(CNN) A majority of New Yorkers hope Gov. David Paterson nominates someone besides Caroline Kennedy to fill the Senate seat soon to be vacated by Hillary Clinton, a new poll suggests.
According to a new survey from Quinnipiac University, 31 percent of New York voters prefer State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo get the job while only 24 percent want Kennedy to get it.
In a poll conducted by Quinnipiac in late December, a third of voters favored Kennedy while 29 percent wanted Cuomo.
Meanwhile, Reps. Carolyn Maloney, Kirsten Gillibrand, and Steve Israel all draw single digit support.
Of course, just one mans opinion matters in this race and he's not talking.
CNN) President-elect Barack Obama's transition office has released the new official portrait of the incoming president.
The photograph was taken by newly-announced White House photographer Pete Souza, and is the first presidential portrait to be taken with a digital camera, according to the transition office.
#3
Looks amazingly like an aging Marlon St. Julien, but I'm still not bet'n on him or the horse he rode in on. Still have not received my commemorative plates.
John Kass discusses the Blagojevic-Burris circus, Bobby Rush's race card tricks, and crooks sneaking into Washington unnoticed while everybody's watching the Center Ring. Read the whole thing.
Before I tell you how an indicted Illinois Combine Republican boss/Asphalt King and his loyal pork-barrel ally, the incoming U.S. secretary of transportation, are the big winners in the ridiculous Tombstone Burris affair, first let's analyze what went wrong.
President-elect Barack Obama and the Senate Democrats could have saved themselves, and the rest of America, the pain of suffering through the political soap opera around the new junior senator from Illinois, Roland "Tombstone" Burris.
All Obama had to do was ask his big-bucks Hollywood donors to build a fake U.S. Senate set--exactly like those used by the secret operatives in the "Mission Impossible" movies when they trick gullible Russians named Dimitri--and hire actors with great silver heads of senatorial hair to heap honors and praise upon our Sen. Tombstone.
All he ever wanted, really, was to be called a U.S. senator.
Tombstone's ego would have been so overwhelmed by the stage sets and actors with leonine haircuts calling him "Senator," that he wouldn't have noticed the 2-by-4s holding up the walls of the chambers, or the rubber-faced senatorial masks of Majority Leader Harry Reid and Sen. Dick Durbin, or that Sen. John Kerry fright wig in the trash can.
It would have been easier than what happened when Gov. Rod Blagojevich, facing federal criminal charges of trying to sell Obama's Senate seat to the highest bidder, decided to play the race card in appointing Burris, just after Obama announced he'd support Senate leaders who said they'd never seat Tombstone.
Obama felt compelled to privately slap Reid and Durbin upside the head the Chicago Way, forcing them to publicly scarf down some humble pie after they had loudly promised to never, ever seat any senator appointed by the tainted Blagojevich. Loyal readers know this was the subject of one of my columns last week predicting, quite accurately I'm forced to humbly admit, how all this would end.
Now, onto the political winners:
One of the minor winners is U.S. Rep. Bobby Rush, the former Black Panther and Illinois Democrat who was enlisted by Burris/Blagojevich to play the race card and offer a pretext for the seating of Tombstone. Though a career hack, Tombstone's skin happens to be black, and without African-Americans in thrall, there would be no Democratic Party.
Yet the big winners in the Tombstone Burris affair are William Cellini, the federally indicted Illinois Republican boss of Springfield and the head of the Illinois Asphalt Pavement Association, and Cellini's pal, former U.S. Rep. Ray LaHood (R-Combine), who didn't have to worry about opposition as long as Cellini backed him.
LaHood, who like Burris has not been charged with any crime, is scheduled to appear Wednesday for his Senate confirmation hearing as Obama's transportation secretary. He'll be responsible for spending $700 billion or more on road and infrastructure development. Tombstone can make speeches. Cellini can make one phone call and reach the Obama administration where it counts.
