Selected News For Dec 6 – Dec 12

66 Responses to “Selected News For Dec 6 – Dec 12”

1. BillK

   December 6, 2008 at 1:55 am

   Life in a liberal paradise.

   From the (Madison, WI) Capital Times:

   ‘Bike rage’ suspect arrested

   The bicyclist who felt “extremely insulted” when a fellow biker told him to get a light on his bike and ended up beating the commenter was arrested and tentatively charged with battery and disorderly conduct Wednesday, police said.

   Dustin Dunlavy, 28, Madison, allegedly grabbed Colin O’Brien, 51, around the head in the confrontation on South Shore Drive the night of Nov. 26.

   O’Brien is the owner of Cronometro, a Williamson Street shop making custom bicycles.

   Madison police spokesman Joel DeSpain said many citizens helped in identifying the “bike rage” suspect.

   Dunlavy was biking with a woman who DeSpain said was Dunlavy’s girlfriend.

   “She was interviewed but wasn’t charged,” DeSpain said.

   According to police:

   The incident started about 6:30 p.m. on Nov. 26 as O’Brien was biking home on South Shore Drive, on the south side of Monona Bay.

   Two bicyclists came up behind O’Brien, with one saying they were going to pass him on the left. As they passed, O’Brien said, “Get a light.”

   Dunlavy apparently asked him to repeat himself so he did, with the couple then telling O’Brien to mind his own business. Dunlavy apparently then tried to run O’Brien off the road.

   The pair followed O’Brien to his home, where the light talk continued.

   The female said it appeared O’Brien had plenty of lights and asked for one, so he gave one to her, but Dunlavy still was upset and clamped his hands around O’Brien’s head, according to a police report.

   The report added that he twisted O’Brien to the ground and kicked him in the ribs, but Dunlavy denied doing so when he was arrested.

   “He also said he didn’t think it (grabbing his head) would cause pain because the victim was wearing a bike helmet,” DeSpain said.

   When asked why he didn’t just ride away after the “get a light” comment, Dunlavy apparently told police he felt extremely insulted by the statement.

   “He didn’t think anyone had a right to tell him he should have a light on his bike,” DeSpain said.

   http://www.madison.com/tct/news/stories/317158

   Isn’t it great when everyone just gets along?

   I also love the fact that the female involved didn’t attack the man, but treated him like a Government program:

   The female said it appeared O’Brien had plenty of lights and asked for one, so he gave one to her

   “But you have so many, can I have one?”

   I bet most local readers of the story don’t even blink an eye at the request.

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2. 12 Gauge Rage

   December 6, 2008 at 2:54 am

   If it doesn’t hurt when you grab someone by the head because they’re wearing a helmet then why is face masking a fifteen yard penalty in football? And here I thought cyclists were one big happy family against all car drivers.

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3. BillK

   December 6, 2008 at 3:42 am

   From a smirking “Silly, food comes from the supermarket!” AP:

   Proposed Fee on Smelly Cows and Hogs Angers Farmers

   MONTGOMERY, Ala. — For farmers, this stinks: Belching and gaseous cows and hogs could start costing them money if a federal proposal to charge fees for air-polluting animals becomes law.

   Farmers so far are turning their noses up at the notion, which is one of several put forward by the Environmental Protection Agency after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 2007 that greenhouse gases emitted by belching and flatulence amounts to air pollution.

   “This is one of the most ridiculous things the federal government has tried to do,” said Alabama Agriculture Commissioner Ron Sparks, an outspoken opponent of the proposal.

   It would require farms or ranches with more than 25 dairy cows, 50 beef cattle or 200 hogs to pay an annual fee of about $175 for each dairy cow, $87.50 per head of beef cattle and $20 for each hog.

   Sparks said Wednesday he’s worried the fee could be extended to chickens and other farm animals and cause more meat to be imported.

   “We’ll let other countries put food on our tables like they are putting gas in our cars. Other countries don’t have the health standards we have,” Sparks said.

   EPA spokesman Nick Butterfield said the fee was proposed for farms with livestock operations that emit more than 100 tons of carbon emissions in a year and fall under federal Clean Air Act provisions.

   Butterfield said the EPA has not taken a position on any of the proposals. But farmers from across the country have expressed outrage over the idea, both on Internet sites and in opinions sent to EPA during a public comment period that ended last week.

   “It’s something that really has a very big potential adverse impact for the livestock industry,” said Rick Krause, the senior director of congressional relations for the American Farm Bureau Federation.

   The fee would cover the cost of a permit for the livestock operations. While farmers say it would drive them out of business, an organization supporting the proposal hopes it forces the farms and ranches to switch to healthier crops.

   “It makes perfect sense if you are looking for ways to cut down on meat consumption and recoup environmental losses,” said Bruce Friedrich, a spokesman in Washington for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.

   “We certainly support making factory farms pay their fair share,” he said.

   The executive vice president of the Wyoming Farm Bureau Federation, Ken Hamilton, estimated the fee would cost owners of a modest-sized cattle ranch $30,000 to $40,000 a year. He said he has talked to a number of livestock owners about the proposals, and “all have said if the fees were carried out, it would bankrupt them.” …

   http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,462445,00.html

   Of course the comment from PETA reflects the true aim of this:

   “It makes perfect sense if you are looking for ways to cut down on meat consumption and recoup environmental losses,” said Bruce Friedrich, a spokesman in Washington for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.

   I wonder if the farmers will get a “bailout” from the Feds when they impose the fee…

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4. BillK

   December 6, 2008 at 10:56 am

   Awww, I feel so sorry for them.

   Continuing the story from the (far left) Madison, WI Capital Times:

   University of Wisconsin System slashes faculty pay increase request

   By Todd Finkelmeyer

   What a difference a month can make.

   When University of Wisconsin System leaders met in Madison on Nov. 6 for a Board of Regents meeting, they discussed the merits of requesting a 7.78 percent pay plan increase in each of the next two years for system faculty and academic staff.

   On Friday while meeting at UW-La Crosse, the Board of Regents ultimately voted to ask the state for annual increases of 2.5 percent for each year of the 2009-11 biennial budget.

   “It’s not what our faculty and staff deserve, but I think it’s what we need to do given the incredibly tough fiscal crisis,” said UW System President Kevin Reilly.

   The UW System must formally recommend a two-year pay plan for its faculty and academic staff before the state budget has been introduced. Based upon this recommendation, and funds available in the state’s 2009-11 biennial budget, the Office of State Employment Relations will make its official pay recommendation to the State Legislature’s Joint Committee on Employment Relations. That body then must approve all pay plans for UW System unclassified employees and other state employees.

   Back in November, UW System leaders were considering asking for 7.78 percent pay plan increases in each of the next two years due to work force recruitment and retention worries. Applying a methodology established in 1984 by the Governor’s Faculty Compensation Study Committee, calculations show salaries across the UW System for professors, associate professors and assistant professors are 9.89 percent behind peer median salaries.

   That estimate is why the UW System’s Compensation Advisory Committee recommended to Reilly this past summer that he request a 7.78 percent pay increase each year of the next biennium to close the gap by the end of 2010-11.

   Back in November, the state appeared to be facing a $3.1 billion deficit over the next two-and-a-half years — making the prospects of such large pay increases seem less than likely.

   But after Gov. Jim Doyle announced in late November that the state’s deficit forecast had jumped to $5.4 billion, Reilly realized now was not the time to make any grand requests.

   “I just want to emphasize the huge change in the landscape from the last time this board met and the change in the projected deficit,” Reilly said Friday ” … We felt considering all of that, the national and international economic environment, that a 7.78 percent increase in each year of the 2009-11 biennium just wasn’t realistic. ”

   System officials said each 1 percent increase in salaries for faculty and academic staff costs the system about $9.5 million per year.

   Due to an ever-widening gap between what those in the UW System make compared to peer institutions, the Board of Regents in 2006 adopted a four-year plan to gradually boost salaries, calling for annual increases of 5.23 percent. But the Legislature and Doyle ultimately approved raises of 2 percent and 3 percent in the current two-year budget.

   By asking for a 2.5 percent increase in each of the next two years, UW System leaders are hopeful that faculty and staff can still make some strides in catching up to their peers. Due to economic woes nationally, Reilly said its reasonable to assume that those working at many peer institutions will receive raises of 2 percent.

   In an effort to show state leaders that the UW System is committed to doing its share to help solve the budget crisis, Reilly has taken a number of steps over the past month-plus.

   On Nov. 26, he asked campus provosts to take a hard look at the array of degree-granting programs and to focus on data for low-enrollment programs across the system’s 26 campuses. Reilly is directing system leaders to consider how these programs might be realigned to maximize resources and support workforce needs in Wisconsin.

   In another cost-cutting move announced last week, Reilly directed system chancellors to monitor and approve out-of-state travel funded by Wisconsin tax dollars or tuition. He also wants UW System leaders to examine the possibility of offering a three-year baccalaureate degree program at selected campuses. An accelerated-degree program could lower educational costs for students in some majors by utilizing advanced placement courses, online classes and summer study.

   And going back to late October, Reilly sent a memo to system leaders ordering chancellors who lead the state’s universities to assume approval of all new hires on their campuses. In that memo, Reilly said chancellors should only fill the jobs they consider “most essential to the university’s mission at this time.” In the past, system hires were generally approved by department heads. …

   http://www.madison.com/tct/mad/topstories/317384

   If nothing shows you how out of touch with reality higher education is, this article should prove it.

   A 15.56% increase in salary over the next two years was the original plan?

   The professors, associate professors and assistant professors are 9.89 percent behind other schools?!?!

   All this with, in most cases tenure, meaning they’ve got jobs for life without regard to any performance reviews whatsoever?

   Is it any wonder that academia and labor unions are kindred spirits given their similar pay structures?

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5. wardmama4

   December 6, 2008 at 11:14 am

   Who knew that prostitution and drugs lead to crime?!?

   Amsterdam to close many brothels, marijuana cafes
   By TOBY STERLING, Associated Press Writer

   AMSTERDAM, Netherlands – Amsterdam unveiled plans Saturday to close brothels, sex shops and marijuana cafes in its ancient city center as part of a major effort to drive organized crime out of the tourist haven.

   The city is targeting businesses that “generate criminality,” including gambling parlors, and the so-called “coffee shops” where marijuana is sold openly. Also targeted are peep shows, massage parlors and souvenir shops used by drug dealers for money-laundering.

   http://tinyurl.com/6ofrtz

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6. clifcrds

   December 6, 2008 at 12:56 pm

   British Actor Learns Reality The Hard Way

   Tough-guy Movie Actor Beat Up In Sioux Falls Bar

   Hollywood actor Vinnie Jones was treated for injuries and arrested after a Thursday night bar fight at Wiley’s Tavern in downtown Sioux Falls.

   Jones, 43, is a British former soccer player whose movie credits include “Snatch,” “Gone in Sixty Seconds” and “Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels.” He also did voice-over work in “Garfield: A Tale of Two Kitties.”

   But the Sioux Falls man Jones allegedly punched said it was his role as Juggernaut in “X-Men: The Last Stand,” that sparked the fight.

   Juan Barrera, 24, said his roommates were playing pool when Jones approached and asked to play. He said Jesse Bickett, 24, of Montrose told Jones he’d have to wait.

   That’s when one of Barrera’s roommates asked Jones whether he was “that guy from X-Men.”

   “He got offended by that, and he started pushing my other friends around. He said he’s been in so many other movies or whatever,” Barrera said.

   Barrera went to the restroom, so he didn’t see what happened next.

   Police: ‘He got the worst end of that deal’

   Sioux Falls Police Sgt. Tim Hagen said people were pushing and shoving when Jones charged at Bickett, who hit the actor in the face with a beer glass.

   “He got the worst end of that deal,” Hagen said, examining a police photograph of Jones’ face.

   Jones was known for his violence on the soccer field.

   Police were called to the bar at 11:35 p.m. Thursday. They found Bickett outside the bar with cuts on his hand and arrested him for aggravated assault.

   Jones, Montrose man both treated for injuries

   They later found Jones at Sanford USD Medical Center where he was treated for cuts to the face. He was charged with simple assault and posted bond Friday morning.

   Police do not identify victims, but Barrera said he was the man Jones punched. He said he was exiting the restroom when he found Jones and Wiley’s staff members coming the opposite direction.

   “His whole face was covered in blood,” Barrera said.

   “I just walked out the restroom, didn’t say a word to him … and he struck me in the mouth.”

   Barrera said he countered with one or two punches to Jones’ face, then knocked him to the floor before Wiley’s staff escorted Barrera outside.

   Barrera said Minnehaha County Jail staff called him Friday morning to warn that Jones was free on bail.

   Jones’ manager, Alex Cole, had more questions than answers. He said Jones hasn’t answered his phone calls, and his wife is worried about him.

   Cole said Jones is on vacation, but he didn’t know specifically what the actor was doing in Sioux Falls.

   Mom: ‘(Jones) doesn’t want to run into me’

   Barrera said someone who was with Jones at the bar said he was in Sioux Falls to hunt.

   Jones’ wife and manager aren’t the only people who want to speak with the actor: Deb Bickett said Friday afternoon that her son just got out of surgery.

   “He’s got major hospital bills hanging over his head,” she said. “He (Jones) doesn’t want to run into me.”

   Bickett said her son told her, “It was definitely self-defense, Mom.”

   Neither man made a court appearance Friday, and no formal charges have been filed. The state’s attorney’s office said it has not yet received a report from police.

   http://www.argusleader.com/art...../812060304

   This is why whatever comes from the mouth of someone in Hollywood is not taken seriously in “God Frearing/Gun Clinging” middle America . . . we know real life from reality. If you go looking for a fight here you won’t get hit with a “hollywood prop” fake beer bottle and there won’t be a soccer ref stepping in the middle of it to give someone a “yellow card”.

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7. pdsand

   December 6, 2008 at 2:00 pm

   “He didn’t think anyone had a right to tell him he should have a light on his bike,” DeSpain said.

   Oh ho ho, that’s rich.

   He’s probably only riding a bike because the American Heart Association told him he had to quit smoking and drinking and eating red meat and get some exercise. I imagine he was wearing the state-mandated helmet and his bike was outfitted with the state-mandated reflectors. The city probably painted a bike lane and told him to ride in it. And for good measure he gave the state-mandated audible signal that he was about to pass on the left. But watch out, buddy, because when you tell this rugged individualist to put a light on his bicycle, you’re walking on the fighting side.

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8. pinandpuller

   December 6, 2008 at 8:48 pm

   Dustin Dunlavey vs Vinnie Jones celebrity biathelon: 10K bike-ride followed by 3 rounds boxing.

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9. BillK

   December 7, 2008 at 5:11 am

   From Obama’s home town and the AP:

   Day 2 For Workers At Shuttered Window Plant

   Union Claims Bank Of America Cut Off Financing For Republic Windows And Doors

   Workers who got three days’ notice their factory was shutting its doors voted to occupy the building and said Saturday they won’t go home without assurances they’ll get severance and vacation pay they say they are owed.

   In the second day of a sit-in on the factory floor that began Friday, about 200 union workers occupied the building in shifts while union leaders outside criticized a Wall Street bailout they say is leaving laborers behind.

   About 50 workers sat on pallets and chairs inside the Republic Windows and Doors plant. Leah Fried, an organizer with the United Electrical Workers, said the Chicago-based vinyl window manufacturer failed to give 60 days’ notice required by law before shutting down.

   During the takeover, workers have been shoveling snow and cleaning the building, Fried said.

   “We’re doing something we haven’t since the 1930s, so we’re trying to make it work,” Fried said.

   Organizers of the action said the company can’t pay employees because its creditor, Charlotte, N.C.-based Bank of America, won’t let them. Crain’s Chicago Business reported that Republic Windows’ monthly sales had fallen to $2.9 million from $4 million during the past month. In a memo to the union, obtained by the business journal, Republic CEO Rich Gillman said the company had “no choice but to shut our doors.”

