From CNN Congressional Correspondent Brianna Keilar
Senate Democrats will not allow Burris on the Senate Floor if he shows up next week.
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(CNN) — Senate Democratic leaders think Roland Burris, Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich’s pick to fill President-elect Barack Obama’s vacant Senate seat, will likely show up on Capitol Hill Tuesday for the opening day of Congress, according to a Democratic aide familiar with Senate Democratic leaders’ plans.

They have prepared a contingency plan in case he does, the aide added.

Burris will not be allowed on the Senate floor, according to this aide and a Senate Democratic leadership aide.

Watch: What if Burris shows up?

The aide familiar with Senate Democratic leaders’ plans said if Burris tries to enter the Senate chamber, the Senate doorkeeper will stop Burris. If Burris were to persist, either trying to force his way onto the Senate floor or refusing to leave and causing a scene, U.S. Capitol Police would stop him, said the aide.

“They (police) probably won’t arrest him” but they would call the sergeant-at-arms,” the aide said.

When asked about what would happen if he shows up and tries to be seated, Burris told the Chicago Tribune that he’s, “not going to create a scene in Washington.” He added, “We hope it’s negotiated out prior to my going to Washington.”

Burris told CNN that, “We’re certainly going to make contacts with the leadership to let them know that the governor of Illinois has made a legal appointment. And that I am currently the junior senator for the State of Illinois. And we’re hoping and praying that, you know, they will see the reason in appointing me as a very qualified, capable, able and ready-to-serve individual.”

Coincidentally, the senate sergeant-at-arms, Terrance Gainer, served in the Illinois government at the same time as Burris. Gainer was the director of the Illinois State Police from 1991-95. Burris was the Illinois attorney general from 1991-95.

Senate Democratic leaders, who consider Governor Rod Blagojevich a loose cannon, also have discussed what might happen if Blagojevich shows up on Capitol Hill Tuesday, said the aide familiar with their plans. But the leaders see that move by Blagojevich as unlikely at this time.

This would be a “radioactive” situation, according to the aide, because Senate Democratic leaders could not deny Blagojevich entry, as sitting governors have floor privileges in the Senate. Governors are allowed to walk around the Senate chamber or talk with senators while on the floor, though they cannot vote or formally address the Senate.

Blagojevich is aware he is allowed access to the Senate floor, his spokesman Lucio Guerrero said, but “the idea of going on Tuesday was first raised by a reporter,” not Blagojevich.

The governor is not planning on going to Capitol Hill at this time, Guerrero said.
http://politicalticker.blogs.c.....-shows-up/

- New Poll Conducted by Opinion Research Corporation -

NEW YORK, Jan. 1 /PRNewswire/ — Seventy-seven percent of Americans believe that the U.S. media is making the economic situation worse by projecting fear into people’s minds.

The majority of those surveyed feel that the financial press, by focusing on and embellishing negative news, is damaging consumer confidence and damping investment, making a difficult situation much worse. The poll was conducted via telephone, December 4 – 7.

The US survey of 1000 adults was conducted by Opinion Research Corporation and is statistically representative of the total U.S. population. The survey question: “Do you think the financial press is making the economic crisis worse by projecting fear into people’s minds?” While the overall response indicated that 77% of Americans answered YES, here are highlights of note: Household Incomes: $25k – $35k — 79% answered YES $35k – $50k — 88% answered YES $50k – $75k — 76% answered YES $75k – more — 78% answered YES Demographics: 85% of young adults (18-24 yrs old) answered YES 77% of males and females alike answered YES 65% of blacks answered YES

Richard L. Scheff, a national expert on corporate liability and white collar crime issues, warns media that they could potentially be exposed to liability despite apparent constitutional protections:

“Although statements by the media are protected by the First Amendment, the survey results demonstrate that the public believes that the press bears some responsibility for the lack of confidence in the economy. One would hope that the media would act less out of self-interest in these times of national crisis,” said Mr. Scheff, vice chairman and partner with Philadelphia-based law firm Montgomery McCracken Walker & Rhoads.

http://www.breitbart.com/artic....._article=1

Time to prepare yourselves for the fleecing of the century by democrat controlled government!!.

