That is why I haven't been blogging, dear readers. I had to take work and the hours are the times I had been posting here. I'm not going to go into it and whine and cry to you as so many of my fellow citizens would, beloved readers. Let's just say it's not where I wanted to be at this stage of my life and leave it at that. I guess I'm part of the "recovery" because I knew someone (how most people find work in AmeriKa).
Anyhow, I have a stack of Globes I had intended to read this week; however, I haven't gotten to any of them for one reason or another. What little I have seen on the TV news has sickened me. Now the latest booga-booga is bin Laden sending messages from the grave, I mean, cave? Another false-flag attack in the offing from "Al-CIA-Duh?" Or is this one going to be even more sinister and be pinned on Iran? Maybe "Al-CIA-Duh" and the Shi'ites they hate and kill when our occupation is around will work together, but otherwise.... don't you just get sick of the s*** like I do, dear readers?
In fact, that isn't even why logged on today. I logged on to THANK YOU, my beloved readers and followers. I just wanted to take a few minutes to THANK YOU for staying and sticking with me. I really can't describe how much you have meant to me (and still do) over these years. I know it sounds crazy, but I feel closer to some of you whom I have never even met and never even chatted with than citizens of my own nation with whom I interact. It is so sad that I even have to type it, but it is true. Nothing has disappointed me more than the attitudes of my friends and fellow citizens. AmeriKans must be the most vacuous, shallow-thinking, and empty-minded fools on the planet based on most conversations I have. I would say I am talking to the wrong people; however, there are so many of them (as opposed to those in Europe who have taken to the streets -- relegated to the back of the Globe's B-section under business, of course). That is why YOU have been SO IMPORTANT, dear readers and followers, and why I wanted to make and take the time to tell you that today.
I have no idea what will come above this post; I am so far behind my monitoring and do not know where to begin.
Thursday, September 30, 2010
Sunday, September 26, 2010
Globe's Governor's Race: Baker Rising as Patrick Falls
It's all in the polls if you look closely enough:
"Poll suggests governor’s race is tossup; Baker on heels of Patrick; Cahill slips further back" by Noah Bierman, Globe Staff | September 18, 2010
The Rasmussen Reports poll indicated that Democratic Governor Deval Patrick leads Republican gubernatorial candidate Charles D. Baker 42 percent to 38 percent among likely voters, with independent Timothy P. Cahill, the state treasurer, at 11 percent; Green-Rainbow candidate Jill Stein was not included....
The new results are within the poll’s 4.5 percent margin of error, and Rasmussen now says it has moved the race from “Leans Democrat’’ to “Tossup’’ on its national scorecard.
If so-called leaners are included — those who initially do not indicate a preference for a candidate — the margin at the top tightens and Cahill’s support drops further. Including leaners, Patrick leads Baker 45 percent to 42 percent, with Cahill garnering 5 percent....
Baker’s campaign said that the new poll results suggest that Patrick remains unpopular and that Baker, still unknown by many voters, has room to grow. Patrick’s campaign counters that the poll was taken just after the governor launched his first TV ad, while his opponents have already been on the airwaves for weeks.
Cahill’s campaign yesterday dismissed suggestions that his candidacy was in trouble, saying the treasurer drew 1,400 people to a rally and fund-raiser in Quincy on Thursday night. In a statement, Cahill said his opponents should not count him out.
“Something special is happening right now and we are seeing it everywhere,’’ he said. “I have always had faith in the people of Massachusetts, and I continue to have faith that they will elect me their next governor on November 2d.’’
--more--"
"Poll indicates Patrick increasing lead over Baker in governor’s race; But news mixed for incumbent" by Stewart Bishop, Globe Correspondent | September 21, 2010
A new poll indicates that Governor Deval Patrick is widening his lead over his Republican opponent, Charles D. Baker, in the gubernatorial contest.
The 7NEWS Suffolk University poll of 500 registered voters has Patrick leading Baker 41 to 34 percent, with independent candidate Timothy P. Cahill, the state treasurer, at 14 percent, and Green-Rainbow candidate Jill Stein, with 4 percent, WHDH Channel 7 News reported last night. Six percent of voters were undecided.
With a little over a month to go until Election Day, the latest poll indicates Patrick’ support growing....
Related: Boston Globe Bubble Will Not Burst
Don't stop believin', Globe!
The new poll was not all good news for the governor.
Despite his lead, 52 percent of respondents said Patrick does not deserve to be reelected, and among respondents who are familiar with both the Republican and Democratic candidates, Baker led Patrick 39 to 38 percent....
Then HE is DONE!!
Other parts of the poll also had some mixed news for Patrick....
The poll also indicates that if Cahill were not in the race, Baker would get 45 percent of Cahill’s votes and Patrick would get 34 percent.
Don't worry; Globe will fix that.
--more--"
Related: Cahill vows to stay in governor’s race
"Baker catches Patrick in new poll; Voters focusing on economy; Cahill’s effect on race unclear" by Frank Phillips and Michael Levenson, Globe Staff | September 26, 2010
With just five weeks to the election, Republican Charles D. Baker has pulled even with Governor Deval Patrick in a gubernatorial race shaped by anti-incumbent sentiment and unusually high excitement among Republican voters, according to a new Boston Globe poll.
See: State Set For November
The poll results also suggest that independent Timothy P. Cahill is pulling voters equally from Baker and Patrick, raising questions about the conventional political thinking that his candidacy is undercutting Baker’s chance to defeat the governor in the Nov. 2 election.
Translation: your newspaper lied to you again, Bay-Stater.
In the Globe poll, taken last week, Patrick, a Democrat, won support from 35 percent of likely voters, compared with 34 percent for Baker, a statistical tie given the poll’s margin of error. Cahill, the state treasurer who left the Democratic Party last year, continued to lag far behind with 11 percent. Green-Rainbow candidate Jill Stein got 4 percent, and 14 percent said they remain undecided.
Patrick has lost ground to Baker since the Globe last surveyed voters in June, when the governor led his Republican challenger, 38 to 31 percent. Cahill, damaged by negative ads from the Republican Governors Association, is having difficulty climbing back into a race in which he was once a major contender....
The poll indicates that voter turnout on Election Day will be key. The current trend favors Baker, because Republicans are much more enthusiastic about the election than Democrats.
Like a snowball rolling downhill in the cartoons.
Some 78 percent of likely GOP voters say they are excited about the race, compared with only 37 percent of likely Democratic voters. Among the subset of 245 voters surveyed who said they were excited about the race, Baker beat Patrick, 52 to 25 percent.
“The energy in this election is certainly on the Republican side,’’ said Andrew E. Smith, director of the University of New Hampshire Survey Center, which conducted the poll for the Globe.
That excitement is likely to drive Baker supporters to the polls, while Democrats could see a lower turnout than in past elections, Smith said.
“That spells trouble for Patrick,’’ he said....
Smith said that one of the most significant findings — especially damaging to Patrick as he celebrates the state’s recent economic gains — is that voters are still pessimistic about the direction of the state’s economy. More than half of respondents, 59 percent, cited jobs and the economy as the most important problem facing Massachusetts, far more than any other issue.
The intense voter focus on the economy makes it tough for Patrick to advance his case that Massachusetts is on a path to recovery — and at a faster clip than the rest of the country. Indeed, 41 percent of those polled said they are worse off now than they were a year ago, even though Massachusetts has been adding jobs for months; 36 percent said they are coping about the same, and 21 percent said they are better off.
Translation: we are TIRED of being LIED TO by GOVERNMENT and GLOBE!!
If that were true, WHY are MORE PEOPLE WORSE OFF?!!
Only 40 percent said the state is going in the right direction, while 50 percent disagreed. Those numbers remains unchanged since the June poll, although they are an improvement from July 2009, when Patrick’s popularity was at its lowest.
Look at the Globe reaching for STRAWS!
The poll indicates that Patrick’s standing with voters, which seemed to be improving in polls taken earlier this year, has plateaued. Voters hold largely the same opinion of him as they did in June — 42 percent of poll respondents this time said they viewed him favorably, compared with 43 percent who see him unfavorably.
And that is a pro-Patrick Globe poll! Imagine what the REAL NUMBERS ARE!
Patrick’s appeal to unenrolled voters is perilously low. Only 24 percent of self-described independents have a favorable opinion of the governor, compared with 59 percent who view him unfavorably.
Bye-bye, Deval!!
Patrick has other hurdles, notably a prevailing anti-incumbent mood. A majority of likely voters polled, 52 percent, said they want a new group of leaders in Washington and Massachusetts; only 29 percent said they trust the current leadership.
Meaning WE DON'T TRUST THEM AT ALL!!!!
Patrick’s job approval rating continues to remains low, as well. Only 40 percent of likely voters say they approve of the job he is doing, while 48 percent disapprove....
Baker’s strength appears to rest on his appeal to unenrolled, or independent, voters, who make up more than 50 percent of the electorate and often determine statewide races. Among registered independents, he leads Patrick 35 percent to 28 percent, with Cahill getting 13 percent.
But Baker’s pitch that he is better equipped to handle state finances has brought mixed results, the poll suggests. With a $2 billion deficit looming next year, voters are divided over whom they trust to handle budget and fiscal problems.
Pffft! But we want new.
Thirty-one percent said they trust Patrick on the issue — the exact same level of support won by Baker, who spent four years as state budget chief under two Republican governors in the 1990s.
Baker enjoys the best favorability rating among the three major candidates, although not by a wide margin. Thirty-one percent said they viewed him favorably, 25 percent viewed him negatively, 14 percent were neutral, and 30 percent said they didn’t know enough to say.
Look at the Globe pouring over the stuff hoping to find a kernel of corn in the s*** Patrick is in.
One potential drag on Baker, who has adopted an angry tone in his appeals to disgruntled voters, is his likability.
WRONG, Globe!
We LIKE ANGRY THIS YEAR because WE ARE FURIOUS!!
Yeah, the election is going to turn on WHO YOU LIKE!!
What a DISGUSTING piece of PROPAGANDA!!!!!
Not even a majority of Baker’s own supporters — just 44 percent — identified him as the most likable candidate, compared with 71 percent of Patrick’s supporters who identified the governor as the most likeable. Among all likely voters, Patrick was by far the most likable, followed by Baker, and then Cahill.
Except we are not electing a best friend, Globe; we are voting for GOVERNOR!
The governor is also considered the most in touch with voters and the strongest leader, while Baker is seen as most likely to bring change.
Yup, that LAST THING is what we WANT!!
Patrick’s likability could help swing voters open to changing their minds.
They are REALLY, REALLY REACHING!
Thomas R. Collaro, an investigator with the federal Department of Agriculture, said he is leaning toward Baker but his second choice is Patrick.
Well, THAT AIN'T GOING to get it done!
He said he does not agree with Patrick on education and feels the sales tax increase, signed by the governor last year, was “a bit too much.’’
“I find Baker something different,’’ said Collaro, a registered Independent. “Massachusetts seems to perform better with a Republican governor.’’
That SURE IS the TRUTH!!
Facing a barrage of TV ads and debates, some voters are feeling whiplashed.
I was thinking of another term -- like a violent sexual assault.
Janet O’Hara, a registered Democrat who told a survey interviewer she would vote for Baker, said in a follow-up interview that she had changed her mind after watching the heated debate among the four candidates Tuesday night. She said she was turned off by the anger she said Baker projected and his failure to directly answer questions.
“Now I am leaning toward Cahill, but I liked Stein and will even look at Deval,’’ said O’Hara, a Patrick voter in 2006 who was laid off from her job last year and is now starting a consulting business.
So Deval is her FOURTH CHOICE out of FOUR, huh?
This is the HOPE the GLOBE is EXTOLLING?
Despite the broad dissatisfaction with incumbents, Democrats still held a significant advantage over Republicans when voters were asked which party they would choose in elections for Congress and the state House.
Forty-five percent said they will vote for the Democratic candidate for US House, compared with 34 percent who said they will vote Republican, and 19 percent who were undecided.
