liberal N proud
liberal N proud's Journal25 accidents between Iowa City and Des Moines on I80 today
It was a slippery ride from Cleveland to Missouri, left Cleveland on snowpacked roads for 25 miles, everyone out at 5:30 am seemed to be driving with extreme caution. Cleared off through the windy city but the temp plunged to 4° and stayed there until we turned south at Des Moines.
Hit snow in Iowa City and people didn't seem to respect it as we saw many car and trucks slide off the road. Multi-car pileup in Des Moines. I even had a moment my self merging on the interstate when I hit a slick spot, a little swing this way and then that before we got it straightened out.
Have to flip the trip on Wednesday.
25-plus car pileup closes I-90 East of Cleveland
25-plus car pileup closes I-90 East at Vrooman; coroner says no injuries
December 24, 2013
25 cars in Ohio were involved in a pileup on Interstate 90 eastbound as the State Highway Patrol have closed the highway at Vrooman Road. The pileup occurred early Tuesday afternoon. There were no injuries.
At 2:10 p.m., the Ohio Department of Transportation Tweeted that tow trucks have arrived on scene and are beginning to remove vehicles. ODOT crews will also be clearing snow from I-90 eastbound for when the road is able to be reopened.
Motorists are being detoured off I-90 eastbound at state Route 44 northbound to state Route 2/U.S. Route 20 eastbound.
http://www.newsoxy.com/travel/25-cars-in-ohio-pileup-151086.html
A soldier arrives home
We picked up our daughter from the airport today, she was on a special flight, for on that flight was a soldier returning home for the final time. The arrival was delayed because there was a ceremony for the soldier on the tarmack upon touchdown, firetrucks, police and military.
She had a window seat to the proceedings, the passengers all remained in their seats until the casket had been unloaded. As we were walking to the parking garage we walked past the processional lined up preparing to take the soldier on his last journey through the city. We left the garage just in time to stand witness as the processional with police escort left the airport. I couldn't help but choke up.
My heart goes out to the family who is bearing this loss at this time of year, it always seems so much harder with the season.
My hat goes off to the City of Cleveland and surrounding jurisdictions who honored this soldier at the airport today.
Make it four, Bearcats win National Championship
FLORENCE, Ala. - Northwest Missouri State football program left a wonderful, lasting impression for the folks in the Muscle Shoals area.
In impressive fashion, the Bearcats beat Lenoir-Rhyne 43-28 in the NCAA Division II Football Championship Saturday afternoon at Braly Memorial Stadium.
“This is amazing,” said Northwest senior running back Billy Creason, who finished with 76 yards and one touchdown in 13 carries. “To go out undefeated in my senior year is a great thing to do.
“I’m glad all our young guys got to experience it, and I got to experience it with them.”
The win concluded a perfect 15-0 season for Northwest, a fitting conclusion to the 28 straight years the title game has been played in Florence. The championship game moves to Sporting Park in Kansas City, Kan., in 2015.
“I thought we had a group of guys and coaches who played to win today for 60 minutes,” Northwest coach Adam Dorrel said. “I think it has a lot to do with our 12 seniors.”
Northwest won its first title in 1998 when it became the first Division II team to go 15-0. Fifteen years later, the Bearcats did it again. In between those titles, they won championships in 1999 and 2009.
http://www.nwmissouri.edu/sports/boyce/2013/122113.htm
Food Stamp Fraud, Rare but Troubling
IRWINTON, Ga. — In the back of Shinholster’s Grocery and Meat Market, they simmer pig skin and lard in an old black kettle. Hams from animals raised in the yard hang near an aging cash register.
As Republicans in Congress demand cuts to the $79.8 billion food stamp program, every aspect of it is being examined, including whether people should be allowed to buy candy bars and energy drinks with the aid, and who qualifies for help that averages out to about $133 a month for one person.
Allegations of fraud, including an informal economy in which food stamps are turned into cash or used to buy liquor, gasoline or other items besides food have been used to argue that the program is out of control. In fact, the black market accounts for just over 1 percent of the total food stamp program, which is far less than fraud in other government programs like Medicare and Medicaid.
Still, some abuse persists, even in unlikely corners. The little country store that Elbert Eugene Shinholster, 77, opened in the 1980s did not start out as a criminal enterprise. But slowly, as poverty in Wilkinson County worsened, Mr. Shinholster began swiping customers’ electronic benefits cards and handing over a mix of groceries and cash to help people get by.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/19/us/food-stamp-fraud-in-the-underground-economy.html?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=edit_th_20131219&_r=0#h[]
Hey teabaggers, did you hear that just 1% amounts to fraud 1%
Mapping the Uninsured in America
An interactive map of where the uninsured live.
http://www.nytimes.com/newsgraphics/2013/12/18/uninsured-map/?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=edit_th_20131219
Your pensions are not safe - Detroit Ruling on Bankruptcy Lifts Pension Protections
DETROIT — In a ruling that could reverberate far beyond Detroit, a federal judge held on Tuesday that this battered city could formally enter bankruptcy and asserted that Detroit’s obligation to pay pensions in full was not untouchable.
