Post Scripts

UPDATE: Study: 15 percent of US youth out of school, work

Associated Press Posted: 10/21/2013 09:06:38 AM PDT

WASHINGTON — Almost 6 million young people are neither in school nor working, according to a study released today. That’s almost 15 percent of those aged 16 to 24 who have neither desk nor job, according to The Opportunity Nation coalition, which wrote the report.

Other studies have shown that idle young adults are missing out on a window to build skills they will need later in life or use the knowledge they acquired in college. Without those experiences, they are less likely to command higher salaries and more likely to be an economic drain on their communities.

by Jack and Tina

When you look at the homeless, aka travelers, loitering on the streets of Chico, take note how many of them are very young adults. The transient/bum part is bad the fact that so many young is terrible. The under 25 traveler is one of the fastest growing elements of the new homeless.

These people are in some ways reminiscent of Haight Ashbury days, the hair, the clothes, the sandals, they’re just absent any identifiable cause. They’re mostly of sound mind and in good health, but they are generally totally unemployable. Like their hippy predecessors they have dropped out of society and work is a four letter word. They harbor a mix of motives for their situation ranging from juvenile fantasies about life on the road with no responsibilities to serious mental issues. If they’ve been on the road for awhile there’s a fair amount of depression, frustration and the kind despair that can only come from having absolutely nothing and/or stemming from a dysfunctional home life.

The Great Recession was the wrecking point for millions of American families. The pressures of financial distress, often accompanied by abusive parenting, drinking and drugs sent a lot of young people in pursuit of something better.   They left without having any life skills and they naturally took the path of least resistance.  They are now found in every city across America, young people with no direction, no goals and no hope as life moves by.   Too often this is coupled to the flawed ideals of liberalism.

In our little town of Chico, the downtown is and has been overrun for several years with these young transients. They’re just hanging out, looking for their next free meal and not a whole else going for them. They lay up in shelters by night, get kicked out in the morning and then they gather in the downtown during the day. You can find them sacked out on the post office steps, on park grass or taking up a table at Jack in the Box across the street from Plaza Park. I saw one bathing in the city fountain. We see them asking for spare change in front of Peets Coffee Shop or sitting in the door way of a closed business, often with a dog on a rope and guitar. They have the freedom they wanted and they can go wherever they want, but they’re going nowhere, because they’re stuck in hopelessness. Stuck because their liberal codependents offer them nothing but handouts.

It’s beyond sad, and the reality is, they work darn hard at being poor and homeless.  It’s probably harder than if they devoted themselves to a job, any job.   Life is not easy on the street.   But, most don’t see it this way and if they could find somebody that would hire them, they would likely reject it because they always have bigger plans.   This poverty is just a temporary situation that will magically get better soon because…because why? They couldn’t tell you.   And then some day they will wake up and they will be 50 years old and life’s best opportunities will have slipped right by them and all they will have will be their bad habits and addictions.

Everything they are doing on the streets is the opposite of what it takes to be self-sufficient and contribute to society. However, nobody wants to come out and tell them this, and if you do you will be put down as uncaring.   Their codependents would rather we build more shelters, give them more free food and enable them to carry on with their destructive habits and bad life choices.   The utopian liberal and the naivety of youth…now there’s a dangerous combination!

Liberals tell them government is the answer, everyone deserves a minimum standard of living, and it’s time for the rich to “share the wealth.”    This is the new mantra.   Take it from somebody else who actually worked for it.  Government has been great at doing that part.   They’re told that free shelter, free healthcare, free food and all kinds of free stuff will always be there for them, it’s their right!  And that’s about as far as their planning for the future goes.

 The Bible had it right, “If they shall not work – they shall not eat.” and “Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day, teach him to fish and you’ve fed him for a lifetime.” And this gem found in Proverbs 12:11 “Those who work their land will have abundant food, but those who chase fantasies have no sense.  These truths have stood the test of time for over 2000 years, yet your average liberal rejects them?

A recent study proves that millions of our homeless young among us now and this will become a bigger problem as time goes by. The study on homelessness by the National Conference of State Legislatures found among other things, that….

*One in seven young people between the ages of 10 and 18 will run away

*Youth age 12 to 17 are more at risk of homelessness than adults

*Estimates of the number of pregnant homeless girls are between 6 and 22 percent

* 75 percent of homeless or runaway youth have dropped out or will drop out of school

*There are about 633,000 homeless in America and over 22% are under the age of 17.