WASHINGTON — Motorists are driving less and buying less gasoline, which means fuel taxes aren’t raising enough money to keep pace with the cost of road, bridge and transit programs.

That has the federal commission that oversees financing for transportation talking about increasing the federal fuel tax.

A 50 percent increase in gasoline and diesel fuel taxes is being urged by the commission to finance highway construction and repair until the government devises another way for motorists to pay for using public roads.

The National Commission on Surface Transportation Infrastructure Financing, a 15-member panel created by Congress, is the second group in a year to call for increasing the current 18.4 cents a gallon federal tax on gasoline and the 24.4 cents a gallon tax on diesel. State fuel taxes vary from state to state.

In a report expected in late January, members of the infrastructure financing commission say they will urge Congress to raise the gas tax by 10 cents a gallon and the diesel tax by 12 cents to 15 cents a gallon. At the same time, the commission will recommend tying the fuel tax rates to inflation.

The commission will also recommend that states raise their fuel taxes and make greater use of toll roads and fees for rush-hour driving.

Although the cost of gasoline has dropped dramatically in recent months, such tax increases could be politically treacherous for Democratic leaders in Congress. A gas tax hike was one of the reasons they lost control of the House and Senate in the 1994 elections. President-elect Barack Obama has expressed concern about raising fuel taxes in the current economic climate.

But commission members said the government must find more road and bridge building money somewhere.

“I’m not excited about a gas tax increase, but the reality is our current gas tax doesn’t pay for upkeep of the system we have now,” said Adrian Moore, vice president of the Reason Foundation, a libertarian think tank in Los Angeles, and a member of the highway revenue commission. “We can either let the roads go to hell or we can pay more.”

The dilemma for Congress is that highway and transit programs are dependent for revenue on fuel taxes that are not sustainable. Many Americans are driving less and switching to more fuel-efficient cars and trucks, and a shift to new fuels and technologies like plug-in hybrid electric cars will further erode gasoline sales.

According to a draft of the financing commission’s recommendations, the nation needs to move to a new system that taxes motorists according to how much they use roads.

“Most if not all of the commissioners have a strong belief and commitment that we need a fundamental transformation of the current system,” said commission chairman Robert Atkinson, president of the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, a technology policy think tank in Washington.

A study by the Transportation Research Board of the National Academies estimated that the annual gap between revenues and the investment needed to improve highway and transit systems was about $105 billion in 2007, and will increase to $134 billion in 2017 under current trends.

Projected shortfalls in revenue led the National Surface Transportation Policy and Revenue Study Commission, in a report issued in January 2008, to call for an increase of as much as 40 cents a gallon in the gas tax, phased in over five years.

Charles Whittington, chairman of the American Trucking Associations, which supports a fuel tax increase as long as the money goes to highway projects, said Congress may decide to disguise a fuel tax hike as a surcharge to combat climate change.

Transportation is responsible for about a third of all U.S. carbon emissions created by burning fossil fuels. Traffic congestion wastes an estimated 2.9 billion gallons of fuel a year. Less congestion would reduce greenhouse gases and dependence on foreign oil.

“Instead of calling it a gas tax, call it a carbon tax,” Whittington said.

Bottlenecks around the nation cost the trucking industry about 243 million lost truck hours and about $7.8 billion per year, according to the commission.

http://www.comcast.net/article.....2/Gas.Tax/

Wall Street’s Final ‘08 Toll: $6.9 Trillion Wiped Out
Racked by Crisis, Markets End Year on Slight Upswing

After months of tortuous trading, Wall Street rang out its worst year since the Great Depression yesterday, leaving shareholders $6.9 trillion the poorer.