That is in SUPPOSEDLY LIBERAL, Democratically-dominated Massachusetts!
NOT a GOOD SIGN for DEMOCRATS NATIONWIDE!!
But among voters in Southeastern Massachusetts, the Cape, and the Islands, which has a spirited race for an open congressional seat, voters were equally divided, with 41 percent saying they will vote Democratic and 41 percent saying they will vote Republican.
I think it would be GREAT to send a REPUBLICAN HOUSE MEMBER to Washington!!
In other statewide races, Democrats have an edge over their Republican competitors. Democrat Steve Grossman, a former party leader and businessman, won support from 40 percent of likely voters, compared with 30 percent for Republican Karyn Polito, a state lawmaker. In the race for auditor, Democrat Suzanne Bump, a former Patrick Cabinet official, narrowly led Republican Mary Connaughton, a former Turnpike Authority board member, 33 percent to 29 percent.
Related: Who's Auditing the Auditors?
--more--""
Also see:
"Poll suggests governor’s race is tossup; Baker on heels of Patrick; Cahill slips further back" by Noah Bierman, Globe Staff | September 18, 2010
The Rasmussen Reports poll indicated that Democratic Governor Deval Patrick leads Republican gubernatorial candidate Charles D. Baker 42 percent to 38 percent among likely voters, with independent Timothy P. Cahill, the state treasurer, at 11 percent; Green-Rainbow candidate Jill Stein was not included....
The new results are within the poll’s 4.5 percent margin of error, and Rasmussen now says it has moved the race from “Leans Democrat’’ to “Tossup’’ on its national scorecard.
If so-called leaners are included — those who initially do not indicate a preference for a candidate — the margin at the top tightens and Cahill’s support drops further. Including leaners, Patrick leads Baker 45 percent to 42 percent, with Cahill garnering 5 percent....
Baker’s campaign said that the new poll results suggest that Patrick remains unpopular and that Baker, still unknown by many voters, has room to grow. Patrick’s campaign counters that the poll was taken just after the governor launched his first TV ad, while his opponents have already been on the airwaves for weeks.
Cahill’s campaign yesterday dismissed suggestions that his candidacy was in trouble, saying the treasurer drew 1,400 people to a rally and fund-raiser in Quincy on Thursday night. In a statement, Cahill said his opponents should not count him out.
“Something special is happening right now and we are seeing it everywhere,’’ he said. “I have always had faith in the people of Massachusetts, and I continue to have faith that they will elect me their next governor on November 2d.’’
--more--"
"Poll indicates Patrick increasing lead over Baker in governor’s race; But news mixed for incumbent" by Stewart Bishop, Globe Correspondent | September 21, 2010
A new poll indicates that Governor Deval Patrick is widening his lead over his Republican opponent, Charles D. Baker, in the gubernatorial contest.
The 7NEWS Suffolk University poll of 500 registered voters has Patrick leading Baker 41 to 34 percent, with independent candidate Timothy P. Cahill, the state treasurer, at 14 percent, and Green-Rainbow candidate Jill Stein, with 4 percent, WHDH Channel 7 News reported last night. Six percent of voters were undecided.
With a little over a month to go until Election Day, the latest poll indicates Patrick’ support growing....
Related: Boston Globe Bubble Will Not Burst
Don't stop believin', Globe!
The new poll was not all good news for the governor.
Despite his lead, 52 percent of respondents said Patrick does not deserve to be reelected, and among respondents who are familiar with both the Republican and Democratic candidates, Baker led Patrick 39 to 38 percent....
Then HE is DONE!!
Other parts of the poll also had some mixed news for Patrick....
The poll also indicates that if Cahill were not in the race, Baker would get 45 percent of Cahill’s votes and Patrick would get 34 percent.
Don't worry; Globe will fix that.
--more--"
Related: Cahill vows to stay in governor’s race
"Baker catches Patrick in new poll; Voters focusing on economy; Cahill’s effect on race unclear" by Frank Phillips and Michael Levenson, Globe Staff | September 26, 2010
With just five weeks to the election, Republican Charles D. Baker has pulled even with Governor Deval Patrick in a gubernatorial race shaped by anti-incumbent sentiment and unusually high excitement among Republican voters, according to a new Boston Globe poll.
See: State Set For November
The poll results also suggest that independent Timothy P. Cahill is pulling voters equally from Baker and Patrick, raising questions about the conventional political thinking that his candidacy is undercutting Baker’s chance to defeat the governor in the Nov. 2 election.
Translation: your newspaper lied to you again, Bay-Stater.
In the Globe poll, taken last week, Patrick, a Democrat, won support from 35 percent of likely voters, compared with 34 percent for Baker, a statistical tie given the poll’s margin of error. Cahill, the state treasurer who left the Democratic Party last year, continued to lag far behind with 11 percent. Green-Rainbow candidate Jill Stein got 4 percent, and 14 percent said they remain undecided.
Patrick has lost ground to Baker since the Globe last surveyed voters in June, when the governor led his Republican challenger, 38 to 31 percent. Cahill, damaged by negative ads from the Republican Governors Association, is having difficulty climbing back into a race in which he was once a major contender....
The poll indicates that voter turnout on Election Day will be key. The current trend favors Baker, because Republicans are much more enthusiastic about the election than Democrats.
Like a snowball rolling downhill in the cartoons.
Some 78 percent of likely GOP voters say they are excited about the race, compared with only 37 percent of likely Democratic voters. Among the subset of 245 voters surveyed who said they were excited about the race, Baker beat Patrick, 52 to 25 percent.
“The energy in this election is certainly on the Republican side,’’ said Andrew E. Smith, director of the University of New Hampshire Survey Center, which conducted the poll for the Globe.
That excitement is likely to drive Baker supporters to the polls, while Democrats could see a lower turnout than in past elections, Smith said.
“That spells trouble for Patrick,’’ he said....
Smith said that one of the most significant findings — especially damaging to Patrick as he celebrates the state’s recent economic gains — is that voters are still pessimistic about the direction of the state’s economy. More than half of respondents, 59 percent, cited jobs and the economy as the most important problem facing Massachusetts, far more than any other issue.
The intense voter focus on the economy makes it tough for Patrick to advance his case that Massachusetts is on a path to recovery — and at a faster clip than the rest of the country. Indeed, 41 percent of those polled said they are worse off now than they were a year ago, even though Massachusetts has been adding jobs for months; 36 percent said they are coping about the same, and 21 percent said they are better off.
Translation: we are TIRED of being LIED TO by GOVERNMENT and GLOBE!!
If that were true, WHY are MORE PEOPLE WORSE OFF?!!
Only 40 percent said the state is going in the right direction, while 50 percent disagreed. Those numbers remains unchanged since the June poll, although they are an improvement from July 2009, when Patrick’s popularity was at its lowest.
Look at the Globe reaching for STRAWS!
The poll indicates that Patrick’s standing with voters, which seemed to be improving in polls taken earlier this year, has plateaued. Voters hold largely the same opinion of him as they did in June — 42 percent of poll respondents this time said they viewed him favorably, compared with 43 percent who see him unfavorably.
And that is a pro-Patrick Globe poll! Imagine what the REAL NUMBERS ARE!
Patrick’s appeal to unenrolled voters is perilously low. Only 24 percent of self-described independents have a favorable opinion of the governor, compared with 59 percent who view him unfavorably.
Bye-bye, Deval!!
Patrick has other hurdles, notably a prevailing anti-incumbent mood. A majority of likely voters polled, 52 percent, said they want a new group of leaders in Washington and Massachusetts; only 29 percent said they trust the current leadership.
Meaning WE DON'T TRUST THEM AT ALL!!!!
Patrick’s job approval rating continues to remains low, as well. Only 40 percent of likely voters say they approve of the job he is doing, while 48 percent disapprove....
Baker’s strength appears to rest on his appeal to unenrolled, or independent, voters, who make up more than 50 percent of the electorate and often determine statewide races. Among registered independents, he leads Patrick 35 percent to 28 percent, with Cahill getting 13 percent.
But Baker’s pitch that he is better equipped to handle state finances has brought mixed results, the poll suggests. With a $2 billion deficit looming next year, voters are divided over whom they trust to handle budget and fiscal problems.
Pffft! But we want new.
Thirty-one percent said they trust Patrick on the issue — the exact same level of support won by Baker, who spent four years as state budget chief under two Republican governors in the 1990s.
Baker enjoys the best favorability rating among the three major candidates, although not by a wide margin. Thirty-one percent said they viewed him favorably, 25 percent viewed him negatively, 14 percent were neutral, and 30 percent said they didn’t know enough to say.
Look at the Globe pouring over the stuff hoping to find a kernel of corn in the s*** Patrick is in.
One potential drag on Baker, who has adopted an angry tone in his appeals to disgruntled voters, is his likability.
WRONG, Globe!
We LIKE ANGRY THIS YEAR because WE ARE FURIOUS!!
Yeah, the election is going to turn on WHO YOU LIKE!!
What a DISGUSTING piece of PROPAGANDA!!!!!
Not even a majority of Baker’s own supporters — just 44 percent — identified him as the most likable candidate, compared with 71 percent of Patrick’s supporters who identified the governor as the most likeable. Among all likely voters, Patrick was by far the most likable, followed by Baker, and then Cahill.
Except we are not electing a best friend, Globe; we are voting for GOVERNOR!
The governor is also considered the most in touch with voters and the strongest leader, while Baker is seen as most likely to bring change.
Yup, that LAST THING is what we WANT!!
Patrick’s likability could help swing voters open to changing their minds.
They are REALLY, REALLY REACHING!
Thomas R. Collaro, an investigator with the federal Department of Agriculture, said he is leaning toward Baker but his second choice is Patrick.
Well, THAT AIN'T GOING to get it done!
He said he does not agree with Patrick on education and feels the sales tax increase, signed by the governor last year, was “a bit too much.’’
“I find Baker something different,’’ said Collaro, a registered Independent. “Massachusetts seems to perform better with a Republican governor.’’
That SURE IS the TRUTH!!
Facing a barrage of TV ads and debates, some voters are feeling whiplashed.
I was thinking of another term -- like a violent sexual assault.
Janet O’Hara, a registered Democrat who told a survey interviewer she would vote for Baker, said in a follow-up interview that she had changed her mind after watching the heated debate among the four candidates Tuesday night. She said she was turned off by the anger she said Baker projected and his failure to directly answer questions.
“Now I am leaning toward Cahill, but I liked Stein and will even look at Deval,’’ said O’Hara, a Patrick voter in 2006 who was laid off from her job last year and is now starting a consulting business.
So Deval is her FOURTH CHOICE out of FOUR, huh?
This is the HOPE the GLOBE is EXTOLLING?
Despite the broad dissatisfaction with incumbents, Democrats still held a significant advantage over Republicans when voters were asked which party they would choose in elections for Congress and the state House.
Forty-five percent said they will vote for the Democratic candidate for US House, compared with 34 percent who said they will vote Republican, and 19 percent who were undecided.
That is in SUPPOSEDLY LIBERAL, Democratically-dominated Massachusetts!
NOT a GOOD SIGN for DEMOCRATS NATIONWIDE!!
But among voters in Southeastern Massachusetts, the Cape, and the Islands, which has a spirited race for an open congressional seat, voters were equally divided, with 41 percent saying they will vote Democratic and 41 percent saying they will vote Republican.
I think it would be GREAT to send a REPUBLICAN HOUSE MEMBER to Washington!!
In other statewide races, Democrats have an edge over their Republican competitors. Democrat Steve Grossman, a former party leader and businessman, won support from 40 percent of likely voters, compared with 30 percent for Republican Karyn Polito, a state lawmaker. In the race for auditor, Democrat Suzanne Bump, a former Patrick Cabinet official, narrowly led Republican Mary Connaughton, a former Turnpike Authority board member, 33 percent to 29 percent.
Related: Who's Auditing the Auditors?
