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Selected News For Week Aug 2 - Aug 8

This thread is for the busy bees of S&L to post news items themselves.

In order to make the articles as readable as possible, please try to stick to the format described in the first of these weekly editions here.

Of course articles that fit under the topic of a recent thread should be posted there. As always, remember to excerpt heavily and to provide a link to the original source.

Related Articles:

This article was posted by Steve Gilbert on Saturday, August 2nd, 2008 at 12:00 am. You can leave a response.

69 Responses to “Selected News For Week Aug 2 - Aug 8”

BillK
August 2nd, 2008 at 5:09 am
Coming soon to San Francisco and, by extension, the United States of Obama.

From the San Francisco Chronicle:

S.F. mayor proposes fines for unsorted trash

By John Coté

Garbage collectors would inspect San Francisco residents’ trash to make sure pizza crusts aren’t mixed in with chip bags or wine bottles under a proposal by Mayor Gavin Newsom.

And if residents or businesses don’t separate the coffee grounds from the newspapers, they would face fines of up to $1,000 and eventually could have their garbage service stopped.

The plan to require proper sorting of refuse would be the nation’s first mandatory recycling and composting law. It would direct garbage collectors to inspect the trash to make sure it is put into the right blue, black or green bin, according to a draft of the legislation prepared by the city’s Department of the Environment.

The program is designed to limit the amount of food and foliage that goes into the city-contracted landfill in Alameda County, where the refuse takes up costly space and decomposes to form methane, one of the most potent of greenhouse gases. It will also help San Francisco, which city officials say currently diverts 70 percent of its waste from landfills, achieve a goal set by the Board of Supervisors to divert 75 percent by 2010 and have zero waste by 2020.

“If we’re truly going to be the city we promote ourselves to be, a world-class, 21st century city that advances its values and principles, we’re going to have to try new things,” Newsom said Thursday. “People are used to doing things a certain way. And when you change that, they say it can’t be done. Well, we’ve proved them wrong.”

He pointed to a doubling in the city’s recycling rate from 1996 to 2008, but acknowledged “it will take some time” to win over hearts and minds.

“People don’t knowingly want to waste,” Environment Department Director Jared Blumenfeld said. “At the moment, we have a missed opportunity, which is that we’re at a 70 percent recycling rate. Overnight we could be at 92 percent if everything people are throwing away that could be reused or recycled actually was.”

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/.....122A98.DTL

The garbage gestapo. Nice.

You can’t intercept the phone calls of terrorists, but woe be to al Qaeda if they toss out coffee grounds wrapped in newspaper.
BillK
August 2nd, 2008 at 5:14 am
From the AP:

Obama shifts, says he may back offshore drilling

By Mike Glover

Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama said Friday he would be willing to support limited additional offshore oil drilling if that’s what it takes to enact a comprehensive policy to foster fuel-efficient autos and develop alternate energy sources.

Shifting from his previous opposition to expanded offshore drilling, the Illinois senator told a Florida newspaper he could get behind a compromise with Republicans and oil companies to prevent gridlock over energy.

Republican rival John McCain, who earlier dropped his opposition to offshore drilling, has been criticizing Obama on the stump and in broadcast ads for clinging to his opposition as gasoline prices topped $4 a gallon. Polls indicate these attacks have helped McCain gain ground on Obama.

“My interest is in making sure we’ve got the kind of comprehensive energy policy that can bring down gas prices,” Obama said in an interview with The Palm Beach Post.

“If, in order to get that passed, we have to compromise in terms of a careful, well thought-out drilling strategy that was carefully circumscribed to avoid significant environmental damage — I don’t want to be so rigid that we can’t get something done.”

Asked about Obama’s comment, McCain said, “We need oil drilling and we need it now offshore. He has consistently opposed it. He has opposed nuclear power. He has opposed reprocessing. He has opposed storage.” The GOP candidate said Obama doesn’t have a plan equal to the nation’s energy challenges.

In Congress, both parties have fought bitterly over energy policy for weeks, with Republicans pressing for more domestic oil drilling and Democrats railing about oil company profits. Despite hundreds of hours of House and Senate floor debate, lawmakers will leave Washington for their five-week summer hiatus this week with an empty tank.

“The Republicans and the oil companies have been really beating the drums on drilling,” Obama said in the Post interview. “And so we don’t want gridlock. We want to get something done.” …

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/.....324D19.DTL

See, it’s Obama that will get everything done.

So Obama’s plan? Drill off more conservative states, keep it illegal where you have lots of libs:

The so-called Gang of 10 plan would lift drilling bans in the eastern Gulf of Mexico within 50 miles of Florida’s beaches and in the South Atlantic off Virginia, the Carolinas and Georgia, but only if a state agrees to the oil and gas development along its coast. The states would share in revenues from oil and gas development.

Drilling bans along the Pacific coast and the Northeast would remain in place under this compromise.

Also:

The plan also includes energy initiatives Obama has endorsed. “It would repeal tax breaks for oil companies so that we can invest billions in fuel-efficient cars, help our automakers re-tool, and make a genuine commitment to renewable sources of energy like wind power, solar power, and the next generation of clean, affordable biofuels,” Obama noted.

Of course Republicans will see this as a good thing - and don’t worry, that $1000 from the “windfall taxes” should go quite nicely to pay for the $10/gallon gas all of Obama’s tax plans will insure.

As for the “Gang of 10″ - I’m sure McCain is jealous he couldn’t be part of it.
BillK
August 2nd, 2008 at 5:21 am
What better way to insure job growth than to make sure it costs employers as much as possible to hire someone?

From the San Francisco Chronicle:

Bill would require paid sick days for most

By Ilana DeBare

As many as 5.4 million working Californians don’t get any paid sick days - and they tend to be both sicker and poorer than employees who do receive sick leave, according to a report released Wednesday.

“The more you need paid sick days, the less likely you are to have them,” said Dr. Rajiv Bhatia, director of occupational and environmental health for San Francisco and a contributor to the report.

The report was released by supporters of a bill that would require all California employers to provide paid time off for workers to care for themselves or family members.

That bill - AB2716 by Assemblywoman Fiona Ma, D-San Francisco - was modeled on the paid sick leave law that took effect last year in San Francisco. The bill passed the state Assembly in May and is scheduled for a hearing next week in the Senate Appropriations Committee.

Business groups led by the California Chamber of Commerce oppose the sick leave bill, saying it is a complicated and costly mandate that could force companies to cut wages or lay off workers.

“In this economy, money is stretched pretty thin for California employers,” said chamber spokeswoman Marti Fisher. “It’s a bad idea to mandate benefits. This could force employers to cut back on hours, raises or even lay people off.”

But backers said the public health benefits will outweigh any costs to employers.

“It’s important for policymakers to see paid sick days not only as a labor policy but as a public health policy,” said Bhatia. “One-third of seasonal flu is transmitted in schools and workplaces. Workers without sick days are less likely to stay home and more likely to contribute to the spread of the flu.” …

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/.....1224UE.DTL

Sorry, you can’t stay in business with “public health benefits.”

I think anyone wanting to foist this cr*p on the public should be required to run a business, using their own money, for one week.

Remember when FMLA was passed and its proponents were adamant it wouldn’t lead to mandatory paid leave legislation?

Increased minimum wage, mandatory health insurance, mandatory sick days.

If you own a small business you should beat the rush and liquidate now.
BillK
August 2nd, 2008 at 5:37 am
Just a little more from the wonderful state of California.

From the Los Angeles Times:

California attorney general to sue EPA

By Geoffrey Mohan

The region’s bustling ports have become a favored backdrop for environmental announcements, and that’s not lost on California Atty. Gen. Edmund G. Brown Jr., who stood before the gantry cranes and containers Thursday and threw jabs at the federal Environmental Protection Agency.

Brown officially started the clock ticking toward the filing of a suit against the agency for not regulating greenhouse gases emitted by ships, trucks and other equipment at the port:

“Ships, aircraft and industrial equipment burn huge quantities of fossil fuel and cause massive greenhouse gas pollution. … Because Bush’s Environmental Protection Agency continues to wantonly disregard its duty to regulate pollution, California is forced to seek judicial action.”

The EPA has put off action to regulate greenhouse gases, and last month announced it was soliciting comments on ways to approach the issue.

It’s been a bad week for the agency, and some might say a bad seven months or so, since it rejected California’s attempt to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from vehicles. Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) has publicly accused EPA Director Stephen Johnson of deceiving and obfuscating on global warming issues and other matters, and joined with three other senators this week to demand his resignation.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.co.....-atto.html

Since there are more cars in California than anywhere else in the country, why doesn’t the EPA take action and simply ban the internal combustion engine there first?

