The Goat Pen

toe is more Modern World than real world. He's actually the guy in the last frame.

This Tom Tomorrow guy is a real wise-ass, if that's even his real name!

It's not his real name!

WASHINGTON (AP) — African-Americans and Latinos are losing economic ground when compared with whites in the areas of employment and income as the United States pulls itself out of the Great Recession, the latest State of Black America report from the National Urban League says.

The annual report, called "One Nation Underemployed: Jobs Rebuild America," noted that the underemployment rate for African-American workers was 20.5 percent, compared with 18.4 percent for Hispanic workers and 11.8 percent for white workers. Underemployment is defined as those who are jobless or working part-time jobs but desiring full-time work.

The report also said African-Americans are twice as likely as whites to be unemployed. The unemployment rate for blacks was 12 percent in February, compared with 5.8 percent for whites.

"Many Americans are being left behind, and that includes African-Americans and Latinos who are being disproportionately left behind by the job creation that we see," National Urban League President Marc Morial said.



So Bush and the Oil gang really are still running things....

Well....taxes are higher, but no change in the status of coloreds and minorities as stated above.

Republican Record on Shipping American Jobs Overseas http://thegavel.democraticleader.house.gov/?p=5433

Try googling "Texas/North Dakota oil jobs".



On second thought.....never mind

It ain't Solyndra, but it'll do....


NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- It may be dangerous, difficult work, but oil drillers are well compensated for the job: In 2011 the average salary for rig workers and other industry personnel was $99,175.

That number includes fat paychecks for the highly skilled, like $235,586 for a "drilling consultant" and $139,868 for a "reservoir engineer", according to Rigzone, an industry information provider that compiled the figures.

But even for someone with less than a year's experience the average wage was $66,923.

Damn, that's more than a TSA agent.

We need to get WalMart salaries up to those levels to encourage more folks to enter those careers to ensure we don't fall behind to other world powers in big box store manpower.

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What are the chances...

10ac wrote:Damn, that's more than a TSA agent.

The dirty little secret is that unknown to the general public, repubs in Texas are working overtime to cut oil workers wages.

How did you find out then?

One day, a very gentle Southern lady was driving across a high bridge in Georgia.
As she neared the top of the bridge, she noticed a young man fixin’ to jump.

She stopped her car, rolled down the window and said, "Please don't jump!
Think of your dear mother and father."

He replied, "My mom and dad are both dead; I'm going to jump."

She said, "Well, think of your sweet wife and precious children."
He replied, "I'm not married, and I don't have any kids."

She said, "Well, then you just sing Dixie ."

He replied, ''What's Dixie ?''

She replied,
‘’Well, bless your heart, you just go ahead and jump,
you little Yankee Democrat Bastard,
you’re holding up traffic”

Oh, Oh! They're starting to figure things out...

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Does tick forget which President signed NAFTA?

Well well well.....turns out the death of migratory birds (even one or two) is a big deal, IF you're in the wrong industry....wind turbine farms kill dozens of eagles, hawks and condors weekly and goes unreported/ignored by our current group of fascists in DC. Had to dig for this one, it's almost two years old, but good ol Brock has more than the IRS and the EPA to insure conformity to his agenda.


Last summer the U.S. Department of Justice, acting on allegations made by agents of the U.S Fish & Wildlife Service, brought criminal indictments against three oil companies operating in the Bakken shale oil field of North Dakota. Brigham Oil & Gas, Newfield Production, and Continental Resources were charged with violating the Migratory Bird Treaty Act. Brigham was charged with unlawfully killing two mallards, Newfield with killing two mallards, one northern pintail and one red-necked duck. Continental was charged with killing one bird called a say’s phoebe. All of the birds, according to the Wildlife Service investigation, fell victim to the oil companies’ “reserve pits” – basically big holes dug into the ground to collect wastewater and mud from drilling operations. Birds can get into these ponds when they’re not properly netted, get covered in oily muck, and die.

Is having birds die in your reserve pits a criminal act? The government seems to think so. Or maybe the DOJ was just looking for reasons to hassle oil companies working to develop the biggest oil field in the nation. That was sure the way it seemed to Harold Hamm, the billionaire founder of Continental Resources, the biggest player in the Bakken. In a statement Tuesday, Hamm said, “Continental Resources has been operating in North Dakota for more than a quarter of a century. We are good stewards of the land and make it a priority to follow all existing laws and regulations. This has been a costly and time-consuming case that has inhibited our ability to increase our nation’s energy independence, strengthen our economy and create jobs.”

On Tuesday, Judge Daniel Hovland of the U.S. District Court in North Dakota sided with Hamm and the other oil companies, granting their motion to dismiss the charges. The ruling is an interesting one, regardless of how much you may hate oil companies or love birds.

In dismissing the Government’s case against the oil companies, Judge Hovland stated that the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918 is far too vague to justify the indictments. Is inadvertently killing birds in drilling operations something the nation ought to criminalize? If so, Congress needs to rewrite the law to state that explicitly. But Judge Hovland makes it clear he doubts Congress would ever do such a thing, because it would criminalize huge swaths of everyday behavior. He writes that if the Act’s concepts of “take” or “kill” were read to prohibit any activity that could accidentally result in a dead migratory bird (even such common ones as pigeons and starlings), “then many everyday activities become unlawful” such as cutting brush and trees, and planting and harvesting crops, driving a vehicle, owning a building with windows, or owning a cat. Add to that the bird-killing activities of airplanes, power lines, wind turbines.

The consensus among those attending the tour of wild lands affected by the state's burgeoning oil industry is that the so-called "reserve pits" pose some of the largest potential threats to land and water resources.

Earlier this month, North Dakota's Department of Mineral Resources levied fines of more than $3 milllion against 20 companies that failed to take adequate precautions against spring flooding in the Oil Patch. About 50 of the state's 500 or so reserve pits were compromised by the flooding, and the runoff [of the toxic drilling chemicals] in some cases polluted wetlands and other environmentally sensitive areas.

The long-term impact is uncertain, despite strict state regulations and cleanup efforts.

"Reserve pits are an environmental catastrophe waiting to happen," said Fred Ryckman, northwestern district fisheries supervisor for the North Dakota Game and Fish Department in Williston. "These things have the potential to cause us a lot of headaches down the road. They have to go away -- that's all there is to it."

Obviously this fascist game and fish guy is on the payroll of Big Fish.