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Four killed, 18 injured in Peshawar car bombing
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Page 6: Politix
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-Lurid Crime Tales-
Manhunt: Accused Financier Scammer Stanford Missing
Texas financier R. Allen Stanford is accused of cheating 50,000 customers out of $8 billion dollars but despite raids Tuesday of his financial empire in Houston, Memphis, and Tupelo, Miss., federal authorities say they do not know the current whereabouts of the CEO.
No kidding. $8 billion and change and he disappeared? I'm shocked, shocked ...
The Securities Exchange Commission alleges Stanford ran a fraud promising investors impossible returns, much like Bernard Madoff's $50 billion alleged Ponzi scheme.

Investigators Tuesday shut down and froze the assets of three of the companies Stanford controls and they say the case could grow to be as big as the Madoff scandal. Like Madoff's clients, Stanford's investors are in shock. But in addition to angry clients, Stanford, like Madoff, has many friends in Washington.

Stanford's business is headquartered on the Caribbean island of Antigua. In the last decade, Stanford and his companies have spent more than $7 million on lobbyists and campaign contributions in efforts to loosen regulation of offshore banks.

Among the top recipients: Senator Bill Nelson (D-Fla.), Congressman Pete Sessions (R-Texas), Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), Senator Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) and Senator John Cornyn (R-Texas), one of the members who took a trip to Antigua where he was entertained by Stanford. Sen Cornyn's office has said the trip "was strictly a fact-finding trip," and at the time, "there was nothing untoward or unseemly" about Stanford Financial.
Posted by: Steve White || 02/18/2009 14:22 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Is there any financial genius out there that isn't running a Ponzi scheme?
The president of my senior class in high school was a "financier". Harvard boy. He's now doing about 18 years at one of the Club feds.
Posted by: tu3031 || 02/18/2009 15:58 Comments || Top||

#2  "Accused Financier Scammer Stanford Missing"

Have they checked Antigua?
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut || 02/18/2009 16:04 Comments || Top||

#3  Should have picked a headquarters w/o extradition to the US.
Posted by: ed || 02/18/2009 16:43 Comments || Top||

#4  He has six planes, all registered in the US. He also has offices in Mexico, Panama, Ecuador, Peru, Colombia, and Venezuela, besides Antigua. I imagine he also has a nice yacht so he could be most anywhere.
Posted by: Thealing Borgia 122 || 02/18/2009 19:42 Comments || Top||

#5  If what I heard on the news is true about him owing nearly 100 mill in back taxes, don't worry. They'll find him. Someone will turn him in for the "reward" that the IRS is gonna offer.
Posted by: Cornsilk Blondie || 02/18/2009 20:28 Comments || Top||

#6  I'll go check Antigua for them... beaches there are BEAUTIFUL. Too bad they've over-fished and damaged
Posted by: Free Radical || 02/18/2009 20:52 Comments || Top||


Obama's Free Money Web Site
- pay off family debt

- consolidate debt

- provide mortgage help to deal with the forclosure crisis

- purchase a new home

- start a new business or assist with an existing business

- pay off student loans or assist new students with obtaining a degree and giving government aid

- If there is a bill out there that needs to be paid there may be funding now available that will be able to cover it.

REST ASSURED! YOU WILL NOT HAVE TO PAY FOR ANYTHING! (Fine Print? ...but it will have to be paid for by all the generations that follow, "as these sins will be visited upon your children, even unto the 4th generation".)
Posted by: Fester Fliter1319 || 02/18/2009 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Obama Lesko?
Posted by: Grenter, Protector of the Geats || 02/18/2009 8:51 Comments || Top||

#2  Ad campaign started months ago.
Posted by: ed || 02/18/2009 8:57 Comments || Top||

#3  I hear Bill Mays is making an informercial about this.

"Free money for just $19.95 but if you act now we will throw in a Tim Geithner bubble head doll as a bonus. So act now. Call 1-800-MyMoney and as for Barry".
Posted by: Jack is Back! || 02/18/2009 9:42 Comments || Top||

#4  Does this mean I can buy a yacht?
Posted by: Ebbang Uluque6305 || 02/18/2009 13:23 Comments || Top||

#5  LMAO! Good one, Jack.
Posted by: eltoroverde || 02/18/2009 13:30 Comments || Top||

#6  But WAIT there's more - order now and get a free American auto company. Plus for the first hundred callers we'll throw in a bank!
Posted by: DMFD || 02/18/2009 20:47 Comments || Top||


