A Democratic Hill staffer emailed Politico's Mike Allen to report a scene that took place at the Chicago airport Sunday:
On a plane from O'Hare to DCA that was already delayed 1 hour...rolled out of the gate and then stopped while trying to get on the runway. The pilot came on and said there were 30 planes ahead of us and we were going to power down for 30 min and wait in line. The seatbelt sign was turned off and passengers walked about. One of the passengers, the Chairman of the Judiciary Committee, walked to the back of the plane. 5 minutes later the pilot came on the loud speaker and said, "folks we've been given the go ahead to take off." As Leahy walked backed to his seat someone said "thanks Senator!" to which he replied "the pilot said he'd do his best." Chairman Leahy rules!
Of course, if you were one of those peasants whose plane had priority over the Senator's, you got to wait even longer than you should have because a powerful politician pulled rank on you. "Chairman Leahy rules" is right--he's one of your rulers, and don't you forget it.
Posted by: Mike ||
06/14/2010 08:40 ||
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President Hugo Chavez on Sunday proposed changing the name of one of the world's largest oil companies and a major supplier of crude to the United States, Venezuela's state-run PDVSA, to Socialist Venezuelan Petroleum.
During 11 years in office, Chavez has added a star to Venezuela's flag, created a new time zone half an hour out of sync with its neighbours and even renamed the country -- it is now called the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela.
The president has put large swathes of the economy under government control, from multibillion dollar oil projects to supermarket chains and coffee roasters.
The charismatic leader, often accused by critics of creating a personality cult around himself, refrains from putting his own name on streets or public works. But most companies swept into his nationalization drive now bear names linked to his leftist politics or to South American independence hero Simon Bolivar.
"This country has started to be governed by the people, by the working class, and this is a tool of the working class," Chavez said on his weekly TV show.
"The new homeland, the new PDVSA, Socialist Venezuelan Petroleum," he said, broadcasting from a heavy crude upgrader controlled by ConocoPhillips until a 2007 nationalization.
PDVSA is ranked as the world's fourth largest oil company in an annual survey by industry publication Petroleum Intelligence Weekly. It is South America's top oil exporter and a key supplier of crude to the United States.
Chavez said he ordered a study to see if the name could be changed.
#1
Oh, please, with sugar on top and extra sprinkles! That would be hilarious. Liberals in the US would squirm terribly, divided eight different ways between those who wanted to openly support "socialist oil", those terrified of being called socialists, those who hate oil and gas of all kinds, the alternative energy types who would "betray socialism by going green", etc. Hee hee.
And the conservatives would just sneer at them, boycott socialist oil, and chant "drill baby, drill!", while the liberals seethed.
#3
with a fill-up, you'll get a DVD of Obama speeches, imprinted with an RFID to make sure you watch them all. If you get less than a fill-up, you get two DVDs
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/14/2010 21:03 Comments ||
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#4
well at least tHugo is just being honest about the name he's proposing. give him that.
Posted by: Mike Hunt ||
06/14/2010 23:46 Comments ||
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#5
well, at least tHugo is being honest about the name he's proposing. give him that. As opposed to some of our politicians.
Posted by: Mike Hunt ||
06/14/2010 23:48 Comments ||
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The Obama administration's management of the BP oil spill cleanup now appears to be a race for money.
Reports Sunday indicate that President Obama will direct BP to set up an escrow account from which damage claims by individuals and businesses along the Gulf Coast will be paid. If BP refuses, Mr. Obama is prepared to argue that he has the legal authority to force BP's hand, the reports suggest.
The move comes as BP considers whether to pay dividends to its shareholders. Members of Congress including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi have demanded that BP refrain from paying dividends to shareholders at a time when BP has enormous and open-ended financial obligations in the Gulf.
Since when does she have any say?
In Britain, however, the dividend payments are a large reason why BP's stock is seen as being so desirable. To delay dividend payments at a time when BP stock has already lost some 40 percent of its value would cast the company into even greater uncertainty.
#2
Actually, this is part and parcel for this administration. It is not a question of providing money for the claims; it is a question of WHO decides what money is given to whom. People tend to have a warm feeling in their wallet for whomever provides them with $$$. Take BP out of the picture for compensating people and the bureaucrat takes the credit.
Posted by: Mike ||
06/14/2010 13:26 Comments ||
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#4
The soon-to-be-former Congressman has this on his web site:
Washington, DC, Jun 14 - U.S. Rep. Bob Etheridge (D-Lillington) released the following statement on the viral video which appeared on the internet today:
I have seen the video posted on several blogs. I deeply and profoundly regret my reaction and I apologize to all involved. Throughout my many years of service to the people of North Carolina, I have always tried to treat people from all viewpoints with respect. No matter how intrusive and partisan our politics can become, this does not justify a poor response. I have and I will always work to promote a civil public discourse.
