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I know the eagle has more important things to do than to put the blog up,but please try to have it up by six am. I gotta leave for work now, I’d like to had participated before I left.
Uh oh PMom…
:)
Good morning all.
The first six pages of a good book…
http://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/0446537519/ref=sib_dp_bod_ex?ie=UTF8&p=S00G#reader-link
http://thebivouac.wordpress.com/2008/03/11/ron-paul-on-cavuto-federal-reserves-200-billion-injection/
The above is a pretty good short explanation of how the Fed dumping $200 billion in the market will be devastating.
Being at work never prevented you from participating before, p.m.
Yesterday news from our State House.
IMMIGRATION BILL CHANGED
The House Federal & State Affairs Committee removed certain provisions of an immigration reform package, in response to stiff opposition from the business community and the state Chamber of Commerce, Kansas Livestock Association, and Farm Bureau.
Proposals that received hearings last week would have heavily penalized companies and employers for knowingly hiring illegal immigrants and would have required use of a federal residency verification system, E-Verify. Under the new measure introduced Wednesday in the House Federal and State Affairs Committee, business punishments were reduced and the E-Verify system mandate was removed.
That database uses the Social Security system to check citizenship status. Committee chairman Arlen Siegfreid, R-Olathe, explained that businesses felt like they were being made to be the police since the federal government has failed to enforce immigration laws.
The committee spent yesterday’s meeting to understand the new proposal put forth by Siegfreid. He said he would roll his measure into another bill and committee members would have the opportunity today to add on amendments they desired. The panel likely will vote on the agreed-upon legislation on Wednesday, Siegfreid said.
The new bill still punishes employers who hire undocumented workers by suspending their business licenses, but the definition of “license”
has been changed to not include any water, health, safety or environmental permits. Siegfreid said this was to protect the “large meatpacking industry,” because pulling these permits could shut down an entire plant with all the employees in there.
The federal E-Verify system mandate in the original proposals also was reshaped. Now, state and local governments must use the system, but private companies aren’t required to check their employees through the database. This change prompted questioning from one Topeka representative, who asked how law enforcement officials will know whether a business is knowingly hiring an illegal immigrant. Siegfreid said that the bill would offer a sort-of test run by requiring state agencies to use the system until 2010. The measure mandates those agencies submit a report on or before Jan. 15, 2010, that will include the number of verification checks submitted and how the system is working.
The bill then would halt mandatory use of E-Verify in 2010. So the requirement to verify legal status is limited to state government employment. Following the meeting, Allie Devine, general counsel for the Kansas Livestock Association, one of the bill’s biggest opponents, shrugged about the new changes.
More on E-Verify
This is a free Web-based system that allows employers who volunteer to participate to electronically verify the employment eligibility of newly-hired employees. E-Verify evolved from a pilot program which was originally developed in 1997 and was first made available to employers in 2004. It is operated by the U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Services (USCIS), in co-operation with the Social Security Administration. In the President’s 2009 budget, he requested $100 million to expand usage of E-Verify and to extend USCIS operations outside Washington D.C. The first regional verification center is to open in Buffalo, N.Y..
More news from Day 58 session at the state house.
SCHIP has been a concern here before:
SENATE COMMITTEE CHANGES HEALTH CARE REFORM PROPOSAL
The Senate Health Care Strategies Committee removed the premium assistance program that was a cornerstone of health reforms passed last year from a new bill. In place of the program, Republican senators are seeking to expand health insurance for children under the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP), called HealthWave in Kansas.
Proponents stressed that HealthWave is a proven program which has proven to work, so expanding it for all children makes good sense.
However, opponents called the switch “disgraceful.” They argued that premium assistance would have used private insurance to expand coverage to very low-income Kansas families through the use of public, employer and individual contributions at little cost to the state.
The program, passed last year but with no funding, would have helped 24,500 uninsured Kansans over the next three years pay the premiums on health insurance provided by their employers or help those without employer-provided coverage buy into a private plan. When passed last year, it was promoted by Republicans and Democrats as a melding between government-run and market-based health care solutions.
Some senators didn’t realize who the program was attempting to cover. They now contend that those Kansans at the lowest end of the income spectrum most likely have a lot of health conditions and the cost to the state to buy insurance for those people would be too expensive.
They also argued that the private market is not interested in covering very low wage earners because their health care needs are great.
Under the proposed new language, children of families making up to 250% of the federal poverty level could qualify for HealthWave. Under SCHIP, the state can draw down 72 cents of federal money on every dollar spent on children’s health insurance. But there is a catch. The needed federal funding match for SCHIP is hung up in Congress, with President Bush vetoing measures to increase money for the program. The expansion of Kansas HealthWave is tied to that logjam.
