You can join a union, or get a different job

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One Wisconsin Democrat says…if people don’t like paying union dues that are used to support Dem candidates, they can always get another job.

State Rep. Nick Milroy is the Democratic state representative from Wisconsin’s 73rd assembly district.  He was on America’s Radio News with anchors Chris Salcedo and Lori Lundin.  Salcedo pointed out that union membership was split by their votes in 2010, 49% for Democrats and 47% for Republicans, nearly an even split. But unions donated 93% of their total contributions to Democrats in 2010, and 7% to Republicans or others.  The question was asked if the assemblyman could understand why Republicans were not in favor of having tax payer funded dues go to fund Democrat campaigns?  The assemblyman contended that public employees can opt out of the unions.  But when pressed about how even those that opt out must pay union dues, the assemblyman suggested that those people that didn’t want to be part of a union could find other work.

Get that? You’ll be forced to donate to a party that you don’t support, and you’ll like it!

Wisconsin is a unionized state, where right-to-work laws do not apply. So in many trades and occupations, there is no option to get another job without changing careers. That plus the high unemployment makes Milroy’s comments particularly heartless.

Will future generations understand "The Simpsons"?

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I recently rewatched "Krusty Gets Kancelled" from Season 4 of "The Simpsons" with my 13-year-old daughter and 7-year-old son. Krusty the Klown was on "Springfield Squares," a game show hosted by moonlighting Springfield newsman Kent Brockman and featuring special guest Rainer Wolfcastle, the action film icon. Brockman introduced Wolfcastle as the star of the new movie, "Help, My Son is a Nerd!"

Wolfcastle: "My son returns from a fancy East Coast college, and I'm horrified to find he's a nerd."

Kent Brockman: "Ha, ha, ha! I'm laughing already!"

Rainier Wolfcastle: "It's not a comedy."

I laughed at this. My son laughed, too -- but after a moment he asked, "Dad, why is that funny?"

I told him it was too complicated to explain, because it was.

Wolfcastle was "The Simpsons"' stand-in for Arnold Schwarzenegger, a wildly popular movie star circa 1992-93, when that episode first aired. Schwarzenegger built his fortune on bloody action thrillers, but had recently begun playing against type in such dumb but harmless comedies as "Twins" and "Kindergarten Cop." The movie Wolfcastle was promoting was obviously in that vein, but the plot evoked the 1986 Rodney Dangerfield comedy "Back to School." Wolfcastle's line, "It's not a comedy" was also a joke at the expense of phony '80s macho; the very idea of nerdiness would horrify a gym-muscled dolt like Wolfcastle.

There were a couple of marginal jokes in the scene, too. Brockman's moonlighting on "Hollywood Squares" acknowledged a long tradition of newscasters working as game show hosts and commercial pitchmen on the side (see Wallace, Mike). And "Springfield Squares" is a sendup of 1970s game shows in the vein of "Hollywood Squares" and "Tic Tac Dough." The rest of the episode contained references to the 1929 film "The Great Gabbo," Eastern European animation, Joey Bishop, "Howdy Doody," Ed Sullivan's censoring the lyrics of the Doors' "Light My Fire," the 1968 "Elvis" TV special, the Red Hot Chili Peppers' penchant for nudity, and Bette Midler serenading Johnny Carson during his final week on "The Tonight Show."

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Do all or even most of these gags connect with a viewer under 25 who isn't a 20th century pop culture junkie?

I doubt it. Granted, some of the jokes were inside even for 1992-93 -- "The Great Gabbo" and the Eastern bloc cartoon "Worker and Parasite," for instance. But most weren't. They referred to things that were current or that felt that way, thanks to syndication or shared childhood viewing experiences. Circa 2011 that's no longer the case. "Krusty Gets Kancelled" is one of the greatest of all "Simpsons" episodes, but if it were a poem, it would need to have nearly as many footnotes as "The Waste Land" -- and the further away from its original air date we get, the truer that's going to be.

So much post-"Simpsons" comedy is in that vein: "Seinfeld," "Friends," "South Park," "Family Guy" and its spin offs. Not to mention such recent arrivals as "Community," "Chuck," "Parks and Recreation," "Glee," "30 Rock" and the American version of "The Office." They're all footnote shows: amusing and perhaps hilarious right now, but likely to be dated in five years, quaint in 10, and borderline impenetrable in 20. Or inadvertently poignant. Or chilling.

Remember Bart and Lisa watching the "School House Rock" parody "I'm an Amendment to Be" in a 1996 episode "The Day the Violence Died"? "It's one of those campy '70s throwbacks that appeals to Generation X-ers," Lisa says. "We need another Vietnam to thin out their ranks," Bart says coldly -- a line that would be a lot funnier if the United States had not, in fact,  gotten involved in another Vietnam seven years later.

Comedies saturated with pop culture references can be a lot of fun, and on a few recent occasions I've even used them as a way to connect with my kids. These shows are virtual museums of pop culture history, honoring certain entertainers and works and perhaps introducing them to future generations. After the Madonna and "Rocky Horror" episodes of "Glee," my daughter and I watched bits of the source material being referred to, and had a fun conversation about appropriation and theft and whether there was any real difference between them. The Madonna episode was especially interesting because it referenced Madonna's "Material Girl" video, which in turn was a parody of Marilyn Monroe's "Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend" -- which made the "Glee" number a spoof of a spoof.

