Tag Archives: idaho

Idaho, Influenza

U.S. Influenza, 09 January 2013: Emergency declared! Supporter of vaccines admits they don’t work! What Economic Recovery, unAmerican Coporate America blaming lost billions on sickies?

“…I have to tell you that I’ve now been in two large city emergency departments in two days, and I’ve never seen anything like this in the United States”-Nancy Snyderman, medical reporter NBC Nightly News

On 09 January 2013, the mayor of Boston, Massachusetts, declared a public health emergency, because of influenza.  The Bay State reported 18 recent deaths, four in Boston (those 18 deaths are not the 18 pediatric deaths being reported by the CDC). During the 2010-11 flu season only one Bostonian died.

Florida reporting fast spreading flu. Of the 18 recent child deaths countrywide, two were in Florida. On 02 January 2012, the Memorial Hospital Pembroke Urgent Care Center recorded its busiest day ever:  “We had close to 200 patients during the day, which we’ve never had before.”-Roy Dubash, family medicine physician

Idaho has seen eight people die so far, and was one of the first states to report deaths caused by flu like illness. However, Gem State health officials don’t think it a big thing: “Average flu season we might have 12 flu deaths, last year was really mild we only had five.”-Dave Fotsch, Central District Health Department

Utah reports surge in flu cases. Beehive State health officials say the number of cases has already surpassed last year’s case load, for the same time period.  So far 233 people have been hospitalized.

Reports out of California say at least five people have died.  Golden State health officials are expecting a jump in flu cases.

In Wisconsin, Milwaukee county hospitals are being jammed with patients.  As many as eight of the county’s 11 hospitals are reporting temporary shut downs of their emergency rooms due to overcrowding. One doctor said they might have to start rationing Tamiflu: “If this is a prolonged epidemic that goes on for another week or so, Tamiflu may need to go only to the high risk.”-Paul A. Biedrzycki, Milwaukee Health Department

On 07 January 2013, 11 Illinois hospitals had to refuse anymore emergency room patients because of overcrowding.

The Rainbow Babies & Children’s Hospital in Cleveland, Ohio, is reporting much higher pediatric cases than last year.  For October 2011 to January 2012 they had 12 cases, so far this year they’ve seen 93 kids sick with flu.

Many mainstream media outlets, and health officials are pushing flu vaccines.  But, one such health official admitted vaccines don’t work for the people most vulnerable to getting sick. William Schaffner, chairman of the Department of Preventive Medicine at Vanderbuilt University, was interviewed on 09 January 2013 edition of PBS NewsHour.  He said vaccines work well in people who have strong, healthy immune systems.  He admitted vaccines do not work well on the people doctors hope to keep from getting sick; the young and the old! Shaffner then went on to tell people to get vaccinated.

“It works best in young, healthy people who have a robust immune system, but, paradoxically, in the people who we would like to protect the most, senior citizens, people with severe underlying immunological illnesses, it’s not quite as effective.”-William Schaffner, 09 January 2013 PBS NewsHour interview

Think about this, he’s telling us that vaccines work, but this is based on the admitted fact that it seems that only people already healthy and strong benefit from vaccines.  How do we know it’s not because those people are healthy and strong to begin with?

UnAmerican Corporate America is blaming projected billions of U.S. dollar loses on flu sickies.  Actually, that claim is coming paradoxically from the U.S. CDC.  The CDC is projecting that companies will lose $10.4 billion due to employees being out sick.  It’s a paradox because health officials always tell you to stay home from school or work if you’re sick, yet here they are whining about all the lost money for unAmerican Corporate America! And you wounder why so many people go to work sick?

Sure, health officials think by projecting the huge money loses caused by employees getting sick that employers would encourage their employees to stay home sick in order to prevent spreading the disease, but that’s not the reality of what happens.  Stupid is as stupid does, maybe the answer is a true socialized health care system, not this Obama/RomneyCare crap!

