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Selected News For Jan 24 – Jan 30

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

In order to make the articles as readable as possible, please try to stick to the format described in the first of these weekly editions here. Please eschew articles from blogs or hugely popular sites like the Drudge Report, since most people will presumably see such material elsewhere.

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

Related Articles:

 

This article was posted by Steve Gilbert on Saturday, January 24th, 2009 at 12:00 am. You can leave a response.

127 Responses to “Selected News For Jan 24 – Jan 30”

  1. caligirl9
    January 24, 2009 at 12:27 am

    The horror! How dare they!

    The Obamas aren’t happy with new ‘Sasha’ and ‘Malia’ dolls

    Beanie Babies maker sells Sasha, Malia dolls Ty Inc. — the company that brought us Beanie Babies –is on to the next big thing. Namely, exploiting the two first daughters, Sasha and Malia Obama. The worst part is that the toy outfit refuses to cop to the fact that they plan to profit from the names and likenesses of the Obama girls.

    The new 12-inch-tall dolls are named “Sweet Sasha” and “Marvelous Malia,” and according to the Associated Press:

    The Oak Brook-based company chose the names because “they are beautiful names,” not because of any resemblance to Malia and Sasha Obama, said spokeswoman Tania Lundeen.

    “There’s nothing on the dolls that refers to the Obama girls,” Lundeen said. “It would not be fair to say they are exact replications of these girls. They are not.”

    Right. And that Garfield ‘I don’t do perky” Beanie Baby just happened to look like a fat, sullen cartoon cat but was in no way meant to be that Garfield. President Obama’s camp has said that it is “inappropriate to use young private citizens for marketing purposes.” The Ty Girlz are already selling for $29.99 for two on sites like http://www.barrysbeaniescatalog.com. And they are already selling on ebay.com, natch.

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

    And the original AP article:

    Beanie Babies maker sells Sasha, Malia dolls
    — The company that makes the popular Beanie Babies is hoping for two more big winners with dolls named “Sweet Sasha” and “Marvelous Malia.”

    But, no, the names do not refer to President Barack Obama’s daughters, a Ty Inc. spokeswoman says. Honest!

    Ty released the 12-inch dolls as part of the company’s “TyGirlz Collection.” The Sasha doll has pigtails and wears a white and pink dress with hearts. The Malia doll has a side ponytail and a long-sleeve shirt with capri pants.

    The Oak Brook-based company chose the names because “they are beautiful names,” not because of any resemblance to Malia and Sasha Obama, said spokeswoman Tania Lundeen.

    “There’s nothing on the dolls that refers to the Obama girls,” Lundeen said. “It would not be fair to say they are exact replications of these girls. They are not.”

    The dolls have bronze skin and “real doll hair,” Lundeen said. They were introduced in early January and a limited supply has been shipped to retailers.

    In the real world, 7-year-old Sasha and 10-year-old Malia have been the focus of intense interest. A throng of reporters followed their first day at school, and news reports detailed what they wore on Inauguration Day.

    That fascination will make the dolls a success, said Denise Gary Robinson, president of DollsLikeMe.com, an online specialty doll boutique that specializes in ethnic dolls, toys and gifts.

    “Girls all over the world, of all colors, will be looking for these dolls. They want to identify with these two girls,” Robinson said.

    Among the 30 other TyGirlz pictured on Ty’s Web site are ones named Lindsay, Britney, Paris, Hillary and Jenna (but no Barbara.) The collection was introduced in 2007.

    Public figures have a legal right to control their how their images are used, but Lundeen would not comment on legal issues or if the company’s lawyers have become involved with the dolls.

    http://www.google.com/hostedne.....gD95S7TDG2

    Images of the dolls:

    http://latimesblogs.latimes.co.....409786.jpg

    http://www.google.com/hostedne.....G6g?size=s

    Okay, anyone, do you read anywhere in these articles about the Obamas themselves being unhappy about these dolls? They look like little generic African American TyGirlz to me.

    Methinks the press is looking to stir a little shite here …

    • Liberals Demise
      January 24, 2009 at 10:44 am

      Always stirring the racial pot to seeing what city gets torched. Flame fanners the Lame Stream media types are.

      I think the hair ain’t nappy enough. Do they come with a shield, spear and fly whisk?

    • Odie44
      January 24, 2009 at 12:13 pm

      Wasn’t there pressure from black groups to create “ethnic looking” dolls, within the Barbie, Bratz, etc empires?

      Wasn’t there ad nauseum conversations about “not representing the true fabric of America?”

    • caligirl9
      January 25, 2009 at 12:15 pm

      The “First Lady” is on top of things.

      Don’t anyone go naming a pet Sasha or Malia, ’cause it’s just not in good taste! Like the precious Obama girls have a trademark or patent on the names … listen lady, if you were concerned about your daughters’ privacy, etc., you should have avoided becoming a public figure. It happens with the job … I suppose that a presidential child’s privacy is important as long as said child is the child of a Democrat.

      Michelle Obama airs disapproval of dolls sharing her daughters’ names

      WASHINGTON — The company that makes Beanie Babies has introduced two new dolls, named Sweet Sasha and Marvelous Malia.

      Hey, wait a minute, aren’t Sasha and Malia the names of the Obama daughters? Yes.

      Coincidence? Ty Inc., the company in Oak Brook, Ill., that makes the dolls said yes and no…

      But what about the fact that in addition to sharing unusual names, Sweet Sasha and Marvelous Malia are slender brown-skinned and brown-eyed dolls that bear a resemblance to the 7- and 10-year-old darlings who just moved into the White House?

      “It would not be fair to say they are exact replications of these girls,” Lundeen told the AP.

      But the first lady, Michelle Obama, who has publicly described her role as “mom in chief,” apparently was not amused. “We feel it is inappropriate to use young, private citizens for marketing purposes,” said Katie McCormick Lelyveld, Michelle Obama’s press secretary, in a statement Saturday. The first lady’s office declined to comment further. A representative for Ty could not be reached late Saturday.

      Ty released the foot-tall dolls as part of its TyGirlz Collection, and they are featured prominently on the company’s Web site. Sweet Sasha’s dark brown doll hair is twisted in braids, while Marvelous Malia’s is of similar length but pulled into a long ponytail over her left shoulder.

      Other dolls in the TyGirlz Collection include Jammin’ Jenna, Happy Hillary, Precious Paris and Bubbly Britney.

      http://www.mercurynews.com/bre.....i_11548058

      The scandal! The horror! (And when did the Obama girls become “darlings?” Talk about editorializing!)

      Personally, I think they look more Latina than black. But what do I know?

    • JohnMG
      January 26, 2009 at 7:58 am

      The solution is easy. Ty Inc. should keep the names the same since they’ve invested huge sums in advertising. But instead of making the dolls slender and cute, they can make them fat and slovenly. That way, no one would make a wrong-headed association.

      You want my opinion? If Ty Inc. was to give Obama a cut of the profits, this would all go away.

  2. BillK
    January 24, 2009 at 7:15 am

    Tom Hanks backpedals a bit.

    From Fox News:

    Tom Hanks Apologizes for Calling Mormon Supporters of Proposition 8 ‘Un-American’

    Tom Hanks says he’s sorry he told FOXNews.com that Mormons who supported California’s constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage were “un-American.”

    “Last week, I labeled members of the Mormon church who supported California’s Proposition 8 as ‘un-American,’” the actor said in a statement through his publicist. “I believe Proposition 8 is counter to the promise of our Constitution; it is codified discrimination.”

    “But everyone has a right to vote their conscience; nothing could be more American,” the statement continues. “To say members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints who contributed to Proposition 8 are ‘un-American’ creates more division when the time calls for respectful disagreement. No one should use ‘un- American’ lightly or in haste. I did. I should not have.”

    The “Big Love” producer made his original remarks at the Los Angeles premiere of the HBO series last week.

    “The truth is a lot of Mormons gave a lot of money to the church to make Prop-8 happen,” he told FOXNews.com. “There are a lot of people who feel that is un-American, and I am one of them. I do not like to see any discrimination codified on any piece of paper, any of the 50 states in America, but here’s what happens now.”

    Kim Farah, a spokeswoman for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, responded that “expressing an opinion in a free and democratic society is as American as it gets.”

    Bill McKeever, a rep for the Mormonism Research Ministry, added, “Personally, I find it un-American to tell people that they shouldn’t vote their conscience.”

    http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,482266,00.html

    So as usual for liberals, it’s an “apology” that actually isn’t at all…

    • cjokry
      January 24, 2009 at 6:34 pm

      That’s a pretty good apology. For a liberal. Really, you usually don’t get one at all from these entertainere-type libs. Did we get one from Damon?

  3. BillK
    January 24, 2009 at 7:28 am

    Hey, we’ve got plenty of money since we’re just printing it en masse, so let’s do the important thing and get baby killings up!

    From Fox News:

    Obama Lifts Ban on Overseas Abortion Funding

    President Obama on Friday lifted a ban on federal funding for international groups that promote or perform abortions, reversing a policy of his predecessor, George W. Bush.

    Obama signed the executive order one day after the 36th anniversary of the landmark Roe v. Wade Supreme Court ruling that legalized abortion in all 50 states.

    Liberal groups welcomed the decision while abortion rights foes criticized the president, who was long expected to make this move during his first week in office.

    The so-called Mexico City policy requires any non-governmental organization to agree before receiving U.S. funds that they will “neither perform nor actively promote abortion as a method of family planning in other nations.”

    It is also known as the “global gag rule,” because it prohibits taxpayer funding for groups that even talk about abortion if there is an unplanned pregnancy.

    The policy was first instituted by President Ronald Reagan in 1984 and continued by President George H.W. Bush. The policy was reversed by President Bill Clinton in 1993, and re-instated by President George W. Bush in 2001.

    Both Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who will oversee foreign aid, had promised to do away with the gag rule during the presidential campaign. Clinton is to visit the U.S. Agency for International Development, through which much U.S. foreign aid is disbursed, later on Friday.

    Organizations that had pressed Obama to make the abortion-ban change were jubilant.

    “Women’s health has been severely impacted by the cutoff of assistance. “President Obama’s actions will help reduce the number of unintended pregnancies, abortions and women dying from high-risk pregnancies because they don’t have access to family planning,” said Tod Preston, a spokesman for Population Action International, an advocacy group.

    Anti-abortion groups criticized the move.

    “President Obama not long ago told the American people that he would support policies to reduce abortions, but today he is effectively guaranteeing more abortions by funding groups that promote abortion as a method of population control,” said Douglas Johnson, legislative director of the National Right to Life Committee.

    Obama has spent his first days in office systematically signing executive orders reversing Bush administration policies on issues ranging from foreign policy to government operations. On Thursday, he signed three executive orders to rein in secretive U.S. counterterror policies and end harsh interrogations. …

    http://www.foxnews.com/politic.....n-funding/

    In short for those keeping traffic, since taking office Obama has told Republicans they need to submit because “I won,” has reduced Americans’ safety from terrorism and made sure more unborn children die worldwide.

    • Barbie
      January 24, 2009 at 11:54 am

      Obama and his far left Dem pals are ghouls. (I guess I’m still free to say this and express my opinion at least until Obambi squelches all free speech rights for non bootlickers)

    • Liberals Demise
      January 24, 2009 at 12:20 pm

      Just where does it benifit America for declaring war on the unborn off our shores? Has someone told the Houseboy that we are hurting moneywise here and how in the HELL are we to foot the bill if we are subsidizing $40,000.00 toilets for CEOs who just got BILLIONS cause their companies are Bankrupt?

      Sweet baby Jesus, who’s gonna save us from the lunatic Left?

    • cjokry
      January 24, 2009 at 6:47 pm

      These people really are sent from hell to steal all of our hard-earned money and kill our unborn children.

      And Roe v Wade didn’t legalize abortion; it declared abortion to be a constitutional right. By and by, it’s really nice of Obambi to make this policy reversal while there are a couple hundred thousand people on the capital mall, protesting abortion for the anniversary of Roe, and getting zero press coverage (as usual.) I’d like to see him ignore a hundred thousand gays or hippies like that.

    • Barbie
      January 25, 2009 at 10:13 am

      Obama speaks of equality and civil rights for all and chastises all whites about bigoted attitudes and small minds yet THIS BLACK MAN’S FIRST EXECUTIVE DECISION, by the stroke of a pen, is to ensure discrimination and deny basic, civil rights to a group of folks he doesn’t think deserve to live – the unborn. Obama is an F*ing lying, liberal monster.

    • The Redneck
      January 26, 2009 at 2:54 pm

      And here’s why I love Fox News.

      Check out the AP’s version.

      The whole buggering thing is based on a press release from some population control group–and my favorite:

      Abortion is a hot-button issue in the United States, pitting pro-life conservative groups against more liberal, pro-choice Americans who back a woman’s right to choose whether or not to have an abortion.

      Not… pro-life conservative groups against pro-choice liberal groups?
      Not… more conservative, pro-life Americans who back an unborn child’s right to life against more liberal, pro-choice Americans who back a woman’s right to choose whether or not to have an abortion?

      Nope–it’s hardcore political groups against average citizens and their beliefs. Trust us.

  4. BillK
    January 24, 2009 at 7:33 am

    From a jubilant AP:

    Hamas Declares Victory, Control Over Gaza Strip

    GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — Bearded Hamas leaders on Friday delivered an envelope with five crisp $100 bills to a veiled woman whose house was damaged during Israel’s invasion of Gaza, the first of promised relief payments by the militant group.

    In another part of the territory, a bulldozer cleared rubble and filled in a bomb crater where a week before a top Hamas leader had been killed in an Israeli air strike.

    Since a truce took hold this week, ending Israel’s three-week onslaught, Gaza’s Hamas rulers have declared victory and gone out of their way to show they are in control.

    They have pledged $52 million of their own funds to help repair lives, the money divvied up by category. The veiled woman received compensation for her two-story home in the northern town of Beit Lahiya.

    Hamas, believed to be funded by donations from the Muslim world and Iran, has promised $52 million in emergency relief. This would include $1,300 for a death in the family, $650 for an injury, $5,200 for a destroyed house and $2,600 for a damaged house, he said, adding that these are not yet compensation payments, which Hamas promises will follow.

    More than 4,000 houses were destroyed and about 20,000 damaged, according to independent estimates.

    “We are in control and we are the winner,” Hamas legislator Mushir al-Masri declared this week, after attending the funeral of four Hamas gunmen.

    But Israeli strikes destroyed all of Hamas’ security compounds and most government buildings. Its top two leaders, strongman Mahmoud Zahar and Gaza Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh, have not yet appeared in public.

    Israel claims to have killed more than 700 Hamas fighters, while the militants say they lost about 280 armed men, the vast majority members of the police force killed in surprise bombings on the first day of the war.

    But beyond the losses, Hamas is wrestling with a fateful choice — whether to keep fighting and drive Gaza deeper into poverty and suffering or moderate in exchange for open borders and a measure of stability. …

    http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,482404,00.html

    So Hamas has learned well from the Democrats; pay off the citizens and you’ll retain power and your press will report whatever you have to say as “the truth.”

  5. BillK
    January 24, 2009 at 7:38 am

    From a bemused AP:

    Blagojevich Attorney Quits, Suggests Client Has Listening Problems

    Genson, one of Chicago’s best known lawyers, announced his plans to resign from the impeached governor’s criminal case.

    CHICAGO — Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s chief defense attorney announced Friday that he is bailing out of the fraud and bribery case against the governor, strongly hinting that his embattled client refused to listen to his advice.

    “I never require a client to do what I say, but I do require them to at least listen,” Edward Genson said. “I intend to withdraw as counsel in this case.”

    Genson, who won renown in defending R&B star R. Kelly and former newspaper baron Conrad Black, dropped his bombshell announcement after a U.S. District Court hearing during which Chief Judge James F. Holderman released four wiretapped recordings of Blagojevich and his associates to the Illinois House impeachment committee.

    Blagojevich, facing charges of fraud conspiracy and solicitation of bribery, was impeached by the Illinois House last week and on Monday faces trial in the Senate.

    The governor held a news conference Friday afternoon and complained that the impeachment trial was unfair and indicated he would not attend. Instead, he and his wife, Patti, will appear Monday on “Good Morning, America” and “The View.”

    Blagojevich spokesman Lucio Guerrero said the governor had no immediate comment to Genson’s announcement.

    In recent days, Genson has seemed to be on a separate wavelength from both his client and two other defense attorneys on the case. The legal team sent mixed signals to the media regarding whether the governor planned a lawsuit challenging Senate trial rules.