Even though he's not trying to be funny, that "statement" is hilarious! Nothing but 100% pure grade-A bullshit.
#5
The first sentence of his statement is the key. I bet Rep. Asshat(D) misses the good ol' pre-Internet days when he could freely abuse the Little People™ and they had no public platform to broadcast it.
Posted by: Dar ||
06/14/2010 14:28 Comments ||
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#6
Looks like Mr. Etheridge is going to have trouble adjusting to the private sector.
#9
Probably to the extent they're taxing our patience.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/14/2010 17:20 Comments ||
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#10
Simply incredible. I would advise Rep. Etheridge to exercise due caution when taking such action. That young fellow had every right to kick him squaring in the nuts and break free. There are many men who would not tolerate such abuse.
#11
I'd like him to take a swing at some 60-YO Marines I know. He wouldn't survive it, which would be a GOOD thing.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
06/14/2010 19:04 Comments ||
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#12
Maybe the young man who was manhandled turd-handled by the Right Honorable Congressman will wake up tomorrow with severe neck pain and start having nightmares which prevents him from finishing his education. Then, he could get that other proud scion of the Tarheel state, John Edwards, to sue the pants off the Right Honorable Congressman.
Man, would that be irony, or what?
Or, at the very least, file assault charges against him.
President Obama urged reluctant lawmakers Saturday to quickly approve nearly $50 billion in emergency aid to state and local governments, saying the money is needed to avoid "massive layoffs of teachers, police and firefighters" and to support the still-fragile economic recovery.
In a letter to congressional leaders, Obama defended last year's huge economic stimulus package, saying it helped break the economy's free fall, but argued that more spending is urgent and unavoidable. "We must take these emergency measures," he wrote in an appeal aimed primarily at members of his own party.
The letter comes as rising concern about the national debt is undermining congressional support for additional spending to bolster the economy. Many economists say more spending could help bring down persistently high unemployment, but with Republicans making an issue of the record deficits run up during the recession, many Democratic lawmakers are eager to turn off the stimulus tap.
"I think there is spending fatigue," House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer (D-Md.) said recently. "It's tough in both houses to get votes."
Democrats, particularly in the House, have voted for politically costly initiatives at Obama's insistence, most notably health-care and climate change legislation. But faced with an electorate widely viewed as angry and hostile to incumbents, many are increasingly reluctant to take politically unpopular positions.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/14/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
Obumbles wants eveyone to pay for blue-state fiscal irresponsibility - For example California's 'greece-like' union pensions and benefits. Not to mention their fat paychecks while everyone else is trimming down and doing without.
"massive layoffs of teachers, police and firefighters"
This is a THREAT that they will cut education, protection and firefighters first -- before their 'pet projects' not to mention their support illegal aliens.
After all we wouldn't want them to go bankrupt - then they would be able to re-negotiate their union contacts. Can't have that!
#4
As a California resident, I've been treated over the years to constant politicing by the California teachers union (CTA) and democrat politicians abiout how poorly funded California schools are, with numbers batted around like less than $9,000 per pupil, and how we need to spend more and more for our failing schools.
The CATO intitute just released a study, referenced here in Rantburg today, that the honest per-pupil spending for the LA Unified School District (total budget divided by students) is over $25,000 per pupil. More than many private schools of much better quality.
So seeing this plea by our Dipsh*t in Chief for more taxpayer money for union teachers.....makes my blood boil the way we are lied to with such ease by the media and politicians....
#5
So, when the financial system finally melts down and we end up with triple-digit inflation, all these public employee unions will start lobbying for the government to step in and save the pensions for which they labored so long and hard.
Then, Stinky Hoyer will be on the Sunday shows complaining that it's all poor old Dubya's fault.
When can we start using RICO statutes on sate and federal lawmakers?
#6
#5 So, when the financial system finally melts down and we end up with triple-digit inflation, all these public employee unions will start lobbying for the government... Dash
No "lobbying".... lots of looting, burning, and rioting would be my prediction. No one will stand in line for soup this time around.
A nonprofit founded by Rep. Gregory Meeks took in more than $1.2 million in taxpayer money over the past 15 years with little to no oversight as to how it was spent, The Post has found.
