Archive for June, 2009
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Honduran soldiers rousted President Manuel Zelaya from his bed and exiled him at gunpoint Sunday to Costa Rica, halting his controversial plan to stay in power but spurring fresh concerns about democratic rule across Latin America.
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Supporters of Honduras' President Manuel Zelaya gather in front of the president residency in Tegucigalpa June 28, 2009. Witnesses said Zelaya was detained at home by troops in a constitutional crisis over his attempt to win re-election. CNN's Spanish-language channel later quoted Costa Rican officials as saying he was in Costa Rica and seeking political asylum. (REUTERS)
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Big Brother Episodes posted on the internet.
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Two widely cited examples of this alleged war were revisions made to a government climate report by a former industry lobbyist and a NASA official's ham-handed efforts to prevent noted climate scientist James Hansen, a NASA employee, from commenting publicly on climate change policy. Could the Obama Administration be guilty of equivalent science politicization? Perhaps. Two weeks ago, Roger Pielke Jr. marshaled evidence that a government contractor with substantial industry ties may have been responsible for misrepresenting the relevant peer-reviewed scientific literature in an important government report on climate change. This past week, the EPA was accused of suppressing an agency's employee's comments on the EPA's proposed greenhouse gas "endangerment finding" (the official finding that greenhouse gas emissions may threaten public health and welfare). Here again, Pielke finds the parallel with the Bush Administration's conduct instructive.
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The Environmental Protection Agency may have suppressed an internal report that was skeptical of claims about global warming, including whether carbon dioxide must be strictly regulated by the federal government, according to a series of newly disclosed e-mail messages.
Less than two weeks before the agency formally submitted its pro-regulation recommendation to the White House, an EPA center director quashed a 98-page report that warned against making hasty "decisions based on a scientific hypothesis that does not appear to explain most of the available data."
The EPA official, Al McGartland, said in an e-mail message (PDF) to a staff researcher on March 17: "The administrator and the administration has decided to move forward…and your comments do not help the legal or policy case for this decision."
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White House senior adviser David Axelrod said the president won't rule out a health care reform bill that includes a middle-class tax hike.
"The president had said in the past that he doesn't believe taxing health care benefits at any level is necessarily the best way to go here. He still believes that," Axelrod told me on This Week, "But there are a number of formulations and we'll wait and see. The important thing at this point is to keep the process moving, to keep people at the table, to the keep the discussions going. We've gotten a long way down the road and we want to finish that journey."
I pressed Axelrod on whether Obama will draw a line in the sand and veto any bill that funds health care reform with tax hikes for people making under $250,000 a year — despite a pledge Barack Obama made during the 2008 presidential campaign not to raise taxes on the poor and middle-class.
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Soldiers on Sunday arrested the Honduran president and took him to an air force base just before voting was to begin on a disputed constitutional election, according to the Associated Press.
President Manuel Zelaya's private secretary told the AP that Zelaya was arrested and brought to a base on the outskirts of the capital, Tegucigalpa.
An AP reporter saw dozens of green-helmeted soldiers surround the president's house Sunday morning and then later jump in trucks and drive away, according to the report. About 60 police continue to guard the house, it said, adding that the president did not appear.
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Troops in Honduras have ousted the president and flown him out of the country after a power struggle over plans to change the constitution.
After arriving in Costa Rica, deposed President Manuel Zelaya said he had been kidnapped by soldiers in a "coup".
Mr Zelaya, elected for a non-renewable four-year term in January 2006, wanted a vote to extend his time in office.
His arrest came just before the start of a referendum ruled illegal by the Supreme Court and opposed by Congress.
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Yet if the culture is moving on, national politics is not, or at least not as rapidly. Mr. Obama has yet to fulfill a campaign promise to repeal the policy barring openly gay people from serving in the military. The prospects that Congress will ever send him a bill overturning the Defense of Marriage Act, which defines marriage as between a man and a woman, appear dim. An effort to extend hate-crime legislation to include gay victims has produced a bitter backlash in some quarters: Senator Jim DeMint, Republican of South Carolina, sent a letter to clerics in his state arguing that it would be destructive to “faith, families and freedom.â€
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An eerie stillness has settled over this normally frenetic city.