--more--""
Also see:
- Globe's Governor's Race: Checking the Polls
- Globe's Governor's Race: Burying Charles Baker
- Globe's Governor's Race: Democrats Cook Up Dirty Tricks on Baker
- Globe's Governor's Race: Campaign Cash Champ
- Globe's Governor's Race: Patrick's Broken Promise
- Globe's Governor's Race: Uniting Behind Patrick
- Globe's Governor's Race: Patrick Plays the Race Card
- Globe's Governor's Race: State Treasurer Didn't Pay His Taxes
- Globe's Governor's Race: Economy Stuck in the Marshes
- Globe's Governor's Race: Gambling on Casinos
- Globe's Governor's Race: Immigration is the Issue
- Globe's Governor's Race: Gay Gripes
- Globe's Governor's Race: Hot Wind on the Campaign Trail
Globe's Governor's Debates
I'm sorry, readers. I haven't watched any of them.
I've already made up my mind: Incumbents out.
"Debate may not include Stein; Sponsors say she hasn’t met criteria" by Noah Bierman, Globe Staff | September 11, 2010
A consortium of media outlets sponsoring two gubernatorial debates this fall said yesterday that Green-Rainbow candidate Jill Stein had not met all the criteria to be included in the first face-off, on Sept. 21, drawing protest from her campaign.
The six-member consortium, which includes the Globe along with several Boston-area television and radio stations, set several criteria, intended to gauge candidates’ viability, for inclusion in the debates. The criteria were spelled out in a letter to candidates last month.
Stein has met some of them. She has a campaign headquarters and at least three paid staff members, according to campaign finance records. She also registered above the 5 percent polling threshold in a May Suffolk University/7 News poll, though more recent surveys have shown her below that level.
But Stein has fallen short of the final threshold, a requirement that she raise $100,000 between Jan. 1 and Oct. 1....
--more--"
Also see: Patrick, Baker, Cahill trade punches in radio debate
"Baker defends angry tone; Says in debate that responses reflect the frustration of voters" by Michael Levenson, Globe Staff | September 17, 2010
Jill Stein, a Green-Rainbow candidate who was excluded from a WBZ radio debate on Tuesday, was also barred from yesterday’s debate, which was moderated by two WTKK hosts, Margery Eagan and Jim Braude.
Eagan asked the candidates whether the rise of the Tea Party movement threatens moderate voices in American politics. Republican Charles Baker, who has attended Tea Party events, said “civic engagement is a good thing and is always a good thing.’’ Independent Timothy Cahill, who has more overtly courted Tea Party support, said the movement is “good for America.’’
Governor Deval Patrick, however, said “civic engagement is right,’’ but he has seen “some pretty coarse’’ signs at Tea Party events. “The movement is so broad and so amorphous, it’s very hard to see whether they’re organized around any particular principle, other than just their anger,’’ Patrick said.
Which will turn to glee when we boot your ass!
--more--"
In a display of the increasing tension in the race, the three major candidates for governor attacked one another’s records aggressively last night in a major televised debate that focused far more on their pasts than on their visions for Massachusetts.....
Republican Charles D. Baker often appeared the most aggressive, putting Governor Deval Patrick on the defensive....
A fourth candidate, Jill Stein of the Green-Rainbow Party, used her position to attack Patrick from the left. As in past debates, Stein was often relegated to the margin....
Left seems to like it there.
--more--"
Also see: Prime time battle lines in Mass. gubernatorial race
Lt. governor candidates share stage
Opponents blast Patrick on immigration
GOP governors take aim at Patrick
Governor candidates spend heavy on TV ads
As race tightens, gubernatorial candidates woo voters
Green-Rainbow candidate views quest for office in global terms
"Stein says she’s raised enough for state match" by David Abel, Globe Staff | September 26, 2010
Green-Rainbow Party candidate Jill Stein said yesterday that she has raised enough money to be included in future debates and to receive matching funds from the state....
Yeah, the strapped taxpayers of Massachusetts thank you.
--more--"
Also see:
I've already made up my mind: Incumbents out.
"Debate may not include Stein; Sponsors say she hasn’t met criteria" by Noah Bierman, Globe Staff | September 11, 2010
A consortium of media outlets sponsoring two gubernatorial debates this fall said yesterday that Green-Rainbow candidate Jill Stein had not met all the criteria to be included in the first face-off, on Sept. 21, drawing protest from her campaign.
The six-member consortium, which includes the Globe along with several Boston-area television and radio stations, set several criteria, intended to gauge candidates’ viability, for inclusion in the debates. The criteria were spelled out in a letter to candidates last month.
Stein has met some of them. She has a campaign headquarters and at least three paid staff members, according to campaign finance records. She also registered above the 5 percent polling threshold in a May Suffolk University/7 News poll, though more recent surveys have shown her below that level.
But Stein has fallen short of the final threshold, a requirement that she raise $100,000 between Jan. 1 and Oct. 1....
--more--"
Also see: Patrick, Baker, Cahill trade punches in radio debate
"Baker defends angry tone; Says in debate that responses reflect the frustration of voters" by Michael Levenson, Globe Staff | September 17, 2010
Jill Stein, a Green-Rainbow candidate who was excluded from a WBZ radio debate on Tuesday, was also barred from yesterday’s debate, which was moderated by two WTKK hosts, Margery Eagan and Jim Braude.
Eagan asked the candidates whether the rise of the Tea Party movement threatens moderate voices in American politics. Republican Charles Baker, who has attended Tea Party events, said “civic engagement is a good thing and is always a good thing.’’ Independent Timothy Cahill, who has more overtly courted Tea Party support, said the movement is “good for America.’’
Governor Deval Patrick, however, said “civic engagement is right,’’ but he has seen “some pretty coarse’’ signs at Tea Party events. “The movement is so broad and so amorphous, it’s very hard to see whether they’re organized around any particular principle, other than just their anger,’’ Patrick said.
Which will turn to glee when we boot your ass!
--more--"
In a display of the increasing tension in the race, the three major candidates for governor attacked one another’s records aggressively last night in a major televised debate that focused far more on their pasts than on their visions for Massachusetts.....
Republican Charles D. Baker often appeared the most aggressive, putting Governor Deval Patrick on the defensive....
A fourth candidate, Jill Stein of the Green-Rainbow Party, used her position to attack Patrick from the left. As in past debates, Stein was often relegated to the margin....
Left seems to like it there.
--more--"
Also see: Prime time battle lines in Mass. gubernatorial race
Lt. governor candidates share stage
Opponents blast Patrick on immigration
GOP governors take aim at Patrick
Governor candidates spend heavy on TV ads
As race tightens, gubernatorial candidates woo voters
Green-Rainbow candidate views quest for office in global terms
"Stein says she’s raised enough for state match" by David Abel, Globe Staff | September 26, 2010
Green-Rainbow Party candidate Jill Stein said yesterday that she has raised enough money to be included in future debates and to receive matching funds from the state....
Yeah, the strapped taxpayers of Massachusetts thank you.
--more--"
Also see:
- Globe's Governor's Race: Checking the Polls
- Globe's Governor's Race: Burying Charles Baker
- Globe's Governor's Race: Democrats Cook Up Dirty Tricks on Baker
- Globe's Governor's Race: Campaign Cash Champ
- Globe's Governor's Race: Patrick's Broken Promise
- Globe's Governor's Race: Uniting Behind Patrick
- Globe's Governor's Race: Patrick Plays the Race Card
- Globe's Governor's Race: State Treasurer Didn't Pay His Taxes
- Globe's Governor's Race: Economy Stuck in the Marshes
- Globe's Governor's Race: Gambling on Casinos
- Globe's Governor's Race: Immigration is the Issue
- Globe's Governor's Race: Gay Gripes
- Globe's Governor's Race: Hot Wind on the Campaign Trail
The Final Word on Charlie Baker
“The thing I learned about Charlie is he’s very good at fixing big things that are broken’’
Then does Massachusetts ever need him!
"Baker defends angry tone; Says in debate that responses reflect the frustration of voters" by Michael Levenson, Globe Staff | September 17, 2010
Republican Charles D. Baker, after once again showing flashes of anger in a gubernatorial debate, defended yesterday his rising emotions on the campaign trail, saying he is angry at state government and channeling the “tenor of the times.’’
You don't have to defend anything, Chuck.
*************
Republicans and Democrats across the country have been trying to capitalize on the mood of the electorate this year, with many voters saying they are angry about the economy and ready to boot incumbents from office.
LOOKING FORWARD TO IT!!
On Tuesday, those voters, fueled by the Tea Party movement, helped elect dissident Republicans over more established candidates in Delaware and New York....
Related: O’Donnell Is Doable
But Karl Rove said no.
Yesterday, Baker said he makes no apologies for his occasionally flaring emotions, which could endear him to some voters but turn others off....
Like who, Globe!?
Gimme a break, will ya?
--more--"
Related: Boston Globe Bubble Will Not Burst
Also see:
Then does Massachusetts ever need him!
"Baker defends angry tone; Says in debate that responses reflect the frustration of voters" by Michael Levenson, Globe Staff | September 17, 2010
Republican Charles D. Baker, after once again showing flashes of anger in a gubernatorial debate, defended yesterday his rising emotions on the campaign trail, saying he is angry at state government and channeling the “tenor of the times.’’
You don't have to defend anything, Chuck.
*************
Republicans and Democrats across the country have been trying to capitalize on the mood of the electorate this year, with many voters saying they are angry about the economy and ready to boot incumbents from office.
LOOKING FORWARD TO IT!!
On Tuesday, those voters, fueled by the Tea Party movement, helped elect dissident Republicans over more established candidates in Delaware and New York....
Related: O’Donnell Is Doable
But Karl Rove said no.
Yesterday, Baker said he makes no apologies for his occasionally flaring emotions, which could endear him to some voters but turn others off....
Like who, Globe!?
Gimme a break, will ya?
--more--"
Related: Boston Globe Bubble Will Not Burst
Also see:
- Globe's Governor's Race: Checking the Polls
- Globe's Governor's Race: Burying Charles Baker
- Globe's Governor's Race: Democrats Cook Up Dirty Tricks on Baker
- Globe's Governor's Race: Campaign Cash Champ
- Globe's Governor's Race: Patrick's Broken Promise
- Globe's Governor's Race: Uniting Behind Patrick
- Globe's Governor's Race: Patrick Plays the Race Card
- Globe's Governor's Race: State Treasurer Didn't Pay His Taxes
- Globe's Governor's Race: Economy Stuck in the Marshes
- Globe's Governor's Race: Gambling on Casinos
- Globe's Governor's Race: Immigration is the Issue
- Globe's Governor's Race: Gay Gripes
- Globe's Governor's Race: Hot Wind on the Campaign Trail
Pumping Up Governor Patrick's Record
Globe is doing its best!
"Patrick’s reform record scrutinized from all sides" by Noah Bierman, Globe Staff | September 19, 2010
At a ceremony in Springfield last summer, Governor Deval Patrick signed a sweeping transportation bill into law that eliminated the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority and simplified an array of bureaucracies, a signature victory for a leader who had staked his reputation on remaking Beacon Hill....
A year later, the governor points to a meaningful payoff: The overhaul, he says, has helped avert a $250 million payment that Wall Street had been demanding because of the Turnpike Authority’s shaky credit.
But the new law was not the main reason investors backed off, according to two credit analysts. They point instead to a sales tax increase, also signed by Patrick last summer, that devoted $100 million a year to paying off Turnpike Authority debts.
That is where YOUR TAX DOLLARS are going as YOUR SERVICES are GUTTED!
“At the end of the day, the turnpike needed a certain amount of money,’’ said Mike McDermott, an analyst with Fitch Ratings, whose bond rating upgrade helped the state avoid the payment.
And they SOLD IT TO YOU by HOLLERING SERVICE CUT SCARES!
Are you going to BUY THAT AGAIN, Bay State voter?
Looks like you PUBLIC SERVANTS are only HELPING THEMSELVES!
