THE BURNED OVER DISTRICT

A British man was jailed Tuesday for raping two of his daughters and fathering nine children over 27 years, a case with echoes of Austria's Josef Fritzl.

The two daughters were made pregnant 19 times; there were nine births, five miscarriages and five terminations. Seven of the children are alive but suffer genetic deformities.

The father, who cannot be named for legal reasons banning the identification of his victims and the surviving children, pleaded guilty Tuesday at Sheffield Crown Court, northern England, and was sentenced to serve 25 life sentences to run concurrently.

The judge said the minimum term the 56-year-old rapist should serve in jail should be 19½ years.

// posted by montag @ 7:14 PM 0 Comments

House Republican Leader John Boehner of Ohio. He said lawmakers "should start listening to the American people, who do not believe increasing government spending is the best way to put our economy back on track." He proposed eliminating the capital gains tax, which is currently 15%, as well as other tax cuts.

// posted by montag @ 6:08 PM 0 Comments

Given the Inspector General's findings of violations of Department policy and Federal law in connection with the politicization of Department hiring, on what basis did the Department determine that the conduct at issue in this lawsuit was within the scope of Mr. Gonzales's employment and that his representation is in the interest of the United States?

// posted by montag @ 6:46 AM 0 Comments

Aiming to save fuel and advance alternative-energy plans, the Army, Navy and Air Force intend to buy thousands of battery-powered, 35-mile-an-hour electric cars and light trucks to provide on-base transport, senior Army officials said.

“The Neighborhood Electric Vehicle [NEV] will be at Fort Belvoir, [Va.,] before Dec. 15.

The Army’s plan has persuaded its sister services to jump on board.

“The good news is that the Air Force and Navy have come to us and said that they want to piggyback on the order. Previously, the Air Force was looking at low-speed vehicles, which are actually still gasoline vehicles. We’ve skipped that and we are going straight to electric. We are eliminating the fuel issue, period,” Bollinger said...

Bollinger said each electric car would use an average of about $400 in electricity per year, compared to the roughly $2,400 in fuel needed to run a gas-powered car, citing General Services Administration figures. Moreover, the 4,000 electric cars will save 11.5 million gallons of fuel per year, he said.

// posted by montag @ 7:20 PM 0 Comments

As part of a rescue agreement with federal regulators, Citigroup will effectively halt dividend payments for the next three years and will agree to restrictions on and review of certain executive compensation, it was announced on Monday. The bank will also put in place the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation’s loan modification plan, which is similar to one it recently announced.

// posted by montag @ 6:49 PM 0 Comments

Discovered by a woman who was walking a trail, the Baldwin Acrosonic piano, model number 987, is intact -- and, apparently, in tune.

Sgt. Adam Hutton of the Harwich Police Department said information has been broadcast to all the other police departments in the Cape Cod area in hopes of drumming up a clue, however minor it may be.

But so far, the investigation is flat.

Also of note: Near the mystery piano -- serial number 733746 -- was a bench, positioned as though someone was about to play.

The piano was at the end of a dirt road, near a walking path to a footbridge in the middle of conservation land near the Cape.

// posted by montag @ 7:26 AM 0 Comments

In one study, Marsha Gold, a senior fellow at Mathematica Policy Research, says that private Medicare Advantage plans “are now widely available nationwide,” even in rural areas, as Congress intended when it revamped the program in 2003.

But the study, to be published in the journal Health Affairs, says that 48 percent of the additional enrollment comes from a type of plan that mimics traditional Medicare and generally does little to coordinate care. Enrollment in these “private fee-for-service plans” has shot up to 2.3 million, from 26,000 in December 2003.

In a separate article, two analysts from the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission, Carlos Zarabozo and Scott Harrison, said that growth in private plans had driven up costs because the government pays them 13 percent more on average than what it would spend for the same beneficiaries in traditional Medicare.

The commission, an independent federal panel that advises Congress, has expressed concern about the disparity for years.

“The higher payment rates have financed what is essentially a Medicare benefit expansion for Medicare Advantage enrollees, without producing any overall savings for the Medicare program, and with increased costs borne by all beneficiaries and taxpayers,” Mr. Zarabozo and Mr. Harrison write.

// posted by montag @ 6:48 AM 0 Comments

Last year, Bud Light sold 5.18bn litres - about 9bn pints - while Snow sold 5.12bn, according to the industry statistics provider Plato Logic. In the first nine months of this year, Snow has sold 5.1bn litres, according to the third-quarter results of the company that makes it, China Resources Snow Breweries (CR Snow). And while sales of Snow are growing at about 20%, those of Bud Light, according to industry estimates, are down in its biggest market, the US, for the same period.

As a result, Snow is believed to now be bigger than Bud Light and its position at the top of the global booze league is likely to be confirmed at the end of the year.

Reviewers at the monthly beer magazine BeerAdvocate rated it "D", describing it as "unimpressive" and "extremely drinkable, like water".

