Little did Barack Obama know that his late afternoon press conferences coincided with Joe Biden's favorite activity: Happy Hour.Vice President Joseph Biden performs the Ickey Shuffle in the background while President Barack Obama answers another softball question from the White House Press corps.
Just one little problem with this story.Documents have surfaced in Egypt showing the world's most-wanted Nazi war criminal, concentration camp doctor Aribert Heim, died in Cairo in 1992, Germany's ZDF television and The New York Times reported Wednesday.
The report said Heim was living under a pseudonym and had converted to Islam by the time of his death from intestinal cancer.
ZDF said that in a joint effort with the New York Times, it located a passport, application for a residence permit, bank slips, personal letters and medical papers — in all more than 100 documents — left behind by Heim in a briefcase in the hotel room where he lived under the name Tarek Hussein Farid.
Though he did not know Heim's real identity, Egyptian dentist Tarek Abdelmoneim el Rifai said he knew him through his father, Abdelmoneim el Rifai, 88, who was Heim's dentist in Cairo.
He told the AP on Wednesday that he only met Heim a few times, 20 years ago, but confirmed that he knew of his death.
"He died in 1992. I didn't know that he was a doctor and that he is the most wanted Nazi war criminal. I am surprised," he said in a telephone interview.
"He introduced himself to my father as a German and I know that he converted to Islam and changed his name."
When he met Heim two decades ago at his father's clinic, el Rifai said he had the impression he was on the run.
"The only thing I knew about him is that he fled from the Jews," el Rifai said.
One of the most wanted Nazi war criminals may have fled the Costa Brava for another area of Spain or Denmark to escape an intense search by Spanish police.
Investigators believe that Aribert Heim, a concentration camp doctor, now 91, who injected hundreds of prisoners with lethal cocktails at Mauthausen in Austria, may have already fled to the Costa del Sol, in southern Spain, or Denmark, according to local press reports.
Spain's organised crime and fugitive units have conducted "dozens" of searches in the Costa Brava after receiving a tip from German police, the newspaper El Mundo reported. He is thought to have lived in the resort town of Roses for years. In June, police hoped he would surface to celebrate his 91st birthday.
Investigators tracking Dr Heim have had leads in various parts of Spain. Recently, police have focused their investigations on two artists living in Palafrugell, a town in Girona. The artists, a couple originally from France and Italy, allegedly received German bank transfers of €300,000 (£205,000) from one of Dr Heim's sons, El Mundo said. Police are trying to determine whether they helped hide Dr Heim and acted as a front to sustain him economically - or simply sold their works of art.
Fire Department spokesman Capt. Jason Shivers says authorities arrested 47-year-old Pamela Graf Tuesday on drug charges but says she is listed as a suspect in the fire. He says investigators executing a search warrant on her car and room at a motel found marijuana and cocaine.Along with Ms. Graf, her boyfriend was also arrested in connection with the incident.
Graf's boyfriend, 46-year-old Steve Strobel, also was arrested Tuesday in Barrow County and charged with obstruction of justice and giving false statements related to the fire investigation. He also is listed as a suspect.Back when the original story hit, in our local rag, the AJC (Atlanta Journal Constitution), the comments on the story were predominately critical of the people of Forsyth County, and expressed a belief that the majority of the folks who lived there were bigots and racists, mostly because they didn't vote for Obama.
Last night, Marie Anderson, chairman of the Forsyth County Democratic Party, put out this statement:Go ahead and browse the comments.
”In response to the recent house fire which occurred in Forsyth County and is suspected to have been racially motivated, the Forsyth County Democratic Party condemns hate crimes of any nature.
“Should the allegations prove to be true, we as residents of Forsyth County, whether Republican or Democrat, Obama supporter or not, should be shocked and appalled that this type of incident would happen here in our County.”
While few New Jersey voters know much about him, former U.S. Attorney Christopher Christie, a Republican challenger, leads Democratic incumbent Gov. Jon Corzine 44-38 percent in this year's Governor's race, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released today.Christie formally announced his candidacy today.
This reverses a 42-36 percent Gov. Corzine lead in a November 19 poll by the independent Quinnipiac University.
In this latest survey, Democrats support Corzine 72-10 percent while Christie leads 86 - 7 percent among Republicans and 49-24 percent among independent voters. Men back the Republican 51-32 percent while women go Democratic 42-38 percent. Black voters back Corzine 68-9 percent while white voters back Christie 52-32 percent.
In a Republican primary, Christie tops former Bogota Mayor Steve Lonegan 44-17 percent, with 5 percent for Franklin Township Mayor Brian Levine and 2 percent for Assembly member Rick Merkt.
Voters disapprove 50-41 percent of the job Corzine is doing, continuing a six-month string of negative ratings. Independent voters disapprove 62-30 percent, matching the same 2-1 anti-Corzine margin from the election matchup.
"Republican Christopher Christie has broken out of the gate as a strong challenger to Gov. Jon Corzine. In less than four months, he has come from trailing the Governor by six points to leading him by six points - a 12-point shift," said Clay F. Richards, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute.
The Bush administration conducted the lease sale in December, but environmental groups went to court to block the winning bids encompassing roughly 110,000 acres near pristine areas such as Nine Mile Canyon, Arches National Park and Dinosaur National Monument.You do understand that the Democrat approach to America's energy problems is not to make us energy independent, but rather it is to reduce us to a zero energy consumption country. They are going to do this by passing ridiculous legislation in congress which will impose impossible emission standards on businesses and power manufacturing plants along with autos, draconian so-called CAFE standards, using their proxies in the courts and in the environmental movement to tie up any attempts to conduct exploration and recovery of any fossil fuels as well as blocking the construction of nuclear and coal power plants.
Just before Bush left office last month, U.S. District Judge Ricardo M. Urbina issued a restraining order on the lease sales, postponing the final transactions until he could hear arguments on the merits of the case.
Here it is: President Obama’s first major effort to use his massive campaign email list and communications apparatus to get around the filter of the big news orgs in order to personally sell his agenda directly to the American people.Now if one is trying to circumvent the media, why are they using the media's own clips?
