Former New Orleans congressman William Jefferson will be returning to public service after a federal jury voted overwhelmingly to have the 62-year-old serve his country once more, possibly for the rest of his life.
Jefferson, who served nine, two-year terms representing himself in Congress, is now facing one term in the range of 20 to 40 years.
In his new capacity, Jefferson is expected to work closely with law enforcement officials, possibly on federal roadside highway projects or even in the creation of new license plates.
Jeffersons upcoming service will also keep him at the forefront of numerous national hot-button issues, as his new position will include full, government-sponsored healthcare coverage and even protection from the mortgage crisis with free, government-provided room and board.
Posted by: Matt ||
08/12/2009 19:58 ||
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Washington, DC -- Today, FreedomWorks released an apology to leftist political organizations, including MoveOn.org, the Democratic National Committee, the AFL-CIO, and ACORN for our apparent ignorance of the fine art of political discourse.
FreedomWorks' August Recess Call to Action encouraged grassroots citizens to attend Congressional town hall meetings and listening sessions. We asked everyone to voice their opinions and communicate their opposition to the President's proposed hostile takeover of the American health care system. Apparently, the very act of showing up and having an opinion is, in effect, to act like a "thug." Opposing President Obama's policy agenda on health care is, in and of itself, unacceptable, and has no place in our democracy. Bottom line: it's "disgusting," according to our friends on the left.
We didn't know this. Evidently, we also didn't know best practices in a respectful, dignified policy debate, but our leftist friends were kind enough to "take FreedomWorks to school", so to speak.
Specifically, "school" included phone call blitzes from MoveOn.org and the AFL-CIO that jammed FreedomWorks phone lines and filled up staff voice mail boxes. Callers' consistently used profanity, vulgarity, ever-popular references to "Nazis" and "brown-shirters," racial slurs targeting an African-American staffer, and even veiled threats of violence and bodily harm.
Now we know how an intelligent political debate unfolds. Thank You! There are WAV files of the phone calls at the link.
Truly classy behaviour, guys. It will be interesting to see how many voters decide they don't want to be associated with that kind of people.
Posted by: Mike ||
08/12/2009 08:45 ||
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#1
Dear Anointed One.....Thank you so much for bringing both sides of the isle together!!! This is working out Soooooo WELL. I can't wait for the RUMBLES to start w/ the UNIONS again. Tell me if I'm wrong....but isn't this the start of the next civil war??
Posted by: Don Vito ||
08/12/2009 9:01 Comments ||
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#2
These idiots in DC are lucky. During the Whiskey Rebellion there was shooting; not shouting.
"Economy" or "Culture Wars"? Decisions, decisions....
Things are pretty bad in my native state of Michigan, which has the nation¡¯s highest unemployment rate and is the headquarters of government- and union-owned General Motors and Chrysler. Conditions are so bad that they seen to have sent some Michiganians (we used to say Michiganders when I was growing up) over the bend.
Case in point: Democratic State Chairman Mark Brewer. Ordinarily a pretty savvy political operator, Brewer is now suggesting five ballot propositions for the 2010 ballot. Their aim apparently is to improve the lot of Michigan citizens. But the result, as anyone with an iota of sense can see, would be to inflict horrifying damage on an already staggering state economy. They include:
¡ñ Mandating all employers to provide affordable health care for all their employees and dependents or pay a penalty.
¡ñ Raising the minimum wage from $7.40 per hour to $10 per hour and covering all workers with no exceptions.
¡ñ Increasing unemployment benefits by $100 a week, making all workers eligible and adding six months to the time one can receive benefits.
¡ñ Cutting utility rates by 20%.
¡ñ Imposing a one-year moratorium on home foreclosures.
Some of these, I suppose, are arguable, depending on the dollar amounts¡ªthe employer health insurance mandate and increasing unemployment benefits. But overall this is a program to pillage the private sector and drive it out of Michigan. The spokesman of Governor Jennifer Granholm, a term-limited Democrat, issued a statement saying the governor ¡°is committed to job creation . . . and is pleased that the Michigan Democratic party is considering proposals to do the same.¡±
The state¡¯s motto is ¡°If you seek a beautiful peninsula, look about you.¡± Mackinac Center analyst Ken Braun said if Brewer¡¯s proposals were adopted the motto would have to be changed to ¡°If you seek a beautiful peninsula, drive to Florida.¡±
Let the last Michiganian who leaves turn out the lights.
Or, as one commenter said, "Turn out the lights? Probably just blow out the candles."
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
08/12/2009 17:44 ||
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#1
Change the state motto: "If you seek a trashed state, look about you."