// posted by montag @ 7:15 PM 1 Comments

UBS itself hasn't been charged with any crime. Bank officials say UBS continues to cooperate with investigators. Miami U.S. Attorney R. Alexander Acosta, however, made it clear that investigators will follow leads wherever they take them -- ``to individuals or institutions.''

Much of the sordid tale has been unfolding before a grand jury at the federal courthouse in Fort Lauderdale, where one former UBS banker, Bradley Birkenfeld, already has pleaded guilty to conspiring to defraud the U.S. government and is spilling his secrets big-time.

A much bigger fish -- Raoul Weil, who was chairman and chief executive of UBS global wealth management and business banking -- was indicted this month on a charge of conspiring to help about 17,000 U.S. clients potentially evade taxes by hiding $20 billion in secret offshore accounts.

Prosecutors allege that UBS bankers aided U.S. clients in hiding assets through sham entities, such as charitable trusts and shell corporations, set up around the globe -- in such places as Panama, Hong Kong and Lichtenstein, as well as Switzerland. The bankers allegedly advised customers with secret offshore accounts to misrepresent bank withdrawals as ''loans'' and to use foreign-issued credit cards to avoid detection.

// posted by montag @ 2:30 PM 0 Comments

In Mozambique, special squads of raccoon-size rats are sniffing out lethal explosive devices buried across the countryside, remnants of the country's anticolonial and civil wars of the last century.

In neighboring Tanzania, teams of rats use their twitchy noses to detect TB bacteria in saliva samples from four clinics serving slum neighborhoods. So far this year, the 25 rats trained for the pilot medical project have identified 300 cases of early-stage TB - infections missed by lab technicians with their microscopes. If not for the rodents, many of these victims would have died and others would have spread the disease.

For both TB and land mines, the rats are trained to respond to the sound of a clicker; when the rat makes the scratching motion that means it has detected an explosive or the odor of disease, the handler or trainer responds by snapping the clicker, which means a nut or fruit is on the way.

So why don't the animals just scratch every few minutes to win a treat?

"That would be human behavior," said Weetjens. "Rats are more honest."

// posted by montag @ 1:57 PM 0 Comments

(1) it is the sense of the House of Representatives that the granting of preemptive pardons by the President to senior officials of his administration for acts they may have taken in the course of their official duties is a dangerous abuse of the pardon power;

(2) it is the sense of the House of Representatives that the President should not grant preemptive pardons to senior officials in his administration for acts they may have taken in the course of their official duties;

(3) it is the sense of the House of Representatives that James Madison was correct in his observation that "[i]f the President be connected, in any suspicious manner, with any person, and there be grounds [to] believe he will shelter him, the House of Representatives can impeach him; they can remove him if found guilty";

(4) it is the sense of the House of Representatives that a special investigative commission, or a Select Committee be tasked with investigating possible illegal activities by senior officials of the administration of President George W. Bush, including, if necessary, any abuse of the President's pardon power; and

(5) the next Attorney General of the United States appoint an independent counsel to investigate, and, where appropriate, prosecute illegal acts by senior officials of the administration of President George W. Bush.

// posted by montag @ 12:08 AM 0 Comments

Normally, a big bank would never allow the word of just one executive to carry so much weight. Instead, it would have its risk managers aggressively look over any shoulder and guard against trading or lending excesses.

But many Citigroup insiders say the bank’s risk managers never investigated deeply enough. Because of longstanding ties that clouded their judgment, the very people charged with overseeing deal makers eager to increase short-term earnings — and executives’ multimillion-dollar bonuses — failed to rein them in, these insiders say.

// posted by montag @ 10:44 PM 0 Comments

Hendrick Motorsports confirmed what many NASCAR fans had suspected all season, announcing Wednesday that Jimmie Johnson's number 48 Chevrolet Impala would be put out to stud, ending its career in stock-car racing and living out the rest of its service life siring the cars of tomorrow.

"I'll be sad to see the old warhorse go," Jimmie Johnson said at the car's retirement ceremony, held in the maintenance and breeding garage on Hendrick's 60-acre racing complex. "We've been through a lot together, but I guess it was just time. I have to say, I'm a little envious."

The number 48 car, which traces its own championship lineage back to Cale Yarborough's 1983 number 28 Hardee's Monte Carlo and Dale Earnhardt's 1981 number 3 Wrangler Pontiac, recorded 7 wins, 6 poles, and 15 top-five finishes in 2008 and is expected to command a stud fee approaching a quarter of a million dollars.

// posted by montag @ 6:36 PM 0 Comments

In a sign of how strained families are just to put food on the table, more than 1,000 people are lined up today for bags of groceries at Montebello Park. The single-file line is about a quarter-mile long, and some families have been waiting since 7 a.m.

At the end of the line, families are given a shopping cart and can select groceries for their Thanksgiving dinner.

