Saturday, August 31, 2013

Collusion: How the Media Stole the 2012 Election


Founder and President of the Media Research Center, L. Brent Bozell III runs the largest media watchdog organization in America. Established in 1987. Web site

"I thought all you conservatives out there would like to hear this interview.
As I've stated before, as Administrator of this blog I don't take a political stand publicly here but I know that many of my readers do so I share what I think the majority might be interested in". 1+ me if you like!
Marge/Admin




There's a New Recruiter in Town



DriverFinder Network has added a new driver service to our plethora of driver focused websites. Although TruckingIndustryShopper.com as been hanging out on the net for a while, it just got a reface. The main focus is a new program designed to meet the special needs of new and experienced drivers who need advice about hooking up with the best company fit. This is not a new concept as we all know. And it might smell a whole lot like 3rd party recruiting and you wouldn't be off base making that assumption however..........

This new Job Shopper program has a different twist than the usual "Call me and I'll hook you up with a new company" rhetoric you're all so accustomed to where you're grilled to the teeth as though you may not be worthy of their time and you're made to feel like you're a pay check to the recruiter and that's it. This new program aides driver job seekers in SHOPPING for their new or next employer. Search is shopping when you Google or end up on a network like DriverFinder.net but the TWIST I mentioned with our new recruiting program is drivers get, for free, a personal Job Shopper, a human, if you will, to help you fill up your shopping cart with exactly the right company fit for you. Your personal shopper will evaluate what YOU need, YOUR concerns, YOUR current hiring issues, if any, and land you exactly where you need to be.

For Green Horns (recent CDL grads) we are fortunate enough to have on board a 33 year veteran lady driver who gives her time as a mentor personally by phone call! Yes, finally we've brought her in to share her vast expertise as a professional driver within the world of recruiting!
If she doesn't know her stuff who does? AND if she can't help answer any question or issue you may have she can point you in the right direction. This is hands down a first! Sandy Long is definitely a driver's best friend. Visit her site: TrailerTruckinTech.com 

I can't promise EVERYONE can be helped, but we can help most. The key is we will take the time it takes to actually help drivers, not just view him or her as a paycheck. Who does that anymore??

To take advantage of this new program just fill out a Quick Job Shopper form or call me at 866.205.6593 x1 and we're off to the shopping mall of trucking companies to send you home with a new company that will meet your most important need which is working for a company you can live with! Please send this to a friend or two who are looking if you aren't. Thanks!

Marge/Admin

Who is Required to Comply w/ HOS Rules?

Resource: DOT.gov

Who Must Comply w/ HOS Rules?

Most drivers must follow the HOS Regulations if they drive a commercial motor vehicle, or CMV.
In general, a CMV is a vehicle that is used as part of a business and is involved in interstate commerce and fits any of these descriptions:

  • Weighs 10,001 pounds or more
  • Has a gross vehicle weight rating or gross combination weight rating of 10,001 pounds or more
  • Is designed or used to transport 16 or more passengers (including the driver) not for compensation
  • Is designed or used to transport 9 or more passengers (including the driver) for compensation
  • Is transporting hazardous materials in a quantity requiring placards
 
The Hours of Service of Drivers Final Rule [Download PDF Version] was published in the Federal Register on December 27, 2011. The effective date of the Final Rule was February 27, 2012, and the compliance date of remaining provisions was July 1, 2013
My commentary is short and sweet:
Where ya gonna park at night??
 
 

