TODAY

SIMPLY AMAZING
The earthquake in Chile moved Concepcion 10 feet to the west. Santiago moved 11 inches to the south-southwest while Buenos Aires, the capital of Argentina moved about 1 inch to the west. The movements were based on precise GPS readings taken before and 10 days after the Feb. 27th quake. (Daily Mail and Daily Telegraph) Maps of movements.

LEGAL INSANITY
Supreme Court to decide if JPL background checks can continue. "The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld its previous ruling from January of 2008, which said JPL employees did not have to submit to background checks to continue their employment"

JURY AWARDS $24.3 MILLION TO GIRL RUN OVER BY TRUCK
The judge said the firm that hired Simon Loza Mejia, Freeway Transport Inc., was liable for the girl's injuries. The judge also ruled that the jury not be told that it was the girl's father who accidentally drove over her. (Sacramento Bee)

THE UPSIDE OF RECESSION - PENSION REFORM?
"As state and local governments fight off potential bankruptcy, some officials are taking a new look at scaling back billions of dollars in pension benefits for public employees."

. . . the city of Los Angeles' contribution to its pension system is expected to double from $653million now to $1.3 billion in four years. The city makes that contribution from its general fund, which already faces a deficit of almost $700 million over the next 16 months.

Orange County is trying overturn a 1999 state law that gave retroactive boosts in pension benefits to public employees. That bill, SB 400, lowered the retirement age for public employees leading to a formula under which some workers could retire as early as age 50 with a pension of up to 90 percent of their salary.

California taxpayers spend $17-18 billion a year to pay for public employee pensions and retiree health care costs. Jerry Brown is the one credited with permitting collective bargaining rights for state workers while governor in the 1970s.

MEDIA BLAMES TOYOTO FOR CLOSING FREMONT, CA, PLANT
WHILE BURYING THE FACTS
Anti-business Sacramento Bee laments the closing as the "world's biggest automaker is about to kick the state when it's down."

a No. They're just doing what other businesses are doing. Moving away from the disinformation from the MSM that puts the blame on them. Toyoto made the announcement AFTER General Motors withdrew from the partnership with Toyota in June 2008. Since then, it's been a foregone conclusion.

The plant, according to a 2007 article in The Truth About Cars, is "the only Toyota plant using UAW labor and one of the highest-labor-cost manufacturing facilities in the entire American automotive industry."

Blaming Toyoto rather than UAW labor costs is just typical of MSM bias.

BLAMING AMAZON
Amazon cut off their affiliates program in Colorado after legislators passed a new state law aimed at getting out-of-state, online retailers to collect sales tax. The program had at least 4,200 such businesses, known as affiliates or associates, accounting for about 5,000 jobs. "They've done nothing here but spit in our face," Senate Majority Leader John Morse said. Republicans opposed the online sales tax, predicting job losses.
a As I understand it, the law requires both Amazon and their affiliates to notify their customers that they owe taxes to their state. If Amazon accepted that, they would be liable to notify customers in every state where they have affiliates, effectively passing an Internet sales tax based on the law in one state.