Free Republic

Yes, this is happening. Because the US Army needs a few extra bucks. That’s why. Very soon you will be able to buy a surplus Army-issue Humvee at prices starting around $10,000. Yep, this is the real deal. According to Yahoo News and the Army Times, the US Department of Defense will auction off as many as 4,000 military-spec Humvees, instead of sending them to scrap yards. The first batch of 25 Humvees is heading to the auction block tomorrow. Obviously these retired vehicles aren’t in perfect condition, most having been built between 1987 and 1994. They have anywhere from...

What the hell is going on over at General Motors? First the manufacturer announced on February 7th that a defect relating to 619,122 cars was identified, but that figure hiked to 25.7 million vehicles to date. As if that wasn't enough of a handful, the carmaker gets utterly ridiculous because of 542 redesigned ignition switches recalled in view of a faulty tab. According to an official statement, those 542 badly designed replacement ignition switch kits will be brought back to the Delphi Automotive plant in Mexico, disposed of and replaced with better built ones. Furthermore, this botchy mess "convinced" Delphi...

Surpassing California for the first time, Texas is leading the nation in technology-related exports, according to a new report. State companies that make computers, semiconductors and communications equipment, among other products, exported more than $45 billion in products in 2012, according to the TechAmerica Foundation, a tech industry lobbying firm. That was driven by Texas’ 7 percent growth — about $3 billion — in tech exports from 2011. Tech exports supported nearly 1.5 million jobs nationwide and about 331,000 jobs in Texas, according to the report. California, meanwhile, declined 2.8 percent, to $44.8 billion in technology exports. Technology exports accounted...

Newsweek, a US magazine that has been running since 1933, will be going digital-only at the start of next year. After running for nearly 80 years, the magazine will print its last paper-based edition on December 31, 2012, and will instead be using apps and a website to pass news and articles to its readers. The publication will rebranded to Newsweek Global, and will be a single, worldwide edition that is optimized for tablets and paid for by a subscription. The Daily Beast, a companion publication, will continue to host some of Newsweek's content. Despite only being four years old,...

I'd like to request some prayer for my mother, who may not be much longer for this world.

Zune HD support page, podcast end lineup Microsoft in spite of its earlier claims has said it will drop Zune players. A support page has made clear the company will "no longer be producing Zune players." It will keep honoring support and sales, but hasn't made mention of future OS updates. The company quietly discontinued the Zune Insider podcast on Friday after hosts Jessica Zahn and Matt Akers said they had to move on to other projects. Zahn is working on social services involving Live. Its end comes after two years without significant hardware updates and signs that the Zune...

I don't normally do this sort of thing (post vanities or requests), so I hope this is in the right place.

MEMPHIS, Tenn. – Forecasters say the Mississippi River could crest late Monday at Memphis — hours sooner than previously predicted — but the mayor says the city's ready for it. Mayor AC Wharton said that despite the tightened timeframe, he's confident that precautions such as door-to-door warnings have prepared the city. "We don't have as much time, but fortunately we're ready for it," Wharton told The Early Show on CBS Monday.

Barack Obama, US president will appear on AOL.com on Tuesday, part of the president’s get out the vote effort on election day, and a relaunch of the beleaguered website. Mr Obama pre-recorded a segment called “You’ve Got,” a one minute slot that will now air on AOL’s redesigned home page. It is part of AOL’s video-heavy approach, which it hopes will revive the fortunes of its website and lure back advertisers. EDITOR’S CHOICE AOL takes impairment charge hit - Aug-05 AOL - Jun-17 AOL reviews future of Bebo network - Apr-07 AOL taps Google executive - Feb-05 AOL starts staff...

There are supposed to be two ways to close a deficit: raise taxes or cut spending. But a move is afoot in the Legislature to trim California’s budget shortfall through Sacramento's time-honored third way: making rosier revenue assumptions. The Legislative Analyst's Office gave lawmakers just such an opening. Assembly Speaker John A. Perez (D-Los Angeles) said Thursday that Republicans and Democrats alike had agreed to cut $1.4 billion from the deficit by penciling in the rosier revenue forecast by the LAO, which anticipates more tax revenue than is projected by the state Department of Finance.