The judge, Steven W. Rhodes, dealt a major blow to the widely held belief that state laws preserve public pensions, and his ruling is likely to resonate in Chicago, Los Angeles, Philadelphia and many other American cities where the rising cost of pensions has been crowding out spending for public schools, police departments and other services.
The judge made it clear that public employee pensions were not protected in a federal Chapter 9 bankruptcy, even though the Michigan Constitution expressly protects them. “Pension benefits are a contractual right and are not entitled to any heightened protection in a municipal bankruptcy,” he said.
James E. Spiotto, a lawyer with the firm Chapman & Cutler in Chicago who specializes in municipal bankruptcy and was not involved in the case, said: “No bankruptcy court had ruled that before. It will be instructive.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/04/us/detroit-bankruptcy-ruling.html?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=edit_th_20131204&_r=0
Setting it up to pull the rug out from under peoples retirement! 
Man who led crusade for Doritos Locos Tacos dies
Todd Mills, the man many knew as the "mastermind" behind Taco Bell's popular Doritos Locos Tacos, has died of cancer.
Mills, the 41-year-old vice president of media and information technology at the Little Rock Regional Chamber of Commerce, had a brainwave for the chips in 2009, and after three years of lobbying for the new snack, finally saw it become a reality.
He died on Nov. 28 of brain and lung cancer, according to a fundraising site set up to help pay for his medical expenses. "With a heavy heart, we are sad to report that Todd Mills, the creator of this page, and the mastermind behind the Doritos Locos Tacos passed away on the morning of Thanksgiving after a courageous battle with cancer," a statement read on the Facebook page he created to lobby for the creation of the Doritos Loco Taco.
http://www.today.com/food/man-who-led-crusade-doritos-locos-tacos-dies-2D11687785
When I read the headline, my first thought was not that of surprise, but of what did you think would happen, but then reading the story, it is actually very sad.
The end of the needless wars?
Obama Signals a Shift From Military Might to Diplomacy
The success of either negotiation, both long sought by President Obama, is hardly assured — in fact the odds may be against them. But the two nearly simultaneous developments were vivid statements that diplomacy, the venerable but often-unsatisfying art of compromise, has once again become the centerpiece of American foreign policy.
At one level, the flurry of diplomatic activity reflects the definitive end of the post-Sept. 11 world, dominated by two major wars and a battle against Islamic terrorism that drew the United States into Afghanistan and still keeps its Predator drones flying over Pakistan and Yemen.
But it also reflects a broader scaling-back of the use of American muscle, not least in the Middle East, as well as a willingness to deal with foreign governments as they are rather than to push for new leaders that better embody American values. “Regime change,” in Iran or even Syria, is out; cutting deals with former adversaries is in.
For Mr. Obama, the shift to diplomacy fulfills a campaign pledge from 2008 that he would stretch out a hand to America’s enemies and speak to any foreign leader without preconditions. But it will also subject him to considerable political risks, as the protests about the Iran deal from Capitol Hill and allies in the Middle East attest.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/26/world/middleeast/longer-term-deal-with-iran.html?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=edit_th_20131126&_r=0
We can only hope that this is becomes the way we deal with international crisis and we end the needless bombing others into submission.
Krugman: If Obamacare can work in a state of 38 million people, it can work in America as a whole
California, Here We Come?
Well, your wish is granted. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you California.
Now, California isn’t the only place where Obamacare is looking pretty good. A number of states that are running their own online health exchanges instead of relying on HealthCare.gov are doing well. Kentucky’s Kynect is a huge success; so is Access Health CT in Connecticut. New York is doing O.K. And we shouldn’t forget that Massachusetts has had an Obamacare-like program since 2006, put into effect by a guy named Mitt Romney.
California is, however, an especially useful test case. First of all, it’s huge: if a system can work for 38 million people, it can work for America as a whole. Also, it’s hard to argue that California has had any special advantages other than that of having a government that actually wants to help the uninsured. When Massachusetts put Romneycare into effect, it already had a relatively low number of uninsured residents. California, however, came into health reform with 22 percent of its nonelderly population uninsured, compared with a national average of 18 percent.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/25/opinion/krugman-california-here-we-come.html?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=edit_th_20131125&_r=0
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