Pilot Season Episode 12

What Happens If Illinois Doesn't Pass A New Budget By Tuesday's Deadline?

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) -- The state's budget year ends Tuesday, and lawmakers are nowhere near a deal on a spending plan with Gov. Pat Quinn. Does that mean someone shuts off the lights of state government at midnight Tuesday?

In a word, no.

Construction crews likely will work on state highways even if Illinois lacks a budget on July 1. You'll be able to get a fishing permit or renew your driver's license. Public schools will continue planning for the fall semester.

But if the stalemate continues far into July, state employees' pay runs dry. That's when services could be interrupted across the state.

"You stop issuing paychecks, you have people not showing up to work, services not being provided - just think about transportation, secretary of state, human services - the consequences of that are going to be unthinkable," said Sen. John Sullivan, D-Rushville.

With the state wallowing in red ink, Quinn, a Democrat, wants to raise the income tax rate to pay for government services. But he couldn't get agreement from the Democratic-controlled Legislature, which instead passed a budget that would require drastic cuts in human service programs.

Budget talks have dragged on for weeks since then, with no real progress. Now legislators must decide whether to send Quinn a budget that slashes services, pass a temporary budget so talks can continue or simply let the new fiscal year begin without any spending plan in place.

"Stay tuned," Quinn spokesman Bob Reed said Monday, adding that the governor "remains optimistic" that a new spending plan will be approved in time. More...

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/06/29/what-happens-if-illinois_n_2227...

10 others to be charged
in Madoff probe

Federal authorities are pressing a probe of 10 associates of Bernard Madoff despite a sentence that means the mastermind of one of the biggest financial frauds in history will spend the rest of his days behind bars.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090630/ap_on_bi_ge/us_madoff_scandal

FDA panel to vote
on painkiller restrictions

Government experts are scheduled to vote on whether Nyquil and other combination cold medications should be pulled from the market to help curb deadly overdoses.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090630/ap_on_bi_ge/us_tylenol_safety_fda

Comcast to offer powerful
WiMax wireless

The cable operator is coming out first with the market's fastest wireless broadband, using WiMax technology. Phone companies have lined up behind a competing technology called LTE, with Verizon Communications Inc. planning to deploy it next year.

http://tech.yahoo.com/news/ap/20090629/ap_on_hi_te/us_comcast_wireless_i...

TUESDAY JUNE 30, 2009 06:31 EDT

NPR Ombudsman refuses interview regarding "torture"

NPR's Ombudsman, Alicia Shepard, wrote a column last week justifying NPR's policy of using euphemisms such as "enhanced interrogation tactics" -- while barring the use of the word "torture" -- to describe the interrogation tactics used by the Bush administration. I wrote a critique of that column which was widely cited, and the comment section to her column was filled with hundreds of angry criticisms -- many times the number of comments her column typically attracts (usually in the range of 10-20). As a result of all that, last week I extended an invitation to Shepard to discuss her column with me on Salon Radio, and was told by an NPR representative that she would respond to the invitation by Monday.

Yesterday, we received Shepard's response: no. According to the Salon intern who tenaciously pursued Shepard all week and spoke with her yesterday:

I just got off the phone with Alicia Shepard. She declined to have an interview, or to go on Salon Radio. To quote, she thought "misleading things" were written about her on Salon, and said "I don't want to get into a shouting match." As for what the "misleading" statements were, she didn't clarify.

http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/

EPA targets 44 coal ash
sites in 10 states

Forty-four coal ash storage sites near 26 communities have been targeted for inspection after federal officials identified the ponds as potential threats to nearby residents.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090630/ap_on_go_ot/us_coal_ash_disclosure

Establishment view of Obama's civil liberties record

One of the most cherished weapons for dismissing political arguments without having to engage them is to claim they come from "the Far Left" or are confined to "liberal ideologues." For years, that was what was said about withdrawing from Iraq even as majorities of Americans supported that position, and it is how the political and media establishment now demonize the call for investigations into Bush/Cheney crimes, despite large percentages and diverse ideological support for those views . Exactly the same tactic is used to dismiss those who criticize Obama for adopting Bush policies in the areas of civil liberties and secrecy: only people from the Far Left fringe or civil liberties extremists would equate Obama and Bush when it comes to such matters.

From today's Op-Ed page of The Washington Post -- the ultimate establishment organ -- one finds this observation about Obama's use of the state secrets privilege from a Post Editorial:

The second Bush administration took the state secrets doctrine to new heights by arguing that an entire case should be dismissed -- sometimes at its earliest stages -- if it could touch on any information that could conceivably have national security ramifications. The Justice Department under President George W. Bush used this approach to try to quash litigation involving, among other things, domestic surveillance and extraordinary rendition (the forced transfer of detainees to countries where they may be tortured).

President Obama has said that the state secrets doctrine should be reformed, and he has promised to be more measured. Yet when confronted with actual cases the Obama Justice Department has adopted the same legal arguments as the Bush administration.

http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2009/06/29/obama/index.html

Increasing dust speeds
melting of mountain snow

Dust in the wind is rewriting the cycle of life in the mountains. Throughout memory the warmth of spring has begun the mountain snowmelt, bringing life-giving water to greening plants so they can blossom and renew their species.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090629/ap_on_sc/us_sci_dust_in_the_wind

---

Coastal seagrass
increasingly being lost

Coastal development and declining water quality are threatening seagrasses worldwide, researchers report. A study of coastal grasses around the world shows that 58 percent of the seagrass meadows are in decline.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090629/ap_on_sc/us_sci_seagrass_loss

---

Great Lakes wolves returning
to endangered list

The federal government on Monday agreed to put gray wolves in the western Great Lakes region back on the endangered species list -- at least temporarily.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090630/ap_on_re_us/us_gray_wolf_endangered

Congressional caucus looks for way to save dying print media
By Wayne Madsen
Online Journal Contributing Writer

Jun 30, 2009, 00:22

On June 25, the Caucus on Freedom of the Press held a forum on the state of journalism in the United States in the Congressional Visitors Center in Washington, DC. The forum was organized by Representatives Adam Schiff (D-CA) and Mike Pence (R-IN), two of the founding members of the caucus.