   Bank of America received $25 billion from the government’s financial bailout package.

   “Across cultures, religions, union and nonunion, we all say this bailout was a shame,” said Richard Berg, president of Teamsters Local 743. “If this bailout should go to anything, it should go to the workers of this country.”

   Outside the plant, protesters wore stickers and carried signs that said, “You got bailed out, we got sold out.”

   Larry Spivack, regional director for American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, Council 31, said the peaceful action will add to Chicago’s rich history in the labor movement, which includes the 1886 Haymarket affair, when Chicago laborers and anarchists gathering in a square on the city’s west side drew national attention when an unidentified person threw a bomb at police.

   “The history of workers is built on issues like this here today,” Spivack said.

   Representatives of Republic Windows did not immediately respond Saturday to calls and e-mails seeking comment.

   Police spokeswoman Laura Kubiak said authorities were aware of the situation and officers were patrolling the area.

   Workers were angered when company officials didn’t show up for a meeting Friday that had been arranged by U.S. Rep. Luis Gutierrez, a Chicago Democrat, Fried said. Union officials said another meeting with the company is scheduled for Monday afternoon.

   “We’re going to stay here until we win justice,” said Blanca Funes, 55, of Chicago, after occupying the building for several hours. Speaking in Spanish, Funes said she fears losing her home without the wages she feels she’s owed. A 13-year employee of Republic, she estimated her family can make do for three months without her paycheck. Most of the factory’s workers are Hispanic. …

   http://cbs2chicago.com/local/r.....80850.html

   See, you bail out a bank, the bank tries to get back on its feet, and it’s of course the bank’s fault the business can’t just not pay its loan forever.

   If only the Government would have given Union workers the money instead, it would have accomplished… precisely nothing.

   I’m also glad to know that Labor in the “history of workers” in this country was built on actions like… refusing to leave a closed plant.

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10. BillK

    December 7, 2008 at 5:16 am

    From the Atlanta Journal-Constitution:

    Gwinnett residents could face $500 fine for not recycling

    By Patrick Fox

    While neighboring counties encourage recycling, Gwinnett County’s new solid waste management ordinance puts teeth into it. The ordinance provides for a civil fine of $500 for violations, which includes those who fail to “source separate residential recovered materials.”

    Mandatory recycling is not common in metro Atlanta, but Gwinnett County Commission Chairman Charles Bannister said the move is in line with a state policy that local governments develop plans to reduce solid waste by 25 percent.

    “We want to save landfills as long as we can,” Bannister said. “Nobody wants to open up a new landfill.”

    The state has tied solid waste reduction to applications for new landfills.

    “We don’t intend for this to be the garbage gestapo, running around, looking in people’s garbage about what’s there and what’s not there,” said Connie Wiggins, executive director of Gwinnett Clean and Beautiful, which is administering Gwinnett’s waste disposal program. “I believe the fine applies to all categories, and certainly, if we saw excessive abuses of materials being thrown in the garbage.”

    The big concern, Wiggins said, is mixing garbage in the recycling container.

    “[It}causes contamination,” she said, “and … it ends up going to a landfill anyway.”

    The City of Atlanta operates its own garbage and recycling collection system for single-family residential customers. While all are issued a bin, they are not required to recycle, said Valerie Bell-Smith, spokeswoman for the Department of Pulbic Works.

    Cobb County does not administer a residential solid waste service, but it requires private haulers to offer recycling to residents, said Gwen Baldwin, public programs coordinator. The county also operates a recycling center at its waste disposal transfer station on County Services Parkway in Marietta.

    DeKalb County runs a voluntary recycling program with its sanitation service. Customers pay a $30 start-up fee for containers.

    “If you don’t want to do it, you’re not charged for it,” said Kristie Swink, director of communications for DeKalb County. “For ours not to be mandatory, we have well over 16,000 people participating in the program.” …

    http://www.ajc.com/metro/conte....._fine.html

    Our future as envisioned by our new Democrat overlords.

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11. BillK

    December 7, 2008 at 5:23 am

    From the AP, Democrats being Democrats:

    Atlantic City: casinos, boardwalk and now sex tape

    By Wayne Parry

    ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (AP) – A hooker and a Baptist minister having sex in a seedy motel room, where a camera was hidden in a clock radio. A videotape delivered to a radio talk show host by someone wearing oversized glasses, a fake beard and surgical gloves.

    Even by the flamboyant corruption standards set by Atlantic City’s government over the decades, this was one for the books.
    Former City Council President Craig Callaway was sentenced Thursday to three years in prison for his role in setting up council rival Eugene Robinson with a prostitute in a motel room and secretly videotaping the encounter.

    “From the inception of Atlantic City, there has been a culture of corruption here that has never washed away with the tide,” said Virginia McCabe, an Atlantic City radio host who received the first copy of the sex tape. “It’s what Atlantic City grew up on and handed down from one generation to the next.”

    In addition to the crushing economic slump that’s crippling the city’s 11 casinos in the nation’s second-largest gambling resort and threatening the construction of at least two others, the city got a dose of bad publicity last year when Mayor Bob Levy dropped out of sight for two weeks, earning the nickname “the Missing Mayor.”

    When Levy finally did resurface, he resigned, admitting he had been abusing painkillers and that he had lied about his Vietnam War service in order to fatten his veterans’ benefits checks.

    Levy was sentenced to probation, and has to pay back $25,000 in extra benefits he received as a result of falsely claiming he was in a special operations unit that worked behind enemy lines in Vietnam.

    “The only thing that appears to be missing from City Hall in Atlantic City over the years is P.T. Barnum,” said James Leonard Jr., a politically active lawyer. “The corruption, the sex, the Missing Mayor – it seems to be only in Atlantic City that they do it this vigorously.

    “Atlantic City is a town whose origins are rooted in vice,” he said. “It’s like the temptations are just too great here.”

    Levy resigned in October 2007. Four of his eight predecessors also had been arrested on corruption charges.

    Some council members haven’t fared much better. As recently as 2006, one third of the nine council members were either in prison or on their way. One incumbent councilman is awaiting trial next year for his role in the Callaway sex video case.

    In 1989 and 1990, four council members and the mayor were indicted in a bribery case. Only one councilman and the mayor, James Usry, were convicted.

    Callaway had come to dominate the all-Democrat city government. His network of family and friends mastered the technique of soliciting and collecting absentee ballots in poor neighborhoods.

    In more than one election, candidates who thought they had won, according to voting machine totals, ended up losing when hundreds or even thousands of Callaway’s absentee ballots were counted.

    He also was arrested 25 times, with many of the cases involving his use of a bullhorn to shout down opponents. Once, he was convicted of throwing a brick at a political rival’s van.

    Callaway had been a leading candidate for mayor when the FBI nabbed him for taking $36,000 in bribes.

    He pleaded guilty in that case, then had one piece of unfinished business: taking down Robinson, a council rival.

    In 2006, he rented two rooms at the Bayview Motel, a nondescript lodging outside Atlantic City.

    According to an FBI agent’s court testimony in June, co-defendant Floyd Tally placed a camera hidden in a clock radio inside one of the rooms. A video recorder was set up in the adjacent room.

    The agent said Callaway and his brothers, Ronald and David, paid a prostitute between $150 and $200 to lure Robinson to the motel and perform a sex act on him.

    Councilman John Schultz allegedly arranged for a computer expert to help edit the video and blur the woman’s face, the agent testified.

    Prosecutors say Callaway and the others confronted Robinson with the tape and told him it would be released to the media if he didn’t resign.

    Robinson refused, and contacted authorities. He declined to comment, but has filed an invasion of privacy lawsuit against Callaway and several others. Robinson maintains the sex was consensual, and that money he gave the woman was to buy sodas.

    Callaway is serving his three-year sentence for conspiracy to commit invasion of privacy at the same time he serves a 40-month federal prison term in the bribery case. …

    http://apnews.myway.com/articl.....E1T80.html

    I wonder if this writer will have a job on Monday.

    Callaway’s ballot tactics sound awful familiar, don’t they?

    I wonder if he’s a consultant to the Franken and Gregoire campaigns?

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12. BillK

    December 7, 2008 at 5:28 am

    Do as I say, not as I do…

    From the Boston Globe:

    New England border protection chief charged with hiring illegal immigrant

    By Jonathan Saltzman and Andrew Ryan

    The regional director of Homeland Security, Customs, and Border Protection was charged today with repeatedly hiring illegal immigrants to clean her Salem home after one cleaner wore a wire during an undercover investigation.

    Lorraine Henderson is the director of the Port of Boston, overseeing 190 armed federal officers who patrol major airports and shipping terminals in Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Rhode Island.

    “She’s supposed to be deporting aliens, not hiring them,” said Assistant US Attorney Brian T. Kelly, chief of the public corruption unit.

    Agents arrested Henderson at her Salem home at 8 a.m. Standing this afternoon in US District Court in Boston, she wore jeans and a gray sweatshirt and did not enter a plea to a charge of encouraging an illegal immigrant to remain in the country. If convicted, she faces as much as 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

    The initial appearance lasted 15 minutes and Henderson said little, responding to questions from Magistrate Judge Robert B. Collings about whether she understood her legal rights with one-word answers. Collings released her on a $25,000 unsecured bond and ordered her to surrender her passport. Henderson has been placed on paid administrative leave, a US Attorney’s spokeswoman said.

    According to an eight-page affidavit unsealed today, Henderson had employed a Brazilian woman to clean her home for $75 to $80 every few weeks for several years. Henderson’s fellow officers at US Customs and Border Protection told her in 2005 and 2006 that it was against the law to hire illegal immigrants and urged her to find another housekeeper. Not only did she ignore the advice, according to the affidavit, but when the housekeeper took time off to have a baby, Henderson also allegedly hired two of the housekeeper’s Brazilian friends who were also in the country illegally.

    After having a baby, the original housekeeper allegedly came back to work for Henderson, who counseled her to avoid detection by law enforcement. The housekeeper told her, according to the affidavit, that she had been living in the United States illegally for seven years after paying a man to smuggle her across the Mexican border.

    “You have to be careful ’cause they will deport you. Be careful,” Henderson told the housekeeper in a conversation Sept. 9, 2008, that was recorded on the wire. “Wow, wow, if you leave they won’t let you back … you can’t leave, don’t leave … ’cause once you leave you will never be back.”

    After the conversation that day in her Salem home, Henderson increased the woman’s pay from $75 to $80, according to the affidavit. The housekeeper, whose name was not included in the affidavit, agreed to wear a wire after being approached by a special agent with US Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

    http://www.boston.com/news/loc.....d_bor.html

    These are the people keeping us, uh, “safe.”

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13. BillK

    December 7, 2008 at 6:15 am

    So this is what this country has become – if so, we really have returned to the Carter years.

    An OpEd from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:

    Upper-crust reruns not so funny now

    By Joanne Weintraub

    Something has come between me and my favorite old sitcoms.

    I’m talking about the syndicated reruns of choice half-hours that are available all over the grid, day and night, to record and save for the times I need video comfort food: milk-and-cookies TV.

    Lately, with the temperature plunging and the economy tanking, I’ve been needing those comedies a lot. But the laughter keeps getting stuck in my throat.

    I first noticed it with “Frasier,” once the most dependable of the oldies.

    I used to think I’d never get tired of the banter between the snooty shrink and his even more hilariously overrefined brother, Niles, or between these two cashmere junkies and their flannel-shirted father, Martin.

    But so much of that banter is about fine wine or opera subscriptions or other preoccupations of the rich that it has begun to grate. With virtually all the people I know worried about their future, their kids’ future and the country’s future, somebody dithering about the effects of dampness on his handmade Italian shoes just doesn’t seem very funny.

    The New Yorkers of “Friends” and “Will & Grace” have started to get on my nerves, too. When they’re not moping around their ridiculously large apartments, they’re out in search of the trendiest places to brunch, lunch, dine and drink.

    The old favorite that has soured the most, though, is “Sex and the City.”

    The episode that turned me away from this sassy standby was the one where Carrie takes Berger, the struggling novelist, to her favorite clothing store.

    “In every relationship, there comes a time when you take that next important step,” she explains in her voiceover. “For some couples, that step is meeting the parents. For me, it’s meeting the Prada.”

    Greeted by air kisses from a Prada salesman, the pair are offered something to drink – “Cappuccino? Bottled water? Champagne?” – and a tour of the designer’s latest.

    Carrie is in her element. Berger is completely out of his. And I was out of patience with “SATC.” …

    http://www.jsonline.com/entert.....65939.html

    So much better to sit home, feel guilty about having any money to spare, and not buy anything.

    That’ll help the economy.

    There is a wide area between spending recklessly with money you don’t have any enjoying the fruits of your labor responsibly.

    Yes, that can involve fine dining, nice shoes, wine and Prada.

    Heaven forbid Prada salespeople do anything to make their potentital customers feel welcome and pampered. Nope, if times are bad, perhaps they should shame their customers because they’re spending “too much” and pile up the merchandise in the corner and have people paw through it as if they were at the local Goodwill.

    Besides, not everyone will be feeling guilty; just wait until you see the money spent on the Obama coronation inaugural…

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14. Gila Monster

    December 7, 2008 at 9:00 am

    “Besides, not everyone will be feeling guilty; just wait until you see the money spent on the Obama coronation inaugural…”

    BillK, I believe you’re clairvoyant sir. From the AP via My Way.

    Will recession mean a toned-down inauguration?

    Dec 7, 7:47 AM (ET)
    By LISA TOLIN

    WASHINGTON (AP) – Unemployment is on the rise. The stock market is in the tank. Is this any time for a party? For the sake of the masses of people expected for President-elect Barack Obama’s inauguration, let’s hope so. While Obama must be sensitive to the nation’s time of war and recession, there’s still reason to expect a rollicking time.

    “We’re mindful of the fact that people in this country are hurting, that they’re going through hard times,” said Linda Douglass, spokeswoman for the Presidential Inaugural Committee. “On the other hand, we see this not just as a celebration of an election, but as a time for people to come together and celebrate their common values and shared aspirations and goals.”

    The committee has disclosed few details of the celebration, but it surely won’t come cheap. President George W. Bush raised $42 million to help finance his second inauguration. Millions more were spent by the government on security.

    Though costly, an inauguration helps set the tone for a presidency, said Gil Troy, a visiting scholar at the Bipartisan Policy Center.

    The president shouldn’t be seen noshing on caviar, but neither should he dispense with glamour entirely, Troy said. Americans want their leader to be a man of the people and a celebrity superstar, both.

    “Americans are people who love to indulge, and deep in our hearts want our leaders to be like the king and queen of England – but not too much,” he said.

    President Ronald Reagan fit the bill best when he set a new standard of opulence for his 1981 inauguration, Troy said. Nancy Reagan wore a $10,000 gown to the three-hour gala with Frank Sinatra.

    “Reagan had the ability – and maybe the Obamas will – to somehow make spending look patriotic,” Troy said.

    http://tinyurl.com/55kyow

    I have no doubt the Obamessiah’s upcoming “coronation” will pale the Reagan and Bush inaugurals.
    Note how this reporter managed to get her digs in on Reagan and Bush as well.

