavit says nothing of value exchanged hands," Currie said. Because Burris was appointed after the governor's arrest, she said, "you'd have to be nuts to think that any quids or quos were offered."
The timetable for a vote might be affected by a court hearing Thursday on the release of four tape-recorded conversations in which Blagojevich allegedly said he would not sign a bill benefiting the horse-racing industry unless he received $100,000 in campaign contributions.
U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald asked Chief U.S. District Judge James Holderman to release the discussions, which were captured by federal wiretaps, to the impeachment committee. If it appears that there will be a long legal fight over the tapes, Currie said, the committee might decide "that we have enough to go forward without them."
Durkin said the tapes will be key if there is a Senate trial. "It is a continuing duty upon us to pursue the tapes," he said. "I want the best evidence."
On Wednesday, the committee discussed a previously confidential 2004 report by the governor's inspector general outlining alleged hiring irregularities by Blagojevich's administration.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/08/2009 00:00 ||
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They're in the "haw" stage of hemming and hawing.
Joe Biden has always had a flair for doing things differently -- but his upcoming trip to South Asia may set a new standard.
The vice president-elect will be traveling to Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan. But he won't really be traveling as the vice president-elect -- he'll be traveling as the chairman of Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Only he'll be resigning from the Senate in a few weeks. Even though he was sworn in Tuesday for his seventh term.
Got that?
Many foreign policy observers don't, raising the concern that officials in the countries on Biden's itinerary may hold to the quaint notion that the vice president-elect is the vice president-elect and that Biden will be sending not-very-subtle signals about U.S. policy in the Obama administration -- even though George W. Bush is still in office.
Biden first ran the South Asia trip idea by Bush administration officials several weeks ago, said Bush spokesman Gordon Johndroe.
"We discussed the trip and reviewed it in advance with them," Johndroe said. "We are facilitating the trip administratively where necessary."
But that didn't stop some serious eye-rolling by others on the Bush team. "It's certainly unique," quipped a senior Bush administration official. "And I'll just leave it at that."
Biden described the nature of his trip to reporters Tuesday after his swearing-in ceremony. "I'm going to come back and report where I think things stand in each of those countries now," he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/08/2009 00:00 ||
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Media analyst Howard Kurtz of the Washington Post reported on Jan. 6 that President-elect Barack Obama has asked CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta to be the next surgeon general.
According to Kurtz's column, Gupta, a neurosurgeon who has worked as a CNN and CBS medical correspondent, "told administration officials that he wants the job."
A look into the Business & Media Institute archives revealed that Gupta thinks iPods are potentially dangerous to "breathe," tax increases are okay for the sake of the war on obesity, and the federal food grant program WIC isn't large enough.
Gupta supported the plan of San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom to impose a tax on drinks sweetened with "cheap" corn syrup in order to fight the "obesity epidemic." Dec. 18, 2007 "American Morning." At that time the price of corn was actually at an 11-year high.
On Nov. 9, 2007, CNN paged Dr. Gupta about "IPOD & IPHONE DANGER." Gupta reported that the cord connecting the earbuds to an iPod or iPhone contain phthalates and "may hinder the sexual development of mammals." CNN "American Morning" co-host John Roberts pointed out that the rodents in the study were fed the plastics and summarized the takeaway for viewers: "Don't Eat Your iPhone or your earbuds." "Or breathe it in," Gupta replied.
Gupta complained in April 2007 that the federal grant program Women, Infants and Children (WIC) was being "slashed" by the Bush administration. According to Gupta the proposed budget of $5.4 billion in 2008 for the food grant program wasn't large enough. The 2007 budget was $5.2 billion.
Gupta ate up a South L.A. councilwoman's plan to force her constituents to eat better by banning new fast-food restaurants. "[A]lthough obesity may not be eliminated entirely, studies show zoning laws are a good first step to fighting the problem," Gupta said on "American Morning" Nov. 16, 2007.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/08/2009 00:00 ||
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Sigh... make up your mind, Sanjay. Either there's an obesity epidemic or WIC is underfunded. You can't have it both fucking ways, you pinhead.
Given what I see in my fairly crummy neighborhood, I'd go with "obesity epidemic". Maybe you might want to limit food stamp usage to fruits & veggies?
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
01/08/2009 11:34 Comments ||
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#2
fruits and veggies. That's what elephants and hippos eat. I suggest that the food stamps work in stores not in thier zip code. Force folks of their A$$.
5.4 is larger than 5.2 how is that a 'slash'? Is 150 lbs larger than 200 lB's? Look I just slashed 50 LBs.