The divergent views of that single aspect of Patrick’s agenda underscore a question voters will be weighing in the closing weeks of the governor’s race: Has he delivered the sweeping changes to state government that he trumpets on the campaign trail?
NOPE!
Patrick, over nearly four years in office, has steered the state through a number of high-profile changes in the way it does business. Aside from transportation, Patrick has signed or implemented overhauls of laws on ethics, pensions, criminal records, detail pay and education stipends for police, auto insurance, municipal health care, charter schools, and others.
Patrick and his supporters say no governor has made so much progress taking on the entrenched political culture of Massachusetts, pointing to regular labor protests as evidence that he has taken on powerful constituencies.
Maybe the ONE-PARTY FASCISM hasn't WORKED, huh?
Steve Crosby, dean of the McCormack Graduate School of Policy Studies at the University of Massachusetts Boston, said Patrick deserves credit for taking on police details at construction sites and education incentives for law enforcement.
“That’s threatening the police unions, the public safety unions, and most governors wouldn’t touch that with a 10-foot poll,’’ said Crosby, who is neutral in the race. “That takes a lot of nerve, a lot of courage.’’
But where the governor and his backers see bold progress, others see mixed results, a menu of reforms that are incomplete, insufficient, or overstated.
Or FAILURE!
In some cases, events outside the administration’s control have all but demanded action; above all, the budget crunch brought on by recession.
He's not getting a pass for that, not after all the tax loot he has wasted.
Related:
The Massachusetts Model: Municipal Health Mess
Towns to Pay Health Tax For Public Servants
Memory Hole: Massachusetts' State Budget
Mass. State Budget: Screwing Cities and Towns
That's where your increased taxes are going (and not going), taxpayers.
In others, it is too early to tell the ultimate significance of the changes.
“Reform has not been the administration’s first instinct,’’ said Michael J. Widmer, president of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, a business-backed watchdog often consulted by lawmakers and the administration. “He does deserve some credit for doing some reforms, though in some cases he’s been dragged kicking and screaming, and others have been untouched.’’
--more--"
Related: Patrick gets AFL-CIO endorsement
Also see: Globe's Governor's Race: Uniting Behind Patrick
Then why is the Globe making the endorsement above-the-fold news?
"Video trackers manage to fit in behind enemy lines
Once a semi-secretive novelty, having trackers is now standard practice, and they cover candidates more consistently than many reporters.
Want proof? At a union endorsement Thursday — to which reporters were not invited — Governor Deval Patrick saved his warmest greeting for his tracker from the campaign of Republican rival Charles D. Baker, who had somehow found him....
--more--"
Also see:
"Patrick’s reform record scrutinized from all sides" by Noah Bierman, Globe Staff | September 19, 2010
At a ceremony in Springfield last summer, Governor Deval Patrick signed a sweeping transportation bill into law that eliminated the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority and simplified an array of bureaucracies, a signature victory for a leader who had staked his reputation on remaking Beacon Hill....
A year later, the governor points to a meaningful payoff: The overhaul, he says, has helped avert a $250 million payment that Wall Street had been demanding because of the Turnpike Authority’s shaky credit.
But the new law was not the main reason investors backed off, according to two credit analysts. They point instead to a sales tax increase, also signed by Patrick last summer, that devoted $100 million a year to paying off Turnpike Authority debts.
That is where YOUR TAX DOLLARS are going as YOUR SERVICES are GUTTED!
“At the end of the day, the turnpike needed a certain amount of money,’’ said Mike McDermott, an analyst with Fitch Ratings, whose bond rating upgrade helped the state avoid the payment.
And they SOLD IT TO YOU by HOLLERING SERVICE CUT SCARES!
Are you going to BUY THAT AGAIN, Bay State voter?
Looks like you PUBLIC SERVANTS are only HELPING THEMSELVES!
The divergent views of that single aspect of Patrick’s agenda underscore a question voters will be weighing in the closing weeks of the governor’s race: Has he delivered the sweeping changes to state government that he trumpets on the campaign trail?
NOPE!
Patrick, over nearly four years in office, has steered the state through a number of high-profile changes in the way it does business. Aside from transportation, Patrick has signed or implemented overhauls of laws on ethics, pensions, criminal records, detail pay and education stipends for police, auto insurance, municipal health care, charter schools, and others.
Patrick and his supporters say no governor has made so much progress taking on the entrenched political culture of Massachusetts, pointing to regular labor protests as evidence that he has taken on powerful constituencies.
Maybe the ONE-PARTY FASCISM hasn't WORKED, huh?
Steve Crosby, dean of the McCormack Graduate School of Policy Studies at the University of Massachusetts Boston, said Patrick deserves credit for taking on police details at construction sites and education incentives for law enforcement.
“That’s threatening the police unions, the public safety unions, and most governors wouldn’t touch that with a 10-foot poll,’’ said Crosby, who is neutral in the race. “That takes a lot of nerve, a lot of courage.’’
But where the governor and his backers see bold progress, others see mixed results, a menu of reforms that are incomplete, insufficient, or overstated.
Or FAILURE!
In some cases, events outside the administration’s control have all but demanded action; above all, the budget crunch brought on by recession.
He's not getting a pass for that, not after all the tax loot he has wasted.
Related:
The Massachusetts Model: Municipal Health Mess
Towns to Pay Health Tax For Public Servants
Memory Hole: Massachusetts' State Budget
Mass. State Budget: Screwing Cities and Towns
That's where your increased taxes are going (and not going), taxpayers.
In others, it is too early to tell the ultimate significance of the changes.
“Reform has not been the administration’s first instinct,’’ said Michael J. Widmer, president of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, a business-backed watchdog often consulted by lawmakers and the administration. “He does deserve some credit for doing some reforms, though in some cases he’s been dragged kicking and screaming, and others have been untouched.’’
--more--"
Related: Patrick gets AFL-CIO endorsement
Also see: Globe's Governor's Race: Uniting Behind Patrick
Then why is the Globe making the endorsement above-the-fold news?
"Video trackers manage to fit in behind enemy lines
Once a semi-secretive novelty, having trackers is now standard practice, and they cover candidates more consistently than many reporters.
Want proof? At a union endorsement Thursday — to which reporters were not invited — Governor Deval Patrick saved his warmest greeting for his tracker from the campaign of Republican rival Charles D. Baker, who had somehow found him....
--more--"
Also see:
- Globe's Governor's Race: Checking the Polls
- Globe's Governor's Race: Burying Charles Baker
- Globe's Governor's Race: Democrats Cook Up Dirty Tricks on Baker
- Globe's Governor's Race: Campaign Cash Champ
- Globe's Governor's Race: Patrick's Broken Promise
- Globe's Governor's Race: Uniting Behind Patrick
- Globe's Governor's Race: Patrick Plays the Race Card
- Globe's Governor's Race: State Treasurer Didn't Pay His Taxes
- Globe's Governor's Race: Economy Stuck in the Marshes
- Globe's Governor's Race: Gambling on Casinos
- Globe's Governor's Race: Immigration is the Issue
- Globe's Governor's Race: Gay Gripes
- Globe's Governor's Race: Hot Wind on the Campaign Trail
Louisiana Still Covered in Oil Slick
And that is not counting the unreported oil lapping up on shore or the two-inch thick goo at the bottom of the Gulf (let alone any mention of chemical dispersants that are making people sick).
"Oil spill payments to be bigger, faster
NEW ORLEANS — The administrator of the fund for gulf oil spill victims said people should start getting bigger payments faster. Kenneth Feinberg, Gulf Coast Claims Facility administrator, said he was responding to criticism (AP)."
NEW ORLEANS — Far fewer people than expected have applied for money from a $100 million fund BP set up to help deep-water rig workers after a federal moratorium on drilling prompted by the massive oil spill.
Also because NO ONE WANTS to have anything to do with GOVERNMENT or AUTHORITY or OFFICIALDOM! The LIES have kind of RUINED IT!
And look at what the CORPORATE PAPER is FOCUSED ON: when they can get MORE OIL!!! Not the ENVIRONMENT they are supposed to care so much about and are guarding for YOU!
With nine days left to apply, a spokesman for the charity running the program said yesterday that only 356 people have come forward. Up to 9,000 people had been expected to seek grants of $3,000 to $30,000.
The charity said it turns out that many rig workers are being kept on the job by their employers, despite the moratorium.
Grants were expected to be limited to those who worked on the 33 rigs affected by the moratorium. But with so much money apparently left over, the charity plans to offer a second round of grants — this time to workers who support the deep-water rigs, such as people on supply boats and pilots who provide helicopter transportation to rigs.
“We expect all of the money to be made as grants at that time,’’ said Mukul Verma, a spokesman for the Gulf Coast Restoration and Protection Foundation, which is running the program.
A recent federal report argued that the moratorium has not increased unemployment in the region. Louisiana lawmakers and the oil and gas industry immediately disputed the finding.
The report, released at a Senate hearing Thursday, said the moratorium imposed after the BP oil spill probably caused a temporary loss of 8,000 to 12,000 jobs in the gulf region, including about 2,000 on deep-water rigs. Total industry spending in the region decreased by nearly $2 billion, the report said, most of it by drilling operators. But the report found no large increases in unemployment claims, thanks in part to a big hiring push for cleanup crews and massive spending by BP on the recovery.
The scenario is far rosier than that described in some previous reports, including an Interior Department estimate over the summer that 23,000 jobs could be lost to the moratorium.
Are you SICK of being LIED TO YET, America?
Oh, right, the SAINTS GAME is STARTING!
Senator Mary Landrieu, a Louisiana Democrat and leading critic of the moratorium, attacked the report and said the “heavy hand of the federal government’’ was placing thousands of jobs in the gulf at risk.
--more--"
Related: La. senator says she’ll block Obama economic nominee
Where is the HOLLERING of OBSTRUCTION from the Democrats?
Oh, SHE IS a DEMOCRAT!
And about that spill:
"New study affirms US gulf spill estimate; Video analysts put it at 185m gals." by Seth Borenstein, Associated Press | September 24, 2010
You know, the government can trot out as many bulls*** experts as it wants and the newspapers can fill their pages with them; however, WE NO LONGER BELIEVE you LYING SACKS of S*** that SERVES CORPORATIONS not people!!!
WASHINGTON — After several missteps, the federal government finally got it right, accurately estimating how much oil spilled into the Gulf of Mexico, an independent scientific study found.
I thought I smelled something familiar.
Nearly 185 million gallons of oil spilled from the broken BP well into the Gulf of Mexico this summer, according to a study by two Columbia University researchers who made their estimates based on video of the oil spewing from the well.
PFFFFFFFFT!
It was reported as 206 million gallons a while back. BP must have complained about the fine.
The federal government’s final estimate was a shade more than 172 million gallons. The Columbia researchers’ estimate is 12.6 million gallons more than the federal figure.
That must make it all kosher, huh?
However, because it’s so difficult to get a precise estimate, there is a large margin of error for both the government figure and the Columbia number. The margin is so large that the two estimates essentially overlap, the researchers said. Their study was published online yesterday in the journal Science....
Related: Globe Endorses Government on Evaporated Oil From Gulf Gusher
I think that is when I stopped believing in Science.
And my remaining faith in the newspaper?
--more--"
Get the point?
And about that paymaster:
WASHINGTON --The Obama administration says it's chosen a Treasury Department lawyer to replace pay czar Kenneth Feinberg, who stepped down Friday, ending a contentious 14-month tenure.
Feinberg was accused of failing to act aggressively enough to recoup excessive pay for Wall Street bankers. He said in a final report that he thought his work had helped reform compensation policies.
The administration says Feinberg will be replaced by Patricia Geoghegan. She will be responsible for setting pay guidelines for top executives at the four companies still getting exceptional assistance from the government's $700 billion bailout fund.
Those companies are American International Group, General Motors, Chrysler and Ally Financial Inc., the financing arm for GM and Chrysler.
Geoghegan spent much of the past year working with Feinberg as he issued a series of compensation reports. She came to Treasury after retiring as a partner from New York law firm Cravath, Swaine and Moore, where she had specialized in tax law and executive compensation.