The search program Google has been predicting U.S. flu outbreaks based on searches for info on the flu.  It’s been so accurate that it’s now working with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).  Click here for more info.  It’s predicting this year is gonna be bad.

Idaho, U.S.

2nd U.S. Civil War: NDAA 2013 signed into law! How did your ‘elected’ official vote?

While the U.S. Congress couldn’t get its act together over spending and taxing issues, they had no problem passing a new National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal Gregorian year 2013.

Then, without much attention from the main stream U.S. media, President Obama signed NDAA 2013 into law on the evening of 02 January 2013.

From all accounts NDAA 2013 continues the same Martial Law type policies as NDAA 2012.  Here’s what Senator Lindsey Graham said about NDAA 2012:  “If you’re an American citizen and you want to help…destroy your own country, here is what’s coming your way.”

To see how your State’s Senator voted, click here.

To see how your Representative voted, click here.

Note: Some Congressmen voted for the NDAA 2013 bill when a provision was added to guarantee Constitutional rights regarding court trials.  However, that provision was removed after it was passed, and before Obama signed it.

“The decision by the NDAA conference committee, led by Senator John McCain (R-Ariz.) to strip the National Defense Authorization Act of the amendment that protects American citizens against indefinite detention now renders the entire NDAA unconstitutional…….When my Senate colleagues voted to include those protections in the 2012 NDAA through the Feinstein-Lee Amendment last month, I supported this act. But removing those protections now takes us back to square one and does as much violence to the Constitution as last year’s NDAA. When the government can arrest suspects without a warrant, hold them without trial, deny them access to counsel or admission of bail, we have shorn the Bill of Rights of its sanctity.”-Rand Paul, Senator from Kentucky

Business/Economics, Idaho, U.S.

What Economic Recovery? More retail stores closing down in the United States! Local taxpayers ripped off! Clothing stores hit hard!

03 January 2013, it’s not just Sears and Kmart, many other retail stores are closing down in 2013.

Macy’s just reported they will close at least six stores.  Macy’s will close stores in California (116 jobs lost), Hawaii (91 jobs lost), Massachusetts (101 jobs lost),  Minnesota (153 jobs lost), Nevada (a Bloomingdale’s, 35 jobs lost) and Texas (138 jobs lost).

In the case of the Saint Paul, Minnesota Macy’s, taxpayers will lose $6.3 million USD.  That’s how much of a tax subsidy city leaders gave the store back in 2001.  Under the deal Macy’s did not have to pay it back as long as the store stayed open through 2012.  Well, it’s 2013, and they’re shutting it down.

Macy’s is the last major department store in the downtown Saint Paul area, meaning for the first time in 130 years there will be no major department stores in the downtown area.

Other store closings announced for 2013:

f.y.e. music store in Beverly, Massachusetts.

f.y.e. music store in Montgomery, Alabama.

Mother Nuture parenting store in Lexington, Kentucky.

Coldwater Creek women’s clothing store in Glendale, Wisconsin.

Christopher & Banks women’s clothing store in Glendale, Wisconsin. (actually closed at the end of December 2012)

Whole Foods Market organic food store in Tucson, Arizona.  But good news, it’s only for remodeling, they hope to be re-opened by the end of 2013.

Barnes & Noble book stores, two in Texas.

A&W All American Food restaurant in Boise, Idaho.

Bakers shoe store in Boise, Idaho.

Blockbuster video store in Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania.

Savvy Spaces furniture store in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Eddie Bauer clothing store in Yakima, Washington.

Eddie Bauer clothing store in Appleton, Wisconsin.

Eddie Bauer clothing store in Rockford, Illinois.

Pearle Vision Center in Mall at Steamtown, Pennsylvania.

Shambala clothing store in Mall at Steamtown, Pennsylvania.

Verizon cell phone store in Mall at Steamtown, Pennsylvania.

Gap clothing store in Shoppes at Montage, Pennsylvania.

C.J. Banks women’s clothing store in Wyoming Valley Mall, Pennsylvania.

