Primary school pupils identified as being overweight will automatically be offered a place on a state-funded diet and exercise scheme.
'offered'?
Although parents will have the right to refuse to send their children to the classes, ministers hope the majority will attend.
And if they don't?
Parents groups said the new NHS rules meant Labour had moved "beyond a nanny state, to a dictatorship."
Looks like the frog has finally noticed that the pot is at a near boil ...
Under existing regulations, children are weighed when they start primary school -- aged four or five -- and again as they leave, at 10 or 11. Parents of all children receive a letter saying whether their children are healthy, overweight, underweight or very overweight. Latest figures show that by the time they leave school, one in three children is overweight.
When it was introduced three years ago, the weighing programme was met with a backlash from parents. In its first year, more than half withdrew their children from the scheme, for fear they would be bullied after the class weigh-in.
When families were advised that pupils would not be told their weights, nor singled out and told to diet, but that data would simply be used by local health planners to monitor the spread of obesity and to help them set up the right services, participation rates increased. Last year, nine out of ten children were measured.
The new guidance, slipped out to NHS Primary Care Trusts in England during the school holidays, orders an immediate change of approach.
Now that the rubes have bought into the previous system, it's time to take the next step ...
From this month, pupils whose weight is too high -- or too low -- will automatically be offered a referral to "weight management services" in areas which already run such programmes or can set them up quickly.
Existing NHS schemes range from 12-week weight loss courses taking place at weekends and on school nights, to six-week residential courses costing £3,000 a patient for the most obese.
NHS doesn't have the money to replace Grand-mum's arthritic hip nor fix Grand-pop's bad heart, but for weight concentration camps there's plenty of money ...
All PCTs have been "strongly encouraged" to have children's weight management services in place by next September, so that every overweight child in England can be referred for diet and exercise sessions.
Those identified as obese may be sent to paediatricians for specialist treatment, drugs or even surgery.
So let's tie off Junior's stomach, or his lips. That'll teach him to eat his broccoli ...
Margaret Morrissey, founder of family lobby group Parents Outloud, said it was "unforgivable" to promote schemes which would inevitably encourage humiliation to be heaped on those children bused off to fat camps. She said: "This has gone beyond a nanny state, beyond Big Brother."
Doreen Dawson has spent nearly $20,000 repairing her garage and basement following the June 30 flooding caused by more than 5 inches of rain falling on the Erie area in a few hours. "I'm so worried about this money thing," said Dawson, who lives in the Belle Valley area of Millcreek Township. "I didn't know how much this was going to cost."
She learned Friday that the Federal Emergency Management Agency won't be helping her recoup the money she's spent to repair her home.
FEMA informed Gov. Ed Rendell in a three-paragraph letter that the agency had rejected his request for federal aid for victims of flooding in Erie, Allegheny and Westmoreland counties. FEMA also said it would not assist the city of Erie, Millcreek or other municipalities in paying for infrastructure repairs. "Federal assistance is not necessary or appropriate," FEMA Administrator W. Craig Fugate wrote to Rendell in a letter dated Thursday. "Therefore, I must inform you that your appeal for a major disaster declaration is denied."
Local and state officials voiced frustration both at FEMA's decision and at the lack of an explanation for it. "The letter does not spell out why we didn't get it, and we were offered no further explanation," said Ruth Miller, a spokeswoman for the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency in Harrisburg. "We would like to have more detailed answers as well."
Posted by: Fred ||
09/06/2009 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11135 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Stupid-ass white folks. If only they'd gone in for a little post-disaster rape, murder and cannibalism, they'd be rolling in FEMA money.
#4
Two words: flood insurance. If you have a garage and basement that can sustain $20k of damage, you can afford it.
Now go cling to your guns and religion.
Posted by: regular joe ||
09/06/2009 9:58 Comments ||
Top||
#5
I grew up there. (So did Tom Ridge, actually.) According to Wikipedia, 6 of the 7 county legislators are Dems, as is the county executive. The One carried the county by 20%.