Then we’ll see how much people appreciate Boxer and Pelosi. You know, the ones with the limos and who fly back and forth to D.C. regularly.
wardmama4
August 2nd, 2008 at 7:51 am
Obama opposes slavery reparations, apology
By CHRISTOPHER WILLS, Associated Press Writer 2 hours, 55 minutes ago

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. - Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama opposes offering reparations to the descendants of slaves, putting him at odds with some black groups and leaders.

The man with a serious chance to become the nation’s first black president argues that government should instead combat the legacy of slavery by improving schools, health care and the economy for all. . .

. . .Some two dozen members of Congress are co-sponsors of legislation to create a commission that would study reparations — that is, payments and programs to make up for the damage done by slavery. . .

The National Urban League — a group Obama is to address Saturday — avoids the word “reparations” as too vague and highly charged. But the group advocates government action to close the gaps between white America and black America. . .

***************
In regards to the highlighted part - uhm, will that mean I’ll get reparations (especially since most of my ancestors weren’t even here during slavery and those that were didn’t) since I’m no where near ‘close’ to Mr Kobe Bryant, Mr ‘Ludicris’ Bridges or oh say even Ms Oprah Winfrey?!?

The real question should be why - why some people don’t want to make it, why some people chose crime, why someone would cut off a head on a bus and why some people would sit on their a**es and let it happen. . .Not why someone with a college degree and a ton of desire that fuels a dream makes more money than anyone else (and gives a lot of it back) and why someone who uses drugs or drinks and never bothered a day in school and doesn’t even have a HS diploma has nothing - that, my dear fiberals is a DUH big time.

And in regards to the headline - Only until he is back in the Senate or elected Master of the Universe [I read a new name for Obamanation - Dalibama!!Hugh Hewlit Good One.] Then it will become White Man in America funds everything to ‘repay’ all the original American sin. . .Remember where he comes from - God d*** America for 20 years - btw in his book Dreams - he does say he met (the not-so) Rev Wright and read the literature - before he even went to the church or joined it - I wonder how he explains that - oh yeah I forgot, the msm would say that is so yesterday’s story. . .
JohnMG
August 2nd, 2008 at 8:45 am
…..”Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama opposes offering reparations to the descendants of slaves………..(he)argues that government should instead combat the legacy of slavery by improving schools, health care and the economy for all…..” (Do we need to guess who the target groups will be? After all, anyone with a functioning brain in his/her head, and a decent work ethic, doesn’t need his proposed expanded social welfare. And the “legacy of slavery”–just exactly what is that “legacy”, and who defines it?)

Just one more example of the egregious double-speak that issues from his mouth every time he opens it. I find it sad that his awareness of just how ignorant the voting population is allows him to exploit that weakness to his advantage. Even more pitiful than that is a fawning media, which one hopes isn’t as gullible, allowing themselves to become the instrument of such deception. He is a manipulator of the highest order. His potential for doing irreparable damage to our lives and those of our progeny are forces to be reckoned with now, not after November.

Alas. I feel I’m surrounded by idiots!
learner
August 2nd, 2008 at 11:52 am
I realize this is a conservative site with conservative commenters and a video of democrats is something most wont watch. This video comes from Hillary 08 and shows how the Obama campaign bought the presidential primary race. I laughed all the way through it because if it was Hillary buying votes it would never have been posted.The video does show the dissent in the democrat party and with their convention coming up how this dissent will play into the Unity bs.It also shows that votes in the democrat party mean nothing when there is cash to be made.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v.....mapac.org/
I was trying to hunt down a video of Hillary at a small gathering where she was asked if she would deny her supporters the right to write her in as the democrat presidential candidate.In the video she said she would not.
Let the party begin.
SG
August 2nd, 2008 at 12:40 pm
Thanks, Learner.

We have posted about the buying of the Dem superdelegates quite often in the past, including:

How The Super Delegates Have Been Bought | Sweetness & Light
http://sweetness-light.com/arc.....are-bought

How The Dem’s System Is Rigged For Hillary | Sweetness & Light
http://sweetness-light.com/arc.....or-hillary

And there are a lot more posts on the subject here:

http://tinyurl.com/5b5btt
learner
August 2nd, 2008 at 1:35 pm
SG. This video breaks down the dollars spent on some of the super delegates by both Hillary and Obama. In most cases the popular vote for Hillary should have won her the delegate,but it was the $$ from Obama that made the difference.I have read the articles you posted here and knew the democrat primary was less about votes then it is about the $$,but when you see that the democrats are figuring this out and posting it on web sites that other democrats read it becomes a miracle. Almost greater then “The One” himself.I should have added this link to Puma pac that breaks down the numbers w/o the video:
http://blog.pumapac.org/2008/0.....s-talking/
This could mark the beginning of the end of the democrat party as we know it.Denver will show a united or divided democrat party.If Hillarys supporters are shut out of the convention there will be “H”to pay.
wardmama4
August 2nd, 2008 at 11:04 pm
learner - I hope that you are right. With this week and seeing some of the fast talking and shuffling as Obamanation did not lock a huge bounce from his Summer World Tour - I am beginning to suspect that you are right - many Dems are not liking what they have been handed - much like the conservatives of the Republicans - who do not like what we have been handed in McAmnesty.

All in all - Nov is not going to be what the RNC and DNC are expecting at all.

And Ms Pelosi just might have pounded the final nail in the coffin with her stunt on Friday of shutting down the Energy Bill.

Which is fine by me - I don’t like McAmnesty at all - but given the alternatives (all of them) well he is the least worst of the bunch.
BillK
August 3rd, 2008 at 8:25 am
The latest from the AP on I-Am-A-Nutjob:

Ahmadinejad: Iran aims to reinforce nuclear rights

By Nasser Karimi

TEHRAN,Iran (AP) — Iran will not give up “a single iota of its nuclear rights,” the country’s president said Saturday, rebuffing an informal deadline to stop expanding uranium enrichment or face more sanctions.

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad made the remarks during discussions with Syrian President Beshar Assad, who arrived in Tehran Saturday for a two-day visit, the Iranian president’s official Web site said.

Assad is in Tehran to discuss Iran’s controversial uranium enrichment following a request from French President Nicolas Sarkozy.

Tehran was given an informal two-week deadline, set July 19 by the U.N. Security Council’s five permanent members plus Germany, to stop expanding uranium enrichment - at least temporarily - in exchange for their commitment to stop seeking new U.N. sanctions.

Ahmadinejad’s stance signaled both a failure of Assad’s mission and a rejection of the deadline, although his comments indicated he was not ruling out international talks on Iran’s nuclear program.

While stating that the Iranian nation “will not give up a single iota of its nuclear rights,” he also said any participation in international talks on the nuclear issue would be aimed at reinforcing those rights.

Assad, who has been seeking a more prominent Mideast role for Syria, promised Sarkozy during a visit to France in July to try to persuade Iran to offer proof to the West that it isn’t developing nuclear weapons.

Syria is Iran’s closest Arab ally - the two countries have had close relations since 1980, when Syria sided with Persian Iran against Iraq in the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war.

Iran’s claims that it only wants nuclear technology for the production of energy have failed to quell Western suspicions that it is seeking a pathway to an atomic bomb. …

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/I/IRAN_SYRIA

Awww, people won’t believe him.

Wonder why.

When the first underground test is conducted, will Iran claim it was an “accident” at a “power plant?”

Of course he’s going about this all wrong.

If he just stated Iran is doing this to generate “clean” energy to reduce their CO2 output because “America will not,” the left would throw open their arms and he’d get a free pass.

Given that’s what Obama will do.

Ahmadinejad’s also not an idiot; he sees how well this type of shell game has worked for North Korea.
BillK
August 3rd, 2008 at 8:53 am
Have a trash can nearby to vomit into.

From the LA Times’ political blog:

Barack Obama fans wish Mr. President a happy birthday

By Don Frederick and Andrew Malcolm

The Ticket needs to apologize because apparently we missed something — like the next three months and election day.

Sen. Barack Obama walked into a town hall meeting in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, last week. The crowd was enthusiastic, ready to see and cheer him.

But the happy crowd did not sing “Happy birthday, Sen. Obama.”

It confidently sang “Happy birthday, Mr. President.”