Another significant part why so many youth are on the street can be traced back to the many regulatory roadblocks liberals placed on teens finding a part-time job. When a family’s economic crisis demanded this sacrifice it sometimes meant the family stayed together and survived.   In later years, when it was not available because liberals passed laws and blocked those entry-level jobs that once taught good work habits and ethics, they denied them a very important part of growing up.  Those jobs taught dignity and self reliance.   If work and paying your way is character building, doesn’t it make sense that not working would have the opposite effect?

Today, government welfare tries to take the place those very important part-time jobs for teens.   They also try be the provider and supervisor for the family, much like the traditional male role model once was and look at the results!  More broken homes, more single parent families, less decent male role models, and this all contributes to a child growing up without the education and character they will need to make it.   Is it any wonder that so many kids are turning to gangs and/or getting in trouble with the law because of their dysfunctional family?   So, running away means they’re going to live on the street and take what comes…what a terrible situation.

Instead of a job or guidance liberals offered them an excuse. “You’re a victim and as such you deserve to share in the wealth by the evil rich.”   But this also made them feel separate from our working society and cynical about capitalism. Liberals in our schools and government have done a number on our youth.

WHY WORK, when we can panhandle, get welfare and food stamps and that almost always equals a better income than an entry level job?   And in many cases they’re right, but they also are missing the point why we work.  Well, they’re missing a lot more than that aren’t they?   And so it goes, the homeless are convinced they’re victims and that they are entitled to support.   They’re indoctrinated into thinking they need government to keep their free things coming. 

The tipping point is here folks and we’re all headed for a new reality, not just the homeless.   But, that’s exactly what Obama promised. He said America was the greatest country on earth and he was here to fundamentally change it.

by Jack

When people can actually think making a cake like these are funny and appropriate you have to think the end times are drawing close. Baby showers are supposed to be a happy time for celebration, not a fright show. How would you like to be the expectant mother when your best friend brings this cake in from the kitchen? Mmmm-um, nothing sayes lovin like somethin from the oven, save me the belly button! [[NOT!]]

How about this cake nightmare (see below), not exactly great for putting Mom’s anxiety at ease… I wonder if the expectant Mom ran screaming from her shower?

I ran across the pictures in Parent magazine, there were 15 more horrifying examples, two were more than enough for me.

by Jack

Despite using convicts to clean up Caper Acres and the many cuts to personnel and expenditures, the City of Chico is still running low on operating money. Rumor has it that another budget problem is about to be disclosed. As of press time we don’t have the full details, but it comes from a source high in City government. We’re told, “It’s not over yet!” This was followed by some criptic comments that led us to believe a detailed report is in the making and when it’s done it will be presented to Council.

Chico financial woes are centered around highly questionable accounting practices and hidden debt by a former finance officer. She left as soon as the investigation started to heat up. Since that time, the revelations about the City’s debt has been shocking and it has caused the Council and the City Administrator to seek drastic cuts in order to keep the City from going bankrupt.

Contributed by Harold…

Machinist’s Workshop Mag recently published some information on various penetrating oils that I found very interesting. Some of you might appreciate this. The magazine reports they tested penetrating solutions for break-out torque on rusted nuts and bolts. They arranged a subjective test of all the popular penetrates with the control being the torque required to remove the nut from a “scientifically rusted” environment. In other words how much do you have to pull on your three foot long pipe wrench before that dang stuck nut breaks free?

Penetrating oils Average torque load to loosen

* No Oil used 516 pounds
* WD-40 238 pounds
* PB Blaster 214 pounds
* Liquid Wrench 127 pounds
* Kano Kroil 106 pounds
* ATF-Acetone mix 53 pounds

*** ATF=Automatic Transmission Fluid

The ATF-Acetone mix is a “home brew” mix of 50 – 50 automatic transmission fluid and acetone. Note this “home brew” released bolts better than any commercial product in this one particular test.

Steve from Godwin-Singer says that ATF-Acetone mix is best, but you can also use ATF and lacquer thinner in a 50-50 mix, (this actually works well). Power-steering fluid also works as well as ATF!

by Jack Lee

Democrats knew they had the Republicans beaten down and cornered, so they thought why not use this opportunity to sneak in a little pork spending? It’s not like anyone will notice, right? Well, we did notice Mr. Reid and Ms. Pelosi and we’re not pleased.