As the holiday approaches, numerous food giveaways and food collections are taking place throughout the Los Angeles area today. The Los Angeles Regional Foodbank reports a 41% increase in food demand. The problem is, the organization has been able to boost food distribution by only 33%.

// posted by montag @ 4:41 PM 0 Comments

For the first time in 400 years, the beaver has returned to Great Britain.

// posted by montag @ 5:46 PM 0 Comments

Brief remarks by Gov. Rick Perry of Texas:

Gov. Perry expressed concern that Republicans might lose their longtime grip on Texas once President Bush leaves the White House and returns to Crawford.

The governor inquired whether any other states would be willing to offer Mr. Bush a ranch, or even a ranchette. When questioned, Gov. Perry emphasized that he preferred the term "sanctuary" and not "asylum."

He said the Texas Republican Party would be glad to pay for the future former president's relocation and would arrange for all his mail and magazines to be forwarded promptly.

Gov. Perry asked for any interested governors to raise their hands, but there was no response. He said what the heck, he knew it was a long shot, and left the meeting shortly thereafter....

....In closing, Gov. Palin said she was greatly enjoying her visit to Miami. She said that she and her husband planned to take the elevator all the way up to the roof of the hotel, in hopes of seeing the Bahamas and possibly Cuba.

// posted by montag @ 7:32 AM 0 Comments

Mukasey was delivering a speech to the Federalist Society at a Washington hotel when "he just started shaking and he collapsed," said Associate Attorney General Kevin O'Connor. "They're very concerned."

Mukasey was 15 to 20 minutes into his speech about the Bush administration's successes in combatting terrorism when he began slurring his words. He collapsed and lost consciousness, said O'Conner, the department's No. 3 official.

Mukasey's was noticeably shaking during his speech before he collapsed shortly before 10:20 p.m. EST.

// posted by montag @ 6:48 AM 0 Comments

President-elect Barack Obama's 3 million campaign volunteers got re-enlistment notices this week.

Campaign manager David Plouffe, in a mass e-mail sent Wednesday to former workers, asked how much time they can spare for four missions integral to Obama's effort to transform his victory into a broader political movement.

The volunteers' options are, Plouffe wrote:

* Campaign for progressive state and local candidates

* Undertake grassroots local efforts to advance Obama's agenda

* Train others in Obama's organizing techniques

* Focus on local political issues.

"Obama's building a political machine,"

// posted by montag @ 7:48 PM 0 Comments

Iraqi and American leaders say that a new security pact will have all U.S. forces and military contractors out of Iraq by 2012, but 14th Ramadan Street is skeptical.

"Americans won't leave," said Mazin Ali, 30, a coach driver. "They are the decision makers in all Iraq. The decision is theirs."

He and others on 14th Ramadan Street, a commercial strip in Baghdad's Mansour district, see too many signs of a long-term American commitment to believe that the U.S. will withdraw on the timetable in the so-called status of forces agreement.

"It is not reasonable, because even if it was true and they would commit to the dates, there are great big loopholes," said Khalid Muhsin Abid, 57, pointing to the sprawling new, nearly $600 million U.S. Embassy compound on the Tigris River as evidence that the U.S. will stay.

// posted by montag @ 7:26 AM 0 Comments

An effort by the New York Police Department to get broader latitude to eavesdrop on terrorism suspects has run into sharp resistance from the Justice Department in a bitter struggle that has left the police commissioner and the attorney general accusing each other of putting the public at risk.

The Police Department, with the largest municipal counterterrorism operation in the country, wants the Justice Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation to loosen their approach to the federal law that governs electronic surveillance. But federal officials have refused to relax the standards, and have said requests submitted by the department could actually jeopardize surveillance efforts by casting doubt on their legality.

// posted by montag @ 6:46 AM 0 Comments

This nation was founded on the principle of equal justice under the law. No one — no one — ought to be able to skate or hold a get-out-of-jail-free card by virtue of having been the most powerful felon in the land, or of working for him...

...Unless the newly empowered Democrats in the White House and on Capitol Hill hang a few coyotes on some fences in Washington, D.C., they're making a huge mistake that will come back to haunt them, and all the rest of us, too.

Unless the truth, the whole truth, is unearthed, justice is done and the Republican closet is emptied of festering transgressions, the next pack will do it again, secure in the knowledge that their positions will protect them from the penalties that more ordinary citizens must pay for the same crimes.

The people of this nation have spoken loudly. They voted to throw the rascals out. They voted for a different way of governing, a different way of law making. They voted for equal rights under the law.

If their desires aren't satisfied — if the new broom sweeps no cleaner than the old one — the next time around they may move things up a notch and throw all the bastards out — and they'd be fully justified in doing so.

// posted by montag @ 7:41 PM 0 Comments

The government of Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki is systematically dismissing Iraqi oversight officials, who were installed to fight corruption in Iraqi ministries by order of the American occupation administration, which had hoped to bring Western standards of accountability to the notoriously opaque and graft-ridden bureaucracy here.