So I am not sure what the problem is. They proved their loyalty; they should be rewarded by Federal largesse.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia ||
09/06/2009 21:48 Comments ||
Top||
President Barack Obama's adviser Van Jones has resigned amid controversy over past inflammatory statements, the White House said early Sunday. Hmmm... I wonder - did he jump, or was he "pushed" under the bus? Good riddance!
#8
I'm devastated. Though I expected this, I was, er - hoping against "hope" - that he'd hang tough, at least long enough so that the dam of silence might break close to the joint address.
Just because I'm nihilistic and negative and such.
If there's any fairness or sense of humor in the universe, another of the czars will cause a stink in the next few days, somehow.
#10
How very, very disapponting....(see Verlaine's comnts for amplification).
Barry will no doubt order an unofficial staff day of mourning and wax likeness of Jones constructed for the Abwechslugmuseum. All of this followed by a lobster dinner and a huge separation bonus check.
#17
Yes, the FBI needs to get back to the Long Form for vetting Presidential appointees...this "Have you actually and willfully participated in illegal armed insurrection, sedition or treason within the past three month?" has got to go.
#21
Free speech on the internet brought him down. Expect Zero to take aim at free speech in a big way. The internet is really ruining his ability to rule the world.
On a more philosophical note. Now that the major networks, excluding fox, are signed up for the Obama informational Coup d'etat and support his every drivel, free speech has moved and shown strength in another venue. We need to fight every regulatory effort to stifle our freedom on the internet...
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
09/06/2009 12:41 Comments ||
Top||
#22
Free speech on the internet brought him down. Yup.
Such a sense of competence. The One must have heard of a management skill known as delegate --- and it seems to be the only one he has. Guess he slept through the rest of that class. Oh, he didn't take any Management courses?
President Obama's 'Czars'
By: Politico Staff
September 4, 2009 06:19 PM EST
President Barack Obama's adviser Van Jones has resigned amid controversy over past inflammatory statements, the White House said early Sunday. Jones, an administration official specializing in environmentally friendly "green jobs" with the White House Council on Environmental Quality was linked to efforts suggesting a government role in the 2001 terror attacks and to derogatory comments about Republicans.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/06/2009 09:04 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11127 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
The Obama administration might have tried to bury it on Labor Day weekend nationally, but it's getting play in the first five minutes on BBC International, saying that he had accused the Bush administration of being complicit in 9/11.
#7
Mr. Jones, the black racist communist who graduated from Yale, talks like a gang member. Too bad his reason for resigning was a 'smear campaign', without noting the smears were all his own on tapes and videos.
September 6, 2009 - 18:38 ET
The American people stood up and demanded answers. Instead of providing them, the Administration had Jones resign under cover of darkness. I continue to be amazed by the power of everyday Americans to initiate change in our government through honest questioning, and judging by the other radicals in the administration, I expect that questioning to continue for the foreseeable future.
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/06/2009 19:07 Comments ||
Top||
#12
I loved Tim Blair's headline: VAN UNDER A BUS.
Looks like the Obama administration is being forced to become a bit more transparent. Do I recall him saying his administration would be more transparent that that of his predecessor?
The Obama administration says it will release names of most visitors to the White House, starting at the end of this year. Information on visitors in the first eight months of his administration will remain secret -- though officials say they will consider narrow and specific requests.
The White House called the release of information "voluntary," continuing to argue the Bush administration's position that full disclosure is not required by the Freedom of Information Act. Meet the new boss. Changing himself to be more and more like the old boss.
After being sued twice by a nonprofit organization seeking the records, the Obama administration said Friday it will post the visitor logs online.
Calling President Obama's Executive Order on Ethics for Executive Branch personnel "the strongest ethics standards in U.S. government history," White House counsel Norm Eisen on Friday announced 10 more waivers for Obama administration officials.
The waivers will allow the officials to participate with persons with whom and entities with which "the appointees formerly had a professional relationship," Eisen wrote, "because there was a compelling public interest in allowing it."
The waivers are for:
* NASA administrator Charles Bolden; Bolden served as a consultant to the science, engineering, and technology corporation SAIC, which has billions in government contracts, and on the board of directors of aerospace and defense giant GenCorp.
