"I cannot help thinking that if our liberals had had so much Sweetness and Light in their inner minds as they allege, more of it must have come out in their sayings and doings." - Matthew Arnold

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Selected News For Jul 4 – Jul 10

This thread is for the busy bees of S&L to post news items we might otherwise miss.

Please follow this format for every post –

From the name of the media outlet:

< blockquote > < b > The Headline In Bold < /b >

The excerpt from the original article, using ellipses… To indicate cuts…

The URL of the source   < /blockquote >

Then post your own comments about the article.

In your posts you should not put any space after the < or before the > HTML tags.

  • Post ‘hard news’ from established media outlets. Avoid editorials, unless they are truly newsworthy.
  • Avoid ‘major news’ items that most people will likely have seen elsewhere.
  • Articles that fit under the topic of a recently posted thread should be put there.
  • Post less than a third of the original article.

Posts of articles that do not follow these guidelines are susceptible to being edited or deleted.

Related Articles:

 

This article was posted by Steve Gilbert on Saturday, July 4th, 2009 at 12:00 am. You can leave a response.

60 Responses to “Selected News For Jul 4 – Jul 10”

  1. bronzeprofessor
    July 4, 2009 at 2:07 am

    So now Colin Powell is worried about Obama spending too much money!

    http://www.washingtontimes.com.....ma-agenda/

    Powell airs doubts on Obama agenda

    “I’m concerned at the number of programs that are being presented, the bills associated with these programs and the additional government that will be needed to execute them,” Mr. Powell said in an excerpt of an interview with CNN’s John King, released by the network Friday morning.

    Mr. Powell, a retired U.S. army general who rose to political prominence after a long and accomplished military career, said that health care reform and many of Mr. Obama’s other initiatives are “important” to Americans.

    How sad.

    • tranquil.night
      July 4, 2009 at 2:43 am

      I like especially how the same clip from RNC San Diego that Rush has been playing for the past couple days is what inspired his response.

    • canary
      July 4, 2009 at 4:45 am

      I really liked Colin Powell, but he and J.C. Watts, both put race before America, their morals, values and principals. If Obama had not been black they wouldn’t have supported him. You have to do the right thing no matter what. You don’t vote for the politican that will benefit you the most, or serve your own interests, such as Michael J. Fox. You must try and do the right thing, even if it is an inconvience. Powell’s comments of frequently talking to Obama is just more evidence that Obama spend his time yakking on his Blackberry. He’ll stab anyone in the back to get what he wants.

    • canary
      July 4, 2009 at 4:55 am

      As far as health care. Do you really think a man, who raised her grandson, then should then care for his dying mother, instead of the younger, healthier son taking care of his mother. Then has others care for his grandmother while she’s dying, and only went at the last minute to vist her, because he didn’t want to make mistake he made with his mother. She dies. Grandmother probably didn’t even know he was there. Maybe he just came to pull the plug. All show.

      Do you really think a man, willing to slit a baby’s neck and suck out it’s brain, really cares about health care. Obama was all about fooling people that money grows on trees to get elected. Actions speak louder than words. I doubt he sent a dime to his brother that died of AIDs. His wife’s actions at her hospital of recieving millions in charity funds, but refusing treatment, is another example.

    • proreason
      July 4, 2009 at 10:08 am

      “Actions speak louder than words”

      great point, canary.

      Is there any evidence that he has EVER helped any member of his family, for any reason.

      It’s really quite extraordinary when you think about it. Here is a man who was presented with a gold-plated education on a platter, which makes his lifetime earning capacity in the multiple millions. Yet he has never done a single thing to help his large, impoverished family.

      In addition to that, he has lived on the brink of bankruptcy his entire life, despite being given the equivalent of $250,000 (in today’s dollars) for the book he didn’t write.

      What a greedy bastard.

  2. tranquil.night
    July 4, 2009 at 3:02 am

    (reposting from here)

    from Rolling Stone via Huffington Post (I know, wtf, right?):

    The Great American Bubble Machine
    Matt Taibbi on how Goldman Sachs has engineered every major market manipulation since the Great Depression

    Any attempt to construct a narrative around all the former Goldmanites in influential positions quickly becomes an absurd and pointless exercise, like trying to make a list of everything. What you need to know is the big picture: If America is circling the drain, Goldman Sachs has found a way to be that drain — an extremely unfortunate loophole in the system of Western democratic capitalism, which never foresaw that in a society governed passively by free markets and free elections, organized greed always defeats disorganized democracy.

    [On the Early 2008 Housing and Interest Bust]

    It sounds obvious now, but what the average investor didn’t know at the time was that the banks had changed the rules of the game, making the deals look better than they actually were. They did this by setting up what was, in reality, a two-tiered investment system — one for the insiders who knew the real numbers, and another for the lay investor who was invited to chase soaring prices the banks themselves knew were irrational. While Goldman’s later pattern would be to capitalize on changes in the regulatory environment, its key innovation in the Internet years was to abandon its own industry’s standards of quality control.

    [On TARP to the Present]

    After the oil bubble collapsed last fall, there was no new bubble to keep things humming — this time, the money seems to be really gone, like worldwide-depression gone. So the financial safari has moved elsewhere, and the big game in the hunt has become the only remaining pool of dumb, unguarded capital left to feed upon: taxpayer money. Here, in the biggest bailout in history, is where Goldman Sachs really started to flex its muscle.

    [On How Sachs Will Profit in the Obamanation]

    Fast-forward to today. It’s early June in Washington, D.C. Barack Obama, a popular young politician whose leading private campaign donor was an investment bank called Goldman Sachs — its employees paid some $981,000 to his campaign — sits in the White House. Having seamlessly navigated the political minefield of the bailout era, Goldman is once again back to its old business, scouting out loopholes in a new government-created market with the aid of a new set of alumni occupying key government jobs.

    [...] And instead of credit derivatives or oil futures or mortgage-backed CDOs, the new game in town, the next bubble, is in carbon credits — a booming trillion- dollar market that barely even exists yet, but will if the Democratic Party that it gave $4,452,585 to in the last election manages to push into existence a groundbreaking new commodities bubble, disguised as an “environmental plan,” called cap-and-trade. The new carbon-credit market is a virtual repeat of the commodities-market casino that’s been kind to Goldman, except it has one delicious new wrinkle: If the plan goes forward as expected, the rise in prices will be government-mandated. Goldman won’t even have to rig the game. It will be rigged in advance.

    Interestingly, while Mr. Taibbi makes the connection in the current situation, he fails to assert that the left has been engineering and enacting policies that opened the door for this all along. Instead he tries to pin the blame all on big business and the dark side of capitalism, and in true leftist fashion thinks the solution to the matter would have been and still is further regulation.

    I’d say skip the trip unnecessary land and take this straight to criminal court – Paulson, Rubin, Steel, Liddy – the whole graduating class.

    Still, amazingly, this is the most complete piece to date I’ve seen on the G.S. shadow council. Even now I’m confused over why something like this came from a leftist at Rolling Stone, even more so how it was front and center on HuffPo before Palin’s announcement.

    Read the full article..

  3. GetBackJack
    July 4, 2009 at 12:58 pm

    I haven’t figured out how to post this excellent commentary on the cost and consequences of health care ..

    http://reason.com/news/show/134553.html

    But here’s the money-quote, and I beg you to use this illustration loudly and often … (last para)

    “Canada and England don’t pay the price because they freeload off American innovation. If America adopted their systems, we could worry less about paying for health care, but we’d get 2009-level care—forever. Government monopolies don’t innovate. Profit seekers do.

    We saw this in Canada, where we did find one area of medicine that offers easy access to cutting-edge technology—CT scan, endoscopy, thoracoscopy, laparoscopy, etc. It was open 24/7. Patients didn’t have to wait.

    But you have to bark or meow to get that kind of treatment. Animal care is the one area of medicine that hasn’t been taken over by the government. Dogs can get a CT scan in one day. For people, the waiting list is a month.”

    • proreason
      July 4, 2009 at 1:20 pm

      I’ve been saying the corollary for months.

      Anybody can cut the cost of their own health care in half with one simple action…..refuse any treatment that has been developed in the last 20 years.

      So, you won’t take the MRI’s and CAT-scans. All of your prescription medications with be generics. You won’t take any ED medication. You will refuse laser surgeries. If you lose a hand, you will use a hook. And anything else that the industry has invested billions to bring to market in the last 20 years is also off the table. Bingo. Your costs will be instantly much much lower. You probably can do without insurance.

      And that is exactly what will be forced on everyone by the Universal Health Scare. Medical advances will stop on a dime. There will be no cures for cancer. Alzheimers will never be reversed. Muscular Dystropy will never be cured. No new treatments for Aids.

      If that’s what you want, young people…..that’s what you’ll get. You’ll have lots more money to spend on ipods , pornography and drugs.

      But of course, nobody will do that.

      They want the lastest and greatest advances in medicine, which have cost hundreds of billions to develop…..but they want someone else to pay for it.