A panel of three journalists discussed a number of the problems facing journalism. The Washington Post’s Bob Woodward, who was slated to appear, was not able to attend.

Former Los Angeles Times reporter Tom Rosenstiehl cited three points about the currently changing news media. The first is that since crooked politicians, fraudsters, and other individuals worthy of news investigations are doing their jobs full-time, there is also a need for journalists to do their jobs full-time in covering such targets of investigative journalism.

Rosenstiehl’s second point was the need for independent journalism. He stated that people who are well financed and have vested business interests would like to ensure that news on their activities, especially at the state level, comport to those special business interests.

Third, Rosenstiehl said that the ethics of the press must be maintained with a focus on accuracy and timely dissemination of news for public discussion. He stressed that a difference must be maintained between journalists and activists and noted that while the reportorial press is shrinking the discussant press is growing. Rosenstiehl pointed out that in the era of the Internet, there is a need for “smart aggregators” who can provide readers with concise stories without a need for them to go to Google and wade through thousands of accounts of the same story.

In answer to a question of what will become of the daily local newspaper, Rick Edmonds, formerly with the St. Petersburg Times and now with the Poynter Institute, answered that small community news-based websites with affiliated print offerings are springing up in many small communities across the country.

con't

http://onlinejournal.com/artman/publish/article_4857.shtml

When it comes to Foreign Policy, even news sources that we might typically consider "left of center", or generally reliable in their examination of the facts, are very "supportive", to the point of "skewing" the "facts", in favor of Empire Building.

What May Matter Most About Honduras, Truly… The. USA’s Long Involvement There

POSTED BY DR. CLARISSA PINKOLA ESTÉS, ASSISTANT EDITOR, COLUMNIST IN ECONOMY, INTERNATIONAL, PLACES, POLITICS, SOCIETY, WAR.
JUN 29TH, 2009 | COMMENTS

When I was barely 23 in 1969, I drove the entire Pan-American Highway from the Rockies to the tip of Panama, then floated Jeep around the Darian Jungle to South America. One of those inspired dead-dangerous things young people do. I barely made it home alive. Especially while driving my battered Jeep through the jungles and mountains and lakelands of Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador where the US Embassy said everything was fine… when in fact I ran face-first into wars and thugs and US-backed militaries that had spilled over frontiers in every direction.

I was confounded when I returned to the USA and found that most US citizens hadn’t the vaguest idea of wars going on in Central America, that the average citizen has zero knowledge of their taxpayer dollars being used by the US for military involvment in those years’ long wars in neighboring countries right down the road from the US.

http://themoderatevoice.com/37405/what-may-matter-most-about-honduras-tr...

The United States’ Anti-Democratic Pattern in Honduras

Elizabeth DiNovella

[snip]

At least Obama did not endorse this ill-fated coup, unlike the Bush Administration’s immediate diplomatic recognition of coup plotters in Venezuela in 2002. But Obama could do more.

My friend and colleague Roberto Lovato writes, “Beyond immediate calls to continue demanding that Zelaya and democratic order be reinstated, protesters in Honduras, Latin America and across the United States will also pressure the Obama Administration to take a number of tougher measures including: cutting off of U.S. military aid, demanding that Hondurans and others kidnapped, jailed and detained be released and accounted for immediately, bringing Vasquez and coup leaders to justice, investigating what U.S. Ambassador to Honduras, Hugo Llorens, did or didn’t know about the coup.”

In the early 1990s, I spent a few months in Honduras. Most of my time was spent in a Chiquita banana plantation town in the north near San Pedro Sula. Honduras’s utter poverty was overwhelming, even compared to Guatemala, El Salvador, and Chiapas, Mexico. Social movement groups, such a human rights organizations, seemed beaten down.

Now, though, times have changed. The poverty remains but “civil society” seems pretty upset about this coup. Kristin Bricker, a writer for NarcoNews, reports, “It is clear that Hondurans are resisting. People are taking the streets in Honduras despite incredibly hostile conditions created by the military.

...

http://www.progressive.org/node/133028

Friday funeral in Pa. for TV pitchman Billy Mays
Washington Post - ‎1 hour ago‎
AP MCKEES ROCKS, Pa. -- The funeral for television product pitchman Billy Mays will be held Friday in the Pittsburgh suburb where he was born and raised...
--------
...but wait, there's more!

i like it. sometimes these things just write themselves.

Submitted by dan on Tue, 06/30/2009 - 11:47am.
...sometimes these things just write themselves.
------
"But wait, there's more!" is not his tag line but jokes are not confined to accuracy.

An accurate joke would be someone screaming his eulogy.

Supreme Court quashes 9/11 lawsuit against Saudis

The Supreme Court has rejected a class-action lawsuit against Saudi Arabia brought by 9/11 survivors and relatives of those killed in the attacks.

The court’s decision Monday not to allow an appeal of the case to go forward effectively ends an effort by some 6,000 9/11 relatives and survivors to sue the government of Saudi Arabia and several members of the Saudi royal family over the country’s alleged behind-the-scenes role in the September 11, 2001, attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.