The dismissals, which were confirmed by senior Iraqi and American government officials on Sunday and Monday, have come as estimates of official Iraqi corruption have soared. One Iraqi former chief investigator recently testified before Congress that $13 billion in reconstruction funds from the United States had been lost to fraud, embezzlement, theft and waste by Iraqi government officials.

The moves have not been publicly announced by Mr. Maliki’s government, but word of them has begun to circulate through the layers of Iraqi bureaucracy as Parliament prepares to vote on a long-awaited security agreement.

// posted by montag @ 6:48 AM 0 Comments

Two Wasilla men are recovering from an accidental shooting that occurred while a gun was being cleaned.

Alaska State Troopers say 23-year-old Joshua Jones was cleaning his semiautomatic pistol Thursday evening when the weapon accidentally discharged.

Troopers say the bullet went through Jones' left hand and then struck 26-year-old Clayton Naczi in the thigh.

// posted by montag @ 7:12 PM 0 Comments

He trailed Begich by 2,374 votes as of Tuesday afternoon.

// posted by montag @ 6:14 PM 0 Comments

A year after problems emerged in the construction of the new U.S. Embassy in Baghdad, another State Department post being built largely by the same Kuwaiti-based company is engulfed by delays, recriminations, and an Inspector General's probe, according to U.S. officials.

The embassy building, in the central African nation of Gabon, was supposed to be finished by April 2009.

Instead, according to U.S. officials and to documents obtained by McClatchy, the $55 million complex is only 7 percent complete. Workers are still excavating the construction site in the Gabonese capital of Libreville, and early 2010 is the new target date for completion. State Department officials confirmed that the department's inspector general is actively examining the project, but declined to provide details.

// posted by montag @ 7:23 AM 0 Comments

The main point of the marquee is to cause the Christians to understand he is not a Christian, Again, they will call me and they will tell me that he's not a Muslim because he is a Christian. That's not the point. The point is he's not a Christian.

// posted by montag @ 6:49 AM 0 Comments

The Senate's second-ranking Republican says it wouldn't be a bad idea if President-elect Barack Obama named Hillary Rodham Clinton as secretary of state.

"It seems to me she's got the experience. She's got the temperament for it. I think she would be well received around the world," said Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz. "So my own initial reaction is it would be a very good selection."

// posted by montag @ 4:38 PM 0 Comments

Arena said UBS is closing all Swiss-based accounts owned by private clients domiciled in the United States. A Senate report earlier this year estimated there were about 20,000 of those with about $18 billion on deposit.

UBS has been under pressure from the U.S. government since June, when a former UBS banker named Bradley Birkenfeld pleaded guilty to helping an American real estate developer hide $200 million of assets and evade $7.2 million of taxes. Birkenfeld has been cooperating with U.S authorities in a widening investigation that led to the federal indictment of one of UBS's top executives.

The indictment by a grand jury in Florida, which was unsealed this week, accused executive Raoul Weil of conspiring with a host of others at the bank to market Swiss bank secrecy to American clients and help them dodge taxes. A lawyer for Weil denied the charges and said he would seek vindication. Meanwhile, UBS has given U.S. authorities the names of about 70 clients who wired money from UBS accounts in the United States to UBS accounts in Switzerland.

// posted by montag @ 1:14 PM 0 Comments

Cancer patients who had received outpatient treatment at University Medical Center, for instance, will have to seek treatment at other hospitals and clinics because UMC, citing reductions in Medicaid payments, says it can no longer afford to offer cancer treatment.

Low-income children with bone and spine problems may need to leave Las Vegas altogether for treatment, because pediatric orthopedists are no longer accepting payment from Medicaid because of cutbacks to their reimbursements.

Health care experts — including the Medicaid administrator — say the cutbacks are a shortsighted way to save money at the expense of patients who have dire medical needs. Such reductions will lead to increased costs down the road when those patients — having gone without intermediate care — end up receiving costly emergency room care.

Bottom line: Nevada is in the throes of a growing crisis in providing health care for those who can’t afford it, and faces dire consequences in years to come. It’s an ongoing cycle of inefficiency.

The cutbacks illustrate a chronic problem with health care. Health care financing is driven by annual budget cycles that discourage paying now for services such as prevention and disease maintenance, even if the short-term cost will save money in a future budget cycle. Thus, reimbursements are slashed by Medicaid and services are cut by providers to meet immediate shortfalls, even though it will likely increase costs in the future.

“The state doesn’t get off cheap,” said Larry Matheis, executive director of the Nevada State Medical Association, which represents doctors, and a former administrator of the Nevada State Health Division. “It just fails to meet its obligations in a timely way and then has bigger costs. And in the meantime a lot of people have been hurt.”

