Raleigh, N.C. -- The State Board of Elections on Friday released the names of 28 people subpoenaed to testify in the campaign finance hearing of former Gov. Mike Easley.
The board has scheduled a hearing for Monday to question Easley and others about his campaign fundraising and spending. The hearing could last a week, officials said.
The subpoena list includes Easley, former Democratic Party officials Jerry Meek and Scott Falmlen, former Easley aides Cari Boyce and Ruffin Poole and former Revenue Secretary Muriel Offerman. Highway Patrol Capt. Alan Melvin, who headed Easley's security detail, and former state Department of Transportation board members Lannie Wilson and Cameron McRae also were subpoenaed.
The subpoena list includes Easley, former Democratic Party officials Jerry Meek and Scott Falmlen, former Easley aides Cari Boyce and Ruffin Poole and former Revenue Secretary Muriel Offerman. Highway Patrol Capt. Alan Melvin, who headed Easley's security detail, and former state Department of Transportation board members Lannie Wilson and Cameron McRae also were subpoenaed.
McRae, a Bojangles' franchisee, hog baron Wendell Murphy and developers Gary Allen and Nick Garrett are among the political contributors subpoenaed in the case.
It's unclear who on the list will actually be called as witnesses, and some people who are called might exercise their constitutional right not to testify.
Questions surround amended finance reports Easley's campaign filed in April after previously failing to disclose the use of an SUV provided by a Red Springs car dealer. The campaign is also under scrutiny over unreported flights on private planes, which could have violated donation limits.
State law prohibits political contributions from corporations and limits individual donations to $4,000 per candidate in any election cycle.
"Every time that we have a peek inside this system, we see that it's still rotten," said Joe Sinsheimer, a Democratic political consultant whose campaign finance complaints sparked probes that led to the downfall of former House Speaker Jim Black and former Rep. Thomas Wright.
"One of the things that we may get into next week is, did any of the folks that were giving large sums of money (to the Democratic Party) designate those funds for Gov. Easley," Sinsheimer said.
Meanwhile, two former lawmakers sent a letter to the elections board Friday, demanding that Chairman Larry Leake recuse himself from the hearing. Former state Sens. Fern Shubert and Hugh Webster contend that one of the private flights Easley took was on a corporate jet to a fundraiser Leake hosted at his Mars Hill home.
"We believe it is important that the hearings and investigation go forward, but we strongly believe Mr. Leake's continued involvement risks tainting the process," Shubert and Webster wrote.
Easley is the first former governor to go before the elections board. The board could take no action or issue a fine or reprimand. The board's findings could also be turned over to the Wake County District Attorney's Office for possible criminal prosecution.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/25/2009 00:00 ||
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During consideration of H.R. 3126, legislation to establish a Consumer Financial Protection Agency (CFPA), Democrats on the House Financial Services Committee voted to pass an amendment offered by Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) that will make ACORN eligible to play a role in setting regulations for financial institutions.
So the addition made it through committee. The bill still has to pass on the floor of the House, the Senate, and a reconciliation bill then has to pass in both. Write to your Congress critters, y'all, and to your Senators -- sunlight is the best disinfectant.
The Waters amendment adds to the CFPA Oversight Board 5 representatives from the fields of "consumer protection, fair lending and civil rights, representatives of depository institutions that primarily serve underserved communities, or representatives of communities that have been significantly impacted by higher-priced mortgages" to join Federal banking regulators in advising the Director on the consistency of proposed regulations, and strategies and policies that the Director should undertake to enforce its rules.
By making representatives of ACORN and other consumer activist organizations eligible to serve on the Oversight Board, the amendment creates a potentially enormous government sanctioned conflict of interest.
By making representatives of ACORN and other consumer activist organizations eligible to serve on the Oversight Board, the amendment creates a potentially enormous government sanctioned conflict of interest. ACORN-type organizations will have an advisory role on regulating the very financial institutions from which they receive millions of dollars annually in direct corporate contributions and benefit from other financial partnerships and arrangements. These are the same organizations that pressured banks to make subprime mortgage loans and thus bear a major responsibility for the collapse of the housing market.
In light of recent evidence linking ACORN to possible criminal activity, Democrats took an unprecedented step today to give ACORN a potential role alongside bank regulators in overseeing financial institutions. This is contrary to recent actions taken by the Senate and House to block federal funds to ACORN.
A recent inquiry into bank funding of ACORN activities by three House Committees found that institutions that would be regulated by the CFPA have provided millions of dollars to the organization in the form of direct donations, lines of credit, cash, and other assets over the last 15 years. to view the vote.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/25/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
so give a the most corrupt organization in America power to regulate?
Mentoring pimps and ho's worked so well, why not pimp America, as she is Obamas ho.
#2
No, newc. Government retains the title Most Corrupt. They are giving the SECOND most corrupt organization to regulate the THIRD most corrupt. It's an inc*tuous cesspool of thieves.
#3
Fine by me, as long as neither ACORN nor its individual representatives get immunity from liability for the consequences of their actions. Let a thousand lawsuits bloom.