Wednesday, August 21, 2013

HILLARY WAS A GREAT AMBASSADOR, NOT A GREAT SECRETARY OF STATE

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Having stopped off in a hundred and twelve countries during her four years as Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, in her last week in office, seems intent on visiting almost as many televisions studios. At the weekend, she did “60 Minutes” on CBS. Today, she will be on ABC, NBC, CNN, and Fox. Tomorrow, it’s the BBC. If you are a news producer at CNBC, Bloomberg, New York 1, or the Weather Channel, give the State Department a call. As far as I know, Thursday and Friday are still open.
O.K., O.K., all you Hillary fans. I’m just being flippant. We all know that once she decides to do something, she gives it her all, and this is probably just another case of the Wellesley-Yale standout overdoing things. And, perhaps, after playing the role of the dancing monkey to President Obama’s organ grinder during the interview with Steve Kroft, she is eager to speak for herself about her record, without the boss looking over her shoulder.
That would be understandable. Still, in view of all the publicity she is receiving, and her elevated approval rating—sixty nine per cent in the latest NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll—a nagging question remains: What has she really achieved?
During the joint “60 Minutes” interview, Obama said, “I think she will go down as one of the finest Secretary of States we’ve had.” But while he praised Hillary’s stamina, her professionalism, and her teamwork, the President was a bit short on specific achievements that could be put down to her efforts. Asked by Steve Kroft about the biggest foreign-policy successes of his first term, he mentioned ending the war in Iraq, drawing down U.S. forces in Afghanistan, and dismantling the leadership of Al Qaeda, adding, “That’s all a consequence of the great work that Hillary did and her team did, and the State Department did, in conjunction with our national-security team.”
Fair enough. But it’s no secret that the Administration’s policies on Iraq, Afghanistan, and counterterrorism were conceived and managed in the White House. In foreign-policy circles, the knock on Hillary is that, unlike some of her storied predecessors—John Quincy Adams, George C. Marshall, Dean Acheson, Henry Kissinger—she failed to carve out a historically significant role for herself. “There’s no question that Clinton has been terrifically energetic, as well as a loyal team player,” Stephen Walt, a professor of international relations at Harvard, wrote last July, shortly after a profile in the Times Magazine referred to Hillary as a “rock star diplomat.” “The problem, however, is that she’s hardly racked up any major achievements… She played little role in extricating us from Iraq, and it is hard to see her fingerprints on the U.S. approach to Afghanistan. She has done her best to smooth the troubled relationship with Pakistan, but anti-Americanism remains endemic in that country and it hardly looks like a success story at this point… She certainly helped get tougher sanctions on Iran, but the danger of war still looms and there’s been no breakthrough there either.”
Other experts agree. “She’s coming away with a stellar reputation that seems to have put her almost above criticism,” Aaron David Miller, a former diplomat peace negotiator, said to Paul Richter, of the Los Angeles Times. “But you can’t say that she’s really led on any of the big issues for this administration or made a major mark on high strategy.” A former diplomat who served in the Obama Administration told Richter, “If you go down the line, it’s tough to see what’s happened in world politics over the last four years that wouldn’t have happened without her. So, it’s tough to see how she gets into that category of truly great, transformational secretaries, like Acheson and Marshall.”
It’s hard to quibble with that assessment. Marshall gave his name to an economic-recovery plan for war-torn Europe. Acheson laid down the Cold War policy of containment and helped createNATO. Adams helped conceive the Monroe Doctrine, which defined Central and South America as part of the U.S. sphere of influence. Kissinger pioneered détente with the Soviets, instigated a rapprochement with the Chinese, and did much else besides (by no means all of it estimable). By contrast, Hillary’s signature achievements look like small beer. She was the public face of the U.S. response to the Arab Spring, which involved persuading Hosni Mubarak, the Egyptian President, to step aside peaceably, winning international support for U.S. military intervention in Libya, and resisting international pressure for similar action in Syria. How these policies will ultimately play out, it is too early to say.
The Benghazi killings and their aftermath, for which she has taken responsibility while insisting that more lowly officials made the key decisions, or pieces of indecision, were the most controversial incident of her tenure. The most serious gap in her record, and the record of the Administration, is any serious attempt to tackle the Arab-Israeli conflict—but there, too, the White House held sway. The fact that Hillary didn’t bring peace to Palestine, or redefine the relationship between the United States and China, doesn’t mean she was a failure. Far from it. In carrying out the task she was allotted, she was a big success. It’s just that the nature of her job was very different from the ones that Acheson and Kissinger held. In reality, she wasn’t directing American foreign policy, or anything close. At times, she wasn’t even the Administration’s chief troubleshooter—a niche occupied by a series of special envoys: Richard Holbrooke, George Mitchell, and Dennis Ross. The post she really had was that of U.S. Ambassador to the world, and she made a pretty good fist of it.
In the “60 Minutes” interview, President Obama was surprisingly explicit about how he conceived of Hillary’s role. Referring back to late 2008, he said, “She also was already a world figure. And I thought that somebody stepping into that position of Secretary of State at a time when, keep in mind, we were still in Iraq. Afghanistan was still an enormous challenge. There was great uncertainty in terms of how we would reset our relations around the world. To have somebody who could serve as that effective ambassador in her own right without having to earn her stripes, so to speak, on the international stage, I thought would be hugely important.”
As a globe-trotting representative for the United States, Hillary has had few equals. According to the Travels With the Secretary page on the State Department’s Web site, she has logged 2081.21 hours on the road—not 2081.20, mind you—and clocked up 956,733 miles on the federal frequent-flyer program. In total, she was traveling for four hundred and one days—more than thirteen months—enduring hundreds of long flights and sitting through countless boring meetings. How far this crazy schedule contributed to her recent illness can only be speculated upon—after contracting a stomach virus in Europe, she fell and suffered a concussion that led to a blood clot—but nobody can ever fault her work ethic.
As well as adhering to Woody Allen’s motto that ninety per cent of life is showing up, she also delivered a distinctive message. While it hardly added up to a full-blown “Clinton Doctrine,” it did present a different and more inclusive image of America than the one conveyed by G.I. fatigues and drone missile attacks. Throughout her tenure, she was a vocal proponent of female empowerment, gay rights, and equitable economic development in poor countries. She also defended freedom of expression. Perhaps her most memorable moment was helping to secure the freedom of Chen Guangcheng, the Chinese dissident, who is now a scholar in residence at N.Y.U.
Doubtless, these actions by themselves, were insufficient to drastically change how the world sees the United States. According to polling data from the Pew Foundation, since 2009, shortly after Obama’s election, the number of people holding favorable views of the United States has fallen modestly in China, Europe, and Muslim countries. Even now, though, the Pew survey shows, America is more popular in Europe and Asia than it was at the end of the Bush Administration. (In Pakistan and parts of the Middle East it is less popular.)
Hillary didn’t create these trends, but she did her part for Team U.S.A. As a “rock star diplomat,” she toured tirelessly and put on good shows. Since that’s what she was hired to do, it seems a bit unfair to judge her too harshly.
Photograph: Theron Kirkman-Pool/Getty