The committee’s action highlights an unusual ideological fight between committee members. Some Democrat Senators on the committee voted against doing away with premium assistance, an attempt at bringing the private market into the health care debate, while, many Republican Senators are supporting government-run HealthWave. Gov. Sebelius has at least twice proposed to increase funding for children from birth to age
5 under the HealthWave program, but it has never gained traction among Republicans in the Legislature.
(sorry on link to this information)
Farmie et al.
The water problem may be solved ;-)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7289670.stm
One last long one this morning. Again from March 11th session:
HOUSE CONSIDERS TWO BILLS THAT AFFECT STATE CORRECTIONS OFFICERS
Yesterday morning they debated two bills that affect state corrections officers.
HB 2916, which provides the framework for a new compensation plan for state employees. The bill is the result of recommendations made by a State Employee Oversight Commission. The eventual goal is to replace the present plan, which is based upon position and longivity, with a new plan based upon market pay and employee performance. The implementation will be during a three year cycle with employees in three groups over five years.
New employees, after this June 15, will not get longivity pay, but instead be paid using performance measures. There will be five basic pay plans for classified employees: basic, general, management, professional and protective services. Each category will have a pay plan designed for the type of employees and market forces. The protective services pay plan that includes corrections officers will be a step model. The bill, HB 2916, would provide a 2.5% base salary adjustment for all state employees next fiscal year. For those employees whose pay is well below market, and corrections officers are definitely in that group, will see salary adjustments to move them toward market rates of pay.
The bill authorizes a five-year plan for funding the pay plan, $84 million through FY 2013. $16 million annually over the next five years is provided to fund the adjustments. It codifies a state employees compensation philosophy which states that the goals are to attract and retain quality employees by providing competitive pay based upon relevant labor markets, to use principles of fairness and equity, and to use sound fiscal discipline.
The second bill affecting corrections officers is HB 2740, requested by the Secretary of Corrections. This bill will reduce the routine annual training requirements for experienced officers from 80 to 40 hours per year while increasing training curriculum for newly hired officers from 200 to 240 hours. The Department of Corrections says that officers can be kept trained and current with a 40 hour curriculum and, at the same time, the amount of overtime paid will be decreased because officers will not be off duty as often for training. The Department intends to continue providing additional training when necessary for various posts and duties.
Our state corrections officers are paid less than those at CCA, USP, and many local law enforcement agencies in our area. We train our officers and then quickly lose them to other places that get the benefit of the state’s investment in training. Also, there have been times when the Lansing Correctional Facility was so understaffed that officers were pulling double shifts and posts were not optimally covered. The pay plan will finally take into consideration the salaries of similar employees in the public and private sector so that, especially in crucial public safety employment, the best officers can be hired, trained and retained.
I would like to thank the residents of Sedgwick County for a very successful effort on part to bringing in a fantastic new arena for our area.
The sales tax collection exceeded expectations by a long shot, collecting nearly $207 million, with interest earning $8 million and naming rights earning in an additional $15 million in naming rights.
This successful endeavor allowed us, as Sedgwick County residents, to build a larger two-concourse arena. Even with all the additional construction cost built in, the revenue collected has greatly exceeded the initial reserve and parking fund amounts (a weapon used by naysayers).
Going the sales tax route is always the best way in any public infrastructure project. No money is wasted on fattening the pockets of investors, i.e. municipal bonds, and they always exceed expectations.
We now can see the pillars popping up from the site of where our great downtown arena will sit. Come opening day, it will be a pride of our community.
Thanks again and have great day. :)
Meanwhile, in today’s Eagle Sports section (page 2C) we see “Kansas City’s Sprint Center seeks tenant”. Seems they are realizing that without an anchor tenant the facility will have problems.
“The arena can scrape by on concerts and Arena Football League games but an NBA or NHL team means at least 40 guaranteed dates when up to 20,000 people will flood downtown … over the long term we’re going to need a team to make the numbers work.”
Yea Joe, we’re going to have your Arena. Now it is YOUR responsibility to make it work. Got a team in mind to “make the numbers work”?
AmWay never heard of summarizing apparently.
“the revenue collected has greatly exceeded the initial reserve and parking fund amounts (a weapon used by naysayers}”
NOT TRUE. My accountant has reviewed the numbers and parking/reserve still fall below what was promised.
Gosh, I feared that Joe “capitalism is cool, dudes” Williams had passed on or something. Glad to see that is not true.
Sol, as per post @ 7:30 (time stamp, anyway). Why would anyone want to go all the way to Saturn for water? Encephalitus (yeah, it’s a joke!) is only about the size of, what?, Alabama???
Callisto and Europa are only 1/2 the distance at Jupiter and @ nearly the size of Mercury, they’d have a WHOLE LOT more water.
Doesn’t the Eagle have at least Win95 that automatically adjusts time for DST? Maybe they ought to increase subscription rates so they can splurge for the Win ME update.
It was just a joke Fish.