    Attorney Samuel E. Adam told The Associated Press on Thursday that a lawsuit was being prepared and could be filed with the Illinois Supreme Court within days. Genson told the AP that afternoon that he did not know whether Blagojevich would file a lawsuit to block the trial.

    “His action, what he’s doing, isn’t controlled by me,” Genson said. “I’m not privy to it. I should be, but I’m not.”
    Genson needs to file paperwork with the court to formally withdraw from the case.

    Blagojevich is charged in a criminal complaint with, among other things, plotting to sell or trade the U.S. Senate seat formerly held by President Barack Obama. The governor has the power to fill the vacant seat and after his arrest Blagojevich picked former state Attorney General Roland Burris. …

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

    Blago continues to believe he is above the law.

    How surprising, but as a Democrat he may get away with it yet.

  6. Reality Bytes
    January 24, 2009 at 11:11 am

    Question for you S&L’rs:

    A young man, a local community organizer gets himself elected senator after exposing his incumbent opponent’s private affairs in the last weeks of the campaign.

    With only 180 days in office, he is tapped by powerful Washington insiders to run for President. His backers include Ex Pats who invest the vast majority of 3/4 of a billion dollars.

    He is elected to the office of President & proceeds to unleash a nationalization of American Banking, Manufacturing & Healthcare, moreover, orders the nation’s homeland security forces to stand down.

    The young man is a caucasian with European ancestory.

    Questions:

    Would the man have been elected, much less asked to run?

    If so, would the press give him any credibility? Would they delve into his connections with the power elite?

    If he overcame those obstacles & was elected, would wouldn’t his motives come under scrutiny? Would his connections be become increasingly suspect with every directive & order?

    Next to Final Question:

    With nothing changing about this man, except his racial idendity from white to black, would these issues be less important to the press?

    Final Question:

    If you answered yes to all these questions, then was Barack Obama elected solely because he is as his vice president declared, “A clean & articlate black man”.

    Somewhere Sidney Portier is thinking, “I coulda been a contender”.

    • proreason
      January 24, 2009 at 1:57 pm

      Obamy was elected because the radical left selected him decades ago, supported him financially since then, trained him how to avoid being specific and neutralize any issue, helped him hide his socialist beliefs, raised billions to buy elections for him, and destroyed the economy when it looked like the election would be close.

      He was picked for the role by the radical left because he is bi-racial, smarter than any other black person available at the time, trainable and willing to toe the line on personal issues. The strategy deliberately avoided addressing the issues because the radical left knows the country is moderate. So the campaign was about identity politics and white guilt, not about policy. The radicals knew that a growing number of Americans pay more attention to American Idol than the president’s policies, and the knew that a clean and articulate black man would be appealing if he avoided personal embarassments. It was classic Alinsky. And it worked.

      So, RB, I agree with your premise that he was elected because he is clean and articulate, but also believe that it was a strategy implemented by people who have long sought to destroy the country.

  7. morninggloryseed
    January 24, 2009 at 11:23 am

    I don’t have a news article, but I did note the absence of news….Al Jazeera does NOT have any mention of the bombing raid in Pakistan…no mention of it anywhere.

  8. Liberals Demise
    January 24, 2009 at 11:38 am

    This was sent to me this week and I’d like to share it with all of you here at S&L.
    hppt://www.bornagainamerican.org

    It is a wonderfully put together video and the song is right on!!

  9. 1sttofight
    January 24, 2009 at 1:43 pm

    This is not a joke and is scary as hell.

    Printed in a size that easily fits into pocket or purse, this book is an anthology of quotations borrowed from Barack Obama’s speeches and writings. POCKET OBAMA serves as a reminder of the amazing power of oratory and the remarkable ability of this man to move people with his words. His superb and captivating oratory style has earned comparisons to John F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King, and this historic collection presents words that catapulted his remarkable rise to the American Presidency. It is an unofficial requirement for every citizen to own, to read, and to carry this book at all times.

    Includes themes of democracy, politics, war, terrorism, race, community, jurisprudence, faith, personal responsibility, national identity, and above all, his hoped-for vision of a new America. POCKET OBAMA is a portable, everyday primer for readers who want to examine the substance of his thought and reflect on the next great chapter in the American story.

    http://www.historycompany.com/......php?p=128

    • Odie44
      January 24, 2009 at 1:48 pm

      It just hit the news stands!!!

      http://www.china-profile.com/i.....d-book.jpg

    • Liberals Demise
      January 24, 2009 at 1:55 pm

      Mien Kampht, Maos’ lil’ RED BOOK, The Koran and now……..Barrys Bluebook. Only brain dead, Spineless, ass kissers will possess and carry in their “left” pockets emergency toilet paper in a blue cover.

    • caligirl9
      January 24, 2009 at 3:47 pm

      Personally, I am waiting for POCKET CAROLINE to be published.

      How can anyone with a straight face compare TCO to MLK or JFK? We don’t know a damn thing about the man, and he’s done nothing to earn my respect.

      I imagine many of my former co-workers at the college are going to get this “book” ASAP and start quoting from it ad nauseum.

    • Liberals Demise
      January 24, 2009 at 3:51 pm

      AACK!!!
      cali…..I’m gonna chunk big pieces!

    • Barbie
      January 24, 2009 at 4:12 pm

      I hear the cover has a picture of an empty suit on it. Also, there’s a coupon inside for anti-emetic medicine… And, there’s a cloth so one can cover one’s nose – apparently there’s a very strong bullsh*t smell emanating from it.

    • jobeth
      January 25, 2009 at 9:46 pm

      It would be funny if it weren’t so chilling.

    • wardmama4
      January 27, 2009 at 7:54 am

      Here is the url –
      http://www.pocketobama.com/

      I went to amazon.com – it is there too – so while this might be a spoof, it is available.

      I think that my day was just ruined – I will be on bread and water only to keep from tossing my cookies (as my old (and old was the operative word) Speech teacher use to say).

      And it scares me to no end – if this garbage is being thrown at us in the first week – what is 2011 going to be like? I can’t bear the thought – I have a feeling that is when all of us are going to be silenced for good.

    • jobeth
      January 27, 2009 at 3:49 pm

      Wardmama

      Don’t worry about a thing…all the Myan calenders and seers tell us the world will end in 2012, so the agony can’t go on too long.

      Ha!, and Obalmy thinks he will get a second term…

  10. Barbie
    January 24, 2009 at 4:09 pm

    ignore.

  11. caligirl9
    January 24, 2009 at 4:13 pm

    Like … uh … you know.

    Actually a quick Web search reveals a few more Caroline quotes:

    “As much as we need a prosperous economy, we also need a prosperity of kindness and decency.”

    “One of the greatest gifts my brother and I received from my mother was her love of literature and language. With their boundless energy, libraries open the door to these worlds and so many others. I urge young and old alike to embrace all that libraries have to offer.”

    “A courageous fighter for working families; a voice for the elderly; a champion of all who have been left out, or locked out, of America’s promise.”

    “I think he did expand the number of people who were paying attention, and to pay attention in a different way.”

    (Last two presumably about TCO)

    The best one (emphasis mine):

    “Congressman John Murtha and Alberto Mora exemplify the kind of courage my father admired most. When others were unwilling to do so, each man recognized a moral obligation to speak out against policies he believed were misguided and contrary to our national interest. Representative Murtha broke ranks with our nation’s political and military leadership to call for the withdrawal of U.S. forces in Iraq. Alberto Mora sacrificed an illustrious legal career in government to oppose a policy that condoned the torture and abuse of prisoners in violation of international law. Their courage has inspired others to follow their example, and our government is fortunate to have public servants with such integrity.”

    That’s plenty to publish a book, as long as you use a size 22 font.

  12. caligirl9
    January 24, 2009 at 9:17 pm

    Looks like plenty ‘o fools are drinking the Obama kool-aid …

    Poll: Two-thirds approve of Obama’s job

    Barack Obama is enjoying about a two-thirds approval rating for his first days as president, a poll released Saturday found.

    The Gallup Organization survey found 68 percent of Americans approve of Obama’s performance as the nation’s chief executive. That’s a number near the high end for new presidents, but short of President John F. Kennedy’s 72 percent in 1961.

    The poll also found that 12 percent in the survey disapprove of Obama’s job performance, a typical number all presidents face after an election.

    Among presidents elected to their first term, Kennedy had the highest initial job approval rating, 72 percent, in Gallup polling three weeks after his inauguration. Next were Dwight Eisenhower with 68 percent approval and Jimmy Carter with 66 percent. Every other president elected to a first term since Eisenhower started office with at least majority job approval: Richard Nixon’s 59 percent; Ronald Reagan’s and George H.W. Bush’s 51 percent; Bill Clinton’s 58 percent and George W. Bush’s 57 percent.

    Compared with his immediate predecessors, Obama faces fewer Americans who disapprove of his performance. Clinton faced 20 percent disapproval after taking office in 1993, and George W. Bush faced 25 percent disapproval after the Supreme Court delivered him the presidency in 2000.

    Gallup finds approval ratings improved after about 100 days in office for all recent elected presidents — except Carter and Clinton — as Americans became more familiar with their work.

    An Associated Press-GfK poll released last week showed Obama with a 74 percent approval during his transition… Gallup conducted telephone interviews of 1,591 adults Wednesday to Friday… The margin of sampling error is plus or minus 3 percentage points.

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

    Oh my. This is quite scary. Remind me of what he has done to garner “approval.” Must have been Michelle’s dresses …

  13. JohnMG
    January 25, 2009 at 12:49 am

    …..”George W. Bush faced 25 percent disapproval after the Supreme Court delivered him the presidency in 2000…..”

    The mental midgets just couldn’t resist.

    Pricks!

    • 1sttofight
      January 25, 2009 at 2:55 am

      So if 25% disapproved…Then 75% DID approve, Right?

    • sheehanjihad
      January 25, 2009 at 11:26 am

      ok then, obama gets a 68% approval rating as opposed to Bush’s 75%. That means his first day disapproval rating is 32%, or 7% higher than Bush’s. It’s not like the media is trying to make their point by NOT printing it in the same negative light they did with Bush is it? Its all in how it’s presented, and we aint seen nothin yet!

  14. proreason
    January 25, 2009 at 12:35 pm

    “Personally, I think they look more Latina than black. But what do I know?”

    Caligirl, why isn’t anyone in the msm inquiring about the girl’s paternity? The resemblance to the Moron certainly isn’t striking. Hard to see any white blood in those girls.

    And Obamy is the ultimate metero-sexual. Other than him calling women “honey” a lot, there isn’t any evidence at all that he is straight. Do straight guys wax their chests? How many straight men are underweight when they are in the late 40’s? How many straight men are snappy dressers? How many straight men cross their legs like women? How many straight men in their 40’s go on the road for 2 years without their wives in tow? How many straight men bowl like girls?

    Yet we saw no end of interest in Sarah Palin’s sex life from our objective press.

    • caligirl9
      January 25, 2009 at 10:34 pm

      I agree about the skeevy vibe. There just were so many things not to like … gotta give TCO this though, he at least isn’t wearing a grill or neck chain *bling*

      And the interest in Sarah Palin’s life and motherhood was disgusting, so much for a “modern woman” trying to have it all. That’s fine as long as you are a liberal … it’s admired. As for a GOP or conservative woman who wants to have it all, well, there is obviously something wrong with her. She’s hiding something … LOL

  15. Icarus
    January 26, 2009 at 9:53 am

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

    A senior Vatican official on Saturday attacked US President Barack Obama for “arrogance” for overturning a ban on state funding for family-planning groups that carry out or facilitate abortions overseas.
    It is “the arrogance of someone who believes they are right, in signing a decree which will open the door to abortion and thus to the destruction of human life,” Archbishop Rino Fisichella was quoted as saying by the Corriere della Sera daily.

    Fisichella is president of the Pontifical Academy for Life, one of a number of so-called pontifical academies which are formed by or under the direction of the Holy See.

    “What is important is to know how to listen… without locking oneself into ideological visions with the arrogance of a person who, having the power, thinks they can decide on life and death,” he added.

    Obama signed the executive order cancelling the eight-year-old restrictions on Friday, the third full day of his presidency.

    The so-called “global gag rule” cut off US funding to overseas family planning clinics which provide any abortion services whatsoever, from the operation itself to counselling, referrals or post-abortion services.

    “If this is one of the first acts of President Obama, with all due respect, it seems to me that the path towards disappointment will have been very short,” Fisichella said.

    “I do not believe that those who voted for him took into consideration ethical themes, which were astutely left aside during the election debate. The majority of the American population does not take the same position as the president and his team,” he added.

    The order won Obama praise from Democratic lawmakers, family planning and women’s rights groups but drew angry condemnation from pro-life organisations and Republicans.

    More than 250 health and human rights organisations from around the world sent Obama a letter, thanking him for ending a policy “which has contributed to the deaths and injuries of countless women and girls.”

    More than 250 health and human rights organisations from around the world sent Obama a letter, thanking him for ending a policy “which has contributed to the deaths and injuries of countless women and girls.”

    Liberal Translation: 250 of our ideological surrogates in the medical “business” overseas are overjoyed in receiving news that after 8 years of hardship, they will once again have “employment” and be able to provide for themselves at a level that has not been seen for nearly a decade. Caviar anyone!
    Shortly; overseas and in parts unknown, once idle and cold instruments will once again be put into proliferated use; terminating unwanted, unripe humans that would most certainly become an irritation and an interruption to the lives of those directly affected; as well as a drain on present and future government resources. (Thanks Nancy) Remember; fewer humans = a greener planet (On a side note: Al Gore is working diligently to find out if an abortionist can or should be recompensed with carbon credits)
    Finally, while we have a clear figure on the organizations receiving funds, we don’t feel it necessary to keep an actual head (or limb) count of the terminated undeveloped life forms; therefore we cannot provide even an estimated figure.
    Have a nice day citizen!

    • caligirl9
      January 26, 2009 at 1:55 pm

      Within the quote from Icarus’ post:

      “I do not believe that those who voted for him took into consideration ethical themes, which were astutely left aside during the election debate.”

      TCO voters: “Ethics? We don’t need no stinking ethics!”

    • BillK
      January 26, 2009 at 3:29 pm

      Even when such groups have supplied numbers, they’ve proven to be complete fiction anyway, so don’t be too surprised.

      Look at the long disproved numbers they claimed died due to “back alley abortions” pre-Roe v. Wade, and of course how they always trot out the infinitesimal number of pregnancies resulting from incest as a reason why parental notification laws will never be acceptable.

    • Dangerous
      January 26, 2009 at 4:35 pm

      Here’s a handy bit of information for when someone suggests that killing babies because “they’re just a clump of cells” or “can’t even feel yet,” etc, etc. is a perfectly acceptable thing to do.

      There are precisely 4 differences between a fetus and you or I. They even have a handy acronym: SLED.
      This stands for:
      Size
      Level of development
      Environment
      Degree of Dependency

      Let’s look at them one at a time, starting from the top.

      Size
      That is, your average adult is bigger than your average fetus. Is this sufficient to justify their desctruction? If so, fat people of the world unite, and send the skinnies running. Tall people, you’ve always looked down on those around you, but now apparently you can kill them too.
      If not, I guess size alone is insufficient cause to destroy a fetus.

      Level of Development
      A fetus is, unsurprisingly, not a fully developed and matured human being. But, strangely enough, neither is a 2, 5, 8, 10, 16 or 20 year old. Your body continues to change and develop until you die. On average, that’s more than 8 decades. Now, if different developmental stages are a big enough division that one human deserves life and another does not, where is this line drawn? Why not say open season on any kid under 5? Why not say that only those who have reached 65 have earned the right to live as shown by their success thus far?
      Maybe the level of a body’s development is not a good indicator of being alive.

      Environment
      Ah, this one is big. Did you know, that a fetus is only found inside a woman’s body? They don’t show up in other places. By this logic, let’s say I live further north than most of humanity. I hereby declare that all to the south of me are unliving. Time to start the hunt. It’s okay, though, if you just move across an imaginary line (ie, get above a certain latitude) you get a free pass, and you’re alive now.
      Perhaps environment shouldn’t be a reason to say someone is alive or isn’t.

      Degree of Dependency
      Here we go, the last chance. “A fetus can’t live outside its mother.” If it can’t live independently, it must not be alive, so the logic goes. How many toddlers do you know that could survive out in the mountains? For that matter, how many liberals? A fetus is dependent on its mother to sustain it while it grows. So is an infant. So is an adolescent (although in different ways, obviously). Yet an infant is alive, and so is an adolescent. Why not a fetus? Maybe, all parents should just have the right to stop feeding their children. After all, if the kids can’t feed themselves, they’re not really alive, are they?
      On the other hand, maybe the fact that they’re dependent on someone else to survive doesn’t mean a fetus isn’t alive.