In less anxious times, the streets are clogged with honking cars and cranky commuters. But on Saturday, drives that normally last 45 minutes took just a third of the time, and shops were mainly empty. Even Tehran’s beauty salons, normally hives of activity, had few customers; at one, bored workers fussed over one another’s hair.
People who did venture out said they were dispirited by the upheaval that has shaken this country over the two weeks since the contested presidential election, and worried they would get caught up in the brutal government crackdown of dissent that has followed.
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In the high-stakes battle over health care, a growing cadre of liberal activists is aiming its sharpest firepower against Democratic senators who they accuse of being insufficiently committed to the cause.
The attacks — ranging from tart news releases to full-fledged advertising campaigns — have elicited rebuttals from lawmakers and sparked a debate inside the party over the best strategy for achieving President Obama's top priority of a comprehensive health-system overhaul.
The rising tensions between Democratic legislators and constituencies that would typically be their natural allies underscore the high hurdles for Obama as he tries to hold together a diverse, fragile coalition. Activists say they are simply pressing for quick delivery of "true health reform," but the intraparty rift runs the risk of alienating centrist Democrats who will be needed to pass a bill.
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* Genetic condition had ruined his lungs and left him unable to sing
* He became so skeletal, doctors believed he was anorexic
* He had nightmares about being murdered – and wanted to die
* He used swine flu as an excuse to avoid coming to England
* He thought he was agreeing to 10 concerts – it was 50
Whatever the final autopsy results reveal, it was greed that killed Michael Jackson. Had he not been driven – by a cabal of bankers, agents, doctors and advisers – to commit to the gruelling 50 concerts in London’s O2 Arena, I believe he would still be alive today.
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Day By Day by Chris Muir
The Obama Administration had better field their entire cadre of O-bots with multiple foreign policy crises and domestic policy legislative agendas on the front burner.
My bet is that the O-bots have bitten off more than they can chew and will spin their way to postponement or deferment of most evertyhing domestic. Examples, include Obamacare, climate change cap and trade, gay rights in the military and immigration.
When North Korea fires off their ICBM towards Hawaiion on the 4th of July, all hell will break loose on the Korean Peninsula.
Obama then will transform into a war-footing President, which he has been all along.
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The Day By Day Archive
Technorati Tags: Day By Day, Barack ObamaTags: Barack Obama, Day By Day
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Congressional Republicans are finding much to dislike in Democratic health care proposals, illustrating the immense difficulty Democrats face in fashioning an overhaul that can attract enough Republican support to be portrayed as bipartisan.
Republicans’ primary objection is the Democrats’ push for a public health insurance plan that would serve as an alternative to private coverage. Republicans say such a plan would cause the private insurance market to unravel.
There is also the potential 10-year price tag of $1 trillion or more for the overhaul, coupled with the prospect of new taxes or fees to offset the cost. And Republicans see elements of the Democratic plans as government intrusion into personal health care decision making.
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The 8 cap-and-tax Republican turncoats again are:
Bono Mack (CA) (202) 225-5330
Castle (DE) (202) 225-4165
Kirk (IL) (202) 225-4385 (And he’s seriously considering running for Senate!)
Lance (NJ) (202) 225-5361
LoBiondo (NJ) (202) 225-6572
McHugh (NY) (202) 225-4611
Reichert (WA) (202) 225-7761
Smith (NJ) (202) 225-3765
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In a lousy week, Mark Sanford had one stroke of luck: Michael Jackson chose the day after the governor's news conference to moonwalk into eternity, and thus gave the media's pop therapists a more rewarding subject to feast on – or at any rate one of the few stories whose salient points are weirder than Sanford's. Not that the governor didn't do his best to keep his end up on the pop culture allusions: "I've spent the last five days crying in Argentina," he revealed, in presumably unconscious hommage to Evita.
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The mystery of who revealed Gov. Mark Sanford’s e-mail messages may finally be solved. A business associate of Mr. Sanford’s Argentine mistress said Friday that private messages between the two lovers had been sent anonymously to a South Carolina newspaper last December by an Argentine man the mistress had briefly dated.
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Earlier this week, the White House officially abandoned President Obama's "Sunlight before Signing" pledge (which I discussed here and here). As the NYT reported:
During the presidential campaign, Barack Obama promised that once a bill was passed by Congress, the White House would post it online for five days before he signed it.