Meeks funneled pork-barrel money to the Rockaway Peninsula Civic Association as a state assemblyman in the 1990s. He incorporated the charity, which was once based at his parents' house in Far Rockaway, in 1983. It is the second suspicious nonprofit linked to the Queens Democrat.
The organization had grand plans for a comprehensive after-school program for "at risk" students, similar to the successful Jackie Robinson program in Brooklyn. But its David N. Dinkins Center for Physical Culture fizzled by 2005, leaving only a skeleton program for seniors.
That program continued to receive city money until 2008, although it is not clear how it spent the cash since the association has no offices or staff. It supposedly organizes activities at a city-run community center, but purchases no materials.
Mildred Kenchen, 82, the lone senior at the program Friday morning, said about 12 members meet to do arts and crafts, knit or play games with occasional trips for lunch or to the movies.
Hilda Gross, the president of the association -- and a friend of Meeks' late mother -- usually shows up, but wasn't there Friday. Kenchen said the seniors have always paid their own way for big trips, saving up for out-of-town jaunts. "Each month we put so much aside," she said.
City Councilman James Sanders, who routinely sent money for the senior program, stopped the cash last year because the nonprofit's paperwork was in disarray, according to his office.
Payments to Rockaway Peninsula were criticized by the good-government group Change-NY in the 1990s as an example of a waste of taxpayer dollars, but the group escaped scrutiny by routinely refusing to file nonprofit reports.
The organization's tax filings from 1996 to 2001 were not filed until February 2003, a violation of charity laws. The documents were slipshod and handwritten, and did not fully detail how the taxpayer money it received was spent.
The returns for 1996, 1997 and 1998 make vague reference to the "acquisition" of a community-center site for the Dinkins program. But the headquarters for the program, which did its work in local schools, was the second floor of a dilapidated house on Beach Channel Drive in Far Rockaway.
The group did not purchase the apartment, according to property records.
The organization spent just over $1.1 million on the Dinkins program from 1996 to 2005, according to its tax forms. But the forms lack details on who received salaries and stipends.
Joel Zuller, the Brooklyn accountant who prepared the form, did not respond to requests for comment.
Gross said she took no salary and when the city money stopped, the group funded itself. "My work is done out of the goodness of my heart," she said.
Meeks refused to answer any questions about the charity Friday. Dinkins, whose name was used for the program but who does not appear to have been involved, did not return calls.
Meeks was subpoenaed in April as part of a federal probe into the New Direction Local Development Corp., a Queens charity he founded with state Sen. Malcolm Smith. Smith is also under investigation.
The Post revealed that the group took in hundreds of thousands of dollars, including taxpayer money, with little accountability for its spending. A Hurricane Katrina relief fund set up by the charity spent only a fraction of its collected money for victims.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/14/2010 00:00 ||
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President Barack Obama flew into San Francisco Tuesday night, spoke at two receptions, had dinner with some high-rolling donors and raised $1.7 million for Sen. Barbara Boxer and Senate Democrats.
This was the second fundraiser the president has done for Boxer in just over a month, and raised $600,000 -- bringing to $1.1 million the amount Obama has brought in for her.
"When it comes to Barbara Boxer," Obama told a VIP reception at the Fairmont Hotel, "if she calls and says, 'I need some help,' then we're going to give her some help."
Boxer is expected to have the toughest re-election battle in her almost 18 years in the Senate.
"They have Sarah Palin and we have the man I'm going to bring on stage right now," Boxer said, referring to Palin's endorsement of former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina. Whether Boxer faces Fiorina, former Rep. Tom Campbell or Irvine Assemblyman Chuck DeVore will be decided at the June 8 primary.
Fiorina called Obama's visit to San Francisco for Boxer "a rescue mission not in the Gulf, but instead in California to save Barbara Boxer's 28-year political career." Boxer was a House member and Marin County supervisor before being elected to the Senate.
The prices for Tuesday's events escalated with how close one got to the president. It cost $250 for tickets to the general reception, $2,000 for the smaller VIP reception and $35,200 per couple for a private dinner with Obama.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/14/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
And that word, "change"...what happened to it Mr. Boy Prez? If ever there should be change it's in Califlunkia.
#2
Califlunkia, nice one George.
Boxer should be looking over her shoulder, this time she will face the perfect storm of voter anger, midterm indifference and her own stupidity displayed relentlessly in 30 second spots, in her own voice.
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.
President Obama urged reluctant lawmakers Saturday to quickly approve nearly $50 billion in emergency aid to state and local governments, saying the money is needed to avoid "massive layoffs of teachers, police and firefighters" and to support the still-fragile economic recovery.