Posted by: Matt ||
10/25/2009 11:43 Comments ||
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Why don't they [Congress] empty the prisons and put the inmates in charge of law and order?
Republicans and Democrats on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee agreed Friday night on language for a wide-reaching subpoena of Countrywide Financial's VIP lending program as part of an investigation into allegations of influence peddling by the company at all levels of government, committee aides said.
The subpoena, which was sent out Friday night, will ask the lender to fork over documents relating to its "Friends of Angelo" program -- named for CEO Angelo Mozilo, who allegedly offered favorable mortgage rates to persons of influence.
Republicans and Democrats agreed to request documents relating to a wide range of government employees -- including members of the executive branch, House members and staffers, officers of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and employees of state and local governments. Senators will not be included in the House's investigation.
Senator Chris Dodd is safe, then.
The subpoena specifies that the ethics committee will receive and redact all documents that identify members of the House.
So is Representative Barney Franks, it appears.
Other records that will be delivered include the number of enrollees between 1996 and 2008, any taped telephone conversations regarding the program and emails between Countrywide officials, according to the subpoena obtained by POLITICO.
The goal of the investigation, Democratic and Republican committee aides say, is to understand the inner workings of the program and uncover if and how it was used to gain influence among lawmakers and regulators.
Ranking Member Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), who has been pushing Democrats hard to issue a subpoena, has compared the program to General Motors offering automobiles at a deep discount and homebuilders constructing a house for material cost alone.
The House subpoena opens a new can of worms for lawmakers: 435 members of Congress and their staffers, along with Freddie and Fannie officials and a slew of local and state officials, a group that has not been a focus of previous Congressional efforts on Countrywide, could be under the microscope.
One senior Republican said this could prove as tough an issue for lawmakers as the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal of the Bush years. The lawmaker added that while Abramoff's misdeeds were largely centered around Republicans, this investigation could ensnare members of both parties.
Documents from the subpoena are set to be delivered by Nov. 6 but a committee aide expects the full set of records to take upwards of a month to arrive.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/25/2009 00:00 ||
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Doesn't include documents on senators? Redacts documents that name House members? C'mon, Issa. You can do better than that. Can't you? Or did you have to "compromise" with the donks?
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
10/25/2009 13:47 Comments ||
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(Bloomberg) -- New Jersey taxpayers are sending almost $1 million a month to a partnership run by Goldman Sachs Group Inc. for protection against rising interest costs on bonds that the state redeemed more than a year ago. If it wasn't something to do with government I'd call it a gouge. Lucky for Noo Joisey they're gonna elect Corzine and he'll clean this sort of mess right up. A pity they had that other guy in for the past however many years.
The most-densely populated U.S. state is making the payments under an agreement made during the administration of former Governor James E. McGreevey in 2003, when New Jersey's Transportation Trust Fund Authority sold $345 million in auction-rate bonds whose yields fluctuated with short-term interest costs. The agency finances road and rail projects. "This vividly shows the risk of entering into interest- rate swap agreements," said Christopher Taylor, former executive director of the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board in Alexandria, Virginia. "The world's got to see what stupidity even the sophisticated investors like the transportation fund can get into."
While New Jersey replaced the debt with fixed-rate securities in 2008 after the $330 billion auction-rate bond market froze, the swap -- in which two parties typically exchange fixed payments for ones based on floating interest rates -- isn't scheduled to expire until 2019.
The state paid $940,000 under the agreement last month and a total of $11.4 million since the auction-rate bonds were redeemed. The expenditures come as the fund reaches its borrowing limit and Governor Jon Corzine, Goldman's former chairman who was a U.S. senator when the contract was signed, seeks $400 million in budget reductions as tax receipts fall.
Bond's Life
"The state has made it clear that true interest costs are measured over the life of bonds," the New Jersey Treasurer's office said in an e-mailed statement from spokesman Tom Vincz. "As this swap is applied as it was intended to be applied, with TTFA variable-rate bonds, true interests costs are projected to be below the average true interest costs for TTFA bonds," the statement said, referring to the Transportation Trust Fund Authority by its acronym.
"Unfortunately, Bloomberg misleadingly measured these costs over a brief window in time, which captured only the influences of the worst credit conditions in U.S. history."
Posted by: Fred ||
10/25/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
Do not forget the billions they invested in "green" credits. This institution is fast becoming one of the most corrupt of all time.
#4
And in some parts of the country feral swine have become a significant environmental problem, such that there is neither season nor limit for hunting them.
#5
Swaps are insurance. If interest rates had risen, everyone would be saying how brilliant they are. You always look like an idiot for purchasing insurance that you end up not using. They may end up looking prescient if the crows come home to roost.
Virginia Democratic candidate R. Creigh Deeds said Friday that he was confused and frustrated by statements from senior aides to President Obama that Deeds had rejected their advice in running his campaign for governor as some state party activists denounced what they saw as a betrayal by advisers to a president they helped elect a year ago.