Yeah, I know, Sol.
More of the welfare for the rich and crush the opposition by any means necessary we’ve come to expect from the Administration of Worst. President. Ever:
HUD E-Mails Refer to Retaliation
High-Level Officials Wrote of Punishing Philadelphia Housing Director
By Carol D. Leonnig
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, March 12, 2008; A03
After Philadelphia’s housing director refused a demand by President Bush’s housing secretary to transfer a piece of city property to a business friend, two top political appointees at the department exchanged e-mails discussing the pain they could cause the Philadelphia director.
“Would you like me to make his life less happy? If so, how?” Orlando J. Cabrera, then-assistant secretary at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, wrote about Philadelphia housing director Carl R. Greene.
“Take away all of his Federal dollars?” responded Kim Kendrick, an assistant secretary who oversaw accessible housing. She typed symbols for a smiley-face, “:-D,” at the end of her January 2007 note.
Cabrera wrote back a few minutes later: “Let me look into that possibility.”
The e-mails, obtained by The Washington Post, came to light as a result of a lawsuit provoked by HUD’s decision last September to strip the Philadelphia Housing Authority of as much as $50 million in federal funds. In December, it declared the agency in violation of rules that underpin its ability to decide precisely how it will spend federal housing funds. Kendrick was the official who formally notified the authority that she had found it in violation.
HUD has argued publicly that this decision was not related to the demands by HUD Secretary Alphonso Jackson that Greene turn over a $2 million vacant city lot to Kenny Gamble, a friend of Jackson’s. HUD officials have said that Greene was not punished for his defiance.
But Greene and the Philadelphia authority have accused HUD and Jackson in a lawsuit of fabricating problems in the authority’s performance as a way to retaliate against Greene.
The e-mails suggest that HUD leadership sought to punish Greene by threatening the authority’s funding.
Gee, a lawsuit against Bush’s appointees at HUD.
So what’s next? Fire the prosecutors, obviously.
That’s what he’s done in the past . . .
“In December, it declared the agency in violation of rules that underpin its ability to decide precisely how it will spend federal housing funds.
But Greene and the Philadelphia authority have accused HUD and Jackson in a lawsuit of fabricating problems in the authority’s performance as a way to retaliate against Greene.”
Perhaps the truth will come out in the lawsuit. And those guilty wlll be dealt with appropriately
Capn, the litigation mentioned in your post does not appear to be criminal in nature, but civil. Thus, there would be no prosecutor, on the federal level, that could be fired by the administration as you suggest. Just my thoughts.
Good, thanks for that clarification, VT.
But it still doesn’t negate the fact that when the nation’s top law enforcement official–The President of the United States–is determined to flout the law to benefit and protect his law-breaking cronies and punish the law-abiding innocent, the very mechanisms for legal solutions to crime and corruption become themselves corrupted.
Worst. President. Ever.
Worst. President. Possible.
Right, sure, LittleJohn.
Just like when Scooter Libby was convicted of perjury . . . perjury that could only be construed as protecting his boss, Dick Cheney.
Worst. President. Ever. simply commuted his sentence.
Obey the law! Unless you’re this President of the United States. Then you can simply abrogate the law unto yourself and nobody can do a damn thing about it.
Then you can simply abrogate the law unto yourself and nobody can do a damn thing about it.
One more year and civil suits can be filed?
“Obey the law! Unless you’re this President of the United States. Then you can simply abrogate the law unto yourself and nobody can do a damn thing about it.”
Except of course, the Congress. Which is now controlled by the Democrats. Which could file and act upon articles of impeachment. Which they apparently have no balls, or no evidence, to do so.
Don’t think so, Ghoti.
I think I remember that when the SCOTUS ruled against Clinton–that the Paula Jones suit could go forward–that the President could only be sued for actions he took out of office, not while in office.
I might be wrong on that.
But wouldn’t the right-wing conspiracy be suing the Clintons’ for everything they didn’t like that happened between 1992 and 2000 otherwise?
Or Congress could file subpeonas requiring Bush officials to appear in court and testify, LJ.
Which the Bush officials simply ignore . . .
More of the same pattern . . . you only have to obey the law if you’re not a Bush crony.
LJ, impeachment at this time would be like fartin’ in a tornado. Pointless. Now impeaching cheney in 2003, then impeaching bush in 2005, that would’ve gotten us Somewhere!
“More of the same pattern . . . you only have to obey the law if you’re not a Bush crony.”
True of many administrations. Don;t have to like it to recognize that it is true.
Still, the system does have it’s recourses. Whether or not they are expedient,they are still there. Impeachment trials to the point.
lj points out the obvious remedy. With that said, given the status of the Senate, an impeachment proceeding was doomed to failure, IMO, before any articles of impeachment were filed.