And Barack Obama looked very pleased to hear it.

http://www.latimes.com/news/na.....1119.story

It’s becoming clearer and clearer his legion of brainwashed drones believe the election to be merely a formality before the coronation of Their Lord.

Truly sad.
BillK
August 3rd, 2008 at 8:56 am
From the San Francisco Chronicle, it appears actual Democrats are battling among themselves to see who will run against the state’s existing (all but) Democrat governor.

If Feinstein’s in, Dem rivals should bow out

By Willie Brown

Will she? Won’t she? And what if she does?

That poll Matier and Ross published in The Chronicle showing Sen. Dianne Feinstein beating out all the other Democrats hands down in the governor’s primary for 2010 is driving all the other wannabe candidates crazy, especially Attorney General Jerry Brown.

I know Dianne has talked to at least one person about the governor’s race. But she will never say so publicly, because if it got out that she was even “looking” at a possible run for governor, it would be the same as saying that she’s in.

But trust me, Dianne needs to be assured she is going to win before she runs for anything. There is no way at this stage of her life that she would risk a loss.

If she does get in, it’s over, at least on the Democratic side. Everybody, and I mean everybody, else steps out.

That would mean Jerry Brown would stay on as attorney general - which means that San Francisco District Attorney Kamala Harris, who has been thinking of running for AG, would probably run for mayor instead.

As for Gavin Newsom, he would immediately defer to Dianne and hope that she appoints him as her replacement in the Senate.

In fact, Gavin should call and offer to be Dianne’s campaign chairman if she runs.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/.....&tsp=1

Certainly she couldn’t be any further left than Ahnold, could she?
Liberals Make Great Speedbumps
August 3rd, 2008 at 10:21 am
“Bill would require paid sick days for most”

BillK,

There is an active attempt to get the same nonsense on the ballot this Nov. in Ohio. Supporters are attempting to get 7 mandatory sick days. Surprisingly however, even our Dem. Governor (Strickland) is attempting to keep it off the ballot by suggesting both sides reach a compromise. Ohio is bad enough already for business. I hope that this doesn’t get the chance to further compound the problem.
1sttofight
August 3rd, 2008 at 2:30 pm
Everyone needs to watch Murtha get his large rear kicked to the curb.

http://hotair.com/archives/200.....on-murtha/
BillK
August 4th, 2008 at 5:33 am
From the AP, the latest from the nut to the south:

Chavez: Russian Jets Can Repel Attack on Venezuela

CARACAS, Venezuela — Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez says 24 Sukhoi fighter jets have been delivered to Venezuela — and are ready to defend his country from “imperialist” aggressions.

Chavez claims the U.S. Navy’s Fourth Fleet poses a threat to Venezuela, and he’s vowing to push forward with a multibillion-dollar arms buildup aimed at dissuading a possible U.S. military strike.

“They’re for defensive purposes, we’re not going to attack anybody,” Chavez said Sunday of the Russian-made jets.

The Fourth Fleet was active during World War II but was dissolved in 1950. The U.S. Navy announced it would re-establish the fleet to direct naval forces in the Caribbean and Latin America.

U.S. officials deny Washington has designs on Venezuela.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,396741,00.html

First jets; can ICBMs be far behind?
artboyusa
August 4th, 2008 at 5:59 am
artboyusa
August 4th, 2008 at 6:12 am
I was going to post an address where you could find the full text of Solzhenitsyn’s 1978 Address at Harvard but for some reason, possibly owing to my IT ignorance, it wouldn’t work but if you do a search you’ll find it easily. Still highly relevant today and, like anything AS wrote, worth checking out.
sheehanjihad
August 4th, 2008 at 6:35 am
Chavez: Russian Jets Can Repel Attack on Venezuela”

Hugo is gonna learn the hard way that he rules his country as long as we let him. Another reason everyone is so hell bent on Obama becoming president. Obama will not only let him, he will encourage him to defend himself from us by taking over neighboring countries for “purely defensive purposes”.

Chavez is also a fool. Russia sells weapons to de stabilize the region for it’s own purposes. Hugo is the perfect foil. Cuba is ever so slowly ebbing toward freeing itself from communism, and Russia needs another patsy.

The difference being, unlike Cuba, Chavez has tons of money. He is easily swayed. Russia needs money……so they sell billions of dollars worth of military equipment by convincing Chavez that an invasion is imminent. Russia’s got a win win….Chavez gets used.

If Chavez ever realized how easily his jets would be shot from the sky by US pilots…..he would use his oil revenue for the good of his people, and not to maintain his inflated ego.
Diane
August 4th, 2008 at 11:15 am
@artboy - Here you go.

Clilck here

It’s a good one.
artboyusa
August 4th, 2008 at 11:40 am
Thanks, Diane. That’s the stuff, huh?
Zilla
August 4th, 2008 at 10:48 pm
Hurricane coming to Houston.
Woo-Hoo!!

Can’t wait to get my FEMA card.
navycopjoe
August 5th, 2008 at 1:54 am
I declare war on Australia!!
From news.com.au, damn them.

AN Australian submarine has used a new super torpedo to sink an American warship off Hawaii.

The Courier-Mail reports HMAS Waller fired the heavyweight Mark 48 torpedo, which the US and Australian navies say is the world’s deadliest, during war games this week.

Photos of the warship being torpedoed

Defence Minister Joel Fitzgibbon said the torpedo had been jointly developed by Australia and the United States and was used in the planned sinking of a retired US warship.

“This represents the first new heavyweight torpedo warshot to be fired by either Navy. Just as significant is the fact that the torpedo was assembled in Australia,” Mr Fitzgibbon said.
http://www.news.com.au/story/0.....21,00.html

My last ship, USS Fletcher crew July 1998 to Jan 2003
I was reading the newspaper and just lit my cigarette with my Fletcher zippo when I saw this.
Only a sailor can know this pain.
RIP Fletcher
BillK
August 5th, 2008 at 5:14 am
When you stay at a hotel do you want the room to be cool and inviting when you return? Do you like the lights on?

You evil, evil person.

From the Treason Times:

Will Americans Accept Greener Hotel Rooms?

By Fred A. Bernstein

SEAN MacPHERSON, the New York hotelier, has been to Europe dozens of times. And he knows that across the Continent, many hotel rooms have master switches that help reduce power use.

Usually, a guest inserts a card into a slot when entering the room to turn on the electricity. Removing the card (which doubles as the room key) on the way out the door shuts off the power.

It is an easy way to conserve energy. Yet it is almost never seen in the United States. Guests who are in a hurry — or simply don’t care about saving electricity — leave TVs, air-conditioners and lights on when there is no one in the room. Brian McGuinness, a vice president of Starwood Hotels and Resorts, explained the mind-set of some travelers: “Part of being on the road means the ability to live a little more luxuriously than at home, and that means not having to turn off the lights and the TV.”

Mr. McGuinness added, “People say they want to be green, but they don’t want to compromise.” As a result, he said, “We don’t really know yet what it means to be green in the hospitality field.”

Last month, Starwood, which owns Westin and Sheraton Hotels, began a new “green” brand, called Element, which it bills as being eco-conscious and “kind to the environment,” with ample natural light, in-room recycling bins and faucet filters meant to reduce reliance on bottled water. But so far, Element hotels do not have master switches in their guest rooms.

Mr. McGuinness, the executive responsible for the Element brand, said that before building the hotels, the company surveyed potential customers about energy-saving features, including master switches.

“Some,” he recalled, “said they would suffer discomfort because they would get back to their room and it would be extremely hot.” Others, he said, “indicated that entering a dark room could be a safety issue.”

He said that future Element hotels might have a compromise master switch — one that controls the lights and the TV, while leaving the air-conditioning on.

Wen-I Chang, the developer of the Gaia Merced — a hotel being built in central California with master switches — estimated the price of installing them at about $300 a room, or less than one-quarter of 1 percent of the cost of construction.

Raefer K. Wallis, a Canadian-born architect living in China, helped design a hotel in Shanghai that is intended to be “carbon neutral.” That meant giving the hotel, called URBN, energy-saving features, including master switches. But in North America, he said, hoteliers think: “Why run the risk of losing a customer because a room needs a few minutes to cool while the air-conditioning kicks in? It’s better business just to run the A.C. and make sure the client comes back.”

Mr. Wallis added, “North America just doesn’t have the culture of saving resources.”

But Mr. MacPherson said he thinks the mood in this country is shifting. …

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08.....3sqft.html

I also suspect Obama and friends will enforce this quite soon.

The way I handle it now is if a hotel has one of these systems I ask for another key and leave it in the power slot.

