Category: Uncategorized

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Duke Energy CEO quits first day – eligible for $44 million payout

Hours after new Duke Energy CEO Bill Johnson assumed his new position following the Duke/Progress Energy merger this week, he resigned his post. But Johnson can still qualify for up to $44.4 million for his time and effort:

Despite his short-lived tenure, Mr. Johnson will receive exit payments worth as much as $44.4 million, according to Duke. That includes $7.4 million in severance, a nearly $1.4 million cash bonus, a special lump-sum payment worth up to $1.5 million and accelerated vesting of his stock awards, according to a Duke regulatory filing Tuesday night. Mr. Johnson gets the lump-sum payment as long as he cooperates with Duke and doesn’t disparage his former employer, the filing said.
Under his exit package, Mr. Johnson also will receive approximately $30,000 to reimburse him for relocation expenses.

The Duke board voted for Johnson’s resignation, and since Johnson was eligible for severance if he quit for “good reason,” he is able to collect his $44 million. Grist calculates that Johnson’s pay package comes out to $5.5 million per hour, if he actually put in a full 8-hour day.

Johnson’s golden parachute after his one day of work is emblematic of the disconnect between worker pay and CEO pay that has occurred over the last few decades. Average CEO pay is now 380 times the pay of the average worker, and CEO pay has grown 127 times faster than worker pay over the last 30 years.

I have no problem with folks earning a lot of money, however I don’t understand why middle class income has risen so little compared to that of CEOs and other high level execs.  Why can’t the whole team enjoy the success of these companies?

Via ThinkProgress

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2012 Summer Olympics – US Men’s Gymnastic team

The summer Olympics are coming!  And with them, the US Men’s Gymnastic team!  Check out our guys below.  And you can find more pics of all of them on Towleroad.
All are champions in my book.  And they all happen to very easy on the eyes.  Watching the gymnastic rotations and pulling for these guys won’t be hard.  What do you think?
Jake Dalton:

Jonathan Horton:

Danell Levya:

Sam Mikulak:

John Orozco:

Alternate – Chris Brooks:

Alternate – Steven Legendre:

Alternate – Alexander Naddour:

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Iris Leonardo – “Let Me Be”

Openly gay singer/songwriter Iris Leonardo has written a haunting new song “Let Me Be,” produced and co-written by Jeff Crerie (who co-produced Matt Alber’s debut CD “Hide Nothing”).

In this music video, she’s joined by Jeff’s husband, Mykel Gubin, performing the song in American Sign Language (ASL) which I think adds a gorgeous, choreographed layer to an already beautiful song.

You can buy Iris’ song “Let Me Be” on iTunes and other digital outlets.

Thanks to Mykel for sharing the song with me.

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Texas A&M students stand up to Westboro Baptist Church

When students at Texas A&M found out that the Westboro Baptist Church was planning a protest at the funeral of a soldier who was killed in active duty, they formed a “maroon wall” around the church to shelter the family and friends of the fallen soldier. 

The students organized the event after the church announced it would protest former A&M student Lt. Col. Roy Tisdale’s funeral. He was killed during a training exercise at Fort Bragg on June 28.

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Mitt Romney on unemployment – when HE was in charge

When Mitt Romney inevitably slams President Obama later today regardless of how good or bad the new jobs report is, he’ll likely say something along the lines of how the president needs to stop making excuses about inheriting a down economy.

But when Romney himself was running a government, in his case the state of Massachusetts, he was even more defensive about his lack of control of the employment picture than Obama is today. A new video unearthed by the liberal research group American Bridge shows Romney at a press conference in June 2006 admonishing reporters on disappointing jobs data. “You guys are bright enough to look at the numbers. I came in and the jobs had been just falling right off a cliff, I came in and they kept falling for 11 months,” he explains.

“And if you are going to suggest to me that somehow the day I got elected, somehow jobs should have immediately turned around, well that would be silly. It takes awhile to get things turned around. We were in a recession, we were losing jobs every month,” he added.

This isn’t a statement from decades ago. This is from five years ago.

Via Salon.com

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Jane Pitt, Brad Pitt’s mother, opposes marriage equality

“I think any Christian should spend much time in prayer before refusing to vote for a family man with high morals, business experience, who is against abortion, and shares Christian conviction concerning homosexuality just because he is a Mormon. Any Christian who does not vote or writes in a name is casting a vote for Romney’s opponent, Barack Hussein Obama — a man who sat in Jeremiah Wright’s church for years, did not hold a public ceremony to mark the National Day of Prayer, and is a liberal who supports the killing of unborn babies and same-sex marriage.” – Jane Pitt, mother of Brad Pitt, in a letter published by the Springfield, Missouri News-Leader. Jane’s son, Brad Pitt is a staunch supporter of LGBT rights.

NOTE: Many thought that the letter was a hoax, but the paper later posted a note confirming that Pitt’s mom penned it: “To clear up earlier confusion, the News-Leader has verified the letter writer is the mother of actor Brad Pitt and local businessman Doug Pitt.”

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“Why gays shouldn’t be allowed to marry”

I wish I could say this was a true parody of opponents of marriage equality – but sadly many of the anti-gay folks out there sound just like this…

Funny to watch, but the reality is this IS the opposition. Most of the folks who would deny equal rights to the LGBT community wouldn’t see the “over the top” nature of this video.

Now excuse me as I go marry my ice cream…