As noted below, Obama gave five interviews to the major networks yesterday, and tried to use them to sell his stimulus package. But the withdrawal of Tom Dashle [sic] dominated the coverage and blotted out his economic message.
Obama’s solution: Later this morning, David Plouffe and Obama’s reconfigured campaign apparatus, Organizing for America, will blast out an email to his 13-million-strong list with a new video featuring selected footage from the five interviews in which he pushed for his stim package.
According to U.S. Attorney David Nahmias and information presented in court, last November Fred Hand, III, 54, and his son Fred Hand, IV, 24, used a rifle to shoot and kill a whitetail deer during Colorado’s archery-only season, which is a violation of state law. The Hands then transported the antlers of the seven-point buck to Georgia, a violation of a federal law called the Lacey Act. The Lacey Act, enacted in 1900, was passed to assist states in enforcing wildlife laws.Now I agree they should have been fined for hunting with a rifle during bow season but look at the penalty handed down to them and compare it to what has been done to Dodd, Rangel, Geithner, Daschle, and others.
...
The Hands pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges of illegally transporting a whitetail deer from Colorado to Georgia.
They were sentenced Tuesday in U.S. Magistrate Court in Atlanta to pay a fine of $10,000 to the Lacey Act Reward Account, and restitution in the amount of $5,000, payable to the State of Colorado’s Division of Wildlife, according to Nahmias’ office. The Hands were also placed on probation for two years, and forfeited their right to hunt in 22 Western states.
Former Vice President Dick Cheney warned that there is a “high probability” that terrorists will attempt a catastrophic nuclear or biological attack in coming years, and said he fears the Obama administration’s policies will make it more likely the attempt will succeed.I know it will be hard for the haters to understand why their delusional fantasy that everyone will love us again hasn't come to fruition. But in case they haven't noticed there are numerous international hotspots bubbling up around the globe and few of them foretell rosy days ahead. Even Obama's worldwide charm offensive won't help us prevent something like this.
In an interview Tuesday with Politico, Cheney unyieldingly defended the Bush administration’s support for the Guantanamo Bay prison and coercive interrogation of terrorism suspects.
And he asserted that President Obama will either backtrack on his stated intentions to end those policies or put the country at risk in ways more severe than most Americans—and, he charged, many members of Obama’s own team—understand.
“When we get people who are more concerned about reading the rights to an Al Qaeda terrorist than they are with protecting the United States against people who are absolutely committed to do anything they can to kill Americans, then I worry,” Cheney said.
Protecting the country’s security is “a tough, mean, dirty, nasty business,” he said. “These are evil people. And we’re not going to win this fight by turning the other cheek.”
Citing intelligence reports, Cheney said at least 61 of the inmates who were released from Guantanamo during the Bush administration—“that’s about 11 or 12 percent”—have “gone back into the business of being terrorists.”
The 200 or so inmates still there, he claimed, are “the hard core” whose “recidivism rate would be much higher.” He called Guantanamo a “first-class program,” and “a necessary facility” that is operated legally and with better food and treatment than the jails in inmates native countries.
But he said he worried that “instead of sitting down and carefully evaluating the policies,” Obama officials are unwisely following “campaign rhetoric” and preparing to release terrorism suspects or afford them legal protections granted to more conventional defendants in crime cases.
The choice, he alleged, reflects a naïve mindset among the new team in Washington: “The United States needs to be not so much loved as it needs to be respected. Sometimes, that requires us to take actions that generate controversy. I’m not at all sure that that’s what the Obama adminstration believes.”
California's farms and vineyards could vanish by the end of the century, and its major cities could be in jeopardy, if Americans do not act to slow the advance of global warming, Secretary of Energy Steven Chu said Tuesday.Everything is dire with these people. Nothing optimistic, no listening to the actual climatologists who dispute the wild claims of the fanatics. It's basically we're all going to die if you don't knuckle under to the government. Never do these people ever go back and revisit their absurd claims and admit they were wrong. Twenty years ago we heard from esteemed climatologist Ted Danson that the oceans were going to wash us all away. Has anyone held him accountable 20 years later? Of course not.
In his first interview since taking office last month, the Nobel-prize-winning physicist offered some of the starkest comments yet on how seriously President Obama's cabinet views the threat of climate change, along with a detailed assessment of the administration's plans to combat it.
Chu warned of water shortages plaguing the West and Upper Midwest and particularly dire consequences for California, his home state, the nation's leading agricultural producer.
In a worst case, Chu said, up to 90% of the Sierra snowpack could disappear, all but eliminating a natural storage system for water vital to agriculture.
"I don't think the American public has gripped in its gut what could happen," he said. "We're looking at a scenario where there's no more agriculture in California." And, he added, "I don't actually see how they can keep their cities going" either.
A pair of recent studies raise similar warnings. One, published in January in the journal Science, raised the specter of worldwide crop shortages as temperatures rise. Another, penned by UC Berkeley researchers last year, estimated California has about $2.5 trillion in real estate assets -- including agriculture -- endangered by warming.
Chu is not a climate scientist. He won his Nobel for work trapping atoms with laser light. He taught at Stanford University and directed the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, where he reoriented researchers to pursue "clean energy" technologies to help reduce the use of greenhouse-gas-emitting fossil fuels in the U.S., before Obama tapped him to head the Energy Department.
He stressed the threat of climate change in his Senate confirmation hearings and in a video clip posted on Obama's transition website, but not as bluntly, nor in as dire terms, as he did Tuesday.
A little something for that toddler techno-geek, a Baby BlackBerry to call their own. I really don't have a problem with this so long as they're not using it during meetings and while driving.Parents who want to stop their children from picking up and playing with their gadgets can now buy a child-friendly alternative for £19.99.My tot loves electronic gadgets such as the Leapster and his toy cell phones so a device such as this I have no qualms with it. Kids at 3 and 4 years old can already navigate around on PC's so it's not as if they won't find such a toy useful and educational.
Dubbed the 'BlackBerry for babies' the 'Text and Learn' device from LeapFrog looks like an over-sized PDA and is designed for children as young as three-years-old.