Citing the 9/11 Commission report and numerous other documents, the plaintiffs had argued that Saudi royals were among the largest contributors to charities that funneled money to Al Qaeda, AP reported Monday.

In its decision, the Supreme Court let stand a federal appeals court’s ruling that “sovereign immunity” — the notion that a country can’t be sued in another country’s courts — means that the lawsuit cannot go forward.

That was more or less the position of the Obama administration as well, which sided with the defendants and urged the courts to dismiss the lawsuit.

Lawyers for the 9/11 families argued in a brief submitted to the court this month that the White House’s desire to end the lawsuit was an “apparent effort to appease a sometime ally” that is important to the U.S.’s energy security.

Last week, the New York Times ran a story outlining the evidence the 9/11 families had put forward, evidence the paper said showed “extensive financial support for Al Qaeda and other extremist groups by members of the Saudi royal family.” More:

http://rawstory.com/08/news/2009/06/29/supreme-court-quashes-911-lawsuit...

i guess the biggest user of that was ronco or popiel, but it seems like whatever products he hawked would have done the same thing.

was he "order in the next 10 minutes..."

this seems rather selective. didn't the government allow the iranian hostages from the 1980's to sue the iranian government and then when the iranians defaulted by not showing up, distribute some of the frozen assets.

i might have the wrong country, but i'm pretty sure that the court has allowed citizens to sue other countrys.

i had xm on for background noise and big ed came on at noon. he's on a tear about healthcare and is being a little critical of the republican talking points.

===

wow, schultz is sounding more like malloy, calling the republicans a bunch of sumbitch's. i take it his show isn't carried on public radio or its getting bleeped.

I don’t get Michael Jackson and never have. The outpouring of emotion over his drug overdose leaves me puzzled. A few months ago I would have thought his reputation was not recoverable. Meanwhile, every celebrity leech is crawling his way to the compound.

Not being a fan, I can’t say much about his music nor his dance. I do know that he was unable to get insurance to cover all the 50 performances in Britain–the shows themselves sold out in a few hours. 50 complete sellouts in 4 to 5 hours is what I heard. But it is dubious he could have made it. Almost all promoters of tours (or Broadway shows or movies, etc.) get death insurance and disability insurance on the stars. In the business world it is called Key Man insurance though the entertainment biz must have a catchier title. If the star can’t go on, the show is insured against losses. Happens more often than you would think though the last time I can remember a show closing due to a star (as opposed to a solo) was Phil Silvers who became incapacitated while rehearsing “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum” and the promoters closed the show having lost the star in a star vehicle show. More common in movies. Anyway, the promoters couldn’t get coverage for the entire tour as the insurance company, just going over his health charts, didn’t think he could do 50 shows. It is sad to learn that his dancing was what left him in so much pain and so addicted to pain medication. Not sure what he was doing with a resident physician who was a cardiologist though. Would have thought a physiatrist–a specialist in rehabilitation medicine–plus a physical therapist would have been a better choice but who knows what damage his skin-altering surgery did to his internal organs...
Charles Binder
http://yesterdayisgone.com/cbblog/?p=147

McCain campaigners allegedly called Palin 'Little Shop of Horrors'

McCain campaigners allegedly called Palin 'Little Shop of Horrors'

It's well known that there were tensions between Arizona Sen. John McCain and Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin last year during their presidential run, but a new article in Vanity Fair magazine sheds light on just how serious the rift between the two camps was.

According to the article, former McCain campaign staffers suffer from a collective "survivor's guilt" over the problem-plagued choice of Palin as vice-presidential candidate. The friction between McCain and Palin was so intense that it carried over into election night, when Palin wanted to address the Arizona crowd to whom McCain was to give his concession speech. After much back-and-forth wrangling, Palin didn't speak that night.

But trouble had been brewing long before that. Over the course of the campaign, one close adviser to McCain "was heard to refer to Palin as "little shop of horrors'" during the campaign.

McCain campaign members, in a series of conversations, told the magazine that "no serious vetting had been done before the selection (by either the McCain or the Obama team), and there was trouble in nailing down basic facts about Palin’s life" -- an omission that would cause immediate trouble as details of Palin's sordid family life began to emerge.

Palin's lack of aptitude in her new starring role as V-P candidate became obvious quickly. At times, it seemed as if she was more concerned with her popularity back home in Alaska than with the national presidential campaign that she was now a central part of.

"By all accounts, Palin was either unwilling, or simply unable, to prepare," the piece says. "In the run-up to the Couric interview, Palin had become preoccupied with a far more parochial concern: answering a humdrum written questionnaire from her hometown newspaper, the Frontiersman ... At the same time, she grew concerned that her approval ratings back home in Alaska were sagging as she embraced the role of McCain’s bad cop."

From Vanity Fair:

As Palin has piled misstep on top of misstep, the senior members of McCain’s campaign team have undergone a painful odyssey of their own. In recent rounds of long conversations, most made it clear that they suffer a kind of survivor’s guilt: they can’t quite believe that for two frantic months last fall, caught in a Bermuda Triangle of a campaign, they worked their tails off to try to elect as vice president of the United States someone who, by mid-October, they believed for certain was nowhere near ready for the job, and might never be.

The Vanity Fair piece asks some poignant questions about the significance of Palin's vice-presidential bid last year. "What does it say about the nature of modern American politics that a public official who often seems proud of what she does not know is not only accepted but applauded?" the article asks.

"What does her prominence say about the importance of having (or lacking) a record of achievement in public life?" the piece continues. "Why did so many skilled veterans of the Republican Party—long regarded as the more adroit team in presidential politics—keep loyally working for her election even after they privately realized she was casual about the truth and totally unfit for the vice-presidency?"

http://rawstory.com/blog/2009/06/mccain-campaigners-tear-into-little-sho...