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15. proreason

    December 7, 2008 at 11:29 am

    This is linked in Sunday’s Drudge report, but it is so hilarious, it’s worth mentioning here:

    http://www.independent.co.uk/n.....55688.html

    From the The Independent (UK) Sunday Section:

    “It’s official: Men really are the weaker sex

    Evolution is being distorted by pollution, which damages genitals and the ability to father offspring, says new study. Geoffrey Lean reports

    Sunday, 7 December 2008

    The male gender is in danger, with incalculable consequences for both humans and wildlife, startling scientific research from around the world reveals.
    The research – to be detailed tomorrow in the most comprehensive report yet published – shows that a host of common chemicals is feminising males of every class of vertebrate animals, from fish to mammals, including people.
    Backed by some of the world’s leading scientists, who say that it “waves a red flag” for humanity and shows that evolution itself is being disrupted, the report comes out at a particularly sensitive time for ministers. On Wednesday, Britain will lead opposition to proposed new European controls on pesticides, many of which have been found to have “gender-bending” effects.
    It also follows hard on the heels of new American research which shows that baby boys born to women exposed to widespread chemicals in pregnancy are born with smaller penises and feminised genitals.
    “This research shows that the basic male tool kit is under threat,” says Gwynne Lyons, a former government adviser on the health effects of chemicals, who wrote the report.
    Wildlife and people have been exposed to more than 100,000 new chemicals in recent years, and the European Commission has admitted that 99 per cent of them are not adequately regulated. There is not even proper safety information on 85 per cent of them.
    Many have been identified as “endocrine disrupters” – or gender-benders – because they interfere with hormones. These include phthalates, used in food wrapping, cosmetics and baby powders among other applications; flame retardants in furniture and electrical goods; PCBs, a now banned group of substances still widespread in food and the environment; and many pesticides.
    The report – published by the charity CHEMTrust and drawing on more than 250 scientific studies from around the world – concentrates mainly on wildlife, identifying effects in species ranging from the polar bears of the Arctic to the eland of the South African plains, and from whales in the depths of the oceans to high-flying falcons and eagles.
    It concludes: “Males of species from each of the main classes of vertebrate animals (including bony fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals) have been affected by chemicals in the environment.
    “Feminisation of the males of numerous vertebrate species is now a widespread occurrence. All vertebrates have similar sex hormone receptors, which have been conserved in evolution. Therefore, observations in one species may serve to highlight pollution issues of concern for other vertebrates, including humans.”
    …..and much more!!”

    So guys, if the imminent threat of the destruction of humanity doesn’t have you worried, if you shrug off the certain inundation of all coastal cities, if the prospect of fire in the sky doesn’t get your blood up………….how about LITTTLE PENISES!!!! Now, are you gonna go green or not?

    (Side note: Obamy may be an early adapter…”Feminisation of the males of numerous vertebrate species”.)

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16. Mr Michael

    December 7, 2008 at 6:05 pm

    From the concerned Environmentalists at Gas 2.0, a website dedicated to dig[ing] into the viscous world of biofuels and the fast-paced transit arena, exploring the technologies and substances that will power our transportation future:

    America’s Addiction Fuels Desire For Coffee Ground Biodiesel

    One of the main limits to the acceptance of biodiesel as an alternative fuel is its price premium above regular diesel. To bring the price of biodiesel down, the industry uses as much waste material from other industries as possible to make it — such as used fryer oil and animal fats from poultry processing.

    In holding with the idea of cheap biodiesel feedstocks, a team of researchers in the Chemical and Materials Engineering Department at the University of Nevada figured that maybe spent coffee grounds would fit the bill too.

    And boy do they ever. Not only do spent coffee grounds have a relatively large amount of oil (about 15% — almost all of which can be converted into biodiesel using standard methods), biodiesel made from the grounds has a long shelf life due to the large amount of antioxidants in coffee. Antioxidants slow the process of rancidification.

    There’s a bonus too: at the end of the biodiesel extraction and conversion process, the leftover grounds can be turned into fuel pellets for wood stoves and boilers, closing the waste loop (or at least putting most of the carbon and nutrients that had recently been used by the plant to grow back into the atmosphere where they can again be used by plants to grow).

    Given that Starbucks generates 210 million pounds of spent coffee grounds per year in the US, the researchers calculate that it could amount to 2.92 million gallons of biodiesel and 89,000 tons of fuel pellets. After taking out operating costs, and assuming a sale value of $4.50/gallon of biodiesel and $225/ton of fuel pellets, that amount equals just over $8 million of profits per year (view calculations).

    Conducting my own calculations, even at $3/gallon for biodiesel, profits would be in the $4 million per year range.

    Anybody in Seattle listening?

    Link: http://gas2.org/2008/12/04/ame.....biodiesel/

    Hmm.

    There’s a bonus too: at the end of the biodiesel extraction and conversion process, the leftover grounds can be turned into fuel pellets for wood stoves and boilers, closing the waste loop (or at least putting most of the carbon and nutrients that had recently been used by the plant to grow back into the atmosphere where they can again be used by plants to grow).

    All of a sudden, adding CO2 to the atmosphere is GOOD for the environment… Keep THIS new development handy for future reference.

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17. Steve

    December 7, 2008 at 8:17 pm

    “into the viscous world of biofuels”

    Good one!

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18. Anonymoose

    December 7, 2008 at 8:31 pm

    Biodiesel is actually a viable fuel since it provides almost the same energy as diesel and can be used straight, no conversion of the vehicle. However, getting the oil is the problem. Most people assume oil from corn/grass/whatever, but the energy cost of extracting it is often equal or greater to producing it. One of the better ideas I’ve heard is getting it from algae, which are about 50% oil. Grow them in large vats and literally squeeze it out, and recycle the biowaste as farm food.

    But I do wonder two things:

    Why is that after years of screaming we need to go to alternative fuels like biodiesel and we do, now the same people are screaming about food shortages because of it? make up your mind.

    The other is the whole global warming thing, the assumption is always that the world will bake like a desert. Assume it is true, the reality is rainfall patterns will shift, and where there’s a warm and moist environment with plenty of CO2 plant life will thrive.

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19. proreason

    December 7, 2008 at 8:59 pm

    “Why is that after years of screaming we need to go to alternative fuels like biodiesel and we do, now the same people are screaming about food shortages because of it? make up your mind.”

    With all due respect Anonymoose, you seem to be making the assumptions that the Global Warming nuts base their case on something approaching logic and that they consider multiple sides of the issue.

    Your won’t arrive at good conclusions with crazy assumptions like those.

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20. Mr Michael

    December 8, 2008 at 2:13 am

    # SG
    December 7th, 2008 at 8:17 pm

    “into the viscous world of biofuels”

    Good one!

    I quoted their Self-description in it’s entirety, that line was a part of it. I thought it was pretty cute…

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21. BillK

    December 8, 2008 at 2:59 am

    From a thrilled AP:

    Obama: Economy Will Get Worse Before It Improves

    The economy will get worse before it improves, President-Elect Barack Obama said during a televised interview on Sunday.

    President-elect Barack Obama said the U.S. economy seems destined to get worse before it gets better and he pledged a recovery plan “that is equal to the task ahead.”

    Obama also said in an interview broadcast Sunday that the survival of the domestic car-making capacity is important, yet any bailout must be “conditioned on an auto industry emerging at the end of the process that actually works.”

    Less than six weeks before he takes office, Obama said that help for homeowners facing foreclosure is an option as part of his plan. He sidestepped a question about when he plans to raise taxes on wealthy Americans.

    Obama’s interview on NBC television’s “Meet the Press” was his most extensive since winning the White House more than a month ago.

    In the intervening weeks, the economy has showed clear signs of worsening. Employers said they eliminated more than 500,000 jobs in November alone and retailers reported disappointing holiday-season sales.

    “The economy is going to get worse before it gets better,” he said twice in the early moments of the interview, taped Saturday in Chicago.

    The president-elect announced on Saturday he would call for the most massive spending on public works since the creation of the interstate highway system a half-century ago. In a word of caution to powerful lawmakers, he said the first priority would be “shovel-ready” projects — those that could create jobs rights away.

    “The days of just pork coming out of Congress as a strategy those days are over,” he added.
    Obama said repeatedly that his economic advisers are at work on an economic aid package, but he has largely stayed out of the public debate over bailout aid to the Detroit automakers.

    Congress and the Bush administration are at work on a plan for roughly $15 billion for General Motors Corp., Ford Motor Co. and Chrysler LLC. Congressional leader hope to pass the measure this week.

    Obama suggested he would support such a plan, so long as it was accompanied by conditions to “keep the automakers’ feet to the fire in making the changes that are necessary” for longer-term survival. He also indicated he did not believe bankruptcy is an acceptable course of action for any of the companies.

    The president-elect sidestepped a question about the pace of a troop withdrawal from Iraq, saying he would direct U.S. generals to come up with a plan “for a responsible drawdown.” He said in the campaign he wanted most U.S. troops withdrawn within 16 months, but did not say then, nor has he now, how large a deployment should be left behind. …

    http://www.foxnews.com/politic.....-improves/

    Interesting… Obama must really be ticking off the left.

    By sidestepping tax hikes on “the rich” and a withdrawal from Iraq?

    Kos must be full of anti-Obama flames these days…

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22. BillK

    December 8, 2008 at 3:08 am

    From a hopeful AP:

    Auto Industry Bailout Would Come With Strings Attached

    Congressional aide says money could be yanked back if government-run board and overseer named by President Bush decides the companies aren’t doing enough to overhaul themselves.

    WASHINGTON– Congressional negotiators continue hammering out legislation that would dole out billions to automakers — but would yank back the money if a government-run board and overseer decided the companies weren’t taking steps to overhaul themselves.

    The plan would draw the emergency aid from an existing loan program meant to help the automakers build fuel-efficient vehicles. The size of the package hasn’t been finalized, but it is expected to be about $15 billion, several congressional aides said.

    It would create a board composed of Cabinet secretaries from the departments of Treasury, Energy, Labor, Commerce and Transportation plus the Environmental Protection Agency administrator to oversee a broad auto industry restructuring. A congressional aide outlined the emerging measure on condition of anonymity because it is not yet completed.

    In return for the money, the carmakers would have to agree to terms similar to those placed on banks that receive funds under the $700 billion Wall Street bailout: to limit their top executives’ pay packages, cease paying dividends, give the government a chunk of future gains and guarantee that taxpayers would be reimbursed before any other shareholders, the aide said.

    The bill under discussion would place the special investigator overseeing the bank rescue in charge of keeping tabs on the auto bailout.

    The White House and Democratic congressional leaders are narrowing their differences over the auto bailout, but had yet to agree on specific legislative details, officials said.

    Sen. Chris Dodd, chairman of the Banking Committee, said Sunday that General Motors Corp.’s chief executive, Rick Wagoner, “has to move on” as part of a government-run restructuring.

    “I think you have got to consider new leadership,” Dodd said on CBS’ “Face the Nation.”

    Criticized for staying on the sidelines until now, President-elect Barack Obama voiced support Sunday for the bailout legislation being drafted in Congress. He accused car industry executives of a persistent “head-in-the sand approach” to long-festering problems.

    In an appearance on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” Obama said Congress was doing “the exact right thing” in drafting legislation that “holds the auto industry’s feet to the fire” at the same time it tries to prevent its demise. …

    http://www.foxnews.com/politic.....-attached/

    So if the auto companies have to reimburse the Government before paying any dividends to stockholders, should this go through tell me why the value of GM and Fords’ stock won’t instantly be $0.00?

    Why would you buy or hold stock in a bankrupt company that is prohibited by law from paying dividends?

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23. BillK

    December 8, 2008 at 6:39 am

    Something the greenies won’t tell you as they continue to pass laws forcing more and more people to recycle.

    From the AP:

    Bottom drops out of recycling industry

    CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) – Norm Steenstra’s budgeting worries mount with each new load of cardboard, aluminum cans and plastics jugs dumped at West Virginia’s largest county recycling center.

    Faced with a dramatic slump in the recycling market, the director of the Kanawha County Solid Waste Authority has cut 20 of his 24 employees’ work week to four days from five, shuttered six of the authority’s drop-off stations and is urging residents to hoard their recyclables after informing municipalities with curbside recycling programs that the center will accept only paper until further notice.

    “The market is just not there anymore,” Steenstra said.

    Just months after riding an incredible high, the recycling market has tanked almost in lockstep with the global economic meltdown. As consumer demand for autos, appliances and new homes dropped, so did the steel and pulp mills’ demand for scrap, paper and other recyclables.

    Cardboard that sold for about $135 a ton in September is now going for $35 a ton. Plastic bottles have fallen from 25 cents to 2 cents a pound. Aluminum cans dropped nearly half to about 40 cents a pound, and scrap metal tumbled from $525 a gross ton to about $100.

    It’s getting more difficult to find buyers in some markets, Steenstra said.

    While few across the country appear to be taking such drastic measures as Steenstra, the recycling market has gotten so bad that haulers in Oregon and Nevada who were once paid for recyclables are now getting nothing or in some cases are having to pay to unload their wares.

    In Washington state, what was once a multimillion-dollar revenue source for the city of Seattle may become a liability next year as the city may have to start paying companies to take their materials.

    Some in the business are describing the downturn as the worst and fastest ever.

    “It’s never gone from so good to so bad so fast,” said Marty Davis, president of Midland Davis Corp. in Pekin, Ill., who has been in the recycling business since 1975.

    The turnaround caught everyone off guard, said Steven Kowalsky, president of Empire Recycling in Utica, N.Y.

    “Nobody saw it coming. Absolutely nobody,” Kowalsky said. “Even the biggest players didn’t see it coming.”

    At the height of the market just months ago, customers lined the street outside Kowalsky’s business, hoping to hawk scrap to pay rising food and fuel costs.

    “That’s not happening anymore,” he said.

    The Kanawha County authority, which sells donated recyclables from residents and municipalities, sells about 7,500 tons of paper, plastic and aluminum a year, Steenstra said.

    Ted Armbrecht III, managing partner of The Wine Shop at Capital Market in Charleston, says it won’t be a problem piling up his recyclables at home, but he doesn’t have that luxury with his wine business, which uses a lot of cardboard boxes.

    “We’ll hold onto it as long as we can, but once it reaches a tipping point, the only other place it’s going to go is the dumpster,” he said.

    Trey Granger, spokesman for Earth911, a national environmental resource group, said the public’s interest in recycling should be able to weather the downturn in an industry that has been growing for more than 30 years and has always been cyclical.

    “Obviously times are tough,” Granger said. “I wouldn’t worry more about this more than any other aspect of the economic downturn we’re facing.” …

    http://www.9news.com/news/arti.....;catid=344

    One can only imagine what forcing more materials into the stream will cause to occur.

    The bottom line is if it costs firms money to take recyclables off their hands, that material will be diverted to landfills instead.

    But hey, people should still feel good about recycling…

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24. BannedbytheTaliban

    December 8, 2008 at 1:01 pm

    From BBC (because the “American” news agencies have omitted an important fact):

    Blackwater guards indicted in US

    Five employees of the US security firm Blackwater have been indicted over the 2007 fatal shooting of 17 Iraqis, after surrendering to US authorities in Utah.

    Contracted to defend US diplomats, the firm says its guards acted in self-defence when they opened fire when ambushed by Baghdad insurgents.

    The five men are charged with 14 counts of manslaughter, as well as weapons violations and attempted manslaughter.

    …..The New York Times has previously reported that an FBI investigation had concluded that 14 of the deaths at the busy Baghdad intersection were unjustified.

    http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7769435.stm

    So by the numbers, 17 died, and according to the FBI, 14 were unjustified. This results in 14 counts of manslaughter. So what about the other 3 deaths. Where they justified because they were indeed shooting at the contractors? And if they were, did the strictly devout muslims allow the FBI to conduct post-mortems on the bodies to determine if they were killed by a 5.56 nato or a soviet 7.62? Of course we should expect more show trials. Thus the fall begins.

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25. BannedbytheTaliban

    December 8, 2008 at 1:56 pm

    More socialist government at work:

    Ill. gov: We won’t do business with NC-based bank

    CHICAGO — Gov. Rod Blagojevich has ordered all state agencies to stop doing business with Bank of America to pressure the bank into helping protesting workers at a shuttered Chicago plant.

    The move is leverage to try to convince the North Carolina-based bank to use some of its federal bailout money to resolve a sit-in at Republic Windows and Doors.