The President's ethics rules would otherwise prohibit Bolden from participaring in any matter in which SAIC or GenCorp was a party in any way. That was waived because Bolden's "knowledge of and expertise in current NASA programs are essential to making informed and timely decision-making." He is still not allowed to engage in one-on-one meetings or communications with either organization or to participate in contracting matters involving either company.
* Associate Deputy Secretary of Labor Naomi Walker; Walker was Director of State Government Affairs for the AFL-CIO but has been permitted to communicate with that organization because, the Obama administration decided, prohibiting her from doing so would be detrimental to the Department of Labor and the AFL-CIO's 11 million members. She is still prohibited for the next two years to participate in any matter having to do with regulations or contracts involving the AFL-CIO.
* Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology, and Logistics Ash Carter; Carter was a consultant for defense giant Textron, Inc. focusing on strategy and mergers and acquisitions, trends in military technology and strategy, and how and where military platforms and weapon systems could be deployed effectively. Carter also provided advice on the Sensor Fuzed Weapon, a cluster bomb used by the U.S. Air Force.
Carter is permitted to have dealings with Textron and any of its divisions and subsidiaries because, in the view of the Obama administration, "national security challenges require your expertise and judgment in making sound acquisition decisions on major defense programs, several of which involve Textron or one of its subsidiaries."
* Attorney General Eric Holder and Assistant Attorney General Lanny Breuer previously worked for the law firm Covington & Burling; Deputy Attorney General David Ogden worked for Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLP.
All three are permitted to cooperate and participate in the investigation into possible prosecutorial misconduct in the case of U.S. v Theodore Stevens even though government lawyers whose conduct is in question are represented by both law firms. The three otherwise remain recused from participation in particular matters with parties in which their previous employers represents a party.
* Deputy Under Secretary for National Protection and Programs Directorate and Director of the National Cybersecurity Center in the Department of Homeland Security Philip Reitinger; Reirliner worked for Microsoft Corportation as Chief Trustworthy Infrastructure Strategy from 2003 until March 2009. Because of his "unique expertise, industry perspective and responsibilities for cyber programs," he is permitted to deal with Microsoft;
* Senior Counselor to the Secretary of Education Margot Rogers and Department of Education Assistant Deputy Secretary for Innovation and Improvement James Shelton both worked for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which works on education issues. Both are allowed to have communications with that charitable foundation;
* Peace Corps director Aaron Williams; Williams served on the board of directors of the National Peace Corps Association, and is now prohibited from participating in any matter involving specific parties that is directly and substantially related to NPCA.
Eisen said that waivers have gone to only 16 out of approximately 1,890 appointments.
Previous waivers went to:
* Former Raytheon lobbyist, now Deputy Secretary of Defense, William Lynn;
* Senior Advisor to the President Valerie Jarrett, the former Vice Chair of the non-profit entity "Chicago 2016," who is leading the White House's efforts to bring the 2016 Olympics to Chicago;
* Director of Policy and Projects in the Office of the First Lady Jocelyn Frye, who is former general counsel at the National Partnership for Women & Families;
* Director of Intergovernmental Affairs in the Executive Office of the President Cecilia Muñoz, former senior vice president for the National Council of La Raza; and
* Associate White House Counsels Jonathan Kravis and Chris Weideman, former employees of Williams & Connolly LLP, which represented the office of former President George W. Bush.
This article starring:
Aaron Williams
Ash Carter
Cecilia Muñoz
Charles Bolden
Chris Weideman
David Ogden
Eric Holder
James Shelton
Jocelyn Frye
Jonathan Kravis
Lanny Breuer
Margot Rogers
Naomi Walker
Philip Reitinger
Valerie Jarrett
William Lynn
Posted by: Fred ||
09/06/2009 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11130 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
I cant wait to see the who's who on his pardon list before he leaves office...
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
09/06/2009 0:47 Comments ||
Top||
#2
Mumia, Pan
For starters.... >:-(
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
09/06/2009 1:02 Comments ||
Top||
#3
Yes doctor, what a coincidence. The swelling and inflammation does actually begin whenever I read about Bill and Malinda Gates. Is a Hemorrhoidectomy the only approach you recommend.
#4
Good gawd, Barbara, let's hope that doesn't happen.