#1
Road and Tollway infrastructure repair contracts, it's the Chicago way. Use a 3 bag concrete mix. We don't want Tony's garbage trucks to tear it up too soon.
#2
For every two bit reporter out there whose leg tingled at the coming of "the one found in a reed basket on the banks of the Chicago River", I am most pleased for Mr Kass. I have been reading his work for a good number of years and know him to be an equal opportunity PIA to Illinios pols. I have recently heard him interviewed on Dennis Miller as well as CNN? fox etc. I am glad others are finding his body of work.
Fir what its worth, he also is a greek who can offer excellent advise on brining your Thanks giving turkey and a recipe for beer can chicken I have used for over a decade.
Can't think of a journalist who provides value with cooking tips as well as getting the Mayors neck veins to pop simply by showing up for a presser.
I have sometimes thought I would not be suprised to read Kass was found dead in a dumpster some morning... thats how good he is. Bookmark him if you want a great sideline reporter to explain the inside baseball on how Illinois works.
Three contractors are bidding to fix a broken fence at the White House in D.C.; One from Illinois one from Tennessee and a third from Kentucky. They all go with a White House official to examine the fence.
The Tennessee contractor takes out a tape measure and does some measuring, then works some figures with a pencil. 'Well', he says, 'I figure the job will run about $900: $400 for materials, $400 for my crew and $100 profit for me.'
The Kentucky contractor also does some measuring and figuring, then says, 'I can do this job for $700: $300 for materials, $300 for my crew and $100 profit for me.'
The Illinois contractor doesn't measure or figure, but leans over to the White House official and whispers, '$2,700.'
The official, incredulous, whispers back, 'You didn't even measure like the other guys! How did you come up with such a high figure?'
The Illinois contractor whispers back, '$1000 for me, $1000 for you, and we hire that guy from Kentucky to fix the fence.'
#4
WaPo's David Broder (aka the dean of the Democrat Party):
When and if Roland Burris claims the Senate seat formerly occupied by Barak Obama, it will represent the greatest climb-down by an incoming president since Sam Nunn turned Bill Clinton around on the issue of gays in the military.
Obama justifiably figured that Burris was not worth a knockdown fight when he has so many bigger battles ahead of him. But the lesson that other politicians have drawn is that Obama may not always be able to count on his congressional allies and they may not be able to count on him. That is not the way he wanted to begin.
Tim Geithners confirmation hearings may not go so smoothly, after all: Sen. Chuck Grassley, the top Republican on the Finance Committee, is looking into the treasury secretary nominees nonpayment of Social Security and Medicare taxes and his employment of a housekeeper who lacked proper immigration papers. Senators are discussing the matter behind closed doors today. Geither is probably hoping his Cabinet nomination doesnt turn out like Zoe Bairds did. Bill Clintons first choice for attorney general, Baird went down in flames when it emerged she had hired an illegal immigrant nanny, an episode that later came to be known as Nannygate.
#1
Another Kissinger and Associates chum. Appears he's completely forgotten to pay some $ 30K in income taxes as well. Ann Dunham-Soetoro's son Barry should be very proud.
#3
When you make as much money as these people do, no one can figure out your taxes. Let's be honest though, he's paid up and supposedly the nanny's papers expired three months before she was done working. To be honest I don't give two shits about either of these things. What I want to know is what kind of SecTreas will he be? Our economy is in bad shape but we don't need someone who is going to keep dumping good money after bad and continue all of these idiotic corporate welfare programs. I'm looking at you UAW! Ha. Not to mention when the economy finally does turn around we're going to face an explosion of inflation due to all of this extra money the Feds are pumping. Does he acknowledge this and what are his plans to mitigate? Let's focus on his qualifications not what his tax guy did (does anyone actually think he does his own taxes?)
#5
Remember Linda Chavez?Lost the Labor post because of some trivial issue similar to Geithner.The Donks went ballistic,the NYT and friends behaved as if she had leaked secret info(sorry thats the time exclusive right) and a fine brilliant lady was shoved off the bus.The same news media will now declare this de minimus, no harm no foul.