Despite tearful plea, ex-Ald. Troutman gets 4 years
Former Ald. Arenda Troutman was sentenced to four years in prison today for mail and tax fraud. Troutman admitted that for several years she had solicited cash from developers to back their projects in her South Side ward. The sentence was handed down after Troutman tearfully told the judge that she's not "a monster" as portrayed by prosecutors who said she accepted bribes and fraternized with gang members.
Nope. She's just a Chicago alderman...
She asked for leniency so she could remain with her three sons. "This society is real cruel to young black boys who don't have instruction and guidance," she said. "They'll get swallowed up in the belly of the beast."
And what instruction and guidance would you offer them, Arenda? Don't get caught?
U.S. District Judge Ruben Castillo said he believed that Troutman is a good mother to her sons and a good daughter to her ailing mother but described her as "a walking contradiction." He noted that Troutman had once worked with the late Chicago Mayor Harold Washington but wouldn't be joining him in the local political Hall of Fame. "Instead you join the Hall of Shame of politicians who sold their offices," Castillo said.

"Even by Chicago standards, it's no small crime," Alesia said.
Assistant U.S. Atty. Joseph Alesia called Troutman's conduct "a five-year crime spree." In some instances she blocked low-income housing because no one involved would pay her a bribe, he said. "Even by Chicago standards, it's no small crime," Alesia said.

Troutman's lawyer, Michael Gillespie, said she accepted full responsibility. "She is terribly humbled and saddened by what she has done to constituents in her ward," he said.
Not enough to do her time quietly ...
The former alderwoman had about 30 supporters in the courtroom. Moments after the judge handed down the prison sentence, Troutman was seated at defense table with supporters huddled around her in what appeared to be a prayer circle. She remained free on bail pending appeal.

After she was charged with corruption in early 2007, Troutman, the alderman of the 20th Ward, defiantly denied wrongdoing and suggested she had been targeted for political reasons. "Folk in my community understand there can be false allegations when there is someone who is the voice of the people," Troutman told the Tribune at the time. But in August a subdued Troutman admitted that prosecutors had been right after all and that for several years she had solicited cash from developers to back projects in her ward.

Troutman is the 12th Chicago alderman convicted of wrongdoing in the last 20 years, but the first since Percy Giles (37th) in 1999.
Posted by: Fred || 02/18/2009 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  she blocked low-income housing because no one involved would pay her a bribe

Sounds more like a typical heartless Chinese official...thanks for bringing that into America, Troutman.
Posted by: gromky || 02/18/2009 1:04 Comments || Top||

#2  She got prosecuted and convicted? Jeebus, I didn't think anything was illegal in Chicago politics. Maybe there is some hope for Chicago.
Posted by: JohnQC || 02/18/2009 7:52 Comments || Top||

#3  Motherly photograph at linkie.
Posted by: Besoeker || 02/18/2009 8:19 Comments || Top||

#4  Any idea what party she belongs to?
Posted by: Jack is Back! || 02/18/2009 9:44 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Politix
Stanford gave big to Dems
The Texas financier accused by the Securities and Exchange Commission Tuesday of "massive ongoing fraud" was a generous political donor who gave more heavily to Democrats. Since 2000, R. Allen Stanford, the chief of the Stanford Financial Group in Houston, his wife and company gave $2.2 million in political contributions -- $1.7 million to Democratic candidates and committees -- according to Federal Election Commission records.
Posted by: Fred || 02/18/2009 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  But the PGA Tour announced they are still going ahead with Stanford as sponsor of the St. Jude Classic in Memphis. Unbelievable.
Posted by: Jack is Back! || 02/18/2009 9:50 Comments || Top||


Burris tried to raise funds for Blagojevich
U.S. Sen. Roland Burris now acknowledges attempting to raise money for ousted Gov. Rod Blagojevich - an explosive twist in his ever-changing story on how he landed a coveted Senate appointment from the man accused of trying to sell the seat.
Look surprised now. C'mon, you can do it.
This is Chicago. We'll learn tomorrow that he offered up a family member ...
Burris made the admission to reporters on Monday, after releasing an affidavit over the weekend saying he had more contact with Blagojevich aides about the Senate seat than he had described under oath to the state House panel that recommended Blagojevich's impeachment. The Democrat also said in the affidavit, but not before the panel, that the governor's brother asked him for fundraising help.

Though Burris insists he never raised money for Blagojevich while the governor was considering whom to appoint to the seat President Barack Obama vacated, the revelation that he had attempted to do so is likely to increase calls for Burris' resignation and an investigation into whether he committed perjury before the panel. Illinois Democrats have forwarded documents related to Burris' testimony to a county prosecutor for review.