    • Rusty Shackleford
      July 4, 2009 at 2:42 pm

      Pro, you said it! (again)

      As a society that closes its eyes to reality…when they watch “House” or “ER” and the patients are miraculously cured, they, the masses, cannot connect the dots that entertainment TV is not reality.

      And more to your point, that ignoring the reality of development costs, as you pointed out, is the burden of a private enterprise system. Bureaucrats did not endorse hip replacements, artificial hearts, synthetic drug developments..and, as a diabetic….I will say this. The richest man in the world is one of three who developed the synthetic production of insulin. Without it, we’d still be getting it from pigs. (side note—imagine the consequences of that in the mid-east). But it made insulin cheaper and plentiful. I owe my life to those three men. Literally.

      But in a socialist state, no such research or development would occur.

      This flies in the face of my entire disgust of bureaucrats. It takes a very certain type of mindset to think ONLY inside the box…never venturing outside of it for fear of actually LEARNING something.

      And, I find that most of America is like that now. There are innovators and clever inventors but none of that will be encouraged by the system that’s looming on the horizon.

      Taking another look, as a member of the aviation community, I have constantly read aviation history. Thank God the Wright Brothers could design, build and test their ideas in a free nation. Additionally, the industry that grew up in support of aviation from Allied Aircraft in the 30’s to Vought Aircraft and everything in between, there were hundreds of companies totally devoted to the support of aircraft. All gone save a very few now. Mergers, costs, etc….put them all out of business. Most of those costs were in the form of taxes. Only the largest were able to survive.

      But even under the idiot’s plan…..such an outcome in medicine is not do-able. The government simply will not put any money into new technology. Indeed, as you said, in a few short years the US will be a third-world country.

      Hurray for us.

      Happy 4th folks…it’s my most depressed one on record.

  4. bronzeprofessor
    July 4, 2009 at 5:14 pm

    Fascinating! Here’s the one Hispanic plaintiff in the Ricci case that Sotomayor lost.

    From the New York Times:

    Bias Suit a Test of Resolve for Hispanic Man

    Lieutenant Vargas, who posted the sixth-highest score on the exam, was ridiculed as a token, a turncoat and an Uncle Tom — all of which, he said, “made my resolve that much stronger.”

    When the United States Supreme Court ruled this week in the firefighters’ favor, Lieutenant Vargas, 40, the son of Puerto Rican parents, found himself celebrating amid an awkward racial dynamic: As the lone Hispanic among the 18 plaintiffs who had challenged an affirmative action policy, he had also challenged an appeals court decision joined by Judge Sonia Sotomayor, the first Hispanic nominee to the Supreme Court.

    “She’s from Puerto Rico, and I’m from Puerto Rico,” he said. “She obviously feels differently than I do.”

    The Supreme Court’s 5-to-4 decision is expected to have repercussions on employment discrimination law that go well beyond fire departments, where minority groups have been woefully underrepresented, particularly in leadership positions. On the steps of the federal courthouse in New Haven on Monday, a lawyer for the firefighters, Karen Lee Torre, said they had “become a symbol for millions of Americans who have grown tired of seeing individual achievement and merit take a back seat to race and ethnicity.”

    The Times seems sympathetic, but noncommital. I guess it’s better than what I would have expected from the Times.

  5. Rusty Shackleford
    July 5, 2009 at 12:38 pm

    “She obviously feels differently than I do.”

    Well, Lt. Vargas, you need to get with the program. It’s all about feelings now. But apparently you haven’t properly aligned yours.

  6. Rusty Shackleford
    July 5, 2009 at 12:53 pm

    ABC Sunday Morning:

    Biden: No More Concessions on Iran

    Joe said some coherent things but mostly parroted the party line. In his defense there was one moment when he was about to blame the previous administration but caught himself and said, “It’s our responsibility now”. I’ll give him just a skoshe of credit for that, but one Swallow don’t make a summer.
    Stephanopoulos’s questions weren’t too worshipful, in fact some were surprisingly direct, even if Biden’s answers were evasive.

    Full article:

    http://blogs.abcnews.com/georg.....iran-.html

    Full Transcript:

    http://abcnews.go.com/ThisWeek.....amp;page=1

  7. bronzeprofessor
    July 5, 2009 at 11:57 pm

    Powell hints that GOP is racially insensitive, takes pot shots at Limbaugh again.

    http://newsbusters.org/blogs/n.....h-limbaugh

    From NewsBusters:

    Colin Powell Again Goes After Rush Limbaugh

    Let’s fast forward to where we are today. Does the Republican Party have that sensitivity now? You just mentioned the divergence of opinion when this nomination first came up. Are you confident those in, let’s say, elected leadership positions have that sensitivity now?

    POWELL: Well, if you look at the results of the election last fall and make a judgment on the basis of how the party did with respect to the Hispanic vote and the African-American vote, realizing that President Obama — candidate Obama had a significant advantage with those constituencies, we haven’t done well enough.

    And when you have non-elected officials such as we have in our party who immediately shout racism or somebody who is quite prominent in the media says that the only basis upon which I could possibly have supported Obama was because he was black and I was black, even though I laid out my judgment on the candidates, then we still have a problem.

    Now, affirmative action is an issue that I thought about and worried about for many, many years. But let me summarize it this way. If you have a public institution, say, a college, such as a college I went to, City College in New York, where you’re responsible for educating the public, not just a part of the public but the public…

    KING: The guy who used the term “reverse-racism,” you didn’t name him, but it’s Rush Limbaugh. And he has said some not so favorable things about you, saying this guy says he’s a Republican but then he supported Obama, so he’s not really a Republican.

    You’re a Republican.

    POWELL: Yes. And Mr. Limbaugh, of course, is entitled to his opinion but he’s not on any membership committee. He doesn’t decide who I am or what I am no more than I decide who he is or what he is.

    Does it ever occur to Colin Powell that maybe the Republicans have trouble with Hispanics and blacks because minorities like Colin Powell keep going on TV and implying that conservatives are racist?

    Does Colin Powell ever pay any attention to the Democrats’ racism?

  8. sheehanjihad
    July 6, 2009 at 8:11 am

    http://www.usgs.gov/newsroom/article.asp?ID=1911

    seems we have a lot more recoverable oil in our own country than most would let on…..I wonder why we are jousting at windmills and waiting for a sunny day rather than just getting it done. I hope somebody can dig into this a little farther and provide some answers….they are certainly escaping our elected officials……..

    • neocon mom
      July 10, 2009 at 3:32 pm

      I remember hearing this when gas prices were not even at $4/gal. Talk about jobs and energy independence, geez.

  9. bronzeprofessor
    July 6, 2009 at 3:39 pm

    This is enough to infuriate anyone with a conscience:

    http://newsbusters.org/blogs/b.....ckson-died

    Regrets Media Didn’t Memorialize a Soldier Killed Same Day Jackson Died

    By Brent Baker

    My nephew, Brian Bradshaw, was killed by an explosive device in Afghanistan on June 25, the same day that Michael Jackson died. Mr. Jackson received days of wall-to-wall coverage in the media. Where was the coverage of my nephew or the other soldiers who died that week? There were several of them, and our family crossed paths with the family of another fallen soldier at Dover Air Force Base, where the bodies come “home.” Only the media in Brian’s hometown [in Washington State] and where he was stationed before his deployment [Alaska] covered his death.

    Make sure you are alone in a soundproof room before reading this entire article and links. It is enough to make you want to scream at the top of your lungs.

    –Bobby

    • artboyusa
      July 8, 2009 at 11:19 am

      What about that funeral? Man, I really hope that if I croak my Dad won’t chew gum all through the service like Joe Jackson did. And what about Martin Luther King Jr – he’s gotta be 400 pounds! What an oration too: “When I was a boy my Daddy said to me ‘Son, have another donut’ – and I did! And my Daddy said to me ‘Boy, have another piece of pie’ -and I did! I had that donut! And I had that pie! Yes I did! And I thank the Lord that I have a mouth and an esophagus and a stomach and a digestive track with thirty five linear feet of intestine to help me enjoy and digest all those donuts and all that pie! Yes I do! But what about Michael? What about Michael? When did HE ever have a donut? Or even a cruller! When did Michael ever have a piece of pie? No sir! No sir! Because Michael was put here on Earth to suffer for us…”

      But what finished me off was that blowhard Congresswoman from Texas who saluted Michael’s golden coffin. I feel like a spoilsport pointing out that although Michael sometimes wore military-style stage costume and had a chestful of tinsel medals, he was never actually in the service and he didn’t die in action and there are plenty more Americans who are a lot more entitled to that courtesy than he was, the drug addicted, child molesting cyborg.

    • Wamp
      July 9, 2009 at 9:10 am

      Artboyusa,

      You are hilarious. And correct.

      I bet there were lotsa folks chewin’ der wad and sportn’ dem bubba hats, most of ‘em sideways on der haids. All sense of proper respect, decorum and any shred of reverence is disappearing in our society. This may have been pitched as some kind of service, but it would appear it was another pep rally.