But all things considered, if I want to bond with my daughter I'd rather take her to lunch or the park. If the first half of "The Simpsons'" endless run has held up, it's because of the characters and stories, the timing of certain lines and sight gags, and the phenomenal voice work. (When my daughter was an infant, Krusty's voice used to make her laugh hysterically.) Most episodes of "The Simpsons" made after 1998-99 -- the last consistently watchable season -- are gag-fests based around Homer's escalating stupidity and selfishness, and fast-and-furious "SNL"-style pop culture references. "The Simpsons" used to mix highbrow and lowbrow gags, and timeless and timely humor, but that rich mixture was simply too difficult to sustain. So it became a pop culture reference factory, not unlike "The Family Guy" -- a consistently ruder, funnier show that was nonetheless never as rich as "The Simpsons," and that looted Matt Groening's cartoon like a department store during a blackout.

This season's "Homer the Father" seemed to acknowledge the show's tiredness by having Homer become obsessed with a TV Land-style cable channel showing repeats of "Thicker Than Waters," a fictional 1980s sitcom written by David Mamet. Homer wore an early-'80s-style "Cosby Show"-type sweater the entire time, and when the episode was about to cut to a commercial, Homer said that Bart's exit line "could be a hell of an act break" but "could use a button."  That's the default mode of TV comedy now: Reference-o-Rama. 

You can see it exemplified on NBC's "Community," which never met a reference, or a meta-reference, that it didn't want to embrace and that -- like "The Simpsons" -- already seems torn between character-and-story-based comedy and something flashier and more disposable. This season's "Basic Rocket Science" episode  -- which lampooned "Apollo 13," "2001," 1980s video game graphics, KFC and TV product placement, among other subjects -- was fitfully amusing but quite shallow and forgettable. The Christmas episode -- which was built around 1970s-style Rankin-Bass puppetoon imagery -- was more surprising, weirder and darker, and ultimately more about the psychology of one major character, Abed Nadir (Danny Pudi), than any of its marginalia. On March 24 the series is airing a sendup of "Pulp Fiction." How much you wanna bet there'll be a joke about the choice of subject being very mid-'90s?

The show's heart often plays like "heart" -- much more so than NBC's "Parks and Recreation," a more earnest and authentically warm series that has more to do with observable reality than pop culture riffing. Where "Parks and Rec" expertly balances in-the-moment character comedy and reference-based humor (such as Mark's "I Fell in the Pit" from Season 1, a sendup of pompous early-'90s grunge rock), "Community" is so acutely self-aware that it comments on its own jokes, comments on the fact that it's commenting on its own jokes, and preemptively guesses how viewers might try to describe it. But the most self-consciously self-conscious episode of "Community" is less shallow and gimmicky than NBC's "Chuck," which really does feel like a long "Saturday Night Live" sketch -- specifically one of those loopy, half-baked sketches that airs right before the final signoff when nobody's watching. It's the "Family Guy" of live-action comedy -- which is to say if it were a person, it'd be that kid in the fourth grade who did the same funny catchphrase over and over and always made you laugh until you spit milk through your nose.  It's a pleasure to know that kid, but his humor doesn't travel well.

To varying degrees, all these shows have given me joy, and no, I don't think self-aware comedy is an inherently less worthy form than any other. But there's a downside: a lack of durability.  Some of the most buzz-worthy TV comedies of the last 25 years have proved as sturdy as tissue paper. Even the great ones from the '90s ("The Simpsons" and "Seinfeld") are starting to seem as era-specific as high-top fades and Koosh balls. "I Love Lucy," "The Andy Griffith Show," "The Mary Tyler Moore Show," "Cheers" and other pre-'90s sitcoms didn't start to seem dated or irrelevant for decades, probably because they kept the pop culture references to a bare minimum; the more recent hit comedies are starting to exude that expired fish stench while they're still on the air.  Can a show still call itself a comedy if you have to explain why it's funny?

15 Lessons for Fathers from a Founding Father

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I first learned of George Washington's "Rules of Civility & Decent Behavior" when one of my favorite journalists, AJ Jacobs, set about trying to live by them. Jacobs went on to live a year according to every rule in the Bible. He read every word of the Encyclopedia Britannica and has done pretty much every stunt one can imagine in the name of immersion journalism. He is, in short, a hero of mine.

So when I was cruising around Amazon.com while on paternity leave and came across President Washington's book, I decided it was worth ordering. It's interesting to see how much attention President Washington put into every aspect of life. From how to place your legs while sitting at a table to several interesting thoughts about how to behave while eating, the rules make clear that George took manners and behavior very seriously. What I was surprised to see was how many of his rules apply to fathers.

Here is a smattering:

1. "If you cough, sneeze, sigh or yawn, do it not loud, but privately; and speak not in your yawning, but put your handkerchief or hand before your face and turn aside."

Great advice and a lesson worth teaching our children, especially during cold and flu season.

2. "Put not off your clothes in the presence of others, not go out of your chamber half-dressed."

I can't tell you how many times I've had to tell my three-year-old not to run around naked. And now that I have a daughter, this reminds me of that old Chris Rock bit about a father's job involving keeping his daughter off the pole.

3. "Do not express joy before one sick or in pain, for that contrary passion will aggravate his misery."

I run into this one from time to time, especially when my six-year-old is crying. He's a good kid, but sensitive. And some times he gets upset about something that I find silly, or will look so adorable when he's crying that I have to fight the urge to smile. 

4. "When a man does all he can though it succeeds not well blame not him that did it."

It's tough, particularly when you measure yourself against other dads. What did Billy's dad do that made him the star of the basketball team? How is it that Joe's son is potty trained and my kid just peed on the wall? It does no good to compare. Stick with what you can control. Leave the blame for someone else to worry about.