I’ve no idea when I’m going to get back to the room and I don’t want it to be 85 degrees inside when I return. Silly me.

Hotels are supposed to be about comfort - remember that?

No, it’s all about shared sacrifice now.

No AC for you! Carbon!

No TV for you! Carbon!

Soon we’ll be back to back-woods cabins without power - hey, that causes pollution! - or running water - you know how much energy it costs to clean that water and make it potable?

Nope, four walls, a cot (hey, sheets have to be laundered, that’s not green!) and an outhouse out back with a stack of leaves.

Welcome to the Four Seasons, circa 2010.
BillK
August 5th, 2008 at 8:10 am
It’s always nice to see our educational system at work.

From the Los Angeles Times:

Accused Al Qaeda sleeper agent in custody

Aafia Siddiqui, a Pakistani mother of three who studied at MIT, is said to have moved in the terrorist group’s inner circles. She faces charges of firing at U.S. personnel in Afghanistan.

By Josh Meyer

WASHINGTON — One of the more elusive and mysterious figures linked to Al Qaeda — a Pakistani mother of three who studied biology at MIT and who authorities say spent years in the United States as a sleeper agent — was flown to New York on Monday night to face charges of attempting to kill U.S. military and FBI personnel in Afghanistan.

The Justice Department, FBI and U.S. military in Afghanistan said that Aafia Siddiqui, 36, was arrested in Ghazni province three weeks ago. She is accused of firing an automatic rifle at FBI agents and soldiers and is scheduled to appear before a federal judge in Manhattan today.

Authorities believe Siddiqui used the technical skills she acquired at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to do what virtually no other woman has accomplished — work her way into the clubby inner circles of Al Qaeda’s command and control operation, including its chemical and biological weapons program.

But questions swirled around her Monday evening, including whether she has been in Pakistani custody for at least part of the last five years and whether there is hard evidence that she was a trained, committed and hardened Al Qaeda operative, as former Atty. Gen. John Ashcroft and other U.S. officials have contended.

“This doesn’t pass the sniff test,” Elaine W. Sharp, a Massachusetts defense lawyer representing Siddiqui, said of the circumstances surrounding her client’s arrest. She said her client was not an Al Qaeda terrorist, but an innocent woman who had been held at Bagram air base in Afghanistan or elsewhere for the last several years and tortured by some combination of U.S., Pakistani and Afghan officials. …

http://www.latimes.com/news/na.....9105.story

Yep, U.S. forces tortured this poor, innocent woman so of course she fired a weapon at agents.

When did it become SOP to transfer a potential terrorist arrested in Afghanistan to the US to appear before a federal judge?

Oh yeah. Thank the Supreme Court.

The defense lawyer’s comments are yet another example that had the 9/11 attack been prevented, those involved would have been released on bail after just a few days - “Take over airliners with box cutters and fly them into buildings? Does the prosecution believe Your Honor has been smoking crack? I move for an immediate dismissal.”

Here’s more:

According to court papers, Afghan national police officers in Ghazni province, south of Kabul, the capital, observed Siddiqui acting suspiciously near the provincial governor’s compound July 17.

When they searched her handbag, they found documents relating to explosives, chemical weapons and weapons involving biological materials and radiological agents, along with descriptions of landmarks in New York City and elsewhere in the United States, and liquid and gel substances sealed in bottles and jars.

The next day, according to the court papers, she was being questioned by two FBI agents, an Army captain and an Army warrant officer, along with their interpreters.

A spokeswoman for U.S. forces at Bagram air base, Lt. Col. Rumi Nielson-Green, said Siddiqui, who was being interrogated at an Afghan police station, grabbed a gun that a U.S. military officer had laid down while speaking to Afghan police. He did not realize Siddiqui was in the room at the time, unsecured, because she was hidden behind a curtain.

“She seized a weapon and began to shoot,” Nielson-Green said. “Our officer returned fire. She was shot in the stomach, but continued to struggle.”

She was subsequently hospitalized at Bagram and “was not in the detention facility at any time,” Nielson-Green said. Siddiqui was flown to the United States after being found well enough to travel, the spokeswoman said.

Siddiqui is charged in a criminal complaint filed in the Southern District of New York with one count of attempting to kill United States officers and employees and one count of assaulting U.S. officers and employees. If convicted, she faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison on each charge.

Where she’ll get fed, clothed and free prayer mats all paid for by the taxpayers of the land she wants to destroy.

Not a bad deal.
BillK
August 5th, 2008 at 8:17 am
Male retirees had better look hard and fast at this before deciding who to vote for this fall, given this will most certainly become policy under any form of socialized medicine.

From the Los Angeles Times:

Stop prostate exams at age 75, federal panel recommends

Side effects of cancer treatments and stress from false positives outweigh any potential benefits, the group says. There’s a backlash to the recommendation among some experts.

By Thomas H. Maugh II and Denise Gellene

Men over the age of 75 should no longer be screened for prostate cancer because the potential harm from the test results — both physical and psychological — outweighs any potential benefit from treatment, a federal panel said Monday.

Most oncologists already argue against treating most men in that age group for prostate cancer because they are more likely to die from some other cause than from their tumor.

The new guidelines go one step further, saying, in effect, why test if the patient is unlikely to be treated?

The guidelines, published in the Annals of Internal Medicine, are only recommendations, but they are relied on by many physicians in determining patient care.

The recommendations could therefore trigger a decline in prostate cancer testing in the elderly.

The recommendations provoked a backlash from some experts.

“It sounds like a regulation promulgated by an HMO” to save money, said Dr. Dudley Danoff, president of Tower Urology in Los Angeles.

“I don’t think it is fair to a guy who is 75. Yesterday’s 75 is not the 75 of the 1950s. . . . If you stop screening and treating men at 75, you are going to have a lot more people dying of prostate cancer.”

Dr. David Penson, associate professor of urology at USC’s Keck School of Medicine, called the recommendation “a form of ageism.”

“You can’t make cookie- cutter recommendations,” Penson said, adding that the advice could hurt patients by prompting insurance companies to stop paying for the cancer test, which costs $40 to $60.

Prostate cancer is the most common type of cancer among men after skin cancer. The American Cancer Society estimates that 186,320 new cases of prostate cancer will be diagnosed in the U.S. in 2008 and that 28,660 men will die of the disease this year.

There is controversy about whether to treat prostate cancer, because the tumors can take two forms: a fast-growing, aggressive one or a slowly progressing one that is relatively benign.

Most elderly men have the slow-growing form.

“The problem is that we can’t tell which ones are really bad,” said Danoff, who had not seen the new guidelines.

The test in question is called the prostate-specific antigen or PSA test, which most men start receiving at the age of 50.

High blood levels of the antigen in the test generally indicate the presence of a tumor. But confirming it requires a biopsy.

Current guidelines from the American Cancer Society and the American Urological Assn. recommend that the test be given to men older than 50 if they have a life expectancy of more than 10 years. But that has been problematic for doctors because gauging life expectancies can be difficult.

The new guidelines were issued by the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, which was established by Congress to make recommendations about preventive care for healthy people.

http://www.latimes.com/feature.....7698.story

It’s not far from this to simply not paying for treatment of a variety of diseases for those past a certain age, as is already the case in the U.K.
BillK
August 5th, 2008 at 8:23 am
An amazingly (well, not really) editorial from the Los Angeles Times:

Obama’s energy boost

The Democrat doesn’t have all the answers, but he shows why the issue must be a national priority.

Barack Obama celebrated his 47th birthday Monday by making a big wish: Within a decade, he wants the United States to be so energy efficient and so rife with new clean-energy technologies that it would no longer need to import oil from the Middle East and Venezuela. If that goal seems almost absurdly ambitious, at least the Democratic presidential candidate doesn’t shirk from saying so. He called breaking our oil addiction among the greatest challenges of this generation, an effort akin to winning World War II or putting a man on the moon.

Unfortunately, there is a direct correlation between the prominence of energy as a campaign issue and the price of gasoline. If history is any guide, the zeal of both Obama and Republican contender John McCain for reducing our reliance on foreign oil will vanish when or if pump prices drop significantly. Still, it’s refreshing to hear a candidate put this country’s energy challenges into proper perspective, give them the high priority they have long lacked and tell Americans the truth about what it will take to overcome them.