The gadget helps youngsters learn how to 'browse' and 'text' without going online, allaying parental fears of their children being contacted by strangers or cyber-bullies.
The educational toy has a full qwerty keyboard and large LCD screen and allows children to send 'text messages' to a virtual puppy pal called Scout.
Although it doesn't connect to the Internet the gadget does have a pretend 'browser' mode.
Senate Republicans yesterday stripped a special $246 million tax break for Hollywood producers from President Obama's stimulus package.So a bailout of $246 million over 11 years works out to a tidy $22.36 million annually, a tidy profit on their $20 million investment in Democrats for 2008, and I suspect this does not count individual contributions to Obama.
"This isn't stimulus. This is a gift," said Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.), who wrote the amendment to strike out the giveaway for some of the Democrats' most generous political supporters.
"It's not going to stimulate the economy at all," he said. "What it's going to do is line the pockets of very wealthy individuals already not experiencing the downside of the economy."
The 52-45 vote was largely along party lines, with nearly every Republican voting to remove the Hollywood tax break, joined by 13 Democrats and independent Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman.
Under the measure, Hollywood moguls would have been allowed to write off half the production and filming costs of big-budget films and TV shows.
Backed by Walt Disney and the Motion Picture Association of America, the provision amounted to an estimated $246 million tax break over 11 years.
The entertainment industry gave nearly $20 million in campaign contributions to Democrats during the 2008 election cycle, according to OpenSecrets.org.
The Obama administration is expected to impose a cap of $500,000 for top executives at companies that receive large amounts of bailout money, according to people familiar with the plan.Is there anyone alive who believes Obama would impose a cap on salaries for Hollywood executives who so generously lavished money upon him?
Executives would also be prohibited from receiving any bonuses above their base pay, except for normal stock dividends.
President Obama and Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner plan to announce the executive compensation plan on Wednesday morning at the White House.
The European Union warned the US yesterday against plunging the world into depression by adopting a planned “Buy American” policy, intensifying fears of a trade war.Uhhh, so like, uhhh, never mind what I, uhhh, said.
The EU threatened to retaliate if the US Congress went ahead with sweeping measures in its $800 billion (£554 billion) stimulus plan to restrict spending to American goods and services.
Gordon Brown was caught in the crossfire as John Bruton, the EU Ambassador to Washington, said that “history has shown us” where the closing of markets leads — a clear reference to the Depression of the 1930s, triggered by US protectionist laws.
Last night Mr Obama gave a strong signal that he would remove the most provocative passages from the Bill.
“I agree that we can’t send a protectionist message,” he said in an interview with Fox TV. “I want to see what kind of language we can work on this issue. I think it would be a mistake, though, at a time when worldwide trade is declining, for us to start sending a message that somehow we’re just looking after ourselves and not concerned with world trade.”
Is it just me or do you envision this is what Sandy Berger looked like after he was busted with those documents in his socks?An Australian traveler was caught with two live pigeons stuffed in his pants following a trip to the Middle East, customs officials said Tuesday. The 23-year-old man was searched after authorities discovered two eggs in a vitamin container in his luggage, said Richard Janeczko, national investigations manager for the Customs Service.Those undeclared eggplants will trip you up every time.
They found the pigeons wrapped in padded envelopes and held to each of the man's legs with a pair of tights, according to a statement released by the agency. Officials also seized seeds in his money belt and an undeclared eggplant.
The Jamaica Plain lesbians whose passionate love led to the groundbreaking legalization of same-sex marriage in Massachusetts have called it quits and filed for divorce, the Herald has learned.
But one-time international gay icons Hillary and Julie Goodridge, who share custody of their 12-year-old daughter, Annie, are less eager to be poster partners for gay divorce. Their case, filed Thursday in Suffolk Probate and Family Court, is impounded.
“I wish I could talk them into staying together, but I don’t see how. They had a great thing going. I love Julie, and I always will,” said Hillary’s mom, Ann Kiernan Smith, 82, of Florida, who believed the couple would outlast their critics.
“I guess because Julie and Hillary made headlines, people will pick on it,” Smith lamented of the breakup. “I don’t think sex has anything to do with it. If (marriage) is what Hillary wanted, I was proud of her.”
The Goodridges’ landmark lawsuit famously persuaded the state Supreme Judicial Court in 2003 to make Massachusetts the first state to recognize same-sex marriage. Last week, they became one of 168 couples to file for divorce in Suffolk County in January.
Neither Hillary Goodridge, 52, director of the Unitarian Universalist Funding Program, nor Julie Goodridge, 51, an investment adviser, responded to requests for comment yesterday. The couple wed in May 2004 after nearly two decades together.
A source close to both women said Hillary enjoyed the limelight of being a pioneering gay activist and was always interested in trying new things, while Julie was more reserved.
Kris Mineau, president of the Massachusetts Family Institute, a conservative public policy group that fought to repeal gay marriage, pounced on news of the Goodridges’ split.
“Divorce is a very painful issue, but I also can’t help but reflect on the pain this couple has caused on the commonwealth and the nation to redefine marriage. And now they’re getting divorced? It doesn’t make a lot of sense,” Mineau said.
“Obviously, they don’t hold the institution in very high esteem.”
It was like one of those dire pharmaceutical warnings:
Caution! This guy can cause upset stomach, loss of appetite, hair loss (due to pulling it out), depression and in certain cases (home game) blackouts.
Every time a certain familiar face showed up on camera Sunday during NBC's Super Bowl pregame show, Channel 4 ran a scroll at the bottom of the screen:
"Matt Millen was president of the Lions for the worst eight-year run in the history of the NFL. Knowing his history with the team, is there a credibility issue as he now serves as an analyst for NBC Sports? ..."
Hilarious. But good for Channel 4, not toeing the company line as it sought online comments from viewers on Millen's gig. Or maybe it was just trying to distance itself from NBC's brilliant move.