Deeds said he was puzzled by the comments from unnamed Obama administration officials who said that he had virtually no chance to defeat Republican Robert F. McDonnell and that such a loss would reflect on Deeds's failings rather than on Obama's popularity.
They said that Deeds, who has been trailing in the polls, coordinated poorly with the White House and failed to adequately reach out to the constituencies that helped Obama become the first Democrat in 40 years to win Virginia.
"It is frustrating to read, because that's not what we've been hearing from anybody over there," Deeds said. "I'm just not sure where the talk is coming from. It just doesn't make sense. . . . There's been no disagreements between us of which I'm aware."
The Democratic National Committee, under the leadership of Virginia Gov. Timothy M. Kaine (D), has invested heavily in the race, and Obama will rally with Deeds in Norfolk on Tuesday.
Kaine called the remarks "not helpful."
"You don't do this for as long as we've done it and for as long as Creigh's done it without having your own internal sense of having good days and bad days," he said.
Deeds said his effort had seen a surge of volunteers Friday. Activists at an afternoon rally with Sen. James Webb (D) in Alexandria said they were eager to prove anonymous naysayers wrong, even those from their party's top echelon.
But some Democrats also expressed deep worry that the public disagreement with Washington could hurt efforts to turn out the Democratic base, which polls have shown lacks enthusiasm for Deeds, and could damage Democratic candidates for lieutenant governor, attorney general and the House of Delegates.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/25/2009 00:00 ||
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Welcome to the bottom of the bus. Lots of good people already there.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
10/25/2009 12:33 Comments ||
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Turnabout's fair play - Virginia Dems have been exasperating the rest of us for years. :-(
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
10/25/2009 12:34 Comments ||
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"Confused" is he? I believe chronically nieve might be a more appropriate descriptor.
When the President of the United States goes on the road, the number of reporters wanting to cover him is so large that a special "pool'' is created to cover the events for the rest of the press corps.
Ted Mann of The Day of New London was the designated pooler for a brief visit in Stamford that was made by President Barack Obama and U.S. Sen. Christopher J. Dodd before they both headed off to a fundraiser for Dodd at the Stamford Hilton. Dodd and Obama met with Bruce T. Moore, Sr., the president of the small business in Stamford.
The pool reports rarely get published in full in newspapers and are often read only by reporters. But Capitol Watch is providing the pool reports as filed by Mann from Stamford.
The latest report is as follows:
"At 4:48 the motorcade arrives, and a lightning quick visit from Dodd and POTUS ensues.
POTUS and Dodd get a brief tour of the office from Moore Sr., while cameras snap away from the opposite side of a small window. Out in the garage bay proper, workers turned wrenches until POTUS approached, greeting them and offering a warning to Dodd, who trailed behind.
"Chris, don't hop onto one of these," POTUS advised. "We don't want you to get hurt."
Posted by: Fred ||
10/25/2009 00:00 ||
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President Obama helped raise $600,000 Friday for Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick's reelection campaign -- and it looks as if the governor is going to need it.
Governor Patrick faces an uphill battle in his bid for reelection in 2010, largely due to voters' perceptions of how he has handled the state's economy. Recent polls show him trailing his Republican challengers, despite the fact that registered Democrats outnumber Republicans in Massachusetts 3 to 1.
At a fundraising luncheon Friday, the president said, "I want everybody to understand this: What happens in Massachusetts is going to have implications all across the country."
Posted by: Fred ||
10/25/2009 00:00 ||
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"I want everybody to understand this: What happens in Massachusetts is going to have implications all across the country."*
The week began with a hoax, a fake press conference at the National Press Club in Washington during which the biggest business lobby in town, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, seemed to be suddenly embracing climate legislation. But, as it turned out, they weren't. Rather, so to speak, it was a set-up...
It turned out it wasn't the real Chamber of Commerce, as the actual Chamber of Commerce revealed when one of its officials dramatically interrupted the event, spoiling the send-up. No, the real chamber still opposes cap-and-trade. Environmentalists, disappointed the news was fake, still celebrated the imposters behind it, the corporate pranksters the Yes Men. They "celebrated" them for perpetrating a hoax? Had the pranksters the Yes Men gone to the environmentalists' homes that evening, announced they were the environmentalists themselves, and porked their wives would the environmentalists have applauded that, too? How about if they'd held up a couple liquor stores on the way, leaving the environmentalists' business cards behind as evidence?
It has been a rough stretch for the chamber, which has been in the news constantly of late, as the symbol of dwindling business opposition to climate legislation some now consider inevitable. In the last month, the chamber has had several big-name defections over its stance on climate change (which includes opposing not just legislation, but occasionally the very science itself): Apple, Pacific Gas & Electric, PNM Resources and Exelon have all left. Nike, for the same reason, resigned from the chamber's board of directors. Apple once lost a significant government contract because they were against war and stuff. PG&E used to have a commercial that centered on blue whales, long after the days when they may have fired their plants with whale oil. And Nike would probably be better off producing hippy sandals rather than running shoes; that way they could shoe those who used to be conspicuous outside their doors because they paid Indonesian workers more than the prevailing wage in Indonesia but less than the prevailing wage in the U.S. of A...