CONGRESSIONAL PORK taints government funding agreement. There was $2.2 billion for a river project in Kentucky, $450 million for Colorado for flood rebuilding projects, and that’s well over the limit of $100 million for the Department of Transportation as allowed in the Disaster Relief Appropriations Act. There was an appropriation of one year’s salary for the widow of Sen. Frank Lautenberg. He did this year, but he had been on the gov payroll for 30 years. The thing here is … Lautenberg was worth more than $59 million. But, even in death he’s going to gouge us one last time for $174,000, a full years salary for his family because they want to honor him. And the last bit of pork was more money for agencies that fight wildfires. They could get as much as $636 million, depending on how bad it gets in the next year. The mine safety department is getting a bump in the fees it can keep, a $1 million increase to $2.49 million. A government cyberintelligence committee will get $3.1 million for their five members. The Hill, a political newspaper, reports that’s double the top amount the five-member panel has been given before. That should have them in FAX and COPY paper for a long, long time.

by Jack

You can almost predict right to the day when the next stabbing will occur, it happens to regularly, just like clock work. Now even the women are getting in on the stabbing. CHICO — A woman was stabbed in an alley at about 8:30 p.m. Tuesday night, and police are looking for three Hispanic women. In a press release, Chico Police said the woman was walking alone on Fairway Alley, which runs behind Mangrove Avenue around Fifth Avenue.

Late last night Chico PD responded to a reported stabbing of a 20 year old transient male in the downtown plaza. He was taken to Enloe hospital. He was unable or unwilling to tell police who stabbed him or even what they looked like. The downtown plaza has become a mecca for bums and young transients because it is only a few blocks from the nearest bum shelter on Park Ave.

In other news…A 46-year-old man was sentenced to seven years in state prison for stabbing a man at a Chico fraternity party in 2011.

Are you all loving what Chico has become? You should call your city council people and express your thoughts, they would love to hear from you.

Posted by Tina

Obamacare has been pushed to the sidelines during the budget battle but there is news and none of it good. As The Hill reports today, only 1% of those visiting the Obamacare exchange have signed up. That’s a measly 36,000 out of 9.5 million unique visitors. If correct, these figures are pathetic and indicate a system that is far from the seamless enrollment the administration promised.

CBS reports that the House Energy and Commerce Committee will launch an investigation into the problems plaguing the system.

One reason could be this:

Federal officials considered only one firm to design the Obamacare health insurance exchange website that has performed abysmally since its Oct. 1 debut.

Rather than open the contracting process to a competitive public solicitation with multiple bidders, officials in the Department of Health and Human Services’ Centers for Medicare and Medicaid accepted a sole bidder, CGI Federal, the U.S. subsidiary of a Canadian company with an uneven record of IT pricing and contract performance.

CMS officials are tight-lipped about why CGI was chosen or how it happened. They also refuse to say if other firms competed with CGI, or if there was ever a public solicitation for building Healthcare.gov, the backbone of Obamacare’s problem-plagued web portal.

Instead, it appears they used what amounts to a federal procurement system loophole to award the work to the Canadian firm.

Notice the tame nature of this article. No screaming words of shame or blame for Obama or Pelosi and Reid. When will we begin to hold him and his party accountable?

If this isn’t enough to raise the anti, maybe 30 billion dollars blown on a non-operational medical records system will get you on board to scrap this expensive debacle:

The rollout of ObamaCare has been plagued by problems these past two weeks, as thousands complained they couldn’t sign up for coverage due to a deeply defective website.
But this process could have been easier if a nine-year, government-backed effort to set up a system of electronic medical records had gotten off the ground. Instead of setting up their medical ID for the first time, would-be customers would have their records already on file.

Are you sure you want these people in charge of our healthcare?

Wait till you get the bill for your insurance. People across the country are pretty upset with the rules for insurance deductibles, premiums and co-pays:

The bronze, silver and gold plans ranged from $202 a month to $586 a month. I searched just for myself, not family coverage. The story going forward is going to be that the low-cost plans are garbage. Plan after plan had $5,000 and $6,000 deductibles before they pay a penny in benefits, and even then you’d still be on the hook for 40% of your bill. Once you get to the $350/$400 a month range, there are a few plans with $1,500 and $2,000 deductibles. One silver plan (I think in the $450 a month range) had zero deductible, but sky-high copays and all kinds of limitations. Many of the plans only cover “in network” care and don’t pay a penny for anything out of network. And staying in networks can be a big challenge. If you go to an orthopedic surgeon who’s in network, great, but you can easily find out after the fact that the anesthesiologist he used isn’t in your network.

Can’t wait ’till the slow, agonizing, destructive roll comes to a full STOP! Scrap it!

Posted by Tina

James Carville, a mouthpiece from the Clinton era, has suggested that the rise of alternative media has caused a deeply polarized America. He’s upset about Citizens United too. I imagine he longs for the old days, when Democrats had an edge with biased media favoring them. Poor dude actually has competition now.