5. "Being to advise or reprehend anyone, consider whether it ought to be in public or private, presently or at some other time, in what terms to do it; and in reproving show no sign of choler, but do it with all sweetness and mildness."

This is the old Walmart-Mom rule. Have you ever been walking around Walmart and come across a parent either physically or verbally reprimanding a child? I hate it when I see that. Every time I see a parent loudly or abusively punish a child in public, I get the cringes. Some things are better done in private. And, in the case of abuse, not at all.

6. "Wherein you reprove another be unblameable [sic]  yourself, for example is more prevalent than precepts."

Do as I do - man that's deeper than it seems. As parents, we are constantly teaching. Not just by our words, but by our actions. I have a hard time punishing my kids for something they see me do. It should drive us to be better parents, better people... at least while the kids are around.

7. "Be not hasty to believe flying reports to the disparagement of any."

What's worse - your son breaking a lamp or your daughter being a tattle tale? Truth is, there are problems with both. I have to catch myself before I outrightly believe what one of my kids is saying about another. A dad has to be fair and investigate things like Sherlock Holmes.

8. "Associate yourself with men of good quality if you esteem your own reputation; for 'tis better to be alone than in bad company."

In other words, watch the company your children keep. Better to be the bad guy then to let others take them down the wrong path.

9. "Speak not of doleful things in a time of mirth or at the table; speak not of melancholy things as death and wounds, and if others mention them change if you can the discourse. Tell not your dreams but to your intimate friend."

I really struggle with this one. I want my kids to grow up happy. I want them to have good memories of their childhood. I don't want them to remember that their dad was stressed about work or money or that mom and dad fought all the time. We have to remember that we are forming our children's personalities. And I, for one, want my kids to believe there is good in the world.

10. "Reprehend not the imperfections of others, for that belongs to parents, masters and superiors."

Don't discipline other people's kids, even if they did just set your Christmas tree on fire. Manage the situation and let their parents deal with it. Then consider if you want that kid coming around anymore. It's just not cool.

11. "Think before you speak, pronounce not imperfectly nor bring out your words too hastily, but orderly and distinctly."

It goes without saying that we shouldn't fly off the handle with our kids. But sometimes the hardest thing to do is to walk away for a minute - even though it may be the most important thing we do. Sometimes perspective helps us focus our thoughts and turn a moment of anger into a teaching moment.

12. "Undertake not what you cannot perform but be careful to keep your promise."

There is no heartbreak in the world like that of a child who has been let down by their dad. Don't tell your kid you'll do something you know you can't do and, likewise, if you promise, follow through. It's about integrity. It's about honor. It's about doing the right thing.

13. "Be not angry at table whatever happens and if you have reason to be so, show it not but on a cheerful countenance, especially if there be strangers, for good humor makes one dish of meat a feast."

My wife and I, like many parents, have decided that eating together as a family is important. In fact, with so much going on, dinner is about the only time we're all in the same room for the same reason. I try to be cognizant of the fact that my kids will remember those moments around the table when they are my age. I try to make it about family and leave everything else behind for a while. Of course, I don't always succeed - who does? - but family meal time means so much more if everyone is excited to be there.

14. "If others talk at table be attentive, but talk not with meat in your mouth."

This is a great lesson to teach the kids, but also a great one to learn ourselves. We need to listen as much as we talk, learn as much as we teach when it comes to our kids. That and nobody wants to see semi-masticated meatloaf.

15. "Every action done in company ought to be done with some sign of respect to those that are present."

That means anyone. The kids, your wife, the mother-in-law. As dads, we need to be an example in how people should be treated, because our kids are watching and they will do what we do.

So there you have it, some advice and insight for George Washington. Funny, I didn't see anything in there about a cherry tree.

Who decides who you get to hire?

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Internal Affairs: The fight over Councilman Constant's missing secretary

Employees' union wants councilman to hire an assistant

At a time when San Jose faces more than a $100 million budget deficit and the prospect of hundreds of layoffs, San Jose City Councilman

Pete Constant is battling with a City Hall employees' union over whether he should be forced to hire an administrative assistant.

Kevin McKenney of Santa Clara County Superior Court recently ordered that the case be taken to a costly arbitration instead of the state's Public Employment Relations Board -- something both Constant and the city's attorneys had sought.

That decision pleased the city's 214-member Confidential Employees Organization, which contends the city was required to confer with the union before Constant decided to eliminate the position. The job -- which requires answering phones, scheduling appointments and making photocopies, among other duties -- pays about $70,000 a year.
"My concern quite frankly is not who decides the issues. It's getting a resolution on the core issue, which is: Who should determine how I staff my office?" said Constant, who was re-elected last year to a second term representing West San Jose.

The City Council's only Republican contends that residents of the district support his ability to make decisions for them. Besides, Constant said, he prefers to do all of the secretarial work himself, with help from four full-time council aides. And he contends that the $70,000 can be better spent on things such as resource fairs, helping neighborhood associations, an online database that updates Constant's office with constituent information and inquiries, and license fees for an iPhone app that allows residents to easily report problems.

But LaVerne Washington, president of the employees' association, said it is not Constant's prerogative to create his own "process and procedures," which she said conflict with labor agreements between the city and the union.
"This is not just somebody's job. This was a process the city designed well before Pete Constant got there," Washington said. "It's my belief that they want some consistency and regularity in the council offices, which is why each council member has an administrative assistant."
City Attorney

Rick Doyle, however, said there is nothing in the union contract that prohibits Constant from not hiring an assistant.

No word yet on whether his office will appeal the judge's ruling.