Burris would not answer questions Tuesday in Peoria about his attempts to raise funds for Blagojevich, but said he didn't do anything wrong and encouraged officials to look into the matter.

"I welcome the opportunity to go before any and all investigative bodies, including those referred by Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan and the Senate ethics committee to answer any questions they have," he told reporters Tuesday.
Burris has never been known for his political acumen. He's basically a dummy who got where he got by being a good machine man. The Dhimmicrats have to be worried that he's going to get hammered in the 2010 election. His ties to Blago, his foot in mouth problem, and the fact that he's a scumbag Chicago pol will do him in unless the Pubs nominate a guy with sealed divorce records.
Posted by: Fred || 02/18/2009 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  He was always toast for 2010, Doc. He will face a primary challenger if he decides to run. The Trunks still have an uphill battle, but at least a realistic chance. Thanks Rod & Rol!

(Listen to Burris sometime. He's a dead ringer for the voice of Winnie the Pooh.)
Posted by: Spot || 02/18/2009 8:41 Comments || Top||

#2  For your reading pleasure, here is the link for John Kass's column on the subject:
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/columnists/chi-kass-18-feb18,0,4327749.column
Posted by: mom || 02/18/2009 9:20 Comments || Top||

#3  you have said you have used recycled algorithm and have not cut trees. how it works in the case of blog.
Posted by: Blinky Snise9004 || 02/18/2009 10:36 Comments || Top||

#4  I knew something was up with this scumbag because he was so impatient to get his senate seat while others were calling for caution and more information.

He never answers any questions, only statements like "I didn't do anything illegal"
Posted by: Omolugum Prince of the Platypi2692 || 02/18/2009 10:43 Comments || Top||

#5  At least he got to be the deciding vote for the Messiah's Porkulus bill before having to fall on the rotisserie spit.
Posted by: Nimble Spemble || 02/18/2009 11:22 Comments || Top||

#6  you have said you have used recycled algorithm and have not cut trees. how it works in the case of blog.
Indeed FredMan hert 'em bad.
Posted by: .5MT || 02/18/2009 11:23 Comments || Top||

#7  mom - thanks

I loved Kass's column, particularly the

Roland "Tombstone" Burris, D- Lying Weasels part
Posted by: mhw || 02/18/2009 12:21 Comments || Top||

#8  But, but...I thought he said he didn't.
Posted by: Ebbang Uluque6305 || 02/18/2009 13:27 Comments || Top||

#9  #8 EU, see last sentence of #7 mhw's post. ;-p
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut || 02/18/2009 18:50 Comments || Top||


Waxman Wants Control of Internet Content
The House Energy and Commerce Committee is also looking at how it can put in place policies that would allow it greater oversight of the Internet. "Internet radio is becoming a big deal, and we're seeing that some web sites are able to control traffic and information, while other sites that may be of interest or use to citizens get limited traffic because of the way the people search and look for information," says on committee staffer. "We're at very early stages on this, but the chairman has made it clear that oversight of the Internet is one of his top priorities."

We want to get alternative views on radio and TV, but we also want to makes sure those alternative views are read, heard and seen online, which is becoming increasingly video and audio driven.
"This isn't just about Limbaugh or a local radio host most of us haven't heard about," says Democrat committee member. "The FCC and state and local governments also have oversight over the Internet lines and the cable and telecom companies that operate them. We want to get alternative views on radio and TV, but we also want to makes sure those alternative views are read, heard and seen online, which is becoming increasingly video and audio driven. Thanks to the stimulus package, we've established that broadband networks -- the Internet -- are critical, national infrastructure. We think that gives us an opening to look at what runs over that critical infrastructure."

Also involved in "brainstorming" on "Fairness Doctrine and online monitoring has been the Center for American Progress, a liberal think tank, which has published studies pressing for the Fairness Doctrine, as well as the radical MoveOn.org, which has been speaking to committee staff about policies that would allow them to use their five to six million person database to mobilize complaints against radio, TV or online entities they perceive to be limiting free speech or limiting opinion.
Posted by: Fred || 02/18/2009 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Start with the Nigerian Spammers, Take down "Scareware" Companies and Clean the internet of Viruses and I'm all for it.

But what I expect is another form of "Nannyism" and expense added on to "Clean the web"
In other words a money theft bullshit program that does nothing and drains our wallets doing it.(For the Children, of course.)
Posted by: Rednek Jim || 02/18/2009 0:55 Comments || Top||

#2  Axe Waxman!