This isn’t to say that Obama has all the answers. Some of his proposals, in fact, would be counterproductive. He favors recovering more oil from domestic shale deposits, a spectacularly polluting process. He also wants to send working families a $1,000 “energy rebate” funded by new taxes on oil companies, a move that would slow the oil giants’ investments in research, exploration and recovery and thus could ultimately cause oil prices to rise even further.

Obama nonetheless is right about energy more often than he’s wrong, and also is right more often than McCain. The latter, once an opponent of offshore oil drilling, now talks about little else, even though it would have no short-term effect on oil prices and would wreck pristine coastlines, exacerbate greenhouse gas emissions and do almost nothing to reduce the need for oil imports.

Obama is correct that the U.S. must make its cars, buildings and appliances more energy-efficient. It must get more of its electricity from renewable sources such as the wind and the sun, and it must modernize the grid to handle these new sources. It must invest more in sustainable biofuels such as cellulosic (not corn-derived) ethanol, and it must come up with a way to make carbon emitters pay for their pollution.

Ending our oil addiction will be an immense struggle, and Obama deserves credit for pointing out that we must first admit we have a problem, then commit to solving it. GOP leaders — lately including McCain, who was once more environmentally responsible — simply want to give the country another fix. That might win votes, but it will improve nothing.

http://www.latimes.com/news/op.....9067.story

God help us.

It must really pain McCain to see all of his “friends” in the MSM he’s so carefully courted for so long turn against him.

We know he hasn’t given a #$@! about conservatives, so who’s left on his side?

Meanwhile the tired arguments about off-shore drilling ruining coast lines and not doing anything to lower oil prices in the face of Obama’s call to release oil from the SPR are laughable at best.

Once again, I think the oil companies should at this time just decline to do business with those in California who believe they are so evil.

Finally, if I were the CEO of ExxonMobil, Chevron or another domestic oil company, should Obama win I’d immedialy relocate my headquarters to Dubai. It’s clear they, their money and their jobs are not wanted here, so screw the US.

In a worldwide oil economy, why bother?
BillK
August 5th, 2008 at 8:28 am
We knew this was coming.

From the Los Angeles Times:

Schwarzenegger proposes temporary California sales-tax hike to close budget gap

The one-cent-on-the-dollar increase hinges on lawmakers agreeing to automatic spending restraints and new powers for governors to cut programs whenever the state falls into the red.

By Evan Halper and Nancy Vogel

SACRAMENTO — Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger proposed during private negotiations over the weekend to close the state’s $15.2-billion budget gap with a temporary but immediate one-cent hike in the state sales tax, according to legislative sources.

The proposal, floated in meetings with the Legislature’s leaders and their staff, hinges on lawmakers agreeing to automatic spending restraints and new powers for governors to cut programs whenever the state falls into the red.

People involved in the negotiations said Schwarzenegger, who has repeatedly vowed never to raise taxes, would back away from the proposal in the absence of the spending controls.

The increase of one cent per dollar would take effect soon after a budget is signed and last three to four years; after that, the tax rate would gradually drop. It would ultimately settle at a level lower than the current statewide rate of 7.25%.

Los Angeles County residents could face a separate half-cent-on-the-dollar sales-tax increase. The Metropolitan Transportation Authority board has proposed such a measure for the November ballot, with the money to fund transportation projects. If both the MTA and the Schwarzenegger proposals were to be implemented, the sales tax in Los Angeles County would jump to 9.75%.

The governor could declare that over time — perhaps a decade or longer — his statewide plan amounts to a tax cut. In the near term, it would raise more than $5 billion per year.

Administration officials said they would not comment on proposals made during closed-door budget negotiations.

“The governor is pushing Republicans and Democrats to come to the table immediately and reach a compromise because of the looming cash crisis we face,” said Schwarzenegger spokesman Matt David. “This compromise must include budget reform that prevents our state from being in this position.” …

http://www.latimes.com/news/lo.....7454.story

What are the odds of that tax rate drop ever coming?

Very good if you answered “none,” as what state is ever not in a real or self-described “budget crisis,” especially as lawmakers never, ever run out of things to spend an ever-increasing amount of money on?
BillK
August 5th, 2008 at 8:32 am
The loving, tolerant left is at it again.

From the Santa Cruz Sentinel:

Two firebombings target UCSC researchers

By Conan Knoll and Genevieve Bookwalter

SANTA CRUZ — Firebombs were intentionally set on a porch and in a car belonging to two UC Santa Cruz researchers in separate incidents early Saturday in what police have classified as acts of domestic terrorism.

Police are calling one of the bombings an attempted homicide.

In one incident, a faculty member’s home on Village Circle off High Street was intentionally firebombed at about 5:40 a.m., according to police. The residence belongs to a well-known UCSC molecular biologist who works with mice. He was one of 13 researchers listed in threatening animal rights pamphlets found Tuesday in a downtown coffee shop.

In the second incident at about the same time, a Volvo station wagon parked in a faculty member’s driveway on Dickens Way on campus also was firebombed, police said.

The family was home at the time of the firebombing and the victims, including two young children, escaped on a fire ladder from a second-story window, according to police. One family member suffered injuries during the escape and had to be hospitalized briefly, police said. That bombing is being considered an attempted homicide because the family was home, police said.

The Volvo that burned also belonged to a UCSC researcher, but not a researcher listed in the pamphlet who also lives on Dickens Way, according to Santa Cruz police Capt. Steve Clark.

Clark declined to say if the researcher who owns the burned car works with animals or if the wrong car was bombed. UCSC spokesman Jim Burns also declined to comment. That person’s name has not been released by either police or UCSC.
Santa Cruz Police investigators, the FBI, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and UCSC police are conducting a joint investigation, collecting evidence and interviewing witnesses. The case has been turned over to the FBI.

Saturday afternoon, police officers and firefighters were helping restore electricity and inspect the Village Circle home.

“The firemen are here. We’re trying to get the electricity restored. This is really horrible,” said Sofie Salama on Saturday, who answered the phone at researcher David Feldheim’s home and said she lived there. She refused to describe what police said was a harrowing pre-sunrise scramble down a fire escape ladder with two young children.

Feldheim researches the genetic and molecular processes involved in development of eye sight and part of his research, according to his Web site, involves the “viral introduction of genes into living mouse brains.” His work has been published in national journals. …

http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/ci_10084756

Yet these same groups will be fawned over and praised at the DNC.

This appears to be the latest in a string of incidents targeting UCSC researchers and others in Santa Cruz.

Fliers identifying 13 UCSC scientists, some of whom use mice, fruit flies and other nonprimate creatures in their research, were discovered at a downtown coffee shop Tuesday. The fliers say, “Animal abusers everywhere beware; we know where you live; we know where you work; we will never back down until you end your abuse.” The names, home addresses, home phone numbers and photos of researchers were published on the fliers.
1republicanscientist
August 5th, 2008 at 9:05 am
Billk—-the odd thing about all of this is most researchers are ardent supporters of left wing policy. I can guarantee that the animal rights activists are all left wing crazies as well. That seems to be the theme with the left……if everyone knew just how incompatible each splinter group was with one another, they would destroy themselves.
Liberals Make Great Speedbumps
August 6th, 2008 at 12:58 am
navycopjoe,

I feel your pain and you’re correct, no one but a sailor knows the feeling seeing something like that evokes. When my ship (USS Yorktown CG-48) was decommed back in 2004, it really shocked me the feelings it stirred. It feels like a big piece of your life was thrown out with the trash. Yorktown is slated for the same fate someday.
BillK
August 6th, 2008 at 1:45 am
Not a surprise, and yet…

From the NY Daily News:

‘Iron Man’ star Gwyneth Paltrow backs Barack Obama in PSA

By Korin Miller

Guess we know who Gwyneth Paltrow’s voting for!

The “Iron Man” star is backing Barack Obama - and the Democratic party - in a new a public service announcement aimed to encourage Americans living abroad to vote in the upcoming presidential election.

Paltrow, 35, lives in London with her husband, Coldplay singer Chris Martin.

“Start now - right now,” the actress says in the PSA. “I’ll be voting from London, but you can vote from anywhere. If you live abroad, you’ve got to do it. Every single vote will count.”

Paltrow appears in the ad with a slew of other ex-patriots who stress the ease of voting from abroad.

The video, which appears online, was produced by Democrats Abroad, an organization that encourages the estimated six million registered Democrats who live abroad to stay active in politics. …

http://www.nydailynews.com/gos.....ara-1.html

If you’ve the stomach, click here.

The ad’s tag:

Vote Democrat.

Vote Obama.