#8
I have been self employed since 96 and for that very reason I use a tax guy. The tax guy uses a program and we both watch on a big screen as he fills in the various fields. The program is pretty unforgiving and would let you pass go until everything is filled in.
If the income came in in any form other than a paper bag left in the glove compartment, he simply chose to ignore he needed to "tax it up". If he deposited said checks at a bank and "disbursed the funds" in any way, including just sitting on it, he was playing "hide the weenie". He is either dishonest or too stupid to be confirmed in this post.
He doesn't sound stupid to me.
The incoming Obama administration should launch a criminal investigation of Bush administration officials to see whether they broke the law in the name of national security, a House Democratic report said Tuesday.
President-elect Barack Obama has been more cautious on the issue and has not endorsed such a recommendation.
Along with the criminal probe, the report called for a Sept. 11-style commission with subpoena power, to gather facts and make recommendations on preventing misuse of power, according to the report by the Democratic staff of the House Judiciary Committee.
The report covers Bush administration policies that Democrats have protested for some time. Among them: interrogation of foreign detainees, warrantless wiretaps, retribution against critics, manipulation of intelligence and political dismissals of U.S. attorneys.
Didn't the Dhimmicrats vote for interrogation and wiretaps? Didn't they see all the intel? Aren't they planning to dismiss all the US attorneys real soon now? And they, with this very report, going after their critics?
The White House was asked for comment on the report Tuesday, but did not immediately respond.
However, in an interview this month with The Associated Press, Vice President Dick Cheney said, "I can't speak for everybody in the administration, but my view would be that the people who carried out that program -- intelligence surveillance program, the enhanced interrogation program, with respect to al Qaeda captives -- in fact were authorized to do what they did ... ."
Cheney said legal opinions supported the officials. "And I believe they followed those legal opinions and I don't have any reason to believe that they did anything wrong or inappropriate," the vice president said.
Obama said last week in a television interview, "We're still evaluating how we're going to approach the whole issue of interrogations, detentions and so forth. And obviously we're going to be looking at past practices and I don't believe that anybody is above the law. On the other hand I also have a belief that we need to look forward as opposed to looking backwards."
Obama said intelligence officials were "extraordinarily talented people who are working very hard to keep Americans safe. I don't want them to suddenly feel like they've got to spend all their time looking over their shoulders and lawyering."
Good luck with that ...
Posted by: Fred ||
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The day of the Rubicon moves ever closer.
Consent of the governed ultimately and historically is not people stuffing ballot boxes, but those willing to die for what they believe in as opposed to those who aren't.
#3
Yes newc,
but its easier than coming up with solutions to the very pressing problems facing this country. So they're going to go with the criminal probe circus.
#4
This is nothing but show for the moonbat fringe of the party. They can tell those idiots that they are "listening" to them and really "want" to do something. Of course nothing is going to happen as there is far too great a likelihood that it would/could all blow up in their faces. They know this is a political turd.
#5
The new administration "should launch" says a Democratic House report written by staffers, not issued by any Congressmen, let alone the appropriate committee. This isn't posturing by those who can try to do something, but by people who can do no more than hope to create pressure through newspaper reports. President-elect Obama is currently evaluating how he will approach the issue, which means he doesn't even have plans to make plans on the subject at some future time. The article is at most fluff to pacify the Impeach Bush idiots, at least a trial balloon that doesn't appear to have enough gas to rise above the ground.
The Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery has agreed to change the wording on the plaque accompanying a portrait of President George W. Bush in response to a complaint by Sen. Bernard Sanders (I-Vt.).
Sanders objected to the sign's language because he believed it suggested a linkage between the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001 and the subsequent U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003.