      Now, to recap:
      Size – a fetus is small.
      Level of Development – a fetus’ body isn’t done growing.
      Environment – a fetus needs to live in a specific location.
      Degree of Dependency – a fetus relies on its mother for nourishment and care.

      Those four things cover all the differences between a fetus and an adult. However, they also cover the differences between adults and other adults, or adults and seniors, or adults and children. They are not good enough reason to separate life and death when used to compare adults, so challenge anyone to explain why they’re good enough when comparing a baby in the womb with the pathetic slime that wants to take a vacuum cleaner to them.

  16. caligirl9
    January 26, 2009 at 5:49 pm

    Yeah, we are evil and hate kids …

    Republicans Oppose Broader Children’s Health Bill

    WASHINGTON (AP) — Republican lawmakers opposed to expanding the children’s health insurance program argued that broadening the plan would force 2.4 million children into government-sponsored insurance.

    ”We’re going to replace a lot of private insurance with government insurance,” Arizona Sen. Jon Kyl said Monday as the Senate prepared to consider a bill to extend health insurance to about 4 million uninsured children.

    Kyl and other Republicans also expressed reservations about covering the children of legal immigrants under the State Children Health Insurance Program.

    Overall, the Senate legislation would increase spending on the program by $31.5 billion over the next 4 1/2 years. The expansion would be paid for by increasing the federal excise tax on tobacco products.

    Republicans lack the votes to block the legislation as Democrats have strengthened their majorities in Congress. However, before the bill can be cleared and sent to President Barack Obama for his signature, Senate and House members will have to work out the differences in the legislation…

    In late 2007, former President George W. Bush twice vetoed Democratic-led bills to expand children’s health insurance coverage. Obama has said that he hopes the Senate will act with the same sense of urgency as the House so that a bill reauthorizing and expanding SCHIP would be one of the first measures he signed into law.

    Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., alluded to Bush’s vetoes in announcing that the Senate would take up the SCHIP bill late Monday.

    ”Jeopardizing the health of American children is not a political victory for anyone. It’s a loss for everyone. It’s long past time that we corrected it,” Reid said.

    Many Republicans are unhappy with the latest legislation, saying it does too little to limit the program to children of the working poor. They want stricter limits on eligibility.

    Kyl said many Republicans oppose a provision, which was approved by the House, to allow states to use Medicaid or SCHIP to cover children of legal immigrants. Current law requires a five-year waiting period before legal immigrants become eligible for coverage under Medicaid and SCHIP.

    The provision has a cost of about $1.3 billion over five years and would allow about 300,000 more children to participate in SCHIP after that period. Eighteen states incur the cost of health coverage for children of new legal immigrants, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a liberal-leaning think tank.

    To pay for the additional health coverage, lawmakers have proposed increasing the federal excise tax on a pack of cigarettes to $1. That’s a 61-cent increase. Other tobacco products will be hit with higher taxes too. The tax increase will be comparable for chewing tobacco and pipe tobacco, but will be much steeper for roll-your-own tobacco and some cigars.

    http://www.nytimes.com/aponlin......html?_r=1

    Yes, I do want it harder for people to qualify for health care for their children. I am all for helping the working poor and for helping >b>children of American citizens in time of need. Who’d believe there is a current law barring children of legal immigrants medical care for 5 years? Illegals go to the front of the line with their “instant U.S. citizen” anchor babies.

    What about personal responsibility? Certainly people do have hard luck (myself included) and do need the assistance for a short time, but building a lifestyle around the nanny state and government teat is ridiculous.

    Whatever happened to the good old days when we lined up at school to get our shots and our scoliosis exams? I have no problem with that. (And yes I know there is a school nurse “shortage” because districts can’t afford to have an RN on staff because administrators and teachers’ benefits eat up so much money.)

  17. BillK
    January 27, 2009 at 5:47 am

    Perhaps there’s some glimmer of hope after all.

    An update on last week’s story from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:

    Coggs, Clark to repay county for inauguration trip

    By Steve Schultze

    Milwaukee County Supervisors Elizabeth M. Coggs and Toni Clark announced Monday they’ll repay the county for the costs of their Washington, D.C., trip last week and apologized for the misstep.

    Coggs and Clark issued a statement saying they had decided to reimburse the county after talking to constituents and other state and local officials. The full cost for the two is expected to be as much as $4,000, including $931 for round-trip airfare and hotel bills for Clark that cost up to $644 a night.

    “We just think it’s the right thing to do,” the statement says. They will pay back all money approved or allocated to them by the county for the trip, the statement says. They did not list a specific payback figure or time frame for making the payments.

    The pair went to Washington to attend the inauguration of President Barack Obama and to meet with the county’s Washington lobbyist and others. Journal Sentinel columnist Daniel Bice reported last week that Coggs and Clark had billed costs of their five-day trip to taxpayers.

    Bice also reported Monday that Coggs and Clark booked their Washington flights two days after the Nov. 4 election.

    The supervisors’ decision to repay the county came after local criticism, including from state Rep. Jon Richards (D-Milwaukee). He said he wants to review three years of travel expenses of County Board and Milwaukee Public Schools board members.

    School Board member Charlene Hardin came under fire last year for an MPS-paid trip she took to Philadelphia because she only briefly stopped in at a school conference there.

    Prices for Clark’s hotel stay were inflated because of high demand for rooms for inauguration-goers. In their statement, Coggs and Clark said they could “certainly understand why some have had concerns about the timing.”

    “We ask for the forgiveness of our constituents, our colleagues and the elected officials that have been singled out,” their statement says.

    Neither was available for comment late Monday.

    The supervisors said they made the trip to help represent Milwaukee at the inauguration and to meet with officials on finding new sources of funding for the county. …

    http://www.jsonline.com/news/m.....07329.html

    What are the odds they would have thought it “the right thing to do” if the paper’s article hadn’t resulted in a flood of negative calls on the issue?

    • Icarus
      January 27, 2009 at 9:45 am

      I think that if they really wish to display their sincerity they should (any and all involved) take $1,000 (each) from their own wallet and donate it to a charity of their choice! “Sorry” only cuts it when you’re a child; not an adult! If they do this; I believe they’ll have learned something about accountability & consequences; and possibly display true contrition (as far as we can humanly discern) Keep us updated (if) when this happens.

    • JohnMG
      January 27, 2009 at 10:13 am

      Isn’t that precious? They planned their trip which just so happened to coincide with “Honest Obe’s” inauguration. Then, they decide to pay back the government money they used for that trip which just so happens coincided with the outrage of their constituents concerning their perfidy. How sincere. (gag)

      Of the supposed 1.8 million attendees at the inaugural, I heard only 14 were missing from their jobs. Does that tell you anything?

  18. BillK
    January 27, 2009 at 5:53 am

    Hey, if it worked for GMAC…

    From the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:

    Harley-Davidson seeks federal aid to make loans

    By Rick Barrett

    Shaken by the recession, Harley-Davidson Inc.’s consumer lending arm has reached out to the federal government for help.

    The iconic motorcycle company wants to be included in federal programs that would boost its ability to make motorcycle loans.

    Credit has dried up for many consumers, and Harley-Davidson Financial Services feels their pain in tougher commercial credit markets.

    The financing unit for Harley needs about $1 billion in funding this year to continue providing new motorcycle loans to its customers. It also has a $500 million bank advance that’s due in March.

    More than half of all new Harley motorcycle purchases are funded by HDFS. The motorcycle company’s outlook for 2009 is largely dependent on the unit’s ability to get significant financing, according to industry analysts.

    Harley can’t change the economy, but it has turned to federal programs meant to boost consumer spending and protect its interests.

    One program, called TALF – for Term Asset-Backed Securities Loan Facility – is designed to increase the availability of credit through asset-backed loans to outfits such as Harley-Davidson Financial Services.

    “In TALF we trust,” Craig Kennison, a Robert W. Baird analyst quipped Monday in a Harley research report.

    Harley executives said they’re working diligently to tap into the $200 billion TALF program, which hasn’t begun making loans yet.

    Retail motorcycle loans were included in the program as eligible assets, said Thomas Bergmann, interim president of Harley-Davidson Financial Services, in a conference call last week that addressed the unit’s recent quarterly results.

    “We are actively evaluating the program to further understand the details and learn how we may benefit from it,” Bergmann said, adding that answers should come in the next few weeks. …

    http://www.jsonline.com/business/38429459.html

    Nationalization of the banking and auto industries is a mere formality at this point.

    • dulcimergrl
      January 27, 2009 at 11:02 am

      My SIL, who rides motorcycles and whose husband used to race them, calls this particular brand “Hardly Ableson”. Sounds like she hit the nail on the head.

    • JohnMG
      January 27, 2009 at 11:45 am

      Not exactly the most accurate description.

      In 1982, when AMF was divesting itself of the motor company, a group of employees mortgaged themselves to the hilt, pooled their resources and purchased the all-but-bankrupt company and nursed it back to health. They did it without taxpayer funding. One thing they did do was to petition the federal government for protection from the imports for a period of 7 years (I think), and President Raegan granted this through a tarrif. Within 5 years H-D told the government they no longer needed the protections and the tarrif was lifted. They have been financially healthy ever since.

      I have ridden motorcycles since I was 14 years old, and I’m now 62. I have ridden Honda, Yamaha, Suzuki, Triumph, Norton, BSA, Aprilia, Buell, and a few more. Currently I own a 2001 Heritage Softail and a 2005 Softail Springer. My wife owns a 2002 Sportster. My Heritage has 101,000 miles on the clock with no major engine or transmission repairs. My wife’s Sporty has 68,000 miles and has only had to have the final drive belt replaced in Steamboat Springs, CO when a rock got in the sprocket and caused it to fail at 51,000 miles while we were touring. I ride in a mixed group that most of the time has at least five nations represented by brand. I don’t look down on their rides and they don’t look askance at mine, and the product quality and durability is every bit as competitive. In fact, my bike is in the repair shop far less frequently than most of the others except for routine maintenance. And every one of the foreign makers has a model (or models) that are a knock-off of the classic American V-twin. Check for yourself. That’s not a boast, just fact, and should put a lie to ‘hardly ableson’ slur. I mean, why would they want to LOOK like one if they were a POS?

      What I will agree with, however, and what is being evidenced is a rush by every conceivable entity for a piece of the bail-out money. Harley-Davidson is in the same boat as the U S auto manufacturers when competing with the foreign brands–union labor contracts and all. But–and this is a big ‘but’–motorcycles are NOT a necessity any more than are snow machines, boats, motor homes, or personal water crafts. They are toys (albeit expensive ones) that we could all do without, and I’m certainly not in favor of the government subsidizing everyone’s recreation.

      We are now seeing what most of us knew would happen as soon as the first bail-out was approved. We need to let the free market work.

      Alas, with the current crew in charge, that isn’t likely. Sorry for the rant, but there are enough people who are unjustly critical of American products. It must be some fashion fad.

    • dulcimergrl
      January 28, 2009 at 12:42 pm

      Didn’t mean to offend you, John. To each his own. I’ll concede that they’re good bikes, but why are HDs so darn loud? You can hear them coming from miles away.

      Anyway, my main reason for posting the comment was, as you said, to highlight “a rush by every conceivable entity for a piece of the bail-out money”.

    • JohnMG
      January 28, 2009 at 1:01 pm

      No offense taken. This is just another sign of the times, I fear. I have no compunctions to helping someone in need. My own business is suffering right now so I can understand the anxiety. But I also know that all businesses are subject to the constant ebb and flow of a free-market. Somehow society has been weaned away from the basic tenets that made this country capitalistic success it is (was?). The attitude now seems to be, “I’d better get mine now before it’s all gone”.

    • JohnMG
      January 28, 2009 at 1:31 pm

      ……”but why are HDs so darn loud?…..”

      I meant to include this in my other response.

      They don’t. All Harleys must adhere to the decible ratings maximum set by the EPA for motorcycles when they leave the factory. The ‘loud’ comes from after-market pipes. One might also ask why riders of GSX-R’s and other crotch rockets have to ride down the freeways on the rear tire only?

      By the way, California has “excessive-noise” legislation on the books already, and many municipalities have even more restrictive standards than the state. For some strange reason, “out-of-staters” tend to suffer disproportionally from such legislation as opposed to the in-state and local riders. Ask me how I know? And before anyone jumps to any conclusion, my rides are 50-state street-legal.

      How does the saying go, “Guns don’t kill people–People kill people.”

    • dulcimergrl
      January 28, 2009 at 1:38 pm

      “After-market pipes”. I suspected as much. And as far as noise abatement laws, they don’t seem to be enforced very well ’round these here parts. I have no knowledge of whether they are more heavily enforced for out-of-towners, so can’t comment on that.

    • 1sttofight
      January 28, 2009 at 2:20 pm

      Harley Davidson,
      Many enjoyable and sometimes scary moments fondly remembered on my 68 ShovelHead that I built from scratch. I bought it in a box, no two pieces were bolted together. No electric starter either. Genuine old fashioned hard tail. The leather saddlebags would hold exactly 20 12 oz Budweiser cans. Don’t know just how fast it would go(geared for top speed), but no rice burner ever beat it.

    • JohnMG
      January 28, 2009 at 3:09 pm

      You know, 1st. To anyone who hasn’t “been there, done that”, it cannot be explained. Even though my ‘Springer” is muffled, that’s not the same as muzzled. But I agree–to each his own. My youngest daughter has a Sportster with Stage-One preformance kit in it. She also owns a Suzuki SV, and a Yamaha 250cc dirt bike. Which one she rides depends on the mood she’s in at the time. You can barely hear the SV run, but she’s got drag pipes on the Sporty, and likes the noise it makes. She also knows how to keep it quiet by the way she rides it.

      Years ago I had a Triumph Bonneville with straight pipes on it–louder than any Harley I’ve ever been around–but I never got arrested for noise. If you short-shift them, the noise isn’t obnoxious. Over the years I’ve found it is PEOPLE who are obnoxious.

      By the way, nothing–I mean nothing– sounds like a ’shovel head’ at idle. But my Heritage keeps the oil inside, and if I had to choose only one bike to own, that would be my pick. I bought it in August of ‘01. In just over 7 years I’ve put 101,000 trouble-free (s)miles on it (while working full-time, I might add).

    • 1sttofight
      January 28, 2009 at 3:16 pm

      Yeah, the old 68 used to leak or as I referred to it”marking its territory”. ;)

      When the young Marine came along I sold it and bought a fishing boat.

      It was probably one of the best things I ever did.
      I was getting a little out of hand .
      (Mrs. 1st had a lot of influence in that decision.)

    • JohnMG
      January 28, 2009 at 3:33 pm

      I put one down hard in ‘74 and damn near “bought the farm”. I’m missing some internal pieces from that one. Mrs. MG and I had three little ones at the time. She suggested I put the bike away (not sell it) until the family was raised. I told her, “No, if it’s in the garage, I’ll go out there, kick it over, and down the road I’ll go.” So I sold it.

      Then we had another kid! In truth, I didn’t quit riding–I just quit “owning”–bikes, but I never got over riding them. When I had given up ever owning one again, she was the one who told me when it was “time” to get another one. That’s part of the reason I gave her her own for her birthday one year. It’s also part of the reason we’ve celebrated over 40 years together. She’s a “keeper”. ;-}

    • 1sttofight
      January 28, 2009 at 3:49 pm

      About the getting out of hand comment,

      One day in April 1983(the young Marine was born in March) I was on my way down I-59 minding my own business when a big car with Illinois plates passed me then pulled right back in front of me and started slowing down. I pulled out and passed them without speeding up. Theythen passed me again strattling the lane dividing line and slowed down again. This happened 4 or 5 times and I was getting rather upset. The last time they did it, I pulled up beside them, pulled the S&W Model 59 out of my jacket, pointed it at the drivers head(about 2 feet) and motioned for him to pull over.
      I told them that if I
      saw them in my mirror again I would put a 9mm hole between each of their eyes.

      a few days later I heard that there was a manhunt out for a crazed biker who was threatening people on the interstate.

      BTW, They were black and I did have a Rebel Flag patch on my left shoulder and an American Flag patch on my right shoulder.

      I did not see them in my mirror anymore.