// posted by montag @ 12:56 PM 0 Comments

Sen. Joe Lieberman is unfit to hold the chairmanship on the important Homeland Security Committee, Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-ND)said Sunday.

Dorgan told Fox's Chris Wallace that Sen. Joe Lieberman's campaigning for the Republican president candidate and some Republican Senators was not acceptable behavior for someone with a Democratic Chairmanship.

"The question is, is that acceptable? The answer is no," Dorgan said.

"If he came over to the Republican side and organized with us, I don't think it would change the way he votes," Kyle said.

// posted by montag @ 12:40 PM 0 Comments

ELECTION junkies in acute withdrawal need suffer no longer. Though the exciting Obama-McCain race is over, the cockfight among the losers has only just begun. The conservative crackup may be ugly, but as entertainment, it’s two thumbs up!

Over at Fox News, Greta Van Susteren has been trashing the credibility of her own network’s chief political correspondent, Carl Cameron, for his report on Sarah Palin’s inability to identify Africa as a continent, while Bill O’Reilly valiantly defends Cameron’s honor. At Slate, a post-mortem of conservative intellectuals descended into name-calling, with the writer Ross Douthat of The Atlantic labeling the legal scholar Douglas Kmiec a “useful idiot.”

// posted by montag @ 10:51 PM 0 Comments

Americans do prefer a traditional conservative government. They just did not believe Republicans were going to give it to them.

// posted by montag @ 1:34 PM 0 Comments

A South Carolina Roman Catholic priest has told his parishioners that they should refrain from receiving Holy Communion if they voted for Barack Obama because the Democratic president-elect supports abortion, and supporting him "constitutes material cooperation with intrinsic evil."

The Rev. Jay Scott Newman said in a letter distributed Sunday to parishioners at St. Mary's Catholic Church in Greenville that they are putting their souls at risk if they take Holy Communion before doing penance for their vote.

"Our nation has chosen for its chief executive the most radical pro-abortion politician ever to serve in the United States Senate or to run for president," Newman wrote, referring to Obama by his full name, including his middle name of Hussein.

"Voting for a pro-abortion politician when a plausible pro-life alternative exists constitutes material cooperation with intrinsic evil, and those Catholics who do so place themselves outside of the full communion of Christ's Church and under the judgment of divine law. Persons in this condition should not receive Holy Communion until and unless they are reconciled to God in the Sacrament of Penance, lest they eat and drink their own condemnation."

// posted by montag @ 7:20 PM 0 Comments

"To reward Senator Lieberman with a major committee chairmanship would be a slap in the face of millions of Americans who worked tirelessly for Barack Obama and who want to see real change in our country," Sanders in the statement sent our way by his office.

"Appointing someone to a major post who led the opposition to everything we are fighting for is not 'change we can believe in,'"

// posted by montag @ 6:14 PM 0 Comments

in normal times modesty and prudence in policy goals are good things. Under current conditions, however, it’s much better to err on the side of doing too much than on the side of doing too little. The risk, if the stimulus plan turns out to be more than needed, is that the economy might overheat, leading to inflation — but the Federal Reserve can always head off that threat by raising interest rates. On the other hand, if the stimulus plan is too small there’s nothing the Fed can do to make up for the shortfall. So when depression economics prevails, prudence is folly.

// posted by montag @ 6:49 AM 1 Comments

Begich, who was losing after election night, now leads Stevens by 814 votes -- 132,196 to 131,382 -- with the state still to count roughly 40,000 more ballots over the next week.

The state Division of Elections tallied about 60,000 absentee, early and questioned ballots from around the state on Wednesday. The ballots broke heavily in the Democrat's favor, erasing the 3,000-vote lead the Republican Stevens held after election night Nov. 4.

The state still needs to count at least 15,000 questioned ballots and an estimated 25,000 absentees. With all the absentee votes coming in, this will be one of the biggest turnouts, if not the biggest in terms of ballots cast, the state has ever seen. That's despite questions in the media and on blogs about why turnout appeared low on Election Day.

Most regional elections headquarters will count their remaining ballots on Friday. But the most populous region, based in Anchorage, won't count its ballots until either Monday or Wednesday, state elections chief Gail Fenumiai said.

// posted by montag @ 6:11 PM 0 Comments

In the six weeks since lawmakers approved the Treasury's massive bailout of financial firms, the government has poured money into the country's largest banks, recruited smaller banks into the program and repeatedly widened its scope to cover yet other types of businesses, from insurers to consumer lenders.

Along the way, the Bush administration has committed $290 billion of the $700 billion rescue package.

Yet for all this activity, no formal action has been taken to fill the independent oversight posts established by Congress when it approved the bailout to prevent corruption and government waste. Nor has the first monitoring report required by lawmakers been completed, though the initial deadline has passed.

// posted by montag @ 7:14 AM 0 Comments

The tally was 125,019 to 125,016.

Neither side expected to be able to claim victory Wednesday. By late afternoon, officials had counted more than 44,000 of the roughly 90,000 outstanding ballots.

