Ethic Soup

GOOD NEWS: Anonymous Woman Pays Water Utility Bills for 17 Families

 

IT CAN BE a wonderful world. It's nice to have this belief reinforced during the holidays, which can be a time of despondency for many, especially during an economic crisis when so many have lost their jobs and can't even pay their utility bills.

Not having running water, a basic need, is a low blow. Needing to take buckets to a neighbor's house for some of their water, so you can flush your toilet, can be a humiliating chore.

To get clean you have to wash in the sink in a convenience store's bathroom and pray they don't ask you to leave because you can't buy anything.

Just hearing about the woman in Iowa City, Iowa, who insisted on remaining anonymous, has been inspiring to many. 

The woman walked into City Hall to pay her own water bill. Then she donated $1,640 to pay off the delinquent balances of 17 families, to ensure that they would have running water over the holidays, reported the Iowa City Press-Citizen. 

NTSB Calls for National Ban on Cell Phones and Text Massaging While Driving

Today, the National Transportation Safety Board recommended a full ban on the use of cellphones and text messaging devices while driving because it's simply too dangerous. Hallelujah! It's about time!

In the last 10 years, the NTSB has sought to limit the use of portable electronic devices while driving, including bans for beginning drivers, commercial truckers and school bus drivers.

SAFETY-CRITICAL EVENTS

In a study of commercial drivers, the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute found a "safety-critical event" is 163 times more likely if a driver is texting, e-mailing or accessing the Internet, reports CNN.

But, the newest recommendation would ban non-emergency phone calls and texting by drivers of every vehicle on the nation's roads and highways -- disallowing both hands-free as well as hand-held devices.

FAA Chief Babbitt Resigns: Good Riddance

  

      Randy Babbitt                                          Michael Huerta

   The Guy Who's Out                                The Guy Who's Now In

 

The Ethic Soup post yesterday was about FAA Administrator Randy Babbitt, 65, being put on a leave of absence by Department of Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, following charges against Babbitt for driving while intoxicated -- on the wrong side of the road -- at night.

He was arrested and released, pending a February court appearance. Luckily, Randy Babbitt was stopped before he could kill someone.

Today's follow-up post is that Babbitt is out and Deputy Administrator Michael Huerta is in as FAA acting administrator.

 

FAA Boss Charged as Drunk Driver: Randy Babbitt Placed on Leave of Absence

               Police mug shot of Jerome "Randy" Babbitt

 

The police mug shot is of a veteran pilot who flew 25 years for Eastern Airlines and is now the Federal Aviation Administration's administrator Jerome "Randy" Babbitt. Looks like a picture of pride and defiance to me. Can't see any guilt, or even embarrassment. Instead, I see an expression that looks like a kind of bravado, a "smug mug."

I bet that he figured he was so damn important that he would be let off, free to go, records expunged once they realized who he was.  Instead, he was placed on a leave of absence.  

THERE YESTERDAY, GONE TODAY

The police mug shot is not the picture that used to be on the FAA bio page for Babbitt -- the one with him in a suit and tie, with the American flag behind him. The key official for the FAA no longer has his bio on the FAA official website. Oh, it was there yesterday. But, it was gone today: "We're sorry, the page you requested could not be found."

Thankfully, the cops got him off the road before he killed.

 

No, No, Don't Go Barney: Congressman Barney Frank Says He Will Retire

Today Barney Frank announced that he will not seek another term in Congress. Damn! Double Damn! I hate to see him go.

Frank, 71, was first elected to the House of Representatives 30 years ago, in 1980. The Massachusetts representative is truly one-of-a-kind -- as RRT News reported, Frank is "perhaps the most unique lawmaker currently serving in Washington." 

AMONG FIRST OPENLY GAY IN CONGRESS

He was one of the first openly gay members of Congress, coming out in 1987. During his press conference today, announcing his retirement, Frank talked about believing that his coming out was helpful to the cause of gay rights, saying  "the best antidote to prejudice is reality."

 

Birmingham Alabama's County to File $4.1 Billion Bankruptcy: Largest Municipal Bankruptcy in Nation's History

 

                                          

For years now, we've had our fingers crossed for the City of Birmingham and Jefferson County -- 'Bama's most populous area.

CORRUPT MAYOR

We hoped that once Larry Langford, Birmingham's former mayor(pictured below, climbing out of a sewer), was convicted and put away in federal prison for 15 years, the county and city could begin to recover.