    • JohnMG
      January 28, 2009 at 4:02 pm

      Interesting. One time a friend asked why I was dressed like a Hells Angel. (This was during winter and I was leathered to the hilt. I doubt he even knew what a Hells Angel dressed like, but evidently I fit his perception.) I told him, if you ride a Harley and protective leather, most people assume you’re an anti-social, knuckle-dragging, thug, and not to be trifled with. Thus they’re afraid to find out if it’s true. And that suits me just fine. I really prefer to be left alone, and if that helps, so be it.

      Oh, yeah. Number four turned out to be my Marine, too. Semper Fi.

    • 1sttofight
      January 28, 2009 at 4:10 pm

      You can get some nasty burns sliding down the asphault with leather on.

      But is a lot better than leaving chunks of meat on said asphault.

      Been there done that.

    • JohnMG
      January 28, 2009 at 4:29 pm

      Oh, I’ve got scars, alright. Maybe I should get in line for some of that bailout money. “Scar-abatement funds for the house!”

      (There. Does that get us back on topic?)

  19. Icarus
    January 27, 2009 at 9:54 am

    From Fox

    http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,483446,00.html

    “How low (sick) can one get in order to make a buck?”

    A Florida company said it is suspending planned sales of a wide-eyed doll called Caylee that was made as a “tribute” to a murdered Orlando girl with the same name.

    • caligirl9
      January 27, 2009 at 1:07 pm

      Did you notice the surname of the “president” of Showbiz Productions?

      Hispanic. Though no doubt any ethnicity could have chosen to do something this despicable.

      Guess Nancy Grace ripping him a new one opened his eyes. How could that idiot Salcedo have even thought this was a good idea?

      And he’s “done” Sarah Palin dolls and Michael Vick chew toys for dogs. Well okay, the Michael Vick chew toys are okay by me …

    • 1sttofight
      January 28, 2009 at 3:57 pm

      Michael Vick himself would make a great chew toy for dogs IMO.

  20. crosspatch
    January 27, 2009 at 12:32 pm

    Well, that didn’t take long.

    Hamas set off a bomb and fired an RPG. Israeli forces are back in Gaza.

    • JohnMG
      January 27, 2009 at 12:51 pm

      Israel knows what the answer is. Give Obama one of his own signature finger gestures and then turn the dogs loose.

      If they pull out this time before getting the job done, they’re finished!

  21. caligirl9
    January 27, 2009 at 7:37 pm

    Is this legislation really necessary? I’d be far more impressed if it protected older workers of both sexes—those being laid off in favor of younger, cheaper employees or offered some sort of incentive for an employer to hire an “older” worker.

    Congress sends fair pay bill to Obama

    Congress sent the White House Tuesday what is expected to be the first legislation that President Barack Obama signs into law, a bill that makes it easier for women and others to sue for pay discrimination, even if the discrimination has prevailed for years, even decades.

    White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said Obama would sign the bill, a top priority for labor and women’s rights groups, Thursday during a public ceremony in the East Room.

    The bill is a response to a 2007 Supreme Court ruling that said a person must file a claim of discrimination within 180 days of a company’s initial decision to pay a worker less than it pays another worker doing the same job. Under the bill, every new discriminatory paycheck would extend the statute of limitations for another 180 days..

    “What a difference a new Congress and a president make,” said Rep. George Miller, D-Calif., sponsor of the bill and chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee…

    Opponents contended that the legislation would gut the statute of limitations, encourage lawsuits and be a boon to trial lawyers. They also argued that employees could wait to file claims in hopes of reaping larger damage awards.

    “Enriching trial lawyers is simply the wrong way to ensure a fairer, more just workplace,” said Rep. Howard “Buck” McKeon of California, top Republican on the House Education and Labor Committee…

    http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/.....636S21.DTL

    Don’t get me wrong, I am very much for equal pay for equal work. In the case that went before the Supreme Court, 19-year Goodyear employee Lilly Ledbetter was not aware of a pay discrepancy until shortly before she retired. The article does not say what her job was. If it was a physical job, was she really as productive as a man?

    I don’t think this is the most important thing Congress, the Senate and TCO could have been working on. My opinion only…

    .

    • JohnMG
      January 27, 2009 at 7:51 pm

      This is a boon for the trial lawyers and the unions. It’s also payback for the money they spent getting the Dumbshit-in-Chief elected.

      This will continue for the next 94 days and perhaps beyond. I think Max Headroom has moved into the oval office.

  22. BillK
    January 28, 2009 at 10:43 am

    France?!?!

    From DarkReading:

    Former Energy Worker Admits Trying To Sell Nuclear Secrets

    Janitor pleads guilty to offering next-generation nuclear materials to France in exchange for $200,000

    By Tim Wilson

    A former janitor at a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) site yesterday pleaded guilty to stealing information and equipment for developing nuclear systems and attempting to sell it to a foreign government.

    Just a day before his trial was set to begin, Roy Lynn Oakley, 67, changed his plea and pleaded guilty in a U.S. District Court in Knoxville, Tenn., to unlawful disclosure of restricted data under the Atomic Energy Act. Oakley admitted to offering classified data and equipment for producing highly enriched uranium to an FBI undercover officer who was posing as a French government agent. Oakley was asking $200,000 for the information.

    According to the plea agreement, Oakley had been employed as a laborer and escort by Bechtel Jacobs at the East Tennessee Technology Park (ETTP) in Oak Ridge, Tenn. The ETTP, formerly known as Y-25, had previously been operated by the DOE as a facility to produce highly enriched uranium.

    While employed at the ETTP in 2006 and 2007, Oakley had a security clearance that gave him access to classified and protected materials, including instruments, appliances, and information relating to the gaseous diffusion process for enriching uranium. Some of the materials and information to which Oakley had access were classified as “Restricted Data” under the Atomic Energy Act — any disclosure of which was illegal, the plea agreement says. While he worked at the ETTP, Oakley had been instructed and informed that this Restricted Data could not be disclosed.

    In January 2007, Oakley contacted the French Embassy and consulates in several U.S. cities to determine the country’s interest in purchasing the nuclear data and equipment, according to the plea agreement. The French government contacted the FBI and set up a sting in which an FBI agent posed as a French government agent.

    In recorded calls and during a face-to-face meeting with the FBI undercover agent, Oakley stated that he had taken certain parts of uranium enrichment fuel rods or tubes and other associated hardware items from the ETTP work site, and that he wanted to sell these materials for $200,000 to the foreign government. Once Oakley handed over the pieces of tubes and associated items to the undercover FBI agent and received $200,000 in cash, he was confronted by FBI agents and admitted to his efforts to sell the materials.

    The materials Oakley had tried to sell to a foreign government were, in fact, pieces of equipment known as “barrier” and associated hardware items that play a crucial role in the production of highly enriched uranium — a special nuclear material — through the gaseous diffusion process. In his role as a janitor, Oakley was supposed to have broken up the barrier for disposal. But Oakley says he knew the gaseous diffusion process used in the U.S. is better than the methods currently used in France, and he therefore stole four of the barrier tubes and offered to sell them to French agents.

    The maximum penalty for violation of the Atomic Energy Act by disclosing Restricted Data is a maximum of 10 years imprisonment and a criminal fine of $250,000. A sentencing hearing has been set for May 14. If the court accepts the plea agreement, Oakley will serve six years in prison and three years on supervised release. …

    http://www.darkreading.com/sec.....DR_DAILY_T

    Is there any doubt that if janitors are trying to sell things like this to France, it’s almost guaranteed someone has let a few things slip to Iran and/or al Qaeda?

  23. BillK
    January 28, 2009 at 11:04 am

    It’s time to play count the assumptions!

    From the even further left than Obama Madison, WI Capital Times:

    UW researchers: Climate change could increase disease-spreading insects

    Researchers from Wisconsin and Australia have found that climate change could expand the range of disease-spreading insects in coming decades, endangering human health.

    Scientists from the UW-Madison and three Australian universities identified key biological and environmental factors affecting a type of mosquito that spreads dengue fever.

    In the study, to be published online Jan. 28 in the British Ecological Society’s journal Functional Ecology, they reported that climate changes in Australia during the next 40 years and the insect’s ability to adapt to new conditions may allow the mosquitoes to expand into several populated regions of the continent.

    While the current study focuses on the Australian population of the dengue mosquito, this type of mosquito lives around the world and presents a global threat similar in scope to malaria, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

    “Where would a species with a particular set of properties best survive and function on our planet?” asked University of Wisconsin zoologist Warren Porter.

    “By answering this question, we are able not only to calculate what the current distributions are, but even identify places where they might flourish where they don’t currently exist.”

    At present, dengue mosquitoes in Australia are restricted to Queensland in the northeast. But the new work shows that climate changes predicted by 2050 will increase suitable mosquito habitat across much of the continent.

    In particular, changes in human water-storage practices driven by reduced rainfall in some cities — such as rainwater tanks and other open water containers — produce ideal conditions for mosquito egg laying.

    The mosquito’s potential for evolutionary change also will come into play.

    Software developed by Porter and his colleagues can also be used to study future impacts on other “vectors” that spread use. The model can be applied to animal species living anywhere on the Earth, Porter said. …

    http://www.madison.com/tct/mad/latest/434985

    So, if climate change is occurring, and if temperatures rise, the range of a particular mosquito may widen due to human behavioral changes that could occur, possibly leading to increased health risks if evolutionary changes occur in the mosquito according to computer models we wrote.

    Remember the Scientific Method? Observation?

    Now it’s “A computer model we wrote that takes all of our biases and assumptions into account shows we’re right, damn it, so listen to us! It’s a done deal!”

    I remember when I had respect for scientists rather than disdain.

    • proreason
      January 28, 2009 at 11:22 am

      Bill, I’m sure you are aware that the whole Global Warming scam itself is built on computer models. You can even find pro-scam articles that state that climate is too complex to fully understand and there is no way to test it, so computer models are the only method to predict it.

      By the way, thanks for finding so many great articles. I view you as SG’s right-hand man. Your comments are also insightful and funny.

    • BillK
      January 28, 2009 at 5:59 pm

      Thanks, I try. :-)

  24. dulcimergrl
    January 28, 2009 at 12:47 pm

    Here’s something I heard on LA’s “Good Day LA” this morning regarding a lawsuit that was brought against a S0 Cal Lutheran school on behalf a two lesbian students who were expelled in 2005. A good outcome, for now, but I don’t expect the homosexual militants to let up any time soon:

    http://www.worldnetdaily.com/n.....E_ID=59873

  25. 1sttofight
    January 28, 2009 at 2:36 pm

    Smartest man in the world can’t tell a window from a door.

    It looks like President Obama hasn’t gotten acquainted to his White House surroundings. On the way back to the Oval Office Tuesday, the President approached a paned window, instead of the actual door — located a few feet to his right.

    Damn Bush is screwing him again.

    http://www.nydailynews.com/new....._door.html

  26. proreason
    January 28, 2009 at 3:14 pm

    Another Global Warming Denier. His fine is going to be REALLY big:

    James Hansen’s Former NASA Supervisor Declares Himself a Skeptic – Says Hansen ‘Embarrassed NASA’, ‘Was Never Muzzled’, & Models ‘Useless’

    UPDATE 1/28: Full text of Dr. Theon’s letter has been post on the Senate website and below.

    This is something I thought I’d never see. This press release today is from the Senate EPW blog of Jame Inhofe. The scientist making the claims in the headline, Dr. John S. Theon, formerly of the Institute for Global Environmental Strategies, Arlington, Virginia,…

    For those just joining the climate discussion, Dr. James Hansen is the chief climate scientist at NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) and is the man who originally raised the alarm on global warming in 1988 in an appearance before congress. He is also the keeper of the most often cited climate data.

    EPW press release below – Anthony

    ——————————————————————————–
    Washington DC, Jan 27th 2009: NASA warming scientist James Hansen, one of former Vice-President Al Gore’s closest allies in the promotion of man-made global warming fears, is being publicly rebuked by his former supervisor at NASA.

    Retired senior NASA atmospheric scientist, Dr. John S. Theon, the former supervisor of James Hansen, NASA’s vocal man-made global warming fear soothsayer, has now publicly declared himself a skeptic and declared that Hansen “embarrassed NASA” with his alarming climate claims and said Hansen was “was never muzzled.” .Theon joins the rapidly growing ranks of international scientists abandoning the promotion of man-made global warming fears.

    “I appreciate the opportunity to add my name to those who disagree that global warming is man made,” Theon wrote to the Minority Office at the Environment and Public Works Committee on January 15, 2009. “I was, in effect, Hansen’s supervisor because I had to justify his funding, allocate his resources, and evaluate his results,” Theon, the former Chief of the Climate Processes Research Program at NASA Headquarters and former Chief of the Atmospheric Dynamics & Radiation Branch explained.

    “Hansen was never muzzled even though he violated NASA’s official agency position on climate forecasting (i.e., we did not know enough to forecast climate change or mankind’s effect on it). Hansen thus embarrassed NASA by coming out with his claims of global warming in 1988 in his testimony before Congress,” Theon wrote. [.Note: NASA scientist James Hansen has created worldwide media frenzy with his dire climate warning, his call for trials against those who dissent against man-made global warming fear, and his claims that he was allegedly muzzled by the Bush administration despite doing 1,400 on-the-job media interviews! .- See: Don't Panic Over Predictions of Climate Doom - Get the Facts on James Hansen - UK Register: Veteran climate scientist says 'lock up the oil men' - June 23, 2008 & UK Guardian: NASA scientist calls for putting oil firm chiefs on trial for 'high crimes against humanity' for spreading doubt about man-made global warming - June 23, 2008 ]
    …..
    “Theon declared “climate models are useless.” My own belief concerning anthropogenic climate change is that the models do not realistically simulate the climate system because there are many very important sub-grid scale processes that the models either replicate poorly or completely omit,” Theon explained. “Furthermore, .some scientists have manipulated the observed data to justify their model results.. In doing so, they neither explain what they have modified in the observations, nor explain how they did it. They have resisted making their work transparent so that it can be replicated independently by other scientists. This is clearly contrary to how science should be done. Thus there is no rational justification for using climate model forecasts to determine public policy,” he added.

    …
    .“Vice President Gore and the other promoters of man-made climate fears endless claims that the “debate is over” appear to be ignoring scientific reality,” .Senator James Inhofe, Ranking Member of the Environment & Public Works Committee.

    ….

    .The prestigious International Geological Congress, dubbed the geologists’ equivalent of the Olympic Games, was held in Norway in August 2008 and prominently featured the voices of scientists skeptical of man-made global warming fears. Reports from the conference found that Skeptical scientists overwhelmed the meeting, with ‘2/3 of presenters and question-askers hostile to, even dismissive of, the UN IPCC’ .< /b ….

    and on and on

    http://wattsupwiththat.com/200.....r-muzzled/

    Of course, the frenzied masses will descend on this poor reporter like a swarm of locusts, but it’s good to see the article even got published.

    If the article isn’t squashed quickly, we will have to wait for Chief Scientist Obamy to tell us what the truth of the matter is, as if we can’t already guess. Where will he be if there are no oceans to cause to recede? On the other hand, it WOULD give him more time to design cars, redesign the international banking system, and bomb this and that former ally.

    • JohnMG
      January 28, 2009 at 3:20 pm

      The emperor has no clothes.

    • BillK
      January 28, 2009 at 6:02 pm

      We’ve already seen how this will be handled by the way Colorado State University’s Dr. William Gray, the forecaster the media turns to each year for his hurricane predictions, has been treated regarding his skeptic views.

      Essentially he will be painted as an old man who is “out of touch” with the scientific world, “hasn’t seen” the latest data and in general “did good work in his day but would never be allowed near a scientific program today.”

      Not to mention if he’s ever taken a dime from anyone other than the government he will be judged to be a “stooge of big business and/or the oil companies.”

      I was honored to meet Dr. Gray a few years back and to hear him speak, and the two key things to take away from him were:

      1) Observation no longer has a place in science; it’s all “computer modeling.” But guess what? Humans build the models and their own biases go into the models. Thus if you believe temperatures rise with increases in CO2, that’s what the models will show – there is literally no way they can come to any other conclusion.

      For a great example of how computer modeling is used in a somewhat unbiased way, you need to look at daily weather forecasting. Forecasts are compiled by looking at no fewer than three to five computer models and going with the forecast the various models are converging upon. No one model is ever always right nor always wrong.

      2) He stated flat-out that he can say what he does because he’s a Professor Emeritus and is tenured.

      He stated that his daughter, who is also a meteorologist, were she to say what he does, would never work in the field again, let alone in the sciences.

      The Catholic Church in the day of Galileo had nothing on the blacklisting policies of the “scientific community” today.

      So, when you hear Obama talk about how his administration will be guided by “facts,” you have to ask whose facts those will be.