The plaque reads: "Expecting that the success of his presidency would hinge, as it had when he was governor, on his negotiating skills and ability to solve problems, Bush found his two terms in office were instead marked by a series of catastrophic events: the attacks on September 11, 2001, that led to wars in Afghanistan and Iraq; the devastation wrought by Hurricane Katrina; and a financial crisis during his last months in office."
Posted by: Fred ||
01/14/2009 00:00 ||
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Well, those of us that know better knew that 'change' was an insidious prospect coming from the mouth of a socialist liberal...
More 'change' a-comin...
Physics met politics at the confirmation hearing Tuesday for Steven Chu, the Nobel laureate scientist chosen by President-elect Barack Obama to head the Department of Energy, and the physics bent a bit, as Dr. Chu backed away slightly from earlier statements he has made -- that gasoline prices should be higher, and that coal was his "nightmare."
Dr. Chu, whose last job was director of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, answered an array of questions from the Senate committee on Energy and Natural Resources -- about his position on new nuclear reactors (yes, at least for a few plants), offshore drilling (only as part of an energy package) and new coal-burning power plants (a few, until we figure out a better way). He told the lawmakers that "last year's rapid spike in oil and gasoline prices not only contributed to the recession we are now experiencing, it also put a huge strain on the budgets of families all across America."
Last September, though, he told The Wall Street Journal, "Somehow we have to figure out how to boost the price of gasoline to the levels in Europe."
That was when he could spout off about anything since he wasn't in charge of energy policy.
At the hearing, responding to a question about that statement, he said, "What the American family does not want is to pay an increasing fraction of their budget, their precious dollars, for energy costs, both in transportation and keeping their homes warm and lit."
That is when he was being grilled about how he'll be in charge of energy policy.
The answer is efficiency, using less so that even if the price rises, the bill does not, he said.
He also said that coal, which has a wide political constituency, would continue to be used, and that the trick was to convert it to electricity cleanly.
Dr. Chu, who is 60, got a friendly welcome from the committee, but really warmed up when Senator Blanche Lincoln, Democrat of Arkansas, asked him how plants could be turned into substitutes for petroleum.
"Actually, now we're getting to science, I love this," he said, to laughter around the room. He said he had supervised research to figure out, "How do you break those plants down into the kind of sugars these little critters, the yeast and bacteria, can actually use." Gene-altered bacteria have been developed to turn sugar into substitutes for gasoline, diesel and jet fuel, he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/14/2009 00:00 ||
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This guy is a loon. In the linked video he asserts: a) that the goal of the US should be to reduce energy usage to the world average (a reduction of around 80% from current levels); and b) that government regulation forcing the a 50% reduction in energy usage from current levels will have no negative economic impact or cost and will not affect Americans' standard of living. He's also an AGW true believer and begins his analysis with the implicit understanding that man is affecting climate and that such must be stopped. Scary stuff. Obviously the Nobel Committee didn't award his prize based on his common sense.
#2
Well gee,
cutting production 80% would be the fastest, easiest way of using less energy.
Just throttle the powerplants and refineries down to idle speed and watch usage go down, down, down.
The wealthy (important) people will have generators anyway.
#3
Do I have to look into this guy's "views" any more than this to conclude that he's a complete moron outside whatever his narrow technical specialty might be?
OK, let's see.
The answer is efficiency, using less so that even if the price rises, the bill does not, he said.
THIS is the level of economic - and scientific - illiteracy that now passes for cabinet-level appointments. And, of course, the AGW religious cult nonsense.
Of course he can't match the catastrophic idiocy of Clinton's EnSec who was hot to distribute nuclear weapon design info around the world. But it would be unfair to judge him by that lofty standard ....
Democratic and Republican senators say a full-court press by Barack Obama's transition team is likely to keep ethical questions from sinking the nomination of Treasury Secretary-designee Timothy Geithner.
As Obama pressed senators on his economic recovery plan Tuesday, The Wall Street Journal reported that Geithner had failed to pay $42,000 in taxes and had employed a housekeeper whose work permit had expired.