      I will go on the record here – I never owned a record, never watched a video, and have not ever downloaded a single piece of music in which the zombie cyborg performed. I also do not think I consumed any significant amount of PepsiCo products. We shielded our children from seeing its face, as trying to explain it was next to impossible, and even short-lived glances were likely to induce nightmares. I would express condolences to its family, and sheer pity on those who gave $0.02′ worth time or value to it and this ridiculous fawning…. It may be some kind of King to pop culturites, but to me it is another cold decaying body worthy of providing continuing employment to some cemetary groundskeepers.

      (Ok, so in the dining hall I was unavoidably subjected for10 minutes to the fawning circus and the attention whore Mariah Carey up there waving her hand around…..can she make her noise with that further annoying hand tied down? No, I don’t have any of her wailing either.)

  10. bronzeprofessor
    July 6, 2009 at 3:45 pm

    Americans are getting more conservative — Gallup says so.

    Special Report: Ideologically, Where Is the U.S. Moving?Nearly 4 in 10 Americans say their views have grown more conservative

    by Lydia Saad

    Conservatives currently outnumber liberals in the population, and thus, conservatism has a natural advantage on any question asking the public to choose between these standard ideological labels. So that’s part of the explanation for the incongruity.

    Indeed, in the latest survey, 38% of Americans describe their political views as conservative, and among this group 58% say their views have grown more conservative in recent years. Although a large segment of liberals (42%) say they have become more liberal, far fewer Americans in the poll (18%) describe themselves as liberal — thus providing little counterweight to the rightward movement of conservatives. At the same time, political moderates are twice as likely to say they have grown more conservative as opposed to more liberal (33% vs. 18%), thus further tipping the scales in favor of conservatism.

    URL: http://www.gallup.com/poll/121.....oving.aspx

    • proreason
      July 6, 2009 at 4:39 pm

      You have to wonder if this might not be more liberal propaganda.

      i.e., as out-and-out facism is forced on the country, the liberal press throws up a smokescreen that says the country is indeed conservative…..and therefore, the facist actions of the Moron simply can’t be “liberal” if accepted by such a conservative populace.

    • bronzeprofessor
      July 6, 2009 at 4:45 pm

      It’s a possibility, but if that’s the liberal strategy, I am hopeful it will backfire. The policies coming out of the Democrat-controlled capital are going to be increasingly at odds with how most Americans think. So even if the president is viewed as okay by conservatives, his party will, increasingly, not be. Let’s see. :)

  11. bronzeprofessor
    July 6, 2009 at 3:58 pm

    McNamara, famous for Fog of War, dead at 93

    http://www.washingtonpost.com/.....97_pf.html

    Robert McNamara, Architect of Vietnam War, Dies at 93

    By Thomas W. Lippman
    Special to The Washington Post
    Monday, July 6, 2009 1:13 PM

    He elaborated on Vietnam and the other events that shaped his life in Errol Morris’s Academy Award-winning documentary “The Fog of War: Eleven Lessons from the Life of Robert S. McNamara” (2003). He described how as a young man he had analyzed bombing operations under the command of Gen. Curtis LeMay during World War II and in that job played a role in making the firebombing of dozens of Japanese cities “more efficient.” “We burned to death 100,000 Japanese civilians in Tokyo — men, women and children,” he told Morris. “LeMay recognized that what he was doing would be thought immoral if his side has lost,” he added. “But what makes it immoral if you lose and not immoral if you win?”

    From the day in 1961 when he burst upon the Washington scene as a political unknown selected by Kennedy to be secretary of defense, McNamara’s trim figure, slicked-back hair and rimless glasses made him instantly recognizable, a Washington monument whose interests covered everything from nuclear war to the fiscal health of local governments.

    At the Pentagon, he reorganized the military bureaucracy, built up the country’s nuclear arsenal and instigated a massive campaign to end racial discrimination in off-base housing. At the World Bank, he was often described as “the conscience of the West,” for his relentless efforts to persuade the industrialized world to commit more capital to improving life in the have-not nations. In retirement, he avoided celebrity-for-hire appearances on the lecture circuit and the television talk shows, devoting his time and talent instead to improvement of education, government and health in the United States and abroad, and writing when he thought he had something to say.

    As secretary of defense, he was a key figure in such major crises as the Bay of Pigs fiasco and the Cuban missile confrontation with the Soviet Union. He changed the balance of nuclear forces in the world with the development of the multiple-warhead missile.

    His reputation foundered in Vietnam. Many Americans held him largely responsible for the futile and humiliating military adventure there, a responsibility he accepted in a 1995 memoir of the war.

    It was “McNamara’s war,” matching his technology, statistics, weaponry and organization charts against a peasant army from a small, impoverished country. The peasants won. In retrospect, it could be seen that McNamara’s can-do, technological approach to military issues might have been perfectly suited to a conflict against the Soviet Union in Europe, but it led him into disastrous miscalculations in the jungles and paddies of Vietnam.

    I would like the press to be very clear on which political party nurtured and promoted McNamara, even through all the putative crimes against humanity he now laments.

    It was NOT Republicans.

    It was Roosevelt, Truman, Johnson, Kennedy. They interned Japanese Americans, decided to drop an atomic bomb, botched Korea, botched Vietnam, screwed up the bay of Pigs.

    Have you noticed that Ford, Reagan, and the Bushes didn’t rack up enormous death tolls? Didn’t make enormous military plans that backfired? Had minor brushes with human rights abuses — GITMO in 2002, Abu Ghraib in 2004 — and swiftly dealt with such scandals? Has anyone noticed that Nixon opened up the USSR and China, then Reagan ended the Cold War without turning it into a hot war? Has anyone noticed that George HW Bush liberated Kuwait according to the way the UN dictated, then his son ousted Saddam Hussein and in doing so, set up a democracy, let the Iraqis write their constitution, and NEVER spread the war to neighboring countries (the way anti-Bush alarmists claimed Bush was going to be occupying Iran by 2005, etc., or the way the Democrats seem to want to get us swimming in molasses in places like Somalia, the Sudan, and Honduras)?

    Just checking.

    • Wamp
      July 9, 2009 at 9:25 am

      P.S.

      Can I add – Camp David accords, the invasion of Afghanistan, Iran/444, Bosnia, East Timor, and the failure to take Bin Laden off the silver platter on which he was offered…..They are full of solutions.

  12. proreason
    July 6, 2009 at 9:29 pm

    A picture for the ages.

    http://smartgirlpolitics.ning......a-thousand

    and they defend late-term abortions.

  13. tranquil.night
    July 6, 2009 at 11:26 pm

    Goldman-Sachs Ex-’Programmer’ Caught Stealing ‘Confidential’ Programs

    Saw this via Tim O’Brien’s Twitter, which I oddly was only following for his Iran coverage. Buried in NYT Business.

    From the New York Times

    Ex-Worker Said to Steal Goldman Code

    He is no John Dillinger, no public enemy No. 1. But Sergey Aleynikov nonetheless masterminded a dazzling bank theft, the authorities say, and he did it without brandishing a gun or cracking a vault.

    Instead, he cracked — or, rather, hacked — the secrets of Goldman Sachs, according to federal agents.

    Until a few weeks ago, Mr. Aleynikov, 39, was a computer programmer at Goldman, whose prowess in trading has long made it the envy of Wall Street.

    But over five days in early June, the authorities say, he stole proprietary, “black box” computer programs that Goldman uses to make lucrative, rapid-fire trades in the financial markets. Their value, experts say, could be incalculable.

    Mr. Aleynikov, however, will not get a chance to use those secrets. He was arrested by federal agents on Friday evening, as he got off a plane at Newark Liberty International Airport. He has pleaded not guilty to charges of theft of trade secrets and transporting them abroad.

    The case, as detailed in a federal complaint filed in court in the Southern District of New York, throws a spotlight on the multimillion-dollar technology that is increasingly employed by the world’s biggest banks to gain an edge in financial markets.

    Goldman divulged little about the trading programs on Monday, though court documents related to the case said the code that Mr. Aleynikov was suspected of stealing allowed the bank to “engage in sophisticated high-speed and high-volume trades on various stock and commodities markets.”

    In other news, Crude Oil tumbled 4% today.

    The software generated “many millions of dollars of profits per year” for the bank, the documents said.

    Mr. Aleynikov joined Goldman in May 2007 and was a vice president for equity strategy, but announced his resignation after little more than two years.

    He was, he told Goldman, joining a new trading company, which various news reports said was in Chicago. He said he would earn triple the $400,000 salary he commanded at Goldman.

    On Monday, Goldman Sachs refused to comment publicly on the attempted theft. A person familiar with the bank said it had since “secured its systems.” This person, who asked not to be identified, given the confidential nature of the programs, insisted that the theft had had no effect on Goldman Sachs’s business or on that of its clients.

    However, at a court appearance in Manhattan on July 4, Joseph Facciponti, the assistant United States attorney, told a federal judge that Mr. Aleynikov’s supposed theft posed a risk to United States financial markets and that other people may have had access to it, according to Bloomberg.