    The company closed last week with just a few days’ notice and about 200 workers want their severance and vacation pay.

    http://www.wral.com/news/state/story/4099483/

    How do you spell extortion? I’d like to get it right in my complaint.

    And some good news from Wikipedia about the governor:

    Milorad “Rod” R. Blagojevich (pronounced /bləˈɡɔɪəvɪtʃ/ listen (help·info), born December 10, 1956) is an American politician from the state of Illinois. A Democrat, Blagojevich currently serves as Governor of Illinois and previously represented parts of Chicago in the U.S. Congress. He is the second Serbian American to be elected governor of any state of the United States, after George Voinovich of Ohio.

    Blagojevich was the first Democrat elected to Illinois’ governorship in 30 years (after Daniel Walker in 1972). Blagojevich has struggled annually to pass legislation and budgets, often opposed by members of his own party, who control the Illinois General Assembly and perennially disagree with him over budget and other issues,[2] and he has been the target of multiple federal investigations.[3][4]

    Polling completed on October 13, 2008 put Blagojevich’s approval rating among Illinois voters at 4%.[5] Blagojevich ranks as “Least Popular Governor” in the nation according to Rasmussen Reports By the Numbers.[6] On October 23, 2008, the Chicago Tribune reported that Blagojevich suffered the lowest ratings ever recorded for an elected politician in nearly three decades of Chicago Tribune polls.[7] Democratic Assembly members have in 2008 discussed starting impeachment proceedings against Blagojevich.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rod_Blagojevich

    And I hear he and his wife are “business partners” with Rezko.

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26. BillK

    December 8, 2008 at 5:22 pm

    From a gleeful AP:

    Fort Dix Terror Suspect Told Informant That Group Was ‘Not Going to Kill’

    CAMDEN, N.J. — A man accused with four others of plotting to kill soldiers on Fort Dix told an FBI informant that the group wasn’t going to kill anyone, according to a transcript of a conversation with the informant shown to jurors Monday.

    “We are good the way we are,” Dritan Duka said in the March 2007 conversation with informant Besnik Bakalli. “We are not going to kill anyone. Even if we kill anyone, you can’t run away. They will catch you right away.”

    Duka’s lawyer Michael Huff pointed out to the jury and Bakalli, who was on the witness stand for his fifth day of testimony, that the conversation came after one the same month that is a key to the government’s case against the five defendants.

    In the earlier conversation, which jurors heard last week, Duka told Bakalli, “Hit them here.” The informant said that meant Duka was endorsing the idea of attacking soldiers in the United States rather than abroad.

    The five men on trial — Mohamad Shnewer, Serdar Tatar and brothers Dritan, Eljvir and Shain Duka — were arrested in May 2007. They face charges including attempted murder and conspiracy to kill military personnel. The men face life in prison if convicted.

    Federal prosecutors portray their alleged plot as one of the most frightening examples of homegrown terrorism.

    Defense lawyers say the men were not seriously plotting anything. No attack was carried out before they were arrested in May 2007.

    Bakalli, who agreed to help the FBI in 2006 rather than be deported to his home country of Albania, was testy Monday as he testified on cross-examination. He accused Huff of twisting his words as the defense lawyer tried to show the jury that Bakalli was goading the suspects into talking about attacking the U.S.

    “You’re picking up my words and telling your story the way you want it,” he said.

    Bakalli said the men talked constantly about war, jihad and guns — and that he said similar things only to fit in.

    http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,463707,00.html

    See? It was just innocent peer pressure.

    He just suggested US soldiers be attacked on American soil, but since they didn’t actually do anything, no crime took place, right?

    You can hear their lawyers now – “Come on, this is like if every guy who discussed killing their ex-wives when at a bar with their friends was arrested on attempted murder charges.”

    Because, you know, it was just talk.

    Sort of like if the 9/11 hijackers had been stopped at airport security; they’d just be people who “forgot” they had box cutters and modeling clay packed in their luggage. You know, because “no one hijacks planes anymore.”

    Silly guys just being guys, you know.

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27. BillK

    December 8, 2008 at 5:36 pm

    The whining continues.

    From an also whining AP:

    Congressional Leaders Send Auto Bailout Bill to White House

    Congressional negotiators have sent the White House a multibillion dollar bailout bill for the U.S. auto industry.

    WASHINGTON — Congressional Democrats on Monday sent the White House a draft of a roughly $15 billion auto bailout they aim to bring to a vote this week, but White House officials gave a cool initial response.

    The measure would rush bridge loans to Detroit’s struggling Big Three but would also demand that the auto industry restructure itself in order to survive and would put an overseer chosen by President George W. Bush in charge of monitoring that effort, according to a draft obtained by The Associated Press.

    The White House had just begun evaluating the Democratic language, according to officials who would comment on the continuing negotiations only on condition of anonymity. But they said the draft didn’t appear consistent with the principles behind a broad agreement to give long-term financing only to viable companies. They said it was hard to tell definitively whether their doubts were warranted and they would continue talking to Capitol Hill representatives.

    At the Capitol, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said, “While we take no satisfaction in loaning taxpayer money to these companies, we know it must be done.” He added, “This is no blank check or blind hope.”

    Earlier Monday, the White House and a top Democratic lawmaker said they were likely to strike a deal quickly on the multibillion-dollar bailout, which places strict restrictions on the automakers while they’re receiving the loans and mandates that the government overseer keep close tabs on their efforts to restructure.

    The emergency loans would be drawn from an existing program meant to help the automakers build fuel-efficient vehicles.

    Among the requirements included the draft proposal is one that the carmakers getting federal help get rid of their corporate jets — which became a potent symbol of the industry’s ineptitude when the Big Three CEOs used them for their initial trips to Washington to plead before Congress for government aid.

    The White House said the fundamental approach in the language does not appear to meet Bush’s main test: that long-term financing with taxpayer dollars only be made available to companies with a viable future in the marketplace. Bush officials believed congressional negotiators were on board with this idea as well.

    The proposal also gives the overseer — a kind of “car czar” — say-so over any major business decisions by the automakers while they’re taking advantage of federal aid. The companies would have to open their books to the government, including informing the overseer of any transaction of $25 million or more and any “material change” in their financial condition.

    Under the plan, the carmakers’ could get emergency loans right away. Then the overseer would write guidelines, due on the first of the year, for restructuring the companies that received them. …

    http://www.foxnews.com/politic.....deal-near/

    Of course there’s another approach that also allows a company to operate when they present a plan to turn around their business.

    It’s called Chapter 11 bankruptcy and requries neither federal funds nor a “car czar.”

    Just keep repeating the mantra “Bush is a Republican” to deal with his embrace of socialism and remind yourself that Obama would have signed the very first bill Congress presented.

    Note that without bankruptcy, there’s no need for any Union contracts to be negotiated, and despite what the UAW has to say, odds are not even the “job bank” will be going away anytime soon.

    Yes, the “car czar” will judge everything.

    Funny, that used to be the market’s job…

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28. BillK

    December 8, 2008 at 5:56 pm

    An interesting OpEd from Nation’s Restaurant News:

    MADD launches an all-out battle to recriminalize social drinking

    By Richard Berman

    Seventy-five years ago this winter, one of the most unpopular laws in American history was repealed. After 13 years of speakeasies and moonshine, the ratification of the 21st Amendment ended Prohibition on Dec. 5, 1933.

    Many of us will celebrate “Repeal Day” as a victory for individual freedom and hospitality. But as many of you know, there is at least one group of people who have dedicated themselves to recriminalizing social drinking in the name of public safety. These individuals, under the leadership of Charles Hurley, are Mothers Against Drunk Driving, or MADD.

    Back in May, the American Beverage Institute, or ABI, launched a small media campaign to alert the public about a push for universal ignition interlocks, which are passive alcohol sensors, the latest chapter in MADD’s long-term campaign for zero drinking prior to driving. MADD has powerful allies. In fact, Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., has even said, “Frankly, if the [ignition interlock] device was in every car, what harm would it do?” Much to MADD’s dismay, ABI’s campaign generated a huge amount of favorable media attention.

    MADD has been lobbying to force this technology, which disables a car if its sensors detect alcohol, into the vehicle of every first-time, low-BAC offender. This means if a 120-pound woman gets arrested for driving after two 6-ounce glasses of wine over a two-hour period, she would receive a punishment equal to that of the guy who drinks 10 beers and hops in the car.

    Such legislation has already passed in 10 states. The good news is that it has been rejected more often than that.

    MADD’s hope is that by normalizing the technology and pushing for more widespread use—first all drunken drivers, then fleet and government vehicles, then rental cars, etc. —the general public would become adjusted or resigned to the widespread use of the technology and ultimately would not balk when they find their own new cars equipped with an interlock.

    ABI set out to inform the public with a national ad campaign supporting policies that reserve ignition interlocks for high-BAC and repeat DUI offenders, the root cause of today’s drunken-driving problem. The campaign also exposed the agenda of those who want to see the technology come as standard equipment in all cars.

    Needless to say, MADD was not pleased. But rather than engage in a public discussion of the issues, MADD went off the deep end. In a sophomoric attempt to strong-arm the industry into adopting MADD’s position on interlocks, Hurley and his group called for a national boycott of ABI member restaurants. MADD concocted the ABI position of being opposed to law enforcement. With another hysterical press release, MADD consigned itself to the list of other once legitimate and now discredited irresponsible activist groups.

    MADD was once an excellent organization with a noble mission: getting drunken drivers off our roads. I once served as the only industry consultant to the organization. But in the last decade it has become a multimillion-dollar business devoted almost entirely to curbing social drinking. It now has a $50 million operating budget that includes generous employee salaries, fringe benefits and pension plans.

    Even the money MADD does put toward programs could be better spent. Several months ago, as part of its “Every 15 Minutes” program, MADD activists drove high school students in El Camino, Calif., to near-hysterics by leading them to believe that a classmate had been killed in a drunken-driving accident. The students were allowed to grieve for about an hour before they were told the whole thing was a hoax designed to teach them a lesson.

    Today’s MADD is a far cry from the organization Candy Lightner started in 1980 after her daughter was killed by a habitual drunken driver. It has become, as Lightner put it, a “neo-Prohibitionist” organization that has lost focus on the original mission.

    With the federal government and several car manufacturers pouring millions of dollars into the development of ignition interlocks, you can bet that MADD’s goal of universal usage is achievable. You also can bet, with the built-in margins of error, liability and potential issues involved with these devices, that they will be set far below the legal BAC limit of 0.08 percent. …

    http://www.nrn.com/landingPage.aspx?coll_id=704

    It goes along nicely with Rush’s statement that every group that is not actively conservative becomes liberal over time.

    Amazing as I’m sure MADD is filled with people who also believe Marijuana should be decriminalized and that the War on Drugs is a pointless failure.

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29. artboyusa

    December 9, 2008 at 6:44 am

    Entirely OT but in these Obama-ridden times we can all use a laugh.

    What happened was a couple of weeks back me and Mrs Artboy are eating dinner (what else do you do with it?) at the Village Inn in Ogunquit, Maine. We’re sitting near the bar, which is crowded with locals. Two ladies come in and one of the guys at the bar gets up and says:

    “Here you go. One of you ladies can have my seat”.

    “Oh, thank you so much. Are you sure?”

    “Oh, yeah. Besides, they’re gonna throw me out in a minute anyway”.

    “Throw you out? What for?”

    “Cause I’m gonna start swearing”.

    “Swearing? How come you’re gonna start swearing?”

    “Cause I got Tourrette’s, damn it”.

    Well, we thought it was funny.

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30. BillK

    December 9, 2008 at 7:47 am

    Prop. 8 blacklisting claims another.

    From Frontiers Magazine:

    Restaurant manager to leave El Coyote over Prop. 8 controversy

    By Christopher Lisotta

    Frontiers magazine learned Saturday Marjorie Christoffersen is stepping down as a manager at the Los Angeles restaurant El Coyote. Bill Schoeppner, a fellow manager at El Coyote who has been with the restaurant for 26 years, told Frontiers Christoffersen was also resigning as a member of El Coyote’s board of directors.

    “She no longer works here,” Schoeppner said on Saturday. “She just told me tonight.”

    Christoffersen created a firestorm of controversy for the 77-year-old L.A. institution after local blogs broke the news she had donated $100 to the Yes on Proposition 8 campaign. Long a popular destination for the LGBT community for its cheap Mexican food and generous Margaritas, El Coyote found itself the target of boycotts and demonstrations after Christoffersen’s donation went public. In a press conference hosted by the restaurant days after the news of the donation broke, Christoffersen tried to explain her donation did not have to do with animus for gay and lesbian people, but was instead tied to her Mormon faith. Christoffersen did not apologize for the donation and did not indicate she would support any No on 8 organization. Boycott organizers and demonstrators were not impressed, and have argued online and in the local news media that Christoffersen’s support for the ban of same-sex marriage was reason to shun El Coyote.

    Schoeppner said Christoffersen tended her resignation to her mother, Grace Salisbury, who is described on the El Coyote Web site as the “matriarch” of the restaurant. Salisbury’s sister-in-law founded El Coyote in 1931.

    “Everybody is kind of used to her walking around the restaurant with a water pitcher going from table to table to table,” Schoeppner said of Christofferson. “I guess that part is no longer going to exist.”

    http://www.frontierspublishing....._2008.html

    Yet another lesson in the left’s true tolerance.

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31. Grassy Knoll

    December 9, 2008 at 10:10 am

    In the NBC story at the link below you have to play “Guess the Politcal Party” regarding the Illinois Governor. I’m sure they will correct that later. Just kidding.

    http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28139155

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32. sheehanjihad

    December 9, 2008 at 10:14 am

    On a lighter note, here is another example of political correctness gone amok……

    “Over the last week, New Hanover County banned and reinstated Christmas at a Murrayville elementary school, reports the Wilmington Star-News. A kindergarten class was preparing a concert, and one of the songs to be performed was “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.”

    An unnamed parent objected to the song, suggesting that the words “Santa” and “Christmas” carry religious overtones. The school responded to the complaint by pulling the song from the program. More parents then complained, and the matter was then decided by adminstrators and lawyers. Taxpayer dollars at work.

    The board and the lawyers determined that singing “Rudolph” is not an endorsement of religion by the government, nor are the songs in and of themselves promoting religion. Although the decision is both legal and utterly reasonable, the original objecting parent remains unsatisfied, saying “They have clearly decided that any other religion or custom is not important.” She also added on Friday that, “I don’t mind Christmas or anything Christmas-related at all, so long as you’re not imposing it on my child.” The concert participation is not mandatory. ”

    This putz could have kept her brat at home….but no, ONE parent complains, and everyone falls all over themselves to study the song for it’s religious overtones. How absolutely stupid can anyone get? That woman needs to retrieve a life and stop infecting everyone else with her flawed sense of fairness.

    ONE person complains, and uses a jocular song about an animal with a red nose, and somehow that is Christian Fundamentalism foisted upon unsuspecting six year olds? To be sure, she was upset that a Hebrew song wasnt included in a Christian Holiday pageant….so I suspect she is just being the selfish miserable shrew that she has always been.

    If I was the school board, I would tell her that as soon as Christmas Carols are included in Hannuka celebrations at the local Synagogue, then she can have her way. She needs to get that economy sized Dradel out of her butt, and stop trying to ruin Christmas for everyone else.

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33. BillK

    December 9, 2008 at 10:16 am

    Here we go again, from the AP:

    Family fears they’ll lose ‘Extreme Makeover’ home

    OAK PARK, Mich. – Four years ago, millions of television viewers watched as a deaf couple marveled at the renovations to their home that would help them better accommodate their blind, autistic son.

    But now the couple, Judy and Larry Vardon, worry that the home could face foreclosure. They were featured in a two-hour episode of “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” that set a ratings record for the show when broadcast Nov. 6, 2004.