Concerning the potential for litigation after the current President leaves office, it does exist. I caution, however, that many of the acts taken by the current President which are the fodder for many bloggers are not crimes in the sense that the same violate any penal statute. Further, in some cases, the same are not a proper subject of civil litigation. Assuming, arguendo, some are, any potential litigant has the difficulty of proving s/he has standing to bring the action. There also enters into the discussion the potential that a former President, much as in the case of other public officials, has a limited privilege which protects him from suit concerning taking the action in question.
Turning to the Libby matter. Mr. Libby was convicted, properly IMHO, for perjury and obstruction of justice. It is my further opinion that Mr. Libby did, by and through the actions he undertook, protect the Vice President. The President did commute the sentence, as he is empowered to do as President. This does not give rise to any civil or criminal liability on the part of the President, notwithstanding my opinion that he should not have done this. The President does have the power to pardon anyone for any crime for any reason, or for no reason. Part of the privileges of his office for which, if felt wrong, he could be denied reelection (that’s why most pardons occur in the final days of an Administration), or impeached, if especially egregious (again, see timing comment earlier made).
I’m obviously no fan of the current President. I did not vote for him either time. I also recognize the practical difficulties facing the Congress after the 2006 elections in considering impeachment, and I believe Speaker Pelosi took the correct position with respect thereto when it was “taken off the table”. I’ve posted before that there have been, IMO, “political crimes” committed by him which would be a proper subject of impeachment (that being, BTW, the underlying meaning of “high crimes and misdemeanors”); but I’ve not seen anything that he’s done that to my mind exposes him to traditional criminal prosecution.
My two cents, as always.
VT-
I agree with most of what you Say. My point about the impeachment is this: Whether or not it is felt that a “conviction” could be had, given the politics of the Senate at the time, if the President had indeed committed such egregeious acts, then the House and the Senate had a duty to prosecute. Not doing so only allowed those who wish to complain to complain, and pass the buck of responsibiblity to someone else (the Republicans).
In reality, I think that many if not most of the administrations past have not passed the smell test, and committed acts injurious to the country.
Just depends on which stinky dog you like I guess whether or not he is a crook. Goes for both parties.
Wow, a normal open thread. Keep it up, folks–I suggest changing the subject to gardening if it becomes necessary! :)
No time to post myself, just though I’d share some kudos!
A clarification for Joe! Parking, ‘other parking’ and Reserve fund was advertised at $52,011,000. ALL was to be covered in the $184,528,000.
You are correct that the taxpayers ended up paying much more than $184.5 million; however the parking/reserve is still less than the $52 million promised.
Get ready for war with Iran, Fox Fallon “quit”.
Funniness.
It’s happy fun time for you friggin’ chicken hawks.
Pleefer, the “Times on Line” piece you linked contained a reference to something I had wondered about previously. This something was the relationship between Gen. Petraeus and Adm. Fallon (the superior of the General). It is my recollection that when the admiral got the Centcom command, he had a meeting with Petraeus that was given some reporting in the blogosphere and in the media, the atmosphere surrounding the same that can best be described as “frosty”. It appears from the piece that the Administration and General Petraeus routinely went around Admiral Fallon, which, if true, provides a very good reason for his resignation.
Y’all don’t forget Columbia. Mrs. Clinton has already pledged her support. You KNOW McCain is busting seams ready for a new fight.
So,
Afghanistan
Iraq
Working on Iran
Working on Ecuador/Venezuela
And the economy rockets southward. Yipee yahhooo mother fkrs.
All the ‘non-yes-men’ are fleeing the administration. Or being forced out.
“Ja wohl, mein Führer”.
Oh my.
Caller to Rush Limbaugh:
“I just want people to know, when I see green I vote red! I want me some gas and I want it cheap!”
This is what we are fighting.
HA HA HA HA HA! Here’s Representative Dumbas–sorry, I mean Representative TIAHRT, speaking from the floor of the House against the new, independent, bipartisan ethics review panel that the House voted to empower:
“If you have a single ounce of self-preservation, you’ll say no.”
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/11/AR2008031102795_pf.html
Folks, before you take CF’s mischaracterization to heart too much, I suggest you read the whole story. This opposition was bi-partisan, and the measure passed only after severe arm-twisting by the Dem leadership on their own party – even violating their own rules to push the measure through.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/11/AR2008031102795_pf.html
GMC70,
“Mischaracterization?” Really, GMC70? Are you saying that Representative Tiahrt did NOT say what I quoted?
Are you also saying that, in 2006, he didn’t say the following in a USA Today story about DC influence-peddling?
“Added Tiahrt: “The lobbying community can come by my office any time.”
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2006-07-18-caucuses_x.htm
GMC70, you spend a lot of time trying to get me to play “who are you gonna believe, me or your lyin’ eyes.” I’d say Representative Tiahrt’s record of lobbyist love drowns out your apologetics.