U.S. Cautious on Calling Honduras a "Coup"
Washington Post: Obama Called Military Ouster Illegal, But Clinton Stopped Short of Formally Branding It a Coup

President Obama said yesterday that the military ouster of Honduran President Manuel Zelaya was illegal and could set a "terrible precedent," but Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said the United States government was holding off on formally branding it a coup, which would trigger a cutoff of millions of dollars in aid to the impoverished Central American country.

Clinton's statement appeared to reflect the U.S. government's caution amid fast-moving events in Honduras, where Zelaya was detained and expelled by the military on Sunday. The United States has joined other countries throughout the hemisphere in condemning the coup. But leaders face a difficult task in trying to restore Zelaya to office in a nation where the National Congress, military and Supreme Court have accused him of attempting a power grab through a special referendum.

Peter Hakim, president of the Inter-American Dialogue in Washington, said the situation presented a dilemma for the United States and other countries. Zelaya is "fighting with all the institutions in the country," Hakim said. "He's in no condition really to govern. At the same time, to stand by and allow him to be pushed out by the military reverses a course of 20 years."

U.S. officials had tried ahead of time to avert the coup, warning the Honduran military and politicians against suspending democratic order. The U.S. ambassador to Honduras, Hugo Llorens, sheltered one of Zelaya's children to prevent him from being harmed, according to Carlos Sosa, Honduras's ambassador to the Organization of American States.

But the Obama administration has had cool relations with Zelaya, a close ally of Venezuela's anti-American president, Hugo Chávez. While U.S. officials say they continue to recognize Zelaya as president, they have not indicated they are willing to use the enormous U.S. clout in the country to force his return. More...

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/06/30/politics/washingtonpost/main51...

Obama Unveils Plan for New Consumer Agency
New Agency Will Make President Sends Congress 152-Page Bill with Key Elements Of Financial Overhaul Plan

(AP) President Barack Obama says his new Consumer Financial Protection Agency will protect Americans from unscrupulous practices and make financial products easier to understand.

The president on Tuesday sent Congress a 152-page bill to create the new agency, a key element in the sweeping overhaul of financial rules the administration unveiled two weeks ago.

Obama says the agency will ensure that consumers are provided with simple, transparent and accurate information on financial products like credit cards and mortgages.

"Those ridiculous contracts with pages of fine print that no one can figure out - those things will be a thing of the past," Obama said in a statement. "And enforcement will be the rule, not the exception."

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said the new agency's one mission will be to protect consumers by giving the new agency "the authority and accountability to make sure that consumer protection regulations are written fairly and enforced vigorously."

The idea has generated sizable opposition from the finance industry which argues that the agency will stifle development of new products. However, the proposal has the backing of key lawmakers including House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank, D-Mass., and Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd, D-Conn.

In a fact sheet, the administration said the new agency would make sure that financial products include clear information to allow consumers to understand what they are getting when they sign up for a new credit card, take out a mortgage or use other types of financial products.

"By consolidating accountability in one place, we will reduce gaps in federal supervision and enforcement," Geithner said.

The consumer agency is part of what would be the most comprehensive rewrite of the government's financial rules since the 1930s. The administration also is pushing to give the Federal Reserve expanded powers to serve as a systemic-risk regulator for the entire financial system and to boost government powers to wind down the nation's biggest financial institutions if they get in trouble.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/06/30/politics/main5125304.shtml

"The Commission Has Been Road-Blocked": Republicans' War On The FEC
By Pete Martin and Zachary Roth - June 30, 2009, 9:13AM

Last fall, James Ross, a New York City resident and a donor to several Democratic organizations, received an unusual letter. "Your name has been put in our database," Ross was told. "We are monitoring all reports of a wide variety of leftist organizations. As your name appears in subsequent reports, it is our intent to publicize your involvement in your local community. Should any of these organizations be found to be engaged in illegal or questionable activity, it is our intent to publicize your involvement with those activities."

The letter was signed by Howard Rich, a publicity-shy New York real-estate investor and the founder of the conservative activist group Americans for Limited Government. Rich and his group were accused by the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee of illegally using Federal Election Commission disclosure reports to obtain the names and addresses of political donors in order to discourage them from making contributions -- a violation of election law. In April, three of the FEC's six commissioners voted to open an investigation into the matter. But the commission's three Republicans opposed a probe. The FEC deadlocked 3-3, and no action was taken against Rich.

That's happened with increasing frequency at the FEC lately. Election-law experts, supporters of campaign-finance regulations, and even some members of the commission itself are expressing growing concern about a string of cases in which the three Republicans on the commission -- led by Tom DeLay's former ethics lawyer -- have voted as a block against enforcement, preventing the commission from carrying out its basic regulatory function. As the normally mild-mannered Washington Post editorial board wrote recently: "The three Republican appointees are turning the commission into The Little Agency That Wouldn't: wouldn't launch investigations, wouldn't bring cases, wouldn't even accept settlements that the staff had already negotiated."

Ellen WeintraubCraig Holman of Public Citizen told TPMmuckraker the commission is currently "defunct." (The FEC's press office declined to make any of the commissioners available for interviews.)

FEC watchers say the commission's three Republicans -- Donald McGahn, Matthew Petersen, and Caroline Hunter, each nominated by President Bush -- are acting out of philosophical opposition to the very idea of regulating campaign money. "It's the Republican caucus that actually believes there shouldn't be campaign-finance regulation," said Holman. "It is ideological. They are ideologically opposed to the purpose of the Federal Election Commission."