According to GeostrategyDirect.com, a newsletter published by The Washington Times' ace national security reporter Bill Gertz, "Diplomatic sources said Barack Obama has engaged several Arab intermediaries to relay messages to and from al Qaeda in the months before his elections as the 44th U.S. president. The sources said al Qaeda has offered what they termed a truce in exchange for a U.S. military withdrawal from Afghanistan. 'For the last few months, Obama has been receiving and sending feelers to those close to al Qaeda on whether the group would end its terrorist campaign against the United States,' a diplomatic source said. 'Obama sees this as helpful to his plans to essentially withdraw from Afghanistan and Iraq during his first term in office.' "Gaffney should first have the site corrected to geostrategy-direct.com. It's a pay site, so there's nothing more to report for now. Since Gertz is a Washington Times employee, maybe they should be getting this scoop. Some other news on the capitulation front:
If surrender in Afghanistan, Iraq and Iran were not enough, upcoming opportunities for Mr. Obama to exhibit American submission to Islam include ordering U.S. participation in the United Nations' "Durban II" conference - thereby legitimating its Iranian-dictated, rabidly anti-Israel, anti-American, Holocaust-denying and "Islamophobia"-banning agenda; adopting the program for undermining Israel promoted by longtime Friends-of-Barack Rashid Khalidi and Samantha Power (the latter just appointed a senior National Security Council official); and reversing the FBI's long-overdue decision to end its association with the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR), a prominent front organization of the Muslim Brotherhood (whose stated mission is "to destroy America from within.")H/T Power Line.
Tom Daschle has withdrawn his nomination to be Health and Human Services secretary.He doesn't want to be a distraction, like all of Obama's other tax cheats.
That's according to a joint White House statement from President Barack Obama and his former nominee.
Obama said Tuesday he accepted the withdrawal "with sadness and regret."
Daschle has been battling for his nomination since it was disclosed he failed to pay more than $120,000 in taxes.
DeMint told FOX News that Daschle's failure to pay $134,000 in federal taxes reflects a "problem with integrity" that the government cannot afford to tolerate. DeMint spoke out against Daschle as a number of prominent newspapers, including The New York Times, called for the South Dakota Democrat to drop his bid.I notice many media accounts keep saying "over $120,000" and never give the actual amount. Nothing like utilizing those abundant layers of editors and fact checkers.
DeMint said he came to that conclusion after it became "obvious" that Daschle knew about the tax problems long before his nomination and did nothing to make it right.
"The average American would likely face criminal charges with tax evasion of this size, yet he did not address the issue until he was nominated," he said.
Daschle has since paid $146,000 in back payments and interest, and apologized on Monday for what he called income tax errors.
It is normally a moment of cheery reassurance when an airline pilot greets passengers during preparations for take-off. But Alexander Cheplevsky sparked panic on flight Aeroflot 315 when he began to speak.Thanks to Hot Air for the link!
His slurred and garbled comments ahead of a flight from Moscow to New York convinced passengers that he was drunk. When he apparently switched from Russian into unintelligible English, fear turned to revolt.
Flight attendants initially ignored passengers' complaints and threatened to expel them from the Boeing 767 jet unless they stopped "making trouble". As the rebellion spread, Aeroflot representatives boarded the aircraft to try to calm down the 300 passengers.
One sought to reassure them by announcing that it was "not such a big deal" if the pilot was drunk because the aircraft practically flew itself.
Mr Cheplevsky did little to ease passengers' fears by refusing to leave the cockpit to show that he was sober. When he was finally persuaded to face them, witnesses said that he appeared unsteady on his feet and had bloodshot eyes.
"I don't think there's anyone in Russia who doesn't know what a drunk person looks like," Katya Kushner, one of the passengers, told the Moscow Times, which had a reporter travelling on the flight.
"At first, he was looking at us like we were crazy. Then, when we wouldn't back down, he said 'I'll sit here quietly in a corner. We have three more pilots. I won't even touch the controls, I promise'."
Aeroflot's bad day got worse when it emerged that the socialite and television host Ksenia Sobchak was on board. Ms Sobchak, one of Russia's best-known personalities, demanded that all four pilots be replaced.
The airline finally relented and summoned new pilots to fly the jet to New York three hours late. More than 100 passengers passed the time as they waited by signing a petition declaring that they believed Mr Cheplevsky had been drunk.
Morris Wilson, 30, was playing cards in 25-year-old Tiffany Cox's apartment early Sunday morning with her and three other women. An argument over a broken cigarette escalated and Wilson was asked to leave, the Chicago Sun-Times reported.No word if they were playing strip poker or if lottery tickets were involved.
As he walked out the door Wilson allegedly threw a beer at the door, prompting Miesha Nelson, 25, to feel he "disrespected" Cox. She convinced her they needed "to beat him up," Assistant State's Attorney LuAnn Snow told the paper, and the four friends went after him.
The informal battle between members of the Obama Administration and the Taxman resulted in a casualty Tuesday, with news that President Obama's nominee to be chief performance officer, Nancy Killefer, will withdraw her nomination following the revelation that she had a $946.69 lien on her property in 2005 for failure to pay taxes.
Killefer, who was announced to much fanfare by President Obama on Jan. 7 to serve in the new position to make the U.S. government "more effective, more efficient, and more transparent," is the third high-level Obama Administration official whose failure to pay taxes in recent years was disclosed in the past month.
A former officer with McKinsey & Company and the past assistant secretary for management, chief financial officer and chief operating officer at Treasury during the Clinton administration, Killefer joins the ranks of Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner, who failed to pay more than $40,000 in payroll taxes when he worked for the International Monetary Fund, and Secretary of Health and Human Services nominee Tom Daschle, who -- as ABC News was first to report last Friday -- on Jan. 2 filed more than $140,000 in back taxes and interest, having failed to disclose more than $300,000 in past income, including the use of a car and driver for three years.
The Associated Press broke the story of Killefer's tax lien placed against Killefer's home in Washington, D.C., for failing to pay unemployment compensation taxes on household help. The issue was resolved five months after the D.C. government took action.