(We'll pry it out of his cold, dead fingers)
Posted by: Spike Uniter || 02/18/2009 4:37 Comments || Top||

#3  "they perceive to be limiting free speech or limiting opinion."

i.e. winning the argument.
Posted by: Bright Pebbles the flatulent || 02/18/2009 5:13 Comments || Top||

#4  He's just hoping Obama will appoint him head of the new Ministry of Truth.
Posted by: DMFD || 02/18/2009 6:47 Comments || Top||

#5  We really need a side-by-each photo of Mr. Waxman and the Lon Chaney Phantom of the Opera character for, y'a know, compare and contrast....
Posted by: Uncle Phester || 02/18/2009 8:20 Comments || Top||

#6  Waxman and the photo certainly go well together.
Posted by: Besoeker || 02/18/2009 8:27 Comments || Top||

#7  "Thanks to the stimulus package, we've established that broadband networks -- the Internet -- are critical, national infrastructure. We think that gives us an opening to look at what runs over that critical infrastructure."

:: Shudder ::
Posted by: Seafarious || 02/18/2009 8:40 Comments || Top||

#8  Waxman is beady eyed.
Among other defects.
Posted by: 3dc || 02/18/2009 8:49 Comments || Top||

#9  Waxman does this, I bet there are people who will deliver a bullet.
Posted by: OldSpook || 02/18/2009 9:26 Comments || Top||

#10  Seriously, does this little pocket Goebbels realize what he is doing?

The fascist left is destroygin the nation, and weasels like Waxman, from "permanent" congressional seats are leading this crap.

There is no way to get people like Waxman out of office short of lynching or assassinating them.

Term limits NOW!

Posted by: OldSpook || 02/18/2009 9:31 Comments || Top||

#11  Does anyone else notice that he looks like a cartoon pig?

http://www.moonbattery.com/archives/Henry_Waxman.jpg
Posted by: Anonymoose || 02/18/2009 9:34 Comments || Top||

#12  We are all fascists, now!
Posted by: Jack is Back! || 02/18/2009 9:52 Comments || Top||

#13  This piggy went to market. This piggy went to the bank and this little piggy went to se Goebbles.
Posted by: Art || 02/18/2009 10:04 Comments || Top||

#14  God these people are scary.

"...but we also want to makes sure those alternative views are read, heard and seen online, ..."

Now they want to force their propaganda down our throats. 2+2 = 5 and if you don't say it you'll be led to the ovens.

I'm starting to think that it's getting close to the time of "pitch forks & torches".

Sic Semper Tyrannis!
Posted by: AlanC || 02/18/2009 10:39 Comments || Top||

#15  Mr Goebbels Waxman...


THERE ARE FOUR LIGHTS!

Posted by: OldSpook || 02/18/2009 11:43 Comments || Top||

#16 
Posted by: OldSpook || 02/18/2009 11:45 Comments || Top||

#17  Uncle Phester, you rang.


Posted by: GolfBravoUSMC || 02/18/2009 11:50 Comments || Top||

#18  Maybe Waxman sees this as his golden opportunity to score with liberal hippie chicks?
God knows, it won't happen cuz of his looks because...damn.
Posted by: tu3031 || 02/18/2009 12:05 Comments || Top||

#19  Nazi Reichsmarschall Hermann Göring, declared, "If the Führer wants it, two and two makes five!"

Waxman and company are headed down the same path, thanks to Soro's money and the electorate's gullability.
Posted by: OldSpook || 02/18/2009 12:10 Comments || Top||

#20  Henry, is that you?

Posted by: OldSpook || 02/18/2009 12:12 Comments || Top||

#21  Curse you waxman you corrupted little heart of vain.
Posted by: newc || 02/18/2009 12:15 Comments || Top||

#22  GOD DAMMIT WAXMAN!

You're supposed to wait until AFTER we get their guns!

-- Soros and Bambi
Posted by: CrazyFool || 02/18/2009 12:28 Comments || Top||

#23  Does this mean The Nose is currently incontinent?
Posted by: mojo || 02/18/2009 12:39 Comments || Top||

#24  You can lead a Rantburger to Daily Kos but you can't make him read it. That's because the Kos Kiddies are full of shit.
Posted by: Ebbang Uluque6305 || 02/18/2009 13:32 Comments || Top||

#25  Waxman family reunion at the ballgame. (Henry now you can remove the phoney nose.)

Some people are bastards as a result of the marital status of their parents at the time of birth, Henry is a self made man.