Several of those companies, including Exelon and PNM, are members of another business alliance that, by week's end, was holding a decidedly different demonstration on Capitol Hill. The U.S. Climate Action Partnership, a group that also includes Chrysler, ConocoPhillips and Alcoa, held a green technology showcase today strategically set amid congressional office buildings. Exelon is the largest owner of nuclear plants in the U.S., but it's a holding company not a developer. Chrysler, except for the minivan and the P.T. Cruiser, is on its last legs, having already dumped Jeep. Conoco Phillips is a dwindling oil company, the result of a merger between two second-tier companies who succeeded in creating a bigger second-tier company. And Alcoa used to be a production powerhouse -- we don't hear much from them lately and I'm assuming they're being beaten out by overseas suppliers.
DuPont was showing off a corn-based carpeting that could one day blanket your office building. Duke Energy brought diagrams of the $2.35 billion "cleaner" coal plant it is building in southern Indiana, set to be the world's largest integrated gasification combined cycle plant when it comes online in 2011. General Electric was demonstrating its line of smart-grid appliances, which would automatically adjust to eco-friendly settings during peak energy hours, should power companies start charging more for energy used at 6 p.m. than at 10 a.m. And Dow Chemicals was introducing congressional staffers and reporters to solar-powered shingles a roofer could tack onto your home starting in 2011. That's all really neat stuff, no doubt, but I fail to see how it's going to make us more competetive. Power companies charging more for at-home use would tend to make us less competetive, and the solar-powered shingles would have to be a.) cost competetive with asphalt shingles or at least ceramic shingles; b.) tie to a power storage system, which would in turn c.) tie to an alternator system that could provide house current. Naturally this would d.) be overridden by the power company, which would continue providing power, probably at a premium, on those days or in those hours when the shingles weren't up to carrying the load...
The common denominator among all of the technology in the room was that it anticipates a world, and an economy, in which there is climate legislation. Rather than trying to produce something that's competetive in the market...
"The focus is to show what can happen, and what's going to happen, if we get a price on carbon," said Tad Segal, a spokesman for USCAP. "And we expect to see that regardless of how cold it gets..."
The organization, which formed in early 2007, marrying both big business and traditional environmental groups like the Natural Resources Defense Council, is actively advocating for the kind of climate bill the chamber opposes. Segal said USCAP isn't necessarily trying to fill the void where the chamber's voice has grown outdated, and several companies still remain members of both groups. USCAP, which is entirely led by the member companies' CEOs, has no actual staff in Washington.
Still, with the weighty reputation of many of its members, USCAP represents the growing segment of the business community that doesn't just accept climate legislation, but that also considers it a business opportunity.
That migration of influential business interests -- and, perhaps, the waning of the chamber's muscle -- also offers a counterbalance to a more curious trend. Poll numbers released this week by the Pew Research Center show that fewer Americans today believe global warming is a serious problem than just a year ago. Only 35 percent agreed with that statement, down from 44 percent in April of 2008. And only 57 percent say there is solid evidence the Earth is warming, down from 71 percent a year ago.
If both trends continue, it will be an odd moment in environmental history when Big Business is more progressive than the average American.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/25/2009 00:00 ||
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Progressive politics used to mean something quite different, back in Teddy Roosevelt's day: "To destroy this invisible Government, to dissolve the unholy alliance between corrupt business and corrupt politics is the first task of the statesmanship of the day." - 1912 Progressive Party Platform. To hell with climate legislation, how about enforcing antitrust legislation?
President Obama, on a whirlwind visit to Boston yesterday, linked Governor Deval Patrick's political fate to the fate of the nation, telling Patrick supporters at a downtown fund-raiser that the governor had made the kind of hard choices the country needs to make to put itself on a stronger course.
Sweeping into town for the fund-raiser and to deliver a speech on clean energy at MIT, Obama said Patrick deserves credit for implementing near-universal health care, investing in education, and making the alternative energy and biotech industries a priority. If voters fail to recognize this hard work in next year's state election, the president said, it will not bode well for the United States.
"When the people of states reward the courageous and hard-working governors like that, that has implications for our nation as a whole,'' Obama said at a 125-person reception at the Westin Copley Place.
Otherwise, Obama said, other political leaders will say "then maybe I shouldn't, as a member of Congress or as a senator, take some chances and take some tough stands in pursuit of that same vision.''
The fund-raiser, composed of the reception and a larger ballroom gathering, demonstrated one of Patrick's advantages in what is expected to be a difficult reelection campaign: having the president of the United States, a close friend and political soul mate, shower him with praise and help him raise money. Patrick aides said the fund-raiser would bring in more than $600,000 for him, running mate Lieutenant Governor Timothy Murray, and the Massachusetts Democratic Party - although the events appeared to not be fully booked.
"There's not a tougher time to be governor than right now,'' Obama said.
Several audience members shouted out, "Or President!''