Wednesday, August 14, 2013

Age 50 to 65+? Grab Your Discounts!!

List provided by Chuck McDonald


RESTAURANTS:
Applebee's: 15% off with Golden Apple Card (60+)
Arby's: 10% off ( 55 +)
Ben & Jerry's: 10% off (60+)
Bennigan's: discount varies by location (60+)
Bob's Big Boy: discount varies by location (60+)
Boston Market: 10% off (65+)
Burger King: 10% off (60+)
Chick-Fil-A: 10% off or free small drink or coffee ( 55+)
Chili's: 10% off ( 55+)
CiCi's Pizza: 10% off (60+)
Denny's: 10% off, 20% off for AARP members ( 55 +)
Dunkin' Donuts: 10% off or free coffee ( 55+)
Einstein's Bagels: 10% off baker's dozen of bagels (60+)
Fuddrucker's: 10% off any senior platter ( 55+)
Gatti's Pizza: 10% off (60+)
Golden Corral: 10% off (60+)
Hardee's: $0.33 beverages everyday (65+)
IHOP: 10% off ( 55+)
Jack in the Box: up to 20% off ( 55+)
KFC: free small drink with any meal ( 55+)
Krispy Kreme: 10% off ( 50+)
Long John Silver's: various discounts at locations ( 55+)
McDonald's: discounts on coffee everyday ( 55+)
Mrs. Fields: 10% off at participating locations (60+)
Shoney's: 10% off
Sonic: 10% off or free beverage (60+)
Steak 'n Shake: 10% off every Monday & Tuesday ( 50+)
Subway: 10% off (60+)
Subway: 10% off (60+)
Sweet Tomatoes: 10% off (62+)
Taco Bell : 5% off; free beverages for seniors (65+)
TCBY: 10% off ( 55+)
Tea Room Cafe: 10% off ( 50+)
Village Inn: 10% off (60+)
Waffle House: 10% off every Monday (60+)
Wendy's: 10% off ( 55 +)
Whataburger: 10% off (62+)
White Castle: 10% off (62+) This is for me ... if I ever see one again.