Posted by: GolfBravoUSMC || 02/18/2009 14:45 Comments || Top||

#26  The internet is media. It is critical to the success of almost any media component moving forward. That includes movies and TV shows. So this little putz is going to regulate/piss in the very pool that elects him term after term...Beverly Hills. What a jackass. But it is another indication that these idiots are going to overreach. They already are on the economy. They are going to do it on the lifestyle/political correctness/speech stifling side too. Then there will come a huge backlash. Can't wait.
Posted by: remoteman || 02/18/2009 17:08 Comments || Top||

#27  I can only hope the backlash involves tar and feathers. Or rope and a tree in some instances like Mr Waxman.
Posted by: OldSpook || 02/18/2009 19:17 Comments || Top||

#28  Burrowing Waxman, cousin of the flying Waxman above.

Posted by: GolfBravoUSMC || 02/18/2009 19:28 Comments || Top||


B.O. signs stimulus bill without bothering to read it
We've all been taught never to sign any document we haven't read. But that doesn't apply to the economic stimulus bill President Obama is signing today in Denver.

At 1,079 pages, the legislation hardly qualifies as a quick read. Sure, President Obama has a good idea of what's in the bill, but he hasn't read it page for page, which is not unusual. Rarely, if ever, does a president read a lengthy bill in its entirety before signing it into law.

So how does Mr. Obama know it's okay to sign? "He has a team of the best legislative and economic experts in the country who advise him," says White House Deputy Press Secretary Bill Burton.
Yeah. That's what worries us...
But mistakes do happen. Last May, Congress had to re-vote on the 1,768-page Farm Bill because 34 pages were missing from the version originally enacted into law.

If you want to read the stimulus bill for yourself, it's on the web at the Library of Congress website. Type in the bill's number: H.R. 1. The bill is even longer on the web — because it has about 670 pages of material that was struck out and replaced. Or you can print a copy. It might make a nice belated Valentine's Day for someone. Or not.
Posted by: Fred || 02/18/2009 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  "He has a team of the best legislative and economic experts in the country who advise him" -- the cream of the crap.
Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 || 02/18/2009 0:19 Comments || Top||

#2  So how does Mr. Obama know it's okay to sign? "He has a team of the best legislative and economic experts in the country who advise him,"

Yep as predicted "His handlers tell him what to do"
Posted by: Rednek Jim || 02/18/2009 0:58 Comments || Top||

#3  This is his out if there is some of the pork get attention. It is his disclaimer and he will say, "I did not read it and my staff missed it". The kool-aid drinkers will rejoice in the one's honesty, and the pork will get pulled from the bill and slipped into a different bill as a rider. He is slicker than Bill Clinton.

In his signing speach he said,"This is the end" then he paused. A truth beyond words.
Posted by: 49 Pan || 02/18/2009 1:46 Comments || Top||

#4  Long as it doesn't drive up the price of beer and oysters, I think we're OK.
Posted by: Skidmark || 02/18/2009 5:02 Comments || Top||

#5  Too busy to read it, had to get back to Chicago for the week end.
Posted by: Besoeker || 02/18/2009 7:36 Comments || Top||

#6  We should pass a constitutional amendment barring omnibus bills like that.

One bill - one item.

And put term limits in while we are at it.
Posted by: OldSpook || 02/18/2009 9:29 Comments || Top||

#7  OS: Who's going to tie the bell on the cat?

Can you see any of our current lot of politicos bringing such an amendment up?

What would be involved in generating a grass roots movement to get such an amendment passed?
Posted by: mom || 02/18/2009 9:33 Comments || Top||

#8  OS I've been after that for 40 years and I don't think there's a chance in hell short of revolution.

My fear is that a new Constitutional Convention would just get us the same kind of positive rights crap you see in Europe where every good thing becomes a mandated "right". Gov't will be required to feed, clothe and shelter everyone. The idea that a constitution enumerates the RESTRICTIONS on government has gone the way of the dodo bird.
Posted by: AlanC || 02/18/2009 10:43 Comments || Top||

#9  While your at it put in there that if you are on the unearned government dole (i.e. welfare) - you forfit your right to vote.

In other words you can't simply vote yourself more money.
Posted by: CrazyFool || 02/18/2009 10:51 Comments || Top||

#10  Ergo, he has represented the Executive branch without faculty, and encourage the entire government to do so as well.
Posted by: newc || 02/18/2009 12:29 Comments || Top||

#11  Just wait until he finds out about the part where he has to scrape the calluses off of Nancy's feet one a week...
Posted by: mojo || 02/18/2009 14:45 Comments || Top||


Replacing Michelle Obama
At the top right hand corner of Page 17 of the New York Post of January 24th, 2009, was a short column entitled; "Replacing Michelle; in the National Review, The Week" column.

I found this interesting, so here it is, word for word, as it appeared two days ago......