It may also have become personal. At an open meeting of the commission last week, there was barely concealed animosity between the Republican and Democratic commissioners, according to one attendee.

The result of this dysfunction -- along with the growing likelihood that the Supreme Court will soon strike down key aspects of campaign-finance law -- could be to dramatically increase the influence of money in political campaigns going forward. "The severe ideological split on the Commission raises the question of whether it will be able to function effectively as an enforcement agency in the upcoming election year," Brett Kappel, an election lawyer with Vorys, Sater, Seymour, and Pease told TPMmuckraker via email. More:

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/06/the_commission_has_bee...

Snowe: Public Option Would Be Too Cheap For Consumers!

"If you establish a public option at the forefront that goes head-to-head and competes with the private health insurance market ... [it] will have significant price advantages," Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-ME) told the AP. She raised the idea of a "trigger mechanism" that would delay -- possibly indefinitely -- any public option.

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/06/two-steps-forward-one-step-ba...

Homeowner Blasts Sheriff's Department For Raid On Dem Candidate Fundraising Event
By Eric Kleefeld - June 30, 2009, 9:22AM

Shari Barman, the homeowner who was arrested at this past weekend's fundraiser for Democratic Congressional candidate Francine Busby (CA-50), put out a statement yesterday evening. She condemns the sheriff's department's raid as having been based on a non-legitimate noise complaint by a politically-motivated neighbor, who had allegedly yelled anti-gay slurs towards the event, and she accuses the arresting deputy of having committed unprovoked brutality.

Key quote:

Contrary to what has been reported, I did not in any manner strike Deputy Abbott. He and I had only been conversing for a minute or two when he grabbed my arm, twisted it behind me and threw me on the floor. His actions were completely unexpected, excessive and I believe, unwarranted. The remaining guests who witnessed what occurred and who were pepper sprayed were stunned and outraged.

Also contrary to what has been reported, this was the first time any deputy had been to my home that evening. I believe the noise complaint to the police may have been politically motivated based on the shouting we heard during Ms. Busby's speech.

In my opinion the charges brought against me are unfounded and were brought only in order to cover up Deputy Abbott's unprofessional behavior. What happened in our home was shocking and I don't believe would have happened had the situation been handled properly.

Full statement after the jump.

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/06/homeowner-blasts-sheriffs-dep...

http://www.samsedershow.com/node/4962#comment-349851

and sammy mentioned this story...

Inventory Uncovers 9,200 More Pathogens
Laboratory Says Security Is Tighter, but Earlier Count Missed Dangerous Vials
By Nelson Hernandez
Thursday, June 18, 2009

An inventory of potentially deadly pathogens at Fort Detrick's infectious disease laboratory found more than 9,000 vials that had not been accounted for, Army officials said yesterday, raising concerns that officials wouldn't know whether dangerous toxins were missing.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/06/17/AR200906...

//Kortepeter [the institute's deputy commander] likened the inventory to cleaning out the attic and said he knew of no plans for an investigation into how the vials had been left out of the database.//

WTF!!

(and thanks, jmach, for making the podcast available... i owe you a blow job, buddy - so if we ever meet, be prepared to unzip your fly for your reward) (and thanks edna for your hard hitting criticism of the media... i owe you one, buddy) (p.s. dan is gay - i'm just a good samaritan) (from wiki: The Samaritans (Hebrew: Shomronim, Arabic: as-Saamariyun) are a religious group of the Levant. Religiously, they are the adherents [of] ... head jobs)

WTF!!!

(pap is also going to & from the breaks with mj songs)

PEJ News Coverage Index: June 22 - 28, 2009
Media Swing from Protests in Iran to the Passing of the King of Pop

In the age of 24 hours news, sometimes it’s hard to know how to measure time.

Last week the news narrative careened through three distinct, often dramatic phases, and ended overwhelmed by a celebrity story that echoed coverage from more than a decade ago.

As the week began, the continuing protests in Iran, now into their third week, dominated the media. But as the Iranian government began to drive the protests underground, coverage began to recede—even if the tensions in the country had not—a sign that street protests may be easier to cover than political maneuvering behind closed doors.

By Wednesday afternoon, media attention was already shifting from protest to disgrace when South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford made a stunning admission of having an extra-marital affair after having gone missing for several days.

Then, late Thursday afternoon, the reports ricocheted across Twitter, celebrity gossip Web sites and mainstream media alerts that Michael Jackson, the self-described “King of Pop,” had been rushed to the hospital in cardiac arrest. The tabloid celebrity Web site TMZ.com was the first to report that he had been pronounced dead. The Los Angeles Times soon confirmed, and within a few hours, Jackson’s demise proved to be the biggest celebrity story in perhaps a decade, something akin to the death of John F. Kennedy, Jr. in 1999 and perhaps even that of Princess Diana in 1997.

For the week, the protests in Iran ended up being the biggest story, totaling 19% of the newshole studied during June 22-28 by the Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism. Though he died Thursday night, Michael Jackson’s death was nearly as big, filling 18%, and Governor Sanford’s story, which fully broke on Wednesday, was third at 11%.

But that time unit doesn’t capture the feel of the week. By week’s end, every other event struggled for attention amid the cascade of Jackson video clips and remembrances, panel discussions and interview segments.

It was a reminder of how the media at times can be captivated by the hold of celebrity on some people’s lives and at the same time will eagerly exploit it.

From the time it was announced Jackson had died through the end of the day Friday—a little more than 28 hours—60% of the news coverage studied across 55 different news outlets was devoted to Jackson’s death. And that does not include the broadcast network prime time specials devoted to the singer’s demise—two of them for two hours Thursday night and one for a single—the extra hours of morning news and more.