VoteFromAbroad.org

Bleah.
BillK
August 6th, 2008 at 2:02 am
An amazingly good editoriial printed in the Los Angeles Times:

Forgetting the evils of communism

An entire generation that remembers the threats posed by the Soviet empire is fading.

By Jonah Goldberg

Alexander Solzhenitsyn is dead. Peter Rodman is dead. And memory is dying with them.

Over the weekend, Solzhenitsyn, the 89-year-old literary titan, and Rodman, the American foreign policy intellectual, passed away. I knew Rodman and liked him very much. We were partners in a debate at Oxford University last year. He provided the gravitas. A former protege of Henry Kissinger and high-ranking official in two Republican administrations, Rodman was one of the wisest of the wise men of the conservative foreign policy establishment. Calm, elegant, dryly funny, brilliant, but most of all gentlemanly. He died too young, at 64, of leukemia.

Solzhenitsyn was, of course, a landmark of the 20th century, one of the few authors capable of elevating literature to the stuff of world affairs.

What I admired most in both men was their memory. They remembered important things, specifically the evil of communism. And, perhaps nearly as important, they remembered who recognized that evil and who did not.

Rodman, for example, was an architect of the Reagan Doctrine in places such as Angola and Afghanistan. His book, “More Precious Than Peace: The Cold War and the Struggle for the Third World,” was the quintessential defense of thwarting the Soviets in ugly spots of the globe where Americans were understandably reluctant to spend blood or treasure.

In Berlin on July 24, Barack Obama’s history of the Cold War sounded cheerier. There was a lot of unity and “standing as one,” and we dropped some candy on Berlin, and now we need to be unified like we were then.

But unity was hardly the defining feature of the Cold War. There were supposed allies reluctant to help and official enemies who were eager to do their share. There were Russians — like Solzhenitsyn — who bravely told the world about Soviet barbarity. And here at home, there were a great many Americans, including intellectual heirs to the “useful idiots” Lenin relied on, who rolled their eyes at self-styled “cold warriors” such as Rodman. And from Vietnam through the SANE/Freeze movement, liberal resolve and unity were aimed most passionately against America’s policies — not the Soviet Union’s.

Having recently published a book on fascism, I think I understand why so many people refused to see the evil in communism. It was well-intentioned. The Soviets were our allies in World War II. Communists spoke of socialism and liberation, and their agents, friends and apologists in the U.S. were comrades in arms with Americans battling racism. But it’s worth remembering how evil Communist governments really were. Stalin murdered more people than Hitler. The hammer-and-sickle’s stack of bones towers high above the swastika’s. “The Black Book of Communism,” a scholarly accounting of communism’s crimes, counts about 94 million murdered by the supposed champions of the common man (20 million for the Soviets alone), and some argue that that number is too low.

If, after the moral cataclysm that was the Holocaust, you wish to say that the Nazis were more evil than the Soviets, fine. But don’t roll your eyes at serious people who consider anti-communism no less honorable and righteous than anti-Nazism. Look to the Holomodor in Ukraine, where 4 million to 6 million people were murdered and a culture largely erased. Terror and the purges, massacres and the assassinations, forced starvation of millions — these are all horrors that we rightly associate with Nazism but somehow fail to correlate with communism. …

http://www.latimes.com/news/op.....227.column

Seriously, within a few decades, the Cold War will merely be a blip that Reagan exacerbated until Gorbachev could bring things to an end with the sad fall of the Soviet Union, couple with the notion that America can learn from their experience and do communism right.

Of course the Times’ readers have provided enlightened comments on the piece like:

wonder how long it will take to forget the evil of the George W. Bush march of death and destruction of the Constitution of the United States.

and:

What’s to forget? The GOP is rebuilding the USSR right here in America!

That’s our voting public, folks.
BillK
August 6th, 2008 at 2:13 am
From the AP:

Lawyers: Execution for Mexican Accused of Gang Rape, Murder Violates Treaty

HUNTSVILLE, Texas — Condemned prisoner Jose Medellin looked to the federal courts to keep him from the death chamber Tuesday for his part in the gang rape, beating and strangling of two teenage girls 15 years ago.

The Mexican-born Medellin, 33, faced lethal injection in a case that has drawn international attention after he raised arguments he wasn’t allowed to consult the Mexican consulate for legal help after he was arrested in the girls’ murders.

Late Monday, Medellin was moved from death row at a prison outside Livingston to Huntsville, where he would be the fifth Texas inmate executed this year. His transfer came after the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles rejected requests for clemency and a reprieve.

“The board’s action is against the interests of the nation and risks the safety of thousands of American traveling and living abroad,” said Donald Donovan, one of Medellin’s lawyers, referring to the warning by the U.S. Embassy in Mexico of possible protests there Tuesday. “We must now rely on the U.S. Supreme Court to prevent Texas from breaking a commitment made by the president and Senate on behalf of the country as a whole.”

The International Court of Justice, also known as the World Court, has said Medellin and some 50 other Mexicans on death row around the nation should have new hearings in U.S. courts to determine whether a 1963 treaty was violated during their arrests. Medellin is the first among them who is set to die.

His attorneys contend he was denied the protections of the Vienna Convention, which calls for people arrested to have access to their home country’s consular officials.

President Bush has asked states to review the cases, but the U.S. Supreme Court ruled earlier this year that neither the president nor the international court can force Texas’ hand. Medellin’s supporters say Congress or the Texas Legislature should be given a chance to pass a law setting up procedures for new hearings before he is executed.

Gov. Rick Perry, the Texas courts and the state attorney general say the execution should be carried out. The Texas Attorney General’s Office urged the Supreme Court to reject the appeals, saying the execution “fully complies with international law” and noting that the justices already have ruled that the International Court of Justice’s decisions are not U.S. law and not binding on American courts. …

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,397983,00.html

The judges will decide it - after all, they know best.
BillK
August 6th, 2008 at 2:32 am
The latest “green” idea from carmakers, from the AP:

Nissan cars to push back when drivers floor it

Nissan Motor Co. will soon sell cars that push back when drivers try to put the pedal to the metal. It has also developed a test model packed with additional sensor technology to make vehicles crash-free.

The features unveiled this week by Nissan Motor Co. are the latest among recent efforts by the world’s automakers to vamp up their images.

Nissan’s collision-free prototype has sensors at its back and side that turn on alarms and brakes to help avoid collisions. The system also helps the vehicle maintain a safe distance with the car in front, as well as preventing it from veering off its lane, Nissan said Tuesday.

Nissan has said it hopes to halve the number of traffic accidents or serious injuries involving Nissan vehicles in Japan by 2015 compared to 1995 levels.

Nissan’s “ECO Pedal” system — promoted as being both green and safe — makes the gas pedal press upward when it senses motorists are speeding up too quickly.

Nissan said in a news release Monday the system, which will be available next year, can help drivers improve fuel efficiency 5 to 10 percent.

The system calculates the most efficient rate of acceleration in a vehicle based on how fast fuel is being burned and other factors and causes the gas pedal to push back to alert overzealous drivers. A special meter on the dashboard flashes and changes colors to help drive the message home.

Nissan says the system is designed to help drivers become more fuel efficient behind the wheel. Part of the company’s strategy for reducing carbon dioxide emissions is modifying driving behavior. …

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/.....508D48.DTL

It won’t be long before the government decides the rate at which you are allowed to accelerate.

I know that for my driving, this will help me work my right calf. :D
BillK
August 6th, 2008 at 2:42 am
Glad to know the “common man” George Clooney is throwing a fundraiser for his buddy Obama.

Where?

Geneva, of course:

From LA Observed:

Actor George Clooney is the featured attraction for the Geneva event on Sept. 2. Here’s the email sent to potential Barack Obama donors:

Subject: A Reception with George Clooney in Switzerland for Senator Barack Obama
Dear Friends,

We are very excited to announce that Academy Award winning Actor George Clooney will be headlining an event for the campaign. The event will be Tuesday, September 2nd in Geneva, Switzerland and we really need your help to make this special event a success.

The evening will be broken down into two parts - a reception for $1,000 where Mr. Clooney will speak and take questions followed by an exclusive dinner at the home of NFC member Charles Adams for $10,000 per person. The dinner is limited to 75 people so if you are interested in attending, please fax in the attached invite as soon as possible. Or if know of anyone you think may be interested in attending, please forward this email.

If you do send this to friends and colleagues abroad, only American Citizens with US Passport numbers can contribute to the campaign.

Thank you so much!!!