"Some employees are simply irreplaceable. Take Michelle Obama: The University of Chicago Medical center hired her in 2002 to run "programs for community relations, neighborhood outreach, volunteer recruitment, staff diversity and minority contracting."

In 2005 the hospital raised her salary from $120,000 to $317,000 - nearly twice what her husband made as a Senator.

Way to network Michelle!

Oh did we mention that her husband had just become a US Senator? He sure had. Requested a $1 Million earmark for the UC Medical Center, in fact.

But now that Mrs Obama has resigned, the hospital says her position will remain unfilled. How can that be, if the work she did was vital enough to be worth $317,000?
Cuz it made them about 700 grand in Uncle Sugar's money...
Posted by: Besoeker || 02/18/2009 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  seems this one belongs in 'Lurid Crime Tales'
Posted by: Abu do you love || 02/18/2009 1:06 Comments || Top||

#2  I guess this is just the MO of MO. It is what is called a "rainmaker" in the legal profession--she makes it rain money.
Posted by: JohnQC || 02/18/2009 8:02 Comments || Top||

#3  Try graduating from Princeton and getting a Harvard law degree and see whether being paid $120,000.00 while others in comparable positions (Vice Presidents) at U.C. Hospital earn $500,000. Look at salaries people earn on Wall Street with far less education than she who earn millions. I would say she was being underpaid. As for the then senator requesting $1M for U.C. Hospital. The person forgot to mention that he requested several other earmarks which he made public. And did I mention that he was elected by the people of Illinois where the hospital is "unfortunately" located serving communities that depend on it for service while 45 million Americans are without health care? And by the way, has anyone asked how many top positions have been declared redundant at UCH due to the economic downturn?
Posted by: John Grant || 02/18/2009 9:26 Comments || Top||

#4  Sure. And Michael told me that in five years the Corleones would be completely legitimate.
Who's being naive now, John?
Posted by: Kay Corleone || 02/18/2009 9:52 Comments || Top||

#5  Next time you see a Princeton or Harvard grad down an out on the street, be sure to slip them at least a $100 bill. Anything less is beneath them.
Posted by: ed || 02/18/2009 10:04 Comments || Top||

#6  Mr John Grant

You seem to imply that graduating from Harvard entitles automatically you to a 500K job

The older I grow and the more I tend to look at any university degree who doesn't require a healthy dose of maths as mere crap who entitles you to a job at McDonald's unless you can demonstrate on the ground that you are good for something.

I forgot to mention that thanks to affirmative action we don't know if Mrs O went to Harvard because she was good or because her skin was the right color.
Posted by: JFM || 02/18/2009 10:29 Comments || Top||

#7  Don't mention to John she Michelle got into Princeton via Affirmitive Action. Please save your outrage for the person who deserved to go to Princeton but was pushed out to make way for someone simply because of their RACE. (which is, BTW, the definition of Racism).

According to her own staffers, she did not have the grades to go to Harvard or Princeton (or any other Ivy League) but, because of the pigmentation of her skin, was able to push someone else (who probably worked damn hard for the chance) out.

Nobody knows if Bambi himself benefitted from Affirmative Action - his records are sealed by his own demand.
Posted by: CrazyFool || 02/18/2009 10:43 Comments || Top||

#8  the hospital is "unfortunately" located serving communities that depend on it for service
Not really. The ER at UC hospital has begun to reject people who can't pay. The other day a black kid who was mauled by a dog was turned away. Neighborhood concerns mount after U. of C. unveils plan to redirect some patients
Hope and change!
Posted by: Spot || 02/18/2009 10:43 Comments || Top||

#9  Her degrees give her a rather dubious honor of being among the curdled cream of the crop:
JPMorgan Chase
• James L. Dimon, CEO and Chairman: Harvard Business School (1982), Tufts University (1978)
• Barry L. Zubrow, Executive VP: University of Chicago Law School (1980), University of Chicago Business School (1979), Haverford College (1975)
• Frank Bisignano, CAO: Newport University

Citigroup
• Vikram Pandit, CEO: Columbia Business School (1986); Columbia University MBA (1980), M.S. (1977), B.S. (1976)
• Lewis Kaden, Vice-Chairman and CAO: Harvard Law School (1967), Harvard University (1963),
• Stephen Volk, Vice-Chairman: Harvard Law School (1960), Dartmouth College (1957)
• John Havens: Harvard (1979)

Bank of America
• Kenneth D. Lewis, Chairman, CEO and President: Executive Program at Stanford University, Mack Robinson College of Business at Georgia State University (1969)