H&M women’s clothing stores in Eastview Mall and Mall at Greece Ridge, New York.

Soccer Plus stores in Palatine and Libertyville, Illinois.

Easy Street Records in Seattle, Washington.

Justice IGA grocery store in Grayson, Kentucky.

Sheetz convenience store in Johnstown, Pennsylvania.

The last of the Cub Foods grocery stores in Trotwood, Ohio.

Vons grocery store in Hesperia, California.

Amy’s Hallmark greeting card store in Albany, Georgia.

Restoration Hardware store in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin.

American Eagle Outfitters clothing store in Birmingham, Alabama.  (closed at the end of December 2012)

Piggly Wiggly grocery store in Florence, South Carolina.

Disney Store in Reno, Nevada. (closed at the end of December 2012, recent reports say Disney will not renew its store leases)

Klingenberg’s Hardware and Paint store in Newport, Kentucky.  (closed on 29 December 2012, after 90 years in business)

The Papery paper product store in Clarendon, Virginia.

Larmon Camera Shop in Wayne, Pennsylvania.

Tasti D-Lite frozen dessert West End store in Nashville, Tennessee.

Vision Video store in Athens, Georgia.

 

Kit Bashing

Supercharging the old AMT Opel GT kit

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Click the pics to see more

KIT BASHING: HOBBY BOSS F-5E TIGER II, NOT AN “EASY ASSEMBLY” KIT, BUT WELL WORTH THE LITTLE BIT-O-MONEY IT COSTS!

Business/Economics, Idaho, U.S.

Corporate & Polictical Evil: Right to Work laws have nearly destroyed Idaho’s economy!

13 December 2012, the governor of Michigan has signed into law their Right to Work act.  Recently there were claims that between 2001 and 2011 states with Right to Work laws saw an increase in pay, however that’s misleading.

Take for example Idaho.  The Gem State passed its Right to Work laws back in 1985.  The result was a crash in employee pay and benefits, not an increase.  But, since 2001 overall starting pay has gone up slightly, mainly because mandated minimum wage went up, not because of any Right to Work law!

I’ve talked to southeast Idahoans who began their adult lives working at jobs that started out between $11.00 to $15.00 per hour, plus benefits, and this was in the 1970s!  Now the average starting pay, in the same area of Idaho, is minimum wage ($7.50 per hour in Idaho) with no benefits!

According to researchers Stephen C. Cooke and Barathkumar A. Kulandaisamy, Idaho’s average wages, for 2009, were $10,700 below the national average!  Also, contrary to what supporters of Right to Work laws say, Idaho’s employment growth is being driven purely by its population growth, not any Right to Work law!  In fact, when you look at government data, it’s the population growth that’s saving Idaho from a full blown depression (one driver of the population growth are people retiring in other states and moving into Idaho)!

The researchers used data from the U.S. Census Bureau/Labor Statistics, data collected from 1971 to 2007.  The official government data backs up what the native Idahoans, now in their 50s, 60s and 70s, have told me: The economic situation for the working class has stagnated or gotten worse!

From 1971 to 2007 the median wage in Idaho has dropped by $6,445!  Median year over year wage growth rate in Idaho is negative 0.3%!  The number of college educated workers in Idaho is a negative 3.4%!  Right to Work has done nothing to create high skilled/high paying jobs, getting a big fat 0% in that category!

Cooke and Kulandaisamy added that Idaho’s “…cost of living only exacerbates wage differences.”

To contrast; Colorado is not a Right to Work state, here’s what the researchers had to say: “…Colorado appears to have made the transition from a low-skill to a high-skill equilibrium economy; Idaho…..have not. In particular, we posit that Idaho has a low-skill, low-wage problem.”

Even when you look at high skill/high wage jobs in Idaho, they still pay as much as $19,000 per year less than the national average!