    The bank has raised the possibility that there is a danger that somebody who knew how to use this program could use it to manipulate markets in unfair ways,” Mr. Facciponti said in the court, according to Bloomberg. “The copy in Germany is still out there, and we at this time do not know who else has access to it.”

    Peter Niculescu, a partner at Capital Market Risk Advisors, an advisory firm specializing in risk management and capital markets, said computerized trading had become increasingly important drivers of revenue growth within banks over the last 10 years.

    But he said stealing a bank’s trading code did not necessarily guarantee riches, because running it somewhere else was not easy without, for example, a bank’s databases or links to customers.

    “If you have the code, but not the database then it is of limited value,” he said. “It is not easy to transfer the code and run it somewhere else.”

    Mr. Schneier said, “It is certainly possible that if you knew what the big guys were doing you could anticipate it and make money.” He said that if a rival bank in the United States had been approached to buy the software, it would most likely have called the police, but a seller might have had better luck abroad.

    “It is worth a lot less in the U.S. than you might think, but in countries that are more lawless it could have value,” he said.

    Good thing these super-secret programs didn’t end up in the wrong hands and, you know, ruin our economy..

  14. BillK
    July 7, 2009 at 6:32 pm

    Why does this type of thing only happen with a Democrat in the White House?

    From the Denver Post:

    Emotions run hot over artifact raids in Utah

    By Nancy Lofholm

    BLANDING, Utah — This small Four Corners community prides itself on being a law-abiding, church and family-oriented, patriotic throwback to more innocent times. So the Fourth of July is a gala of parades, prayers and pyrotechnics where sparkling apple cider is the strongest celebratory beverage.

    But this year, the festivities had an angry edge.

    Mayor Toni Turk opened with a prayer that included beseeching God to keep Blanding citizens free from unreasonable searches and seizures. The annual melodrama incorporated lyrics about recent raids and seizures of ancient artifacts fromBlanding homes. “Legalize Pot” T-shirts, emblazoned with images of ancient ceramic pots, sold out quickly.

    Blanding is in an uncharacteristic uproar because the Ancestral Puebloan artifacts that abundantly litter this area — and which have been collected by generations of residents — have become the stuff of nightmares.

    In a federal raid last month, more than 150 armed agents pounded on doors around town at dawn and rousted 16 residents. They had allegedly looted artifacts such as pipes, jewelry, stone knives and woven sandals and sold them to an undercover informant.

    Those snared in the sting ranged from convicted drug users to some of the town’s most upstanding citizens. They were taken to Moab and charged, some with as many as four or five felonies, and all of them with at least one felony — violation of the antiquities act.

    One of those charged was Harold Lyman, 78, the town founder’s grandson. A week before the raids, he was inducted into the Utah Tourism Hall of Fame. Another was a physician, Dr. James Redd. He killed himself a day after the raids. A week later, another of the raid’s defendants, a man from Santa Fe, committed suicide.

    Those arrested the morning of June 10 told friends and relatives that they had opened doors to the barrels of automatic weapons. There were at least eight to 10 armed agents per home.

    Winston Hurst, a private archeologist in Blanding, said “they put them in leg chains and shuffled them off to jail like they were Saddam Hussein.”

    The U.S. Department of Justice has defended the strong show of force, saying many of those arrested were known to have guns. One had made a statement to the informant that he would shoot rather than go to jail. …

    http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_12765729

    So the DoJ is now pounding on the doors of US citizens with automatic weapons drawn to take them to court for digging up Pueblo pots.

    The article concludes:

    San Juan County Commissioner Bruce Adams said much more education needs to be done and more opportunities need to be created for people to see artifacts in their natural state rather than under museum glass.

    “People want to be out in the landscape. They don’t want to be inside getting lectured,” Adams said.

    But he said the BLM has been slow to act on any proposals to open up areas for interpretative views of artifacts in their natural state. Adams, along with many others in Blanding, say the recent raids have set back anti-looting lessons.

    Sheriff Lacy said that is because the treatment of those arrested, including one of his brothers, was “appalling.”

    “I could have gone out and handed summonses to those folks without any guns being drawn,” Lacy said.

    Lacy is investigating the raids and is turning over his findings to Utah’s Republican senators and congressional representatives, who have been asking for justifications for the heavy use of force. They are also calling Interior Secretary Ken Salazar to task. He flew to Salt Lake City to announce the raids.

    “I have to deal with the aftermath of all this now,” Lacy said. “I have people in the county afraid of having anything to do with the BLM.

    “And I have a lot of anger out there.”

    For all the liberals spout about the Government using fear as a weapon, you’ll notice these late-night raids only seem to happen when a Democrat is in the White House.

    After all, they have more of a vested interest than anyone else in making ordinary Americans cower in fear of their Government.

    Oh, and how does the Government handle these “priceless cultural artifacts” that they need to arrest people in the middle of the night to protect?

    The Bureau of Land Management has been known to smash pots and rock objects when there was no place to store them.

    Nice.

    • wardmama4
      July 10, 2009 at 4:12 pm

      Is this a ‘cover’ to verify gun possession?

      This is the second such story I’ve read in the past couple of weeks about raids – that involved ‘being afraid of the weapons the person might or might not have.’

      Wow – I’d get myself a good lawyer and not for the felony issue (as if the BLM gives two hoots about pots) – but for the lawsuit lottery – as the Sheriff said – I could have carried summons out there – one would think middle of the night raids should be restricted to drug dealers, convicted criminals on the lamb and of course small Cuban boys being hidden in closets.

      Wow – talk about out-of-control government. Scary.

  15. BillK
    July 7, 2009 at 6:36 pm

    Update on everyone’s favorite loon, from the Denver Post:

    No job, no money for Churchill

    By Tom McGhee

    A judge has ruled that the University of Colorado doesn’t have to give controversial former professor Ward Churchill his job back, even though a jury found he was improperly fired.

    Churchill, who taught ethnic studies at CU’s Boulder campus, lost his teaching position after an investigation found he had plagiarized and falsified scholarly work for years.

    The university launched the investigation on the heels of controversy that erupted when an essay surfaced in which Churchill called some victims of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks at New York’s World Trade Center “little Eichmanns.”

    CU said he was fired for academic misconduct. Churchill sued, arguing that he was penalized for exercising his right to free speech.

    “This ruling recognizes that the regents have to make important and difficult decisions. The threat of litigation should not be used to influence those decisions,” CU president Bruce Benson said in a release.

    Earlier this year, a jury awarded Churchill just $1 after deciding that his firing was retaliation for the essay.

    That decision left Denver District Judge Larry Naves to rule whether Churchill should be reinstated or receive “front pay” — a monetary settlement.

    In a 42-page decision issued today, Naves agreed with the university that Churchill’s presence on the Boulder campus would suggest that the university tolerated academic misconduct.

    “The evidence was credible that professor Churchill will not only be the most visible member of the department of ethnic studies if reinstated, but that reinstatement will create the perception in the broader academic community that the department of ethnic studies tolerates research misconduct,” Naves wrote. …

    http://www.denverpost.com/commented/ci_12769291

    The article concludes:

    “Professor Churchill’s own statements during the trial established that he has not seriously pursued any efforts to gain comparable employment but has, instead, chosen to give lectures and other presentations as a means of supplementing his income. Reportedly, he even ‘received a few job offers’ that he declined to pursue. Under these circumstances, I do not believe an award of front pay is appropriate,” Naves wrote.

    I’m sure an appeal is already pending…

    • proreason
      July 7, 2009 at 6:40 pm

      He always will have the option of doing Indian crafts on a reservation somewhere or dealing in an Indian casino.

      That is if he doesn’t run for office. The way I see it, he has a good chance to be the next president.

    • pdsand
      July 7, 2009 at 7:16 pm

      For the time being…a little sanity in an upside down world.

      And you’re right Pro, I’m sure his tribe will support him. Hrm.

    • BillK
      July 8, 2009 at 1:24 am

      Look at the way AP spun this with their complete lie of a headline:

      Professor Ward Churchill Fails to Reclaim Job After Comparing 9/11 Victims to Nazi Leader

      DENVER — A judge refused Tuesday to reinstate a University of Colorado professor who was fired on plagiarism charges after he likened some Sept. 11 terrorist attack victims to a Nazi leader. …

      http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,530440,00.html

      Note the two had nothing to do with one another.

      But why would the AP let facts get in the way of a good headline?

  16. BillK
    July 7, 2009 at 6:42 pm

    You can’t make this stuff up.

    From the Denver Post:

    Rights-information campaign launched by Colo. GLBT advocates

    By Steve Raabe

    Fighting crime is just part of the job description for superheroes.

    In a colorful marketing campaign, a new group of super characters is promoting awareness of Colorado laws protecting civil rights and equality.

    Problems adopting a partner’s children? Cape-clad The Inspirer comes to the rescue. Victimized by hate crimes? Mild-mannered Humberto Hate-Eraser sheds his everyday cowboy garb to advocate as The Protector.