All media sectors covered Jackson heavily, but it was cable news channels that led the way. Fully 93% of cable coverage studied on the Thursday and Friday following his death was about the King of Pop. On the front pages of Friday morning newspapers, 37% of their coverage was Jackson-related compared to 55% of the leading online coverage.

http://www.journalism.org/index_report/pej_news_coverage_index_june_22_2...

Ex-Ala. Gov. Don Siegelman asks for new trial

Former Alabama Gov. Don Siegelman is asking for a new trial following his convictions on bribery and other government corruption charges a few years ago.
MONTGOMERY, Ala. —

Former Alabama Gov. Don Siegelman is asking for a new trial following his convictions on bribery and other government corruption charges a few years ago.

Siegelman claims in court documents filed late Monday that the government's key witness at his 2006 trial was heavily coached by prosecutors and FBI agents. Siegelman cites statements that his former aide, Nick Bailey, made after the trial. Siegelman claims Bailey said prosecutors and agents had him write out some of his testimony.

Siegelman and former HealthSouth CEO Richard Scrushy were convicted of bribery and other charges at the trial. Scrushy asked for a new trial Friday.

Siegelman is out on bail as he appeals. Scrushy is in federal prison.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2009401582_apussiegelm...

Bush Appointees Buck Barack Obama on Terror Policies

by Josh Gerstein

President Barack Obama's claims of broad executive authority to carry out the war on terror are drawing fire from an unexpected source: federal judges nominated by President George W. Bush, who asserted the sweeping powers in the first place.

[Jose Padilla was sentenced by Federal Judge Marcia Cooke to 17 years and four months for conspiring to support Islamic extremists around the world.

In recent weeks, three different Bush appointees considering cases relating to war-on-terror detainees have rejected arguments from Obama's Justice Department, which adopted virtually unchanged the positions the Bush administration had staked out.

In each case, the Bush-appointed judge said the executive branch was overstepping its authority and claiming more powers than the law allowed.

"It took a while for the courts to turn on George Bush. Obama's not getting that same period," said Jonathan Turley, a liberal legal analyst at The George Washington University. "The fact that these are Republican appointees tends to add an exclamation point to their decisions."

"Even Republican judges are seeing through the arguments and the idea that the war on terror justified depriving prisoners of constitutional protections," said Jonathan Hafetz of the American Civil Liberties Union.

[...]

Link

Uhhh, when the neocons and the ACLU are calling your policies totalitarian, it might be a good idea to dial it down a notch....

Lawsuit claims some National Guardsmen were poisoned in Iraq (by KBR)

June 30, 2009 · The lawyer representing West Virginia National Guard members over exposure to a chemical compound is looking for other National Guardsmen who may have suffered medical problems after being stationed in Iraq.

Right now, there are seven West Virginian guardsmen named in the case. The men join more than 50 nationwide who were stationed in Iraq guarding a water plant operated by KBR, Inc, and say the contractor exposed them to a known carcinogen during their deployment.

Michael Simon is a lawyer in Weirton who is representing the West Virginians in the lawsuit.

“This case centers around a project that KBR was charged to do,” Simon said. “It was to do the restoration of a water plant in southern Iraq, so that the facility could resume pumping water into Iraqi oil wells for more consistent oil flow.

“And it’s our allegation that they used this carcinogen and exposed the National Guardsmen to them and several of the National Guardsmen have suffered illnesses or could potentially suffer illnesses as a result of being exposed to the hexavalent chromium.”

...

Simon says his clients were repeatedly told there was no danger on the site, even after the blood-testing of civilians at the site showed elevated chromium levels. His clients are suing for medical costs and medical monitoring.

http://www.wvpubcast.org/newsarticle.aspx?id=10238

Al Franken indeed won, per MSNBC

However, they could take it to Supreme Court

who lust after brazilian boys...

Charlie Brown Jr cover of Jimi Hendrix's Purple Haze

from the good samaritan

Minnesota Supreme Court says!

Home-Loan Delinquencies Double on Least-Risky Mortgages, U.S. Report Says

June 30 (Bloomberg) -- Delinquency rates on the least risky mortgages more than doubled in the first quarter from a year earlier as U.S. efforts to help homeowners failed to keep pace with job losses that pushed more borrowers toward foreclosure.

Prime mortgages 60 days or more past due climbed to 2.9 percent of such loans through March 31 from 1.1 percent at the same point in 2008, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and the Office of Thrift Supervision said today in a report. First-time foreclosure filings on the loans rose 22 percent from the fourth quarter, the report said.

“I’m very concerned about the rise in delinquent mortgages and foreclosure actions,” Comptroller of the Currency John Dugan said in a statement released with the quarterly report. President Barack Obama’s plan to create “sustainable, payment- reducing modifications is a positive step that should show significant benefits in the coming months,” Dugan said.

Obama’s program, unveiled Feb. 18, aims to help as many as 4 million borrowers by modifying loans and calls for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to refinance mortgages for as many as 5 million borrowers who owe more than their homes are worth. Foreclosure filings surpassed 300,000 for a third straight month in May, according to RealtyTrac Inc., and the U.S. economy has shed about 6 million jobs since the recession began in 2007.

Serious delinquencies on prime loans, which account for two-thirds of all U.S. mortgages, rose to 661,914 in the first quarter from 250,986 a year earlier, according to the report. Overall, mortgages 60 days or more past due rose 88 percent from last year, the report said.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=amq8v.M.ak60

Posted by Foon Rhee, deputy national political editor

June 30, 2009 11:04 AM

Consumer activist Ralph Nader has a simple message for liberals feeling less warm and fuzzy about President Obama: "I told you so."