But minutes after the news broke, the Obama transition team pushed back with talking points -- distributed to Capitol Hill, K Street and congressional reporters -- in which it portrayed the problems as simple mistakes or oversights.
It's a simple mistake if I'm allowed to get away with it ...
The talking points noted that Geithner had paid off all of his back taxes -- although nearly $26,000 of them weren't paid until November, just before his nomination went to the Senate Finance Committee for official review. The talking points also said that the legal status of Geithner's former housekeeper didn't lapse until the last three months of her employment.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/14/2009 00:00 ||
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But minutes after the news broke, the Obama transition team pushed back with talking points
Which simply means the bastards knew all about it and had the corrective action plan defensive plan already in place. Certainly speaks highly of them I'd say.
#3
Another "Wired" BHO appointment.
This guy didn't know the rules/law?, thus he should be disqualified for such a position OR he "avoided" paying his taxes, thus a "Liar/ Cheater" / he fits right in with "The One"
Posted by: Tom- Pa ||
01/14/2009 18:24 Comments ||
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#4
tu,
You can forget to pay your taxes, but the IRS won't forget to penalize and charge interest for any gaps in payment.
#5
Which simply means the bastards knew all about it and had the corrective action plan defensive plan already in place. Certainly speaks highly of them I'd say
According to Wall Street Journal:
In 2006, the IRS audited Mr. Geithner's 2003 and 2004 taxes and concluded he owed taxes and interest totaling $17,230, according to documents released by the Senate Finance Committee. The IRS waived the related penalties.
During the vetting of Mr. Geithner late last year, the Obama transition team discovered the nominee had failed to pay the same taxes for 2001 and 2002. "Upon learning of this error on Nov. 21, 2008, Mr. Geithner immediately submitted payment for tax that would have been due in those years, plus interest," a transition aide said. The sum totaled $25,970.
Other tax issues also surfaced during the vetting, including the fact Mr. Geithner used his child's time at overnight camps in 2001, 2004 and 2005 to calculate dependent-care tax deductions. Sleepaway camps don't qualify.
Now that Hillary Clinton's confirmation hearings are underway, the clock is officially ticking for Gov. David Paterson to pick her successor. There's been much speculation as to who the governor will pick, but he says he wants secrecy in his process.
And secrecy he's getting. Even Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, a front-runner in the search, wouldn't bite. Just read this exchange he had with CBS 2 HD:
CBS 2 HD: "Andrew, have you filled out the questionnaire that everyone has been asked to fill out?"
Cuomo: "The governor has a process that he's following and I think it's up to the governor to discuss his process and who's in and who's out and I leave that all to the governor."
CBS 2 HD: "But you're not going to tell us whether you filled out the questionnaire?"
Cuomo: "It's about the governor's process and about what the governor's process is."
CBS 2 HD: "And what do you want?"
Cuomo: "I'm not going to comment on the governor's process."
Caroline Kennedy met with Paterson over the weekend, and like Cuomo, she's been close-mouthed. But sources tell CBS 2 HD an apparent plus for Kennedy is she hopes to bring President-elect Barack Obama to New York to campaign for her and the entire Democratic ticket.
However, a spokesman for Kennedy told CBS 2 HD that no promises have been made.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/14/2009 00:00 ||
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she hopes to bring President-elect Barack Obama to New York to campaign for her and the entire Democratic ticket.
In her spare moments she could also instruct Catfish on the art of bottom feeding.
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.
(CNN) A majority of New Yorkers hope Gov. David Paterson nominates someone besides Caroline Kennedy to fill the Senate seat soon to be vacated by Hillary Clinton, a new poll suggests.
CNN) President-elect Barack Obama's transition office has released the new official portrait of the incoming president.
The incoming Obama administration should launch a criminal investigation of Bush administration officials to see whether they broke the law in the name of national security, a House Democratic report said Tuesday.