In his report, Feinberg recommended that the administration tap a permanent Treasury official to head up the compensation office....
Feinberg's last day at Treasury was Friday although he has been devoting much of his time since mid-June to overseeing a $20 billion fund created by BP to pay the victims of the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
Before being chosen as the government's pay czar in 2009, Feinberg had headed up the Sept. 11 Victim Compensation Fund after the terrorist attack. In that job, Feinberg distributed awards to the families of victims of the 2001 terrorist attacks....
And his reach goes even further back.
--more--"
More Louisiana slime:
WASHINGTON — The trial is an extraordinary spectacle, featuring allegations that lawyers and bail bondsmen plied the Honorable Gabriel Thomas Porteous of New Orleans, a reformed drinker and gambler, with gifts to gain his courtroom favor. Cash in envelopes. Bottles of Absolut and coolers of shrimp. A Vegas bachelor party for Porteous’s son, complete with lap dance.
It showcases both the often-sordid politics of Louisiana and a struggle over constitutional precedents.
But while this is the first Senate impeachment trial since President Bill Clinton’s in 1999, and the first for a member of the judiciary since 1989, the historic procedure is underway largely outside the zone of the public’s attention. Amid the tumult of the midterm campaigns, Washington’s attention has been occupied elsewhere....
And WHO would be RESPONSIBLE for THAT, agenda-pushing corporate media?
Porteous’s defense lawyers, led by George Washington University professor Jonathan Turley, say the charges are overblown and do not rise to the “high crimes’’ described in the US Constitution.
Related: Obama the Neo-Con
I think he would know!
He urged senators to consider carefully before making Porteous the only judge in US history to be forced off the bench through impeachment without having been charged with a crime.
Welcome to AmeriKa!!!
Porteous, 63, a large, balding man with thick gold rings on each hand, is suspended from the bench but still collecting his salary. He has sat impassively at the defense table, sometimes making a note or two on a legal pad, as a string of colorful characters have spilled the alleged tale of his dishonor and human failings.
His Metairie home was destroyed in Hurricane Katrina. Four months later, his wife, Carmella, died of a heart attack, his son testified. “After that, he became very isolated, he stayed at home, he was depressed,’’ said Timothy Porteous, also a lawyer....
Porteous was suspected of being way too cozy with Louis and Lori Marcotte, a pair of siblings who had monopolized the lucrative bail-bond business on the West Bank, and he was one of the local judges investigated in Operation Wrinkled Robe, an FBI investigation into corruption at the Jefferson Parish courthouse.
This is what the FBI does when it isn't framing Muslim patsies.
Two of his fellow state judges went off to jail for mooching off the Marcottes, and a third was taken off the bench by the state Supreme Court.
Marcotte took the judge to Las Vegas and treated him to expensive lunches, he testified, and his employees fixed Porteous’s fence and his cars, often returning them from the detailing shop with the vodka or shrimp left inside as a special goody bag.
Lawyers slipped Porteous cash, prosecutors charge, to influence their cases before his bench. The defense says those lawyers were longtime friends just trying to help out a man they knew had fallen on tough times....
The impeachment trial’s rules of evidence are unlike civil or criminal trials, and Senator Claire McCaskill, a Missouri Democrat [and] former city and county prosecutor, often has leaned over to seek guidance from Senator Orrin Hatch, a Utah Republican who is the committee’s vice chairman and a longtime Judiciary Committee member.
They are SO PARTISAN, aren't they?
And the case is complicated, for all of the hours of narrative that would seem to place Porteous in the parade of infamous Louisiana public servants, from former Representative William Jefferson with his cash in the freezer all the way back to Huey Long.
Huey Long was killed because he was a threat to Roosevelt and the establishment.
And how dare they call them public servants these days.
--more--"
"Oil spill payments to be bigger, faster
NEW ORLEANS — The administrator of the fund for gulf oil spill victims said people should start getting bigger payments faster. Kenneth Feinberg, Gulf Coast Claims Facility administrator, said he was responding to criticism (AP)."
NEW ORLEANS — Far fewer people than expected have applied for money from a $100 million fund BP set up to help deep-water rig workers after a federal moratorium on drilling prompted by the massive oil spill.
Also because NO ONE WANTS to have anything to do with GOVERNMENT or AUTHORITY or OFFICIALDOM! The LIES have kind of RUINED IT!
And look at what the CORPORATE PAPER is FOCUSED ON: when they can get MORE OIL!!! Not the ENVIRONMENT they are supposed to care so much about and are guarding for YOU!
With nine days left to apply, a spokesman for the charity running the program said yesterday that only 356 people have come forward. Up to 9,000 people had been expected to seek grants of $3,000 to $30,000.
The charity said it turns out that many rig workers are being kept on the job by their employers, despite the moratorium.
Grants were expected to be limited to those who worked on the 33 rigs affected by the moratorium. But with so much money apparently left over, the charity plans to offer a second round of grants — this time to workers who support the deep-water rigs, such as people on supply boats and pilots who provide helicopter transportation to rigs.
“We expect all of the money to be made as grants at that time,’’ said Mukul Verma, a spokesman for the Gulf Coast Restoration and Protection Foundation, which is running the program.
A recent federal report argued that the moratorium has not increased unemployment in the region. Louisiana lawmakers and the oil and gas industry immediately disputed the finding.
The report, released at a Senate hearing Thursday, said the moratorium imposed after the BP oil spill probably caused a temporary loss of 8,000 to 12,000 jobs in the gulf region, including about 2,000 on deep-water rigs. Total industry spending in the region decreased by nearly $2 billion, the report said, most of it by drilling operators. But the report found no large increases in unemployment claims, thanks in part to a big hiring push for cleanup crews and massive spending by BP on the recovery.
The scenario is far rosier than that described in some previous reports, including an Interior Department estimate over the summer that 23,000 jobs could be lost to the moratorium.
Are you SICK of being LIED TO YET, America?
Oh, right, the SAINTS GAME is STARTING!
Senator Mary Landrieu, a Louisiana Democrat and leading critic of the moratorium, attacked the report and said the “heavy hand of the federal government’’ was placing thousands of jobs in the gulf at risk.
--more--"
Related: La. senator says she’ll block Obama economic nominee
Where is the HOLLERING of OBSTRUCTION from the Democrats?
Oh, SHE IS a DEMOCRAT!
And about that spill:
"New study affirms US gulf spill estimate; Video analysts put it at 185m gals." by Seth Borenstein, Associated Press | September 24, 2010
You know, the government can trot out as many bulls*** experts as it wants and the newspapers can fill their pages with them; however, WE NO LONGER BELIEVE you LYING SACKS of S*** that SERVES CORPORATIONS not people!!!
WASHINGTON — After several missteps, the federal government finally got it right, accurately estimating how much oil spilled into the Gulf of Mexico, an independent scientific study found.
I thought I smelled something familiar.
Nearly 185 million gallons of oil spilled from the broken BP well into the Gulf of Mexico this summer, according to a study by two Columbia University researchers who made their estimates based on video of the oil spewing from the well.
PFFFFFFFFT!
It was reported as 206 million gallons a while back. BP must have complained about the fine.
The federal government’s final estimate was a shade more than 172 million gallons. The Columbia researchers’ estimate is 12.6 million gallons more than the federal figure.
That must make it all kosher, huh?
However, because it’s so difficult to get a precise estimate, there is a large margin of error for both the government figure and the Columbia number. The margin is so large that the two estimates essentially overlap, the researchers said. Their study was published online yesterday in the journal Science....
Related: Globe Endorses Government on Evaporated Oil From Gulf Gusher
I think that is when I stopped believing in Science.
And my remaining faith in the newspaper?
--more--"
Get the point?
And about that paymaster:
WASHINGTON --The Obama administration says it's chosen a Treasury Department lawyer to replace pay czar Kenneth Feinberg, who stepped down Friday, ending a contentious 14-month tenure.
Feinberg was accused of failing to act aggressively enough to recoup excessive pay for Wall Street bankers. He said in a final report that he thought his work had helped reform compensation policies.
The administration says Feinberg will be replaced by Patricia Geoghegan. She will be responsible for setting pay guidelines for top executives at the four companies still getting exceptional assistance from the government's $700 billion bailout fund.
Those companies are American International Group, General Motors, Chrysler and Ally Financial Inc., the financing arm for GM and Chrysler.
Geoghegan spent much of the past year working with Feinberg as he issued a series of compensation reports. She came to Treasury after retiring as a partner from New York law firm Cravath, Swaine and Moore, where she had specialized in tax law and executive compensation.
In his report, Feinberg recommended that the administration tap a permanent Treasury official to head up the compensation office....
Feinberg's last day at Treasury was Friday although he has been devoting much of his time since mid-June to overseeing a $20 billion fund created by BP to pay the victims of the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
Before being chosen as the government's pay czar in 2009, Feinberg had headed up the Sept. 11 Victim Compensation Fund after the terrorist attack. In that job, Feinberg distributed awards to the families of victims of the 2001 terrorist attacks....
And his reach goes even further back.
--more--"
More Louisiana slime:
WASHINGTON — The trial is an extraordinary spectacle, featuring allegations that lawyers and bail bondsmen plied the Honorable Gabriel Thomas Porteous of New Orleans, a reformed drinker and gambler, with gifts to gain his courtroom favor. Cash in envelopes. Bottles of Absolut and coolers of shrimp. A Vegas bachelor party for Porteous’s son, complete with lap dance.
It showcases both the often-sordid politics of Louisiana and a struggle over constitutional precedents.
But while this is the first Senate impeachment trial since President Bill Clinton’s in 1999, and the first for a member of the judiciary since 1989, the historic procedure is underway largely outside the zone of the public’s attention. Amid the tumult of the midterm campaigns, Washington’s attention has been occupied elsewhere....
And WHO would be RESPONSIBLE for THAT, agenda-pushing corporate media?
Porteous’s defense lawyers, led by George Washington University professor Jonathan Turley, say the charges are overblown and do not rise to the “high crimes’’ described in the US Constitution.
Related: Obama the Neo-Con
I think he would know!
He urged senators to consider carefully before making Porteous the only judge in US history to be forced off the bench through impeachment without having been charged with a crime.
Welcome to AmeriKa!!!
Porteous, 63, a large, balding man with thick gold rings on each hand, is suspended from the bench but still collecting his salary. He has sat impassively at the defense table, sometimes making a note or two on a legal pad, as a string of colorful characters have spilled the alleged tale of his dishonor and human failings.
His Metairie home was destroyed in Hurricane Katrina. Four months later, his wife, Carmella, died of a heart attack, his son testified. “After that, he became very isolated, he stayed at home, he was depressed,’’ said Timothy Porteous, also a lawyer....
Porteous was suspected of being way too cozy with Louis and Lori Marcotte, a pair of siblings who had monopolized the lucrative bail-bond business on the West Bank, and he was one of the local judges investigated in Operation Wrinkled Robe, an FBI investigation into corruption at the Jefferson Parish courthouse.
This is what the FBI does when it isn't framing Muslim patsies.
Two of his fellow state judges went off to jail for mooching off the Marcottes, and a third was taken off the bench by the state Supreme Court.
Marcotte took the judge to Las Vegas and treated him to expensive lunches, he testified, and his employees fixed Porteous’s fence and his cars, often returning them from the detailing shop with the vodka or shrimp left inside as a special goody bag.
Lawyers slipped Porteous cash, prosecutors charge, to influence their cases before his bench. The defense says those lawyers were longtime friends just trying to help out a man they knew had fallen on tough times....
The impeachment trial’s rules of evidence are unlike civil or criminal trials, and Senator Claire McCaskill, a Missouri Democrat [and] former city and county prosecutor, often has leaned over to seek guidance from Senator Orrin Hatch, a Utah Republican who is the committee’s vice chairman and a longtime Judiciary Committee member.
They are SO PARTISAN, aren't they?