Cookie Parker
National Finance Committee, Obama for America
National Chair, Women’s Leadership Initiative
Democratic National Platform Committee, DNC

http://www.laobserved.com/arch....._switz.php

Ah, I’m glad Democrats are running around making sure people know McCain is out of touch while Obama is “of the people.”
BillK
August 6th, 2008 at 2:49 am
Left wing paranoia is fun!

From the AP:

Gun-control groups fear top activist was NRA spy

By MaryClaire Dale

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — A gun-control activist who championed the cause for more than a decade and served on the boards of two anti-violence groups is suspected of working as a paid spy for the National Rifle Association, and now those organizations are expelling her and sweeping their offices for bugs.

The suggestion that Mary Lou McFate was a double agent is contained in a deposition filed as part of a contract dispute involving a security firm. The muckraking magazine Mother Jones, in a story last week, was the first to report on McFate’s alleged dual identity.

The NRA refused to comment to the magazine and did not respond to calls Tuesday from The Associated Press. Nor did McFate.

The 62-year-old former flight attendant and sex counselor from Sarasota, Fla., is not new to the world of informants.

She infiltrated an animal-rights group in the late 1980s at the request of U.S. Surgical, and befriended an activist who was later convicted in a pipe bomb attack against the medical-supply business, U.S. Surgical acknowledged in news reports at the time. U.S. Surgical had come under fire for using dogs for research and training.

McFate resurfaced in Pennsylvania and has since spent years as an unpaid board member of CeaseFirePA and an organization called States United to Prevent Gun Violence. She also twice pushed unsuccessfully to join the board of the nation’s largest gun-control group, the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence.

“It raises some real concerns with the tactics of the NRA. If they’ve got one person, maybe they have more. If they’ve done this dirty trick, what else have they done?” said Paul Helmke, president of the Brady Campaign, which planned to search its offices for listening devices and computer spyware.

The Brady Campaign and other groups said they are also researching whether McFate’s alleged spying constituted a crime.

“Under some circumstances, it could be trespass,” said Laurie Levenson, a professor at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles and a former prosecutor. But “if they’re open meetings, it may be underhanded and sneaky; it may not be illegal.” …

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/N/NRA_MOLE

Of course when liberals join a conservative organization, it’s portrayed as “responsible citizenship.”
BillK
August 6th, 2008 at 2:53 am
Paris chimes in on McCain’s ad.

From the AP:

Paris Hilton issues tart rebuttal to McCain ad

By Devlin Barrett

WASHINGTON (AP) — Attention, America: Paris has spoken. Paris Hilton, the blonde, doe-eyed celebrity thrust into the presidential campaign in an ad by Republican candidate John McCain, issued a tart rebuttal Tuesday, albeit in a scantily clad, tongue-in-cheek kind of way…

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/s.....RIS_HILTON

It’s actually quite humorous, and Paris’ energy plan makes a lot more sense than Obama’s:

http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/64ad536a6d

In all seriousness, if only McCain could express himself on this topic as well as Paris can in this clip, Obama’s poll numbers would instantly drop…

[Moved to its own thread.]
artboyusa
August 6th, 2008 at 7:03 am
Thank you BillK, for the George Clooney item. What a classic! Check out the use of “invite” as a noun, instead of “invitation” (too old fashioned, I suppose), the incomplete sentence about forwarding this email and the three (!!!) exclamation marks to convey the depth of the sender’s excited gratitude. Plus her name is “Cookie” - of course it is!!! I swear to Gaia, the line between parody and reality grows more vague (or “vaguer” as Cookie would say) with each passing day. I have to work extra hard to keep up.
BillK
August 6th, 2008 at 7:14 am
The more things change…

From Reuters:

Putin says Russia needs to go back to Cuba

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin on Monday said it was time for Russia to rebuild links with former Cold War ally Cuba, news agencies reported.

The Kremlin is angry at U.S. plans for a missile defence system in Eastern Europe, and last month a news report suggested Russia might use Cuba, a thorn in America’s side for half a century, as a refueling stop for nuclear-capable bombers.

The Russian Defence Ministry denied the report and said it had no plans to open any military bases abroad, but a top U.S. general was drawn to say such a move would cross a “red line”.

Moscow was the Caribbean island’s key oil, arms and grain supplier for 30 years, until subsidies propping up the economy of Fidel Castro’s revolutionary government fell to a trickle and then dried up entirely after the collapse of the Soviet Union.

“We need to reestablish positions on Cuba and in other countries,” news agency Interfax quoted Putin as saying at the weekly presidium meeting of key government ministers. …

http://www.reuters.com/article.....2020080804

Aside from once again showing how the Russians continue to be scared silly by a missile defense program every Democrat in Congress claims not only won’t work but say can never work, it also shows the Russians aren’t exactly our best friends.

Makes you wonder how Obama might handle Cuban Missile Crisis II, given how his ~~followers~~ supporters are painting him as JFK II.

Oh that’s right, he’d sit down and discuss the matter with Putin and Castro.

Of course.
BillK
August 6th, 2008 at 7:19 am
You can always count on the happy news stories from Reuters and left-wing professors.

Hundreds of banks will fail, Roubini tells Barron’s

NEW YORK, Aug 3 (Reuters) - The United States is in the second inning of a recession that will last for at least 18 months and help kill off hundreds of banks, influential economist and New York University Professor Nouriel Roubini told Barron’s in Sunday’s edition.

Taxpayers will pay a big price for helping bail out the rest of the financial services industry as well, Roubini said — at least $1 trillion and more likely $2 trillion.

The banks will become insolvent because of mounting losses as a result of the housing bust and because they have only written down their subprime loans so far, he said. Still in front of them are their consumer-credit losses, for which they lack the reserves, Barron’s reported.

He also said there are hundreds of millions of dollars outstanding in home-equity loans that could be worth zero, too.

U.S. consumers, meanwhile, are “shopped out” and saving less, while the Federal Reserve’s performance in handling the crisis has been poor, Roubini said, because it failed to see that the problem extended beyond subprime mortgage debt.

Now, Roubini told Barron’s, the government is overregulating, bailing out troubled participants and intervening in every market.

“The regulators should investigate themselves for bailing out Fannie Mae (FNM.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) and Freddie Mac (FRE.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), the creditors of Bear Stearns and the financial system with new lending facilities. They have swapped U.S. Treasury bonds for toxic securities,” he told Barron’s. “It is privatizing the gains and profits, and socializing the losses as usual. This is socialism for Wall Street and the rich.”

He said that sometimes it is necessary to use public money to rescue institutions, but in a way that does not bail out the people who made the mistakes. “In each one of these episodes, the government bailed out the shareholders, the bondholders, and to some degree, management,” Roubini told Barron’s.

As for the banks that will go bankrupt, they will include community banks that finance homes, stores, downtown areas, commercial real estate and other mainstays of U.S. towns and cities, Roubini said. …

http://www.reuters.com/article.....0720080803

Funny how the left always accuses the right of using fear to accomplish their goals, isn’t it?

Aside from the fact that the US is not yet in a recession, and most banks are stable, the piece seems accurate, doesn’t it?
BillK
August 6th, 2008 at 7:23 am
For anyone who was a fan of the television series Jericho, one of the key plot points was when Texas refused to join the faux US Government formed after the explosions.

But in real life I wonder if Texas is the only hope left for the nation.

From the hand-wringers at Reuters:

Texas defies World Court with execution

By Ed Stoddard

DALLAS (Reuters) - Texas defied the World Court and executed a Mexican national by lethal injection on Tuesday over the objections of the international judicial body and neighboring Mexico. …

http://www.reuters.com/article.....6220080806

Bravo, Texas.

If only you could get rid of Austin, you’d be quite the welcoming state.

[Moved to its own thread.]
1sttofight
August 6th, 2008 at 7:45 am
Hey Bill, every state has to have an a**hole, Austin just happens to be Texas’s.
My state of Alabama has one too, It is called Montgomery.
texaspsue
August 6th, 2008 at 9:21 am
“If only you could get rid of Austin, you’d be quite the welcoming state.”

I second that emotion… woops, what am I saying…… let me move first. :-)
BillK
August 6th, 2008 at 5:39 pm
If you asked Obama, I’m sure he’d say these things just “happen.”

From the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:

Criminal inquiry possible in voter filings

By Larry Sandler

At least six voter registration workers could face criminal investigations after turning in 200 to 300 fraudulent registration cards, according to the Milwaukee Election Commission and the activist group that employed them.

In one case, “one woman called us to complain because her husband has been dead for 10 years and a voter registration was submitted,” said Sue Edman, the commission’s executive director.