During almost two years on the campaign trail, Barack Obama vowed to slay the demons of Washington, bar lobbyists from his administration and usher in what he would later call in his Inaugural Address a “new era of responsibility.” What he did not talk much about were the asterisks.H/T: Dan.
The exceptions that went unmentioned now include a pair of cabinet nominees who did not pay all of their taxes. Then there is the lobbyist for a military contractor who is now slated to become the No. 2 official in the Pentagon. And there are the others brought into government from the influence industry even if not formally registered as lobbyists.
President Obama said Monday that he was “absolutely” standing behind former Senator Tom Daschle, his nominee for health and human services secretary, and Mr. Daschle, who met late in the day with leading senators in an effort to keep his confirmation on track, said he had “no excuse” and wanted to “deeply apologize” for his failure to pay $128,000 in federal taxes.
But the episode has already shown how, when faced with the perennial clash between campaign rhetoric and Washington reality, Mr. Obama has proved willing to compromise.
Every four or eight years a new president arrives in town, declares his determination to cleanse a dirty process and invariably winds up trying to reconcile the clear ideals of electioneering with the muddy business of governing. Mr. Obama on his first day in office imposed perhaps the toughest ethics rules of any president in modern times, and since then he and his advisers have been trying to explain why they do not cover this case or that case.
“This is a big problem for Obama, especially because it was such a major, major promise,” said Melanie Sloan, executive director of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington. “He harped on it, time after time, and he created a sense of expectation around the country. This is exactly why people are skeptical of politicians, because change we can believe in is not the same thing as business as usual.”
And so in these opening days of the administration, the Obama team finds itself being criticized by bloggers on the left and the right, mocked by television comics and questioned by reporters about whether Mr. Obama is really changing the way Washington works or just changing which political party works it.
Mr. Daschle is another in a long line of politicians who move cozily between government and industry. We don’t know that his industry ties would influence his judgments on health issues, but they could potentially throw a cloud over health care reform. Mr. Daschle could clear the atmosphere by withdrawing his name.
President Barack Obama planned to spend Tuesday waging an all-out media blitz to promote passage of his $800 billion-plus stimulus plan, which faces assaults from both Democrats and Republicans during debate in the Senate this week.Aww, poor baby. And just what was this unwelcome distraction?
Obama was slated to give a series of Oval Office television interviews. He spoke with Democratic congressional leaders about the spending and tax-cut package on Monday afternoon at the White House, and planned to talk economics with the Democratic rank-and-file at House and Senate retreats later in the week.
Obama's young administration faced an unwelcome distraction to its efforts to gain support for the stimulus plan as a second Cabinet nominee faced questions over his tax returns.
Former Sen. Tom Daschle apologized Monday for failing to pay more than $120,000 in taxes and appealed to his former colleagues in the Senate to approve him all the same. Obama said he was "absolutely" sticking with his nominee for health secretary.Uh, no, it was a crime.
The White House both underscored the magnitude of the problem and tried to downplay it in the space of seven words. "Nobody's perfect," said press secretary Robert Gibbs. "It was a serious mistake...."
Gov. Paterson yesterday warned that the politically popular plan to impose higher income taxes on the wealthy would cost New York jobs and drive people out of the state.Cut their taxes and watch the money flow in. Gouge them further and watch the wealth flee the state.
"What I'm saying is if you tax the rich right now, while the economy is disintegrating, you're going to lose jobs and you're also going to lose from the tax base as people leave the state," Paterson told reporters after addressing the Council on Foreign Relations.
"In my opinion, you're [compounding] the problem, not eradicating it. I don't think that taxing the rich is the best way to go right now."
Detroit's former thug Mayor, Kwame Kilpatrick, has finally emerged from jail after serving a whole 99 days for assaulting a detective and obstruction of justice.Kwame Kilpatrick regained his freedom early Tuesday morning, emerging from jail after a 99-day sentence and stepping back onto the streets of the city he once ruled as mayor.I'm getting all misty-eyed. This is almost like Nelson Mandela being freed.
The 38-year-old Kilpatrick, about 25 pounds lighter than when he entered jail at the end of October, left the downtown Detroit facility wearing a dark suit just after 12:30 a.m.
On the sidewalk, Kilpatrick stood for a long moment amid bright television camera lights, a crush of awaiting reporters and swirling snowflakes, smiling occasionally to those in the crowd who called his name and shouted: "We love you, Kwame! Detroit loves you, baby!"
Flanked by a number of men, several dressed in fedoras and long coats, Kilpatrick then was rushed to a waiting blue Chevrolet Suburban. The Democrat waved from behind tinted windows as he was whisked away as part of a multi-vehicle caravan.
"He's not bitter. He said he learned a lot," Gary said during an impromptu sidewalk news conference. "He said this has been an experience he'll never forget, and he thinks because of it he'll be a better person."Oddly enough, Kwame hasn't got a position inthe Obama administration lined up. It's not as if he isn't qualified. After all, he owes over a million dollars.
Kilpatrick was expected to meet with state probation officials before heading to a job interview Wednesday with an unnamed company at an undisclosed location in Texas. His wife, Carlita, and three young sons, already have left Michigan.
A judge has ordered that he return by Feb. 9.
"The job prospect is very, very, very favorable," Gary told reporters. "We want to make sure he can get, and land, the job. That's his first thing. He wants a job. That's what he is concerned about now. He wants to get with his family, get with his kids so he can start his life again."
The next five years, though, will be spent on probation and paying off the bulk of $1million in restitution to the city. He also has had his law license revoked.
If Kilpatrick lands the job in Texas, he must first get permission to transfer his probation from Michigan to that state.
Vice President Biden administered the oath of office to Hillary Clinton at a State Department ceremony -- and momentarily botched the oath by tripping over his words, but made a quick recovery (even though the crowd had chanted, "Get it right" before he even started).Is it just me or has Greasy Joe's bald spot gotten much larger since he stopped running for office?
The formal ceremony duplicated a private swearing-in in her Senate office after she was confirmed Jan. 22.
This time, her husband Bill, daughter Chelsea, and mother Dorothy Rodham jointly held the bible, as four previous secretaries of state (Baker, Kissinger, Eagleburger, Albright) and many Clinton supporters looked on.
Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin has a new foe -- Ashley Judd.Ms. Judd would look more appealing if she swept her hair up and added some glasses.
Defenders of Wildlife Action Fund, with a hand from the actress, has launched a Web-based campaign targeting Palin over her environmental record.
In a video premiering on the organization’s new Web site, EyeOnPalin.org, Judd takes aim at Palin for allegedly promoting the aerial killing of wolves in Alaska, and goes so far as to accuse Palin of proposing bounties for severed forelegs of killed wolves.
“It is time to stop Sarah Palin and stop this senseless savagery,” Judd says in the ad.
It’s not the first time Defenders of Wildlife Action Fund, a progressive environmental organization, has taken aim at Palin over the aerial killings. During the presidential campaign, Defenders launched a national television ad campaign focused on the topic.
In a statement announcing the launch of the anti-Palin campaign, Judd says she is “outraged by Sarah Palin's promotion of this cruel, unscientific and senseless practice which has no place in modern America.”
The mother of the longest-living octuplets in the U.S. is being deluged with offers for book deals, TV shows and other business proposals, but has not decided what she might do other than care for her children, her newly hired spokeswoman said Monday.
Hundreds of requests have been made since Nadya Suleman gave birth to six boys and two girls a week ago, said Joann Killeen, president of Killeen Furtney Group, a public relations company.
"She's the most sought after mom in the world right now," Killeen said. "Everyone wants to talk to her."
But Suleman, who remained hospitalized with her children Monday at Kaiser Permanente's Bellflower Medical Center, hasn't decided what she'll do next, Killeen said.
Some of the deals and requests for interviews involve offers to pay, said Killeen and her partner, Mike Furtney. They didn't reveal the amounts being offered, but Killeen noted that raising eight babies will be expensive, adding that Suleman plans to carefully review her financial opportunities.
Thomas A. Daschle, picked by President Barack Obama to be Health and Human Services secretary, said he was “deeply embarrassed” about $128,000 in errors on his taxes, and promised in a letter to answer all questions about how it happened.Virtually any other American busted for avoiding taxes for three years would be facing jail time.
The letter was sent to the ranking members of the Senate Finance Committee prior to a meeting today between the panel and the former U.S. senator, according to a person who provided the correspondence to Bloomberg. Daschle amended his returns for 2005, 2006 and 2007, and paid $140,000 in taxes and interest.
Daschle’s nomination must be confirmed by the finance committee. Republican Jon Kyl of Arizona, a panel member, said on “Fox News Sunday” that it’s too early to tell whether the nomination is in trouble. Daschle refiled his returns Jan. 2 to add unreported consulting fees, unspecified charitable contributions and a car and driver provided by Leo Hindery Jr., a founder of the private-equity firm InterMedia Advisors, a committee draft report said.
“Make no mistake, tax cheaters cheat us all, and the IRS should enforce our laws to the letter. ” Sen. Tom Daschle, Congressional Record, May 7, 1998, p. S4507.Now though, schmucks like John Kerry call it an innocent mistake.
Finance Committee member Senator John Kerry on the same program called the tax problem an “innocent mistake that doesn’t affect one iota his ability to do the job.”No, deliberately avoiding taxes is a criminal offense, not an innocent mistake.
Vice President Joe Biden often joked on the campaign trail about his wife's lofty educational achievements. She had two master's degrees and had already worked for nearly a quarter-century as a college community instructor. But he had a better idea.
"Why don't you go out and get a doctorate and make us some real money?" he said he told her. (That was always good for a laugh, especially in university towns.)
In 2007, at 55, Jill Biden did earn a doctorate -- in education, from the University of Delaware. Since then, in campaign news releases and now in White House announcements, she is "Dr. Jill Biden." This strikes some people as perfectly appropriate and others as slightly pompous, a quality often ascribed to her voluble husband.
...
"Ordinarily when someone goes by doctor and they are a PhD, not an MD, I find it a little bit obnoxious," Sullivan said. "But it makes me smile because it's a reminder that she's her own person. She wasn't there as an appendage; she was there as a professional in her own right."
Newspapers, including The Times, generally do not use the honorific "Dr." unless the person in question has a medical degree.
"My feeling is if you can't heal the sick, we don't call you doctor," said Bill Walsh, copy desk chief for the Washington Post's A section and the author of two language books.
Joe Biden, who was chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, is expected to travel widely in his new job. But he may need to tone down the Dr. Jill Biden stories, should he find himself in Germany with his wife.
Last year, according to the Post, at least seven Americans (with degrees from places like Cornell and Caltech) were investigated for the crime of "title fraud" for calling themselves doctor on business cards, resumes and websites. Only people who have earned advanced degrees in Germany or other European Union countries may legally call themselves that.
Estela Bensimon, a professor at USC's Center for Education, said she cared about being called Dr. Bensimon only if she was being addressed by her first name while male colleagues were called doctor.
"That often happens with women academics around male academics," she said. "I don't feel I need to be called doctor to be respected. Also, just think if you were on an airplane and you called yourself doctor and there was an emergency."
A Tucson television station's broadcast of the Super Bowl on Sunday was interrupted for some viewers by about 10 seconds of pornographic material, the station said.You figure Cox cable would be the one showing porn.
KVOA TV in Tucson released a statement saying that the only viewers who were able to see the material were those who receive the channel through Comcast cable.
The station said it will investigate the incident.
"When the NBC feed of the Super Bowl was transmitted from KVOA to local cable providers and through over-the-air antennas, there was no pornographic material," KVOA president and general manager Gary Nielsen said in a statement.
The KVOA statement said the station was dismayed and disappointed that some Comcast customers and their families were subjected to the material.
"KVOA will continue to investigate what happened to our clean signal and make sure our viewers get answers," Nielsen said in the statement.
Comcast spokeswoman Tracy Baumgartner confirmed that the company's standard feed was interrupted during the Super Bowl, although she said its high definition feed was not.
Baumgartner said engineers were investigating Sunday night.
Tucson media outlets reported that they received calls from irate viewers about the pornographic material.