RETAIL & APPAREL :
Banana Republic: 30% off ( 50 +)
Bealls: 20% off first Tuesday of each month ( 50 +)
Belk's: 15% off first Tuesday of every month ( 55 +)
Big Lots: 30% off
Bon-Ton Department Stores: 15% off on senior discount days ( 55 +)
C.J. Banks: 10% off every Wednesday (50+)
Clarks : 10% off (62+)
Dress Barn: 20% off ( 55+)
Goodwill: 10% off one day a week (date varies by location)
Hallmark: 10% off one day a week (date varies by location)
Kmart: 40% off (Wednesdays only) ( 50+)
Kohl's: 15% off (60+)Modell's Sporting Goods: 30% off
Rite Aid: 10% off on Tuesdays & 10% off prescriptions
Ross Stores: 10% off every Tuesday ( 55+)
The Salvation Army Thrift Stores: up to 50% off ( 55+)
Stein Mart: 20% off red dot/clearance items first Monday of every month ( 55 +)


GROCERY :
Albertson's: 10% off first Wednesday of each month ( 55 +)
American Discount Stores: 10% off every Monday ( 50 +)
Compare Foods Supermarket: 10% off every Wednesday (60+)
DeCicco Family Markets: 5% off every Wednesday (60+)
Food Lion: 60% off every Monday (60+)
Fry's Supermarket: free Fry's VIP Club Membership & 10% off every Monday ( 55 +)
Great Valu Food Store: 5% off every Tuesday (60+)
Gristedes Supermarket: 10% off every Tuesday (60+)
Harris Teeter: 5% off every Tuesday (60+)
Hy-Vee: 5% off one day a week (date varies by location)
Kroger: 10% off (date varies by location)
Morton Williams Supermarket: 5% off every Tuesday (60+)
The Plant Shed: 10% off every Tuesday ( 50 +)
Publix: 15% off every Wednesday ( 55 +)
Rogers Marketplace: 5% off every Thursday (60+)
Uncle Guiseppe's Marketplace: 15% off (62+)

TRAVEL :
Airlines:
Alaska Airlines: 50% off (65+)
American Airlines: various discounts for 50% off non-peak periods (Tuesdays - Thursdays) (62+)and up (call before booking for discount)
Continental Airlines: no initiation fee for Continental Presidents Club & special fares for select destinations
Southwest Airlines: various discounts for ages 65 and up (call before booking for discount)
United Airlines: various discounts for ages 65 and up (call before booking for discount)
U.S. Airways: various discounts for ages 65 and up (call before booking for discount)

Rail:
Amtrak: 15% off (62+)
Bus:
Greyhound: 15% off (62+)
Trailways Transportation System: various discounts for ages 50+

Car Rental:
Alamo Car Rental: up to 25% off for AARP members
Avis: up to 25% off for AARP members
Budget Rental Cars: 40% off; up to 50% off for AARP members ( 50+)
Dollar Rent-A-Car: 10% off ( 50+) Enterprise Rent-A-Car: 5% off for AARP members Hertz: up to 25% off for AARP members
National Rent-A-Car: up to 30% off for AARP members

Overnight Accommodations:
Holiday Inn: 20-40% off depending on location (62+)
Best Western: 40% off (55+)
Cambria Suites: 20%-30% off (60+)
Waldorf Astoria - NYC $5,000 off nightly rate for Presidential Suite (55 +)
Clarion Motels: 20%-30% off (60+)
Comfort Inn: 20%-30% off (60+)
Comfort Suites: 20%-30% off (60+)
Econo Lodge: 40% off (60+)
Hampton Inns & Suites: 40% off when booked 72 hours in advance
Hyatt Hotels: 25%-50% off (62+)
InterContinental Hotels Group: various discounts at all hotels (65+)
Mainstay Suites: 10% off with Mature Traveler's Discount (50+); 20%-30% off (60+)
Marriott Hotels: 25% off (62+)
Motel 6: Stay Free Sunday nights (60+)
Myrtle Beach Resort: 30% off ( 55 +)
Quality Inn: 40%-50% off (60+)
Rodeway Inn: 20%-30% off (60+)
Sleep Inn: 40% off (60+)