“When there’s a bill that ends up on my desk as president, you the public will have five days to look online and find out what’s in it before I sign it, so that you know what your government’s doing,†Mr. Obama said as a candidate, telling voters he would make government more transparent and accountable.
The Administration also appears to be backing off its promises for greater access to government documents under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).
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The Waxman-Markey climate bill passed 219-212. Any guess how many of those 219 (or, for that matter, the 212) really know everything that is in the bill?
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Day By Day by Chris Muir
President Obama and his staff have controlled the MSM and its reporters since the beginning of his Presidential campaign. They all have rolled over for “The One.”
Wasn’t this one of Hillary Clinton’s complaints in the Democratic Primary campaign?
It is not surprising now that Obama is attemptng to continue this media control while in the White House. And, what better way to do this then punish the reporters who dare question your policies and reward those who are the pure syncophants.
Get it?
In the meantime, the auction continues for the fine poster of Sam:
Tags: Barack Obama, Day By Day, Hillary Clinton
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As California’s recession steadily worsens with no end in sight, the state’s economy may descend into a full-blown depression, according to a new statewide forecast released Wednesday.
The state’s budget meltdown weighs heavily on California’s economy, according to the respected UCSB Economic Forecast, fueled by the political ineptitude of the Capitol’s leaders, who show that “even when faced with extraordinary crises, California is unable to make hard decisions.â€
“California’s economy continues its descent into the depth of its most serious recession since World War II,†economist and Calbuzz contributor Bill Watkins writes in the forecast.“…It is possible that when this is over this recession will meet the technical definition of a depression in California.â€
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Passing President Obama’s “cap and trade†energy program would cost the average Oklahoma family $3,200 a year, Sen. Jim Inhofe said Friday, but he’s confident the measure will be killed in the Senate no matter what happens in the House of Representatives.
The Tulsa Republican, a longtime critic of what he considers “this hoax called global warming,†made his latest statements during a morning stop in Shawnee while House members in Washington were preparing to vote on the controversial issue.
“Between the years of 1998 and 2005, I was the only member of the United States Senate who would take on what I call ‘the Hollywood elitists’ and the United Nations on this hoax called global warming and I went through seven years of purgatory on that issue.
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A local couple arrested on domestic assault charges Sunday had an unusual choice of alleged weaponry — Cheetos.
Warrants filed by Cpl. Kevin Roddy, of the Bedford County Sheriff's Department, stated he responded to a call at a home on Pass Road, where 40-year-old James Earl Taylor and Mary S. Childers, 44, were allegedly involved in an argument.
According to Roddy's report, the pair became "involved in a verbal altercation" with each other "at which time Cheetos potato chips were used in the assault."
"There was evidence of the assault," the report read, "however no physical marks on either party and the primary aggressor was unable to be determined."
Both Taylor and Childers were charged by Roddy with domestic assault. Both posted a bond of $2,500 and will appear in Bedford County General Sessions Court on July 15.
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Detroit City Council President Pro Tem Monica Conyers pleaded guilty this morning to conspiring to commit bribery and is free on personal bond.
U.S. District Judge Avern Cohn said, "The defendant now stands convicted."
The one count of conspiring to commit bribery is punishable by up to five years in prison.
No sentencing date has been set.
In court, Conyers’ combative demeanor was gone, replaced by soft-spoken resignation as the judge and his staff several times asked her to speak up.
Conyers, the wife of powerful Democratic congressman U.S. Rep. John Conyers, appeared before Cohn to answer charges in connection with the wide-ranging probe of wrongdoing at Detroit city hall.
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The U.S. Senate proposal to impose taxes for the first time on “gold-plated†health plans may bypass generous employee benefits negotiated by unions.
Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, the chief congressional advocate of taxing some employer-provided benefits to help pay for an overhaul of the U.S. health system, says any change should exempt perks secured in existing collective- bargaining agreements, which can be in place for as long as five years.
The exception, which could make the proposal more politically palatable to Democrats from heavily unionized states such as Michigan, is adding controversy to an already contentious debate. It would shield the 12.4 percent of American workers who belong to unions from being taxed while exposing some other middle-income workers to the levy.
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The South Korean military plans to speed up efforts to deploy ground, air and naval weapons systems for use in strikes against key facilities in North Korea in the event of war, the Ministry of National Defense said Friday.
The plan is part of a revised version of a military modernization package. The ministry unveiled the revision of the Defense Reform 2020 initiative drawn up in 2005.