Morgan Stanley
• John Mack, Chairman and CEO: Duke University (1968)
• Walid Chammah, Co-President: American Graduate School of International Management (1977), American University of Beirut (1976)
• James P. Gorman, Co-President: MBA Columbia University (1987); BA, JD University of Melbourne

Wells Fargo
• John Stumpf, President and CEO: MBA University of Minnesota, BA St. Cloud State University
• Richard M. Kovacevich, Chairman: MBA Stanford University (1967), BA Stanford (1965)

Goldman Sachs
• Lloyd Blankfein, Chairman and CEO: Harvard Law School (1978), Harvard University (1975)
• Jon Winkelried, President and Co-COO: University of Chicago Booth School of Business (1982), University of Chicago (1981)
• Gary Cohn, President and Co-COO: American University (1982)

Washington Mutual
• Kerry Killinger, CEO: University of Iowa, MBA (1971), BBA (1970)
• Alan Fishman, former CEO: Columbia University (1969), Brown University (1967)
• Stephen Rotella, President/COO: State University of New York (1978)

IndyMac
• Michael Perry, CEO: California State University, Sacramento
• Scott Keys, CFO: Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles

Bear Stearns
• Alan Schwartz, President and CEO: Duke (1972)
• James Cayne, former CEO: attended Purdue

AIG
• Edward Liddy, CEO: MBA from George Washington University (1972), Catholic University of America (1968)
• Robert Willumstad, former CEO: attended Adelphi University

Lehman Brothers
• Richard S. Fuld, Chairman: MBA from NYU Stern School of Business (1973), University of Colorado at Boulder (1969)
• Herbert H. McDade, President and COO: MBA University of Michigan, BA Duke University
• Ian T. Lowitt, CFO: BSc. and MSc. University of the Witwatersrand (Johannesburg), BA and MSc from Oxford

Merrill Lynch
• John Thain, Chairman and CEO: Harvard Business School (1979), MIT (1977)
• Peter Kraus, Executive VP: MBA from NYU (1975), Trinity College (1974)
• Thomas Montag, Global Head of Sales: Stanford (1979)

Bernard Madoff
Hofstra College (1960)

GM: Richard Wagoner, CEO. Harvard Business School (1977), Duke University (1975)

Chrysler: Robert Nardelli, CEO. University of Louisville College of Business (1975), Western Illinois University in Macomb (1971)

Circuit City: Philip Schoonover, former CEO: University of New Hampshire (1978), Boston College; James Marcum, CEO: Southern Connecticut State University (1980)

Sprint: Dan Hesse, CEO: MA, MIT (1989); MBA, Cornell University (1977); University of Notre Dame (1975),

Charter Communications: Paul Allen, CEO. Attended Washington State University

Sirius/XM Radio: Mel Karmazin, CEO: Pace University (1967)

Midway Games: Sumner Redstone, Majority Owner: Harvard Law School (1947), Harvard University (1944); Shari Redstone, Chairman. Tufts (1975)

The final tab:

Harvard: 11
Columbia: 6
Chicago: 4
Duke: 4
Stanford: 4
American University: 2
MIT: 2
NYU: 2
Tufts: 2
University of Iowa: 2


Posted by: Thealing Borgia 122 || 02/18/2009 11:46 Comments || Top||

#10  "Don't you know who I am?"
"I do. You're lucky the bar's open to you."
-- Casablanca
Posted by: mojo || 02/18/2009 14:47 Comments || Top||

#11  Try graduating from Princeton and getting a Harvard law degree

As JFM says, and Thealing Borgia 122 so thoroughly points out, getting degrees from expensive schools does not guarantee the holder is worth paying anything, let alone half a million dollars per annum including overhead and benefits.... although a decade ago the future Mrs. Obama certainly swanned about that Chicago law office as though she were ever so much more worthwhile than her law associate peers.

Finally, as JohnQC stated, because of her husband and his contacts, Mrs. Obama got the hospital more money than she cost, and so was worth the investment. The UC hospital is not likely to find another with all her attributes for a generation. Naturally they wouldn't fill that position with anyone less.
Posted by: trailing wife || 02/18/2009 21:51 Comments || Top||


Home Front: WoT
Murtha backs tanker split between Boeing, Airbus
What's Murtha's cut?
EVERETT, Wash., Feb 16 (Reuters) - The chairman of the U.S. House of Representatives' appropriations subcommittee on defense renewed a call on Monday for the Pentagon to consider splitting a $35 billion aerial refueling tanker contract between Boeing Co and a rival team of EADS and Northrop Grumman Corp. The call, by Pennsylvania Democratic Rep. John Murtha, is a direct challenge to the Pentagon, which has been adamant that contracting only one supplier would be the cheapest for U.S. taxpayers.

