\”Pensions Beyond Our Ability to Pay\”

Freakish Frisco by Pete Peterson, City Journal 4 May 2010

San Francisco, a city accustomed to earthquakes, has recently been experiencing political tremors that may wind up reshaping its landscape. They started in January, when Willie Brown—the city’s former mayor, longtime speaker of the State Assembly, and now Democratic éminence grise—penned a startling mea culpa in the San Francisco Chronicle. \”The deal used to be that civil servants were paid less than private sector workers in exchange for an understanding that they had job security for life,\” Brown wrote. \”But we politicians, pushed by our friends in labor, gradually expanded pay and benefits to private-sector levels while keeping the job protections and layering on incredibly generous retirement packages that pay ex-workers almost as much as current workers.\” Brown’s essay was immediately picked up by Republican state legislators and conservative talk-radio hosts, who held it aloft, in an unusual demonstration of bipartisanship, to illustrate the causes of the state’s fiscal crisis.

Brown may have had in mind a 2009 report by the San Francisco Civil Grand Jury, which is charged by the San Francisco Superior Court with investigating local government. \”Pensions Beyond Our Ability to Pay\” disclosed that, for the 2011–12 fiscal year, the city would have to increase its contributions to its employees’ pensions by over 50 percent.

read via www.city-journal.org

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Baptism Water Flows in the Shape of a Rosary

$\"Image0011\"$ The photo of the baptism of Valentino Mora is sweeping the Internet, because at the time the priest pours the Holy water over his head, the water flows in the shape of a rosary. This story began at the Parish of the Assumption of Our Lady in Cordova, Spain, where the baptism of a one month baby took place.

click to enlarge

At the time that Valentino came to the baptismal font for the sacrament of baptism, Erica asked the photographer Maria Silvana Salles, who was hired by other parents baptizing their babies, to take a photo of her son as a favor, since the young mother had no way of paying for it. The photographer, moved by Erica\’s request, agreed to take a photo of Valentino.

Maria Silvana works with a traditional camera and had to send the film to be developed to a shop in Cordova. When she received the photos, she noticed with surprise that the water poured from the head of Valentino was a perfect rosary. The photo of the baptism of Valentino has awakened faith in the people of Cordova who come to the humble home of Erica and Valentino Mora to touch him. The truth is that this sign of faith has mobilized this town in Cordova, whose neighbors go to Maria Silvana\’s store to buy the picture as if it were a prayer card.

photo and caption submitted by Joanne D.

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May 6 Hunting and Fishing News

$\"Eagles\"$

The Eagles of Hornby Island – Webcam

There are 3 ways to view this cam.
1. View from this page…via hornbyeagles.com

2. Old link: http://www.wildearth.tv/web/dch-hornby-01
3. New link: http://www.wildearth.tv/static/wildearth/channels/we_hornby_eagles.html
To join the lively chat click on option 2 or 3 to go to the Wildearth.tv broadcast of the Hornby Island nest. Register and join in the friendly discussion.
Forum – www. ournaturezone.com ~ website – www.hornbyeagles.com

Beesleys Point Bridge / Think fishing pier – pressofAtlanticCity.com

The dilapidated Beesleys Point Bridge across Great Egg Harbor Bay was shut down in June 2004 by its private owners, who said they could not afford to make needed repairs. That means the bridge, which provides the most direct route from Marmora and other parts of Upper Township to Shore Memorial Hospital in Somers Point, has been closed for almost six years. And if there has been a significant, traffic-related medical catastrophe because the bridge has been closed, we haven\’t heard about it. But it\’s been six years. There has been no major problem. It\’s time to give up the idea – the expensive idea – of fixing the structural problems with the 82-year-old bridge and reopening the structure. It\’s not going to happen. It should not happen.

read via www.pressofatlanticcity.com

Read more: http://www.typepad.com/site/blogs/6a00d8341bf7d953ef00d8345158b569e2/compose/preview/post#ixzz0n0ZdKO4c

New Jersey’s Wildlife Rehabilitators

New Jersey has a number of volunteers, known as wildlife rehabilitators, who can answer questions and if necessary, properly care for sick, injured and orphaned wildlife. These volunteers are licensed by the NJ DEP Division of Fish and Wildlife and donate their time and do not charge for

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Six Names Added to Vietnam Veterans Memorial

By Ian Graham
Emerging Media, Defense Media Activity

WASHINGTON, May 4, 2010 – This week, the names of six American servicemembers will join the list of other departed or missing troops featured on the intersecting black-granite walls of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

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Expert stoneworker James Lee cleans the work after engraving the name of U.S. Army Lt. Col. Taylor to Panel 7W, Line 81 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C., May 4, 2010. Taylor\’s name is one of six added to the memorial. The new names represent veterans who survived serious injury in the war, but were determined by Defense Department officials to have died as a result of wounds sustained in the combat zone. DoD photo by William D. Moss

Army Lt. Col. William Taylor’s name was engraved at a ceremony today at the memorial on the National Mall here. The names of Marine Corps Lance Cpls. John Granville and Clayton Hough Jr., Marine Corps Cpl. Ronald Vivona, Army Capt. Edward Miles and Army Sgt. Michael Morehouse will be added later this week.

The new additions are veterans who survived serious injury in the war but were determined by

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VIDEO: Camden\’s \’Tent City\’ closing; residents get day at spa

$\"Always$

Note video was taken in April after the citizens of Tent City were given a reprieve.

| courierpostonline.com | Courier-Post

With $250,000 from private donors, the Nehemiah Group will clean up the campsite today, bus the residents to the Wyndham Hotel in Mount Laurel for a one-night spa treatment and then house them for one year, free of charge, said Micah Khan, the group\’s vice president of operations.

READ via www.courierpostonline.com

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