    The campaign was launched last week by the GLBT Community Center of Colorado, an advocacy group for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender communities.

    Denver marketing firm Peak Creative Media conceived the superhero characters and is coordinating the rollout of the $100,000 campaign with a series of online ads, bar napkins and coasters, videos and publicity events at GLBT Pride festivals.

    The effort seeks to build public awareness of five Colorado laws designed to prevent discrimination and protect rights.

    “The laws are written in dry, dull legalese that is pretty dense stuff. It’s not the most digestible information,” said Jim Jonas, founding partner of Peak Creative Media.

    “That’s why we came up with the superhero theme,” he said. “It’s an engaging, fun, entertaining and yet informative way to get people to become familiar with the laws.”

    The five laws, passed from 2005 through this year, support second-parent adoptions and designated-beneficiary agreements for unmarried couples; provide enforcement against hate crimes; and prohibit job and housing discrimination based on sexual orientation.

    The marketing campaign is designed to educate everyone, but initially it will focus on building awareness of rights among same-sex, bisexual and transgender communities, said Heather Draper, a spokeswoman for the GLBT Community Center of Colorado. …

    http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_12764897

    If you can stomach it, the “Rights 5″ webpage is here.

    The “superheroes”:

    Enda Jobkeeping, THE ENLIGHTENER, reveals that discrimination against LGBT people in the workplace is unlawful in Colorado.

    Nick Nondiscriminator, THE CLARIFIER, reveals that discrimination against LGBT people in housing and public accommodations is unlawful in Colorado.

    Humberto Hate-Eraser, THE PROTECTOR, reveals that bias-motivated violence against LGBT people is unlawful in Colorado.

    Two-Pops Shakur, THE INSPIRER, reveals that Colorado law allows the legal parent of a child to make their same-sex partner a legal co-parent.

    Desi B. Coupler, THE UNIFIER, reveals that Colorado law allows LGBT people to make their partner the beneficiary of insurance, inheritance, hospital visitations, and more.

  17. BillK
    July 8, 2009 at 1:28 am

    How dare he!

    From the Wall Street Journal and FoxNews.com:

    Detainees, Even if Acquitted, Might Not Go Free

    WASHINGTON — The Obama administration said Tuesday it could continue to imprison non-U.S. citizens indefinitely even if they have been acquitted of terrorism charges by a U.S. military commission.

    Jeh Johnson, the Defense Department’s chief lawyer, told the Senate Armed Services Committee that releasing a detainee who has been tried and found not guilty was a policy decision that officials would make based on their estimate of whether the prisoner posed a future threat.

    Like the Bush administration, the Obama administration argues that the legal basis for indefinite detention of aliens it considers dangerous is separate from war-crimes prosecutions. Officials say that the laws of war allow indefinite detention to prevent aliens from committing warlike acts in future, while prosecution by military commission aims to punish them for war crimes committed in the past.

    Johnson said such prisoners held without trial would receive “some form of periodic review” that could lead to their release.

    Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, a leading Republican on detainee policy, approved. “Some of them will be able to get out of jail because they’ve rehabilitated themselves and some of them may in fact die in jail,” Graham said. But “I don’t want to put people in a dark hole forever” simply “because somebody like Dick Cheney, or you fill in the blank with a politician, said so.” …

    http://www.foxnews.com/politic.....tted-free/

    How is this possible?

    Why aren’t the ACLU and other groups protesting in the streets against the Chosen One?

    Oh, that’s right, he’s a Democrat so he can do no wrong.

  18. BillK
    July 8, 2009 at 1:40 am

    How can this be?

    From the AP:

    Pickens Scraps Plan for Massive Wind Farm in Texas

    HOUSTON — Plans for the world’s largest wind farm in the Texas panhandle have been scrapped, energy baron T. Boone Pickens said Tuesday, and he’s looking for a home for 687 giant wind turbines.

    Pickens has already ordered the turbines, which can stand 400 feet tall — taller than most 30-story buildings.

    “When I start receiving those turbines, I’ve got to … like I said, my garage won’t hold them,” the legendary Texas oilman said. “They’ve got to go someplace.”

    Pickens’ company Mesa Power ordered the turbines from General Electric Co. — a $2 billion investment — a little more than a year ago. Pickens said he has leases on about 200,000 acres in Texas that were planned for the project, and he might place some of the turbines there, but he’s also looking for smaller wind projects to participate in. He said he’s looking at potential sites in the Midwest and Canada.

    In Texas, the problem lies in getting power from the proposed site in the panhandle to a distribution system, Pickens said in an interview with The Associated Press in New York. He’d hoped to build his own transmission lines but he said there were technical problems. …

    http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,530482,00.html

    This is, of course, what realistic folks in the energy industry have been saying for years, but they’re just “opponents of green power.”

  19. BillK
    July 8, 2009 at 1:58 am

    Rarely has a headline put the truth out there as well as this one from the Boulder (CO) Daily Camera:

    Obama fundraiser from Boulder appointed ambassador to Finland

    By John Aguilar

    BOULDER, Colo. — Bringing in hefty contributions to Barack Obama’s presidential campaign last year may have paid off for a Boulder lawyer who bears the name of his family’s famous vacuum company.

    Obama has appointed Bruce Oreck, a tax attorney who served on the president’s national finance committee, ambassador to Finland. The U.S. Senate has not yet confirmed him to the post.

    Oreck is listed by the Center for Responsive Politics, a campaign finance tracking site, as one of a small group of influential Democratic fundraisers who helped bundle a half-million dollars from various donors for Obama’s presidential venture. The site also reports that Oreck and his wife, Charlotte, bundled $75,000 for the president’s inauguration.

    He is one of 26 individuals nominated by Obama to ambassadorships, who, along with their immediate family members, have been generous in their political contributions to mostly Democratic federal candidates, committees and parties.

    Oreck couldn’t be reached Monday for comment, but his fellow trustee at Adams State College in Alamosa said he isn’t surprised his colleague caught the eye of the president.

    “Bruce has incredible intellect,” Charles Scoggin said. “He brings personal passion to whatever he undertakes.” …

    http://www.dailycamera.com/new.....ador-finl/

    A good reason, BTW, not to buy an Oreck vacuum:

    Oreck also served as vice president and general counsel for his family business, vacuum manufacturer The Oreck Corp., for 10 years.

  20. Flession
    July 8, 2009 at 11:12 am

    From the Minds of Newsbusters.

    Olbermann: We Have To ‘Legally Stop’ Glenn Beck

    Noted free-speech champion Keith Olbermann has declared that we have to “legally stop” Glenn Beck. The Fox News host’s crime? Not reacting strongly enough for Olbermann’s taste when a guest made an over-the-top remark.

    On the June 30 edition of Beck’s show, former CIA analyst Michael Scheuer said: “the only chance we have as a country right now is for Osama bin Laden to detonate a major weapon in the United States.” Apparently Scheuer thinks that’s what it would take to shock the country and its leaders back to their senses. Olbermann was infuriated that Beck didn’t “scream at him” or otherwise jump down Scheuer’s throat, choosing instead to nod gravely while suggesting that would be the last thing OBL would do.
    …
    “KEITH OLBERMANN: Mr. Scheuer has issued a call for the the head of al Qaeda to detonate a major weapon in the United States. And yet, for some reason, to my knowledge at least, the Department of Homeland Security has not yet been to see him, nor been to see Mr. Beck nor Fox News for having provided him a platform and passive assent, for approving not just a terrorist attack which could kill Americans, but approving of one that might even kill Fox viewers. If we’re going to continue to prevent terrorism in this country, international or domestic, we have to legally stop the people who view terrorism as acceptable means of effecting political change in this country. People like Michael Scheuer. And we have to legally stop the people like Glenn Beck, the enablers, who simply nod gravely as if the idea, and the speaker are not treasonous.
    http://newsbusters.org/blogs/m.....-glen-beck

    Mr. Cownell has a point. For now on, anything said on TV and other forms of media that could be seen as to threaten America and its interest should be legally stopped by ANY means necessary.

    Expect that subpoena to come a knockin’ on your door soon, Keith. Don’t worry, I’m sure your bestest pal Chris Matthews will be right behind you.

    • Wamp
      July 9, 2009 at 9:49 am

      Can you imagine the damage that would be done to the carpet and underwear of the likes of olberman or chris matthews (non-capitalization intended) if ten Feds knocked on their doors at 6 a.m. with automatic weapons? That would fit into the ‘priceless’ category, no?

  21. canary
    July 9, 2009 at 5:32 am

    Flession tonite Glen’s show discussed these issues

    AP: Probe found weaknesses in security, bomb materials carried into federal buildings
    WILL LESTER Associated Press Writer July 8 2009

    WASHINGTON (AP) — Investigators were able to smuggle bomb-making materials past security at 10 federal buildings,

    Once GAO investigators got the materials in the buildings, the report said, they constructed explosive devices and carried them around inside.