"And yet, without losing his cool, losing that steady inner calm that he has, Deval has gone about the business,'' Obama continued, highlighting several accomplishments of Patrick's term, including tougher ethics laws, a push for clean energy, and an overhaul of the transportation system.
Even at MIT, where Obama called on the United States to be a world leader in alternative energy, he made a point of trumpeting Patrick's leadership, calling him a "champion of science and technology.''
At the ballroom event, Patrick launched into an animated campaign speech similar to the ones that helped him get elected three years ago. The tone - it was Patrick's most forceful speech yet in his reelection campaign - was a far cry from the somber nature of his recent appearances, addressing the widening state budget crisis.
"You fired up?'' Patrick shouted into the microphone after coming onto the stage, using Obama's trademark rallying cry from the 2008 election. "Ready to go?''
The governor then ticked off several of what he considers his administration's big achievements.
"And no, no, I have not yet mastered the ways of the career politician,'' Patrick said. "I admit that. Because I don't wake up every day thinking about reelection, or how to make myself look good on the evening news, or how to go along to get along. I wake up thinking about you. How to make a better commonwealth. And there is more to accomplish, so much more.''
He listed closing the achievement gap in education, controlling health care costs, and creating more jobs among his biggest priorities.
"Give us four more years, and we will finish what we started,'' he said.
The Massachusetts Republican Party seized on Obama's trip to point out several of Patrick's missteps in its "Memo to the White House Traveling Press Pool.'' Referring to Patrick as "Disappointment Deval,'' the memo noted his low approval ratings, the high unemployment rate in the state, and the political heat he has taken for signing a boost in the sales tax rate this summer.
Patrick faces three opponents in the governor's race: Treasurer Timothy P. Cahill, who is running as an independent; Republican Charles Baker, a former health care executive; and Republican Christy Mihos, a Cape Cod businessman.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/25/2009 00:00 ||
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A Senate plan to tackle global warming would add about $100 a year to the energy costs for a typical household, according to an analysis by the Environmental Protection Agency. If you can't trust the word of the government who can you trust?
The analysis released late Friday by the office of Sen. Barbara Boxer, who heads the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, generally mirrors the cost projected by the EPA when it examined similar legislation that the House passed in the summer.
The Democratic bill calls for cutting greenhouse gases from power plants and large industrial facilities by shifting energy use away from fossil fuels, especially coal. It would cap emissions and allow trading of pollution allowances to mitigate the cost.
Boxer, D-Calif., has scheduled hearings this coming week on the bill. The committee will hear from Obama administration officials, including the EPA, on Tuesday.
President Barack Obama, in a speech Friday in Boston, said he believes "a consensus" is emerging in Congress on the climate issue. But he also accused some opponents of making "cynical claims that contradict the overwhelming scientific evidence" that the earth is becoming warmer in an attempt to derail legislation.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/25/2009 00:00 ||
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A government scheme to completely restructure the energy economy of our country and it is only going to cost me less than 10 bucks a month? Here, hold my wallet while I think about it.
#3
Barbara Boxer (D-umbshit) is lying through her venomous teeth
Posted by: Frank G ||
10/25/2009 10:16 Comments ||
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#4
Maybe $100/yr in the bill we pay specifically to the gas company (and that includes those who are not on gas....). They obviously don't add on the additional cost for fuel, food, and everything else.
#5
These clowns give a whole new meaning to the words "lying sack of sh*t."
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
10/25/2009 12:37 Comments ||
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They also fail to calculate the cost from unemployment at the coal mines, the railroads transporting it to plants in the frigid midwest, and at the power plants themselves. If eliminating fossil fuels, what exactly are we going to use, if not nuclear power, which is also currently banned from expansion? Oh, I get it! The typical household will freeze to death, ending the problems of overpopulation, underemployment, and they will have no need of health care. Idiots.
The underlying goal of the right wing in America is to get President Obama killed.
So amazingly wrote a Florida journalist a few months ago in a truly offensive e-mail message to a reader. Even more disgraceful, Key West Citizen reporter John Guerra sent this abomination to Stephanie Dubois who so happens to be the press secretary for Congressman Connie Mack (R-Fl.).
Her crime? Sending a press release to Guerra concerning Mack's view of a trigger option in the Democrats' healthcare reform proposal.
Here is the text of Guerra's response as reported by Andrew Breitbart's Big Government Friday:
You know what? I don't believe one word you or other conservatives say. The Republican Party is now a mentally ill group of people who want nothing more than to destroy Obama's first term no matter how much the country needs his policies. I despise your party's activities and the hatred you spew on Fox and other sounding boards for the insurance companies. Please don't you dare get him killed, which is the underlying goal of you right wing nuts.
So this is how a journalist responds to a press release from a member of Congress?
Heaven help us.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/25/2009 00:00 ||
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The Republican Party is now a mentally ill group of people who want nothing more than to destroy Obama's first term no matter how much the country needs his policies.