Good Lord…
http://www.kansas.com/news/updates/story/339011.html
By ROXANA HEGEMAN, Associated Press Writer
A 35-year-old woman who apparently spent two years in her boyfriend’s bathroom in Ness City had become stuck to the toilet seat, authorities said today. She’s in fair condition at a Wichita hospital.
Yup, Regular–
I think she’d be a good girlfriend for you.
She could sit in the bathroom all day while you are in front of the computer all day.
A match made in heaven.
Added Tiahrt: “The lobbying community can come by my office any time.”
His constituents, not so much.
Great snag, CF.
The Dems should hang this around his neck in November. You couldn’t get a better quote to hoist somebody on his own petar with . . .
Looks like Teeharrd said both things. Looks like his actions were mimicked by democrats as well as republicans. (Looking at both stories that were linked). A pox on both houses. Lying scum all
“The Dems should hang this around his neck in November.”
The Dems SHOULD do a lot of things. Let’s hope they recruit a great candidate and then get him/her elected.
HOW does toddly manage to make a monkey out of democrats down their for 14 YEARS?
Oh, and I agree. Great CATCH CF!
Seriously — who lets ANYONE sit on a toliet seat for 2 years without calling for help or just pulling their dumb-a$$ off the toliet. Ridiculous. Makes you wonder if she was going for some “world record.”
Man! If that toilet backed up, things could get really ugly fast. Pity the plumbler!
All in day’s work, Cap’N and Farmgrrl. Not that there’s any great effort in finding instances where Tiahrt lets slip what he’s REALLY about.
Editorial from Bismark, ND >>>>
Obama is what Clinton once Was
by Clay Jenkinson
March 2, 2008
Watching the waning moments of the Clinton era has been sad and painful.
For all of their faults, the Clintons are a masterful American power couple, dedicated to public service, confident in their capacities, at home with power. Of the four remaining candidates, I believe that Mrs. Clinton would be far and away the most competent president. You may or may not agree with her political outlook, but her work ethic, her command of information, her determination to make the world a better place and her earnestness are tremendously impressive.
She has, by all accounts, been an effective United States senator.
The case Mrs. Clinton makes for herself has a great deal of validity. She really would be ready on day one. She lived in the White House for eight of the most contentious years in modern American politics. If she were elected, she (and we) would not have to go through that awkward orientation period when new presidents make silly mistakes because they don’t yet know what a pressure cooker and garish fishbowl the White House is in the age of CNN.
She is married to a world celebrity, who is beloved throughout the planet in the way that only Muhammad Ali and Nelson Mandela are loved. That would certainly be an asset, especially at a time when American prestige is in tatters.
She really is battle tested. We really do know what we would get if we elected her. (That is part of the problem, of course.) She really is a political survivor. She really is a fighter. Her negatives may be high, but we have long since come to terms with them. It’s hard to believe there can be any Hillary Clinton revelations that have yet to be uncovered.
Barack Obama is not battle tested. We really don’t know how much substance there is behind the marvelous poetry of his speeches. He is wonderfully attractive, and he may in fact be the multicultural Jack Kennedy of the early 21st century, but he is essentially a symbol of our aspirations rather than a man of measurable achievement. Mrs. Clinton is right. We don’t know nearly enough about him to entrust the future of the world’s most important nation to him.
Even so, galling as it manifestly is to the Clintons, the American people (or at least the Democrats) seem willing to throw the dice for Obama. Why? Because they don’t like the cynicism and the bickering and the paralysis of their national government, and finally someone has arrived on the horizon who offers something more in keeping with our dream of ourselves. In other words, what Mrs. Clinton regards as her strengths are actually her greatest weakness. She really is a known quantity.
Been there. Done that.
It will be difficult for Mrs. Clinton not to be profoundly embittered by the failure of her campaign. She will be disappointed in herself. She will know that if she had an ounce of charisma, she’d be the next president of the United States. She has never found her voice. She impresses but she does not inspire.
Given what her husband has put her through in their long, perplexing marriage and the countless controversies of her time in the White House, no wonder she moves through life in heavy armor. But the American people want to connect with the soul of their next president. Each of the other three remaining candidates seems more authentic, more human. Hillary Clinton is a masterful policy wonk. That may be what we need, but it is not what we want. Ronald Reagan was certainly not a policy wonk, but he knew that you cannot be president unless you tell us that “it is morning in America” again.
The feeling one gets from watching Mrs. Clinton is that it is always Monday morning in America – again.
Mrs. Clinton also will have (new) reason to be angry with her husband. His behavior in New Hampshire and South Carolina was appalling – subtly playing the race card, subtly playing the “Islamic” card, not so subtly likening Obama to a “fairy tale.” These cheap tricks were bad enough in themselves (and they backfired), but the real damage to her campaign was that they reminded us of what we least like about Bill Clinton: that his enormous political gifts do not seem to be tethered to any core integrity. I think when the American people realized that electing her would be returning him to the White House for four or eight years, they decided that they had enough of all that for one lifetime, thank you very much.