Posted by: Steve White ||
09/06/2009 8:08 Comments ||
Top||
#5
All these waivers appear to be for guys who had real jobs and worked. I am more worried about those officials and advisors who are anti-American, rascist, communists, tax cheats, radicals, liars, or conspiracy nuts.
This Whitehouse provides the USA one deep embarrassment or humiliation after another.
White House officials offered tepid support Friday for Van Jones, the administration's embattled energy efficiency guru, who has issued two public apologies this week, one for signing a petition that questioned whether Bush administration officials "may indeed have deliberately allowed 9/11 to happen, perhaps as a pretext for war."
Earlier, Jones said he was "clearly inappropriate" in using a crude term to describe Republicans in a speech he gave before joining the administration.
The apologies did little to quell objections from Republicans, several of whom demanded Friday further action against Jones. Rep. Mike Pence (Ind.) called on the adviser to resign or be fired, saying in a statement, "His extremist views and coarse rhetoric have no place in this administration or the public debate."
Senator Christopher S. Bond (R-Mo.) urged Congress to investigate Jones's "fitness" for the position, writing in an open letter, "Can the American people trust a senior White House official that is so cavalier in his association with such radical and repugnant sentiments?" On Saturday, Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), added his voice as chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee. "Van Jones has to go", he wrote on his Twitter account.
White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said Friday that Jones "continues to work for the administration" -- but he did not state that the adviser enjoys the full support of President Obama, instead referring all questions to the environmental council where he works.
Jones, a legendary figure in the environmental movement, has worked for the White House Council on Environmental Quality, as special adviser for green jobs, since March. He was a civil rights activist in California before turning his focus to environmental and energy issues, and he won wide praise before joining the Obama administration for articulating a broad vision of a green economy Democrats could embrace.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/06/2009 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11132 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
White House Says Little About Embattled Jones
The Devine One doesn't like to be videotaped missing freethrows. No surprises here.
Democratic National Committee chairman Tim Kaine has moved several former supporters of Hillary Rodham Clinton off a key panel that will determine the party's rules for selecting a presidential nominee.
In an e-mail to DNC members on Friday in advance of next week's committee meeting, Kaine announced his slate for DNC panels. The slate will be voted on, and likely ratified, when DNC members meet in Austin, Texas.
Kaine, President Barack Obama's choice to head the national party, replaced several Clinton supporters with those who backed Obama in the contentious primary.
At the height of the 2008 presidential primaries, the Rules and Bylaws Committee earned the national spotlight as party members squabbled over whether Michigan and Florida would earn delegates for holding primaries outside the allowed window. At the time, Clinton backers and Obama backers clashed over party rules in a decision that ended up helping Obama clinch the nomination.
Several of those who argued most strenuously on Clinton's side have now found themselves off the committee. Harold Ickes, the former top aide to President Bill Clinton, and Don Fowler, the former DNC chairman, will no longer serve on the committee. Meanwhile, Tina Flournoy, a top official at the American Federation of Teachers who served as an adviser to the Clinton campaign, left the DNC of her own accord.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/06/2009 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11131 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Just purging the ranks before the next big war.
Posted by: Richard of Oregon ||
09/06/2009 9:21 Comments ||
Top||
#2
Didn't think I would ever say this, but that may be a good thing; it frees up Hilary's folks to work for her. Then the infighting will commence and then if the "R's" can get their sh!t together, 2012 will be a wunnerful thing.
#4
The prairie fire folk who have little love of the Beltway, have even less love of the UN. That must be one hellva echo chamber in the White House these days. On the other hand this may be what passes as a White House rope-a-dope strategy to cause the Fundamentalists to actually believe the end times are here, hoping for a diversion by MSM covering their response.
#6
Get Ready for more UN-jinx. I think this guy will attempt to cut some dealsTreaty Clause
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
Article II, Section 2, Clause 2 of the United States Constitution, includes the Treaty Clause, which empowers the President of the United States to make treaties with other countries, after obtaining the consent of a supermajority of the United States Senate.
Full text of the clause
[The President] shall have Power, by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, to make Treaties, provided two thirds of the Senators present concur....