    “The findings of covert security tests conducted by GAO investigators are stunning and completely unacceptable. In post-9/11 America, I cannot fathom how security breaches of this magnitude were allowed to occur,” said Maine Sen. Susan Collins, the top Republican on the committee.

    The GAO found other problems with guard training and reported that in one check of security, investigators found a guard asleep on the job after taking the painkiller Percocet. In another, they found a guard failed to recognize or did not properly X-ray a box carrying handguns at the loading dock of a facility.

    “As we approach the eighth anniversary of 9/11, and 14 years after Oklahoma City, it is simply unacceptable that federal employees working within buildings under FPS’ protection, and the visitors who pass through them, are so utterly exposed to potential attack by terrorists and other enemies,” Sen. Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., chairman of the Homeland Security Committee, said in reference to the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on New York and Washington and the 1995 bombing of the federal building in Oklahoma City.

    • canary
      July 9, 2009 at 7:24 pm

      I saw news disappear last nite. I was going to post a couple of other things in FOX’s headline trailor, during Glen Beck’s show, but a few hours I looked and could not find them. They were about terrorists threats. Anyone else see them.

      I heard a statement around the time Glen Beck comes on the radio today, and Tom Coburn Rep Senator said even FOX is not exposing enough of the truth in media. I believe it. Guess FOX is bowing to the liberals and cares more about some dead person that has nothing to do with politics.

    • proreason
      July 9, 2009 at 8:02 pm

      Most Fox reporters are libs. 99% of the kids coming out of J school are throroughly indoctrinated. It’s probably nearly impossible to find a young conservative reporter.

      But since the key personalities are conservative, they are able to get another message across.

      Note also that Shep Smith, big-time news reader (how on earth do those people make millions of dollars a year?) is a bleeding heart liberal. Gretta is probably a middle-roader. Geraldo is a big-time lib as well.

      So even though Fox is clearly the most right-leaning network, it is far far more balanced than any other network.

      And now that O’Reilly has decided that his ratings are more important than exposing the Obama travesty, we have another voice that is liberal about 50% of the time. It’s a shame, because he has a good show, has good instincts (usually), and is in a position to be a leading conservative voice.

    • canary
      July 10, 2009 at 12:54 am

      O’Rielly is probably trying to get hired by CNN.

  22. nuthingbettertodo
    July 9, 2009 at 12:09 pm

    Updated: Hoyer-linked firm wins $18M Recovery.gov contract

    By: David Freddoso Washington Examiner
    Commentary Staff Writer
    07/09/09 8:28 AM EDT

    ABC reports this morning that the Maryland firm Smartronix has won what seems like an enormous $18 million contract to re-design the Recovery.gov website. Approximately $9.5 million would be spent by January in order to make “Recovery 2.0″ out of the site that is at least supposed track the spending of federal stimulus funds in detail.

    Smartronix, a medium-sized Maryland-based firm (over 500 employees) founded in 1995, boasts a large number of government clients, mostly military. The company appears to have just one important political connection: according to FEC records, Smartronix president, Mohammed Javaid, vice president Alan Parris, and partner John Parris have together given $19,000 to House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D) since 1999. There is no record of a Smartronix employee contributing to any other federal politician.

    UPDATE 2:

    Hoyer’s spokeswoman said that Hoyer did nothing to help the company “Congressman Hoyer had absolutely no role in securing this contract for Smartronix,” said Stephanie Lundberg. “In fact, we just heard about them getting the contract yesterday evening.”

    UPDATE: Smartronix got $260 million in other federal contracts

    Smartronix has received more than $260 million in federal contracts since the year 2000, with the top awarding agencies being the U.S. Navy, Federal Technology Service, U.S. Air Force, U.S. Minerals Management Service, and the Office of Policy, Management and Budget (not clear which department or agency issued this contract), according to USASpending.gov.

    Nearly $180 million of the contracts awarded to Smartronix during the period 2000-2009 were awarded on less-than-competitive basis, including $21 million for non-competitive awards. Another $33 million was awarded in competitive processes in which Smartronix was the sole bidder.

    http://tinyurl.com/l7fb92

  23. Confucius
    July 9, 2009 at 3:25 pm

    From ABC News:

    Warren Buffett Backs Second Stimulus

    The Legendary Investor Is Critical of the First Stimulus Package, Comparing It to Viagra and Candy

    By ALICE GOMSTYN and BIANNA GOLODRYGA
    July 9, 2009

    As debate grows about a possible second stimulus package for the flagging American economy, at least one legendary investor is giving the idea his guarded approval.

    “I think that a second one may well be called for,” Warren Buffett, the CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, told “Good Morning America” today. But, he added, “you hope it doesn’t get watered down in many ways.”

    Buffett cautioned that a second stimulus package, like the first, won’t be “a panacea,” because stimulus packages take time to work. He criticized lawmakers’ work on the first stimulus package, which contained $787 billion in spending.

    “Our first stimulus bill … was sort of like taking half a tablet of Viagra and having also a bunch of candy mixed in … as if everybody was putting in enough for their own constituents,” he said. …

    “I do not like the idea of any kind of a plan involving the government where Wall Street makes a lot of money. My plan provided that they would make no money whatsoever, and the American public would make the money. I just think that Wall Street owes the American people one at this point,” he said. …

    The U.S. unemployment rate, which currently stands at 9.5 percent, still “has a ways to go” before it peaks, he said. His own company, he said, had to lay off 500 people. …

    http://abcnews.go.com/print?id=8039651

    To summarize: it didn’t work, it was bad, but let’s do it again.

    Some oracle, eh?

  24. proreason
    July 9, 2009 at 8:36 pm

    Obamy gives the Russians credit for ending the Cold War. From his latest apology tour speech, via Andy McCarthy on NRO:

    “This change did not come from any one nation. The Cold War reached a conclusion because of the actions of many nations over many years, and because the people of Russia and Eastern Europe stood up and decided that its end would be peaceful?”

    http://corner.nationalreview.c.....EwODBlMDk=

    Gee, I had thought the millions of Americans who spent years protecting our country and increasing our military capailities to the point where Russia was driven bankrupt, many of whom lost their lives doing so, had something to do with it.

    Now we know the truth, straight from the moving lips of the boy king.

    • Dangerous
      July 10, 2009 at 12:58 am

      After all that I’ve heard coming from the great “I Won” I really shouldn’t be surprised.

      Somehow, though, he keeps managing to make me go “Did he really say something that crazy?”

  25. canary
    July 10, 2009 at 1:06 am

    UPI: Israel: Iran speeds up missile production published July 6 2009

    Iran is driving to produce up to 1,000 long-range ballistic missiles with a range of 1,550 miles, as well as 500 mobile launchers, over the next six years, according to Israeli military experts.

    “The Iranians are making great efforts to obtains a significant number of missiles,” according to Tal Inbar, head of the Space Research Center near Tel Aviv.

    “They already talk of how one of the ways they will overcome (Israel’s) missile defense systems is by firing salvoes of missiles.”

    The Israelis, who see Iran’s nuclear and missile programs as an existential threat, claim that Iran’s missile development is more advanced than the West believes.

    At present, the liquid-fueled Shehab is the mainstay of the Islamic Republic’s strategic missile forces. Tehran is believed to have deployed 100-200 of these weapons, which have an estimated range of 1,250 miles.

    But with the successful May 20 launch of a new ballistic missile, the solid-fuel Sajjil-2, with a reported range of 1,200 miles,

    A third ballistic missile, the Ashura, also solid-fueled, was unveiled in 2007 and test-fired in 2008. The Jerusalem Post reported on May 18 that the two-stage Ashura was believed to have entered production, possibly to replace the Shaheb-3.

    However, some Western experts believe that the two-stage Sajjil-2 — Sajjil-1 was test-fired in November 2008 — may be another name for the Ashura, intended to confuse the United States and Israel about Iran’s missile program.

    The EastWest Institute in New York, a non-partisan organization that focuses on global challenges, said Iran would not have a long-range weapon capable of delivering nuclear warheads for many years.

    The six U.S. and six Russian scientists who authored the report released May 19 said that Iran might develop a missile with a nuclear warhead and a 1,200-mile range in six to eight years.

    But they concluded that it was “virtually impossible” to predict how long it would take to produce a modern intercontinental ballistic missile.

    The International Institute for Strategic Studies in London noted that with the Sajjil launch, “Iran appears to have established the industrial infrastructure and technological foundation to begin efforts, on its own, to support the eventual development, design and production of much larger, more powerful rocket motors.

    http://www.upi.com/Emerging_Th.....246901438/

  26. bronzeprofessor
    July 10, 2009 at 2:55 pm

    Is the military racist? SLPC thinks so!

    url: http://townhall.com/news/polit.....n_military

    From a very soft-spoken Townhall:

    Congress asked to investigate racism in military
    By KIMBERLY HEFLING

    One of the country’s main monitors of hate groups is asking Congress to investigate possible racial extremism in the military, after finding service members on a social networking Web site advertised as being for whites only.

    Morris Dees, the founder of the Southern Poverty Law Center, says researchers have identified 40 personal profiles of people who list the military as their occupation on the Web site New Saxon.