It’s ironic, of course. She would not be a candidate for the presidency had it not been for the meteoric career of her husband, but in the end it may have been her husband, more than any other single factor, that cost her the presidency. He’ll pay for that.
The greatest blow to Mrs. Clinton, I believe, will be her realization of how much of herself she has lost in the last 30 years. She was once a youthful idealist. Back in 1968 and 1972, she believed, with passionate intensity, that the old guard had betrayed the American dream, and that the United States could only get back on track and realize its historic potential if a new generation of leaders, pure, lyrically naïve, untouched by the tar of power, got control of steering wheel. In other words, she was once Barack Obama, and now, almost 40 years later, she has been reduced to mocking in her opponent the very qualities that led her to commit herself to a life of public service.
In belittling Obama and sourly predicting that he won’t be able to talk so hopefully once he realizes how the world really works, she is behaving just like the old hacks she despised back when she believed the Age of Aquarius was just around the corner.
Fueled by fierce political ambition, Mrs. Clinton has spent the last couple of months trying to convince the American people that they should not entrust their future to a man who is not yet disillusioned. Some part of her seems to recognize the terrible cynicism of her election strategy. That’s why it rings so true when, once every week or so, she says publicly how honored she is to share a stage with Obama. He is, after all, what she used to be.
http://www.jeffersonhour.org/?id=14&page=Clay%27s+Weekly+Columns
“Not that there’s any great effort in finding instances where Tiahrt lets slip what he’s REALLY about.”
Yeah CF, but many of us are so USED to the lies and spin it doesnt grate on our ears anymore. So.. good catch for good listening.
Me? All the lies sound the same…
Clay Jenkinson is a fairly famous portrayer of President Thomas Jefferson — and appears on the weekly NPR program, “The Thomas Jefferson Hour”, heard at 5 p.m. Sundays, at http://www.hppr.org on streaming public media (NPR Station Web Site)
He has numerous Jeffersonian insights, gleaned from 20+ years of research on Jefferson, and the early 19th Century of American politics… Regardless of party affiliation, Jenkinson is a great personification of Jefferson, as well as other colorful characters of that historical period.
And no matter how well he does it, (and I listen too) it is still HIS interpretation of what Jefferson would say or think. NOT the words of the man himself most of the time.
Talk about the typical taking things out of context going on over here.
The “I hate Tiahrt” club seems to be in session.
True KFG… I cant argue that at all… But I DO like his portrayal!! He is coming up with a new version of Teddy Roosevelt!! Should be a fun look at history.
Anybody notice how much Obama’s ears resemble the ears of Abe Lincoln??
Regarding the woman who sat on the toilet for two years; I note the boyfriend is being charged with abuse of a disabled person.
When I first read the piece, I wondered just what the heck was going on. The proposed charges make some sense. Wonder if the poor woman receives disability related income, and the good old boy just cashed the checks? That just came to mind, so thought I’d share some of my dark side.
Senate let them all in immigration bill passes
http://www.kansas.com/news/updates/story/339281.html
What a bunch of jerks
lj, and you were expecting Sen. Palmer’s bill to pass as it was originally proposed?
Admission time; I thought the darned thing would never get out of committee at all this session. I was wrong about that; it got out, but what passed isn’t what came out by any stretch of the imagination. Predict it passes the House, and is on the gov’s desk by Friday.
No, I expected some compromise. Afer all, passing legislaiton is often about the art of compromise. But this was a gutting and replacement that just pisses me off.
The “gutting and replacement” is often what passes for compromise in the Kansas Legislature. The big guns waited until it hit the floor, and “bam” (apologies to a certain Portuguese chef) compromise happened.
Yeah, I know. I am still disappointed.
Another opinion on the Admiral Fallon retirement matter. The author suggests, and I agree, that the Admiral (a bit like a rather famous general some 50 plus years ago) did it to himself. A commander may well disagree with his or her civilian boss; there are limits, however, to how public such disagreement is made, regardless of how many other senior officers agree.
I also agree with a comment made therein concerning Petraeus v. Fallon; Petraeus won. No question. Does Gen. Petraeus become Centcom Commander? Stay tuned.
http://www.slate.com/id/2186456/
I do not think Petreaus will be Centcom; not a tall enough position. NATO is about the right size.
He is headed for the Joint Chief of Staff position.
Spirit below $23; how low can (ought) it go?
Patreus for NATO? Not likely – unless we want to splinter the alliance.
Hud, I wonder about that. Given that Gen. Petraeus’ current assignment has about one more year to go, I speculate his future assignments will depend (stating the obvious, I know) on who is elected President in November. I can see NATO; I can see Army Chief of Staff; I don’t know if I see Chairman, Joint Chiefs though.