The losses in 2008 were so broad and deep that every sector in the Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index took a double-digit hit…
The Dow Jones industrial average, an index of 30 blue-chip stocks, and the S&P, a broader index watched by market professionals, were down 34 percent and 38 percent, respectively, their deepest losses since the 1930s. ….
Traders endured unprecedented turmoil last year as Lehman Brothers, an icon of the financial industry, teetered then collapsed,…
By the end of 2008, the Dow had set new records for its three largest single-day point gains and two steepest point losses after swinging hundreds of points an hour during some sessions. ….
Investors’ skittishness could also be seen in the market for crude oil. After surging to $147 a barrel in the summer, prices began a precipitous slide as economic concerns spread and demand dropped.
The price …has fallen about 70 percent from its peak and finished down about 50 percent for the year….
“This is a year that people will go back and look back and study for the next 100 years,” said Phil Flynn, oil analyst at Alaron Trading in Chicago. ”

A few comments:

1. Lehman Bros collapsed 7 days after McCain took the lead in the polls. Quite a coincidence, huh?

2. The 3 biggest swings were after Lehman Bros fell, in the 7 weeks prior to the election. Quite a concidence, huh?

3. Almost the entire drop of 70% in the Oil prices was after McCain took the lead, and before the election. Quite a coincidence, huh?

4. George Soros reported over $2B in profits BEFORE September, shorting the Market. Half the drop occurred after that, in Sept and Oct. (note: the drop at that time was over 50% from the prior Oct). The drop in Sept and Oct was the greatest of all time for those two months in an election year. Quite a coincidence that Mr. Soros was making billions when other investors were losing trillions, huh?

5. At the end of 2007, GNP growth had been normal. Unemployment was low by historical standard. Corporate earnings were strong. There was concern about the sub-prime mess, but it was widely reported that the total amount of sub-prime dollars was only a fraction of total mortgages. In other words, there was little discussion by anyone other than perpetual election-year naysayers that the economy was in danger. Even in Q2 of 2008, GNP growth was strong. Quite a coincidence that an economic tsunami only approached in magnitude by the Great Depression overcame a stong economy in the two months prior to Obamy election, huh? A 100-year event happened at the EXACT MOMENT IN TIME when it would most benefit Obamy. What an amazing coincidence.

To cut to the chase, the president select of this country is the greatest criminal of all time.

But it’s ok. His handlers have happily done all of this so your country will be more fair in the future.

9/11 was a walk in the park compared to what the government perpetrated in 2008. Of course, everybody knows about the unfathomable loss of wealth (home prices now down over 30% nationally, tens of trillions of dollars gone from the markets, millions of people thrown into unemployment, millions of retirements ruineds, untold number of people thrown into poverty, EVERYBODY forced to work additional years and perhaps decades to accumulate enough money to retire, except, of course, for those millions who don’t work anyway)…..but what you will never hear about is the loss of life that have resulted from the criminal actions of a small number of elected officials acting unilaterally and without authority to alter the economy based on their own whims rather than the will of the people. The deaths have resulted mostly because or older people who can no longer afford the medicine and utilities they need to survive or because their chiildren discontinued needed support. The number in this country is probably in the tens of thousands. In other countries the death toll is undoubtedly in the millions.

This is the handiwork of Barney Franks, Chris Dodd, Franklin Raines and Barack Obama.

THEY know better than you about the economy and about “fairness”, even though none of them ever worked a signle day in his life, ran a business, managed an employee, or served a day in the military.

If there was a free and objective media in this country, there would be lynch mobs after those people, and many many others. They are just as much thieves but 100 times as evil as Bernard Madoff. And Madoff suckered greedy rich people. Franks, Dodd, Raines and Obama wrecked their damage on totally innocent people, you and me. It’s the greatest economic crime in history.

From the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:

Doyle hints at willingness to raise cigarette tax again

By Patrick Marley

Madison – Gov. Jim Doyle is signaling a willingness to raise the cigarette tax, a year after he and legislators raised the tax by $1 a pack.