[edit] One of three types of international accord
In the United States, the term "treaty" is used in a more restricted legal sense than in international law. U.S. law distinguishes what it calls treaties from congressional-executive agreements and sole-executive agreements.[1] All three classes are considered treaties under international law; they are distinct only from the perspective of internal United States law. The distinctions are primarily concerning their method of ratification: by two-thirds of the Senate, by normal legislative process, or by the President alone, respectively. The Treaty Clause also has a somewhat different impact on domestic U.S. law, as compared to congressional-executive agreements and sole executive agreements.
Article II, Section 2 of the United States Constitution grants power to the President to make treaties with the "advice and consent" of two-thirds of the Senate. This is different from normal legislation which requires approval by simple majorities in both the Senate and the House of Representatives.
Throughout U.S. history, the President has also made international "agreements" through congressional-executive agreements (CEAs) that are ratified with only a majority from both houses of Congress, or sole-executive agreements made by the President alone.[1] Though the Constitution does not expressly provide for any alternative to the Article II treaty procedure, Article I, Section 10 of the Constitution does distinguish between treaties (which states are forbidden to make) and agreements (which states may make with the consent of Congress).[2] The Supreme Court of the United States has considered congressional-executive and sole-executive agreements to be valid, and they have been common throughout American history. Thomas Jefferson explained that the Article II treaty procedure is not necessary when there is no long-term commitment:
It is desirable, in many instances, to exchange mutual advantages by Legislative Acts rather than by treaty: because the former, though understood to be in consideration of each other, and therefore greatly respected, yet when they become too inconvenient, can be dropped at the will of either party: whereas stipulations by treaty are forever irrevocable but by joint consent....[3]
A further distinction embodied in U.S. law is between self-executing treaties, which do not require additional legislative action, and non-self-executing treaties which do require the enactment of new laws.[1][4] These various distinctions of procedure and terminology do not affect the binding status of accords under international law. Nevertheless, they do have major implications under U.S. domestic law. In Missouri v. Holland, the Supreme Court ruled that the power to make treaties under the U.S. Constitution is a power separate from the other enumerated powers of the federal government, and hence the federal government can use treaties to legislate in areas which would otherwise fall within the exclusive authority of the states. By contrast, a congressional-executive agreement can only cover matters which the Constitution explicitly places within the powers of Congress and the President.[1] Likewise, a sole-executive agreement can only cover matters within the President's authority or matters in which Congress has delegated authority to the President.[1] For example, a treaty may prohibit states from imposing capital punishment on foreign nationals, but a congressional-executive agreement or sole-executive agreement cannot.
In general, arms control agreements are often ratified by the treaty mechanism.[5] At the same time, trade agreements (such as the North American Free Trade Agreement and United States accession to the World Trade Organization) are generally voted on as a CEA, and such agreements typically include an explicit right to withdraw after giving sufficient written notice to the other parties.[6] If an international commercial accord contains binding "treaty" commitments, then a two-thirds vote of the Senate may be required.[7]
Between 1946 and 1999, the United States completed nearly 16,000 international agreements. Only 912 of those agreements were treaties, submitted to the Senate for approval as outlined in Article II of the United States Constitution. Since the Franklin Roosevelt presidency, only 6% of international accords have been completed as Article II treaties.[1] Most of these executive agreements consist of congressional-executive agreements.
[edit] Repeal
American law is that international accords become part of the body of U.S. federal law.[1] As a result, Congress can modify or repeal treaties by subsequent legislative action, even if this amounts to a violation of the treaty under international law. This was held, for instance, in the Head Money Cases. The most recent changes will be enforced by U.S. courts entirely independent of whether the international community still considers the old treaty obligations binding upon the U.S.[1]
Additionally, an international accord that is inconsistent with the U.S. Constitution is void under domestic U.S. law, the same as any other federal law in conflict with the Constitution. This principle was most clearly established in the case of Reid v. Covert.[8] The Supreme Court could rule an Article II treaty provision to be unconstitutional and void under domestic law, although it has not yet done so.