So this misguided fool believes her own BS. BO is doing very well at destroying his own presidency. Moreover, I thought the Democrats has a lock on the Presidency as well as Congress. They have a 60 vote majority in the Senate. It is blue dog Democrats who are resisting BOs programs. Pelosi, Reid, etc. are blaming it on the Republicans. The Democrats could basically pass whatever they wanted to if they thought there wouldn't be hell to pay with the voters.
#2
Something tells me a lot more democrats in congress are going to be tossing off their beer goggles after the New Year. Might be a bit of rough sledding ahead for Barry and his hooligans.
#4
"Please don't you dare get him killed, which is the underlying goal of you right wing nuts."
If there is an attempt on Bambi's life - and I sincerely hope there isn't, not only because it's just plain wrong but also because we do NOT need a martyr - it will be made by a Leftie, either because Bambi hasn't delivered on all his far-left promises or, more likely, to make a martyr.
These people are insane.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
10/25/2009 22:39 Comments ||
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Anti-government activists in northwestern Pennsylvania -- tax protesters, militia, sovereign citizens who adhere militantly to the U.S. Constitution -- usually surface in court or police standoffs. Sometimes they wind up in prison.
For what might be the first time, a resident with extreme views on government and a court record of vigorously resisting the law is on the ballot for a major office in Erie County.
Waterford Township resident Ebert G. "Bill" Beeman's campaign signs wave in all corners of southeastern Erie County. They sport the Republican Party's pachyderm and promote Beeman's candidacy as the GOP's nominee for the Erie County Council seat in the 6th District.
Beeman's platform -- "reduce spending" -- sounds like the party line. But court records -- including those that show Beeman owes more than $2 million to the Internal Revenue Service -- and Beeman's own words reveal him to be an activist who questions government by flouting it.
If elected to office, it appears Beeman does not want to change county government so much as dismantle it. Beeman, 60, said residents are "coming out of the woodwork" to support him. "They agree we can't continue to live beyond our means," he said.
The party on whose ticket he is running is spending its money to ensure Beeman's defeat. Erie County Republican Party Chairman Brad Moore is urging Republicans to support a write-in campaign by incumbent 6th District Councilman David Mitchell, who had planned on retiring from office.
Moore said Beeman admitted in a July meeting with Erie County Republicans that he was a Libertarian and only sought the Republican nomination to appear mainstream.
Moore said Beeman told him he wants to eliminate the services county government is mandated to provide. "We're a big-tent party," Moore said, "but his views of government are not rational."
Turning back the clock
Beeman is one of five candidates competing to represent the 49,000 citizens of Erie County Council's rural 6th District, which stretches from Edinboro to Corry, and Wattsburg to Union City. His philosophy is simple: "Live within our means."
His vision is radical.
Here's how Beeman says he would tighten the county government belt:
- The Erie County Public Library: Sell it. ("You have more information in a computer at home than you do in that entire library.")
- Tullio Arena: Sell it. ("Get it on the tax rolls.")
- The Erie County Prison: Empty it of nonviolent offenders like deadbeat parents and pot smokers. ("All the employees running the facility do nothing productive.")
- Airport runway extension: Ditch it. ("No planes land there anyway.")
- Beeman also advocates a 10 percent pay cut for all nonbargaining county employees, because, he said, they produce nothing.
"I want to turn back the clock," he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/25/2009 00:00 ||
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The Obama administration allowed a Fox News Channel reporter to interview Treasury Department "pay czar" Kenneth Feinberg after other network news executives said they wouldn't use a pool arrangement to speak to him unless Fox was included.
The dispute over the interview on Thursday comes in the midst of an ongoing battle between the White House and Fox over the network's coverage of President Barack Obama.
The White House said it had received requests from TV networks to speak to Feinberg and had asked that the interviews be recorded through the networks' pool arrangement. The pool is set up and paid for by ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN and Fox to save time and resources, so a single camera crew can record interviews done by separate network correspondents.
The White House said Fox had not asked for an interview and the White House sent its request for a pool reporter without including Fox. Bureau chiefs held a quick conference call and decided that their networks would not do the interviews unless Fox was given the opportunity, said a network executive who spoke on condition of anonymity because the person did not wish to be a part of the White House-Fox tiff.
After this decision was relayed, the White House quickly agreed to include Fox, the person said on Friday. "The White House has demonstrated our willingness to exclude Fox from ... television interviews," administration spokesman Joshua Earnest said Friday, "but yesterday we didn't."
Fox representatives Irena Brigant and Dana Klinghoffer did not immediately return a phone call and e-mails seeking comment. In an on-air report, Fox said the administration had specified that "all members of the pool were welcome except for Fox News."
In its report, Fox said the White House "relented" after the pool's decision.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/25/2009 00:00 ||
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#3
They know two things. First by excluding FOX they will help fuel the fire and further look like Obama stooges. Second, they know that after they cut out FOX all reporting will be fed to the networks by the Obama staff and anyone that does not parrot Obama will be cut and Obama will be on the road to State run news.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
10/25/2009 12:45 Comments ||
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I'm afraid I can see both sides in this whizzing contest. The Publicans lost control of Congress because they were trying to act like Dems, something the Dems do ever so much better. Therefore they should be acting like Publicans if they want to regain control, which doesn't mean putting time, money, and other resources behind an Olympia Snow clone or, worse, a new Arlen Specter.