The Democratic governor did not explicitly endorse raising the tax in a recent interview, but he noted he originally fought for raising the tax by $1.25.

“I would simply point out that I’ve supported going to a higher level in the past,” he said.

The cigarette tax rose to $1.77 a year ago today.

Doyle – who spent Tuesday doing one-on-one interviews with reporters at the governor’s mansion in Maple Bluff – told the Wisconsin State Journal he wants to resume having the gas tax automatically increase every year.

“The simple fact is that where Wisconsin went, where Republicans took us, is unsustainable for transportation (infrastructure), where you say, that’s basically it on the gas tax, regardless of what the costs are and what the needs are,” Doyle told the State Journal.

That’s a departure from what he said two years ago, when he was running for re-election. Then, Doyle promised not to raise the gas tax during a second term, which runs through 2010.

Republicans said they opposed raising either tax.

“They’re both horrible ideas, especially with where the economy sits today,” said Rep. Scott Newcomer (R-Hartland).

Sen. Mike Ellis (R-Neenah) said allowing the gas tax to go up annually without a vote would be “gutless” and a “political cop-out.”

For 20 years, the state gas tax automatically increased an inflationary amount every April 1. But in 2005, Republicans who controlled the Legislature and Doyle approved ending that practice, despite initial resistance to the idea.

The gas tax – now at 32.9 cents per gallon – increased for the last time in April 2006. Wisconsin’s gas tax is one of the highest in the country, but its annual registration fee of $75 per vehicle is on the low end.

Senate Majority Leader Russ Decker (D-Weston) and Assembly Speaker-elect Mike Sheridan (D-Janesville) voted against ending the automatic increases.

Decker spokeswoman Carrie Lynch said Decker would support resuming the automatic gas tax if there were bipartisan support for it and the money were guaranteed to go toward transportation. Critics have blasted Doyle because he has diverted more than $1 billion from the transportation fund since 2003 to pay for schools. …

http://www.jsonline.com/news/w.....58734.html

But the biggest lie is to be found here:

Doyle discussed the cigarette tax not as a way to shore up the state’s finances, but as a means to curb smoking.

When Doyle lobbied for a $1.25 per-pack increase in the cigarette tax, he said any tax increase had to be big enough to shock smokers into quitting.

Then why not make the tax $100 per pack? Better yet, how about $1000 per pack?

Wouldn’t those taxes have substantially more “shock” value than $1.25?

If the revenue is not a concern, then if the tax is $1000/pack and tax revenues from cigarettes drop to zero, it shouldn’t be an issue, right?

From the AP:

Applications soar as 30-year mortgage falls

Rates on 30-year mortgages fell to a record low for the third straight week and borrowers took advantage of the drop, sending new applications soaring to a five-year high.

With the Federal Reserve on the verge of pouring hundreds of billions of dollars into the devastated U.S. housing market, mortgage rates have plunged to the lowest level since Freddie Mac started tracking the data in April 1971.

Low rates are a great opportunity for borrowers with solid credit and plenty of equity in their homes. But those in danger of foreclosure are sidelined, and defaults are expected to keep rising in the coming months.

Freddie Mac reported Wednesday that average rates on 30-year fixed mortgages dropped to 5.1 percent this week, down from the previous record of 5.14 percent set last week. It was the ninth straight weekly drop. The survey was released a day early due to the New Year’s holiday.

Mortgage applications remained at their highest level in more than five years last week, as borrowers took advantage of attractive rates and rushed to refinance their home loans.

The Mortgage Bankers Association said applications surged earlier this month to the highest level since July 2003, when refinancing activity boomed at the peak of the housing market.

More than 80 percent of applications came from borrowers looking to refinance at more affordable rates, the trade group said. …

http://www.rockymountainnews.c.....age-falls/

Gee, making things cheaper produces more of the activity in question!

But of course they can’t resist mentioning that those who shouldn’t be getting loans can’t qualify.