Another day, another bad poll for Caroline. Rep. Peter King, the Long Island Republican who is seriously considering a run at Hillary Clinton's seat, would give Caroline Kennedy serious trouble in a hypothetical 2010 match-up, according to a new poll. Kennedy, the political neophyte who's the frontrunner to replace Clinton, would barely eke out a Democratic win against King in a hypothetical contest, while New York State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo would trounce the combative King, the poll found.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/08/2009 00:00 ||
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But it's always tough to beat an incumbent, especially one with her connections. She'd have to be awfully slow with the pork not to have her position well solidified after two years. That's the problem. Once she gets in there, she'll be there for life.
President-elect Barack Obama said today that reforming massive government entitlement programs -- such as Social Security and Medicare -- would be "a central part" of his effort to control federal spending.
Obama made the pledge but provided few details as he named Nancy Killefer as his administration's chief performance officer, creating a new White House position aimed at eliminating government waste and improving efficiency.
Noting that the Congressional Budget Office had just estimated he would inherit a $1.2 trillion federal deficit for fiscal 2009, Obama promised to cut unnecessary spending. "We expect that discussion around entitlements will be a part, a central part of those plans," Obama said. "And I would expect that by February in line with the announcement of at least a rough budget outline we will have more to say about how we're going to approach entitlement spending."
For the first time, Obama gave a ballpark price tag for his massive economic plan aimed at generating jobs and jolting the country out of recession. Aides have said it could cost as much as $775 billion over two years. Outside economists have suggested as much as $1.2 trillion would be needed.
"We expect that it will be on the high end of our estimates but will not be as high as some economists have recommended because of the constraint and concerns we have about the existing deficit," Obama said.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/08/2009 00:00 ||
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The SS/Medicare third rail. This could get interesting.
Only insofar as I'm going to guess that Obama's decided to ignore the private investment option and is just going to jack up the needed taxes.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
01/08/2009 5:47 Comments ||
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#3
There is basically no way that Obama can avoid slashing both SS and Medicare. Tax revenues are going to be in the toilet, and almost half of it is already spent on the big three, SS, Medicare and Medicaid.
And yes, Defense is going to take it in the shorts as well. No way around it.
I'm sure it will involve "the collective good" or some other lefty slogan that gets his supporters all hot and bothered, and will be promoted as further proof of his genius.
#6
I don't see this actually happening until the train wreck is upon us. Congress won't touch So. Sec. reform until they can't dither any longer. And dithering is still possible no matter how certain the wreck will be.
#7
Over 2,000,000 people who DO work, lost their jobs this year. That's got to put Tax revs in the crapper.
So Bambi and the sh*tballs in DC will of course punish people who have already worked all their lives and live on a pittance so they can hand more money to people who have not, nor ever will work and pay taxes.
Bravo! I don't find the notion of a suitcase nuke going off in DC nearly as horrifying as I used to.
In 4 more years, I doubt I'll find it all that worrisome at all at the rate we're going.
#8
While I may agree that something has to happen with regards these programs, if Obamba touches this, he's going to find his ass on fire, just like GWB. The one rising quickest is Medicaid. Choke it. But then again, if he forces thru national health care, Medicaid isn't needed, but the outalys from Treasury will be 100 times as much. He has larger problems than he knows, but curtailing SS/Medicare will ignite a firestorm. He better think along the lines of cutting foreign aid to zero. Nothing to UN. Taxpayers favor this. Having the rug pulled out from under them at the time of life when they are most vulnerable is not going to be palatable.
#9
"Reform" does not necessarily mean benefit cuts.
To the Democratic party "Budget reform" is tax increases, "Stimulus" is trillion dollar deficits, "Medicare reform" is squeezing doctors and drug companies, and "social security reform" has always been higher payroll taxes.
#11
DoDo,
And when that doesn't work: Benefit Cuts.
I think they'll start out trying to pinch the business end, but they'll find that too hard and just grease the old folks eventually.
#17
They told me that if George Bush was elected Social Security would be cut. Only they didn't tell me it would be after he left office.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
01/08/2009 19:31 Comments ||
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#18
Wait a minute, "The One" has promised every American the same health care coverage the congress enjoys.
He said he'll find the money by getting the doctors to computerise their medical records.
Maybe they can farm out their office staff work to India.
A patient walks into an empty doctor's office.
A voice says this is Sally in Mumbai, please sign in and the doctor will see you in a minute.
Later a voice is heard, Hello I'm nurse Joan in Mumbai, please take the blood pressure kit from the table and test yourself. When you are finished type the results into the computer.
Still later, a voice says, Hello, I'm doctor Elizabeth in Mumbai. Please approach the video cam on the computer, open your mouth and say aah. Very interesting, take two aspirin and call back if it doesn't get any better.
Finally a voice says, please swipe your National Health Insurance card in the reader at the door and it automatically open and let you out.
#19
All he has to do is take everyone 401K and IRA and place it in to a Government Social Security like Ponzi scheme and he'll have a huge bankroll of money to spend as he see's fit.
And with mandatory contributions your grandkids will pay for it - just like they're be paying for your social security.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