The updated plan is focused on securing independent capabilities to remove North Korea's asymmetrical military threat of nuclear and missile programs by deploying sophisticated surveillance, reconnaissance and striking assets.
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Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger plans to furlough state workers an additional day each month starting in July if lawmakers do not send him a solution for the entire $24 billion budget deficit, he said today.
Schwarzenegger's move would force state workers to take three unpaid days of leave each month, the equivalent of roughly a 14 percent pay cut in all. The governor framed the additional furlough day as an effort to save cash as the state faces the prospect of issuing IOUs starting Thursday.
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The House of Representatives passed a sweeping climate-change bill Friday – a major victory for President Barack Obama and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi that left Republicans fuming about a “national energy tax†they said would exacerbate the nation’s economic woes.
The vote was extremely close – 219-212, with eight Republicans voting yes and 44 Democrats voting no. And the debate leading up to it was intense.
In the hours before passage, Rep. Geoff Davis, a Republican from Kentucky, said the cap-and-trade bill represented the “economic colonization of the heartland†by New York and California. Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) called the bill a “scam†that would do nothing but satisfy “the twisted desires of radical environmentalists.†Rep. James Sensenbrenner (R-Wisc.) called it a “massive transfer of wealth†from the United States to foreign countries.
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The United States will not use force to inspect a North Korean ship suspected of carrying banned goods, an American official was quoted as saying Friday.
An American destroyer has been shadowing the North Korean freighter sailing off China's coast, possibly on its way to Myanmar.
Defense Undersecretary Michele Flournoy met with South Korean officials in Seoul on Friday as the U.S. sought international support for aggressively enforcing a U.N. sanctions resolution aimed at punishing Pyongyang for its second nuclear test last month. The North Korean-flagged ship, Kang Nam 1, is the first to be tracked under the U.N. resolution.
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It is clear that cap-and-trade is very expensive and amounts to nothing more than an energy tax in disguise. After all, when you sweep aside all the complexities of how cap and trade operates–and make no mistake, this is the most convoluted attempt at economic central planning this nation has ever attempted–the bottom line is that cap and trade works by raising the cost of energy high enough so that individuals and businesses are forced to use less of it. Inflicting economic pain is what this is all about. That is how the ever-tightening emissions targets will be met.
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America’s biggest oil companies will probably cope with U.S. carbon legislation by closing fuel plants, cutting capital spending and increasing imports.
Under the Waxman-Markey climate bill that may be voted on today by the U.S. House, refiners would have to buy allowances for carbon dioxide spewed from their plants and from vehicles when motorists burn their fuel. Imports would need permits only for the latter, which ConocoPhillips Chief Executive Officer Jim Mulva said would create a competitive imbalance.
“It will lead to the opportunity for foreign sources to bring in transportation fuels at a lower cost, which will have an adverse impact to our industry, potential shutdown of refineries and investment and, ultimately, employment,†Mulva said in a June 16 interview in Detroit. Houston-based ConocoPhillips has the second-largest U.S. refining capacity.
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Gov. Haley Barbour, fresh off a trip to New Hampshire yesterday – the same day he unexpectedly grabbed the reins of the Republican Governors Association following the sudden and unexpected resignation of Gov. Mark Sanford – has embraced with ease the “coyness†factor in answering whether he wants to run for president.
Politicians visiting Iowa before him have had to dance the same waltz. Barbour masters the steps.
In an exclusive Bean Walker Interview Series installment, Barbour answered the question point blank: “You never say never.â€
Barbour continued, “I would be very surprised if I decided to run for president after 2010. But I can tell ya, I’m not going to give it any thought until after 2010 because my focus is on the election of 2009 and 2010.â€
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Wading into a contentious debate being waged within the Republican Party of Iowa, Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour told a crowd of GOP activists and elected officials Thursday night that the only way back into the majority is to resist demands for ideological purity.
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Punching their fists into the air and shouting "Let's crush them!" some 100,000 North Koreans packed Pyongyang's main square Thursday for an anti-U.S. rally as the communist regime promised a "fire shower of nuclear retaliation" for any American-led attack.
Several demonstrators held up a placard depicting a pair of hands smashing a missile with "U.S." written on it, according to footage taken by APTN in Pyongyang on the anniversary of the day North Korean troops charged southward, sparking the three-year Korean War in 1950.