#2
Sorry about the odd symbols instead of bullet points and quotation marks. If they showed up in "preview" I didn't see them. :-(
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
08/12/2009 18:35 Comments ||
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Northern and Western Michigan are still pretty well off compared to the Detroit area/east michgan areas. Harbor Springs, Traverse City, Holland, all very nice. He'll kill what they have left, thats for sure, weaning themselves off the Auto Industry is hard, but.... theyre pretty tough in michigan and they seem to have pretty good attitudes, I think the people can pull it off if they can find something for detroit to do now that its "eggs in one basket" industry is gone.
Sen. Debbie Stabenow, Energy Leader
Michigan just experienced its coldest July on record; global temperatures havent risen in more than a decade; Great Lakes water levels have resumed their 30-year cyclical rise (contrary to a decade of media scare stories that they were drying up due to global warming), and polls show that climate change doesnt even make a list of Michigan voters top-ten concerns.
Yet in an interview with the Detroit News Monday, Senator Debbie Stabenow (D., Mich.) recently appointed to the Senate Energy Committee made clear that fighting the climate crisis is her top priority.
Climate change is very real, she confessed as she embraced cap and trades massive tax increase on Michigan industry at the same time claiming, against all the evidence, that it would not lead to an increase in manufacturing costs or energy prices. Global warming creates volatility. I feel it when Im flying. The storms are more volatile. We are paying the price in more hurricanes and tornadoes.
And there are sea monsters in Lake Michigan. I can feel them when Im boating.
#1
And in other breaking stories: Donks joust with windmills! And in still another story, donks embrace a theory that the earth is flat and are going to tax us for causing the earth to be flat! As is said, ignorance can be fixed. Stupidity is forever.
#6
HMMMMM, HMMMM, wehell, all I'll say is that SUN TZU + MACHIAVELLI, ETAL. would agree > "The Enemy is not responsible for the strength or failure of your Marketing"!?
The speaker of Iran's parliament has dismissed claims by a defeated presidential candidate that opposition protesters were raped in detention.
"Based on parliament's investigations, detainees have not been raped or sexually abused in Iran's Kahrizak and Evin prisons," Ali Larijani said.
"Lies! All lies!"
"Such claims are totally baseless," state television quoted him as saying.
"No, no, certainly not!"
Opposition leader Mehdi Karroubi called on Sunday for an inquiry into alleged rapes of male and female detainees. In a letter to former President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, now the head of a powerful adjudicating body, Mr Karroubi said some of the detainees had been seriously injured.
On Tuesday, Iran's authorities said 4,000 people had been detained during the mass protests that broke out in the wake of the 12 June presidential poll, which the opposition says was rigged.
The number was much higher than previous figures, although the authorities said 3,700 of them had been released within a few days of arrest.
Opposition leaders say 69 protesters died in the post-election violence - more than double the official figure of about 30 fatalities.
The conditions under which detained protesters have been held has been controversial, with damaging claims forcing authorities to act. The Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamanei, closed the notorious Kahrizak detention center saying it had failed to "preserve the detainees' rights".
Police officials have admitted that some of those held since June might have been tortured.
Both the Iranian parliament and judiciary have established committees to investigate the post-election unrest and the government's response.
Iran is currently trying more than 100 detainees over their alleged involvement in the protests. The trials - of leading opposition figures, activists, journalists, lawyers, workers at foreign embassies and two people with foreign nationalities - have been criticized by several foreign powers, opposition groups and human rights campaigners.
But authorities insist their legal proceedings are completely legitimate and conform to international standards of justice.
#1
Police and prison guard must belong to the same union as the Obama supporters. The step between this democracy and our is not a big one. We must be vigilant, always.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
08/12/2009 11:23 Comments ||
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This is not what Larijani was saying 24 hrs ago. He must have found a horse's head in his bed.
Posted by: Frozen Al ||
08/12/2009 13:20 Comments ||
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It's interesting: the Left has yet to figure out that even with the simplest powers of the Web and Google you can find out just about anything about just about anyone. Combine that with some elementary investigative skills and you can give a clinic on the topic, as was done here.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/12/2009 12:45 Comments ||
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That's cause they're stupid, Steve. The party breaks down into two types. Stupid lazy asses who want Uncle Sugar to take care of them and elitists.
#6
Their psywar campaign will NOT work. Nearly everything coming out of Washington right now has become suspect and will stay suspect until this ass clown, his Baluga chomping wife, his thug cadre, and personal secretary "Big Leon" are thrown out!
I think most people are at that stage with both parties in Washington. I know I am. If a politician tells me it is raining, I will look for his opposite number pissing on my back.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