    Mind you, this is the Southern Poverty Law Center, which apparently pays people to troll the Internet looking for signs of bigotry. What a useless bunch of parasites. (Oh wait! Is someone from SLPC monitoring me? Will I be under investigation for writing that?)

    To imply that the military is racist is beyond insulting. There were 40 people who “claim” to be military on a white supremacist website, and this is grounds to insinuate that the whole armed forces are full of racists? Why aren’t other occupations — like Hollywood TV producers, Wall St. bankers, or professors at universities — copiously scrutinized in search of any signs of prejudice?

    And why is the Southern Poverty Law Center constantly investigating the KKK, anti-Semitism among servicemen in Iraq, or websites that agitate against Barack Obama? What do these things have to do with Southern poverty? Or the law?

    Someone, please explain this to me!!!!!!!!!!!!

    Ah well, I hope the other military people on this site have something to say about this nonsense. I haven’t seen any racism in the Army. On the contrary, there is far more racial cooperation there than in the academy, where I spend a lot of my day.

    • bronzeprofessor
      July 10, 2009 at 2:59 pm

      Here is more from the SPLC site itself:

      URL: http://www.splcenter.org/news/item.jsp?aid=384

      SPLC Urges Congress to Investigate Extremism in the Military

      “Evidence continues to mount that current Pentagon policies are inadequate to prevent racial extremists from joining and serving in the armed forces,” SPLC founder Morris Dees wrote. He added, “Because the presence of extremists in the armed forces is a serious threat to the safety of the American public, we believe Congressional action is warranted.”

      The letter was sent to the chairmen of the House and Senate committees on Homeland Security and Armed Services. The SPLC has raised its concerns with Pentagon officials since publishing a report in 2006, but no apparent action has been taken.

      In recent months, SPLC investigators found approximately 40 personal profiles that listed “military” as an occupation on the Internet forum New Saxon, which is operated by the neo-Nazi National Socialist Movement. One individual, who claims to be serving in Afghanistan, lists as his favorite book The Turner Diaries, which was written by neo-Nazi leader William Pierce. The book served as a blueprint for the Oklahoma City bombing by Gulf War veteran Timothy McVeigh. Another individual said he was about to be deployed overseas and was looking forward to “killing all the bloody sand niggers.” Still another spoke of his hatred for undocumented immigrants.

      Sounds to me like a few bored Internet hounds spent too much time surfing on a wacko website and started spinning wild fantasies out of nothing. Why don’t they come down to our military bases and see how we get along? Isn’t it sort of uncool to republish photos of people on their site, saying that all the people photographed are white supremacists?

      And if membership in other organizations reflects badly on someone’s status as public servant, then why isn’t SPLC investigating Sotomayor’s memberships?

    • bronzeprofessor
      July 10, 2009 at 3:04 pm

      Why oh why did I start going through the Southern Poverty Law Center’s website? Oh God, read this one about the abuse of Latinos in the South:

      URL http://www.splcenter.org/news/item.jsp?aid=375

      SPLC Report Finds Low-Income Latinos in South Targeted for Abuse, Discrimination

      Under Siege is based on a survey of 500 low-income Latinos — including legal residents, undocumented immigrants and U.S. citizens — at five locations in the South. The locations were Nashville, Charlotte, New Orleans, rural southern Georgia, and several towns and cities in northern Alabama.

      The survey findings, coupled with accounts from in-depth interviews, depict a region where Latinos are routinely cheated out of wages by employers and denied basic health and safety protections. They are racially profiled by overzealous law enforcement agents and victimized by criminals who know they are reluctant to report crime to these same authorities. Even legal residents and U.S. citizens of Latino descent said racial profiling, bigotry and other forms of discrimination are staples of their daily lives.

      A number of immigrants in the survey described the South as a “war zone.”

      “The assumption is that every Latino possibly is undocumented,” Angeles Ortega-Moore, an immigrant advocate in North Carolina, told SPLC researchers. “So it [discrimination] has spread over into the legal population.”

      Somehow I doubt the South is any crueler to poor Latinos than other parts of the country. Having lived in NY, NJ, and California, I can attest to the fact that when you’re poor, Latino, or poor AND Latino, people give you a hard time, largely because there are buttheads everywhere. I don’t think it’s a Southern thing. And some of the “abuse” here seems to result from people trying to enforce immigration laws without clear mandates from the US government about how they can go about it.

    • bronzeprofessor
      July 10, 2009 at 3:08 pm

      More from the Southern Poverty Law Center:

      URL: http://www.splcenter.org/news/item.jsp?aid=380

      Teachers, Students Enthusiastic About New Teaching Kit

      Immigrants have become the target of choice for many hate groups, and anti-immigrant rhetoric in the mainstream media isn’t helping.
      Thanks to the newest teaching kit from the SPLC’s Teaching Tolerance program, an estimated 2 million high school students saw a more accurate portrayal of America’s immigrant history in the 2008-09 school year.

      Kits in hands of 16,000 teachers
      More than 16,000 teachers have used “Viva La Causa,” a teaching kit about Cesar Chavez, Dolores Huerta and the 1960s California farmworker strike and grape boycott. ….

      Teachers wrote to thank SPLC, reporting that the film made their Latino students feel proud and opened the door to classroom discussion of Latino history. Many teachers said their students gained an understanding of the connections between the farmworker strike and other movements for social justice.

      I’m confused again. Why is there an assumption that all illegal immigrants are Latino and all Latinos are immigrants?

      Also, can’t I feel proud of being Latino without having to identify with leftist social agitation?

    • bronzeprofessor
      July 10, 2009 at 3:15 pm

      I have forwarded these articles to a number of people in the military to get their reactions. I’ll post their emails back if and when they come in. –BP

    • Steve
      July 11, 2009 at 12:28 am

      “More than 16,000 teachers have used “Viva La Causa,” a teaching kit about Cesar Chavez, Dolores Huerta and the 1960s California farmworker strike and grape boycott.”

      Cesar Chavez and his United Farm Workers were adamantly against illegal immigration.

      César Chávez – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C.....h%C3%A1vez

  27. bronzeprofessor
    July 10, 2009 at 3:01 pm

    Oh wait, there’s more. Of course the SPLC had to thrown in some sympathy for gays:

    The SPLC letter notes that since 1994 the military has discharged more than 12,500 servicemembers simply because of their homosexuality. “It seems quite anomalous that the Pentagon would consider homosexuals more of a threat to the good order of the military than neo-Nazis and other white supremacists who reject our Constitution’s most cherished principles,” said Mark Potok, director of the SPLC’s Intelligence Project, which monitors extremist activity.

    The letter also says that “the overwhelming majority of U.S. servicemembers reject extremism and are dedicated to serving and protecting the highest ideals of our country” and notes that there will never be a fail-safe system to weed out all extremists. “But we owe it to our courageous men and women in uniform, and the American public, to remain vigilant to ensure that the ranks are as free of extremists as possible,” Dees wrote.

    Wow, that last paragraph really makes me feel like these folks at SLPC care about me as a Soldier. They called us “courageous.” Isn’t that sweet? [Bite me.]

  28. BillK
    July 10, 2009 at 4:06 pm

    Tax dollars at work, from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:

    Bill to replace unpretty rocks could fall on taxpayers

    Officials not sure of seawall redo cost

    By Scott Williams

    Village of Pewaukee — When is a rock not just a rock?

    When the state Department of Natural Resources says it fails to meet the standards for a high-profile public location in Waukesha County.

    Village officials have ordered a contractor to disassemble a new seawall on Pewaukee Lake because the ordinary quarry rocks lack the aesthetics and other qualities sought by the DNR.

    And taxpayers here could get stuck paying the bill.

    At issue is several tons of boulders that Savoy Marine Construction Inc. installed this spring along a 200-foot stretch of Pewaukee Lake shoreline battered by flooding.

    The Village of Pewaukee paid $18,500 to fortify the shore, which is near a public beach in the village’s downtown area.

    But when the DNR determined that the contractor should have used field stones rather than quarry rocks, the contractor returned to take down the nearly 400-ton seawall – one boulder at a time.

    Field stones are generally rounder than jagged quarry rocks, and they often come in more natural-looking colors than the white limestone material blasted out of area quarries.

    The village’s application for a DNR permit to stabilize the shoreline specifically said that field stones would be used.

    Savoy Marine President Jack Straehler called the situation “a little odd,” especially because he has seen quarry rocks used elsewhere under similar circumstances.

    Straehler, however, said he would not try to second-guess the DNR.

    “We’re just trying to make everyone happy,” he said. “They like their round rocks, and so we’re going to give them their round rocks.”

    Savoy Marine crews returned to Pewaukee Lake on Monday with three weeks to redo the shoreline.

    Village Administrator Scott Gosse said he had no idea how much the make-up job would cost or whether Savoy Marine would send the village another bill.

    Saying that the initial foul-up was caused by both the village and the contractor, Gosse said he was concerned immediately with correcting the problem – not figuring out who would foot the bill.

