via: bunnyfood
Daily Archives: June 18, 2012
Update: High Park Fire, Colorado: 58,046 acres burned, 45% contained
InciWeb reports: The High Park Fire is located approximately 15 miles west of Fort Collins and has burned 58,046 acres to date and is estimated 45 percent contained.
- 1748 personnel are working on the fire with a 24-hour schedule with night shifts and day shifts.
- Yesterday a Red Flag Warning was issued for the fire area indicating critical fire weather. In the afternoon, winds shifted to the northwest and relative humidity dropped to 3-4 percent. Wind gusts of up to 30 – 50 miles per hour (mph) were reported. With the shift in wind direction and very low relative humidity, fire activity increased on the southeast flank of the fire near Laurence Creek Lane, Redstone Canyon and Horsetooth Mountain. The fire spotted across the line on the southeast corner, and numerous resources were moved to the area to assist. All aircraft was grounded until early evening due to high winds and low visibility.
- You can listen to some of the EMS, Fire, and LE personnel who are involved HERE.
Denver Post: After relatively optimal weather days in fighting the fire on Friday and Saturday, winds, low humidity and heat fueled the blaze Sunday and critical conditions are back on Monday. Poudre Fire Authority Chief Tom DeMint likened the fire to a “dragon.” “The dragon was sleeping” late last week, DeMint said. “Now, it’s awake.” As of Sunday, the High Park fire has cost about $12.6 million to fight.
ABC News: Police arrested a 30-year-old Denver man, Michael Stillman Maher, on Saturday, accusing him of using phony firefighter’s credentials to enter the fire’s restricted area. His truck had stolen government license plates, police said. Larimer County Sheriff’s Office. Maher at first evaded authorities but was found later that night at a local bar. He was arrested for impersonating a firefighter, theft and attempting to influence a public servant. Police say they found stolen property and a gun in Stillman’s car, although they did not say if it came from a home evacuated because of the fire.
The average CEO makes 380 times more than the average worker, saw pay increase in 2011
Think Progress: Median pay for America’s 200 highest-paid chief executives rose to $14.5 million in 2011, a 5 percent increase over 2010, according to an analysis done by the New York Times. Worker pay, meanwhile, rose just 2.8 percent for the year. CEO pay on Wall Street rose even faster, growing by more than 20 percent in 2011. The average Fortune 500 CEO now makes 380 times more than the average worker, as CEO pay has grown more than 127 times faster than worker pay over the last 30 years. The growth in executive compensation that has contributed to skyrocketing levels of income inequality isn’t necessarily tied to performance of the top companies, however: while their pay continues to increase, average stock prices have remained flat, and many of the companies with the highest paid CEOs actually saw drops in their share prices over the course of the year.
CEOs make 380 times more than the average worker because they work 380 times harder than the average worker — that must be the reason, right? Romney and the Republicans want to give them more tax cuts because they need just a little more money to finally create some jobs. They want more for themselves and less for you. That’s the way America works.
Ponder this
via: christopherstreet
Why won’t Romney give the America people more than 2 years of his tax returns?
Classy bunch up there in Montana
At a GOP convention in Montana this weekend (where Newt Gingrich was the featured speaker), Raw Story reports on a proud display of something labeled “Obama’s presidential library” in the parking lot of the venue: a wheeled outhouse, riddled with fake bullet holes [which] contained a fake birth certificate for Barack Obama… stamped “bullshit.” Graffiti on the outhouse read “For a Good Time,” and listed fake numbers in reference to first lady Michelle Obama, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi.
Montana Republican Party Chairman Will Deschamps said, “It’s not something I’m going to agonize over.”
The outhouse was also a Republican float in the Memorial Day parade.
Mid morning
via: phroyd
Not racist though
via: early-onset-of-night
Related: Bill Maher: the problem with racism is Matt Drudge
On a related note, this was overheard at a Tea Party rally this weekend: Ozark Tea Party board member Inge Marler considers this joke an “ice breaker:”
A black kid asks his mom, ‘Mama, what’s a democracy?’
‘Well, son, that be when white folks work every day so us po’ folks can get all our benefits.’
‘But mama, don’t the white folk get mad about that?’
‘They sho do, son. They sho do. And that’s called racism.’
After her joke was reported, Marler told the Baxter Bulletin she’d stop using it. Audio of the speech can be heard here.
Just for the record: More white people are on welfare than black people.
Sheldon Adelson plans to purchase the very best White House his money can buy
Daily Intel reports: Conservative casino magnate Sheldon Adelson has reportedly pledged a total of $35 million to three conservative nonprofits: the Karl Rove–linked Crossroads GPS, an unspecified group with ties to the Koch brothers, and a third affiliated with House Majority Leader Eric Cantor. This is in addition to the $10 million he gave to pro-Romney super-PAC Restoring Our Future last week… Sources say he’s ready to commit $100 million to right-wing causes and candidates this year.
Remember that $100 million to Sheldon Adelson is about $300 – $400 to an average family.
Additionally, John McCain said recently that Sheldon Adelson “is indirectly injecting millions of dollar in Chinese foreign money into Mitt Romney’s presidential election effort,” according to Josh Rogin.
Those facts would probably be reported more by the mainstream media, if all the billionaires didn’t own the mainstream media.
The thing about Mondays
via: pleatedjeans
I made it to Orlando. For some reason the plane was filled with a bunch of over-excited kids and parents whispering (and then not whispering) threats. I’ve set up some auto-posting while I sit in a conference today. Let me know if anything unusually terrible happens — it is Monday in an election year. See you tonight.