NATO CINC’s usually have training in holding their pinkie in the air whole serving. Belgium is a nice duty assignment, SHAPE HQ. Petraeus doesn’t appear to me to fit the ’social’ General status, he’s more of an applied intellectual.
Telling people the facts in NATO tends to get them “teed off.”
Petraeus would not be a good fit.
My guess? NSA or DIA Chief or, something along those lines.
How in the hellola did that poor woman who sat on the pot for 24 months bathe herself in all that time?
Oh, my god! I gotta bathe at least twice a day or I can’t stand meself, especially in the summer.
What kind of vulgar opportunist is the dude who put up with it and/or her social security checks?
Law-wud – what’s worse. A New York politician spending thousands of bucks on high-priced hookers or some ugly (slang for illegitimate progeny) cashin’ in on his girlfriend’s debility.
And how did the poor woman sleep, for pity’s sake? I cain’t sleep sittin’ up, that’s for sure. The only exception would be an opiate-induced stupor, but even that was rare.
My, my – what a strange world we live in.
“HOW does toddly manage to make a monkey out of democrats down there for 14 YEARS?”
Simple. There are single issue voters in the rural portion of his district that he counts on. They are largely Catholic farmer voters. Care to guess the issue?
In 1996, Randy Rathbun beat Todd in the city of Wichita, but lost by a wide enough margin out in the country to go down in defeat.
Regarding the Correction officers, those are excellent proposals and its about time. It is PATHETIC the pay Kansas is paying correction officers compared to other states. Training too often, no doubt. They also need to change how they are rotated into different positions.
About the immigration package, boy howdy that makes me furious, you know the beefpacking industry had spent a pretty penny on this. “How can they gut this thing when the citizens of Kansas are calling 300 to one to leave it in its original form?” asked Ed Hayes, chapter director for the Kansas Minuteman Civil Defense Corps.” I can’t understand that either, considering that the republicans in charge use that excuse everytime they pass something that hurts other people. It’s because it is the will of the people.
We need to find out who bought off the legislators.
Seems to me like the best option for Petraeus in a new administration might just be Retirement.
Blog clock is still an hour behind… must be doing some kind of heavy duty maintenance.
Blog looks pretty dead again tonite… Hmmmm….
Got my 2007 bonus today.
I get to keep 45% of it. The Government steals the rest for your deadbeats.
Freedom in America. It is gone.
When all y’all deadbeats start taking 60 to 70% of what I make, guess what happens?
Max – what usually happens with bonuses is that they get hit unduly hard with withholding but you end up getting a decent slice back in the end. The surprising thing to me is that with FICA largely dropping off that you still got hit with 55%. I think someone at your company screwed up. I’d be asking my accountant to take a look at it.
Ummmm Max — you trying to say you are in the 55% tax bracket?? that is 55% Not 60% – 70%
Thought you had your own business Max… Havent you said before how much you pay ‘NEW HIRES”??
You are correct Ben, and so I adjusted my W-4 to 5 exemptions instead of 3 and still got hit hard!
I’ll get part of it back with my $1500 Federal rebate in May.
Recommend everyone use their Federal May rebate to go out and buy whatever hi-capacity gun that’s on your wish list before Clinton/Obama order a gun-ban next year.
Sorta a slap in the face to those gan banners in Government – use the Federal tax refund intended to buy our votes with, and buy a nasty gun!
They want us to spend it, don’t they? Might as well help support the gun manufacturers while you still can!
By the way Max…it’s your freaking Republican Bushco that’s taking your bread…at least you still have your whine!
Yeah Max, buy some guns and go live with your buddy OBL…haters of America!
“Max
Posted March 12, 2008 at 7:16 pm | Permalink
Got my 2007 bonus today.
I get to keep 45% of it. The Government steals the rest for your deadbeats.
Freedom in America. It is gone.
When all y’all deadbeats start taking 60 to 70% of what I make, guess what happens?”
Ass hole I’ll p[ass that on to all the soldiers and sailors your pittance pays for — loser ..
what was your bonus for ? need some new kneepads and lip balm lackey
You deadbeats wouldn’t know this, but for working people, Bush cut taxes.
Erma Stephen, 35, of Nassau County, NY, a nanny
accused of killing her newborn son in 2006, was
sentenced to 3 1/3 to 10 years on Feb. 28 for
second-degree manslaughter and tampering with
evidence. The tiny abandoned body had been found dead in a plastic bag on a platform at the Hicksville Long Island Rail Road station. The Children of Hope Foundation and Nassau County Police Department’s Homicide Squad took legal custody of the deceased newborn, who became known as Nicholas Hope, and provided him with a dignified burial. After a brief graveside ceremony, Nicholas Hope was laid to rest in
a tiny white coffin adorned with flowers and stuffed animals next to 98 other abandoned infants, each also given the name of Hope, at Holy Rood Cemetery’s Island of Hope.