And the case is complicated, for all of the hours of narrative that would seem to place Porteous in the parade of infamous Louisiana public servants, from former Representative William Jefferson with his cash in the freezer all the way back to Huey Long.
Huey Long was killed because he was a threat to Roosevelt and the establishment.
And how dare they call them public servants these days.
--more--"
A Moment of Peace and Quiet
Probably the only one I will get all day -- and it has to be ruined:
NEW YORK — Leaders of prominent US Muslim groups called yesterday for a national week of interfaith dialogue to combat religious intolerance and said they support the right to build a controversial Islamic center near ground zero.
“We stand for the constitutional right of Muslims, and Americans of all faiths, to build houses of worship anywhere in our nation as allowed by local laws and regulations,’’ the Muslim leaders said in a statement delivered at the site of the proposed Islamic center and mosque, to be called Park51.
They called for a week of dialogue on the weekend of Oct. 22-24, during which Muslims would conduct open houses at their places of worship to help ease tensions....
--more--"
Related: Muslims Celebrate 9/11
Yup, right, got the message.
A lawyer for the Wellesley mother who allegedly recorded five sixth-grade boys participating in an Islamic prayer service during a school field trip is arguing that taking students to any house of worship violates their civil rights.
Robert N. Meltzer, a Framingham lawyer who specializes in constitutional law, said that when the Wellesley School District took the students to a Roxbury mosque last May, the trip violated the students’ First Amendment rights because they were too young to consent to the religious message. Even if some of the students had not bowed their heads during the prayer service, Meltzer said, the trip would still have been inappropriate.
“We view this as a very simple constitutional law case,’’ said Meltzer, adding that he will file a federal class-action lawsuit against the school district if the disagreement cannot be resolved. “We believe that a school cannot bring middle-school children to any house of worship. Period.’’
Meanwhile, the group that sparked the controversy by publicizing video footage of the trip to the Islamic Society of Boston Community Center said the chaperone shot the video at their request.
The Wellesley mother, who had spoken with members of the group before the field trip, has remained anonymous.
“When she contacted us, we asked her to video the trip,’’ said Dennis Hale, a member of the board of directors of Americans for Peace & Tolerance....
Doesn't that JEWISH HATE GROUP sound so BENIGN!?
--more--"
Also see: Wellesley housing 7th priciest in US
Independent bookstore opens a new chapter
I'm closing one, dear readers.
NEW YORK — Leaders of prominent US Muslim groups called yesterday for a national week of interfaith dialogue to combat religious intolerance and said they support the right to build a controversial Islamic center near ground zero.
“We stand for the constitutional right of Muslims, and Americans of all faiths, to build houses of worship anywhere in our nation as allowed by local laws and regulations,’’ the Muslim leaders said in a statement delivered at the site of the proposed Islamic center and mosque, to be called Park51.
They called for a week of dialogue on the weekend of Oct. 22-24, during which Muslims would conduct open houses at their places of worship to help ease tensions....
--more--"
Related: Muslims Celebrate 9/11
Yup, right, got the message.
A lawyer for the Wellesley mother who allegedly recorded five sixth-grade boys participating in an Islamic prayer service during a school field trip is arguing that taking students to any house of worship violates their civil rights.
Robert N. Meltzer, a Framingham lawyer who specializes in constitutional law, said that when the Wellesley School District took the students to a Roxbury mosque last May, the trip violated the students’ First Amendment rights because they were too young to consent to the religious message. Even if some of the students had not bowed their heads during the prayer service, Meltzer said, the trip would still have been inappropriate.
“We view this as a very simple constitutional law case,’’ said Meltzer, adding that he will file a federal class-action lawsuit against the school district if the disagreement cannot be resolved. “We believe that a school cannot bring middle-school children to any house of worship. Period.’’
Meanwhile, the group that sparked the controversy by publicizing video footage of the trip to the Islamic Society of Boston Community Center said the chaperone shot the video at their request.
The Wellesley mother, who had spoken with members of the group before the field trip, has remained anonymous.
“When she contacted us, we asked her to video the trip,’’ said Dennis Hale, a member of the board of directors of Americans for Peace & Tolerance....
Doesn't that JEWISH HATE GROUP sound so BENIGN!?
--more--"
Also see: Wellesley housing 7th priciest in US
Independent bookstore opens a new chapter
I'm closing one, dear readers.
French Foray Into Mosque Mess
PARIS — A Muslim stonemason who spent nearly four decades helping to restore a Roman Catholic cathedral in France has been immortalized as a winged gargoyle peering out from its facade — with the inscription “God is great’’ at his clawed feet.
I take that as an insult!
And truly, I'm sick of the religion divide being constantly pushed into the debate.
This sign of inter-religious friendship is rooted in the Medieval tradition and reflects the city of Lyon’s links to its large Muslim population. But a widely publicized outcry from a tiny extreme-right group has forced the Archdiocese of Lyon into damage control....
Yeah, they ALWAYS SEEM TO HAVE OUT-SIZED INFLUENCE and POWER!
In France, where Islam is the country’s second religion, the government has worked to get Muslims to integrate into French culture, while at the same time confronting cases of Islamophobia, from the desecration of Muslim graves to attacks on mosques.
Tell it to the FRENCH WOMEN you are attacking for political purposes.
Also see: France's Genocide of the Gypsies
Yeah, the French are real open-minded folk!
Ahmed Benzizine, a practicing Muslim born in Algeria, a former French colony, sees the gargoyle in his image as “a message of peace and tolerance.’’
“When I started to work in churches . . . exactly 37 years ago, it was considered a sin that a Muslim enter a place of worship other than a mosque,’’ he said.
He has worked off and on since 1973 at Saint Jean Cathedral, which dominates the old city of Lyon and has been honored as a UNESCO World Heritage site.
Benzizine, 59, who arrived in France in 1970, is tickled to see his likeness on the facade of the cathedral, which dates to the 12th to 14th centuries and combines both Gothic and Roman architecture.
He said he liked the idea that he’ll still be around, in stone, when his friends are long gone....
Gargoyles, usually grotesque creatures with open mouths originally used as water spouts, were popular in Medieval times.
But it's a compliment.
Experts say they may also have been used to scare off evil....
Must have attracted it, what with all the pooper-pumping priests.
The Benzizine gargoyle has been in place for about six months, but until recently, few people noticed.
Gee, I WONDER what could have CAUSED the newspaper to pick it up NOW -- especially such a FRINGE GROUP!
A recent campaign by a small extreme-right group denouncing the likeness of a Muslim on a Catholic institution and the inscription proclaiming “God is great’’ in French and Arabic — ‘Dieu est grand, Allahu akbar’ — has put everyone on the defensive....
And they even got a whole article in the paper 'bout it.
--more--"
Also see: French Foibles
You see who is responsible for all your problems, Frenchie?
Celebrity Sunday Again
This is really becoming a pattern that is distasteful and distressing.
So this is what a corporate media in its death throes looks like, huh?
"Lohan must wear alcohol monitor
LOS ANGELES — Lindsay Lohan was freed from a suburban jail late Friday, well short of the nearly monthlong stay a judge intended for the actress after a failed drug test. Lohan was released after posting $300,000 bail. She will be required to wear an ankle alcohol monitor and stay away from establishments that primarily sell alcohol (AP)."
I think she will need more than that:
LiLo On Coke At Inauguration Party
LiLo's Next Project
Boston Sunday Globe Wake and Bake
Boston Globe's Best Friend Forever
Boston Sunday Globe Celebrity Section
You see where the Globe IS headed, right?
She shouldn't have went to the party.
Also see: Cast of Lady Liberty's nose unsold at NYC auction
Given the state of AmeriKa these days, it's not surprising she has a coke problem.
"1 dead in shooting at birthday party
LOS ANGELES — Ten people were shot, one fatally, and another was stabbed after a fight broke out at a birthday party yesterday in east Los Angeles. Police said at least one suspect is being sought in the shootings that erupted just after 2 a.m. A 22-year-old man died, two gunshot victims suffered critical injuries, and the others were in stable condition. (AP)
Ever notice trouble always seems to happen at parties?
"Intruder at party shoots 5, kills 1
EAST ORANGE — Police said a man denied access to a party near Seton Hall University returned with a handgun, shooting five people, including one student who died. Jessica Moore, 19, a student at the college, was killed in the shooting early yesterday. Police said the victims did not know the shooter. (AP)."
Better off staying in your room and away from booze and drugs, kids.
Why not try some 9/11 Truth on the web while you are hanging around?
Also see: Georgia's Gay Pastor
All Saturday, all day long at CNN.
I have noticed there have been a LOT of RACE and IMMIGRATION STORIES in the PAPERS LATELY -- as many had predicted weeks ago!!
So this is what a corporate media in its death throes looks like, huh?
"Lohan must wear alcohol monitor
LOS ANGELES — Lindsay Lohan was freed from a suburban jail late Friday, well short of the nearly monthlong stay a judge intended for the actress after a failed drug test. Lohan was released after posting $300,000 bail. She will be required to wear an ankle alcohol monitor and stay away from establishments that primarily sell alcohol (AP)."
I think she will need more than that:
LiLo On Coke At Inauguration Party
LiLo's Next Project
Boston Sunday Globe Wake and Bake
Boston Globe's Best Friend Forever
Boston Sunday Globe Celebrity Section
You see where the Globe IS headed, right?
She shouldn't have went to the party.
Also see: Cast of Lady Liberty's nose unsold at NYC auction
Given the state of AmeriKa these days, it's not surprising she has a coke problem.
"1 dead in shooting at birthday party
LOS ANGELES — Ten people were shot, one fatally, and another was stabbed after a fight broke out at a birthday party yesterday in east Los Angeles. Police said at least one suspect is being sought in the shootings that erupted just after 2 a.m. A 22-year-old man died, two gunshot victims suffered critical injuries, and the others were in stable condition. (AP)
Ever notice trouble always seems to happen at parties?
"Intruder at party shoots 5, kills 1
EAST ORANGE — Police said a man denied access to a party near Seton Hall University returned with a handgun, shooting five people, including one student who died. Jessica Moore, 19, a student at the college, was killed in the shooting early yesterday. Police said the victims did not know the shooter. (AP)."
Better off staying in your room and away from booze and drugs, kids.
Why not try some 9/11 Truth on the web while you are hanging around?
All Saturday, all day long at CNN.
I have noticed there have been a LOT of RACE and IMMIGRATION STORIES in the PAPERS LATELY -- as many had predicted weeks ago!!
Boston Globe Morning Belt
Related: Boston Globe Breakfast Drink
Still tastes like s***.
Maybe this will sweeten it up:
First, it was smoking in restaurants and bars. Then, artery-clogging trans fat in fast food joints and bakeries. Now, Boston health regulators have their crosshairs fixed on soft drinks and other sugar-sweetened beverages sold in city buildings.
Concerned about the girth of employees and visitors to government agencies, Boston officials are weighing — gingerly — whether to restrict or even prohibit the sale of calorie-laden refreshments on city-owned property.
I don't drink sodas. They give me hiccups.
The city has convened influential health, education, and housing leaders to develop a policy that aims to reduce consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages. While discussions are ongoing, Bill Walczak, head of a community health center and a member of the city’s panel, said, “Somebody has to take a stand, and if it isn’t the government and health care institutions leading the way to a healthier lifestyle, who’s going to do it?’’
What a totally fascist attitude.
Yeah, for-profit health care and lying government have really been looking out for you all these years. Who knew, 'murkn?
There are precedents: San Francisco’s mayor earlier this year issued an executive order banning sale of sugary drinks, and New York has imposed rules governing the mix of beverages in city vending machines to favor water.
At this point in the article I start thinking who gives a shit?
This is how government is fixing your problems?
Oh, right, they have colluded with the same interests that have created the problems.
In both cases, politicians and health authorities cited the link between soft drinks and the nation’s bulging waistline....
Btw, have you EVER SEEN their WELL-FED (at taxpayer's expense) FAT ASSES rolling round the places of power. THEY are NOT going HUNGRY like 1 in 7 Americans!!