Six out of nine regions in California have a shortage of primary care physicians, and the problem may be worsening: With nearly 30 percent of our physicians more than 60 years old, more doctors are nearing retirement here than in any other state. The findings are part of a report on the state's physician supply, published last week by the California HealthCare Foundation. The report highlights geographic, ethnic and linguistic disparities among California's residents and physicians, as well as how the state compares to the rest of the nation. California's ratio of physicians to population increased 7 percent from 1998...

Just as education experts are encouraging more classroom time to improve student grades and test scores, many California districts are moving in the opposite direction by shortening their school year amid a sustained and draining budget crisis. Sixteen of the state's 30 largest school districts, including San Francisco, San Jose and Fremont in the Bay Area, are reducing the number of days in the academic year, according to a survey by California Watch. The changes are expected to affect about 1.4 million students. Educators say a shrinking school year, along with other cuts, could depress hard-won academic gains in recent...

One of the poorest cities in Los Angeles County has come under public scrutiny for paying its top officials some of the highest salaries in the nation, including almost $800,000 annually for its city manager. The city of Bell pays Chief Administrative Officer Robert Rizzo $787,637 annually, and also pays police Chief Randy Adams $457,000 a year, about 50 percent more than Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck or Sheriff Lee Baca make, the Los Angeles Times reported. Assistant City Manager Angela Spaccia is paid $376,288 annually, which is more than most city managers are paid. Rizzo, who has run...

Story at link: http://www.sacbee.com/2010/07/18/2897609/californias-pioneering-e-waste.html#ixzz0u9NMWP00

For the last seven years, demands that state worker pay be reduced when California has no budget have been met with a consistent response from union-friendly state controllers: Their computer can't do the math. It's an argument that has outraged Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, bemused computer experts and elicited the skepticism of various court judges — especially as the payroll system has adapted to other complex programming tasks, such as calculating dozens of raises for unionized employees and slashing the pay of elected officials and their appointees to zero during Sacramento's budget crises. Although many computer experts agree that the state's...

SFGate/SF Chronicle wants linking and excerpt only - check link for article.

California's January unemployment rate rose to 12.5 percent from a revised 12.3 percent in December, according to the Employment Development Department. Despite the uptick, non-farm payroll jobs increased by 32,500. The number of people unemployed in California was 2.27 million - up by 32,000 over the month. The new numbers show a possible stabilization in the state's unemployment, said Stuart Dorsey, president of University of Redlands and former chief economist for the U.S. Senate Committee on Finance. "We're probably close to the bottom whether this month or next month or the month after," Dorsey said. "We're going to be slow...

Maricopa County lost the second highest number of jobs among U.S. counties between second quarter 2008 and 2Q 2009, according to federal labor data released Tuesday. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics said Tuesday Maricopa County lost 149,900 jobs between 2Q 2008 and 2Q 2009. Only Los Angeles County lost more jobs during the same time period — 256,700 jobs. The Phoenix metro area lost more jobs than Cook County in the Chicago area as well as New York City. The Phoenix area has been hit hard by the pullback in consumer spending, tourism, housing prices and the construction sector....

California lost far more jobs last year than the state initially reported, according to a new report that provides an early glimpse into statewide employment trends. That would translate into 292,000 more lost jobs. "If it comes to that number, it would be one of the biggest revisions ever," said Paul Wessen, an economist with the state EDD. "I can't remember a revision this big since the early 1990s, when we lost a lot of aerospace jobs."

Toyota Motor said Monday that it planned a widespread release of its plug-in hybrid car in 2011 as the company scrambled to gain the upper hand in an increasingly crowded battle over next-generation “green” technology. Toyota, the world’s largest automaker, dominates the current generation of gas-electric hybrid vehicles, but it has refrained from rushing lower-emission cars like the plug-in hybrid to market. Instead, Toyota has focused on plans to introduce regular hybrid technology to all its models by 2020. But Toyota’s rivals are surging ahead. General Motors plans to build as many as 60,000 Chevrolet Volt plug-in hybrids a year,...