- – -
Tiffany Nicole Mack Wilson, 17, of Oglethorpe County, GA is charged with the murder of her newborn son, whose tiny body was found buried in a shallow backyard grave that attracted birds after being dug up by animals. Wilson said she left the boy on the back porch of her home, but he was dead when she came back from school.
- – -
Benjamin Everett of West Philadelphia, PA found a newborn boy abandoned in a garbage bag on his front lawn. Hospital treatment showed the infant, dubbed Little Ben, in deference to the rescuer, to be in good condition, despite being exposed to outdoor temperatures in the 40s and the risk of suffocation for hours.
- – -
Respect for human life and dignity drops a little lower in the USofA, for some of us, as legalized infanticide continues nearly unabated for decades, bringing huge profits, corruption, and cover-ups.
Go join your fellow America haters Max! You are a lousy POS.
Then why are you whining out you OBL butthole Max!? If Bushco cut your taxes why are you crying and sniffling…?
Can you believe a Christian Pastor posted this on the 3/10 Open Thread?
Chas.
Posted March 11, 2008 at 12:11 am | Permalink
This looks interesting >>>>
Hi James!
When are you calling that meetup?
To change the subject a bit, has anyone heard of a non-medicinal treatment for dog seperation anxiety?
My niece gave my parents a lab that had a difficult history — one prior owner, multiple placements at kennels, and then adoption by my parents.
When my dad would put on a coat this dog would go berserk. When both folks left the dog had a real hard time.
My mom talked to a gal at a pet store and they sold her a device that plugged into a socket that emitted oders that female dogs do when they are nursing puppies – the folks said the dog calmed down significantly.
Anybody else heard of this?
Max, do you have a problem with somebody posting an interesting story about a 20 year old who dies, with enough foresight to sign a donor card that would save up to 5 other people??
If you have a problem with that, you should go find a different country to live in!!
As for me, it was a most interesting story, but I am not going to say any more about it… It’s yesterday’s old news!! :-|
That would be one type of olfactory therapy.
“You deadbeats wouldn’t know this, but for working people, Bush cut taxes.”
Past time to take your meds, Max. You are psychotic. Bush has done nothing but put unreasonable burdens on the middle class.
Go F.ck yourself, might be your only chance for anything resemebling fun.
Clinton loses a Superdelegate vote! Tooooooooooooooo Baaaaaaaaaaaaddddddddddddd!!!!!
Even the DNC won’t let Spitzer be a Superdelegate.
Spitzer DID RESIGN TODAY!
Democrat Culture of Corruption Continues
http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2008/03/11/spitzer-spoils-clintons-delegate-count/?mod=googlenews_wsj
March 11, 2008, 12:36 pm
Spitzer Spoils Clinton’s Delegate Count
Susan Davis reports on the presidential race.
If New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer resigns, as is widely anticipated, Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Hillary Clinton will be down one superdelegate. The scandal-tainted governor and his Lt. Gov. David Paterson currently are two of the roughly 800 superdelegates who will also cast ballots at the August nominating convention. Both are public backers of Clinton.
Max,
Sorry you are psychotic. There are meds that will help you, but you have to want help. We all know where you stand on that question. Night, night, GSheridan…
Was there anybody who did NOT expect Spitzer to resign?
Oh my non existent God.
I just heard from Billo that Dawn Wells who played Mary Ann on “Gilligans’s Island” was busted in Idaho for possesion of marijuana.
Dawn Wells is the sweetest of persons. Leave it to the anal retentive state of Idaho to bust her.
I spent a little time in Idaho. If there is a more oppresive place than Kansas, Idaho is it.
Busting 70 year old “Mary Ann”! Disgusting.
Good Grief!! Mary Ann is 70?? No wonder I feel so OLD!! ROFL!!
That must make Valerie Bertinelli about 50!! What a sweetheart SHE used to be!!
No matter who you bring up, it makes me reallly old. Wish it wasn’t so… Will you accept me as the grandma dem??
Only if you absolutely INSIST Linda!! ROFL!!
“Mary Ann” may have been Kansas’s best ambassador.
Dawn Well’s has a clothing line devoted to people with limited mobility and runs a camp for aspiring young actresses and actors.
Sheesh Idaho is one screwed up place.
Sure beats being the grandma on the other side! ;-0
:-D
Well… Bed time here….
Good night; Good luck; and
God bless — whatever you conceived
God to be! Blessings to all!!
Tragic that the troops shot up a 10 yr. old girl allegedly signaling someone on the roadside as their convoy was passing by.
Tragic but not a rarity.
I have been told by guys that have been there that killing civilians is a sport for our troops.
Can’t wait til they come home with their homicidal perversions.