Schwarzenegger's speech a big hit at energy event

Former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger rocked the house last week during his keynote address at ARPA-E, the Department of Energy's annual geekfest for clean-technology engineers, entrepreneurs, policy wonks and venture capitalists.

The event was 3,000 miles away in Washington, D.C., so IA couldn't make it. But we got a kick out of reading the text of the speech, which included this line: "Why should a dried-up little country like Libya with a crazy dictator play havoc with America's economy and security?"
Schwarzenegger's defense of California's climate-change legislation is his greatest legacy, and the ARPA-E crowd gave him a standing ovation. That's led to a fresh wave of speculation that the former action-hero governor could become energy secretary if and when Steven Chu decides to terminate his tenure.

Internal Affairs is an offbeat look at state and local politics. This week's items were written by Tracy Seipel and Dana Hull. Send tips to internalaffairs@mercurynews.com^[1], or call 408-920-5552.

STEVE JOBS BACK IN THE SPOTLIGHT

Apple CEO Steve Jobs, who on Wednesday took a break from his medical leave and stepped back into the spotlight for the unveiling of the iPad2. "This one really blows my mind," Jobs said. It was awesome to see you, Steve.

PG&E'S NIGHTMARE CONTINUES

PG&E engineer Chih-hung Lee, who wrote a 2006 memo saying that the utility didn't need automatic shutoff valves on its natural gas pipelines. Last week, he was bombarded with questions from investigators at a D.C. hearing on the San Bruno pipeline explosion. Other PG&E employees at the hearing said automatic valves would have reduced the time of the fire from 90 minutes to about 20 minutes.

FIREfighter LAYOFFS STILL LOOM

The San Jose firefighters' union tentatively agreed to accept 10 percent cuts in pay and benefits to reduce the need for further layoffs -- a noble concession. But the city couldn't promise that any more firefighters wouldn't lose their jobs. Last year, 49 firefighting jobs were axed.

References

1. ^{^} internalaffairs@mercurynews.com (www.mercurynews.com)

White House party-crasher booted from 'Celebrity Rehab'

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(CNN) -- Reality show star and White House party-crasher Michaele Salahi has been asked to leave the television show "Celebrity Rehab" because she does not have an addiction, VH1 said in a statement.

Salahi's manager shot back, saying the network knew that all along. 

Salahi and her husband made news in November 2009 after attending President Barack Obama's first state dinner without an invitation.

VH1 said Tuesday it has canceled her appearance on the show, which chronicles celebrities undergoing treatment for alcohol and drug addictions.

"The treatment program that 'Celebrity Rehab' documents is intended for individuals with serious substance abuse and addiction issues," VH1 said in a statement Tuesday night. 

"Prior to the taping of the current season, producers were advised that Michaele Salahi met the criteria to be treated in this setting. However, professional assessments spanning from that time to the present, found that she did not meet such criteria."

However, the show knew that in advance, according to Gina Rodriguez, her manager.

"That is the excuse they used. But they knew what it was when they cast her," Rodriguez said.

The Virginia couple slipped through White House security and shook hands with Obama, and had their pictures taken with Vice President Joe Biden and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

Salahi has also appeared on "Real Housewives of DC."

What Democrats think of the situation now

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BOSTON FUNDRAISER: President Obama addressed a group of 152 Democratic donors at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. The walls were lined with enormous original oil portraits from the 16th century and guests are seated around about 24 round tables.

Obama was introduced by Rep. Ed Markey, who called Obama the “true fulfillment” of JFK and Martin Luther King Jr.’s dream for America.

In welcoming Nancy Pelosi, Obama called her “someone who’s going to go down as one of the greatest Speakers in our history: Nancy Pelosi.”

“When the rubble had cleared, when the dust had settled. This country was going through as touch a time economically, as tough a time financially, as any period since the 1930s,” Obama said..
His administration “had to make a series of quick decisions, and often times unpopular decisions,” Obama said.

In those times, Obama said, there would have been a temptation to “resort to the expedient.”

“That’s why when I say, Nancy is going to go down as one of our finest speakers… I mean what I say,” Obama continued.

“Not only were we able to yank this economy out of the recession,” Obama said.

“Not only were we able to get this economy going again, that in the last 15 months we’ve seen the economy add jobs…but under Nancy’s leadership we were able to achieve historic health care legislation that over the last 15, 20 years will end up benefiting millions of families across the country… we were able to get “don’t ask, don’t’ tell” repealed,” he continued, adding that Congress expand our investments in clean energy, made the largest investments in infrastructure and the largest investments in education in years.

“We didn’t just rescue the economy we put it on the strongest footing for the future,” Obama said.

“And along the way we saved the auto industry and a few other things,” he quipped, to some laughter from the crowd.

Obama went over a kept promise to end combat in Iraq, and reduce the country’s military commitment in Afghanistan. He said that it was because of leaders like Rep. Steve Israel, Nancy Pelosi, and Ed Markey, that those things were able to happen.

“Here’s the good news, because of these historic efforts, we are now turning the corner,” Obama said.

“There will be cases when democratic constituencies aren’t happy with us because we have to rationalize government,” Obama said, responding to criticism about some of his own cuts.

But he says that government will have to continue investing in education in order to make it possible for kids to receive a good tech based education like the students at TechBoston Academy get every day.

Obama says that America should not be about the “haves and the have-nots.”

“That’s not the America that I envision for Malia and Sasha,” Obama said. “And so we’re going to have a lot of work to do.”

Calling for Democrats and Republicans to put fighting aside, Obama quips: “I was born in Hawaii, what can I say. I can’t change those facts.”