“I think we’re going to run into a big issue of people saying, ‘Why would you take away our sodas, why are you interfering with what we’re eating and drinking?’ ’’ said Barbara Ferrer, executive director of the Boston Public Health Commission....
Yeah, AmeriKans get more worked up about this and beer than they do lying looters and mass-murdering war criminals.
HOW PATHETIC we have BECOME as a NATION!
Ferrer said no policy has been drafted, but it appears inevitable that some measure will be adopted.
So the hefty hot-winders can look like they are doing something as they consume that taxpayer-funded lifestyle.
The city promised when it received a $12.5 million federal stimulus grant to combat obesity and tobacco that it would “decrease consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages through counter-advertising and policy change,’’ according to a city document.
We used to call that BLACKMAIL, but.... HOW DO YOU LIKE the way your STIMULOOT "created jobs!?"
Unions representing city workers either said they were unaware of the discussions or did not return phone calls seeking comment. Firefighters declined to comment at a South End firehouse where a hulking blue Pepsi machine offers a dozen options, most containing sugar. Revenue from the machines is used by firefighters to help pay for coffee, utensils, and other dining supplies, said Fire Department spokesman Steve MacDonald.
Employees at City Hall were similarly reticent. The City Hall Deli on the eighth floor stocks a variety of soft drinks, as does the City Hall Coffee Stop in the bowels of the building....
This is the extent of the Globe's crack investigative units these days (although I do appreciate the word choice). Smells just like newspaper clippings on my desk.
The coolers there offer bureaucrats an array of choices: V8 and Diet Coke, Nesquik and apple juice, full-sugar sodas and designer iced tea. Water is the biggest seller, and diet sodas outsell the full-sugar varieties....
What did the crack Globe reporter do, take a poll, stake the cite out, or get the latest sales figures?
The trade group representing the biggest producers and distributors of soft drinks, including Coca-Cola and Pepsi, argues that it is unfair to demonize sodas when attempting to address a health condition as complex as obesity....
Yeah, wait until that campaign loot comes rolling in and some staff members start flipping out.
--more--"
I will only add that the correlation between SUGAR WATER and OBESITY does seem to be confirmed by OBSERVATION!
I am a WELL-PROPORTIONED INDIVIDUAL; however, the PEOPLE I KNOW who are ADDICTED to the stuff (I will see them later today during the football games, puke) ARE BULGING at the WAISTLINE!
Maybe I will SPOIL the PARTY and BROACH the "did you hear they want to ban sodas" TOPIC today!
Update:
I guess I'm hungry today.
WASHINGTON — Obesity puts a drag on the wallet as well as health, especially for women.
Doctors have long known that medical bills are higher for the obese, but that’s only a portion of the real-life costs.
I tell you what; why not just slaughter them all and eat them?
That would kill two birds with one stone.
Related:
Globalist Gluttons Gorge Themselves
The MSM and the Meal
Obama Talks With His Mouth Full
A Lunch Fit For a Queen
Oh, NEVER MIND the BUFFET behind the BACK CURTAIN!
George Washington University researchers added in things like employee sick days, lost productivity, even the need for extra gasoline — and found the annual cost of being obese is $4,879 for a woman and $2,646 for a man.
Yeah, never you mind the elite classes fattening themselves up and charging you to tour the planet under the guise of state business and politics.
How they can even know that is beyond me; what are they doing, riding shotgun with a spy device and tracking where everyone is goi.... it's built into the car, phones, etc, isn't it?
That’s far more than the cost of being merely overweight — $524 for women and $432 for men, concluded the report being released today, which analyzed previously published studies to come up with a total.
I'll be sure to tell my football-watching friend to lay off the sodas.
Why the difference between the sexes?
Now the agenda-pushers are moving a gender wedge in between us.
Will the manipulation never end?
Studies suggest larger women earn less than skinnier women, while wages don’t differ when men pack on the pounds. That was a big surprise, said study coauthor and health policy professor Christine Ferguson.
Was it?
Researchers had expected everybody’s wages to suffer with obesity, but “this indicates you’re not that disadvantaged as a guy, from a wage perspective,’’ said Ferguson.
Would you like my testicles on a platter, or.... ??
Like it really makes any difference who sits atop any governmental or business power structure.
Then consider that obesity is linked to earlier death.
I'll tell you, some of the fat scum of the earth seem to hang on a long effin' time.
The report averaged in the economic value of lost life. That brought women’s annual obesity costs up to $8,365, and men’s to $6,518.
Wow. You better get on that treadmill and starve yourself, honey.
And force an upchuck of anything you eat. You wouldn't want to gain anymore weight.
--more--"
That whole guilt-inducing article made me go out for ice cream this morning.
:-(
Still tastes like s***.
Maybe this will sweeten it up:
First, it was smoking in restaurants and bars. Then, artery-clogging trans fat in fast food joints and bakeries. Now, Boston health regulators have their crosshairs fixed on soft drinks and other sugar-sweetened beverages sold in city buildings.
Concerned about the girth of employees and visitors to government agencies, Boston officials are weighing — gingerly — whether to restrict or even prohibit the sale of calorie-laden refreshments on city-owned property.
I don't drink sodas. They give me hiccups.
The city has convened influential health, education, and housing leaders to develop a policy that aims to reduce consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages. While discussions are ongoing, Bill Walczak, head of a community health center and a member of the city’s panel, said, “Somebody has to take a stand, and if it isn’t the government and health care institutions leading the way to a healthier lifestyle, who’s going to do it?’’
What a totally fascist attitude.
Yeah, for-profit health care and lying government have really been looking out for you all these years. Who knew, 'murkn?
There are precedents: San Francisco’s mayor earlier this year issued an executive order banning sale of sugary drinks, and New York has imposed rules governing the mix of beverages in city vending machines to favor water.
At this point in the article I start thinking who gives a shit?
This is how government is fixing your problems?
Oh, right, they have colluded with the same interests that have created the problems.
In both cases, politicians and health authorities cited the link between soft drinks and the nation’s bulging waistline....
Btw, have you EVER SEEN their WELL-FED (at taxpayer's expense) FAT ASSES rolling round the places of power. THEY are NOT going HUNGRY like 1 in 7 Americans!!
“I think we’re going to run into a big issue of people saying, ‘Why would you take away our sodas, why are you interfering with what we’re eating and drinking?’ ’’ said Barbara Ferrer, executive director of the Boston Public Health Commission....
Yeah, AmeriKans get more worked up about this and beer than they do lying looters and mass-murdering war criminals.
HOW PATHETIC we have BECOME as a NATION!
Ferrer said no policy has been drafted, but it appears inevitable that some measure will be adopted.
So the hefty hot-winders can look like they are doing something as they consume that taxpayer-funded lifestyle.
The city promised when it received a $12.5 million federal stimulus grant to combat obesity and tobacco that it would “decrease consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages through counter-advertising and policy change,’’ according to a city document.
We used to call that BLACKMAIL, but.... HOW DO YOU LIKE the way your STIMULOOT "created jobs!?"
Unions representing city workers either said they were unaware of the discussions or did not return phone calls seeking comment. Firefighters declined to comment at a South End firehouse where a hulking blue Pepsi machine offers a dozen options, most containing sugar. Revenue from the machines is used by firefighters to help pay for coffee, utensils, and other dining supplies, said Fire Department spokesman Steve MacDonald.
Employees at City Hall were similarly reticent. The City Hall Deli on the eighth floor stocks a variety of soft drinks, as does the City Hall Coffee Stop in the bowels of the building....
This is the extent of the Globe's crack investigative units these days (although I do appreciate the word choice). Smells just like newspaper clippings on my desk.
The coolers there offer bureaucrats an array of choices: V8 and Diet Coke, Nesquik and apple juice, full-sugar sodas and designer iced tea. Water is the biggest seller, and diet sodas outsell the full-sugar varieties....
What did the crack Globe reporter do, take a poll, stake the cite out, or get the latest sales figures?
The trade group representing the biggest producers and distributors of soft drinks, including Coca-Cola and Pepsi, argues that it is unfair to demonize sodas when attempting to address a health condition as complex as obesity....
Yeah, wait until that campaign loot comes rolling in and some staff members start flipping out.
--more--"
I will only add that the correlation between SUGAR WATER and OBESITY does seem to be confirmed by OBSERVATION!
I am a WELL-PROPORTIONED INDIVIDUAL; however, the PEOPLE I KNOW who are ADDICTED to the stuff (I will see them later today during the football games, puke) ARE BULGING at the WAISTLINE!
Maybe I will SPOIL the PARTY and BROACH the "did you hear they want to ban sodas" TOPIC today!
Update:
I guess I'm hungry today.
WASHINGTON — Obesity puts a drag on the wallet as well as health, especially for women.
Doctors have long known that medical bills are higher for the obese, but that’s only a portion of the real-life costs.
I tell you what; why not just slaughter them all and eat them?
That would kill two birds with one stone.
Related:
Globalist Gluttons Gorge Themselves
The MSM and the Meal
Obama Talks With His Mouth Full
A Lunch Fit For a Queen
Oh, NEVER MIND the BUFFET behind the BACK CURTAIN!
George Washington University researchers added in things like employee sick days, lost productivity, even the need for extra gasoline — and found the annual cost of being obese is $4,879 for a woman and $2,646 for a man.
Yeah, never you mind the elite classes fattening themselves up and charging you to tour the planet under the guise of state business and politics.
How they can even know that is beyond me; what are they doing, riding shotgun with a spy device and tracking where everyone is goi.... it's built into the car, phones, etc, isn't it?
That’s far more than the cost of being merely overweight — $524 for women and $432 for men, concluded the report being released today, which analyzed previously published studies to come up with a total.
I'll be sure to tell my football-watching friend to lay off the sodas.
Why the difference between the sexes?
Now the agenda-pushers are moving a gender wedge in between us.
Will the manipulation never end?
Studies suggest larger women earn less than skinnier women, while wages don’t differ when men pack on the pounds. That was a big surprise, said study coauthor and health policy professor Christine Ferguson.
Was it?
Researchers had expected everybody’s wages to suffer with obesity, but “this indicates you’re not that disadvantaged as a guy, from a wage perspective,’’ said Ferguson.
Would you like my testicles on a platter, or.... ??
Like it really makes any difference who sits atop any governmental or business power structure.
Then consider that obesity is linked to earlier death.
I'll tell you, some of the fat scum of the earth seem to hang on a long effin' time.
The report averaged in the economic value of lost life. That brought women’s annual obesity costs up to $8,365, and men’s to $6,518.
Wow. You better get on that treadmill and starve yourself, honey.
And force an upchuck of anything you eat. You wouldn't want to gain anymore weight.
--more--"
That whole guilt-inducing article made me go out for ice cream this morning.
:-(
Morning Swim
"A Frenchman whose arms and legs were amputated swam across the English Channel this weekend using leg prostheses that have flippers attached....
--more--"
--more--"
Saturday, September 25, 2010
Negligent National Guard Started Utah Wildfire
HERRIMAN, Utah — A wind-stoked wildfire sparked at a firing range during a National Guard training session blazed across thousands of acres yesterday as crews rushed to keep it from burning more than the three homes that authorities said were destroyed overnight.
The fire moved back on itself yesterday as the Utah National Guard acknowledged it wasn’t the first time that live-fire exercises had sparked a fire at Camp Williams, a sprawling compound 30 miles south of Salt Lake City....
You would think they would learn.
Residents and Salt Lake County Mayor Peter Corroon were questioning the National Guard’s decision to fire weapons Sunday in dry and windy conditions, but Lieutenant Colonel Hank McIntire said wind was not a factor until after the fire took hold.
“There’s always the possibility that some ammunition will catch brush on fire. We felt like we had it extinguished yesterday, then some embers reignited in the wind and it got away from us,’’ McIntire said. “That’s when the wind picked up and got it going again....’’