Cooke and Kulandaisamy concluded that the reason why states, specifically Idaho, get stuck with low paying jobs is because state leaders refuse to invest in creating high skill industries. And, the decline in college educated workers is because state leaders refuse to invest in higher education.

The christian leadership of Idaho pushed Right to Work laws as a way of attracting lots of companies to do business in Idaho, including high skill jobs.  Well, after 27 years it’s obvious that right wing christian theory is a failure.

Most of those Idahoans I talked to, in their 50s, 60s and 70s, are still working (at places like Walmart), because they experienced such a huge decline in their pay and benefits, and there’s been such an increase in the cost of living here, that they can not afford to retire!

What about the claims that prosperity has increased in Right to Work states?  Of course it has, but not for the working class, the prosperity is being hoarded by a tiny minority who’re the ones truly benefiting from the Right to Work laws.

Idaho, Influenza

U.S. Influenza: CDC issues warning, three people already dead in Idaho! Schools being shut down! Connection to West Nile?

“Significant increases in flu activity in the U.S. in the last two weeks indicate that an early flu season is underway.”-U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

04 December 2012, the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare reporting that three women have died from flu, or flu like symptoms.  They’re the first deaths reported, and CDC officials say the flu season started early: “It looks like it’s shaping up to be a bad flu season…..We’re seeing the beginning of the uptick start at least a month before we’d generally see it.”-Thomas Frieden, CDC

In North Carolina it’s being reported that more hospitals are ordering their staff to get vaccinated for the flu or face the loss of their jobs.

Mississippi is the first state to report “high” levels of flu.  Louisiana and Alabama are reporting “moderate” levels of flu.   Tennessee and Texas reporting higher than normal flu case levels.  Note that most of these states also got hit hard by West Nile virus.

Kentucky is officially reporting 60 possible cases: “Primarily, the concern at this point is that we are seeing cases earlier in the flu season than we typically do.”-LaQuandra Nesbitt, Metro Department of Public Health and Wellness

However, Kentucky and Tennessee school districts are reporting hundreds of students out sick, causing the schools to lose money.  Kentucky law requires schools to maintain at least 90% student attendance, but because of flu some schools are down to 81%.  A Kentucky doctor says sick students are being reported in the hundreds: “It’s more than just county wide. I think the joining counties in Tennessee. I heard Macon County had 500 students out. That’s huge numbers.  Our waiting room yesterday was terrible. We had people waiting out in their cars with their cell phones, and we would call them when it was there turn to get in.”-William Carter, Tompkinsville doctor

Doctor Carter also said it looks like vaccinations are not working: “A 90 year old who had a flu shot ended up with both A and B, so I don’t know if the flu shots are working completely with this string that’s going around.”

In Tennessee, two schools are closing down because of the flu. University School of Jackson and the Trinity Christian Academy will close on Wednesday, in hopes of halting any spread of flu.

Health officials in Onondaga County, in New York, reporting a huge jump in lab confirmed flu cases; 210 last week, up from 95 the week before. For comparison, county health officials said during last year’s flu season they averaged only 40 cases per week.

Business/Economics, Idaho, U.S.

What Economic Recovery? Idaho’s Coldwater Creek still losing money. New CEO? More stores to be closed, bankruptcy near

On 28 November 2012, women’s clothing retailer Coldwater Creek reported a loss of $20.5 million USD.  Investors were actually happy, because that was an improvement over the same quarter last year.

Coldwater Creek explained that their losses weren’t as bad as expected because sales actually went up, by 7.3% for same store sales.

Dennis C. Pence is stepping down as Chief Executive Officer, to be replaced by Jill Brown Dean (current Chief Merchandising Officer) on 01 January 2013.  Pence will stay on as Chairman, so actually no new blood is being added to the executive branch, so don’t expect any real changes.

A year ago Coldwater Creek had 366 stores, now it has 354.  They plan to close more stores throughout 2013.

According to GMI Ratings, Coldwater Creek is showing all the signs of going into bankruptcy within the next 12 months.