In Goldwater v. Carter,[9] Congress challenged the constitutionality of then-president Jimmy Carter's unilateral termination of a defense treaty. The case went before the Supreme Court and was never heard; a majority of six Justices ruled that the case should be dismissed without hearing an oral argument, holding that "The issue at hand ... was essentially a political question and could not be reviewed by the court, as Congress had not issued a formal opposition." In his opinion, Justice Brennan dissented, "The issue of decision making authority must be resolved as a matter of constitutional law, not political discretion; accordingly, it falls within the competence of the courts". Presently, there is no official ruling on whether the President has the power to break a treaty without the approval of Congress, and the courts also declined to interfere when President George W. Bush unilaterally withdrew the United States from the ABM Treaty in 2002, six months after giving the required notice of intent.[10]
[edit] Scope of presidential powers
Presidents have regarded the Article II treaty process as necessary where an international accord would bind a future president. For example, Theodore Roosevelt explained:
The Constitution did not explicitly give me power to bring about the necessary agreement with Santo Domingo. But the Constitution did not forbid my doing what I did. I put the agreement into effect, and I continued its execution for two years before the Senate acted; and I would have continued it until the end of my term, if necessary, without any action by Congress. But it was far preferable that there should be action by Congress, so that we might be proceeding under a treaty which was the law of the land and not merely by a direction of the Chief Executive which would lapse when that particular executive left office. I therefore did my best to get the Senate to ratify what I had done.[11]
A sole-executive agreement can only be negotiated and entered into through the president's authority (1) in foreign policy, (2) as commander-in-chief of the armed forces, (3) from a prior act of Congress, or (4) from a prior treaty.[1] Agreements beyond these competencies must have the approval of Congress (for congressional-executive agreements) or the Senate (for treaties).
In 1972, Congress passed legislation requiring the president to notify Congress of any executive agreements that are formed.[12]
#8
At a guess, he will call for global disarmament (nuclear), as a first step that will be used to justify massive sanctions on Israel, among other objectives.
#9
American Jews are starting to notice President Obama is not the friend he had promised to be to Israel... If you're right, lotp, he'll lose not only the 1.8% of the population that is Jewish, but more importantly, the large financial donations they made to his campaign and his party.
#10
It's not only the Washington echo chamber leading Obama astray, where do you think all that massive small unit campaign money came from? Not inside this country...at least not originally.
#11
Before that happens, tw, we may well find we have lost / dispersed our own remaining nuclear expertise. There are ... rumors ... of a quiet exodus from various agencies associated with our own nuclear capability already.
William Ayers, co-founder of the radical anti-war Weather Underground protest group, is coming to Purdue University on Sept. 24 for an educational forum. Ayers, 64, is a distinguished professor of education and senior university scholar at the University of Illinois-Chicago. He will speak on "Inequality and Education: The Challenge for Urban Schools" at the inaugural Cummings-Perrucci Lecture on Class, Race and Gender Equality.
This article starring:
William Ayers
Posted by: Fred ||
09/06/2009 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11122 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Ask him what happened to the billions of dollars they got from the USSR during the Vietnam war!
#2
Must be something of significance about that date to nutjobs:
24th September 2007 : The Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad speaking at New York's Columbia University has clashed with the Columbia President Lee Bollinger who described him as a "cruel dictator" who denied the Holocaust. In response Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said that Mr Bollinger's remarks were "an insult to information and the knowledge of the audience". During the debate and questions from the audience Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was asked about executions of homosexuals in Iran, to which Mr Ahmadinejad replied: "In Iran we don't have homosexuals like in your country."
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.
Doreen Dawson has spent nearly $20,000 repairing her garage and basement following the June 30 flooding caused by more than 5 inches of rain falling on the Erie area in a few hours. "I'm so worried about this money thing," said Dawson, who lives in the Belle Valley area of Millcreek Township. "I didn't know how much this was going to cost."
President Barack Obama's adviser Van Jones has resigned amid controversy over past inflammatory statements, the White House said early Sunday. Jones, an administration official specializing in environmentally friendly "green jobs" with the White House Council on Environmental Quality was linked to efforts suggesting a government role in the 2001 terror attacks and to derogatory comments about Republicans.
Democratic National Committee chairman Tim Kaine has moved several former supporters of Hillary Rodham Clinton off a key panel that will determine the party's rules for selecting a presidential nominee.