After sinking into crippling debt from an upgrade of its sewer system, Jefferson Co. has been been struggling to avoid bankruptcy since 2008; however, recent discussions on a debt restructure broke down. Another element in the decision to file bankruptcy seems to have been the Alabama Legislature's inability to reach a consensus on any way to help the county resolve its financial problems.

 

$4.1 BILLION BANKRUPTCY FILING

Sadly, yesterday, Jefferson Co. declared that it would default and seek Chapter 9 protection from creditors in a $4.1 billion filing.  This is the largest municipal bankruptcy filing in U.S. history.

The biggest loss in the filing will be faced by J.P. Morgan Chase & Co., the investment bank which arranged most of the financing to revamp the county's sewer system.

POLLUTED WATER/SEWER RENOVATIONS

In 1996, a federal judge ordered the sewer renovations after  area waterways were found to be polluted. But, taxes that were going to be used to fund the enormous project were later declared illegal, reports Market Watch. 

Although municipal bankruptcies are rare, there have been 11 so far in 2011, including Harrisburg, Pennsylvania's state capital, and Central Falls, Rhode Island's smallest city.

Not surprisingly, bond investors are nervous.

BELOW, READ MORE ABOUT BIRMINGHAM'S TROUBLES:

 

 

by Sharon McEachern

 

CLICK AND READ "Birmingham Mayor Arrested: Langford Joined Jailed Mayors Club"

CLICK AND READ "Birmingham Exposed to Unconscionable Degree of Risk: Sues JP Morgan Chase" 

CLICK AND READ "Birmingham Mayor Langford Convicted on 60 Counts of Bribery, Money Laundering"

CLICK AND READ "Bama's Birmingham Votes to Replace Ousted Mayor: It's 4 mayors in 4 months"

CLICK AND READ "Out of the Sewers Into Federal Prison: Birmingham's Langford Gets 15 Years"

Bottom-Feeder Report: Congress Sinks Even Lower in Approval Ratings

 
 

What makes the American public believe that bottom feeders ever change, or even want to change?

They have failed and seem to be at peace with it. That's just the way it goes, folks. Bottom feeders are comfortable with their position on the bottom, being the lowest of the low.

LOWEST RATING EVER

Congress is currently tied for its lowest approval rating ever, with only 12 percent of Americans approving of the way Congress is doing its job. Only 6 percent of registered voters say that most Congressional members have earned re-election, according to the latest New York Times/CBS News poll.

 

 

 

 

Our elected congressional representatives -- you know, even the guys who are elected when poor, leave office rich -- are leeches with a total lack of responsibility to provide for themselves, relying on others for sustenance. We are the "others." And then there are the lobbyists and special interests.

How many Senators and Congresspersons does it take to fit the definition of bottom scavengers? All of them.

Martin Luther King, Jr. and Coretta With Their Babies

 
 
Today is Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, marking the 25th year for this national holiday. King would have been 82 on Saturday, but he was assassinated when he was only 39, in April, 1968.

For 13 years King advocated nonviolent social change during one of the most tumultuous times in American history, the time of our civil rights movement, protesting and changing racial discrimination in federal and state law.

A NATIONAL HOLIDAY

The proposal to make King's birthday one of 10 national holidays was controversial. "It was officially observed in all 50 states for the first time in 2000," according to Wikipedia.

Cindy McCaine Publicly Supports Ban of Military's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell", Against Husband's Anti-Gay Stand

 

HER OWN WOMAN -- Don't even try to tell Cindy McCain what she can or cannot say, even if you are her husband, and particularly if you are the ranking Republican on the Armed Services Committee.

Go ahead and threaten a filibuster to block a Congressional repeal of the anti-gay law that bans open gays from military service, the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" 17-year-old law. Your wife will still speak out, publicly.

It makes no difference how many old, white Republicans sidle up to you and sneer : "Can't you control the little woman McCain?"

E-Cigarette Distributors Target Minors: California Says "Oh, No You Don't"

 

 

 IT'S ABOUT TIME -- The largest distributor of electronic cigarettes in the U.S., Smoking Everywhere, has agreed it will no longer claim e-cigarettes are a safe alternative to smoking and it will not continue to aim its marketing at minors -- at least not in California.

A week ago, Smoking Everywhere reached these agreements in a settlement with the California Attorney General.

The settlement comes just two months after the state reached a similar agreement with  Soterra, another electronic cigarette maker. The settlement also comes just weeks after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced plans to regulate e-cigarettes.