"Millions of Americans are feeling betrayed. They thought Obama as President meant change we can believe in. They thought Obama as President meant withdrawal from Iraq. They thought Obama as President meant standing up to Wall Street fat cats. They thought Obama as President meant a living wage," Nader, who ran a presidential campaign last year far less successful than his 2000 bid, said in an email to supporters today,

"But for those of you who stood with us during the 2008 Presidential campaign, you knew the score. You do not feel betrayed. You are immune to Obama Betrayal Syndrome," Nader continues. "Because you knew, as we pointed out repeatedly during the campaign, that Obama was the corporate Democrat. Beholden to large campaign contributors from Wall Street. From the military industrial complex. And from the health insurance pharma complex."

Nader's missive seeks donations for Single Payer Action, a new advocacy group pushing a government-run healthcare plan along the lines of national insurance plans in Canada and Britain.

Supporters of such a plan say it is the only way to cover everyone while cutting costs, but Obama is not among them, saying that while it might make sense if starting from scratch, it makes more sense now to build upon the current system, under which most Americans get their health coverage through their employer.

To combat critics who call his plan socialized medicine, the president reassures that he would not force anyone to change their coverage.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sRHOpMk7PxM
Single Payer Action v Congresswoman Ros-Lehtinen 6/28

But Nader's new group isn't giving up. Single Payer Action members have confronted members of Congress in their home districts to press them on the issue.

"Let's break through the corporate barriers and make single payer for all a reality," he says in the email. "Together, we can make the difference. Onward to a life-saving, cost-saving single payer.

BREAKING NEWS: Minnesota Supreme Court paves way for Democrat Al Franken to take Senate seat

i wonder if pawlenty used extra right guard today, cause you know he's gotta be sweating.

in announcing the news. Probably just innocent, but...

Here's their quote:

"court's verdict that Democratic comedian Al Franken is the legitimate winner of the race."

Why is it necessary to mention that he is a "comedian"?

WASHINGTON — Chinese manufacturers made more than half of the goods that the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission recalled last year, but few of them paid any price for producing defective wares.

The long list of faulty products included Chinese-made highchairs whose seat backs failed, steam cleaners that burned their users, bikes whose front-wheel forks broke, saunas that overheated, illuminated exit signs that stopped working when commercial power failed, dune buggies whose seat belts broke on impact and coffee makers that overheated and started fires.

It also included loosely knotted soccer goal nets that entrapped and strangled a child and a toy chest whose poorly supported lid fell on a toddler's neck and killed him, according to CPSC filings.

The difficulty in recovering damages is a lesson that U.S. homeowners who are stuck with defective and possibly toxic Chinese drywall are likely to learn in the coming months. Builders installed the drywall in 2004-5 when the home building boom outstripped U.S. drywall supplies. The CPSC and the Environmental Protection Agency are investigating the consequences.

While everyone involved is likely to be sued — installers, contractors, distributors, importers and Chinese manufacturers — the last are the hardest to reach by far.

For starters, suing a Chinese company in a Chinese court isn't a good idea for most American plaintiffs, said Michael Lyle, a seasoned international lawyer. "It's like suing Michael Jordan in Chicago."

Yet many Chinese manufacturers also evade trial in the U.S. simply by persuading judges that their companies had no substantial business presence in the states in which they've been sued. That's not hard for Chinese manufacturers, which typically rely on independent importers to sell to the American market.

A Senate Judiciary subcommittee is considering measures to make that defense — which has been invoked in scores of product liability suits — more difficult. For now, however, it's so effective that many U.S. tort lawyers won't take cases against Chinese products unless there are American co-defendants. Further, if the U.S. defendants are forced to pay up, the likelihood of their successfully suing the Chinese manufacturers is as distant as the customers'.

Lyle — the managing partner of the Washington office of the New York firm Weil, Gotshal & Manges — and other international lawyers say the larger problem is that the growth of globalized trade has outrun the legal systems that were created to check its excesses.

"It's in the nature of economic development that systems of remedy develop out of the need to fix what's gone wrong, so they develop more slowly," said Charles Toy, the manager of a Washington-based international private-equity fund who once practiced law in Hong Kong and Beijing.

That's no comfort to American defendants who must accept court judgments that Chinese manufacturers can flout.

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/homepage/story/70986.html

he should fit right in with the rest of those jokers.

to be certified as winner.

ST. PAUL, Minn. - The Minnesota Supreme Court has ordered that Democrat Al Franken be certified as the winner of the state's long-running Senate race.

The state's top court rejected a legal challenge from Republican Norm Coleman, whose options for regaining the Senate seat are dwindling.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/31667236/ns/politics-capitol_hill/

I know, toniDeee's already on it. Sheesh! ;-p

Dwindling?! It's over Norm. Take your toys and go home.

"Breaking: Bill O'Reilly's mind"

Hahaahaahahahaahahaaaaaaaaaa!

Sanford Admits More Encounters With Mistress

South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford is admitting more encounters with his Argentine mistress than he previously has disclosed.

In a lengthy, emotional interview with The Associated Press, the governor described seven meetings with the woman, including their first in 2001. Sanford says there have been five over a 12-month period, including two multi-night stays with her in New York.

It was the first disclosure of any get-togethers with her in the United States and contradicted a public confession last week during which he admitted to a total of four encounters in the past year.

He previously announced he would reimburse the state for money spent during a government trip to Brazil and Argentina in June 2008. But he insists no public money was used for any other meetings with her

http://kdka.com/national/mark.sanford.affair.2.1065525.html

MSNBC also saying he is admitting to encounters with other women as well. If he wasn't finished before, he is now.