      I think we know the answer – those of a generation of “scientists” who’ve bought environmentalist dogma as truth and have lost the ability to do observational science and can only do predictive science.

      The latter is of course better known as simple speculation.

    • Dangerous
      January 28, 2009 at 6:40 pm

      Speaking of the difference between observation and prediction, I need to mention everyone’s favourite poster animal of global warming victims: the polar bear.

      Scientists say their population is declining, with the article I read claiming something like a 20% fall (not mentioning the time frame) that could lead to total extinction in the next hundred years.

      Then you ask people like Gabriel Nirlungayuk, director of Wildlife for Nunavut Tunngavik, what he actually sees up there. According to the Inuit who live in the area and hunt these big guys, the population is going up.

      Naturally, their actual observations are dismissed as being politically motivated (to protect hunting rights) while scientific modeling that presents a disaster unsupported by physical evidence is held up as true science (and not a grab at more research grants).

      It makes me glad I chose the branch of science to study that I did. I have yet to see anyone politicize the existence of gravity or physical relations like F=ma.

    • proreason
      January 28, 2009 at 7:26 pm

      “I have yet to see anyone politicize the existence of gravity”

      wait until the The Moron begins to levitate

  27. caligirl9
    January 28, 2009 at 9:10 pm

    Be very afraid, this is scary. Make sure to click to see the image.

    http://img2.timeinc.net/people.....ama320.jpg

    Michelle Obama Immortalized in Wax
    The first lady is already getting her first statue: Madame Tussauds Washington, D.C., will unveil a wax figure of Michelle Obama in March.

    In this photo (released Wednesday), Madame Tussauds senior sculptor Colin Jackson touches up the clay mold of her figure’s head. When complete, Michelle’s figure will join her husband Barack Obama’s wax figure, which was unveiled in February 2008, in a replica of the Oval Office.

    Obama is the third first lady to be immortalized in wax by Madame Tussauds Washington D.C., joining Jacqueline Kennedy and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
    http://www.people.com/people/a.....79,00.html

    • proreason
      January 28, 2009 at 9:25 pm

      It must not be a full figure. There isn’t enough wax in the country to sculpt that…….(deleted by censor)

    • JohnMG
      January 28, 2009 at 9:25 pm

      Maybe wax is the wrong medium. I think tallow would be more appropriate.

    • Liberals Demise
      January 28, 2009 at 9:37 pm

      Tallow? John……..wow my ribs hurt!! You would have to make that Mutha BIG…..OOOOW my ribs!!
      You’d have to be STAND OFFish cause of the SCHTANK!!
      Tallow…..thats a hoot!!

    • JohnMG
      January 28, 2009 at 10:25 pm

      ….”sculptor Colin Jackson….”

      Colin, huh?

      Oh, well, takes a colin to know a colon, I guess. It’s a fairly good likeness, though he really hasn’t captured the anger residing just below the surface.

  28. 1republicanscientist
    January 28, 2009 at 10:00 pm

    I will see that wax head in my nightmares—-going to the beer fridge late Friday night, eerie music playing, dog howling in the distance, the only illumination is that from the moon, I open the fridge door and WHAM—-that head is sitting there amongst the beers smiling and spinning around—biting the caps off all of my beers….oh man.

  29. BillK
    January 29, 2009 at 12:22 am

    From the Wall Street Journal, a report on the man sure to be Time’s next “Person of the Year”:

    U.S. Deserter ‘Having Time of My Life’ as He Seeks Asylum in Germany

    By Mike Esterl

    KARLSRUHE, Germany — Germany has been very good to Spec. André L. Shepherd since he deserted the U.S. Army.

    The 31-year-old former mechanic of the 601st Aviation Support Battalion is enjoying perks that eluded him back home in Ohio: a bed, a bank account, a cellphone and friends.

    Best of all from his standpoint, he isn’t back in Iraq.

    “I’m having the time of my life,” says Mr. Shepherd, the only American bunking at a refugee-processing center in southern Germany.

    The U.S. deserter enters uncharted legal territory on Wednesday, when Germany begins weighing his request for political asylum. The case will put to the test a 2004 European Union directive requiring member countries to grant asylum to soldiers protesting unlawful wars.

    Mr. Shepherd could wind up in a U.S. jail if his application is rejected, but a favorable ruling could open a new escape hatch for Americans stationed in Germany who want to avoid combat duty in Iraq. About 38,000 American soldiers are stationed in Germany, a key logistical hub for the U.S. Army.

    Mr. Shepherd has no shortage of supporters. Punk rockers gave him shelter after he decamped from a military base near Nuremberg in 2007 and went into hiding. Dozens of peace organizations have championed his cause since he turned himself in to German authorities late last year and applied for asylum.

    “He’s our poster boy,” says Tim Huber of the Military Counseling Network, part of the German Mennonite Peace Committee, a nongovernmental organization helping finance Mr. Shepherd’s legal campaign.

    The U.S. Army says 71 soldiers deserted from its European bases last year, a mere sliver of the roughly 3,500 soldiers who deserted world-wide over the past year. It says it doesn’t actively pursue most deserters, who make up less than 1% of the enlisted force in any given year.

    A spokesman for the U.S. Army in Europe said the military is aware of the asylum case but that it is “completely in German hands.” If Mr. Shepherd is returned to U.S. custody, though, he could face up to five years in prison under military laws.

    Mr. Shepherd was raised in a tough Cleveland neighborhood before moving as a teenager to the suburb of Lakewood. He eventually studied computer science at Kent State University but says he left without a degree in 2000 after running out of money.

    He worked several low-paying jobs and says he lived in a 1994 Dodge Intrepid for several months in 2001 because he couldn’t afford rent.

    Mr. Shepherd was again living in a car — a 1995 Pontiac Grand Am — in December 2003 when he walked into an Army recruitment center in Lakewood and signed up. The new recruit was deployed to Camp Speicher in northern Iraq in September 2004, where he helped repair Apache helicopters. He didn’t see action but had some contact with Iraqis who worked on the base. “None of them looked like they were happy to see their liberators,” he says.

    After he was reassigned in February 2005 to a desk job at a base in Katterbach in southern Germany, Mr. Shepherd spent his free time researching the Iraq war on the Internet. He says he grew convinced the U.S. occupation was harmful — and that he had been contributing to civilian deaths by servicing armed Apaches.

    He also married after meeting a German woman online. The union lasted less than a year.

    The clean-cut soldier was sitting in a Nuremberg café in the summer of 2006 when he fell into a conversation with Johannes Berner, a German student sporting a rainbow-colored Mohawk haircut, a black leather jacket with spikes, and a red kilt.

    “I was like, ‘Wow, this is different,’” recalls Mr. Shepherd.

    But the two agreed on Iraq and became fast friends. Mr. Berner introduced Mr. Shepherd to his “punker” friends in Prien, a picturesque town near the Austrian border.

    In April 2007, after Mr. Shepherd got word he would soon be redeployed to Iraq, he slipped away to Prien and was taken in by Mr. Berner’s friends. Eventually he settled into an old farmhouse with a view of the Alps. One of the residents played drums in a local punk band and Mr. Shepherd performed household chores in lieu of rent.

    Nights were often spent at the Piraten Pub. At a bachelor party, he put on a blond wig and women’s clothing to hand out cigars. He also found a girlfriend among an expanding circle of about two dozen friends. “He loved it, all the craziness,” says the 25-year-old Mr. Berner.

    Mr. Shepherd, who is African-American, says many locals assumed he was from Africa. But he grew increasingly worried about being tracked down by the U.S. Army after showing his military identification card to inquisitive German police. Last November, with the help of German peace organizations, he applied for asylum.

    Germany’s interior ministry declined to comment ahead of Mr. Shepherd’s asylum hearing. A German lawyer for the soldier says authorities often take from several weeks to half a year to issue a ruling. …

    http://online.wsj.com/article/.....26687.html

    I don’t know why he’s seeking asylum; there’s no way Obama would allow prosecution of the man, nor would the press.

    Hell, the DNC would throw the man a parade and he’d be offered a cabinet-level position in O’s White House and a guaranteed guest slot on Oprah.

  30. BillK
    January 29, 2009 at 1:40 am

    See? Why bother?

    From the BBC:

    Global warming is ‘irreversible’

    A team of environmental researchers in the US has warned many effects of climate change are irreversible.

    The scientists concluded global temperatures could remain high for 1,000 years, even if carbon emissions can somehow be halted.

    Their report was sponsored by the US Department of Energy and comes as President Obama announces a review of vehicle emission standards.

    It appears in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

    The scientists have been researching global warming and the consequences for policymakers.

    The team warned that, if carbon levels in the atmosphere continued to rise, there would be less rainfall in already dry areas of southern Europe, North America, parts of Africa and Australia.

    The scientists say the oceans are currently slowing down global warming by absorbing heat, but they will eventually release that heat back into the air.

    They say politicians must now offset environmental damage already done by man-made pollution.

    “People have imagined that if we stopped emitting carbon dioxide the climate would go back to normal in 100 years, 200 year – that’s not true,” said researcher Susan Solomon, the lead author of the report, quoted by AP news agency.

    Their conclusions come as President Obama ordered the US Environmental Protection Agency to review rules on carbon emissions from passenger vehicles. …

    http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/sci.....852628.stm

    So now they’re predicting 200 years out when they still can’t accurately predict next week.

    Why of course.

    There is no science any more. None.

    Peer review means nothing if you will be crucified for not supporting the PC conclusion unfailingly.

    More importantly, when the Government is spending millions to “study” Global Warming, who’s going to be stupid enough to kill the golden funding goose by finding it’s not actually occurring?

  31. BillK
    January 29, 2009 at 1:53 am

    From the UK Telegraph:

    Russia ‘drops missile plans due to Obama change to US attitude’

    Russia has dropped plans to install missiles near Poland after the Obama administration signalled a change in US attitude to the region, a Moscow military official has reportedly said.

    By Jon Swaine

    The official suggested that Mr Obama’s White House had made clear it would not prioritise executing the Bush administration’s plan to install a missile defence shield in Poland and the Czech Republic.

    An unnamed official in the Russian military’s general staff said: “The implementation of these plans has been halted in connection with the fact that the new US administration is not rushing through plans to deploy” elements of its missile defence shield in eastern Europe, according to the Interfax news agency.

    Vladimir Putin, the Russian Prime Minister, had warned that the US shield – which the Bush White House said was necessary to defend against potential attacks from the Middle East – would be interpreted by Moscow as a direct provocation.

    Dmitry Medvedev, the Russian President, announced in November that in response, Moscow would place short-range Iskander missiles in the western enclave of Kaliningrad.

    Washington had previously obtained agreements with Poland and the Czech Republic for the installation of the shield, which it said would plug a gap in its global missile defence system.

    It said the shield was necessary to guard against long-range missiles that Iran was working to develop. The proposed system had received NATO-wide backing. …

    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/new.....itude.html

    Yet another example of how Obama will keep the West “safe” by giving our enemies anything they want.

    By 2012 will anyone still associate Chamberlain with appeasement?

    Moreover, why would any NATO country believe that their safety isn’t completely subservient to the US’ political self-interest?

  32. BillK
    January 29, 2009 at 3:44 am

    Yes, there is nothing that can’t be turned into an anti-Bush rant.

    From a disappointed AP:

    House defeats bill to delay digital TV transition

    WASHINGTON – Bucking the Obama administration, House Republicans on Wednesday defeated a bill to delay the upcoming transition from analog to digital television broadcasting to June 12 — leaving an estimated 6.5 million U.S. households unprepared for the switchover.

    The 258-168 vote failed to clear the two-thirds threshold needed for passage in a victory for GOP members, who warn that postponing the transition from the current Feb. 17 deadline would confuse consumers.

    House Republicans say a delay also would burden wireless companies and public safety agencies waiting for the spectrum that will be freed up by the switch, and create added costs for television stations that would have to continue broadcasting both analog and digital signals for four more months.

    The defeat is a setback for President Barack Obama and Democrats on Capitol Hill, who maintain that the Bush administration bungled efforts to ensure that all consumers — particularly poor, rural and low-income Americans — will be ready for next month’s analog shut-off.

    The Obama administration had no immediate comment on the House vote and the next step remains unclear.

    The Nielsen Co. estimates more than 6.5 million U.S. households that rely on analog television sets to pick up over-the-air broadcast signals still are not prepared for the transition. People who subscribe to cable or satellite TV or have a newer TV with a digital tuner will not be affected.

    Yet Joe Barton of Texas, the top Republican on the House Commerce Committee, insisted a postponement is not necessary.

    “We could do nothing worse than to delay this transition date,” Barton said. “The bill is a solution looking for a problem that exists mostly in the mind of the Obama administration.” …

    http://tech.yahoo.com/news/ap/.....transition

    So this somehow turns into “a setback for President Obama.” Really? On such an insignificant issue?

    What? The Bush-bashing? Sorry about that:

    Yet Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John D. Rockefeller, D-W.Va., author of the bill to postpone the switchover, said a delay is the only way to ensure that millions of Americans don’t see their television screens go dark next month.

    “The outgoing Bush administration grossly mismanaged the digital television transition and consumers are confused, households are not prepared, and the coupon program for converter boxes is broken,” Rockefeller said in a statement after the House vote.

    Broken alright; TV viewing is not a right, and the converter box coupon program has always been an example of what Government is doing wrong.

    Finally, another quick quote for any conservatives who are stupid enough to subscribe to Consumer Reports:

    Gene Kimmelman, vice president for federal policy at the Consumers Union, which has been lobbying for a delay, said he hopes House Democrats will bring the bill up again for a regular floor vote, which would only require majority support to pass. Wednesday’s vote took place under a special procedure that required two-thirds support for passage.

    Yep – the Dems need to do everything possible to circumvent the normal House vote process.

    Per usual, you can imagine the outcry were the parties in question reversed.

    • JohnMG
      January 29, 2009 at 8:25 am

      …….”a delay is the only way to ensure that millions of Americans don’t see their television screens go dark next month…….”

      And wouldn’t THAT be a pity? Just think of the mindless dolts who would be deprived of their next ration of propaganda from the Obama “Pravda” wanna-be MSM. Ohhhhh, I feel their pain!

  33. BillK
    January 29, 2009 at 3:50 am

    Ah, the problem is that we need a world financial regulator.

    From an intrigued AP:

    Britain’s top financial regulator calls for world watchdog but says must wait

    By Edith M. Lederer

    DAVOS, Switzerland (AP) — Britain’s top financial regulator said Wednesday institutions such as the International Monetary Fund must tackle the economic crisis, but that global rules — and perhaps even a world regulatory body — will be needed eventually.

    Britain’s Financial Services Authority chairman Adair Turner acknowledged, however, that any changes would require time.

    “In the long term, we will need to head towards some sort of treaty-based organization which has similar powers in relation to financial regulation that the WTO has in trade,” Turner told government and business leaders at the World Economic Forum. “I do not think there is any chance of it happening anytime soon.”

    “In the short-term — over the next two to three years — we simply have to put the energy and the political leadership into making the existing architecture work as best as possible,” Turner said.

    Combatting the crisis will require banks to keep a bigger cushion to ensure that ample cash is always available for transactions and that “shadow banks, Internet banks, mutual funds … and to a degree hedge funds” are adequately regulated, Turner said.

    “The crucial principle in future is that if it looks like a bank and quacks like a bank, we better regulate it like a bank,” he said while sitting on a financial regulation panel at this year’s global gathering, which is focusing on solutions to the financial crisis. “We have to regulate according to economic substance, not legal form.”

    Turner said reaching agreement on global regulations at the moment is very difficult because there is no equivalent to the World Trade Organization for the financial industry.

    Government and business leaders must use the Washington-based IMF and bodies like the Financial Stability Forum, created after the 1998 financial crashes and which brings together central bankers, regulators and treasury officials from the world’s 10 wealthiest nations, he said.

    “I think the challenge is simultaneously to debate whether at some stage in the future we can create a treaty-based organization, or build on existing treaty-based organizations, to have a better architecture,” Turner said.

    Suzanne Nora Johnson, a former vice chairman of the Goldman Sachs Group who heads the World Economic Forum’s Council on Systemic Financial Risk, said a new global financial organization “should be very seriously considered.”

    “A treaty organization analogous to the WTO would be very helpful as a way to think about bringing together central banks, security regulators,” she said.

    That would reduce “regulatory arbitrage,” a practice in which individuals and institutions move their business to a place with more relaxed rules on their financial operations. …

    http://www.kdvr.com/news/natio.....0989.story

    Yes, “individuals and institutions moving their businesses to a place with more relaxed rules on their financial operations” is obviously bad and must be prevented on a world level.