On the other hand, to rebuild their missing majority they've got to elect somebody. Without the headcount they're in the minority by definition. Supporting the third party in a two-party system's a sure enough recipe for disaster.
The time and place to have had this fight should have been in the primaries, where Publicans are free to throw pies at each other, kick, bite, scratch, and call names. Once you've settled on a nominee you should get behind him/her/it. If you had the good sense to nominate an actual Publican in the primaries that makes it easier.
Some of the most prominent names in national Republican Party politics are lining up against the GOP nominee in a key upstate New York House special election, the latest being former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum, who weighed in Friday.
In endorsing Conservative Party nominee Doug Hoffman in the Nov. 3 contest, Santorum joined former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, former House Majority Leader Dick Armey, Minnesota Rep. Michelle Bachmann, former Tennessee Sen. Fred Thompson, and former presidential candidate Steve Forbes, all of whom announced their backing for the conservative third-party candidate this week.
Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty suggested Friday that he might be the next well-known Republican to break with the party establishment and support Hoffman. When asked about the race Friday during an interview with ABC, he expressed frustration with GOP nominee Dede Scozzafava and said he will "probably" endorse in the race.
Scozzafava, a state assemblywoman who supports gay marriage, abortion rights and has a close relationship with leading labor officials in her region, has been the target of sustained criticism from conservatives who claim that she is so liberal that they cannot in good conscience support her candidacy. As evidence, they point to her unofficial endorsement from the leading liberal blog Daily Kos.
While Scozzafava can point to many other prominent conservatives who support her bid--including former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and Republican leaders on Capitol Hill--this week's surge of leading conservatives to Hoffman's camp is a troubling sign for her campaign and the national GOP establishment since several of the recent Hoffman endorsers have significant followings and represent the most energetic part of the Republican base.
"I would prefer to not have to go up to New York to endorse and campaign for the conservative candidate. But Republicans lost the race when they nominated Dede," Armey told POLITICO.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/25/2009 00:00 ||
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Yah, the primaries.
I got the impression they didn't have a primary because this was a special election.
#2
I think that's right. The party elders chose Scuzzy because they thought she could win. Rocks for brains.
Posted by: Steve White ||
10/25/2009 0:57 Comments ||
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Even if you are right, and this "isn't the time or the place", the fact is...electing her isn't gonna do one damn thing about the current Democrat majority in the House if you are going strictly by party labels. They're still down, what, by 50 seats? BFD if they nominally get one more, especially if she would be to the left of the idiot Maine twins. May as well vote for the guy with the honesty to actually call himself a Democrat, if that is the likely case.
Defeating her, however, WILL get the local and national parties' attention. What the hell were they thinking, anyway, when they nominated her? If I didn't know she was a "Republican", based on her stands, I'd think she was a Democrat. Scuzzy is a classic RINO.
Sure, this makes Meghan McCain and her buddies all warm and squishy inside, because this is what "cool kidz" vote like, but the rest of us would appreciate fewer Dempublican candidates.
There's third world banana republics that have more "diversity" in their candidates than we have. This is just the most recent, glaring example.
If both parties are gonna blur the lines between where they stand like this, what the hell is the point in having them? Just merge, call yourselves the Aristocratic Party (since they all agree they are our betters and not public servants) and get on with it, then.
When Rep. John McHugh resigned to become the Secretary of the Army, Republicans in NY-23 hastily prepared a candidate selection process that assigned weighted votes to the county chairpersons of the districts eleven counties.
As the county chair for Clinton County, where 11% of the districts Republicans live, Janet Duprey wielded power over 11% of the districts ballots. Unfortunately for Duprey, Clinton County Republicans were dead set against the Scozzafava nomination.
In the first ballot of the candidate selection process, Scozzafava led the pack of three contenders with 45% of the ballots cast. Initially, Duprey consented to the wishes of her delegation and cast her vote for Paul Maroun, who was viewed as more conservative. In the second ballot, however, Assemblywoman Duprey abruptly changed her vote to Scozzafava, sealing Scozzafavas nomination.
Duprey has since acknowledged that her delegation had wanted Maroun as their nominee, admitting that the Clinton County committee members voted for the candidate they supported. Paul Maroun received the majority of the votes. Janet Duprey later justified her shift by saying that it was clear that Dede was the winner Everyone wants a winner.
Old fashioned smoke filled room politics, for which I have some affection. Now there may be some contested elections for county committee seats at the next election. The big loser here will be Newt.
#6
just saw Newt Gingrich on Fox trying to spin this as respecting "local authority". That punk should STFU and get off the stage. He's an idiot and a disagreeable one with his ugly personal history and ethics. Now is a great time to pick a fight and let the GOP beltway bubbleheads know they aren't in control any more
Posted by: Frank G ||
10/25/2009 8:33 Comments ||
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Supporting the third party in a two-party system's a sure enough recipe for disaster.