1/3 of Total Wages in US are handouts

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CNBC's Fast Money: Welfare State: Handouts Make Up One-Third of U.S. Wages

Government payouts—including Social Security, Medicare and unemployment insurance—make up more than a third of total wages and salaries of the U.S. population, a record figure that will only increase if action isn’t taken before the majority of Baby Boomers enter retirement.

Even as the economy has recovered, social welfare benefits make up 35 percent of wages and salaries this year, up from 21 percent in 2000 and 10 percent in 1960, according to TrimTabs Investment Research using Bureau of Economic Analysis data.

“The U.S. economy has become alarmingly dependent on government stimulus,” said Madeline Schnapp, director of Macroeconomic Research at TrimTabs, in a note to clients. “Consumption supported by wages and salaries is a much stronger foundation for economic growth than consumption based on social welfare benefits.”

The economist gives the country two stark choices. In order to get welfare back to its pre-recession ratio of 26 percent of pay, “either wages and salaries would have to increase $2.3 trillion, or 35 percent, to $8.8 trillion, or social welfare benefits would have to decline $500 billion, or 23 percent, to $1.7 trillion,” she said.

Last month, the Republican-led House of Representatives passed a $61 billion federal spending cut, but Senate Democratic leaders and the White House made it clear that had no chance of becoming law. Short-term resolutions passed have averted a government shutdown that could have occurred this month, as Vice President Biden leads negotiations with Republican leaders on some sort of long-term compromise.

“You’ve got to cut back government spending and the Republicans will run on this platform leading up to next year’s election,” said Joe Terranova, Chief Market Strategist for Virtus Investment Partners and a “Fast Money” trader.

Terranova noted some sort of opt out for social security or even raising the retirement age.

But the country may not be ready for these tough choices, even though economists like Schnapp say something will have to be done to avoid a significant economic crisis.

A Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll released last week^[1] showed that  less than a quarter of Americans supported making cuts to Social Security or Medicare in order to reign in the mounting budget deficit.

Those poll numbers may be skewed by a demographic shift the likes of which the nation has never seen. Only this year has the first round of baby boomers begun collecting Medicare benefits—and here comes 78 million more.

Social welfare benefits have increased by $514 billion over the last two years, according to TrimTabs figures, in part because of measures implemented to fight the financial crisis. Government spending normally takes on a larger part of the spending pie during economic calamities but how can the country change this make-up with the root of the crisis (housing) still on shaky ground, benchmark interest rates already cut to zero, and a demographic shift that calls for an increase in subsidies?

At the very least, we can take solace in the fact that we’re not quite at the state welfare levels of Europe. In the U.K., social welfare benefits make up 44 percent of wages and salaries, according to TrimTabs’ Schnapp.

“No matter how bad the situation is in the US, we stand far better on these issues (debt, demographics, entrepreneurship) than other countries,” said Steve Cortes of Veracruz Research. “On a relative basis, America remains the world leader and, as such, will also remain the world's reserve currency.”

For the best market insight, catch 'Fast Money' each night at 5pm ET, and the ‘Halftime Report’ each afternoon at 12:30 ET on CNBC.

______________________________________________________

John Melloy^[2] is the Executive Producer of Fast Money. Before joining CNBC, he was an editor for Bloomberg News, overseeing the U.S. Stock Market coverage team.

______________________________________________________
Got something to say? Send us an e-mail at fastmoney-web@cnbc.com^[3] and your comment might be posted on the Rapid Recap! If you'd prefer to make a comment, but not have it published on our Web site, send your message to fastmoney@cnbc.com^[4]

State of Maine gets Healthcare Waiver

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Maine gets break in federal health care overhaul

PORTLAND, Maine - The federal government Tuesday granted Maine a waiver of a key provision in President Barack Obama's health care overhaul, citing the likelihood that enforcement could destabilize the state's market for individual health insurance.

The U.S. Health and Human Services department said in a letter it would waive the requirement that insurers spend 80 cents to 85 cents of every premium dollar on medical care and quality improvement. Instead, the letter said, the state could maintain its 65 percent standard for three years, with the caveat that HHS intends to review the figures after two years.

The decision makes Maine the first state to receive a waiver of the requirement. Similar requests are pending from Kentucky, Nevada and New Hampshire.

In seeking the waiver, Maine Insurance Superintendent Mila Kofman feared that one of three major insurers offering individual plans in Maine would withdraw from the market altogether if the federal requirement remained in place. The insurer, MEGA Life and Health Insurance Co., has 37 percent of the state's individual market.

MEGA's departure from the market would carry the "reasonable likelihood of destabilizing the Maine individual market," with costly ramifications for MEGA's policy holders, wrote Steven Larsen, an HHS deputy administrator.

"We appreciate the evidence-based approach HHS took with our request and in working with us," Kofman said in a statement.

Maine's individual insurance market has been volatile, with big premium increases attributed in part to the small number of enrollees and lack of competition. There have been fears the market could collapse altogether.

As of last September, Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield had the biggest market share with 18,297 individual policies, followed by MEGA Life and Health's 13,732 and Harvard Pilgrim Health Care's 4,935. Harvard Pilgrim provides coverage through DirigoChoice, the state-subsidized health insurance program.

An official from MEGA Life and Health didn't immediately return a call from The Associated Press.

The Affordable Care Act allows states to petition to delay the federal standard until 2014 on how much money from premiums must go to medical care for the individual market. Administrative costs tend to be higher on those plans than on insurance plans provided through employers.

The federal law envisions that by 2014 there will be health insurance exchanges to provide individuals with new, affordable options for health care options.

Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

IL Attorney General gains a new supporter

Here's someone who probably wishes IL Attorney General Lisa Madigan got her way across the country... Then he would know who to rob and who to leave alone.
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http://www.thesmokinggun.com/buster/portland/911-calls
"I Just Broke Into A House And The Owner Came Home," Intruder Tells 911 Operator

After breaking into an Oregon residence last night, Timothy Chapek, 24, barricaded himself in a bathroom after the owner unexpectedly arrived home. Chapek, you see, was worried that Hilary Mackenzie might be armed (or that her barking German Shepherds could prove problematic).
So he called 911 seeking help. “I just broke into a house and the owner came home,” Chapek told a police operator. “You broke into a house?” the surprised operator responded. “I think she’s got guns,” Chapek added.
Simultaneously, Mackenzie called police to report that there was an intruder in her Portland home (she told an operator that Chapek had reported he was taking a shower). The pair’s dueling 911 calls can be listened to here:


According to a Portland Police Bureau report^[1], Chapek told cops he was “taking a shower, nothing more.” Mackenzie reported that none of her belongings were out of place and that Chapek had “earlier made some utterance…that ‘Mexicans’ had kidnapped him and put him in the bathroom.”
Chapek, pictured in the above mug shot, was arrested and charged with criminal trespass.

References

1. ^{^} Portland Police Bureau report (i.cdn.turner.com)

Ohio State suspends Tressel two games

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Ohio State football coach Jim Tressel received an e-mail last April telling him that two of his players were caught up in a federal drug-trafficking case and the sale of memorabilia, breaking NCAA rules.

Tressel responded: ''I will get on it ASAP.''

But he never mentioned it to Ohio State's compliance department or his athletic director for more than nine months.

On Tuesday, Tressel was suspended for the first two games of the 2011 season and fined $250,000 for violating NCAA rules by failing to notify the school about the players' involvement. He also will receive a public reprimand and must make a public apology.

The NCAA is still investigating and could reject Ohio State's self-imposed penalties and add more sanctions.

''Obviously I'm disappointed that this happened at all,'' Tressel said. ''I take my responsibility for what we do at Ohio State tremendously seriously and for the game of football. I plan to grow from this. I'm sincerely saddened by the fact that I let some people down and didn't do things as well as I possibly could have.''

Last December, the NCAA suspended quarterback Terrelle Pryor and four teammates for the first five games on the 2011 season for selling jerseys, championship rings and trophies to a local tattoo parlor owner. The suspensions came just 16 days after the U.S. attorney told the school of a federal investigation that included players.

The school did not learn until January, however, that Tressel had been tipped off to the federal investigation back in April.

Yahoo! Sports first reported Tressel's prior knowledge of the possible improper benefits on Monday.

''I think that your No. 1 critic is yourself,'' he said, tears welling in his eyes at a Tuesday night news conference. ''You spend time thinking about how you can do things better. I don't think less of myself at this moment. I felt at the time as if I was doing the right thing for the safety of the young people and the overall situation.''

Asked when he first realized that he had violated NCAA rules, Tressel blinked, faltered and hesitated - momentarily speechless.

With Ohio State again being investigated by the NCAA, college football is digging out of yet another scandal. The 2010 season was weighed down from start to finish with NCAA issues, from North Carolina being investigated for players having improper contact with agents to the play-for-pay scheme involving Cam Newton's father that was uncovered in November.

 

Last week, Oregon announced the NCAA and Pac-10 was looking into the school's arrangement with a recruiting service.

The NCAA has faced criticism for going easy on rule-breakers, especially for letting Ohio State's guilty players participate in the Sugar Bowl and for not punishing Newton, the Auburn quarterback, for his father's misdeeds.

Tressel said he never thought of resigning, and Ohio State athletic director Gene Smith said he never seriously considered firing Tressel for violating his contract, which specifies that he must immediately report any - the word is underlined in the contract - information which pertains to violations of NCAA, Big Ten or Ohio State bylaws and rules.

''Wherever we end up, Jim Tressel is our football coach,'' Smith said. ''He is our coach, and we trust him implicitly.''

On April 2, 2010, Tressel received an e-mail from a person he identified only as ''a lawyer,'' who wrote that Ohio State players had been implicated in activities with Eddie Rife, a local tattoo-parlor owner, whom the federal government was investigating on charges of drug-trafficking. The e-mail, released to reporters but with the names redacted, said players were selling signed Buckeyes memorabilia and giving it to Rife in exchange for money and tattoos.

Tressel said he allowed the two players cited in the e-mail to play the entire 2010 season because he did not want to ''interfere with a federal investigation'' and worried that sitting eligible players would raise a ''whole new set of questions.''

The Buckeyes coach said he was trying to protect his players by not breaking the confidentiality of the federal investigation.

''Admittedly, I probably did not give quite as much thought to the potential NCAA part of things,'' he said.

Along with Pryor, starting receiver DeVier Posey, leading rusher Dan ''Boom'' Herron, offensive lineman Mike Adams and backup defensive lineman Solomon Thomas were suspended for selling memorabilia, but allowed to play in the Sugar Bowl, which the Buckeyes won 31-26 against Arkansas.

Shortly after Ohio State returned from New Orleans, the university began reviewing its information on an unrelated legal issue, Smith said Tuesday, and Tressel acknowledged he had not told everything he knew about his players and their relationship with the tattoo parlor and its owner.

''I plan to grow from this,'' Tressel said. ''I'm sincerely saddened by the fact that I let some people down and didn't do things as well as I possibly could have.''

This was not the first time Tressel or his players have run into problems with the NCAA.