    Perhaps the “New World Order” tin-foil hat crowd had it right all along…

  34. BillK
    January 29, 2009 at 3:55 am

    Colorado’s Governor is already practicing the time-honored tradition of going for the big, flashy “closures” as a way to “save money” before making the case for big tax increases.

    We could never reduce the size of Government or (gasp!) slash the salaries of oh, say the Governor.

    Nope, it’s time to close prisons.

    From Denver’s KDVR television:

    Proposed prison closures could threaten public safety

    By Eli Stokols

    DENVER – While hundreds of corrections workers worried Wednesday about their jobs, lawmakers and law-enforcers worried about public safety and how the state’s plan to close two state prisons could put citizens at risk.

    Gov. Bill Ritter’s 2010 budget proposal, announced Tuesday, looks to save Colorado more than $10 million next year by closing the Colorado Women’s Correctional Facility in Canon City and the Rifle Correctional Facility by May 2009.

    And by delaying construction on Colorado State Penitentiary II, originally set to open in April 2010 in Canon City, Colorado will save almost $15 million.

    But, in the long run, these cuts could cost Colorado even more.

    “It is devastating at this time to be closing two prisons,” said Rep. Buffie McFadyen, D-Pueblo West, whose district includes 12 prisons, eight of them Colorado correctional facilities.

    “The irony is that we’re doing it because of the recession, but crime gets worse in a recession,” McFadyen said. “So as crime goes up, we’ll have fewer beds in our prisons.”

    To Jefferson County District Attorney Scott Storey, that’s a problem — possibly one of many that may result from the cuts facing the Department of Corrections.

    “We have to cut the budget. But we have to do it smart,” said Storey, who believes that eliminating 400 beds at the two closing facilities will lead to more crowded prisons and, as a result, more prisoners being released early.

    “You have a problem,” Storey said. “It’s a potential public safety risk. Especially if we’re releasing these prisoners before they go through these programs, evidence-based programs to make sure they’re ready to reintegrate into society and not re-offend.”

    Currently, Colorado’s recidivism rate is around 50 percent.

    “That means one of every two prisoners released goes back to jail,” said McFadyen, who has worked on programs that are gradually lowering that recidivism rate.

    “If you don’t believe in working with people from your heart, look at it from a numbers side,” McFadyen said. “The fewer people we have in prison, the more money we can save the state. An inmate costs the state 25 thousand dollars per inmate per year.”

    Gov. Ritter has endorsed the anti-recidivism programs and is trying hard to find the funding to keep them going. But, given the state’s $1 billion budget shortfall for the fiscal year 2009-10, it may not be possible.

    “They’re getting cut a little,” Ritter said Tuesday. “But we are going to try to hold fast to the anti-recidivism package because, if it works right over the next several years, we save 350 million dollars in not having to build a prison.” …

    http://www.kdvr.com/news/kdvr-.....0219.story

    The Democrats have this maneuver down pat.

    School budgets low? Slash sports and music programs, not administrators’ salaries.

    Federal budget impasse? Close National Parks and National Monuments, not Congressional salaries or waste.

    State budget deficit? Let criminals out on the streets.

    It’s sad that most of the public doesn’t see right through this by now.

    • wardmama4
      January 30, 2009 at 3:45 pm

      Locally (pre-election) our sheriff attempted the same ploy (sadly the issue has been a severely beaten dead horse for a number of the past elections – to the point the voters in Nov 06 defeated a new ‘jail’ tax and the County Commisioners went against us and voted in one any ole way which led to a No Jail Tax revolt which was again passed) but anyway – tears, fears, dread and gloom up until election day. Alas, once again it failed – guess what – nope no criminals set free – he actually cut some extra patrols, cut back overtime and such other nonsence.

      I keep wondering how many times No has to be said before it is No – these liberals just don’t learn well at all. No means No – in all cases applicable.

  35. BillK
    January 29, 2009 at 4:06 am

    Another redefinition of “speech” from the left.

    From the Denver Rocky Mountain News:

    Amendment 54 challenged

    Groups argue ballot initiative limits free speech

    By Joanne Kelley

    One of the two statewide ballot initiatives passed by voters in November now faces a pair of legal challenges from groups and individuals arguing it violates the U.S. Constitution by limiting free speech.

    The amendment prohibits political gifts by holders of contracts worth $100,000 or more if the government awards them without a competitive bidding process.

    But the ban extends to officers and board members of companies and nonprofits, as well as unions that represent government workers and their family members.

    Among the parties filing one of the lawsuits against Amendment 54: Children’s Hospital, the University of Denver, Dan Ritchie of the Denver Center for the Performing Arts and Oakwood Homes CEO Patrick Hamill. Denver City Councilman Charlie Brown also signed on as a plaintiff because he would no longer be able to contribute to his own re-election campaign if he continues to serve on the board of Visit Denver, the city’s convention and visitors bureau.

    “We think participation in the political process is a fundamental right,” said Greenberg Traurig’s Doug Friednash, one of the attorneys handling the case.

    A group of labor unions, including Aurora firefighters, Douglas County teachers and other officials, mounted its own legal challenge at the same time in Denver District Court.

    The labor-backed challenge, led by Denver attorney Mark Grueskin, also argues the political gift ban violates the 14th Amendment by treating labor organizations’ political committees differently from those formed by other government contractors, which can continue to make contributions.

    The amendment’s proponent, Tom Lucero, predicted his measure would withstand scrutiny by the courts. “Campaign finance restrictions are indeed legitimate to the extent they are narrowly tailored to prevent corruption, and that’s exactly how Amendment 54 was designed,” Lucero said in a statement.

    Legal experts have been arguing that the narrowly approved Amendment 54 casts too wide a net because it not only bans political contributions by everyone from union members to prominent business leaders but also extends to family members.

    Children’s Hospital objects to the amendment because it could lose its state contracts if any of its board members or their family members inadvertently give money to a political candidate or issue.

    The specialty hospital has state Medicaid contracts to provide services not available from any other health care facility. Some of its board members have considered resigning.

    “Amendment 54 could have catastrophic repercussions for children throughout Colorado,” Children’s CEO Jim Shmerling said in a statement. “It would be devastating if that care was jeopardized.” …

    http://www.rockymountainnews.c.....challenges

    The obvious way to avoid this?

    Eliminate no-bid contracts.

    But we couldn’t have that? How could labor or anyone else buy themselves a politician and get a contract awarded to them in response? Why, agencies would have to field a competitive bid to provide services to the State!

    Nah, we couldn’t have that.

    Instead, let’s claim its somehow a violation of “free speech.”

    Note that the statutes do not say that there have to be other bidders for a contract in order for say, Children’s Hospital to be awarded the contract.

    Merely that a competitive bid process must take place rather than the state just deciding it’s going to award the contract to a particular vendor from the get go.

    Besides, why would any other hospital offer the services Children’s does if the state is just going to arbitrarily award them the contract no matter whether there are other providers or not?

    Sigh…

  36. BillK
    January 29, 2009 at 4:17 am

    It’s meant to be a “Wow, Obama is one of us and not a liberal wimp” story, but in reality, if anyone was willing to do the research (hey, certainly not the AP or most other news agencies – couldn’t embarrass the anointed one) it would have backfired in his smug face.

    First, the AP puff piece:

    Obama gives chilly reception to canceled school for daughters

    WASHINGTON — You call this bad weather? President Barack Obama, steeled by many snowy Chicago winters, expressed disbelief today when his daughters woke up to find that their classes had been canceled for the day.

    Schools in Washington and the surrounding suburbs either opened late or scrapped all their classes because of icy conditions.

    “Can I make a comment that is unrelated to the economy very quickly?” the new president told reporters at a gathering with business leaders. “And it has to do with Washington. My children’s school was canceled today. Because of, what? Some ice?”

    The president said he wasn’t the only one who was incredulous.

    “As my children pointed out, in Chicago, school is never canceled,” Obama said to laughter. “In fact, my 7-year-old pointed out that you’d go outside for recess. You wouldn’t even stay indoors. So, I don’t know. We’re going to have to try to apply some flinty Chicago toughness.”

    Asked if he meant the people of the national’s capital are wimps, Obama said: “I’m saying, when it comes to the weather, folks in Washington don’t seem to be able to handle things.”

    Obama’s daughters attend the private Sidwell Friends School. …

    http://www.rockymountainnews.c.....ool-daugh/

    Of course schools do close in Chicago, often for ice, because in this day and age it’s not important if the kids can walk to school but rather it’s whether the buses can get there.

    Or likely limos, in the case of the Obama kids; I somehow doubt the yellow School Bus pulls up to the White House each day.

    But the fact this article carefully avoids is that D.C. Public Schools were open, suffering just a two hour delay.

    So it was the Obamas’ ultra-expensive private school – you know, of the kind that will be denied penny one of the <b.$66 billion in educational funding that is in what’s supposed to be an “economic stimulus” package – that closed. Not the D.C. Public Schools your kids should be going to if you believed your own educational pablum.

    The truth, from UPI:

    Not all D.C. schools closed, Mr. President

    WASHINGTON, Jan. 29 (UPI) — District of Columbia public schools got a bum rap when President Obama poked fun about school closures in the area due to inclement weather, one parent says.

    The president had jokingly noted Wednesday his two daughters, who the private Sidwell Friends school, didn’t have classes because of freezing drizzle and temperatures near 30 degrees.

    “My children’s school was canceled today, because of what? Some ice?” Obama was quoted by a Washington Times reporter as saying. “As my children pointed out, in Chicago, school is never canceled.”

    But The Christian Science Monitor pointed out the district’s public schools were open for business after a two-hour delay.

    And one parent, Pat Benic, took the time to e-mail United Press International to point that out.

    “My second-grader daughter went to school the past two days and we threw snowballs along the way,” she wrote. “D.C. public schools were open — nothing unusual. They did open late today, but that is all.”

    http://www.upi.com/Odd_News/20.....233216839/

  37. sheehanjihad
    January 29, 2009 at 9:12 am

    Remember when everyone was howling to close Gitmo and free those poor misunderstood muslims from their daily starvation, torture, and hideous treatment of these peace loving religious devotees? Ok, it’s gonna close, and shocker….nobody wants murdering thugs in their back yard!

    BRUSSELS (Reuters) – The European Union will need time to solve the difficult issue of whether to help President Barack Obama shut the Guantanamo jail by taking in inmates, the bloc’s anti-terrorism chief said on Thursday.

    “President Obama said he will need a year to close Guantanamo, it shows how difficult it is,” EU anti-terrorism coordinator Gilles de Kerchove told reporters.

    “So we should not ask the EU to answer in 15 days, that would not be serious … the ministers will discuss it again,” he said after the bloc’s foreign minister were split on this issue when they first discussed it at a meeting on Monday.

    A day after being sworn in last week, Obama ordered the closure of the prison at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba, where prisoners have been detained for years without charge, some subjected to interrogation that human rights groups say amounted to torture.

    Analysts say helping shut Guantanamo would be a good way for the EU to mend transatlantic ties, damaged over the U.S. invasion of Iraq.

    “We are not at a point where we can say this country takes in three (inmates) and that one five, we are not there yet … it is a very complex issue, it is not yes or no, black or white,” de Kerchove said, pointing to complex legal and security implications.

    He recalled that under the Bush administration, Washington tried in vain, for years, to persuade its allies in the 27-nation EU to take in detainees who cannot go back to their home country and whom the United States does not want either.

    EU foreign ministers said on Monday they expected the new U.S. administration to contact them quickly with the same demand.

    De Kerchove said things were different now because Obama’s decision to shut the prison, widely viewed as a stain on the U.S.’s human rights record, was part of an overall shift in U.S. anti-terrorism policy, including giving up on water-boarding practices.

    There are about 55-60 “cleared for release” detainees, including Chinese Muslim Uighurs, together with Libyans, Uzbeks and Algerians, who it is feared could face persecution if they were sent back home.

    De Kerchove said it would be up to each EU state to decide if it wanted to take in inmates but that the bloc would discuss whether it could at least coordinate these efforts and if it could give financial help to non-EU countries to help them take in some inmates too.

    Obama’s decision to shut Guantanamo has been widely welcomed across the world. Even the Taliban, toppled in the U.S-led invasion of Afghanistan, said on Tuesday that this plan was “a positive step.”

    (Reporting by Ingrid Melander; Editing by Myra MacDonald)

    Funny how Bush was a cruel mean tyrant torturing innocent freedom fighters….but now, every country is saying “hey, wait a minute” when faced with the prospect of having coldblooded killers to take care of. Karma!

    • JohnMG
      January 29, 2009 at 9:26 am

      …..”So we should not ask the EU to answer in 15 days……”

      Ask, hell! I say we take them over and dump them off. Notify the authorities that we’re coming and tell them,–”Sure hope y’all are ready, ’cause here they are”.

      And how about this? ….”EU foreign ministers said on Monday they expected the new U.S. administration to contact them quickly with the same demand…..”

      Demand?!! I thought in this new age of Obama, our foreign policy would be one of “listening”, not “demanding”. Send in George Mitchell. I think there’s been a misunderstanding here. Or is that a misunderestimation?

    • caligirl9
      January 29, 2009 at 6:06 pm

      Well of course the Taliban finds this a positive step.
      It sends more foot soldiers its way.
      Duh!

  38. BillK
    January 29, 2009 at 9:28 am

    There’s no such thing as overreaching in a Nanny State.

    From Nation’s Restaurant News:

    NYC, chain leaders to discuss salt reduction

    By Elissa Elan

    NEW YORK (Jan. 28, 2009) Health department officials here said Wednesday that they would meet in February with representatives of large chain restaurants as they work to further their efforts in reducing the salt content in prepared and restaurant foods.

    The meeting follows one between New York City officials, food manufacturers and restaurant industry members held last October at which officials made it known that they would seek to reduce sodium levels in prepared and restaurant foods in order to reduce health care costs. Salt is known to contribute to high blood pressure, which can lead to strokes and heart attacks.

    According to New York City health department officials, Americans currently consume twice the recommended daily limit of salt. They further contend that almost 80 percent of the salt consumed is added to processed and prepared foods before they are purchased. Lowering sodium levels would not only reduce health care costs, but also prevent approximately 150,000 premature deaths a year, they said.

    “High blood pressure causes hundreds of thousands of strokes, heart attacks and early deaths each year in this country,” said Dr. Thomas R. Frieden, New York City’s health commissioner. “By cutting the amount of salt in processed and restaurant food, we can reduce health care costs and prevent needless suffering. This initiative will require concerted effort over a number of years, but the goals are within our reach. We look forward to working with the food industry to achieve them.”

    Ideally, health officials said they aimed to reduce the amount of salt in prepared and restaurant foods by 25 percent over the next five years and 50 percent over the next decade. The goal of the February meeting will be to discuss the logistics of reducing sodium levels in menu items, they said. A detailed action plan is expected to be rolled out in late August.

    The health department’s goal is to reduce each person’s daily intake of sodium from approximately 3,500 milligrams to about 2,300 milligrams, said Dr. Sonia Angell of the health department.

    If acceptable progress has not been made during an allotted time frame, city officials indicated they would pursue other courses of action, including legislation.

    Over the past several years, Frieden has been instrumental in implementing numerous health-related initiatives that have affected the restaurant industry. Among them are bans on smoking and the use of artificial trans fats in restaurant items. Most recently, New York City restaurants that are part of chains with 15 or more units nationwide began the mandatory posting of calorie counts on menus and menu boards.

    Despite past successes, however, the efforts to reduce salt may be more problematic, said Chuck Hunt, a spokesman for the New York State Restaurant Association. The initiative is “well intentioned, but there is a big chance this is going to be a lot more difficult than banning smoking,” he said.

    Sheila Weiss, director of nutrition policy for the National Restaurant Association, agreed, noting that salt has many beneficial uses that make it harder to simply remove.

    “As restaurateurs, we’re customers, too, and we need to work with suppliers on any reduction that takes place,” she said. “Unlike with trans fats, this is a matter of taste and also of food safety and quality because a lot of times salt is used as a preservative. If you look at trans fats, there are a lot of viable alternatives, but not so with salt. In terms of substitutes for salt, there aren’t many, so it becomes a question of reformulation, but it needs to be done gradually so that consumers will accept the taste of it.”

    Weiss noted that the board of health’s campaign to reduce salt has the support of various other health departments and agencies around the country. But, she added, “We feel it would be of greatest benefit if it affects the nation, and not in a checkerboard approach, from city to city and state to state.”

    http://www.nrn.com/breakingNews.aspx?id=362604

    But what about salt shakers and salt packets?