    Weighed down by a mortgage payment that has almost doubled since the makeover and medical insurance that doesn’t cover autism treatment for 16-year-old Lance, the Vardons are clinging to the hope that Larry will keep his job at Chrysler LLC’s Sterling Heights stamping plant. The company is on the brink of bankruptcy as it and the other Detroit automakers appeal to Congress for emergency loans.

    “I’m afraid I’m going to lose my house now,” Judy Vardon, using sign language through an interpreter, told The Macomb Daily of Mount Clemens. “This house really belongs to Lance. This is his environment. He can’t speak out for himself, and I hope we can save this house.”

    ABC said 20.5 million viewers saw a crew led by host Ty Pennington rehabilitate the Vardons’ 980-square-foot house near Detroit from the inside out, including installing cameras and flat-screen monitors allowing the Vardons to monitor Lance.

    After the makeover, the couple refinanced the mortgage, and their monthly payments have nearly doubled — from $1,200 to $2,300. They had debts of $20,000 for the boy’s therapy alone.

    “We didn’t have bad spending habits,” Judy Vardon said. “My husband got laid off for a time, and insurance wouldn’t cover Lance’s autism therapy and some other things like his vision and special dental work.” …

    http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/200.....xC8iKuGL8C

    At least this time it wasn’t because of a failed business venture.

    But still, once again people don’t seem to realize that when you take equity out of your home for the cash, that puts your home at risk.

    Think for a moment of how ahead of the curve they were in the value of their home after the improvements were done.

    But perhaps more to the point, you mean the UAW’s insurance plan didn’t cover the boy’s treatments?

    Where’s the outrage?

    Of course the foreclosure/Chrysler double dip is just too juicy for the press to pass up.

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34. BillK

    December 9, 2008 at 10:22 am

    Lord help us all.

    From New York Magazine:

    Senator Nanny? Fran Wants It!

    Appoint her, or she’ll run.

    Fran Drescher wants to replace Hillary Clinton in the Senate. She says she’s qualified. “I’ve just been given the appointment of U.S. diplomat,” she said at a party for Le Cirque: A Table in Heaven at that restaurant on December 3. “My title is public diplomacy envoy for women’s health issues, and I just got back from a four-country European tour of duty. I believe next I’ll be sent to the Middle East.” Also an anti-cancer activist, Drescher has been considering a run for office. “I’ve been very successful in getting a bill passed in Washington,” she said. “I was thinking I’d take the next four years to lay some groundwork, but I’m throwing my hat in the ring.” What else makes her a good candidate? “I’m an authentic and honest person,” she said. “And I think Capitol Hill needs more of that.”

    http://nymag.com/news/intelligencer/52766/

    Can you imagine that voice on C-SPAN?

    But then again, her title does make her more qualified for the position than Hillary was.

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35. BillK

    December 10, 2008 at 1:48 am

    From a jubilant AP:

    Bank of America to Give Credit to Chicago Plant After Employee Sit-In

    CHICAGO — The creditor of a Chicago plant where laid-off employees are conducting a sit-in to demand severance pay said Tuesday it would extend limited loans to the factory so it could resolve the dispute, but the workers declared their protest unfinished.

    The Republic Windows and Doors factory closed last week after Bank of America canceled its financing. About 200 laid-off workers responded by staging a sit-in at the plant, vowing to stay until getting assurances they would receive severance and accrued vacation pay.

    Their action garnered national attention, seen by some as a symbol of defiance for workers laid off across the United States.

    A resolution appeared closer when the bank announced that it had sent a letter to Republic offering to “provide a limited amount of additional loans” to resolve the employee claims.

    The bank appeared to side at least in part with disgruntled workers, expressing concern in a statement Tuesday “about Republic’s failure to pay their employees the Employee Claims to which they are legally entitled.”

    Bank of America has been criticized for cutting off the plant’s credit after taking federal bailout money itself.

    Leah Fried, a spokeswoman for the union representing the workers, said Tuesday that it was too soon to know whether the sit-in will be called off. She said that workers would have to vote to end the action but that negotiations among the bank, the company and union representative continued. …

    http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,464445,00.html

    The new US model – whine pathetically until the powers that be give in.

    As we’ve seen from the Big Three.

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36. BillK

    December 10, 2008 at 1:56 am

    More from a happy AP:

    Deal reached in principle on $15B auto bailout

    By Julie Hirschfeld Davis

    Weary Democratic congressional leaders and White House officials agreed in principle Tuesday on a $15 billion bailout of U.S. automakers that would give the government extraordinary power to restructure the failing industry. But the rescue faced snags as Republicans raised deep concerns.

    Congressional aides and a senior administration official said the proposed deal would speed the loans to Detroit’s struggling car companies and place a “car czar” named by President George W. Bush in charge of overhauling the auto industry. Congress could vote on the plan as early as Wednesday and the money could be disbursed within days.

    A breakthrough came when negotiators reached a compromise to require the czar to revoke the loans and deny any further federal aid to automakers that don’t strike a deal with labor unions, creditors and others to ensure their survival by next spring – essentially pushing them into bankruptcy.

    “A great deal of progress has been made on auto legislation that will protect the taxpayer and ensure that short-term financing is available only to companies prepared to undertake the dramatic restructuring necessary to become viable and competitive,” Dana Perino, the White House press secretary, said late Tuesday.

    Earlier in the day, Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., the Financial Services Committee chairman, said the remaining issues were minor.
    “There do not appear to me to be differences in principle of a sufficient nature to blow this thing up,” said Frank, whose staff is helping to draft the bill.

    Still, staff aides worked into the night fine-tuning legislative details of the agreement. It could face substantial obstacles from congressional Republicans, who remained skeptical of the White House-negotiated plan. A group of conservatives led by Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., has threatened to block the measure.

    A further stumbling block was Democrats’ refusal to scrap language, vehemently opposed by the White House, that would force the carmakers to drop lawsuits challenging tough emissions limits in California and other states.

    That measure “kills the deal,” said Dan Meyer, Bush’s top lobbyist.

    Senior Democratic aides acknowledged as much Tuesday and said they expected the provision to ultimately be dropped.

    Environmentalists, who count House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., among their closest allies, already were irate that the bailout uses money set aside for a program to help the automakers finance the retooling of their factories so they could produce greener vehicles.

    Another remaining hang-up was over ensuring that Cerberus, the private equity firm that owns Chrysler LLC, would reimburse the government if the auto company defaulted on its loan, said a congressional negotiator who spoke only on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to disclose details of the emerging deal. …

    http://customwire.ap.org/dynam.....RESS_AUTOS

    Because, you know, normally giving them bailout money then forcing them to try to meet completely irrational environmental “goals” is normally such a recipe for financial success.

    Of course, what’s any bill without pork?

    Democrats also inserted a provision in the bill to bail out some of the nation’s largest transit systems. The bus and rail systems could be on the hook for billions of dollars in payments because exotic deals they entered into with investors – which have since been declared unlawful – have gone sour with the collapse of American International Group Inc. and other financial institutions.

    Yes, a bailout bill for automakers should also bail out transit systems. Why not?

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37. DW

    December 10, 2008 at 7:03 pm

    From the AP:

    Obama outlines 4-day inauguration schedule

    By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

    CHICAGO – President-elect Barack Obama’s inauguration will be a four-day event, featuring the traditional balls plus a national day of service to honour Martin Luther King’s holiday.

    The theme is “Renewing America’s Promise.”

    Obama’s aides released today a preliminary schedule for the events that are expected to draw millions of visitors to Washington to witness the swearing in of the country’s first black president.

    The schedule also includes a national prayer service the day after Obama and Vice-President-elect Joe Biden take office Jan. 20.

    Article:
    http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Wo.....06-ap.html

    Correct me if I’m wrong, but wasn’t President Bush widely criticized in 2004 for spending too much money on his inauguration -because of the country’s (then) financial situation?

    Also, suddenly a national prayer service is a good thing? Ditto for all the people running around hollering “Praise Jesus!” when BHO was elected?
    What happened to all those fearful references to the “Christian voting bloc”?

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38. sheehanjihad

    December 10, 2008 at 7:43 pm

    Well DW, ya see, Obama is being drooled over by the media, he can do no wrong, he is as you know, the “chosen one”. Now Bush, well, if he would have purchased a stick of chewing gum for his inauguration the media would have screamed about how he was bankrupting the country.

    A prayer service is just fine if Obama wants it….and of course, that pesky “Christian voting bloc” doesnt really matter anymore….they are on the outside looking in. Obama has nothing to worry about. Well, as long as Rezko doesnt sing too much…or Blago doesnt fit under the bus….

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39. BillK

    December 11, 2008 at 3:26 am

    Yay! Success, as seen from the AP’s point of view:

    Workers at Chicago Factory Vote to End Sit-In

    CHICAGO — Jubilant workers, cheering and chanting “Yes We Can,” celebrated outside a Chicago factory after approving a $1.75 million agreement to end their six-day sit-in, a dispute that became a symbol of the plight of labor nationwide.

    Republic Windows & Doors, union leaders and Bank of America reached the deal Wednesday night. It was not immediately clear when workers would leave the North Side factory.

    About 200 of 240 laid-off workers began their sit-in last week after Republic gave them just three days’ notice the plant was closing. They vowed to stay until they received assurances they would get severance and accrued vacation pay.

    Each former Republic employee will get eight weeks’ salary, all accrued vacation pay and two months’ paid health care, said U.S. Rep. Luis Gutierrez, who helped broker the deal. He said it works out to about $7,000 apiece.

    Gutierrez, an Illinois Democrat, said $1.75 million will go into an escrow account for the workers, $1.35 million of which came from Bank of America in the form of a loan to Republic.

    “Although we are a lender with no obligation to pay Republic’s employees or make additional loans to Republic, we agreed to extend an additional loan to be used exclusively to pay its employees,” David Rudis, the bank’s Illinois president, said in a statement.

    New York-based JPMorgan Chase & Co. pledged $400,000 to use strictly for the protesting employees, Gutierrez said.

    Officials with the United Electrical Workers union, which represents the workers, did not immediately return calls from The Associated Press late Wednesday. They had estimated the total cost of vacation and severance owed employees to be $1.5 million.

    Around 100 supporters of the workers gathered Wednesday in downtown Chicago where negotiators were meeting, some beating drums and others chanting: “They got bailed out. We got sold out.”

    “This money is not, under any circumstance, to be used for corporate bonuses, luxury cars or any other perk for the owners of the plant,” Gutierrez said in a statement.

    Lawmakers earlier had criticized Bank of America for cutting off funds to the plant after it exhausted its credit line even though the Charlotte, N.C.-based bank itself received $25 billion from the government’s financial bailout package.

    The workers had argued that Republic violated federal law because employees were not given 60 days’ notice that they were losing their jobs.

    Republic officials did not return messages on Wednesday from The Associated Press. Messages left seeking further details from JPMorgan Chase were also not returned. …

    http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,465164,00.html

    Ignoring for the moment the “just for PR” statement regarding the fact that money pledged to Republic is “not, under any circumstance, to be used for corporate bonuses, luxury cars or any other perk for the owners of the plant,” let me restate what happened here.

    The company closed because they were losing money and could not pay their loan, which their lender may have even called because they were such a poor risk.

    The workers at the closed plant will now be paid thanks to an additional loan from the bank.

    I’m sure they figure what the hell, if the company defaults the Feds have their back anyway.

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40. BillK

    December 11, 2008 at 3:48 am

    Is Joe the Plumber one of us?

    From an amused AP:

    Joe the Plumber:Appalled by McCain bailout support

    By John Seewer

    Turns out that “Joe the Plumber” isn’t such a big fan of John McCain after all.

    America’s most famous plumber said he was appalled by the Republican presidential candidate’s reasons for supporting the government’s $700 billion bank rescue plan, and he said they nearly caused him to abandon McCain.

    Samuel J. Wurzelbacher, who became a household name in the final weeks of the presidential campaign, said he asked McCain why he voted for the bank bailout and was stunned by some of the answers.

    “I was angry,” Wurzelbacher told conservative radio host Glenn Beck on Tuesday. “In fact, I wanted to get off the bus after I talked to him.”

    Wurzelbacher, who endorsed McCain a week before the election and joined him on the campaign trail, didn’t say exactly what set him off, hinting that would be in his book that is due out this month.

    He said the only reason he didn’t get off the McCain bandwagon was “because the thought of Barack Obama becoming president scares me even more.”

    Wurzelbacher, 34, gained his national attention when Obama told him during a campaign stop that he wanted to “spread the wealth around” and their exchange about Obama’s tax plan was widely reported. McCain repeatedly cited “Joe the Plumber” in a debate, saying Obama’s plan would hurt people like him who want to own their own businesses.

    Wurzelbacher also campaigned with vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin. He had only praise for her, calling Palin the real deal.

    “It disgusts me on how often they try to bash her just for her sincerity,” he said. “She really wants to work for America.”

    http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/.....727S22.DTL

    Let’s see, supporting McCain only because Obama was worse.

    Loves Sarah Palin as the “real deal.”

    Someone needs to let him know about S&L.

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41. BillK

    December 11, 2008 at 3:57 am

    Not surprising, but still frightening.

    From the San Francisco Chronicle:

    Gore has Obama’s ear on climate change

    By Kelly Zito

    President-elect Barack Obama, meeting Tuesday with former Vice President Al Gore, declared “the time for denial is overWhile few details emerged from the closed-door meeting, it appears clear that Gore – a politician who once stood virtually alone on the dangers of a warming planet and who later won the Nobel Peace Prize for his activism on the subject – will have the incoming president’s ear.

    While few details emerged from the closed-door meeting, it appears clear that Gore – a politician who once stood virtually alone on the dangers of a warming planet and who later won the Nobel Peace Prize for his activism on the subject – will have the incoming president’s ear.

    “Throughout the campaign, the president-elect and our founder discussed climate change as a key issue, and the conversation continued today,” said Cathy Zoi, chief executive of the Alliance for Climate Protection in Palo Alto, which seeks to persuade Americans of the urgent need to slow the use of fossil fuels.

    “They each reaffirmed their commitment to solving the climate crisis as a top priority,” she added.

    The 45-minute session in Chicago, which Vice President-elect Joe Biden also attended, underscored the incoming administration’s focus on the environment and clean energy and on their potential to shore up the faltering economy.

    “We have the opportunity now to create jobs all across this country in all 50 states to repower America,” Obama said at a news conference after the meeting. “To redesign how we use energy and think about how we are increasing efficiency to make our economy stronger, make us more safe, reduce our dependence on foreign oil.”

    In the coming days, Obama is expected to name his Cabinet picks for environment and energy. Although Gore, one of the world’s most recognizable environmentalists, has been floated as a candidate, his camp stressed that he is not seeking a role in Obama’s administration.

    The former vice president, whose global warming film “An Inconvenient Truth” won two Academy Awards, “feels that his calling is to serve the public in a different capacity, to educate the public about the climate crisis,” Gore spokeswoman Kalee Kreider said Tuesday.

    Obama said his “aggressive” efforts to slash greenhouse gas emissions, invest in clean energy alternatives and boost green-collar jobs will include a wide range of stakeholders, from Gore and Washington Republicans to consumers and industry.

    Business leaders, especially those who hope to play a key role in the rise of solar, wind, biofuel and other new energy systems, hope Obama, Gore and others spur a new kind of technology revolution.

    “Silicon Valley continues to lead on green technology, just as the valley continues to renew and redevelop itself to take advantage of new opportunities,” said Mike Mielke, director of environmental programs and policy at the Silicon Valley Leadership Group. “What we need is the policy to set the stage and allow that innovation to flourish.”

    California took the boldest step in the nation with the passage in 2006 of AB32, landmark legislation that mandates the state cut its greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels by 2020.