Ray Isaac, a star quarterback at Youngstown State, accepted improper inducements including cars. Tressel was found to have done an incomplete investigation of those allegations, with Youngstown State later serving penalties. In addition, Maurice Clarett, who led the Buckeyes to the 2002 national championship, and Troy Smith, winner of the 2006 Heisman Trophy, were suspended by the NCAA for receiving money and other benefits from boosters.

The Buckeyes open next season with games against Akron and Toledo, likely playing those without their coach and their star quarterback.

The team resumed workouts this week - with all of the suspended players participating, and with Tressel in the middle of practice with a whistle around his neck.

Tiki Barber returning to NFL

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While people wait to see where Plaxico Burress could end up following his release from prison, another former Giants standout could shockingly be returning to football.

Tiki Barber has hopes of resuming his NFL career after having sat out for seasons.

 

Tiki Barber and his agent told FOXSports.com Tuesday that the former Giants running back has decided to return to the NFL.

"After seeing my brother still have fun at our age, it reignited the fire. I'm really looking forward to the challenge of seeing if I can get back to the level  of where I was," Barber, who turns 36 in April, told FOXSports.com exclusively. "I started working out again recently. It kind of shocked myself. I still had a lot of the strength I had before. I'm really looking forward to making a return."

Barber played 10 seasons, all with the Giants. He retired after the 2006 season when he rushed for 1,662 yards. In his final three seasons, Barber ran for 5,040 yards.

"We filed papers for Tiki to come out of retirement" Barber’s agent, Mark Lepselter, told FOXSports.com. "We filed papers with the commmissioner's office and the Giants. And there are interested parties." 

 

The Giants now have to activate him and when they do, the team said it will release him.

“We wish Tiki nothing but the best, and when we are able to make the transaction, we will release him from our reserve/retired list,” the Giants said in a statement.

During his time away from the field, Barber served as an NFL broadcast analyst and a correspondent for NBC's "Today" show.

Mom uses 10-year-old daughter as designated driver

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A South Florida mom had the general idea when she decided her boyfriend was a little too tipsy to drive, but her choice for a designated driver will likely land her in jail. 

Audrey Willoughby, 33, pleaded no contest Monday to child abuse charges after she allegedly let her 10-year-old daughter drive mommy home after a few too many beers, TCPalm.com reported.

The little girl rammed three vehicles and a house during the May crash course in designated driving.

Willoughby won't get more than 18 months in prison under the plea agreement.

According to police, Willoughby and a friend, Michael Ray Green, were giving the little girl driving lessons in Fort Pierce.

Green had a couple of beers and decided it might be best if the little girl drove the group home. Willoughby approved of the not-so-well-thought-out idea, handed her daughter the keys and jumped in the back seat with the girl's 8-year-old brother.

No sooner than the 10-year old pulled out into traffic did she start crashing into cars. In a panic, the preteen hit the accelerator instead of the brakes and drove the Toyota Corolla into a house.

No one was injured in the crash.

'King's Speech' Producer Learns Why You Don't Give Your Oscar to an Infant

Read the original story here.  Be sure to watch the video.

To win an Academy Award is the dream of most everyone in the filmmaking community, that golden statuette confirmation of the diligence, craftsmanship and artistry that went into your labor of love. That's certainly the case for the producers of Best Picture-winner "The King's Speech," who had to fight to find financing and then had to stage a rather dramatic come-from-behind victory to emerge as the big winner Oscar night on February 27. So in the euphoria after their triumph, you can understand why they'd be a little careless. But, seriously, who gives an Oscar to a 15-month-old to hold?

Unfortunately, that's what happened: Lara Egan, the daughter of co-producer Simon Egan, was handed the Oscar by the grandson of Lionel Logue (Geoffrey Rush's character) so that she could have her picture taken with it. And so she did what just about any 15-month-old does: She held it onto for a few moments, and then she let it go. The statuette hit the ground, causing dents and breaking the Oscar's chest plate. 

Simon Egan saw it fall, but he was too far away to do anything. "It wasn't so much that it fell," he told The Telegraph. "It was more the sound that it made when it hit the ground." Right afterward, there was stunned silence, and then there were some tears. "It is a thing of beauty and my daughter had destroyed it, albeit unwittingly," Egan said. "We were all terrified."

Thankfully, though, the story has a happy ending. The producers called the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and discovered that they weren't the first people to commit a party foul with their Academy Award. "I was scared the night before to even walk across the road with it," said Egan, "but they were like, 'Come in, it is fine, make an appointment, and we will have it fixed.'"

So they went to something called "The Oscar Hospital," which handles damaged Oscars. According to Egan, a woman wearing gloves took their dented award and came back with a new one within minutes. Whether or not Egan was given a stern lecturing about proper Oscar-holding behavior is unknown, although we sorta hope he did. 

For his part, Egan sounds relieved that the whole thing turned out to be as painless as it was. But we hope all of you at home have learned two very valuable lessons. First, don't give a kid something that they might drop and break, especially if it's an Academy Award. Second, there is a magical place called the Oscar Hospital. Does the Academy offer tours? 

While we look into that, enjoy this video of cute little Lara dropping the Oscar. She won't be hearing about this the rest of her life. Certainly not.

NPR has opinions about Tea Partiers...

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via Wall Street Journal:


The Other White Meat - WSJ.com

By JAMES TARANTO^[1]

Give NPR this: Its own online report^[2] on the embarrassing sting/prank is fair and balanced:

NPR's then-senior vice president for fundraising Ron Schiller is seen and heard on a videotape released this morning telling two men who were posing as members of a fictitious Muslim Action Education [sic] Center that:

--"The Tea Party is fanatically involved in people's personal lives and very fundamental Christian--I wouldn't even call it Christian. It's this weird evangelical kind of move."