    Those will become contraband, I’m sure.

    • caligirl9
      January 29, 2009 at 6:09 pm

      The next step is controlling our bowels and bladders. And perhaps our respiratory rate too.
      I’ve said it a million times: What’s happened to personal responsibility? Is the next step signing a waiver to have a salt shaker on a restaurant table?

  39. caligirl9
    January 29, 2009 at 6:13 pm

    Hope for California, well at least in 2010…

    Fiorina Eyeing U.S. Senate?
    Former HP CEO Carly Fiorina is making some moves that strongly suggest she’s got her eye on a political future in California — and the buzz is that it may even have something to do with that 2010 race against Democratic U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer…
    http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/.....&tsp=1

    That would be welcome news—no Republican challengers have really talked about this much. And certainly Carly is far more qualified to “run” a senate seat as opposed to TCO, that wacky community organizer!

    • BillK
      January 30, 2009 at 10:34 am

      As much as I like excitement around any Republican, a candidate who took a once thriving company like Hewlett-Packard and slammed it into the ground nose first (having been a completely ineffective and clueless leader at AT&T/Lucent before that) isn’t exactly an example of the type of person I’d like to see in Washington.

      It’s like watching Bob Nardelli talk about how he’s somehow going to turn around Chrysler after having all but destroyed once successful Home Depot first.

      What’s next? Aren’t there any former Krispy Kreme execs the Republicans could recruit?

      A Fiorina run would be like this past Presidential election – a choice between one candidate who is pure philosophical evil and one who’s completely incompetent.

      (Come to think of it, many who voted for Obama likely saw their choices the same way from the other side of the political fence.)

  40. sheehanjihad
    January 29, 2009 at 10:42 pm

    http://www.whitehousepresscorp.....eases.html

    After 4 days and 4 hours the whitehouse.gov web site finally released transcripts of a press briefing. Well, not exactly, as it turns out.

    “Selected responses” to Monday’s (1/26/09) Press Briefing at long last appeared on the blog portion of the White House web site in more of an apparent effort to control the narrative than to live up to the promise of open transparency much ballyhooed by the Obama Administration.

    And if that weren’t bad enough, the blog entry claims that White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs’ third press conference held today is his “second press briefing.” Careless in small things, careless in great things.

    So far, a major FAIL by the White House Press Office in providing information to the public in a timely and open manner.

    “Just seems to me that the butt smooching media are beginning to get that pounding sensation behind them…..Obamalamadingdong is slowly showing them that he meant he would be just as transparent as say, a 55 gallon drum of tar.

  41. Al Morone
    January 30, 2009 at 1:25 am

    Is the election of Obama the prelude to the ethnic breakup of America?
    http://www.worldnetdaily.com/i.....geId=87459

  42. Al Morone
    January 30, 2009 at 1:32 am

    Paris is burning:
    http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7857435.stm

  43. BillK
    January 30, 2009 at 10:28 am

    Proving once again that Republican Senators are completely clueless idiots.

    From Television Week:

    DTV Date Switch Facilitated by Senate

    By Ira Teinowitz

    The prospects for a delay of the switch to all-digital broadcast TV signals increased as the Senate approved a revised piece of legislation that would permit pushing back the Feb. 17 DTV deadline.

    With no debate, the U.S. Senate unanimously passed the bill in anticipation of a House of Representatives vote next Tuesday to delay the transition to June 12.

    The Obama administration urged the House to act next week to delay the changeover.

    “Poor planning and inadequate funding of the DTV conversion means that millions of Americans risk being left in the dark on February 17th,” the administration said in a statement.

    “This bipartisan legislation which again passed unanimously in the Senate tonight appropriately acknowledges the needs of both the American consumer and the public safety community. We urge the House to move quickly to pass this bill, and we will work with Congress to improve the information and assistance available to Americans as the nation moves to digital television.”

    The Senate vote was expected after senators discovered that there were technical flaws in the original version of the legislation approved Monday night. The most recent Senate vote eliminates one obstacle to enacting a DTV delay when the House returns Monday.

    The new Senate vote means the House will be sending any legislation it approves directly to President Barack Obama, speeding approval.

    Republicans have opposed the DTV date shift as unnecessary and offered an alternative that would instead fix the problem with government coupons for converter boxes. Money for converter-box coupons has temporarily run out, leaving requests for 2.6 million coupons on a waiting list.

    Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Jay Rockeller, D- W.Va., offered the new Senate bill >b>with Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, the ranking Republican on his committee.

    “The Senate has acted quickly and in a bipartisan way to put the needs of consumers first,” Mr. Rockefeller said. “The House will have a second chance next week to implement this delay, I am hopeful they will pass this bill so we can send it to President Obama.”

    Sen. Hutchison said that while she and Sen. Rockefeller agreed to the extension, the deadline won’t be extended again after June.

    “I do want to serve notice that I will not support another delay in implementation,” she said. “By now, people, have had the notice and we’ve done everything to mitigate the cost of this transition. I’ve talked with Sen. Rockefeller about that and I think we are in agreement that now is the time for people to get their coupons and boxes because on June 12 this transition will be made.” …

    http://www.tvweek.com/news/200.....ted_by.php

    I love the statement:

    The Senate vote was expected after senators discovered that there were technical flaws in the original version of the legislation approved Monday night. The most recent Senate vote eliminates one obstacle to enacting a DTV delay when the House returns Monday.

    The “technical flaw” being that the House version was rejected.

    This new bill allows the House to pass it with a simple majority rather than by a 2/3 vote, allowing it to pass should no votes in the House change from last time.

    Republican Senators are of course blind to the fact that the only reason this is occurring is to give the Obama administration yet another opportunity to bash Bush.

    No one who is not ready now, after years of notice and thirteen months of the converter box program and continual announcements of when the switch will occur, will be ready given another four months time.

    Prepare for cries of “but we can’t afford subsidized converter boxes, we need free boxes” as soon as this passes.

    Sen. Hutchison, who I once had some respect for, shows her lack of brain cells by believing that her unwillingness to support further delays means anything; the delay will be extended time and time again with threats to portray Republicans as evil people who want to take away television from the poor should they resist, and stupidly Republican Senators will go along like sheep again.

    Meanwhile job losses will accumulate as television stations need to find a way to pay the $20,000/month in power bills alone it takes to continue to run an analog transmitter alongside their digital ones.

    Where are the “environmentalists” in Congress on this issue? Most of that extra power being wasted is being created by burning coal, you know.

    If this were any other issue, we would be seeing reports by now of how many extra millions of tons of CO2 will be emittted by delaying the transition.

    The fact that we don’t proves yet again that environmentalism is only used as a hammer by the left when it’s politically expedient for their causes.

  44. proreason
    January 30, 2009 at 10:34 am

    Step 2 in the cover-up of The Moron’s Chicago crimes. From the very pleased Moronicly Slobbering Nutters for Barack Channel:

    New Illinois gov. says he’s ready to get to work
    Embattled governor thrown out of office after arrest on corruption charges

    SPRINGFIELD, Ill. – Now that Rod Blagojevich’s scandal-ridden tenure as governor is over, Gov. Pat Quinn said Friday he’s ready to get to work and “mend the flaws” in state government.

    “This is a time for governance and reform. Politics — we can do that next year,” Quinn told WLS Radio’s “The Don and Roma Morning Show.”

    The 60-year-old Democrat was elevated to Illinois’ chief executive on Thursday when the Illinois Senate voted 59-0 to convict Blagojevich of abuse of power, automatically ousting the second-term Democrat. In a second, identical vote, lawmakers further barred Blagojevich from ever holding public office in the state again.

    ……

    Quinn said he would be busy on his first full day as governor and that his job is to “mend the flaws” in state government. He pledged to work with lawmakers and other state officials as a team to get the job done. Among the challenges he faces is a state budget deficit of more than $3 billion.

    Blagojevich, accused of trying to sell Barack Obama’s vacant Senate seat, became the first U.S. governor in more than 20 years to be removed by impeachment.

    On Thursday, he addressed his Senate impeachment trial and offered familiar lines: He was innocent. The trial rules were unfair. His goal always was to help people.

    But senators were unswayed.

    “He failed the test of character. He is beneath the dignity of the state of Illinois. He is no longer worthy to be our governor,” said Sen. Matt Murphy, a Republican from suburban Chicago.

    ….

    http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28894427/

    Illinois politicians have now found something “below their dignity” Who knew?

    Step 1 in the cover-up of The Moron’s crimes, of course, was the short circuiting of “the investigation” into Illinois political corruption by the esteemed, non-partisan Patrick Fitzgerald, the same objective prosecutor who pursued Scooter Libby for 2 1/2 years for misremembering an insignificant detail about an event which wasn’t a crime, which Mr. Fitzgerald knew wasn’t a crime from day 1, and for which Mr. Fitzgerald knew who the principles were in the non-crime from day 1. But hey, that was a Republican, so the witch-hunt was justified.

    Step 2 is the removal of Blago from office. One might ask where the due process was in this “trial”. Silly you. Due process doesn’t really apply when politicians are covering their own butts.

    Step 3 will be the withering away of the entire investigation. After all, it has now served it’s purpose to find and punish the root of Chicago corruption, and the absolution of The Moron from any blame. Any further pursuit might encourage Blago to make up lies about the Messiah, and our unified country certainly doesn’t need that.

    Step 4 is already in progress. Anybody who knows anything about The Moron is on notice. Your career will be ruined if you dare speak a word.

  45. 1laidbackRN
    January 30, 2009 at 10:57 am

    On second thought, never mind about that bailout

    By MATT APUZZO, Associated Press Writer Matt Apuzzo, Associated Press Writer – Thu Jan 29, 1:36 pm ET

    WASHINGTON – A small but growing number of community banks are backing out of the government’s bailout, which they see as fraught with hidden strings and government interference.

    About 20 banks so far that applied for or had been approved to receive about $1 billion combined in taxpayer money have reversed course in the past month and refused to take the money. That’s just a fraction of the hundreds of billions of dollars the government already has spent, but it shows that taxpayers aren’t the only ones anxious about the financial bailout.

    “The government’s going to own a good portion of these banks,” said David Heintzman, president of Stock Yards Bank & Trust in Louisville, Ky. The bank recently turned down $43 million in approved bailout money.

    After Congress approved the $700 billion bailout in October, the government gave banks only a few weeks to decide whether they wanted to take part in the government investment program. Many applied to get a foot in the door, in case predictions of an economic collapse came true….

    http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/200.....l4eCQDW7oF

    • gipper
      January 30, 2009 at 11:02 am

      Whoa, this story is surprising coming from Matt Apuzzo. He usually carries the water for the Democrats. You have to read more than is posted to really see what I mean.

  46. wardmama4
    January 30, 2009 at 4:02 pm

    Is it just me or is this just so very wrong?

    “Some of the Most Historic Shirts Money Can Buy”

    Earlier this week, WebNewser wrote about ABC and NBC releasing Inauguration-related DVDs in March.

    Now CNN.com is getting in the Inauguration memorabilia game, with an entire section of CNN.com headline t-shirts about the event. The tagline: “Some of the most historic shirts money can buy.”. . .

    [The shirt says: Obama raises a hand, lifts a nation.
    -I just saw it on CNN.com]

    http://tinyurl.com/dnfvf3

  47. Icarus
    January 30, 2009 at 9:10 pm

    Steele is in…

    Can anybody (this means you S.G…lol) give us a clear picture as to where he stands on the issues?
    Especiallly his social policies!

    http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/republicans

  48. BillK
    January 30, 2009 at 10:23 pm

    Recession? What recession?

    From the (Madison) Wisconsin State Journal

    University of Wisconsin-Madison wants $450 million for construction projects

    UW-Madison is seeking state approval for $450 million in building projects, although none is as big as the $150 million Institutes for Discovery going up along University Avenue.

    By Deborah Ziff

    From roomier cattle stalls to a new hockey rink, UW-Madison is seeking the state’s approval to build more than $450 million in projects.

    About $150 million of the construction projects will require state funding. The others would be built with gifts or grants, or by borrowing the money and paying it back with fees from students.

    The chances of the facilities being included in the next two-year state budget remains to be seen, especially with the state facing a projected $5.7 billion budget deficit.

    But they could hinge on how much money the state gets in a federal stimulus package. In a bill that passed the House this week, Wisconsin would get an estimated $116 million in money for higher education building projects. That bill needs to be reconciled with a Senate bill, still under consideration.

    “The university, they have illusions of a spending frenzy here,” said Rep. Dean Kaufert, R-Neenah, who sits on the Building Commission. “There’s just not enough dollars in these tough economic conditions. That could change if the federal stimulus package earmarks dollars for higher education buildings.”

    Kaufert said the state “can’t afford it all” and will need to prioritize top projects.

    “We have got to start putting the credit card away,” he said. “On the other hand, I understand we can’t stand still either. A lot of these buildings were built in the ’50s and ’60s. It may be time to start upgrading.”

    The UW-Madison campus planning committee, which gets dozens of requests for facilities projects each year, picked UW-Madison’s most pressing projects for state approval and will be presenting them before the Faculty Senate on Monday as part of its annual report.

    At the top of the list is purchasing the office building at 21 N. Park St., which sits on the corner of Park and Regent streets and houses UW-Madison’s welcome center.

    The university spends about $2.8 million a year to rent the office building, and the window to purchase the building for $38.5 million closes in July 2010. The next opportunity to purchase it, at an escalated price, would be in 2012.

    One of the most expensive budget requests is to build the second tower of the Wisconsin Institutes for Medical Research, envisioned as a three-tower complex. The first opened this year on the west end of campus. The second tower would modernize research space and centralize the entire School of Medicine and Public Health. It would cost $135 million, with half paid through gift funds and half by the state.

    Many of the projects sought by UW-Madison do not require any state funding: a new practice hockey rink for the men’s team, a space science engineering museum, a new home for Tandem Press, and redevelopment of Gordon Commons, a dining hall that serves the southeast dorms. …

    http://www.madison.com/wsj/topstories/435814

    That “financial stimulus” going to “education?”

    Right here for “roomier cattle stalls.”

    Remember, this is what schools actually use federal dollars for, the ones they claim will “shortchange education” if they don’t receive.

  49. BillK
    January 30, 2009 at 10:33 pm

    Holy #$!@, a reasonable article from the AP?

    Bonuses no luxury for some Wall Street workers

    By Madlen Read and Michael Liedtke

    NEW YORK (AP) — To President Barack Obama, Wall Street’s $18.4 billion in bonuses is “shameful.” To thousands of bank employees who don’t sit in corner offices, that money helps pay the bills. Outrage over the bonuses reached as high as the White House this week following news that financial firms were rewarding employees even as they were being bailed out with billions of taxpayer dollars. The feelings are understandable: The average Wall Street bonus of $112,000 was about twice the average American’s income.

    But the issue is a complicated one.

    While Wall Street investment banks and other financial firms make headlines for the millions paid out to certain executives, more modest bonuses go to workers from human resources representatives to secretaries as well as employees who actually made money for their companies last year.

    Jason Weisberg, vice president of the Wall Street brokerage Seaport Securities, said bank employees count on performance bonuses like salesmen count on commissions.

    “What are you supposed to pay them?” Weisberg asked. “Or are you not supposed to pay them? And if you don’t pay them, how do you expect that employee to stay employed at that company?”

    A product manager at one investment bank said she is cutting corners after her 2008 bonus fell by 38 percent, even though her job performance exceeded expectations and her division posted a profit. To save money, she’s raising the deductible on her health insurance to lower the premium, shopping around for less expensive car insurance and cutting back on small luxuries.

    “My bills haven’t gone down by 40 percent,” said the worker, who isn’t being named because talking to the media is against her employer’s rules.

    Many argue that anyone who works at a bank right now should feel lucky to be employed – after all, hundreds of thousands of their colleagues have been shown the door over the past year.

    Most compensation experts say bonuses will be much lower in the coming years, but that some sort of bonus system should stay in place at these institutions to separate the strong performers from the laggards.

    Part of the problem with bonuses for 2008 stem from many of them being contractually guaranteed before the banks’ troubles escalated.

    The governments “Troubled Assets Relief Program,” or TARP, required compensation for senior executives to be subject to “clawbacks” – where the companies would recoup pay if it was based on inaccurate information, or if the employee’s actions hurt the company. But it did not give the government authority to scrap bonus contracts.

    Consultant Vicki Elliott said she expects the banks will make fewer guarantees going forward. Elliott leads the global financial services industry consulting group at the business consulting firm Mercer, a subsidiary of Marsh & McLennan Cos.

