Friday 18 July 2008

I felt a slight sore throat all day. I thought at first it might be just the heat. But, by the time I went to YJ's in the evening, I knew I was coming down with something. I went home and went to bed. Suyen was working late tonight.
Created: 2008-07-21 11:27:18

21:15
Bad boys bad boys, whacha gonna do....

I had a strange experience today. I headed for the trailer to cut the grass and get a load of stuff. I decided to take the back way via 210 to 291 to 24. When I got to Levasy in eastern Jackson County, I caught up with a eastbound coal train on the tracks paralleling the highway. I got some nice pacing video of the train and decided to follow it east to Lexington on 224. It was going slow enough I could outpace it, set up, get some vid, then go to the next spot. I did this once in Napoleon, once in Wellington, and was able to pace it on the way. Well, somebody started following me. It was not a cop, but to protect the identity of the person, I won't disclose who they were. I stopped west of Lexington to get another shot, and they pulled up behind me. They got out and proceeded to tell me that they overheard the person(s) in the train call the cops on me about 10 times. As they were telling me this, sure enough, one of Lafayette County's finest drove by us. The person who followed me asked my why I was taking pictures, and I told them that I was a railfan and this was a very picturesque spot. Well, they told me to keep it safe and we parted. I went in the direction where the cop headed, back west on 224 -- I decided to give up on chasing the train as obviously it was upsetting the crew. A car came around the bend in the road flashing his lights meaning that you know who was waiting for me up ahead. I decided I'd had enough trying to explain my odd hobby to people (and who knows, it could have been an unsympathetic ball busting cop up ahead) so I turned around and found the back way to the trailer. It was fun being on the run from the law and all, but I wonder what is up the butts of the UP crews these days. They know what I was doing -- they see plenty of railfans. Sow what is it? This same thing happened to me in Lawrence last year, with the Union Pacific. I was never on their property and I wasn't hurting anyone. When I paced the train I turned my flashers on and pulled over to let cars go by. I even went ahead when there was nowhere to pull over so I wouldn't hold up traffic on the two lane road. When I rode Amtrak last year, all the crews told me that Uncle Pete (Union Pacific) was being a real problem to them -- holding up Amtrak trains to let slow locals go through, holding them on sidings for hours for no reason, etc. Somebody on one of the trains told me it was because Union Pacific is getting a new CEO soon, and his name happens to be Dick Cheney. I don't know it that is true or not, so just mark it as a rumor. But Uncle Pete is starting to act like the old stereotype of the villain railroad barron. Maybe somebody can shed some light on what's going on.

Jul 18, 2008 7:41 PM
Subject:
Ooops! UNCLE PETE AND UNCLE DICK ARE IN BED TOGETHER
Body:
www. whitehouse. gov/news/releases/2007/04/20070413-8. html

.......In addition, the tax return reports a pension benefit of $27,500, which the Vice President received as a former director of Union Pacific Corporation.


Vice President Dick Cheney and Mrs.
Cheney Release 2006 Income Tax Return


White House News

FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT
Terrence O'Donnell
or James T.
Fuller
Williams & Connolly LLP
at (202) 434-5000

Vice President and Mrs. Cheney filed their federal income tax return for 2006 today. The income tax return shows that the Cheneys owe federal taxes for 2006 of $413,326 on taxable income of $1,614,862. During the course of 2006 the Cheneys paid $464,789 in taxes through withholding and estimated tax payments. The Cheneys elected to apply the resulting $51,463 tax overpayment to their 2007 estimated tax payments. The wage and salary income reported on the tax return includes the Vice President's $208,575 government salary.
In addition, the tax return reports a pension benefit of $27,500, which the Vice President received as a former director of Union Pacific Corporation.
The Vice President became eligible for this benefit in 2006 when he turned 65. The tax return also reports Mrs. Cheney's book royalty income, which includes a partial royalty advance on a book she is writing about growing up in Wyoming. It also reports wage and salary income from her continuing work at the American Enterprise Institute and a pension benefit of $32,000, which she received as a former director of Reader's Digest. The amounts of the pension benefits received by the Vice President and by Mrs. Cheney are fixed and will not increase or decrease based on changes in the earnings or revenues of either company.


The Cheneys donated $104,425 to charity in 2006. This brings the Cheneys' total charitable contributions during his Vice Presidency to $7,800,019.

Uncle Pete? Or shall we start calling you Uncle Prick..
Body:
opensecrets. org/orgs/summary. php?id=D000000118

Union Pacific Corp
Union Pacific runs the largest railroad in North America and exercises by far the most political influence in the railroad industry, particularly within the Republican party. Vice President Dick Cheney served on the company’s board prior to the 2000 elections. Union Pacific also was one of the major underwriters of a record-breaking $33 million GOP fund-raiser in May 2002. The company ran into big trouble after its 1996 merger with rival Southern Pacific when prolonged service woes cost the U.S. economy an estimated $4 billion. The railroad opposed resulting proposals for increased federal regulation of the industry. Union Pacific was part of the Tax Relief Coalition, a group of companies supporting President Bush’s call for corporate tax breaks.


It get's interesting