    “I haven’t gotten to those details with the contractor yet,” he said. “It’s got to be done one way or another.”

    In addition to looking different, field stone is generally more expensive than quarry rock.

    Straehler said it would take more than 100 tons of field stones to bring the Pewaukee Lake shoreline up to DNR standards. Asked who would be paying the tab, he replied, “Good question.” …

    http://www.jsonline.com/news/w.....16167.html

    The answer, of course, is the local taxpayers.

    The Village Administrator’s attitude:

    Gosse said he was concerned immediately with correcting the problem – not figuring out who would foot the bill.

    shows how the total disregard for taxpayers’ money starts at the lowest levels and works its way up.

    Perhaps they can figure out a way to use Federal funds for this, as it’s obviously a “shovel ready” project…

    • wardmama4
      July 10, 2009 at 4:19 pm

      Aren’t these the exact same people who are screaming about the poor who can’t buy food, don’t have houses and can’t get health care – yet they are finding idiotic and stupid things to waste millions on?

      God this story alone should be the reason to null and void the Generational Theft Act, the TARPs and to say not No, but Hell No to C(r)ap and Trade(off) and of course the Kennedy Free (wink, wink) Healthcare for All, Illegals First bill.

  29. BillK
    July 10, 2009 at 4:11 pm

    Now why would businesses consider Wisconsin to be tax Hell?

    From the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:

    Nonprofit must pay property tax, judge rules

    By Scott Williams

    City of Pewaukee — In a case that could affect other nonprofit groups, a judge has ruled that ProHealth Care must pay property taxes for desks, office equipment and other furnishings inside its corporate headquarters.

    Culminating a three-year court fight in Waukesha County, the ruling means that the health care provider faces a tax bill of more than $12,000 a year despite its status as a tax-exempt nonprofit corporation.

    Waukesha County Circuit Judge Michael O. Bohren determined that ProHealth Care could be taxed on its headquarters because the corporation supports many for-profit ventures and because it does not pass a litmus test as a “benevolent” organization.

    The leader of a statewide coalition of 170 nonprofit groups said the case appears to represent the latest example of government tax collectors turning to nonprofit entities to replenish depleted tax coffers.

    “That’s a topic that’s rising,” said Deborah Blanks, president of the Wisconsin Nonprofits Association. “That’s something that a lot of nonprofits are going to have to look at.”

    Attorney Stan Riffle, who represented the City of Pewaukee in the case, said he suspects ProHealth Care hoped to establish a precedent in Pewaukee that could be used later to seek property tax exemptions in other communities where the company has property.

    Instead, Riffle said, the ruling likely will embolden other municipal tax assessors faced with nonprofit property owners trying to avoid paying taxes.

    “Obviously assessors talk to one another,” he said. “The word of this decision will get around.”

    ProHealth Care spokeswoman Sandra Peterson said the company would not appeal the ruling.

    The company owns Waukesha Memorial Hospital and Oconomowoc Memorial Hospital, neither of which pays property taxes or is directly affected by the court case.

    Peterson said she disagreed that the case had any implications beyond ProHealth Care’s own tax obligation on its headquarters, which is at N17-W24100 Riverwood Drive in Pewaukee.

    Asked why the company litigated the issue for three years, Peterson said, “There are times when you have to take a stand.”

    ProHealth Care was established in 1998 through the merger of the Waukesha and Oconomowoc hospitals. The corporation moved its headquarters to the Pewaukee site in 2002.

    At issue was the City of Pewaukee’s refusal to grant ProHealth Care a property tax exemption on $1 million worth of interior office furnishings at the company’s headquarters. From 2004 to 2007, the tax bills ranged from $12,687 to $28,378, with a total of $68,000 paid over four years.

    Taxes on the real estate itself were not an issue because ProHealth Care leases the Riverwood Drive property.

    ProHealth Care filed suit against the city in February 2006, arguing that the exemption should be granted because the vast majority of administrative functions in the corporate headquarters support the operations of the company’s two tax-exempt hospitals.

    Departments inside the location include accounting, purchasing, human resources, public relations, patient scheduling and information technology services.

    In his July 1 ruling, Bohren found that the corporate offices support several for-profit ProHealth Care ventures as well, including the West Wood Health & Fitness Center in Pewaukee. He also ruled that qualifying as nonprofit was not sufficient to justify a property tax exemption.

    “Though organizations do not have to be charities to qualify as benevolent, they must serve a public purpose in order to be relieved of their tax burden,” he wrote. …

    http://www.jsonline.com/news/w.....15217.html

    Ah, and providing health care services is not a public purpose.

    Not when the Obama Administration will soon be doing that for all…

  30. BillK
    July 10, 2009 at 4:19 pm

    Our daily propaganda from the AP:

    GM makes speedy exit from bankruptcy; CEO says automaker will make money, repay gov’t loans

    By Tom Krisher and Ken Thomas

    DETROIT (AP) — General Motors completed an unusually quick exit from bankruptcy protection on Friday with ambitions of making money and building cars people are eager to buy. Once the world’s largest and most powerful automaker, new GM is now leaner, cleansed of massive debt and burdensome contracts that would have sunk it without federal loans.

    But GM, whose 40 days under court supervision was far shorter than anyone predicted, faces the worst auto sales slump in a quarter-century.

    At a news conference, CEO Fritz Henderson said the revamped automaker will be faster and more responsive to customers than the old one. It will generate cash and repay billions in government loans ahead of a 2015 deadline.

    The new company will build more cars and trucks that consumers want and launch them faster than in the past, the CEO said. GM also announced a partnership with eBay Inc. to test auctioning vehicles online.

    “We recognize that we’ve been given a rare second chance at GM, and we are very grateful for that. And we appreciate the fact that we now have the tools to get the job done,” he said.

    Known for its sluggish decision-making process and bloated management ranks, GM will create a single, eight-member executive committee to speed up day-to-day decision-making, replacing two senior leadership forums.

    Henderson, 50, said General Motors Corp. will streamline its bureaucratic management structure, cutting U.S. salaried employment by 20 percent, or 6,150 positions, by the end of 2009. The cuts include 450 executive jobs.

    Henderson, who was promoted to chief executive in March, will run the global company and oversee its North American operations. GM’s former chief operating officer, Henderson was chosen when President Barack Obama said former CEO Rick Wagoner’s restructuring plans didn’t go far enough.

    Top executives at the new company will focus on business results, new vehicles, brands and consumers.

    Bob Lutz, a legendary industry executive, was “unretiring” to become a vice chairman responsible for creative elements of products, marketing and customer relationships, Henderson said. Lutz, 77, had previously planned to retire at the end of the year after more than four decades in the auto business.

    Nick Reilly, who has served as GM’s Asia-Pacific president, will become executive vice president of GM’s international operations based in Shanghai, China.

    The new company will focus on customers, cars and culture.

    “If we don’t get this right, nothing else is going to work,” Henderson said at GM’s Downtown Detroit headquarters. “Business as usual is over at General Motors.”

    The automaker is launching a “Tell Fritz” Web site to allow owners and the public to share their concerns with senior management, and Henderson plans to go out on the road every month.

    He said >b?GM will partner with eBay in California to allow consumers to bid on vehicles just as they would in a typical eBay auction. They could also choose a “Buy it Now” option in an experiment to make car shopping easier. Dealers would still distribute the cars.

    “As a culture, General Motors needs to be prepared to experiment and adjust,” he said. …

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

    Aside from the eBay route putting a knife through the heart of already bleeding GM dealers, there’s lots of talk here of making profitable vehicles that consumers want to buy.

    Currently that would mean vehicles such as the new Chevrolet Camaro and the Silverado pickup truck.

    But that would slam head-on into the Chosen One’s new CAFE rules and cap and trade.

    After all, consumers have yet to express a desire to buy vehicles like the Volt, and the Feds’ own analysis shows GM is likely to be able to make a profit off His favorite vehicle.

    But all those heavy Suburbans federal agencies like that get 8 MPG? People and the Feds love them.

    So in summary, GM will make the cars their owners allow them to make – consumers will take a back seat, as always.

    Just in case you’ve forgotten who will be calling the shots:

    Besides the U.S. government’s 61 percent controlling interest, the United Auto Workers union gets a 17.5 percent stake of the company through its retiree health care trust, and the Canadian government will control 11.7 percent. The remaining shares went to bondholders of the old company.

    That means private investors – you know, the ones who got hosed in bankruptcy court – own a whole 9.8% of Government Motors, with Governments owning 72.7% and Unions 17.5%.

    Like that will ever be weaned from the Government teat?

    This lie alone shows how hard AP is spinning things:

    Concessions made by the United Auto Workers union just before the company entered bankruptcy protection have brought GM’s labor costs down to where they are fully competitive with Toyota Motor Corp., Henderson said.

    But what about their policies?

    Somehow I suspect if a worker at GM is asked to perform a task that might infringe on another Union member’s, GM is going to find out the difference between “competitive labor costs” and the other legacy costs the UAW imposes upon them.

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