    On a nationwide level, Obama supports putting 1 million plug-in hybrid cars on U.S. roads in the next seven years, cutting emissions 80 percent by 2050 and setting up a cap-and-trade system. Such programs aim to make burning fossil fuels pricey and reward investment in renewable energy. In general, the system sets limits on carbon dioxide emissions and allows companies to trade carbon credits based on the amount of production.

    A recent report by the federal National Intelligence Council threw some doubt on the prospects for alternatives, saying, “All current technologies are inadequate for replacing the traditional energy architecture on the scale needed, and new energy technologies probably will not be commercially viable and widespread by 2025.“” on global warming and pledged to retool the U.S. energy grid using new technologies. …

    How many “#1 priorities” does this now make for Mr. Obama?

    It’s also nice to know even the Chron realizes that only “Washington Republicans” support Gore’s Big Lie.

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42. BillK

    December 11, 2008 at 10:02 am

    From a shocked, shocked I tell you USA Today:

    Some owners may intentionally fall behind on mortgage

    By Stephanie Armour

    Are homeowners purposely falling behind on their mortgage payments to qualify for cheaper home loans?

    Economists, lenders and other housing experts are concerned that programs to bail out troubled homeowners might have an unintended consequence: encouraging people to miss mortgage payments so they can qualify for a handful of programs that ease loan terms.

    “It’s a problem,” says Mark Zandi, chief economist and co-founder of Moody’s Economy.com. “A lot of the programs require you to be at some stage of delinquency, so homeowners say, ‘What about me?’ and they get delinquent in order to get help.”

    Many mortgage modification programs require that borrowers be 60 to 90 days late on payments to get a mortgage reworked.

    There are no statistics or surveys that track how many homeowners might deliberately be putting off mortgage payments, but dozens of economists and other lending experts say it’s a risk. Lenders trying to prevent such abuses are carefully reviewing homeowners’ financial pictures to determine that they really need a loan modification to avoid foreclosure.

    Lenders scrutinize 401(k)s, IRAs, asset statements, savings and checking accounts, pay stubs and two years of W2 tax forms. If they decide a homeowner can afford a mortgage, a modification will be denied.

    Trying to game the system is a risky move for homeowners. Brian Bethune, an economist at IHS Global Insight, says people often don’t realize how devastating a delinquency is on their credit record, making it impossible for them to refinance later. And those who fall behind on their payments may not necessarily qualify for modification programs — and end up losing their homes.

    “We speak with homeowners every day that have few qualms about walking away from their mortgage or missing payments as a way to ‘get in on’ loan modifications and low house prices,” says Jeremy Brandt, CEO of 1-800-CashOffer, which buys homes. “The attitude is starting to move toward, ‘How can the government help me,’ ” says Chad Olivier, a certified financial planner in Baton Rouge. “We are seeing it on Wall Street, and now we are seeing it with the public.”

    It’s frustrating for Cara Halstead Cea, 38, of Suffern, N.Y., who last year refinanced into a 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage at an interest rate of 7.5%.

    She says she’s struggling to make her mortgage payments while others who fall behind get assistance. “I have felt that my husband and I are being punished, in a way, because we put the mortgage first, and we are always on time with payments; therefore, we’re not eligible for loan modification. … We would do much better with a lower rate.”

    http://usatoday.com/money/perf.....gage_N.htm

    Cause and effect… imagine that.

    Not like it wasn’t predicted here months ago.

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43. The Redneck

    December 11, 2008 at 10:28 am

    http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/200.....le_madonna

    Chilean cardinal: Madonna rouses ‘impure thoughts’

    SANTIAGO, Chile – Madonna is causing “crazy enthusiasm” and “impure thoughts” on her first concert visit to Chile, a prominent retired cardinal complained on Wednesday, as he paused in a tribute to a late dictator to denounce the pop star.

    Roman Catholic Cardinal Jorge Medina criticized the flamboyant singer during his homily at a Mass in honor of the late dictator Augusto Pinochet, who oversaw the deaths of some 3,200 dissidents during his 1973-1990 rule.

    “This woman comes here and in an incredibly shameless manner, she provokes a crazy enthusiasm, an enthusiasm of lust, lustful thoughts, impure thoughts,” said Medina, the cardinal who was chosen to announce the election of Pope Benedict XVI.

    Hundreds of fans spent three days camping outside the National Stadium in Santiago to get good spots for Wednesday’s concert, the first of two. About 60,000 people were expected at each performance.

    One of those waiting in line, Roberto Lopez, told local reporters that he had quit his job in the southern city of Punta Arenas because his boss hadn’t given him time off to attend the concert.

    Pinochet died Dec. 10, 2006, at age 91.

    Medina said that some of those who claim to seek justice for violations of human rights under the dictator are actually seeking revenge.

    (This version CORRECTS as Benedict XVI sted XV)

    Quick question: Was Madonna’s concert about Pinochet? Was the Cardinal a friend of Pinochet? Were the Cardinal’s comments about Pinochet?

    When why’s half the article about Pinochet? Sad attempt at linking him with a catholic official?

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44. clifcrds

    December 11, 2008 at 3:05 pm

    From USA Today via Yahoo:

    North Dakota tops analysis of corruption

    By John Fritze, USA TODAY
    December 11, 2008

    WASHINGTON — Its largest city is legendary for machine-style politics and its elected leaders have been under investigation for years, but by one measure, Illinois is not even close to the nation’s most-corrupt state.

    North Dakota, it turns out, may hold that distinction instead.

    Federal authorities arrested Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich Tuesday after a wiretap allegedly recorded him scheming to make money on his appointment to fill the U.S. Senate seat left vacant by President-elect Barack Obama. Blagojevich, a Democrat, ran for election in part on cleaning up after his predecessor, Republican George Ryan, who was convicted in 2006 of racketeering, bribery and extortion.

    IN ILLINOIS: Obama ‘appalled and disappointed’ by Blagojevich arrest

    “If it isn’t the most corrupt state in the United States it’s certainly one hell of a competitor,” Robert Grant, head of the FBI’s Chicago office, said Tuesday.

    On a per-capita basis, however, Illinois ranks 18th for the number of public corruption convictions the federal government has won from 1998 through 2007, according to a USA TODAY analysis of Department of Justice statistics.

    BLAGOJEVICH SCANDAL: News is a recycled blot on Chicagoans’ pride

    Louisiana, Alaska and North Dakota all fared worse than the Land of Lincoln in that analysis.

    Alaska narrowly ousted Republican Sen. Ted Stevens in the election in November after he was convicted of not reporting gifts from wealthy friends. In Louisiana, Democratic Rep. William Jefferson was indicted in 2007 on racketeering and bribery charges after the FBI said it found $90,000 in marked bills in his freezer. Jefferson, who has maintained his innocence and will soon go to trial, lost his seat to a Republican this year.

    But North Dakota?

    Don Morrison, executive director of the non-partisan North Dakota Center for the Public Good, said it may be that North Dakotans are better at rooting out corruption when it occurs.

    “Being a sparsely populated state, people know each other,” he said. “We know our elected officials and so certainly to do what the governor of Illinois did is much more difficult here.”

    Morrison said the state has encouraged bad government practices in some cases by weakening disclosure laws. North Dakota does not require legislative or statewide candidates to disclose their campaign expenses.

    The analysis does not include corruption cases handled by state law enforcement and it considers only convictions. Corruption may run more rampant in some states but go undetected.

    Michael Johnston is a political science professor at Colgate University in New York — which is ranked just after Illinois for corruption convictions. Johnston, who has studied political corruption for 30 years, said places such as Illinois gain a bad reputation that becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.

    “Expectations build up … and you replicate those expectations when you get to the top of the ladder,” Johnston said. “It gets repeated.”

    http://www.usatoday.com/news/n.....yahoorefer

    I have seen everything now! Yahoo astroturfing a biased assumption by a USA Today reporter painting North Dakota as being more corrupt than Illinois based totally on skewed, cherry picked facts

    JUST ONE DAY after Obama’s friend Blagojevich and his aid are arrested for massive corruption . . . just to make Obama look a little bit better in the public eye USA Today manufactures this fawning Obama whitewash attempt. I will tell you I am no whiz at stats so you need to go to the comments section and read how this reporter’s story is exsposed by many as nothing more than manufactured smoke screen for Obama and his home state of Illinois!

    I am originally from ND and I am truely blown away by USA Today trying to say that the corruption of North Dakota is even greater than Chicago/Illinois corruption.

    We have a saying here in the Midwest – “You can claim figures don’t lie . . . but you could also claim that liars can figure!”

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45. take_no_prisoners

    December 11, 2008 at 5:24 pm

    The relevant wording in the article is “on a per capita basis”. This automatically skews the spin in favor of big states (i.e. you can have many more corrupt officials in a state with a large population and still have less on a per capita basis than a state with few corrupt officials and a small population). This is sheer B.S. as there is only 1 governor in each state no matter how many people live in the state and therefore small states have more politicians on a per capita basis than large states.

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46. BillK

    December 12, 2008 at 1:40 am

    Yes, not even web browsers are race-neutral.

    From Fox News:

    New Web Browser Caters to Black Americans

    For African-American Web surfers who just can’t relate to their browsers, there’s hope: the Blackbird Web browser.

    Billed as “the Web browser for the African-American community,” it’s a modification of Mozilla Firefox with a different color scheme — black and earthy shades of green and brown — as well as certain built-in features meant to appeal to black Americans.

    These include “Black Search,” which brings up results tailored to what its backers assume are African-American interests; “Black News Ticker,” which does more of the same; and “Blackbird TV,” which is “the best of Black video on the Web.”

    “We believe that the Blackbird application can make it easier to find African American related content on the Internet and to interact with other members of the African American community online by sharing stories, news, comments and videos via Blackbird,” reads a press release posted by 40A, the somewhat mysterious firm behind the browser, on the CrunchBase Web site. …

    http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,465808,00.html

    Thankfully:

    Reaction from black bloggers, tech writers and commenters has been, shall we say, a bit mixed.

    “Wait, why do I need a special Web browser?” asked Gizmodo writer Adrian Covert. “Last time I checked, I don’t physically browse the Internet any different than anyone else.”

    “The way this browser is marketed, the language, and the very idea that Black people somehow need a different piece of software to deal with the Internet all rubs me the wrong way,” wrote K.T. Bradford of Laptop magazine.

    The BlackWeb 2.0 blog was more supportive.

    “There is a Black culture and a Black Experience, and this naturally translates online and into any other medium since we are all a part of the human race,” regular poster “Markus” wrote. “In 2008 it is not wrong to want to identify with your culture regardless of what that culture may be or how you choose to identify with it.”

    But the angriest reaction came from a commenter on Gizmodo who calls himself “Cordfucious the Ubuntu Walker.”

    “I am offended at this,” he posted. “As a Black man in this country I don’t need a browser to help my kids find culturally relevant material… it’s the damn WORLD WIDE WEB… not the Black Web, or White Web or Yellow Web. … It’s s— like this that burns me up. I need to tell my wife (who is Hispanic) that the[y] need the BlackBean browser for the Hispanic community.”

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47. BillK

    December 12, 2008 at 1:47 am

    How could this be possible?

    From Fox News:

    Who Needs the Big 3? Atlanta Company Plans New Police Car

    By Jonathan Serrie

    GREENVILLE, S.C. — Straight out of a Hollywood movie, the “E7″ may be the police car of the future.

    “You think about Knight Rider and all these fictional characters,” said William Santana Li, chairman and CEO of the Atlanta-based Carbon Motors Corporation. “This car is actually real.”

    A prototype model of the E7 is on a nine-city U.S. tour, as Carbon Motors executives market the car to law enforcement officials and municipal fleet managers.

    Unlike conventional police cruisers, which are retrofitted consumer vehicles such as the Ford Crown Victoria, the E7 is the first car designed and built specifically for law enforcement.

    “You would never send a pickup truck to go put out a fire,” Li said. “Why would you send a family sedan to go take care of a homeland-security issue?”

    Flashing emergency lights are embedded in the E7’s frame, making the car aerodynamic and visible from all directions. The front seats are designed with extra space to accommodate a police officer’s utility belt.

    The rear passenger compartment is completely sealed off from the cockpit. Molded plastic seats in back allow for easy cleaning and prevent prisoners from hiding contraband.

    Two front-mounted cameras automatically scan license plates of nearby vehicles and alert police when they find a car flagged as stolen or involved in some other crime. According to developers, the car’s onboard equipment can also detect nuclear and biological threats.

    Li said the car’s 300 bhp forced-induction 3.0-diesel engine will deliver 420 lb-ft of torque and propel the vehicle from zero to 60 mph in 6.5 seconds, with a governed top speed of 155 mph.

    He also said the E7’s engine, which can run on either ultra-low sulfur diesel or biodiesel, will have a combined fuel economy rating of 28 to 30 mpg — up to 40 percent more fuel efficient than conventional police cruisers.

    Carbon Motors has contracted with a European manufacturer to supply the E7’s power train, but has yet to publicize the name of that manufacturer. “Our customers will be favorably impressed when we make the announcement,” Li added.

    At a vehicle demonstration this week in Greenville, S.C., law-enforcement officials and fleet managers were impressed with the powerful features embedded in the vehicle.

    “Everything that I have to do to put a police car in service is already done,” said Jerry Farmer, the operations superintendent for maintenance with the Newport News, Va. municipal government.

    “Most of the cars that we now drive were tested prior to all of the equipment going in and then probably not tested again after that,” said Larry Moses, a detective with the police department in Etowah, Tenn. “This car comes equipped and meets national standards.”

    The leading concern potential customers express is the cost. “Can they compete with Ford? Can they compete with Chevrolet?” Moses said. “Can they compete with those guys and actually put a car out there that makes sense for us because it’s competitive in price?”

    Li said Carbon Motors will announce pricing in a few months and that it will be competitive with the cost of retail passenger cars retrofitted with police equipment. Depending on the options installed, current police vehicles can cost anywhere from $25,000 to $75,000.

    The company is currently in negotiations with several states on where to locate its assembly plant. According to Li, production of the E7 will create 10,000 direct and indirect American jobs. …

    http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,465329,00.html

    Now the Big Three may not even be competitive in the historically almost 100% domestic Police cruiser market?

    They’re having a really bad week.

    Now do you think he’ll get even one penny of Federal funding?

    Not if the UAW has anything to say about it…

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48. BillK

    December 12, 2008 at 2:02 am

    Hallelujah!

    They’ll be mercilessly beaten for it in the morning, but apparently at least some Republicans remember what their party used to stand for.

    From Fox News:

    Senate Rejects Auto Bailout Despite Intense Negotiations

    Democratic leaders and the White House made final pleas for the bill’s passage on Thursday, but the two sides in the Senate failed to forge a compromise

    A deal on $14 billion in aid to Detroit’s Big Three automakers fell apart Thursday night in the Senate despite intense negotiations on Capitol Hill between lawmakers, union officials and representatives from the three companies.

    The bailout died after failing 52-35 on a Senate procedural vote.

    Earlier in the evening, the talks appeared to have produced a breakthrough, with Democratic leaders “hopeful” that an agreement had been reached that would be acceptable to Senate Republicans, who have resisted the aid package. But Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid came back later to report the effort had failed, adding he was “terribly disappointed.”

    Reid called the bill’s collapse “a loss for the country,” adding: “I dread looking at Wall Street tomorrow. It’s not going to be a pleasant sight.”

    The White House said it was evaluating its options in light of the breakdown.

    “It’s disappointing that Congress failed to act tonight,” a White House statement said. “We think the legislation we negotiated provided an opportunity to use funds already appropriated for automakers and presented the best chance to avoid a disorderly bankruptcy while ensuring taxpayer funds only go to firms whose stakeholders were prepared to make difficult decisions to become viable.”