A spokesman for Cox Cable said the company had not been affected.
President Obama may be riding high in Washington, but OBAMA 1260 is not.Shocking, isn't it? How can an all-Obama station not even measure in the ratings? Perhaps endless Obama worship is turning people off?
The area's only progressive talk station is changing formats, dropping such syndicated liberal hosts as Ed Schultz, Stephanie Miller and Bill Press in favor of financial news, starting next week.
The move by Redskins owner Dan Snyder, who purchased the station, WWRC, and others in Washington last summer, leaves the city without a liberal radio outlet. Program Director Greg Tantum says he thought the station could work because of enthusiasm over Obama, but that ratings collapsed to a level that could not be measured after the election.
But ratings nearly doubled, he says, at Snyder's conservative station, WTNT, which features Laura Ingraham and Bill Bennett.
During the past seven years, the "War Against Terror" or "War on Terror" came to represent everything the U.S. military was doing in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as the broader effort against extremists elsewhere or those seen as aiding militants aimed at destroying the West.Seems as if the next four years will be an enduring struggle against fecklessness.
Ultimately and perhaps inadvertently, however, the phrase "became associated in the minds of many people outside the Unites States and particularly in places where the countries are largely Islamic and Arab, as being anti-Islam and anti-Arab," said Anthony Cordesman, a national security analyst at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington think tank.
Now, he said, there is a sense that the U.S. should be talking more about specific extremist groups — ones that are recognized as militants in the Arab world and that are viewed as threats not just to America or the West, but also within the countries they operate.
The thinking has evolved, he said, to focus on avoiding the kind of rhetoric "which could imply that this was a struggle against a religion or a culture."
Obama has made it clear in his first days in office that he is courting the Muslim community and making what is at least a symbolic shift away from the previous administration's often more combative tone.
He chose an Arab network for his first televised interview, declaring that "Americans are not your enemy." Before his first full week in office ended, he named former Sen. George J. Mitchell as his special envoy for the Middle East and sent him to the region for talks with leaders.
Czech President Vaclav Klaus took aim at climate change campaigner Al Gore on Saturday in Davos in a frontal attack on the science of global warming.Previous items on Klaus here (scroll down).
"I don't think that there is any global warming," said the 67-year-old liberal, whose country holds the rotating presidency of the European Union. "I don't see the statistical data for that."
Referring to the former US vice president, who attended Davos this year, he added: "I'm very sorry that some people like Al Gore are not ready to listen to the competing theories. I do listen to them.
"Environmentalism and the global warming alarmism is challenging our freedom. Al Gore is an important person in this movement."
Speaking on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum, he said that he was more worried about the reaction to the perceived dangers than the consequences.
"I'm afraid that the current crisis will be misused for radically constraining the functioning of the markets and market economy all around the world," he said.
"I'm more afraid of the consequences of the crisis than the crisis itself."
CHIMPANZEES have long been known for their ability to mimic humans. Now scientists have found that baby chimps’ mental development can even be more advanced than children of the same age.
At nine months, the animals are just as curious and capable of recognising carers and familiar objects as the average baby. When compared with infants kept in isolated conditions in orphanages, the animals are even more advanced.
The scientists who carried out the research believe their research also provides valuable evidence that chimpanzees, like humans, thrive on social interaction. The more intimate their contact with their carers, the faster their brains develop.
Chimpanzees share about 96% of their DNA with humans. An adult chimp’s level of intelligence has been likened to that of a three-year-old child.
The new research shows that in their early lives, they develop along similar lines to people before humans race ahead.
“Nursery-reared chimpanzees . . . exhibited distress (screaming and crying) in those episodes when they were separated from their favourite caregiver and . . . [touched their toys] when their favourite caregiver was present,” says the study by scientists at Portsmouth University and Leiden University, Holland.
Former Gov. Bill Owens on Friday compared one-time University of Colorado professor Ward Churchill to a famous moviemaker - and it wasn't a compliment.Via LGF links.
"In retirement, he's starting to look a lot like Michael Moore," Owens said, referring to the frumpy director of Bowling for Columbine and Fahrenheit 9/11.
Churchill, fired by CU in 2007, is suing to get his job back.
Owens and others, including University of Colorado regents, are being deposed as part of the trial, scheduled to start March 9 in Denver District Court.
Owens declined to discuss in detail what kinds of questions he was asked and what answers he gave, but Owens wasn't shy about expressing his opinion of Churchill.
"Ward Churchill is a plagiarist and a fraud, and, regrettably, we continue to pay for his deception."
Churchill could not be reached for comment.
The deposition took place in the office of Churchill's attorney, David Lane. Owens, who left office in January 2007 and now is a businessman, was represented by the attorney general's office.
For his part Friday, Churchill refused to shake Owens' hand.
So Owens took a verbal jab. "I said, 'Come on, you're a big guy.' "
Lane said later: "I hope the governor's feelings weren't too hurt."
The Churchill saga began in 2005, when an earlier essay he had written - saying the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks were a response to a long history of U.S. abuses - came to the public's attention.
Churchill called the World Trade Center victims "little Eichmanns," a reference to Nazi Adolf Eichmann, who played a key role in the Holocaust.
The essay ignited a firestorm, and Owens was among those who called on the CU president to fire Churchill.
In a statement released to The Associated Press, the swimmer who won a record eight gold medals at the Beijing Games conceded the authenticity of the exclusive picture published Sunday by the tabloid News of the World.Or at least it won't happen again until everyone shuts off their camera phones.
Phelps said: "I engaged in behavior which was regrettable and demonstrated bad judgment. I'm 23 years old and despite the successes I've had in the pool, I acted in a youthful and inappropriate way, not in a manner people have come to expect from me. For this, I am sorry. I promise my fans and the public it will not happen again."
We interrupt our regularly scheduled programming about thieves on Wall Street, bad weather and that football game to bring you this important announcement about Spencer Potter’s decision to sell his telephone number on eBay, the song that inspired him and the half-life of pop culture fame.Indeed. You know you're tempted.