    “The landscape is changing,” she said.

    If it were up to James Reda, a compensation consultant who has testified on Capitol Hill, bonuses would not be cut to zero, but instead brought down to about $8 billion or $9 billion. That would be about half of the 2008 Wall Street bonus pool and about a quarter of what it was in 2007. The base salaries of most secretaries and information technology workers on Wall Street are comparable to other industries, anyway, he said.

    The $18.4 billion doled out in Wall Street bonuses last year was down 44 percent from the previous year. Per person, the average bonus dropped 36.7 percent to $112,000. (It’s a smaller drop because the investment banks laid off so many workers last year.)

    All the very top executives at the major banks – including Citigroup, AIG, JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Bank of America and Merrill Lynch – gave up their bonuses.

    And many major banks have been modifying their bonus policies. Both Morgan Stanley and Citigroup said late last year they plan to tie compensation for employees eligible for bonuses more closely to performance, and allow for clawbacks. Europe’s UBS AG also added a clawback provision.

    Managers argue that while Main Street views bonuses as extra money, the annual incentive often represents a big chunk of compensation for most Wall Street workers. That means banks would risk of losing their smartest and most productive employees if the bonuses were trimmed too dramatically.

    Executive compensation consultant Steven Hall said he knows of at least one firm, which he wouldn’t name, that already has drawn up a list of potential employees to poach if they are unhappy with their bonuses.

    Although many people might say good riddance to any defector against this backdrop, Hall argues taxpayers should want banks to retain the cream of the crop given that the federal government has become a shareholder in so many banks.

    “The reality is good people will always be able to get a job someplace else if they are unhappy,” Hall said. “So do you want to own stock in a company that is filled with people who can’t get a job anywhere else?” …

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

    This article almost fairly points out that at most banks, salaries are set somewhat low with bonuses usually making up the balance of worker’s compensation.

    Remember when Chevy Chase gives his warm, heartfelt speech about his Christmas bonus in National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation?

    Obama and the Democrats want to make sure those aren’t allowed to be paid, regardless of whether rank-and-file employees expect them as part of their compensation package.

  50. BillK
    January 30, 2009 at 10:41 pm

    Columnist Daniel Bice at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel continues ferreting out Government employees acting as expected.

    State senator sought ticket’s dismissal

    By Daniel Bice

    State senators receive their share of perks and privileges.

    But a broad exemption from traffic citations isn’t one of them.

    Milwaukee Police Chief Edward Flynn decided Thursday to reinstate a traffic ticket against state Sen. Lena Taylor after the Milwaukee Democrat had successfully lobbied lower-ranking officials to drop it.

    “Citation L172194-1 will be reissued to the Senator,” Flynn said in a statement. “Those persons issued citations may pursue all the legal remedies available to them to contest the citation.”

    Taylor, who ran unsuccessfully for county executive last year, didn’t return calls – but she issued a statement that said she’d accepted the citation and had paid it.

    The twice-elected senator was pulled over during rush hour last Friday evening after two cops said they witnessed her crossing the center line and driving southbound in the northbound lane of N. 35th St. near W. State St.

    Here is what Officer Seann Cleveland wrote in abbreviated fashion on the ticket:

    “We both observed the listed veh cross to the left of the double solid yellow line and into the N/B lane. The veh continue driving S/B passing several vehicles so she could make a left hand turn into the drive way of 1018 N. 35th St. It should be noted this was just north of W. State St., which is a very busy intersection.”

    Cleveland described Taylor as “very irate” after she was stopped.

    “(Taylor) stated . . . we ’shouldn’t waste our energy for the stop and she can’t be expected to wait for the light,’ ” the officer wrote. “Taylor was very argumentative and appeared her intent was to provoke an argument w/ us officers.”

    If you hadn’t gotten the picture already, Cleveland wrote that the 42-year-old pol was “very argumentative” once again after she received the ticket for driving on the wrong side of the center line. The ticket was for $121.60 and could count four points on her license.

    Taylor, a practicing attorney, had an earlier run-in with cops on the Saturday before election day in November. In that case, she was detained by officers and advised about the state electioneering laws but not charged or ticketed.

    This time, it’s not clear what exactly happened after she was pulled over and cited.

    Asked if the lawmaker called or visited the Milwaukee Police Department, spokeswoman Anne E. Schwartz directed the question to Taylor.

    But sources within the department said she did contact officials at the 3rd District headquarters to complain about the citation.

    Not long after, Acting Capt. Edith Hudson rescinded Taylor’s ticket.

    All of this happened while Flynn was busy in Washington, D.C., this week. No Quarter contacted his office Thursday about the decision to drop Taylor’s ticket.

    In response, Flynn declined an interview request but issued a statement late Thursday.

    In it, he said he first learned of the situation when notified by Assistant Chief Gregory Habeck. Hudson had given Habeck a report detailing her decision to let Taylor off the hook.

    The assistant chief reviewed the report and concluded that Hudson’s action “did not appear to be consistent with department policy,” the statement said. After reading her report and department policy, the statement continued, “the Chief concurred with Assistant Chief Habeck’s assessment.”

    Flynn did not say specifically how Hudson erred. Her report was not made available.

    What is clear is that the acting captain won’t be taken to the woodshed.

    “No discipline is contemplated against Acting Captain Hudson,” Flynn wrote. “It was she who brought the matter to our attention in the first place.

    “She has been counseled regarding the appropriate application of the general order, which will be reissued to all Milwaukee Police personnel.”

    http://www.jsonline.com/watchd.....62682.html

    The most important quote here is the Democrat’s statement after being pulled over:

    we ’shouldn’t waste our energy for the stop and she can’t be expected to wait for the light

    Sums up most elected Democrats’ attitudes, doesn’t it?

  51. BillK
    January 30, 2009 at 10:45 pm

    From the (Denver) Rocky Mountain News:

    Ward Churchill and Bill Owens have frosty encounter

    By Lynn Bartels

    Former Gov. Bill Owens on Friday compared onetime CU professor Ward Churchill to a famous movie maker — and it wasn’t a compliment.

    “In retirement, he’s starting to look a lot like Michael Moore,” Owens said of the overweight and frumpy director of Bowling for Columbine and Fahrenheit 9/11.

    Churchill, fired by CU in 2007, is suing to get his job back.

    Owens and others, including University of Colorado regents, are being deposed as part of the trial, scheduled to start March 9 in Denver District Court.

    Owens declined to discuss in detail what kinds of questions he was asked and what answers he gave, but Owens wasn’t shy about expressing his opinion of Churchill.

    “Ward Churchill is a plagiarist and a fraud and, regrettably, we continue to pay for his deception.”

    Churchill could not be reached for comment.

    The deposition took place in the office of Churchill’s attorney, David Lane. Owens, who left office in January 2007 and now is a businessman, was represented by the attorney general’s office.

    For his part Friday, Churchill refused to shake Owens’ hand.

    So Owens took a verbal jab: “I said, ‘Come on, you’re a big guy.’”

    Lane said later: “I hope the governor’s feelings weren’t too hurt.”

    The Churchill saga began in 2005, when an earlier essay he wrote — saying the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks were a response to a long history of U.S. abuses — came to the public’s attention.

    Churchill called the World Trade Center victims “little Eichmanns,” a reference to Nazi Adolf Eichmann, who played a key role in the Holocaust.

    The essay ignited a firestorm of controversy, and Owens was among those who called on the CU president to fire Churchill

    “No one wants to infringe on Mr. Churchill’s right to express himself,” Owens said at the time. “But we are not compelled to accept his pro-terrorist views at state taxpayer subsidy nor under the banner of the University of Colorado.”

    The controversy resulted in a deeper look at Churchill’s background. A faculty committee investigated, and the regents fired him, citing alleged fabrications, plagiarism and lies about historical facts in his academic work.

    Churchill and Lane claimed the firing was in retaliation for exercising his constitutional right to free speech.

    “I very directly told David Lane that I also had a First Amendment right to speak on the subject, and I reflected what a vast majority of Coloradans were saying,” Owens said.

    “Unfortunately for David Lane, his client had a clear pattern of lying for virtually his entire academic career. That’s why he was fired.

    “I believe the jury will reject Churchill’s (claims.)”

    Lane thinks his client will win, but if he loses, Lane said, at least Churchill will have been judged impartially.

    “This is the first fair forum that we will have appeared before. Everything else has been stacked by CU,” Lane said. “Bill Owens has been a staunch opponent of Ward Churchill forever, and I’m looking forward to a jury of citizens (reviewing the case.)”

    Churchill has said in earlier interviews that he wants university officials “to acknowledge that their accusations of research misconduct are fabrications.”

    http://www.rockymountainnews.c.....es-unflat/

    Of course, under Colorado’s current Democratic Governor, Churchill likely would have been given a State medal instead.

  52. BillK
    January 30, 2009 at 10:54 pm

    If you hadn’t heard the follow-up to this week’s “feel good” story.

    From the AP:

    Make that 14: Octuplet mom already had 6 kids

    By Thomas Watkins and Lauran Neergaard

    WHITTIER, Calif. (AP) — How in the world does a woman with six children get a fertility doctor to help her have more – eight more?

    An ethical debate erupted Friday after it was learned that the Southern California woman who gave birth to octuplets this week had six children already.

    Large multiple births “are presented on TV shows as a ‘Brady Bunch’ moment. They’re not,” fumed Arthur Caplan, bioethics chairman at the University of Pennsylvania. He noted the serious and sometimes lethal complications and crushing medical costs that often come with high-multiple births.

    But Dr. Jeffrey Steinberg, who has fertility clinics in Los Angeles, Las Vegas and New York, countered: “Who am I to say that six is the limit? There are people who like to have big families.”

    Kaiser Permanente announced the mega-delivery Monday in Bellflower, with delighted doctors saying they had initially expected seven babies and were surprised when the cesarean section yielded an eighth.

    Multiple births this big are considered impossible without fertility treatment, but the doctors who delivered the babies would not say whether the 33-year-old woman had used fertility drugs or had embryos implanted in her womb.

    However, the children’s grandmother, Angela Suleman, told The Associated Press her daughter resorted to in vitro fertilization because “her fallopian tubes are plugged up” and she had trouble conceiving.

    Doctors said the woman rejected an offer from doctors to abort some of the embryos.

    More common among younger women is the use of fertility drugs that stimulate egg production; doctors are supposed to monitor budding eggs and stop the drugs if too many develop.

    Some medical experts were disturbed to hear that the woman was offered fertility treatment, and troubled by the possibility that she was implanted with so many embryos.

    Dr. David Adamson, former president of the American Society of Reproductive Medicine, said he was bracing for some backlash against his specialty.

    In 30 years of practice, “I have never provided fertility treatment to a woman with six children,” or ever heard of a similar case, said Adamson, director of Fertility Physicians of Northern California.

    Women seeking fertility treatment are routinely asked to give a detailed history of prior pregnancies and births, and “it’s a very realistic question to ask about someone who has six children: How does this fit into the concept of requiring fertility treatment?” Adamson said.

    The woman’s fertility doctor has not been identified. The hospital has not released the mother’s name, citing her desire for privacy. Suleman said her daughter is not married. It was not clear who the father of the babies is. Her six other children range in age from 2 to 7.

    Records show that she held a psychiatric technician’s license from 1997 to 2002. It was unclear whether she is now employed. …

    http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/O/OCTUPLETS

    What remains to be seen is if this statement holds true:

    Jessica Zepeda, who identified herself as a friend of the mother, said the woman and family would have enough money to raise 14 children. “She is not on welfare,” Zepeda said. “She is an awesome mom, and will be able to take care of her babies.”

  53. BillK
    January 30, 2009 at 10:58 pm

    Funny; were his threat against Bush he’d likely be walking the streets already.

    From a pleased AP:

    Cortez man accused of Obama death threat held without bail

    DURANGO — A Colorado man accused of threatening to kill President Barack Obama and blow up a suburban Minneapolis mall has been ordered held without bail until his next court appearance.

    Twenty-year-old Timothy Ryan Gutierrez of Cortez will be held at least until Tuesday, when he faces a hearing in federal court on charges of transmitting threats and falsely threatening to use explosives.

    A judge formally advised Gutierrez of the charges on Friday and assigned him an attorney. The attorney, Michael Goldman, said he didn’t want anybody to rush to judgment. Gutierrez wasn’t arrested the day FBI agents questioned him, and he was at his house Thursday when prosecutors announced his indictment but wasn’t arrested there.

    Gutierrez turned himself in at the FBI’s office in Durango.

    “These are all question that we all have that might suggest that there are mitigating circumstances,” Goldman said.

    Before turning himself in, Gutierrez told the Cortez Journal the threats were a prank.

    A grand jury indictment alleges Gutierrez sent the FBI two e-mails on Jan. 12 threatening to assassinate Obama and blow up the Mall of America.

    http://www.rockymountainnews.c.....eld-witho/

    Yet were the man Muslim and/or had he threatened Bush or to blow up the Mall of America as a “protest against America’s consumerism” liberal lawyers would be falling over themselves to prove how he had “no actual means of carrying out his threat.”

  54. BillK
    January 30, 2009 at 11:05 pm

    Wow, a liberal who wants it both ways and of course wants to be paid.

    How shocking.

    From the AP:

    Springsteen calls Wal-Mart deal a mistake

    NEW YORK (AP) – The Boss is owning up to a mistake.

    In an interview with Sunday’s New York Times, Bruce Springsteen says he shouldn’t have made a deal with Wal-Mart.

    This month, the store started exclusively selling a Springsteen greatest hits CD.

    Some fans were critical because Springsteen has been a longtime supporter of worker’s rights, and Wal-Mart has faced criticism for its labor practices.

    Springsteen told the Times that his team didn’t vet the issue as closely as he should have, and that he “dropped the ball on it.”

    Springsteen went on to say: “It was a mistake. Our batting average is usually very good, but we missed that one. Fans will call you on that stuff, as it should be.”

    Springsteen released his new CD “Working on a Dream” this week and is performing the halftime show at the Super Bowl.

    http://www.9news.com/life/ente.....;catid=151

    Hey, I’m sure if he returns any money Wal-Mart paid him, they’d be more than happy to fix his “mistake.”

  55. BillK
    January 30, 2009 at 11:15 pm

    Watch the media lie and the public accept it because they’re clueless.

    From Denver’s KUSA Television:

    Credit card interest rate soars to 69 percent

    By Jeffrey Wolf and Heidi McGuire

    CENTENNIAL – Helen Orr and her husband say they would take back all the upgrades they did to their home to avoid the bind they are in now.

    “If I could go back and undo everything I did, I would do it in a heartbeat,” Orr said.

    The couple took advantage of a Home Depot credit card offer: six months with no payments and no interest. So they used the card to pay for some of the work.

    “Once the kitchen looked better, we wanted other things to look better. We were real handy, do-it-yourselfers and did all the work ourselves,” Orr said.

    After paying the first promotional balance, they bought more. But when the second promotional offer ended on their new shingles, they didn’t have the money to pay for the entire balance and they were late on their payment.

    “I was shocked. I didn’t think it could go that high,” said Orr.

    In small print on their January bill, the interest rate read 69.33 percent.

    “[If it was] 35 percent I would have, you know, just maybe shed a tear and paid as much as I could. But 69 percent is unreal,” Orr said.

    “The credit card company has the right to do that and it’s in the contract,” said George Shoemaker with Consumer Credit Counseling Services.

    He says while he’s never seen an interest rate that high, defaulting on a promotional deal can result in higher rates.

    “The moment that error or miscue happens, one huge interest rate comes about,” Shoemaker said.

    Home Depot says if a cardholder isn’t able to pay the promotional balance in time, then the accumulated interest can make the interest rate look extremely high. However, the cardholder’s rate never changes from what it is in their agreement.

    The bottom line, says Shoemaker, if you plan on taking advantage of a credit card promotion, make sure you can pay it off in the time allotted. …

    http://www.9news.com/news/arti.....;catid=188

    For those who don’t know, for promotional rates like this the documentation clearly states that you make no payments and pay no interest for six months.

    But if you fail to pay within that six months, you will owe all accumulated interest in addition to the principal; from the terms and conditions for the credit card in question:

    FINANCE CHARGES accrue from the date of purchase at the regular purchase rate in effect from time to time and all accrued FINANCE CHARGES will be added to your Account for the entire promotional period if qualifying purchases (including premiums for optional credit insurance) are not paid in full before the end of the promotional period or if you fail to make any required payment on your Account when due. See below for more details.

    I’m sure some court will rule that this couple was “obviously taken advantage of” and Home Depot will be pressured to just “write off” the interest.

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