The advent of talk radio and the internet, specifically according to Carville Rush Limbaugh and the Tea Party, have caused a troubling outcome in government. Gridlock and contention are upsetting the apple cart for this bombastic leftist. Carville also claims that those who listen to Rush or hang out at local Tea Party meetings never read left leaning newspapers or engage in conversation with people whose views are on the left. Does he really think that lefties engage in any meaningful way with conservatives? Prior to the advent of alternative media the Sunday morning political talk shows always had a token Republican who was rarely meaningfully engaged and even if he was, was then promptly discredited by the last words of the three Democrat guests.

Democrats call the Tea Party a fringe group of radicals with too much influence in politics.

The Democrats have several of these groups that I can think of: unions, green lobby, black race baiters.

The Democrats complain that big corporate money has too much influence. But Democrats and Republicans benefit from this money. Additionally, Democrats have always had an advantage with union money which is considerable. In fact Democrats have never been at a disadvantage with union or corporate money. Consider Barack Obama’s largest donors:

University of California – $1,799,460

Goldman Sachs – $1,034,615

Harvard University – $900,909

Microsoft Corp – $854,717

JPMorgan Chase & Co – $847,895

The reality is this: America has become more polarized since the radical Marxist left took control of the Democrat Party. Their hard left progressive push is at the heart of all of the contention in Washington DC. The progressives brought us all of the social programs that have cause debt to rise. They have pressed decade after decade for more and bigger federal control, higher taxes, and restrictive suffocating regulation to the point that a once vibrant and free country is now looking exactly like socialist Europe. High unemployment and high dependency with very little opportunity.

As you have probably heard the radical progressives in Congress have won today in Washington DC. America will now borrow another 800 billion dollars…eight hundred billion dollars! That growing debt, plus the interest on that debt, must be funded by the sweat of the working man’s brow. In addition there will be no delay in the implementation of Obamacare…the train wreck with a high price tag. Republicans won on a single point, the sequester cuts will remain.

Yes progressives have won the contentious battle in polarized America. Carville may be hoping this will mark the defeat of the Tea Party and an end to the polarization. But Carville should know that the conservative groups in the country have not caved even if the Republicans in Congress have. As far as they are concerned, radical Democrats won today but America LOST! The light of freedom and opportunity has dimmed a little more! Radical progressives should know this defeat will only make those who are concerned with their extreme and costly agenda that much more determined and vocal.

There are less than thirteen months to election time. Let the contest continue.

Posted by Jack

Why the U.S. should be downgraded

 The world has lost its faith in the U.S. It no longer deserves to be a Triple-A credit.

This was encapsulated in the nods of agreement that were seen in a packed auditorium at a Washington conference of international bankers on Friday when a visibly angry BlackRock Inc.(BLK) CEO Laurence Fink told the audience that the U.S. is not a “principled nation.”

When men and women who control tens of trillions of dollars in U.S. investments are indicating they’ve lost their faith in America, it goes to the very question of whether the U.S. deserves to be at the center of world finance. So, whether or not Fitch Ratings follows through on the “Negative Watch” status that it placed on its top-notch U.S. rating Tuesday, it’s clear now that the dysfunctional American political system no longer justifies a Triple-A rating from anyone.

It matters not whether the U.S. is actually forced into a devastating default is still an extremely unlikely event. Triple-A credits do not behave like this.

In top-rated countries, politicians do not use instruments like the federal debt ceiling as an extortionist political tool. In allowing that to happen, the U.S. is abrogating its responsibilities as issuer of the world’s reserve currency and as protector of the “risk free rate.”

The seemingly endless rounds of political brinkmanship are bad enough. What makes it worse is that gross government debt stands at an uncomfortably high 109% of GDP, according to International Monetary Fund estimates, while the Congressional Budget Office forecasts that Social Security and Medicare obligations will grow exponentially over the next few decades.

With so much at stake, the U.S. can’t depend on foreign investors to keep rolling over its debts just because the dollar’s reserve-currency status locks them into that trade. It’s no coincidence that Chinese news agency Xinhua ran an op-ed Monday calling for a “de-Americanized world.”

by Jack

Those pesky bed bugs closed down the Jesus Center shelter for some serious fumigation.  This caused a number of transients to be looking for new accomodations…out of town.    Bed bugs did what the council and all their committee meetings could not.     The Council should learn from this:   “Close it down and they will go”  verses  ”Build it and they will come.”    It’s that simple.