    House Speaker Nancy Pelosi released a statement after the bill was blocked, saying: “Senate Republicans’ refusal to support the bipartisan legislation passed by the House and negotiated in good faith with the White House, the Senate and the automakers is irresponsible, especially at a time of economic hardship. The consequences of the Senate Republicans’ failure to act could be devastating to our economy, detrimental to workers, and destructive to the American automobile industry unless the president immediately directs Secretary Paulson to explore other short-term financial assistance options, including TARP and those available to the Federal Reserve. That is the only viable option available at this time.”

    Senate Banking Committee Chairman Chris Dodd said a “lot of people are going to get hurt by this.”

    “It will be a long time before I forget these votes,” Dodd said. “Of all the filibusters that occurred this session, this one will have more economic impact.”

    Republicans, after reviewing the latest version of the proposal in a closed-door meeting, balked at giving automaker federal aid unless their powerful union agreed to slash wages next year to bring them into line with those of Japanese carmakers.

    Republicans, after reviewing the latest version of the proposal in a closed-door meeting, balked at giving automaker federal aid unless their powerful union agreed to slash wages next year to bring them into line with those of Japanese carmakers.

    Republican Sen. George V. Voinovich of Ohio, a strong bailout supporter, said the United Auto Workers was willing to make the cuts, but not until 2011.

    The collapse of the latest negotiations came as the Wall Street Journal reported Thursday evening that General Motors had hired lawyers and bankers to consider whether to file for bankruptcy, a prospect made more likely by the outcome of Thursday’s talks. …

    http://www.foxnews.com/politic.....otiations/

    Mr. Bush, Congress did act. They remembered their duty.

    Mr. Dodd, what filibusters? Were there any? Republicans don’t vote your way and it’s now a filibuster?

    Meanwhile, you’ve got to love the cojones of the UAW – “We’re willing to make concessions, but not for two years?!?!”

    If Bush had any character whatsoever he’d have spent the past week explaining to the public the difference between Chapter 11 reorganization and “going under.”

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49. BillK

    December 12, 2008 at 2:07 am

    From the Wall Street Journal:

    Rangel Hits Obama Closer to Home

    By Gerald F. Seib

    It certainly didn’t take long for scandal to rear its ugly head in the new era of Democratic control. Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich saw to that, and in spectacular fashion.

    But while most attention is fixed on the Blagojevich scandal — coming as it does in President-elect Barack Obama’s home state and replete as it is with enough tape-recorded talk of peddling a Senate seat, shaking down contributors and blackmailing journalists to make even FBI agents blush — it may not be the most troublesome one for the new president.

    His more vexing problem could turn out to be that other, quieter scandal dogging Democrats. That’s the one involving Rep. Charles Rangel, head of the House Ways and Means Committee.

    Rep. Rangel is being investigated by the House Ethics Committee for failing to pay taxes on $75,000 in income on a vacation home in the Dominican Republic, for controlling multiple rent-controlled apartments in a Harlem apartment building, for using congressional stationery to raise money for a center named in his honor and, most recently and seriously, for helping a donor to his center win a tax loophole in return for a contribution.

    Rep. Rangel has repeatedly and vociferously denied any wrongdoing, and he actually sought the Ethics Committee inquiry initially to clear his name.

    Without doubt, the Blagojevich scandal is more audacious, and, because it involves the filling of Mr. Obama’s own Senate seat, might seem more potentially damaging to the new president. More broadly, it’s possibly a sign that Illinois could become to President Obama what Arkansas was to President Bill Clinton: a source of continuing political headaches back home.

    Yet in many ways, the very fact that Gov. Blagojevich’s behavior seems so over the top makes it easier for Mr. Obama to deal with it. He can simply ask, as he has, that the governor quit and go away. It helps the Obama cause enormously, of course, that Gov. Blagojevich is on tape cursing the president-elect’s team for failing to go along with his pay-to-play scheme for filling the Senate seat, and that U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald virtually cleared the Obama team in his public remarks on the case.

    More than that, whatever ties Gov. Blagojevich and his cohorts may have had to Mr. Obama in the past, they will have little to do with his future in Washington.

    Not so Rep. Rangel. For Mr. Obama, the Blagojevich investigation and prosecution soon will be something going on back home. The Rangel drama will play out right in the president-elect’s new front yard. And while Gov. Blagojevich has little to say about the fate of the Obama legislative agenda, Rep. Rangel has a lot to say about that as long as he runs the Ways and Means Committee, wellspring of both tax and health legislation.

    “A huge amount of the high-priority agenda of the Obama administration will work its way through the Ways and Means Committee,” says Thomas Mann, a congressional scholar at the Brookings Institution. “Not having a strong chairman is clearly a liability.”

    House Speaker Nancy Pelosi had hoped the Rangel inquiry could play out quickly, by Jan. 3. And the Ethics Committee seemed on course to do exactly that, until the latest allegations surfaced. Those regard the tax loophole worked out for a donor to the Charles B. Rangel Center for Public Service at the City College of New York.

    When that issue arose in a report in the New York Times in recent days, the Democratic hope of an Ethics Committee resolution by the first week of the new year went up in smoke. Democratic aides now say the inquiry could last through January. At its conclusion, the Ethics Committee will report back to the full House on what it has found and make its recommendation, which could range from suggesting no action to a censure of the congressman to a call for expulsion.

    Meanwhile, Democrats in the House sense that Republican blood lust is running high on the Rangel front. After enduring years of their own congressional scandal embarrassments, Republicans are delighted to see the shoe on the other foot.

    In fact, Republicans seem to be trying to clear away their own scandal detritus as they prepare for this new era. Alaska Rep. Don Young, under investigation in a corruption probe in his home state, has been pushed out as the senior Republican on the Natural Resources Committee. Democrats note, though, that Republicans haven’t taken a similar step with Rep. Jerry Lewis of California, the senior Republican on the House Appropriations Committee, who is under investigation for ties to a lobbyist whose clients have benefited from government contracts.

    The betting among House Democrats is that Rep. Rangel will survive. Mr. Mann of Brookings agrees: Unless the Ethics Committee report is scathing, “since Rangel is widely liked and respected, he’d probably survive and carry on.” …

    http://online.wsj.com/article/.....98863.html

    Of course Rangel will survive, he’s a Democrat.

    In fact I wouldn’t bet against Blagojevich.

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50. BillK

    December 12, 2008 at 9:20 am

    Let the “analytical” mud start flying.

    From the Los Angeles Times:

    Rumsfeld blamed in detainee abuse scandals

    A bipartisan Senate report calls decisions made by the former Defense secretary a ‘direct cause’ of inhumane treatment of prisoners of war. Other Bush officials also are faulted.

    By Greg Miller and Julian E. Barnes

    A bipartisan Senate report released Thursday concludes that decisions made by former Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld were a “direct cause” of widespread detainee abuses, and that other Bush administration officials were to blame for creating a legal and moral climate that contributed to inhumane treatment.

    The report, endorsed by Democrats and Republicans on the Senate Armed Services Committee, is the most forceful denunciation to date of the role that Rumsfeld and other top officials played in the prisoner abuse scandals of the last five years.

    The document also challenges assertions by senior Bush administration officials that the most egregious cases of prisoner mistreatment were isolated incidents of appalling conduct by U.S. troops.

    “The abuse of detainees at Abu Ghraib in late 2003 was not simply the result of a few soldiers acting on their own,” the report says.

    Instead, the document says, a series of high-level decisions in the Bush administration “conveyed the message that physical pressures and degradation were appropriate treatment for detainees in U.S. military custody.”

    The document aims its harshest criticism at Rumsfeld’s decision in December 2002 to authorize the use of aggressive interrogation techniques at the U.S. detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

    Although the order was rescinded six weeks later, the report describes it as “a direct cause for detainee abuse” at Guantanamo Bay, and concludes that it “influenced and contributed to the use of abusive techniques, including military working dogs, forced nudity and stress positions, in Afghanistan and Iraq.”

    The report also criticizes President Bush, although less harshly. In particular, it cites a presidential memorandum signed Feb. 7, 2002, that denied detainees captured in Afghanistan the protections of the Geneva Conventions, which ban abusive treatment of prisoners of war.

    Bush’s decision to bypass an international law that had been observed by American troops for decades sent a message that “impacted the treatment of detainees in U.S. custody,” the report says.

    That message was bolstered by a series of memos from the Justice Department, the report says, that “distorted the meaning and intent of anti-torture laws” and “rationalized the abuse of detainees in U.S. custody.”

    The Senate report represents the culmination of an 18-month investigation by the committee’s staff. It is the latest, and in many respects the most comprehensive, in a series of government investigations started after photographs surfaced in April 2004 of prisoners at the U.S.-run Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq being stripped of their clothes, piled in pyramids and strapped to what appeared to be electrical wires.

    Those abuses “cannot be chalked up to the actions of ‘a few bad apples,’ ” said Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.), chairman of the Armed Services Committee, referring to a line used by former Deputy Defense Secretary Paul D. Wolfowitz in an attempt to downplay the scandal.

    Levin said it was “both unconscionable and false” for Rumsfeld and others to blame troops and escape accountability. Even so, the report does not call for further investigation or punishment.

    The findings were approved last month by the 17 committee members in attendance, indicating the report had the support of at least four of the panel’s Republicans. Committee officials did not identify which senators on the 25- person panel were not present for the vote.

    Among the panel’s members are several GOP senators who have criticized the administration’s conduct on detainee matters, including John McCain of Arizona, John W. Warner of Virginia, Susan Collins of Maine and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina. …

    http://www.latimes.com/news/na.....8629.story

    Ah yes, Bush created an “environment” that made it “appear” that “abuse” might be tolerated.

    Why will I not be surprised if McCain turns out to be one of the GOP senators endorsing the report?

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51. BillK

    December 12, 2008 at 9:28 am

    As usual, the LA Times’ headlines are more biased and to the point:

    Senate Republicans kill auto bailout bill

    A last-ditch attempt at compromise fails, increasing the risk of bankruptcy for one of Detroit’s Big Three and more turmoil for the overall economy.

    By Jim Puzzanghera

    Republican opposition killed a $14-billion auto industry bailout plan in the Senate on Thursday night, putting the future of U.S. automakers in doubt and threatening to deliver another blow to the economy.

    The measure died after a last-ditch effort by Senate Democratic leaders to strike a compromise that would have lured enough support to save the legislation, which was crafted in consultation with the White House.

    The bill’s failure raises the possibility of bankruptcy by one or more of Detroit’s Big Three and puts new pressure on President Bush to authorize emergency loans for the automakers from the $700-billion Wall Street rescue fund, a step he has adamantly refused to take.

    The collapse of General Motors, Chrysler or Ford — along with many of their suppliers and dealers — could throw hundreds of thousands more workers onto the growing unemployment rolls and further cloud the closing days of the Bush administration.

    “We will leave here tonight to go home for the holiday recesses, but for the literally hundreds of thousands of people whose jobs depend on this industry, this will not be a joyous season, wondering whether or not their jobs, their livelihoods, their homes, their children’s futures are at risk,” said Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christopher J. Dodd (D-Conn.).

    White House spokesman Tony Fratto said the Bush administration was disappointed by the bill’s failure and left the door open to the president taking action to provide funding.

    “We think the legislation we negotiated provided an opportunity to use funds already appropriated for automakers, and presented the best chance to avoid a disorderly bankruptcy while ensuring taxpayer funds only go to firms whose stakeholders were prepared to make difficult decisions to become viable,” Fratto said. “We will evaluate our options in light of the breakdown in Congress.”

    After the vote, GM issued a statement saying it was “deeply disappointed” that a deal could not be reached. “We will assess all of our options to continue our restructuring and to obtain the means to weather the current economic crisis,” spokesman Tony Cervone said.

    Chrysler said in a statement that it was “obviously disappointed in what transpired in the Senate and will continue to pursue a workable solution to help ensure the future viability of the company.”

    Ford had no immediate comment. …

    http://www.latimes.com/busines.....0301.story

    Lest you believe the President of the Senate (which one would also think means is in charge of the Senate, despite the left’s derisive laughter when Sarah Palin asserted as much) was a voice of sanity in all this:

    Bush personally lobbied recalcitrant Senate Republicans after Vice President Dick Cheney failed to round up support Wednesday during a contentious two-hour meeting.

    “If we don’t do this, we will be known as the party of Herbert Hoover forever,” Cheney told them, according to a Senate Republican aide, evoking the president whose inaction is widely blamed for helping trigger the Great Depression in the early 1930s.

    Why shouldn’t Republicans, given not a single one has bothered to attempt to explain Chapter 11 bankruptcy to the cameras?

    Thankfully, Mitch McConnell had a good quote:

    Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), who has 50,000 auto-related jobs in his state, said nearly all the Republicans opposed the bill “because we thought it frankly wouldn’t work.”

    Of course, couldn’t Harry’s comments:

    Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said he feared the effect on the stock markets today.

    be interpreted as manipulating the markets?

    Wait, he’s a Democrat… never mind, he gets a free pass just as Schumer did when he caused the run on IndyMac.

    The author ended the article with a “hopeful”:

    Another option is for the Senate to try again to pass the legislation when the newly elected Congress convenes Jan. 6. There will be at least seven new Democratic senators at that point.

    Thanks to the voters of Georgia (and perhaps Minnesota, depending if Republicans there get any backbone and stand up to blatant vote fraud) that hopefully still won’t make a bit of difference.

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52. BillK

    December 12, 2008 at 9:37 am

    Today’s Obama puff piece from the LA Times:

    Obama gets a crisis ‘test run’

    The president-elect’s third response to the Blagojevich corruption scandal may have been the charm.

    By Peter Nicholas

    It took three tries in as many days for President-elect Barack Obama to roll out a strategy for defusing the crisis over Illinois Gov. Rod R. Blagojevich’s alleged attempt to put his old Senate seat up for sale.

    In his initial reaction, Obama said he was saddened by the episode, that he hadn’t talked about the Senate seat with Blagojevich and that he wouldn’t discuss an ongoing investigation. On day two, he added his name to the avalanche of public officials calling for Blagojevich’s resignation, but questions mounted about which members of Obama’s staff might have discussed Obama’s Senate seat with Blagojevich.

    Finally, in a news conference Thursday, Obama pledged to ferret out more facts. He also struck an emotional chord that had been absent. He said he was appalled by the scandal and would quickly release all contacts that his staff had with the Democratic governor, who is accused of seeking favors from the president-elect in exchange for elevating a preferred candidate to the Senate.

    Obama’s evolving response was the first test of his team’s capacity to cope with a fast-moving political scandal while staying true to his promise to run a transparent shop with a minimum of secrets.

    “This may be an early test run for his administration,” said Scott McClellan, a former White House press secretary for President Bush. McClellan is the author of a book saying the Bush White House was not forthcoming with the public.

    “This is how he might handle a scandal within his own administration, even though this may only tangentially involve members of his team,” McClellan said.

    “Initially, I don’t think he quite had his footing. . . . Today, he certainly had his footing under him and is making the right moves in terms of addressing the scandal.”

    Melanie Sloan, executive director of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, said: “The first answer — I don’t have any comment on an ongoing investigation — sounded exactly like the comments we’ve gotten from President Bush. And I don’t think that’s much of an answer. The answer that he’ll [make public] the complete list is finally the right answer.”

    After basing his campaign for president on a promise to transform Washington, Obama is obliged to set the highest ethical standards, some government watchdog groups say. His transition co-chair, John Podesta, further raised expectations when he vowed last month to run the most open transition in history.

    The complaint filed against Blagojevich said he wanted to talk to one of Obama’s aides and ask for help raising up to $15 million for a nonprofit group the governor wanted to create.

    Yet top aides to the president-elect, including Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, who has political ties to Blagojevich, have not been made available to reporters.

    Emanuel has accompanied Obama to some of his news conferences in Chicago over the last month, standing off to the side with other aides. But since the Blagojevich story broke, he has largely kept out of public view. He was not seen at Obama’s latest news conference.