Of course the inevitable result of the Government’s meddling will be that banks will force to lend once again to the very idiots who couldn’t pay back their loans the first time…

Now that Israel has taken out its first Hamas leader, AP continues to be depressed.

Israel kills top Hamas figure, escalating campaign

By Ibrahim Barzak and Amy Teibel

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israel assassinated a Hamas strongman Thursday in its first assault on the top leadership of Gaza’s rulers, escalating a crushing aerial offensive even as it declared it was ready to launch a ground invasion.

The airstrike targeted the eight-story apartment building that was home to Nizar Rayan, 52, ranked among Hamas’ top five decision-makers in Gaza. The attack killed 12 other people including two of Rayan’s four wives and four of his 12 children, Palestinian health officials said. The Muslim faith allows men to have up to four wives.

While escalating its 6-day-old military offensive against Hamas in Gaza, Israel also appeared to be sounding out a possible diplomatic exit from its campaign by demanding international monitors as a key term of any future truce.

The offensive is meant to crush Gaza militants who have been terrorizing southern Israel with rocket fire that is reaching closer to the country’s heartland than ever before.

In launching the campaign on Saturday, Israel made it clear that no one in Hamas was immune and Thursday’s strike drove that point home. The airstrike blew a huge hole in the side of the building where Rayan lived and sent a thick plume of smoke into the air.

Hamas leaders went into hiding before Israel launched its operation, but Rayan was known for openly defying Israel.

Hamas threatened to take revenge against Israeli soldiers who were massed along the border with Gaza, waiting for a signal to invade.

“We are waiting for you to enter Gaza to kill you or make you into Schalits,” it said, referring to Sgt. Gilad Schalit who was seized by Hamas-affiliated militants 2-1/2 years ago and remains in captivity.

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

Once again, a big congratulations to the IDF for doing what needs to be done.

Suspect dead in Aspen bomb threats; ‘last will’ sent to Times

ASPEN — A man police wanted to question in two Aspen bomb threats that forced the evacuation of much of downtown on New Year’s Eve has been found dead.

Police cleared a 16-block area of the resort town Wednesday afternoon after two banks reported receiving bomb threats and packages wrapped in holiday paper.

The suspect allegedly left a suspicious package with a threatening note inside each bank.

Police also found clear plastic boxes containing holiday wrapped packages and pizza boxes on a black sled in a downtown alley.

Aspen Police Chief Richard Pryor said both notes suggested a “credible threat.” That led authorities to rope off areas around both banks as they sought to keep locals and tourists away from the buildings.

People were cleared from the area that included The Aspen Times newspaper and some homes. By Wednesday evening police released surveillance tape from one bank showing 71-year-old Jim Blanning and asked the public to help find him.

Early Thursday, Blanning was found dead in rural Pitkin county. Officer Stephanie Dasaro of the Aspen Police Department couldn’t say early Thursday how Blanning died or where exactly he was found.

Dasaro said the man was recognized quickly by police as a former Aspen resident, though he was living in Denver.

Also unanswered early Thursday was what the packages contained. Dasaro said they were destroyed early Thursday, but she could not say whether they contained explosives. …

http://www.rockymountainnews.c.....-sent-tim/

What makes this worthy of posting here was the envelope in which his screed was delivered, which read, in part:

For the past 2 yrs. I was in prison. I woke up every day wishing I was dead. Now it comes to pass. I was and am a good man. Too many people and I do hate Rove/Bush with a passion. …”

http://media.rockymountainnews.....1_t600.jpg

Further, the note inside contained the lines:

We have all of the cop threats to us under very sophisticated electronic surveillance. Do not f— with us or there will be mass death like we have all been part of over in that f—ing quicksand trap that Rove’s and Chaney’s (sic) monkey Bush put us into where so many of our soul mats and brothers died very horrible deaths. …

Link here; note strong language:

http://media.rockymountainnews.....2_t600.jpg

Be prepared to see this idiot defended on Kos and other sites as just doing what was necessary…