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House Democrats narrowly won a key test vote Friday on sweeping legislation to combat global warming and usher in a new era of cleaner energy. Republicans said the bill included "the largest tax increase in American history."
The vote was 217-205 to advance the White House-backed legislation to the floor, and 30 Democrats defected, a reflection of the controversy the bill sparked.
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Come on now.
Michael Jackson, who was with a cardiologist when he collapsed at his rented home in Los Angeles, appeared to have suffered a heart attack, a person with knowledge of the situation told The Associated Press.
The person, who was not authorized to speak publicly and requested anonymity, said Jackson suffered a heart attack, which is a blocking of the arteries that deprives the heart of adequate blood. That can lead to cardiac arrest, an interruption of the normal heartbeat.
Jackson’s brother Jermaine said Thursday that it was believed the pop singer went into cardiac arrest. The Los Angeles County coroner’s office, which completed its autopsy Friday, said determining the cause of death will require further tests that will take six to eight weeks.
The possibility of a heart attack could be a key clue as to why Jackson had a cardiologist at his home while he went through vigorous training for an upcoming series of concerts in London: Heart attacks can indicate a long-term problem, such as heart disease. It would not necessarily rule out another factor, such as drug use, however.
Coroner’s spokesman Craig Harvey said Jackson was taking some prescription medications, but did not specify what they were.
Police earlier today seized the car of Dr. Conrad Murray, a cardiologist who practices in California, Nevada and Texas, who was with Jackson at the time of his death. Police said they believed the car may contain drugs or other evidence.
When autopsies are performed on cardiac arrest victims, as many as three-fourths show signs of heart disease, such as clogged arteries, said Dr. Douglas Zipes, an Indiana University heart specialist and past president of the American College of Cardiology.
Finding signs of a heart attack would not rule out drugs playing a role. For example, injections of the powerful painkiller Demerol can depress normal breathing or cause a sudden drop in blood pressure and trigger a heart rhythm problem, said Dr. Lance Becker, a University of Pennsylvania emergency medicine specialist and an American Heart Association spokesman.
I will wait for the final coroner’s report but I would be surprised when the drugs in his sytem are verified that they did play a major contributing factor to his death – or his long-term drug use.
Demerol and Dilaudad are major respiratory depressants and what kind of pain could Michael Jackson possibly be having to warrant such opiate narcotics?
Michael Jackson’s cardiologist, Dr. Conrad Murray, has a lot of questions to answer.
How about Narcan, doctor?
Stay tuned……
Technorati Tags: Michael Jackson
Tags: Michael Jackson
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Sarah Palin talks to Camp Bondsteel soldiers June 26, 2009
Alaska Governor Sarah Palin is travelling overseas.
She is tweeting her trip here.
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Why U.S. peace missions for freedom? “America is still the abiding alternative to tyranny. That is our purpose in the world.” Ronald R …about 4 hours ago from TwitterBerry
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Met w Lithuanian Minister of Defense, Rasa Jukneviciene. She’s a conservative in Parliament here for Change of Command & peacekeeping exerczabout 4 hours ago from TwitterBerry
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I’ll send pics to Aces & KWHL (they’ll appreciate it) of Alaska Aviators here in Kosovo eating breakfst under our blue AK Aces hockey jerseyabout 5 hours ago from TwitterBerry
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Walked Kosovo streets w/ KFOR troops, folks chatted about their interest in U.S. & they knew a lot about Alaska! Taught them Yupik greetingsabout 6 hours ago from TwitterBerry
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Spoke to Task Force Falcon this morn + 100′s of troops from throughout US, & allies; audience of true heroes who sacrifice much for freedomabout 6 hours ago from TwitterBerry
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Now in Faik Konica school, our troops helping local students learn English along w/Pristina interpreters. Enthused kids thankful for U.S.about 7 hours ago from TwitterBerry
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So glad to be here in Kosovo visiting AK’s courageous Nat’l Guardsmen & women. More details on trip @ http://bit.ly/16wxcCabout 17 hours ago from web
While President Obama is fiddling while Iran burns and North Korea threatens, Palin is off to another part of the world building up her foreign policy cred – a little at a time.
Stay tuned……..
Technorati Tags: Sarah Palin
Tags: Sarah Palin
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