So, if the 'professional' GOP country clubbers are the third party in votes, it's their turn to dissolve into the Arlan Spectors they wannabe and officially, as in practice, become Democrats. Then we are indeed back to a two party system rather and a one party system with sock puppet opponents.
#8
I'm with Blondie on this one. This is a special election to fill a vacant seat. This is the perfect time to pick a fight with the party elders. Let them know that this is a taste of what they'll get if they pull this nonsense in 2010.
There are indeed plenty of county chairs and committees that could stand to be re-stocked ...
Posted by: Steve White ||
10/25/2009 12:01 Comments ||
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Let's also recognize that this means the Northeast and Left Coast will probably become as solidly left wing donk as the South once was conservative donk. But that will not be the end of the world as one party rule has a way of breaking down eventually. And those in the middle will have a choice, not an echo. Best to recognize the situation for what it is rather than patch our differences over by meeting in the middle.
#10
Scozzafava, a state assemblywoman who supports gay marriage, abortion rights and has a close relationship with leading labor officials in her region, has been the target of sustained criticism from conservatives
Why the heck isn't she running as a Democrat? What she's for sounds more like their agenda. Does she even care what her constituents are for?
#11
Once upon a time in a land far far away a long long time ago there lived a Rino and a Conservative. Well as things will happen the Rino asked the conservative if she would marry him and she said no! and they lived happily ever after.
#12
What Blondie and Steve White said. All I'd add is that this is the perfect time and place for Sarah to fire a really large-bore shot across the R(INO)NC "leadership's" bow. I'm not talking about just a Hoffman endorsement via her MySpace page - I'm talking about hopping on a plane to Albany, showing up in the district, speaking at campaign events, working the phones and knocking on doors during the day, and bunking in with local families at night.
If she did this, there's a good chance that both the real Dem and the DIABLO (I love that, btw - props to the other Abu!) would get absolutely plowed under on election day. Sure, not a hell of a lot of near-term impact on the House floor, but if it worked, Sarah could firmly establish her ability to work around the MSM's hostility and move the needle for conservative candidates. The Trunk leadership could then ignore her only at the risk of becoming a permanent minority.
Posted by: Ricky bin Ricardo (Abu Babaloo) ||
10/25/2009 20:19 Comments ||
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President Obama's school age daughters have not been vaccinated against the H1N1 flu virus. White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs says the vaccine is not available to them based on their risk.
The Centers for Disease Control recommend that children ages 6 months through 18 years of age receive a vaccination against the H1N1 flu virus. At this time only children with chronic medical conditions are receiving the vaccination because their immune system is not strong enough to fight off the strain. The CDC also says a regular seasonal flu shot does not protect against the virus. His won't but mine should? Mmmmmm Mmmmmm Mmmmmmm Less here than meets the eye. While children should receive the vaccine, it's in short supply. If the kids are healthy they can wait while more high-risk kids get the vaccine first.
Agreed. Can you imagine the outcry if they got first dibs when more vulnerable infants are dying from H1N1?
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
During consideration of H.R. 3126, legislation to establish a Consumer Financial Protection Agency (CFPA), Democrats on the House Financial Services Committee voted to pass an amendment offered by Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) that will make ACORN eligible to play a role in setting regulations for financial institutions. 
Republicans and Democrats on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee agreed Friday night on language for a wide-reaching subpoena of Countrywide Financial's VIP lending program as part of an investigation into allegations of influence peddling by the company at all levels of government, committee aides said. 
(Bloomberg) -- New Jersey taxpayers are sending almost $1 million a month to a partnership run by Goldman Sachs Group Inc. for protection against rising interest costs on bonds that the state redeemed more than a year ago. 
When the President of the United States goes on the road, the number of reporters wanting to cover him is so large that a special "pool'' is created to cover the events for the rest of the press corps.
President Obama helped raise $600,000 Friday for Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick's reelection campaign -- and it looks as if the governor is going to need it.
The week began with a hoax, a fake press conference at the National Press Club in Washington during which the biggest business lobby in town, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, seemed to be suddenly embracing climate legislation.
President Obama, on a whirlwind visit to Boston yesterday, linked Governor Deval Patrick's political fate to the fate of the nation, telling Patrick supporters at a downtown fund-raiser that the governor had made the kind of hard choices the country needs to make to put itself on a stronger course.
A Senate plan to tackle global warming would add about $100 a year to the energy costs for a typical household, according to an analysis by the Environmental Protection Agency. 
The underlying goal of the right wing in America is to get President Obama killed.
Anti-government activists in northwestern Pennsylvania -- tax protesters, militia, sovereign citizens who adhere militantly to the U.S. Constitution -- usually surface in court or police standoffs. Sometimes they wind up in prison. 
The Obama administration allowed a Fox News Channel reporter to interview Treasury Department "pay czar" Kenneth Feinberg after other network news executives said they wouldn't use a pool arrangement to speak to him unless Fox was included.