ACTIVITIES & ENTERTAINMENT ;:
AMC Theaters: up to 30% off ( 55 +)
Bally Total Fitness: $100 off memberships (62+)
Busch Gardens Tampa, FL: $13 off one-day tickets ( 50 +)
Carmike Cinemas: 35% off (65+)
Cinemark/Century Theaters: up to 35% off
Massage Envy - NYC 20% off all "Happy Endings" (62 +)
U.S. National Parks: $10 lifetime pass; 50% off additional services including camping (62+)
Regal Cinemas: 50% off Ripley's Believe it or Not: @ off one-day ticket ( 55 +)
SeaWorld, Orlando , FL : $3 off one-day tickets ( 50 +)

CELL PHONE DISCOUNTS :
AT&T: Special Senior Nation 200 Plan $19.99/month (65+)
Jitterbug: $10/month cell phone service ( 50 +)
Verizon Wireless: Verizon Nationwide 65 Plus Plan $29.99/month (65+).

MISCELLANEOUS:
Great Clips: $8 off hair cuts (60+)
Supercuts: $8 off haircuts (60+)

Friday, August 9, 2013

DX integrates Nightfreight to create DX Freight

DX, the parcel distribution company, is launching DX Freight – rebranding the Nightfreight business that it bought in February 2012.

Petar Cvetkovic, chief executive office of DX Group, said: “By bringing Nightfreight under the DX brand, we are now capable of providing even greater customer choice through our extensive mail, courier and network distribution services. Our broad range of options – from delivering parcels, through to arranging two-man deliveries, to our more original mail offering – can now satisfy an even wider range of business and consumer needs.” More....

Wednesday, August 7, 2013

Trucking Recruiters Shift Into High Gear

Trucking Recruiters Shift Into High Gear

June 14, 2013
 
This may be the summer to hang it all up, lay in some beef jerky, and hit the open road. A shortage of truck drivers in the U.S. is expected to worsen when new federal regulations drastically reduce the time drivers can be on the road.

On July 1, truckers will have to pull over after 70 hours of driving a week, vs. the 82 hours they can log today. They will be able to “reset” a weeklong work period, but not before getting 34 consecutive hours of rest spanning two nights.

The rules will be a major “productivity ding” for the industry, according to Sean McNally, spokesman for the American Trucking Associations, a trade group that represents some 30,000 outfits. “We’re just going to have to put more trucks on the road in general.”

The measures will likely add to expenses at a host of companies such as FedEx (FDX) and United Parcel Service (UPS), but will be particularly hard on long-haul specialists like Swift Transportation (SWFT), Schneider National, and Werner Enterprises (WERN). J.B. Hunt Transport Services (JBHT), which has 11,000 drivers crisscrossing the country, has told investors to expect “some negative impact on productivity.”

Long-haul routes are harder on drivers, because they stray so far from home and any sort of fixed schedule, according to McNally.

The industry is already short 25,000 truckers, according to ATA, and the demand for getting goods and materials from point A to point B has increased in step with the economy at large. Slightly more than half of those in the trucking business expect demand to increase in the next six months, according to a recent survey by Bloomberg.

The burgeoning economy is also providing truckers better job opportunities elsewhere. Turnover among long-haul drivers was almost 100 percent last year, its highest rate since 2007, according to ATA. The renaissance of homebuilding, in particular, has hurt recruiting and retention.

The threat to margins is so great, in fact, the industry sued to head off the coming rules, though it is looking increasingly unlikely that there will be a ruling in the case before the July 1 deadline.
In the meantime, trucking companies are trying to sweeten incentives for employees. Swift, which has about 13,500 drivers, offered its best drivers bonuses of up to six cents per mile last summer, a policy that pushed its first-quarter salary expenses up 3.2 percent. J.B. Hunt, meanwhile, spent 5.5 percent more on workers in the first quarter.

As a share of revenue, however, those raises weren’t noticeable. Transportation executives may be masters of managing a supply chain, but they have proved pretty terrible at taking care of a human resources pipeline. Last year, the median wage for the country’s 1.6 million truck drivers was $38,200, on average. That’s not terrible—better than the overall average wage, in fact—but if it were higher, trucking firms wouldn’t be so strapped for employees or rattled by the coming rules.

Are Diesel Prices Leading to Demise of Trucking?