"Right now we're cautiously optimistic," said Bethany Lesser, spokeswoman for the state Democratic Party. "There's obviously more votes to come in, but it goes to show how hard we worked to get the vote out early and how important that was."

// posted by montag @ 9:43 PM 1 Comments

When the government said it would spend $700 billion to rescue the nation’s financial industry, it seemed to be an ocean of money. But after one of the biggest lobbying free-for-alls in memory, it suddenly looks like a dwindling pool.

Many new supplicants are lining up for an infusion of capital as billions of dollars are channeled to other beneficiaries like the American International Group, and possibly soon American Express.

Of the initial $350 billion that Congress freed up, out of the $700 billion in bailout money contained in the law that passed last month, the Treasury Department has committed all but $60 billion. The shrinking pie — and the growing uncertainty over who qualifies — has thrown Washington’s legal and lobbying establishment into a mad scramble.

// posted by montag @ 7:09 AM 0 Comments

When Geraldine Ferraro and Hillary Clinton ran, their fates were inextricably linked with their gender. If they failed, many women felt, there was an X through the whole X chromosome. A blot on the female copybook.

If not this woman now, Hillary’s supporters would ardently ask me, what woman ever?

But Sarah Palin can come across as utterly unready to lead the world — or even find the world on a map — and that doesn’t reflect poorly on the rest of us.

// posted by montag @ 6:49 AM 0 Comments

Did they die so that a brother veteran can die waiting in line for a little help from the nation that sent them all off to war in the prime of their youth?

Did they die so that four decades later, an American president and his cronies could start another needless war in a far-off land, a war that to date has dragged on almost as long as the one they fought in Southeast Asia?

Did they die so that wounded veterans of that war could come home to a lot of "Welcome Home" greetings and a lot of "Support Our Troops" bumper stickers, but facing the same fight that America's veterans have always faced when they try to get treatment and benefits from our Army and our Veterans Administration?

Did they die so that an administration full of draft dodgers and draft avoiders and almost bereft of anyone who ever wore a uniform or heard a shot fired in anger could prance around presenting themselves as wartime leaders?

Did they die so that 10,000 craven politicians could stand on bandstands and make speeches full of empty praise for those who protect and defend this country and make empty promises of how they guarantee that our wounded, our new veterans, will be treated better than their fathers and grandfathers were when they came home from their wars?

The economic meltdown in America, the growing ranks of the unemployed, the complete lack of work or prospect of a decent future in the rural and urban backwaters of a great nation make for a boom in enlistments in our voluntary military.

If you sign on the bottom line because you have no other alternative, no other way out of nowhereville, are you really a volunteer?

Across town, an old and ailing veteran of one of those wars will line up tonight for a cot in a mission and wonder whether he can live long enough to collect from the bureaucrats what we owe him.

// posted by montag @ 7:15 PM 0 Comments

“I never trust a man unless I've got his pecker in my pocket.”

// posted by montag @ 1:16 PM 0 Comments

When the Champagne and caviar crowd is in trouble, there is no conceivable limit to the amount of taxpayer money that can be found, and found quickly.

But when it comes to ordinary citizens in dire situations — those being thrown out of work or forced from their homes by foreclosure or driven into bankruptcy because of illness and a lack of adequate health insurance — well, then we have to start pinching pennies. That’s when it’s time to become fiscally conservative. President Bush even vetoed a bill that would have expanded health insurance coverage for children.

We can find trillions for a foolish war and for pompous, self-righteous high-rollers who wrecked their companies and the economy. But what about the working poor and the young people who are being clobbered in this downturn, battered so badly that they’re all but destitute? Can we find any way to help them?

It is important that the United States remain a two-party system. I'm a fellow who likes small parties and the Republican Party can't be too small to suit me.

// posted by montag @ 12:52 PM 0 Comments

The sweeping change to two decades of tax policy escaped the notice of lawmakers for several days, as they remained consumed with the controversial bailout bill. When they found out, some legislators were furious. Some congressional staff members have privately concluded that the notice was illegal. But they have worried that saying so publicly could unravel several recent bank mergers made possible by the change and send the economy into an even deeper tailspin.

"Did the Treasury Department have the authority to do this? I think almost every tax expert would agree that the answer is no," said George K. Yin, the former chief of staff of the Joint Committee on Taxation, the nonpartisan congressional authority on taxes. "They basically repealed a 22-year-old law that Congress passed as a backdoor way of providing aid to banks."

// posted by montag @ 7:24 AM 0 Comments

The political lesson is that economic missteps can quickly undermine an electoral mandate. Democrats won big last week — but they won even bigger in 1936, only to see their gains evaporate after the recession of 1937-38. Americans don’t expect instant economic results from the incoming administration, but they do expect results, and Democrats’ euphoria will be short-lived if they don’t deliver an economic recovery.