In other cases, deputy registrars working for ACORN were “making people up or registering people that were still in prison,” said Carolyn Castore, ACORN’s state political director.

In still other cases, workers used the same address for numerous voters or used driver’s license numbers that did not fit the voters’ birth dates, Edman said.

ACORN found the problems and fired a dozen workers, Castore said. But under state law, all of the voter registration cards had to be turned in to the election commission, even if they were clearly fraudulent or incomplete, Edman and Castore said. So ACORN sent in the cards but flagged the fraudulent or incomplete ones, they said.

Edman said she has referred six individuals to the district attorney’s office for investigation.

Another 1,500 to 2,000 voter registration cards were incomplete, and ACORN is trying to help the commission staff fill in the blanks, Castore and Edman said. The incomplete and fraudulent cards were a small percentage of the 35,000 registration cards that were turned in, and the suspect workers also were a small percentage of the more than 220 deputy registrars hired by ACORN, Castore said.

http://www.jsonline.com/watch/.....p;id=44404

Whoops! It was all just a misunderstanding!

I think you can see why Wisconsin’s Democrat Governor has said that there is no way Voter ID will ever be allowed in Wisconsin on his watch; too many useful dead are voting (and, I suspect, not for Republicans.)
BillK
August 6th, 2008 at 5:47 pm
Proving yet again extortion works.

From the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:

Utilities agree to $105 million settlement

By Thomas Content

Three Wisconsin utilities and two environmental groups have agreed to a $105 million settlement designed to improve water quality in Lake Michigan and move the state toward increasing its supplies of renewable energy.

Under the settlement, We Energies (WEC) of Milwaukee has also agreed to shut down by 2012 two older boilers at its Presque Isle coal-fired power plant in Marquette, Mich., and committed to build a 50-megawatt biomass-to-energy plant in Wisconsin.

The $105 million settlement was announced by We Energies, Clean Wisconsin and the Sierra Club. Also participating are Wisconsin Public Power Inc. and Madison Gas & Electric Co. (MGEE), the co-owners of the $2.3 billion coal-fired power plant under construction in Oak Creek.

Under the agreement, the environmental groups have agreed to stop their litigation opposing construction of the water intake system that We Energies will deploy to draw 1.8 billions of gallons of Lake Michigan water per day for cooling at the new power plant.

The pact gives the utility certainty that the plant can open without We Energies and its partners having to build costly cooling towers, We Energies spokesman Barry McNulty said.

“We need to put this behind us, and we’re just happy that we could reach this mutual agreement with Clean Wisconsin and Sierra Club and move forward,” he said.

Here are highlights of the deal, some of which require regulatory approval:

- $100 million would be allocated for Great Lakes water quality, to address problems including invasive species, runoff pollution, toxic loadings and habitat destruction.

- $5 million would fund projects to reduce emissions linked to global warming, consistent with a recommendation of Gov. Jim Doyle’s global warming task force.

- The utilities would seek to expand the state’s solar energy by 15 megawatts.

- Another initiative would seek to invest in energy efficiency projects for public buildings in the state, another task force recommendation.

- All three utilities would agree to provide information to customers to help track utility greenhouse gas emissions. …

http://www.jsonline.com/watch/.....p;id=44412

So Wisconsin utility customers will of course pay for this in the form of higher electricity bills, meanwhile the utilities will offline proven generation systems in the name of going with “environmentally friendly” systems that will actually provide less power, all while $100 million will go towards mitigation of issues the utility has no responsibility for.

You’ve got to hand it to the left - between Government and judges, they really have perfected the craft of getting everyone else to pay for their pet projects.
BillK
August 6th, 2008 at 5:54 pm
The headline doesn’t really read this way, but the article sums it up - Conservative responsible for Anthrax attack.

From the AP:

Feds say Ivins alone caused 2001 anthrax attacks

By Lara Jakes Jordan and Matt Apuzzo

WASHINGTON (AP) — Army scientist Bruce Ivins “was the only person responsible” for anthrax attacks in 2001 that killed five and rattled the nation, the Justice Department said Wednesday, buttressing its claim with the release of dozens of documents all pointing to his guilt.

Ivins, who committed suicide last week, had sole custody of highly purified anthrax spores with “certain genetic mutations identical” to the poison used in the attacks, according to the documents. Investigators also said they had traced back to his lab the type of envelopes used to send the deadly powder through the mails.

Ivins killed himself last week as investigators closed in, and U.S. Attorney Jeffrey Taylor said, “We regret that we will not have the opportunity to present evidence to the jury.”

Ivins’ attorney, Paul Kemp, has repeatedly asserted his late client’s innocence.

The prosecutor’s news conference capped a fast-paced series of events in which the government partially lifted its veil of secrecy in the investigation of the poisonings that followed closely after the airliner terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

The newly released records depict the scientist as deeply troubled, increasingly so as he confronted the possibility of being charged.

“He said he was not going to face the death penalty, but instead had a plan to kill co-workers and other individuals who had wronged him,” according to one affidavit. In e-mails to colleagues, Ivins described a feeling of dual personalities, the material said.

The affidavits also said Ivins submitted false anthrax samples to the FBI, was unable to give investigators “an adequate explanation for his late laboratory work hours around the time of” the attacks and sought to frame unnamed co-workers.

In addition, he was said to have received immunizations against anthrax and yellow fever in early September 2001, several weeks before the first anthrax-laced envelope was received in the mail.

Authorities say that language Ivins used in an e-mail days before the 2001 anthrax attacks was similar to the messages in anthrax-laced letters to Democratic Sens. Tom Daschle and Patrick Leahy.

In the e-mail, Ivins wrote that “Bin Laden terrorists for sure have anthrax and sarin gas” and have “just decreed death to all Jews and all Americans.” The letters to Daschle and Leahy said: “WE HAVE THIS ANTHRAX . . . DEATH TO AMERICA . . . DEATH TO ISRAEL.”

Wednesday’s documents were released as the FBI held a private briefing for families of the victims of the attacks and officials said the agency was preparing to close the case.

As for motive, investigators seemed to offer two possible reasons for the attacks: that the brilliant scientist wanted to bolster support for a vaccine he helped create and that the anti-abortion Catholic targeted two pro-choice Catholic lawmakers.

“We are confident that Dr. Ivins was the only person responsible for these attacks,” Taylor told a news conference at the Justice Department.

Noting that Ivins would have been entitled to a presumption of innocence, Taylor nevertheless said prosecutors were confident “we could prove his guilt to a jury beyond a reasonable doubt.” …

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/s.....ESTIGATION

Wow, a researcher getting immunized against the diseases he was working with - how often do you think that happens at a research lab?

Further, the tie between his “warning” email and the threat letters? The 9/11 truthers will have fun with that one, as by that same logic every law enforcement agent that ever warned about al Qaeda must have been in on the planning of the attacks.

The man had his problems, to be sure, but the FBI’s “Yep, he did it, and now he’s dead, case closed” approach to this frightens me more than just a little.

Finally, you think we’ll ever hear from the ACLU on this little tidbit from the story?

Investigators also reported seizing three cardboard boxes labeled “Paul Kemp … attorney client privilege.”

Imagine if he were say a suspect in an ELF firebombing; the lawsuits would have been filed so fast the press releases would have beat the AP story to print.
BillK
August 6th, 2008 at 6:04 pm
Wow - a favorable ruling from an appeals court?

From the AP:

Court rejects suit opposing religion in vets care

By Ryan J. Foley

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Taxpayers cannot sue the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs for incorporating religion into its health care programs for the nation’s veterans, an appeals court has ruled.

The 7th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Tuesday the Madison-based Freedom From Religion Foundation and three of its members have no legal standing to bring the case.

The group was trying to end the agency’s practice of asking patients about their religion in “spiritual assessments,” its use of chaplains to treat patients, and drug and alcohol treatment programs that incorporate religion. It claimed those practices violated the separation of church and state.

But the court ruled that federal taxpayers cannot challenge those expenditures. The court cited a U.S. Supreme Court decision from last year in which the same group was not allowed to sue over President Bush’s faith-based initiative.

In that case, the court ruled 5-4 the executive branch cannot be sued by taxpayers for expenses that allegedly promote religion. Cases can only be brought when the questionable expenditures are explicitly authorized in a Congressional spending bill, the court ruled.

Congress never authorized spending on the chaplain services, pastoral care and other programs challenged, the 7th Circuit ruled.

Annie Laurie Gaylor,

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