The phone number is (201) 867-5309. The song is “867-5309/Jenny.” The half-life business you have to figure out on your own.
Our story begins one spring morning in 1981, when a musician named Alex Call was sitting under a plum tree in Marin County, Calif., hoping to write something that sounded like the Kinks or the early Stones.
He came up with four chords (E minor/C/G/A), seven numbers and one name. A friend, Jim Keller, who was in a band called Tommy Tutone, helped him figure out what the song was about and they had fun with it, assuming it would never see the light of day. If you are under 65 and have ever turned on a radio, for better or worse you know the rest.
One day five years ago, Mr. Potter, who was living in Weehawken, N.J., and working as a disc jockey for weddings and parties, needed a phone number for his business. On a lark he asked if 867-5309 was available. To his surprise, it was. It seemed like a great deal for a music-oriented business — the most famous musical phone number (though you might get arguments from fans of Glenn Miller’s “PEnnsylvania 6-5000” or the Marvelettes’ “Beechwood 45789”) as his very own business signature.
Instead, it was something of a disaster. Almost as soon as he plugged the phone in, it began ringing off the wall.
And so it continues. Maybe it’s those Cingular commercials, but the song came out when Ronald Reagan was president. You would think the jokes would get old.
But no, he still gets about 30 calls a day: from drunks at bars, from the guy at the auto body shop in Odessa, Tex.; from Alyssa, 15, and her mom, Janice, on their way back from cheerleading practice in Morris County; from hapless collection agencies unlikely to ever get their money; from Leah, 13, in North Bergen whose friend Tyler told her to call; from bored cold callers who figure, why not?
Here in the New York-New Jersey metropolitan area, this may rank as the least anticipated Super Bowl ever. After the Giants went down in flames all the interest pretty much died. But since we're been prognosticating all year, we're at least obliged to make a prediction. We went 5-5 so far in the playoffs.
Perhaps come April 15, we should all invoke the Rangel Rule. Of course, the tax-cheating Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner will unleash the dogs of war against us and we'd all be facing jail time and hefty penalties.Thomas A. Daschle waited nearly a month after being nominated to be secretary of health and human services before informing Barack Obama that he had not paid years of back taxes for the use of a car and driver provided by a wealthy New York investor.We cannot emphasize this more: He knew he broke the law and just shrugged it off, hoping someone would take care of it.
Daschle, one of Obama's earliest and most ardent campaign supporters, paid $140,000 to the U.S. Treasury on Jan. 2 and about two days later informed the White House and the Senate Finance Committee, according to an account provided by his spokeswoman and confirmed by the Obama administration.
Although Daschle had known since June 2008 that he needed to correct his tax returns, he never expected the amount to be such a "jaw-dropping" sum and "thought it was being taken care of" by his accountant, spokeswoman Jenny Backus said.
White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said last night that Obama stands behind his friend and confidant. "The president believes nobody's perfect but that nobody's hiding anything," Gibbs said.Nobody's hiding anything? Then why did Daschle hide this from Obama for two months? Do these people really believe we're this stupid?
The disclosure of Daschle's tax problems coincided with the release of the financial statement he submitted to the Office of Government Ethics, which details for the first time exactly how, without becoming a registered lobbyist, he made millions of dollars giving public speeches and private counsel to insurers, hospitals, realtors, farmers, energy firms and telecommunications companies with complex regulatory and legislative interests in Washington.Oh, but Obama's pristine administration will be free of lobbyists.
Daschle's expertise and insights, gleaned over 26 years in Congress, earned him more than $5 million over the past two years, including $220,000 from the health-care industry, and perks such as a chauffeured Cadillac, according to the documents.
As a conservative economist, I might be expected to oppose a stimulus plan. In fact, I've declared my support for a stimulus. But the fiscal package now before Congress needs to be thoroughly revised. In its current form, it does too little to raise national spending and employment. It would be better for the Senate to delay legislation for a month, or even two, if that's what it takes to produce a much better bill. We cannot afford an $800 billion mistake.You'll never see any tax cuts from this crew because it would demolish their class warfare argument. Admitting you're wrong can never happen for liberals.
Start with the tax side. The plan is to give a tax cut of $500 a year for two years to each employed person. That's not a good way to increase consumer spending. Experience shows that the money from such temporary, lump-sum tax cuts is largely saved or used to pay down debt. Only about 15 percent of last year's tax rebates led to additional spending.
The proposed business tax cuts are also likely to do little to increase business investment and employment. The extended loss "carrybacks" are primarily lump-sum payments to selected companies. The bonus depreciation plan would do little to raise capital spending in the current environment of weak demand because the tax benefits in the early years would be recaptured later.
Instead, the tax changes should focus on providing incentives to households and businesses to increase current spending. Why not a temporary refundable tax credit to households that purchase cars or other major consumer durables, analogous to the investment tax credit for businesses? Or a temporary tax credit for home improvements? In that way, the same total tax reduction could produce much more spending and employment.
Had your fill of eight years of Bush Derangement Syndrome? Welcome to the era of Rush Derangement Syndrome.President Obama is throwing a bipartisan Super Bowl party Sunday at the White House. But one leading conservative football fan won't be in attendance: Rush Limbaugh. The much-heralded new era of outreach and cooperation in Washington does not extend to the Right's most powerful voice on talk radio. With his explicit attack on Limbaugh during a Capitol Hill meeting last week, Obama has signaled the end of Bush Derangement Syndrome - the defining mental illness of the Democrats for eight years - and ushered in the age of Rush Derangement Syndrome.Read the rest.
You would think that victories in the presidential race and Congress would be enough for the Left. But no. Like Captain Ahab, Sen. Lindsay Graham still bristles at the "loud folks" in conservative talk radio. Democrats even drafted a petition denouncing Limbaugh last week, showing that trying to save the economy doesn't wait for petty personal attacks.
Too bad Obama hasn't learned the lessons of his predecessors. Limbaugh not only has survived countless protests, boycotts, media smears and political attempts to kick him off the airwaves. He has emerged each time with a higher profile, greater influence, and a strengthened hand.