Plus dipping into the public funds to pay for trip to Argentina!

U.S. spy says just followed orders in Italy kidnap
Tue Jun 30, 2009 9:03am EDT

By Phil Stewart

ROME (Reuters) - A former U.S. spy at the center of a kidnapping trial in Italy appeared to acknowledge a role in the abduction of a Muslim cleric but said he was only following orders, according to a rare interview published on Tuesday.

Robert Seldon Lady is one of 26 Americans, almost all believed to have been working for the CIA, who are accused along with Italian spies of grabbing a terrorism suspect off the streets of Milan in 2003 and flying him to Egypt.

There, Hassan Mustafa Osama Nasr says he was tortured and held for years without charge.

"I'm not guilty. I'm only responsible for carrying out orders that I received from my superiors," Lady, the CIA's Milan station chief at the time, was quoted as telling Il Giornale newspaper when asked whether he participated in the abduction.

http://www.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idUSTRE55T3H420090630

i wouldn't bet on it toni. sex only gets democrats in trouble.

face it, these conservatives have done everything but screw the family pooch and nothing happens to them.

Oil companies reject Iraq's terms
Iraqi oil contract auction

14:34 GMT, Tuesday, 30 June 2009 15:34 UK

Only one of the bidders for the eight contracts to run oil and gas fields in Iraq has accepted oil ministry terms.

Six oil fields and two gas fields were available in a televised auction that was the first big oil tender in Iraq since the invasion of 2003.

BP and China's CNPC agreed to run the 17 billion barrel Rumaila field after Exxon Mobil turned it down.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/8125731.stm

THANKS FOR THE INVITE, SAM!

If he remains Governor it will be because they don't want the Lt. Governor to take his place. I guess, from what I read, that he's not well liked.

Creepy, revealing quote from White House staffer

Glenn Greenwald
Tuesday June 30, 2009 10:31 EDT

Jane Hamsher details the extremely aggressive tactics the White House and House leadership used to coerce liberal environmentalist members to vote for the cap-and-trade bill despite their belief that it helped polluters more than it did anything else (and remember their ability to do that the next time they claim that a bill they ostensibly support simply couldn't pass because it lacked the necessary votes).  Jane quotes from a Politico article reporting on White House anger towards environmentalist Democratic Rep. Lloyd Doggett, due to an impassioned floor speech he gave arguing that the bill was so industry-friendly that it would do more harm than good.  That article contains this quote:

The White House is smoking mad at Rep. Lloyd Doggett (D-Texas), who says he's voting against the climate bill — despite the lobbying of the entire First Family in the Oval Office last night.

It's "stunning that he would ignore the wishes not just of his president, but of his constituents and the country,” said an administration official.

This has become an emerging theme among both the White House and House leadership:  that progressive membe ers of Congress have an obligation to carry out "the wishes of the President" even when they disagree (now, apparently, it's "stunning" when they defy his dictates).  That was the same subservient mentality that led House Democrats who admitted they opposed the war supplemental spending and/or the foreign bank bailout to nonetheless vote for the bill:  because they President favored it.  The duty of Congress is not to obey the wishes of the President. 

Note, too, that the sort of bullying tactics that were used for the war supplemental bill and now for the cap-and-trade bill are only directed towards the House progressives who want legislation to be less beholden to corporate donors; those tactics are never invoked against Blue Dogs who play a vital role in impeding progressive legislation and thus supply the perfect excuse for Democratic leaders as to why such legislation does not pass.  Let's see if these tactics are used against Blue Dogs who impede a public option for health care, the repeal of DOMA and Don't Ask, Don't Tell, and various issues relating to the closing of Guantanamo.  Will we hear condemnations from Rahm Emanuel's underlings about how stunning and outrageous it is that conservative Democrats are "ignoring the wishes of the President?" 

Salon

No...we can't force single payer or even a private option on the Congress...we don't want to rock the boat...DOMA? DADT?...completely in the hands of congress...RIGHT????

Someone please tell me why should I not assume the obvious here?

is some hybrid of french & spanish...

so that's what my soccer heros from brazil sound like

they all have 1 names, however, when you stretch them out...

Ronaldo Luís Nazário de Lima
Ronaldinho, Portuguese for "Little Ronaldo": Ronaldo de Assis Moreira
Pelé: Edison Arantes do Nascimento
Kaká: Ricardo Izecson dos Santos Leite
Cher: Cherilyn Sarkisian

Cher is the only female solo artist to reach the Top Ten of the Billboard Hot 100 in each of the previous four decades.

Cher was born in El Centro, California, on May 20, 1946, at 7:25 a.m. Her father, John Sarkisian, was an Armenian refugee who worked as a truck driver. Her mother, Georgia Holt (born Jackie Jean Crouch), born in Sharp County, Arkansas, June 20, 1927, an aspiring actress and occasional model, is of Cherokee, English and French descent. Cher's half sister is actress Georganne LaPiere.

Cher's parents divorced when she was young and she was raised primarily by her mother, who at one time was married to Gilbert LaPierre, a banker who adopted Cher. Due to financial problems, Cher's mother temporarily placed her in foster care. Later, her mother provided money for acting lessons to help further her career. Due to severe, undiagnosed dyslexia, she left Fresno High School at the age of 16. In those years Cher had a brief relationship with Warren Beatty.

she also had a brief stint in brazil's national team
where she had an uncanny knack to finding the back of the net
bagging 17 goals

charlie brown
charlie brown
this might be portuguese for...
take it down
take it way down, man
and jump
jump...
hey, catharine's not jumping!
and she's acting funny
better...
FEED HER TO THE SHARKS