    On Thursday, Obama sought to address criticism that he was too tepid in his early reaction to the political scandal that has riveted much of the nation.

    “Let me say that I was as appalled and disappointed as anybody by the revelations earlier this week,” Obama said.

    He sought to reassure people that he had no dealings on the matter with Blagojevich, and that his staff played no part in horse-trading over the Senate seat.

    He said: “What I’m absolutely certain about is that our office had no involvement in any deal-making around my Senate seat. That, I’m absolutely certain of. And that is — that would be a violation of everything that this campaign has been about, and that’s not how we do business.” …

    http://www.latimes.com/news/na.....3974.story

    The article continues:

    But in proclaiming that he was not involved, Obama may have made a tactical mistake, some veterans of past White House crises said.

    In his initial comments, Obama said he was “not aware of anything that was happening.” If that turns out to be premature, it could prove damaging to Obama’s credibility given the expectations surrounding his presidency, the former officials said.

    Mark Fabiani, a lawyer who represented the White House under President Clinton, said, “When the president-elect says he didn’t talk to the governor and didn’t know what was going on, that’s drawing a line in the sand that you’d better be able to defend.

    “It’s hard for anyone who’s at the top of a sprawling organization like a transition to know everything that’s going on. And it’s something that may turn out to be 100% true, but it’s a red flag that has been raised up. And everybody now is shooting at the red flag: the media, the Republicans.”

    But who does the LA Times dredge up to offer a comment?

    John W. Dean, a former White House counsel who went to jail in the Watergate scandal, said it was understandable that Obama might have needed a few days to find his voice.

    “This sort of thing catches you out of left field,” Dean said, “particularly during a transition, which is an incredibly busy time. They’re in mild crisis mode all the time anyway trying to get a new government together.”

    Nice.

    See with Dean and McClellan they can say they got the Republican view of events as well.

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53. BillK

    December 12, 2008 at 9:42 am

    So what happens if Blagojevich does appoint someone?

    They likely would get to serve anyway.

    From the LA Times:

    Senate’s authority to reject potential Blagojevich appointee unclear

    The Supreme Court has ruled similar rejections unconstitutional in the past. But experts say senators may consider whether an appointment was valid and lawful.

    By David G. Savage

    Senate Democrats threatened this week to refuse to seat any new Illinois senator chosen by embattled Gov. Rod R. Blagojevich, but it is not clear the senators have the legal authority to reject a fully qualified appointee.

    In 1969, the Supreme Court ruled that the House of Representatives could not refuse to seat Rep. Adam Clayton Powell Jr., a New York Democrat who was accused of putting his wife on the payroll and misusing travel funds to vacation in the Caribbean. Despite those charges, he had been reelected by his constituents in Harlem.

    “The Constitution does not vest in the Congress a discretionary power to deny membership by majority vote,” wrote Chief Justice Earl Warren. Congress may “judge only the qualifications set forth in the Constitution,” he said.

    The qualifications are minimal. A senator must be at least 30 years old, a U.S. citizen and “an inhabitant” of the state.

    The ruling in the Powell case served as a precedent in 1995 when the Supreme Court struck down term limits for members of Congress. The justices said that states may not add extra qualifications for serving in Congress, including restricting the years of service.

    Warren said in his opinion that the Senate’s power over its members “is identical” to that of the House.

    The court referred to an elected representative; its opinion did not address whether an appointed senator would have the same standing.

    But legal experts say the Senate does have the right to look into whether a senator’s election or appointment was valid and lawful.

    “It’s true the Senate cannot add qualifications, but it has to recognize an election or a selection as valid,” said Trevor Potter, a Washington lawyer and former chairman of the Federal Election Commission. “If it has questions about that, such as after a contested election and a recount, the senators can delay a decision on seating and defer the issue to a committee.”

    After the 1974 election, the Senate refused to seat Louis C. Wyman, a Republican from New Hampshire who won in a second recount by two votes. His Democratic rival, John Durkin, objected. He had won the first recount by 10 votes. The Senate voted to send the matter to the rules committee. It too was deadlocked, and the candidates agreed to a special election, which Durkin won.

    In Wednesday’s letter to Blagojevich, the Senate Democrats warned the governor against choosing a new senator, but they did not flatly refuse to seat such an appointee.

    “Please understand that should you decide to ignore [our] request . . . we would be forced to exercise our constitutional authority under Article I, Section 5, to determine whether such a person should be seated,” the letter said.

    This provision is the one the Supreme Court described in 1969 as having a narrow scope. It says: “Each house shall be the judge of the elections, returns and qualifications of its own members.” …

    http://www.latimes.com/news/na.....4027.story

    Nice to see the Democrats have been practicing electoral manipulation since at least 1974.

    Not like they have to do anything but feign outrage in this case:

    If Blagojevich were to select someone to fill the Illinois Senate seat vacated by President-elect Barack Obama, the senators could send the matter to the rules committee to judge the candidate’s qualifications. And the appointee, if rejected by the Senate, could go to court and challenge the decision as unconstitutional.

    Is there any doubt in anyone’s mind that the Democrats in Congress would rather see that sideshow play out than risk a Republican winning an emergency election?

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54. JohnMG

    December 12, 2008 at 9:52 am

    With the following names among the rank of senators, how can anyone believe that forty-two Republicans will have the balls to stop anything? A RINO is a RINO is a RINO.

    Republicans stand a better chance of converting Lieberman into a Republican (like that’ll ever happen) than they do of presenting a united front to the Democrats. And regardless of how and by whom the bailout plan was defeated, Republicans will take the blame.

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55. BannedbytheTaliban

    December 12, 2008 at 10:15 am

    From WRAL in Raleigh:

    Durham police to discuss officers’ MySpace comments

    Durham, N.C. — Durham police commanders said they would release the findings Friday of an internal investigation into whether officers posted offensive comments on the Internet after the presidential election.

    An unknown number of officers were accused of posting derogatory comments on their personal MySpace pages shortly after President-elect Barack Obama’s win Nov. 4.

    Police leaders were expected to release a copy of the MySpace pages so the public can decide if there were inappropriate postings.

    The Durham chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People has demanded more information, charging that public trust in the department has been hurt.

    “Everybody is trying to say there is an inference, but we don’t know what that inference is,” Durham NAACP president Fred Foster said…..

    http://www.wral.com/news/local/story/4126512/

    Of course the people of Durham are the best at making decisions. After all, they elected Nifong. But I imagine similar happenings all across America that aren’t being reported. Thus the cleansing begins.

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56. Kev

    December 12, 2008 at 11:16 pm

    Obama top wise man in Naples nativity figures
    http://www.reuters.com/article.....HR20081211

    President-elect Barack Obama and his wife Michelle are appearing in Italian nativity scenes this year, alongside the baby Jesus and wise men, according to Naples craftsmen selling figurines in the run-up to Christmas.
    The production of handmade figurines for nativity scenes is big business in this southern Italian city and has been for centuries.
    But beyond the thousands of angel, sheep, Mary and Joseph figures filling market stalls before Christmas, craftsmen say Obama has become a top seller.
    “The ones we are selling the most of are those of Barack Obama, America’s new president, along with his wife Michelle,” said craftsman Genny Di Virgilio.

    Really are any of us surprised by this?? I’m surprised we haven’t seen the Obama Christmas tree topper, wrapping paper and Carbon credits gift card.

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57. Kev

    December 12, 2008 at 11:26 pm

    Obama can sign U.N. climate pact before U.S. law: Kerry
    http://www.reuters.com/article.....9X20081211

    The U.S. Senate will let President-elect Barack Obama sign up to a U.N. pact to fight global warming in late 2009 even if U.S. climate laws are not yet in place, U.S. Senator John Kerry predicted on Thursday.
    But Kerry, designated head of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said on the sidelines of U.N. climate talks in Poland that China, India and Russia would also have to promise to cut greenhouse gas emissions to win Senate blessing of any pact.
    “It will be like the difference between night and day,” Kerry, of Massachusetts, said of Obama’s enthusiasm for action against climate change after what he said were eight years of inaction under President George W. Bush.
    He told Reuters support in the United States for climate action was strong enough to let Obama sign up for emissions cuts under a U.N. pact to be agreed in Copenhagen in late 2009 even if the Senate had not by then agreed matching U.S. climate laws.
    “We can have commenced the (domestic) legislative process, we don’t have to have completed it,” before agreeing to cuts under a U.N. treaty, he said.
    President Bill Clinton agreed in 1997 to the U.N.’s existing Kyoto Protocol for cutting greenhouse gases until 2012 but never tried to get the pact ratified by a hostile Senate.

    With President Bush it is “inaction” but with Clinton it was a “hostile” Senate.

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58. Kev

    December 12, 2008 at 11:33 pm

    Investor Steinhardt asks who are the villains?
    http://www.reuters.com/article.....KP20081210

    NEW YORK (Reuters) – A failure to prosecute the “villains” responsible for the financial crisis that brought the United States to its knees will leave the country without the moral compass needed to avert future crises, a Wall Street luminary said.
    Pioneer hedge fund manager Michael Steinhardt is angry that the bailout of America is eroding the nation’s capitalist ethos while those whose deeds crippled the U.S. economy suffer scant opprobrium, their names still untarnished.
    “Something really went wrong here. We’re about to enter a period where our budget deficit will dwarf anything we’ve seen before,” Steinhardt told the Reuters Investment Outlook Summit in New York.
    “What we really needed a long time ago was a recognition that there were villains apace. The evils of the financial system should have been recognized long before this,” said Steinhardt, who no longer manages billions of dollars but whose counsel is sought on Wall Street and among select politicians.
    While scornful of the financial executives who should have known better, he also belittled Washington for its lack of leadership and for not spelling out what the future beholds.
    The current and former Federal Reserve chairmen have proved ill-prepared for the job, said Steinhardt, a former chairman of the Democratic Leadership Council, where he helped promote the career of Bill Clinton before he became president.
    Of former Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan, often criticized for keeping interest rates so low that they sparked the housing bubble, Steinhardt said he may have been stupid for a long time, “but he wasn’t pernicious.”
    —
    Of Course those who blackmailed uh, held hostage uh, encouraged mortage companies to make 100+% loans had nothing to do with it. It was the low interest rates. I’m sorry but am I the only one who thinks this guy is an idiot???

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59. amicsgirl

    December 13, 2008 at 4:08 pm

    Re: North Dakota most Corrupt,
    If my hands were around that writers neck I would never let go, even after the ******* was dead. While the cheap shot at North Dakota has set my teeth on edge, I have to admit the shot against Alaska has sent me over the top. I know that our state will never get fair press, especially since our own major newspaper is a joke that sided for Obama, even though this is a majority Republican state. I have to say this just because it will relieve my spleen. The reason Ted Stevens was almost reelected was because anyone with common sense and has taken a look at his supposed “Chalet” knows the place isnt even worth $150 G’s much less $225 G’s. The workers admitted to lying to prosecuters and its ridiculous that someone who has been in his position for as long as he has would be busted for $250G’s? C’mon. Are you kidding me? It goes to show that the media and libs want us to look like a bunch of back woods inbreds with no brains. I know that they believe that with hard work I can make an amazing $100 for a years work like all other good 3rd world countries, but amazingly enough our median income is near $70G’s. When all they can get on a Repub that has handled BILLIONS of dollars of federal dollars is a land rover traded for a classic mustang and home improvements, well, who am I kidding. After this, the treatment of our governer, and the shots taken at our oil companies by the greenies (Poor Poor Polar bears) and idiotic libs (Tax the EVIL OIL EMPIRE!) don’t be surprised if we greet Russia with open arms.

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60. 12 Gauge Rage

    December 13, 2008 at 7:51 pm

    amicsgirl,
    My second to last assignment in the military was in Alaska. Clear Air Force Station was a small radar site near the town of Anderson. From my window I could see the Alaska mountain range and on a clear day I could see the top of Mount McKinley. My only regret in being there was that I didn’t stay long enough. After being there only a short while I really enjoyed the company of the residents. When I went down to the lower 48 on leave to see family and friends, I too soon took offense that many regarded Alaskans as a bunch of illiterate bumpkins. I would politely inform them that a large majority of Alaskans held degrees, came from other states to get away from the rat race of the lower 48, and were for the most part self sufficient and proud of their state. I would go back and live there if I could but since retiring from the military I’ve had a lot of family commitments and financial matters which have taken priority.

    P.S. Where else but in the far north can you enjoy such great comedy as the Red Green Show? Here in the south nobody’s ever heard of it.

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61. amicsgirl

    December 14, 2008 at 4:19 am

    12 gauge rage,
    I thought venting would help, but your comments have definately left me with a smile. Thank you and not only for your words, but for your service. I can’t begin to tell you the gratitude I feel anytime I talk to a service member. I’m sorry, I know that it seems like a rote since everyone says how much they love the military, but coming from a person that regrets not taking the chance and joining when I could I just want to say that I really do feel proud of anyone who will make that commitment. I hope that maybe someday you will have the chance to live here. The nice thing is I dont have to let you in on the little secret about this place. Everyone thinks that we have to be paid every year just to stay in this supposed freezer burnt state. Jokes on them though. Especially when its fishing time on the Kenai river. Thanks again and have a “Merry Christmas”.

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62. sheehanjihad

    December 14, 2008 at 9:13 am

    amicsgirl….having visited your great state twice, I too am amongst the ranks of those who are envious of your ability to live there. No matter where I travel, I always have fond memories of the people first, the scenery second, the Aurora Borealis’ fantastic displays and that impossible to attain feeling of openess and freedom that is lost on us who live in the lower 48. I live in Florida, the supposed “paradise” of the US. Far from it. Like 12 gauge, I would trade places in a heartbeat!! So rest easy in the knowledge that you are envied, and dont pay attention to the mindless morons who think all Alaskans live in a log cabin and eat their own legs to survive during the winter. They also voted for Obama, and that speaks volumes about their own mental capacity.

    (Red Green can be found on satellite tv if you look for it lol)

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63. Liberals Demise

    December 14, 2008 at 10:26 am

    SJ & amicsgirl…..while I never made it to Alaska I did spend 5 years in Fargo and surrounding areas back in the mid 90s and the people were the best I have EVER MET!! AAHHH….the Red Green Show was damn funny. My ex inlaws live in West Fargo and they are the nicest people. I was there for the GREAT FLOOD of 97. North Dakota is flat for the most part but it is still beautiful. less than 1 million people in the whole state. I may move back because things are out of hand politically here in NC. I had a hard time with the cold though. In 1974 I was stationed in Keflevic, Iceland with a Marine Detachment and it was cold too but the Northern Lights were AWESOME!! I do remember there are two seasons in North Dakota………4th of July and Winter!! The mesquitos have Air Force markings……HUGE!!

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64. 12 Gauge Rage

    December 14, 2008 at 1:21 pm

    amicsgirl,
    Glad that we could put in some positive points for the Great State of Alaska. Though I think you and other Alaskans should keep it a secret on just how great it is up there. You don’t want a mass exodus of people going there and getting the state all crowded. If the general consensus from the lower 48ers is that Alaska is frozen all year long and therefore to them an undesirable place to live then it’s to your benefit. But if the state is frozen all year long (I’m being sarcastic here) then how was it that I was sweating my fanny off when hunting caribou with my buddies on the northern slope? Great hunting up there. The salmon runs weren’t that good when I was there, but we had halibut coming out our ears!

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65. sheehanjihad

    December 14, 2008 at 4:10 pm

    I fished there too, just for the halibut. parump!

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66. 12 Gauge Rage

    December 15, 2008 at 8:43 am

    sheehanjihad,
    Good one. Hadn’t heard that punchline in a long time but I still find it funny. If you want to hear jokes my Alaskan hosts told me just ask. They had plenty that both poked fun at themselves and the lower 48ers.

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