The economic lesson is the importance of doing enough. F.D.R. thought he was being prudent by reining in his spending plans; in reality, he was taking big risks with the economy and with his legacy. My advice to the Obama people is to figure out how much help they think the economy needs, then add 50 percent. It’s much better, in a depressed economy, to err on the side of too much stimulus than on the side of too little.

In short, Mr. Obama’s chances of leading a new New Deal depend largely on whether his short-run economic plans are sufficiently bold. Progressives can only hope that he has the necessary audacity.

// posted by montag @ 6:51 AM 1 Comments

African-American man Barack Obama, 47, was given the least-desirable job in the entire country Tuesday when he was elected president of the United States of America. In his new high-stress, low-reward position, Obama will be charged with such tasks as completely overhauling the nation's broken-down economy, repairing the crumbling infrastructure, and generally having to please more than 300 million Americans and cater to their every whim on a daily basis. As part of his duties, the black man will have to spend four to eight years cleaning up the messes other people left behind. The job comes with such intense scrutiny and so certain a guarantee of failure that only one other person even bothered applying for it. Said scholar and activist Mark L. Denton, "It just goes to show you that, in this country, a black man still can't catch a break."

// posted by montag @ 7:03 PM 0 Comments

The Republican vice presidential candidate attracted criticism for accusing Mr Obama of "palling around with terrorists", citing his association with the sixties radical William Ayers.

The attacks provoked a near lynch mob atmosphere at her rallies, with supporters yelling "terrorist" and "kill him" until the McCain campaign ordered her to tone down the rhetoric.

But it has now emerged that her demagogic tone may have unintentionally encouraged white supremacists to go even further.

The Secret Service warned the Obama family in mid October that they had seen a dramatic increase in the number of threats against the Democratic candidate, coinciding with Mrs Palin's attacks...

...Details of the spike in threats to Mr Obama come as a report last week by security and intelligence analysts Stratfor, warned that he is a high risk target for racist gunmen. It concluded: "Two plots to assassinate Obama were broken up during the campaign season, and several more remain under investigation. We would expect federal authorities to uncover many more plots to attack the president that have been hatched by white supremacist ideologues."

// posted by montag @ 4:43 PM 0 Comments

A team of four dozen advisers, working for months in virtual solitude, set out to identify regulatory and policy changes Obama could implement soon after his inauguration. The team is now consulting with liberal advocacy groups, Capitol Hill staffers and potential agency chiefs to prioritize those they regard as the most onerous or ideologically offensive, said a top transition official who was not permitted to speak on the record about the inner workings of the transition.

In some instances, Obama would be quickly delivering on promises he made during his two-year campaign, while in others he would be embracing Clinton-era policies upended by President Bush during his eight years in office.
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"The kind of regulations they are looking at" are those imposed by Bush for "overtly political" reasons, in pursuit of what Democrats say was a partisan Republican agenda, said Dan Mendelson, a former associate administrator for health in the Clinton administration's Office of Management and Budget. The list of executive orders targeted by Obama's team could well get longer in the coming days, as Bush's appointees rush to enact a number of last-minute policies in an effort to extend his legacy.

// posted by montag @ 1:19 PM 0 Comments

In 2007 alone, DCAA performed nearly 34,000 audits covering $391 billion in contractor costs. Of that total, auditors challenged $4.6 billion, or 1.2 percent, as lacking necessary documentation. The question is, how much more could they have caught?

Compared with other federal oversight organizations, such as the Government Accountability Office, DCAA's return on investment is weak. For every dollar GAO spends, it saves taxpayers $94. At DCAA, the ratio is $5 saved for every one spent.

// posted by montag @ 12:54 PM 0 Comments

Republican Sen. Norm Coleman sought an injunction to stop the opening and counting of 32 absentee ballots in Minneapolis, according to a copy of the court documents filed today provided to the Pioneer Press by Democrat Al Franken's campaign.

The race between Coleman and Franken, fierce rivals for months for the right to represent Minnesota in the U.S. Senate, is headed for an automatic recount because Coleman's lead is less than one half of one percent over Franken. Currently, Coleman has just a 221-vote advantage.

That slim advantage, which has been slipping as counties have verified the vote totals, has put increased scrutiny on every ballot.

According to the injunction filed by the Coleman campaign, 32 of those ballots cast by absentee voters shouldn't be tallied because they were not opened on Election Day.

"Ever since the routine process of canvassing to ensure that every vote is counted began, the Coleman campaign has been attempting to obstruct it. And, in typical fashion, they have now gone to court to shut down the count. This stealth attack on an early Saturday morning is a disgusting attempt to disenfranchise voters who did nothing wrong, and we will fight hard on behalf of Minnesotans who deserve to have their voices heard."

// posted by montag @ 4:35 PM 0 Comments

In a notice published Friday in the Federal Register, the Bush administration said it had to clarify the definition of outpatient hospital services because the current ambiguity had allowed states to claim excessive payments.