 

 

 

Idaho, Technology

Vehicle I-D: Rat Rod 1967 BLH Austin-Western USN SeaBees road grader $14,794

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Spotted in 2012 in a Chubbuck, Idaho, storage unit yard. It gone now.

Click on the pics (by AAron B. Hutchins) to make them bigger and see more:

2012 POCATELLO AIRPORT: IDAHO NATIONAL GUARD A-10C THUNDERBOLT 2

Idaho

2010 Chubbuck Days car show in Idaho

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Photos by AAron B. Hutchins, click the pics to make them bigger:

Business/Economics, Idaho, International, U.S.

What Economic Recovery? Health food nuts victorious! Hostess Twinkies have bitten the dust! 18,500 U.S. workers laid off! Incompetent unAmerican Corporate America to blame! Twinkie the Kid to be replaced with Pancho Villa?

“…Hostess Brands, Inc. has been forced by a Bakers Union strike to shut down all operations and sell all company assets.”-Gregory F. Rayburn, CEO Hostess

18 November 2012, the iconic maker of U.S. snack foods, Hostess, is no more!  It’s being shut down and sold off by the corporate executives who ran it into the ground!

No more Wonder Bread, Twinkies or Ding Dongs for Pocatello, Idaho!

Oh, but many anti-labor commentators are blaming the unionized employees. Bull shit, Hostess can’t survive a strike?

No more Eddy's Bakery in Chubbuck, Idaho!

A Forbes article points out that it’s the corporate management that ran Hostess into the ground, not the unionized employees.  This happened because the corporate leaders tried to make up for dropping profit margins by running the company on debt financing.

Also, after the 2004 Interstate Bakeries bankruptcy (which the company emerged from in 2009, renamed officially as Hostess) the highly educated company leaders made no attempts to change how Hostess did business: “The obvious problem is leadership kept trying to sell the same products, using roughly the same business model, long, long, long after the products had become irrelevant.”-Adam Hartung, Forbes

Sales were constant, but only because Hostess execs kept prices artificially low, which lead to loss of profits.  This was because U.S. consumers are not willing to pay more for junk food.

By 2011 the bad economy finally affected Hostess sales; according to Mintel in the past year Twinkie sales dipped 0.8%, Ding Dongs fell 8.7%, Ho Ho’s down 6.3%.

Back during the first bankruptcy the unions made $110 million USD worth of concessions.  In May and October 2012, a bankruptcy judge gave Hostess the authority to impose more concessions by cutting pay and benefits, that’s what lead to the worker strikes.   Hostess was enacting more concessions without input from employees!

The Teamsters Union blamed the need for concessions on incompetent corporate officials: “Unfortunately, the company’s operating and financial problems were so severe that it required steep concessions from a variety of stakeholders but not all stakeholders were willing to be constructive.”-Ken Hall, Teamsters General-Secretary

According to a CNN report, the average Hostess worker made $20 per hour (and many Hostess factories are located in areas where $20 per hour is barely a living wage).  This is starting to look like just another step in unAmerican Corporate America’s plans to drastically reduce the cost of labor across the country, as part of the long term plan to return the United States to top export status.  The problem is that the cost of living is still too high, even for many making $20 per hour.  The elitists will make huge profits off their export sales, while the domestic economy will continue to fall (more Sears & Kmart closings to say the least) because more and more workers in the U.S. can’t make enough money even for basic necessities.

Don’t worry, your favorite Hostess junk food might survive, as the rights to those brands are being sold off.  But will you be able to afford them?

The most recent Christian Science Monitor report says that Mexican snack food giant (and world’s largest bread maker), Bimbo, is considering buying the rights to most of the Hostess brands.  Bimbo took over Sara Lee, Entenmann’s and Thomas English Muffins in 2010 (did you hear about that one? Start calling them Mexican Muffins).  They also tried to take over Hostess a few years ago.  If Bimbo does buy the Hostess brands analysts say most of the jobs will be in Mexico.