Fire spokeswoman Kim Osborn said five tanker planes were in the air, dropping suppressant and trying to get as much of the fire under control before today, when winds were expected to increase.
--more--"
"Fire sparked by National Guard still rages" by Associated Press | September 22, 2010
HERRIMAN, Utah — The National Guard joined forces with firefighters again yesterday to battle a fast-moving, wind-driven blaze that the Guard ignited during a machine-gun training exercise.
Utah Army Guard General Brian Tarbet said Monday that he was “deeply sorry’’ about what he called a “systematic failure’’ at Camp Williams, about 30 miles south of Salt Lake City.
The commander accepted responsibility for the wildfire sparked Sunday that destroyed three houses, damaged a fourth, and forced the evacuation of more than 1,600 homes. Officials said yesterday that 450 homes remained evacuated.
Tarbet said no one checked to see that the National Weather Service had posted a “red flag’’ high-wind warning before the exercises were permitted to continue in the tinder-dry conditions. He also said Guard commanders waited two hours to call outside fire agencies for help.
So the military guy from the day before was just lying, huh?
Rule #1: First thing out of the military's mouth is always a lie.
The Unified Police Department, an agency overseeing Salt Lake County, is enforcing an evacuation order for parts of Herriman, a community of about 18,000 at the southwest corner of the Salt Lake valley.
Your government serving you, AmeriKan citizen.
--more--"
The war lies are really worth it, aren't they?
Hopefully the fires didn't get near the dig:
"Scientists said yesterday that they’ve discovered fossils in the southern Utah desert of two new dinosaur species closely related to the triceratops....
--more--"
The tourists come from all around they tell me:
SALT LAKE CITY — The driver of a tour bus that crashed in Utah, killing three people and injuring 11 others from a Japanese tour group last month, is accused of having trace amounts of an intoxicant in his blood, according to jail records.
Yasushi Mikuni, 26, was arrested Tuesday by the Utah Highway Patrol and booked into Iron County jail in Cedar City on suspicion of 11 charges of driving with a measurable amount of a byproduct of a controlled substance in his body. The charge, called DUI metabolite, is a felony.
What was he on?
Mikuni also faces 10 other felony charges of operating a vehicle negligently causing death or injury. In addition, he was held on misdemeanor logbook and lane-change violations.
Mikuni is a Japanese citizen who authorities said was living in Las Vegas on a work and education visa. He was driving the bus when it rolled over Aug. 8 on Interstate 15, authorities said.
--more--"
Also see: Around AmeriKa: No Return Trip From Utah
Whooping It Up in California
Cough, cough, cough!
"Whooping cough has killed 9 in Calif." by Associated Press | September 17, 2010
LOS ANGELES — State health officials reported yesterday that California is on track to break a 55-year record in whooping cough infections in an epidemic that has already claimed the lives of nine babies....
All of the whooping cough-related deaths in California occurred in babies too young to be fully immunized against the illness. That has prompted authorities to urge parents and caretakers to get booster shots.
Yeah, we have to keep those pharmaceutical profits healthy.
--more--"
Not the only sickness in the Golden State:
PALMDALE, Calif. — The leader of a breakaway religious sect was hospitalized yesterday for a mental evaluation, after she and 12 other members of her group went missing and left behind evidence that they were awaiting the Rapture or some other catastrophic event.
Reyna Marisol Chicas was placed under a 72-hour mandatory hold after it was determined she was not able to care for herself or others, said a Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputy.
Chicas gave investigators a false name and was rambling during questioning, the deputy said. She told deputies she had no children, even though her two children were with her.
Ending a frantic search, deputies found the 13 sect members just before noon at a park near Palmdale after getting a tip from a local resident, said Steve Whitmore, sheriff’s spokesman. He said all of the members are safe.
Officers had been searching a wide swath of Southern California since Saturday.
The group of El Salvadoran immigrants described as “cult-like’’ by sheriff’s officials, is led by Chicas, a 32-year-old woman from Palmdale, sheriff’s Captain Mike Parker said.
Members left behind cellphones, identification, deeds to property, and letters indicating they were awaiting the Rapture....
LOS ANGELES — The mayor and the former city manager of the Los Angeles suburb of Bell were among eight current and former city officials arrested yesterday in a corruption scandal that authorities said cost the blue-collar city more than $5.5 million in excessive salaries and illegal personal loans.
The district attorney’s office said several former and current City Council members were taken into custody along with former city manager Robert Rizzo and Mayor Oscar Hernandez...
Rizzo, who was making nearly $800,000 a year, was booked on 53 counts of misappropriation of public funds and conflict of interest....
--more--"
"The scandal-plagued city of Bell mismanaged more than $50 million in bond money, levied illegal taxes, and paid exorbitant salaries to its leaders, according to a state audit released yesterday....
--more--"
Also see: Slow Saturday Special: California's Total Recall
Any questions?
"Whooping cough has killed 9 in Calif." by Associated Press | September 17, 2010
LOS ANGELES — State health officials reported yesterday that California is on track to break a 55-year record in whooping cough infections in an epidemic that has already claimed the lives of nine babies....
All of the whooping cough-related deaths in California occurred in babies too young to be fully immunized against the illness. That has prompted authorities to urge parents and caretakers to get booster shots.
Yeah, we have to keep those pharmaceutical profits healthy.
--more--"
Not the only sickness in the Golden State:
PALMDALE, Calif. — The leader of a breakaway religious sect was hospitalized yesterday for a mental evaluation, after she and 12 other members of her group went missing and left behind evidence that they were awaiting the Rapture or some other catastrophic event.
Reyna Marisol Chicas was placed under a 72-hour mandatory hold after it was determined she was not able to care for herself or others, said a Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputy.
Chicas gave investigators a false name and was rambling during questioning, the deputy said. She told deputies she had no children, even though her two children were with her.
Ending a frantic search, deputies found the 13 sect members just before noon at a park near Palmdale after getting a tip from a local resident, said Steve Whitmore, sheriff’s spokesman. He said all of the members are safe.
Officers had been searching a wide swath of Southern California since Saturday.
The group of El Salvadoran immigrants described as “cult-like’’ by sheriff’s officials, is led by Chicas, a 32-year-old woman from Palmdale, sheriff’s Captain Mike Parker said.
Members left behind cellphones, identification, deeds to property, and letters indicating they were awaiting the Rapture....
LOS ANGELES — The mayor and the former city manager of the Los Angeles suburb of Bell were among eight current and former city officials arrested yesterday in a corruption scandal that authorities said cost the blue-collar city more than $5.5 million in excessive salaries and illegal personal loans.
The district attorney’s office said several former and current City Council members were taken into custody along with former city manager Robert Rizzo and Mayor Oscar Hernandez...
Rizzo, who was making nearly $800,000 a year, was booked on 53 counts of misappropriation of public funds and conflict of interest....
--more--"
"The scandal-plagued city of Bell mismanaged more than $50 million in bond money, levied illegal taxes, and paid exorbitant salaries to its leaders, according to a state audit released yesterday....
--more--"
Also see: Slow Saturday Special: California's Total Recall
Any questions?
Making a Mountain Out of a Mural
Who really cares?
"LA artists draw battle lines to save city’s legacy of murals" by Christina Hoag, Associated Press | September 19, 2010
LOS ANGELES — At one time hosting an estimated 1,500 pieces of wall art, Los Angeles is the nation’s mural capital, but that’s a fading distinction thanks to prolific graffiti taggers, a legal morass over classifying the artworks as illegal signs, and neglect....
Spawned in the ’70s on the city’s eastside, LA’s murals form a kaleidoscope of color and imagery in a city known for bland urban sprawl. Decorating unlikely swaths of concrete ranging from housing projects to freeway underpasses, some are so massive they are best viewed blocks away, while others are easily digested in a drive-by glance.
They pay homage to celebrities — Anthony Quinn as “Zorba the Greek’’ towers over a downtown parking lot, Steve McQueen stares out from the side of a house. Some celebrate civic milestones such as the 1984 Olympics or institutions like the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra. The mother of all, Baca’s “The Great Wall of Los Angeles,’’ is a half-mile stretch of California history along a San Fernando Valley drainage canal.
Others are displays of immigrant pride and ethnic history or abstract visions and palettes of pop art blanketing the sides of corner stores and businesses in blue-collar neighborhoods. “They’re a reflection of us and who we are as a city,’’ said Pat Gomez, the city’s murals manager.
All agenda pushing, all the time.
Most of the murals — some 1,100 — are located on private property, while 400, created as part of the city’s mural program that ended in 2006 in a municipal budget crunch, are mostly on public land.
More wasted tax loot.
Un-flipping-real!
The exact number of lost murals is hard to determine. Baca’s group inventoried a sample of 105 city-sponsored works, and found 60 percent had vanished. Baca said they’re disappearing with increasing frequency since the mural program, which included maintenance, died....
Graffiti is blamed as the biggest culprit.
Murals are often targeted by vandals because the city does not regularly remove tags from murals so the spray-paint scrawls remain indefinitely. Blank walls are easier to clean and are whitewashed by city workers within days.
Governments are great at that!
In the case of private property, the city requires the owner to remove the graffiti or face a fine. Sometimes, the owner removes the mural, too, to avoid repeated citations.
About 60 murals face removal or daily fines under the city sign code because they do not conform to size and location rules governing signs. But a proposed ordinance would change that by issuing permits for murals and requiring them to be protected with an anti-graffiti coating.
Oh, it ALL comes back to BANKRUPT GOVERNMENTS and MONEY, huh?
--more--"
Looks like agenda-pushing filler to me.
"LA artists draw battle lines to save city’s legacy of murals" by Christina Hoag, Associated Press | September 19, 2010
LOS ANGELES — At one time hosting an estimated 1,500 pieces of wall art, Los Angeles is the nation’s mural capital, but that’s a fading distinction thanks to prolific graffiti taggers, a legal morass over classifying the artworks as illegal signs, and neglect....
Spawned in the ’70s on the city’s eastside, LA’s murals form a kaleidoscope of color and imagery in a city known for bland urban sprawl. Decorating unlikely swaths of concrete ranging from housing projects to freeway underpasses, some are so massive they are best viewed blocks away, while others are easily digested in a drive-by glance.
They pay homage to celebrities — Anthony Quinn as “Zorba the Greek’’ towers over a downtown parking lot, Steve McQueen stares out from the side of a house. Some celebrate civic milestones such as the 1984 Olympics or institutions like the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra. The mother of all, Baca’s “The Great Wall of Los Angeles,’’ is a half-mile stretch of California history along a San Fernando Valley drainage canal.
Others are displays of immigrant pride and ethnic history or abstract visions and palettes of pop art blanketing the sides of corner stores and businesses in blue-collar neighborhoods. “They’re a reflection of us and who we are as a city,’’ said Pat Gomez, the city’s murals manager.
All agenda pushing, all the time.
Most of the murals — some 1,100 — are located on private property, while 400, created as part of the city’s mural program that ended in 2006 in a municipal budget crunch, are mostly on public land.
More wasted tax loot.
Un-flipping-real!
The exact number of lost murals is hard to determine. Baca’s group inventoried a sample of 105 city-sponsored works, and found 60 percent had vanished. Baca said they’re disappearing with increasing frequency since the mural program, which included maintenance, died....
Graffiti is blamed as the biggest culprit.
Murals are often targeted by vandals because the city does not regularly remove tags from murals so the spray-paint scrawls remain indefinitely. Blank walls are easier to clean and are whitewashed by city workers within days.
Governments are great at that!
In the case of private property, the city requires the owner to remove the graffiti or face a fine. Sometimes, the owner removes the mural, too, to avoid repeated citations.
About 60 murals face removal or daily fines under the city sign code because they do not conform to size and location rules governing signs. But a proposed ordinance would change that by issuing permits for murals and requiring them to be protected with an anti-graffiti coating.
Oh, it ALL comes back to BANKRUPT GOVERNMENTS and MONEY, huh?
--more--"
Looks like agenda-pushing filler to me.