“This rule represents a new initiative to preserve the fiscal integrity of the Medicaid program,” the notice said.

But John W. Bluford III, the president of Truman Medical Centers in Kansas City, Mo., said: “This is a disaster for safety-net institutions like ours. The change in the outpatient rule will mean a $5 million hit to us. Medicaid accounts for about 55 percent of our business.”

Alan D. Aviles, the president of the New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation, the largest municipal health care system in the country, said: “The new rule forces us to consider reducing some outpatient services like dental and vision care. State and local government cannot pick up these costs. If anything, we expect to see additional cuts at the state level.”

// posted by montag @ 1:10 PM 0 Comments

“He believes in justices that have empathy,” said Kyl, speaking at a Federalist Society meeting in Phoenix. The attorneys group promotes conservative legal principles.

Kyl said if Obama goes with empathetic judges who do not base their decisions on the rule of law and legal precedents but instead the factors in each case, he would try to block those picks via filibuster.

// posted by montag @ 12:52 PM 0 Comments

Even though the polls this year have generally been pretty accurate, they were way off in Alaska. Stevens was running between 7% and 22% behind his Democratic challenger in the polls, but now he is narrowly ahead in the vote count.

The polls also consistently showed Rep. Young as losing by at least 6%, but he is currently ahead in the vote count by 8%. Even in the presidential race, where polls showed McCain leading by 14% or less, the vote count has him winning by 61% to 35% -- precisely the same margin as George Bush in 2004. That represents a polling error of at least 11% to 14% in all three races.

At the same time, total voter turnout appears to be about 11% lower in Alaska this year than in 2004 -- despite over 20,000 new registrations, heavy turnout in the primaries, record early voting, long lines at the polls on Election Day, and the state's own governor being on the ballot, all of which had led to an expectation of record participation.

The Washington Post reports that pollsters themselves are "not happy" about the results. "Anchorage pollster and Republican political consultant David Dittman, a Stevens supporter, predicted a 'solid Begich win' The national polling firm, Rasmussen Reports, accurately predicted every Senate race in the country within the margin of error in their most recent polls -- except Alaska. Alaska pollsters Ivan Moore, Craciun Research Group and Hays Research Group all also had Stevens and Young trailing in the lead-up to the election."

// posted by montag @ 12:31 PM 0 Comments

It may be too late for Lieberman (I-Conn.), a former Democrat, whose non-stop campaigning for McCain angered President-elect Barack Obama, insiders confirmed to the Daily News.

"You don't run around the country campaigning for McCain and saying you're afraid the Democrats will get a 60-seat [filibuster-proof] majority, and then beg to keep your chairmanship," said a senior Democratic source.

// posted by montag @ 6:27 PM 1 Comments

The main focus is going to be going after the Utah brand. At this point, honestly, we're going to destroy the Utah brand. It is a hate state.

// posted by montag @ 6:04 PM 0 Comments

Right now, many commentators are urging Mr. Obama to think small. Some make the case on political grounds: America, they say, is still a conservative country, and voters will punish Democrats if they move to the left. Others say that the financial and economic crisis leaves no room for action on, say, health care reform.

Let’s hope that Mr. Obama has the good sense to ignore this advice.

...a serious progressive agenda — call it a new New Deal — isn’t just economically possible, it’s exactly what the economy needs.

The bottom line, then, is that Barack Obama shouldn’t listen to the people trying to scare him into being a do-nothing president. He has the political mandate; he has good economics on his side. You might say that the only thing he has to fear is fear itself.

// posted by montag @ 6:49 AM 0 Comments

"Yes We Can -- beat the hell out of Republicans."

// posted by montag @ 7:02 AM 0 Comments

In a press conference held this morning on the White House lawn, President Bush formally asked the assembled press corps and members of his own administration if, in light of today's election, he could stop being the president now. "So it's over, right? Can I stop being president now?" Bush said after striding to the podium in a Texas Rangers cap and flannel shirt, carrying a fully packed suitcase. "Let's just say I'm done as of now. Presidency over." When informed by Washington Post reporter David Broder that his presidency would continue through early January, Bush stared at him quizzically, sighed, and shuffled silently back into the White House.

// posted by montag @ 6:14 PM 0 Comments

People in the isolated New Hampshire village of Dixville Notch cast their ballots just after midnight. The village, home to around 75 residents, has opened its polls shortly after midnight each election day since 1960, drawing national media attention for being the first place in the country to make its presidential preferences known.

Democrat Barack Obama won 15 of 21 votes cast, and Republican John McCain won six votes. It was the first time since 1968 that the village leaned Democratic in an election.

Since 1996, another small New Hampshire town — Hart's Location — reinstated its practice from the 1940s and also began opening its polls at midnight. The tally was Obama 17, McCain 10 with two votes written-in for Ron Paul.

// posted by montag @ 6:46 AM 0 Comments