--"Tea Party people" aren't "just Islamaphobic, but really xenophobic, I mean basically they are, they believe in sort of white, middle-America gun-toting. I mean, it's scary. They're seriously racist, racist people."

--"I think what we all believe is if we don't have Muslim voices in our schools, on the air . . . it's the same thing we faced as a nation when we didn't have female voices." In the heavily edited tape, that comment followed Schiller being told by one of the men that their organization "was originally founded by a few members of the Muslim Brotherhood in America." There's no sign in the edited tape that Schiller reacted in any way after being told of the group's alleged connection to an Islamic group that appeared to be connected with Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood.

--That NPR "would be better off in the long run without federal funding," a position in direct conflict with the organization's official position.

The Muslim Education Action Center^[3] website now describes the group as "an element of 'Project Muslim Brotherhood' by James O'Keefe's Project Veritas." You may remember O'Keefe as the twentysomething man who in 2009 donned his grandmother's jacket and visited various offices of Acorn, the left-wing "community organizing" outfit, to ask for help in trafficking underage sex slaves, which was forthcoming.

Last month two O'Keefe associates took Schiller and his colleague Betsy Liley, director of institutional giving, to lunch at Washington's Café Milano, and kept a video recorder rolling throughout the meal. "They were allegedly interested in having their organization donate $5 million to NPR," reports NPR.
NPR adds that NPR's Dana Rehm, who carries the unwieldy title of senior vice president of marketing, communications and external relations, issued an official statement in response to the exposé:

The fraudulent organization represented in this video repeatedly pressed us to accept a $5 million check, with no strings attached, which we repeatedly refused to accept.

We are appalled by the comments made by Ron Schiller in the video, which are contrary to what NPR stands for.

Rehm adds that "Schiller announced last week that he is leaving NPR for another job," a move that she later said is unconnected to the video.
"Ron Schiller embraces and lives the values that we share as a community," Walter Isaacson, Schiller's new boss at the Aspen Institute^[4], said in a press release. In fairness, we should note that the press release is dated March 3, five days before the video's release.
The Washington Examiner's Byron York^[5] reports the video has caught the attention of at least one pork-busting congressman, Rep. Doug Lamborn of Colorado:

"I am amazed at the condescension and arrogance that we saw in the sting video," Lamborn told me. "They seem to be viewing themselves as elites living in an ivory tower, and they are obviously out of touch with ordinary Americans."

The video has already become part of the debate currently raging on Capitol Hill about funding for NPR. "The real crux of the video was when the guy . . . admitted that they could survive and would even be better off without federal funding," says Lamborn. "That's what I'm hoping happens."

Meanwhile, today's New York Times^[6] features an editorial denouncing Rep. Peter King, a suburban New York Republican who plans to hold hearings later this week on radicalization of American Muslims:

Al Qaeda is aggressively recruiting Muslims in this country, he says. He wants to investigate the terror group's methods and what he claims is the eagerness of many young American Muslims to embrace it.

Notice that the hearing is solely about Muslims. It might be perfectly legitimate for the Homeland Security Committee to investigate violent radicalism in America among a wide variety of groups, but that doesn't seem to be Mr. King's real interest.

The Times editorialists give no examples of other "groups" among the "wide variety" that they think may be subject to al Qaeda recruitment. Perhaps they mean "Republicans and particularly their most virulent supporters in the media," the group the Timesscapegoated^[7], knowing full well that they were doing so falsely, for the shooting two months ago of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords.
NPR's Rehm did not specify which comments of Schiller's "appalled" the network. It's hard to believe his oikophobic attitudes toward "scary" "white, middle-America gun-toting" types--attitudes that precisely match those of the New York Times, the leading institution of the formerly mainstream media--are anything out of the ordinary at NPR.
Maybe she just meant NPR was appalled by his suggestion that NPR could do without federal funding. But why can't it? The New York Times manages to do so even though it's up against heavily subsidized competition on the radio.

Two U.S. Marshals, One Cop Wounded in St. Louis Shootout

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Two U.S. marshals and a St. Louis police officer were wounded in a shootout with a suspect they were attempting to arrest today. 

The standoff ended with the suspect shot to death and the three law enforcement officers taken to the hospital, St. Louis police said. 

The officers were attempting to serve an arrest warrant at the suspect's home in the St. Louis suburb called Dutchtown, when the man opened fire with a semi-automatic pistol as the officers tried to enter the home.

One marshal was shot in the head, sources told ABC News. He is alive but in critical condition. The second marshal is believed to have been shot in the leg or foot. 

A shot fired at the St. Louis police officer ricocheted off his bullet-proof vest and entered his shoulder. He appears to have suffered a broken shoulder, sources said. 

When authorities arrived at the suspect's home, he told them, "I'm only going out in a body bag," ABC News radio affiliate KTRS reported. 

Three children were removed from the home before shots were fired. 

"Two Deputy U.S. Marshals and one task force officer from the Eastern District of Missouri were serving an arrest warrant this morning at a residence in St. Louis when they were involved in a shooting – all three were struck by gunfire and have been taken to a local hospital," Jeff Carter, spokesman for the U.S. Marshals said in a statement. 

The shootings of U.S. marshals and police are the latest in a string of police casualties this year. 

As of March 8, 36 law enforcement officials have been killed in the line of duty nationwide. Of those four were federal agents, according to the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund. 

Last month, Deputy U.S. Marshal Derek Hotsinpiller was killed in West Virginia while attempting to serve an arrest warrant to suspected drug dealer.