It is the latest twist in an almost decade-long saga of deciding who should build tankers to refuel U.S. jet fighters and supply U.S. forces around the world.

"I'm trying to figure out a way to convince the secretary of defense to at least look at two airplanes, or both of them," said Murtha, after a tour of Boeing's widebody aircraft plant in Everett, north of Seattle. "My decision is not where the contract goes, but to come up with the money to pay for the contract once the Air Force makes a decision," said Murtha. "We are trying to come up with ways to get the military to make a decision earlier."

Attempts to start building replacements for the aging U.S. tanker fleet have been bogged down since 2001, when the Air Force hatched a plan to lease and then buy tankers from Boeing, which was subsequently derailed by a procurement scandal. The Northrop/EADS team won the contract last year, but the Government Accountability Office later found errors in the award after a protest by Boeing.

The Pentagon is now looking to start a new competition for the contract this year with an award in early 2010. So far, both Defense Secretary Robert Gates and undersecretary of defense for acquisition John Young have both come out publicly in favor of a single-source tanker.
Posted by: Steve White || 02/18/2009 14:16 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  How much for Murtha and how much for his district?
Posted by: Richard of Oregon || 02/18/2009 16:51 Comments || Top||

#2  If I was Murtha I would assume anyone near me is wearing a wire. And for good reason.
Posted by: tu3031 || 02/18/2009 16:53 Comments || Top||

#3  Stupid coward. Increase the logistics burden by 2X to support 2 tankers when 1 will do. In addition, what will the US do when France decides it doesn't approve of our military actions and withholds parts, ala Belgium. At least France has the excuse it not a full member of NATO.
Posted by: ed || 02/18/2009 16:54 Comments || Top||

#4  ...IIRC, Boeing still has a factory in Philly - the old Piasecki/Vertol plant. Remember - all politics is local.

Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski || 02/18/2009 18:34 Comments || Top||

#5  Worse than that it gives Airbus/EADS a foothold in the dollar zone whereas we dont have one in the eurozone for manufacturing either civilian or military aircraft. This allows EADS to essentially offset forex price swings as they occur
Posted by: Valentine || 02/18/2009 20:19 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Culture Wars
Holder: US is nation of cowards on racial matters
WASHINGTON (AP) - Attorney General Eric Holder described the United States Wednesday as a nation of cowards on matters of race, saying most Americans avoid discussing unresolved racial issues.
Usually because when we do there's someone in the crowd who starts screaming and calling people names. That does rather tend to inhibit deep conversation.
In a speech to Justice Department employees marking Black History Month, Holder said the workplace is largely integrated but Americans still self-segregate on the weekends and in their private lives. "Though this nation has proudly thought of itself as an ethnic melting pot, in things racial we have always been and continue to be, in too many ways, essentially a nation of cowards," said Holder, nation's first black attorney general.

Race issues continue to be a topic of political discussion, Holder said, but "we, as average Americans, simply do not talk enough with each other about race."
He doesn't want us to talk about race. He wants us to do as we're told. There's a difference ...
He urged people of all races to use Black History Month as a chance for frank talk about & blah blah blah.
Posted by: newc || 02/18/2009 12:58 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  So...who's he blaming here? Whitey? The bruthas?
Because it looks like him and his boss made out all right in racist, cowardly America...
Posted by: tu3031 || 02/18/2009 13:30 Comments || Top||

#2  How rude to castigate Americans for being polite! I wonder how long he will remain in office... and how much he will actually accomplish before 2010.
Posted by: trailing wife || 02/18/2009 14:40 Comments || Top||

#3  How is this for a discussion of race?

I'm a member of the Human race.
So are you.
If you don't like it,
then please fuck you.
Posted by: DarthVader || 02/18/2009 14:49 Comments || Top||

#4  Democrats are cowards in TRUTHFUL matters.
Posted by: newc || 02/18/2009 17:30 Comments || Top||

#5  Sorry for noticing who makes up 66% of our prison population.
Posted by: Icerigger || 02/18/2009 17:35 Comments || Top||

#6  If ya get get white to make right, and yellow to be mellow Mr. Holder?

What does this have to do with the AG job description, huh?
Posted by: swksvolFF || 02/18/2009 17:48 Comments || Top||

#7  ...A comment I'm sure he made in front of a crowd that almost certainly voted en bloc for our first African-American president.

Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski || 02/18/2009 18:37 Comments || Top||

#8  "a nation of cowards."

Not sure how Holder can accept a paycheck from all of us.... "cowards." I guess he'd rather cash his hefty check, then bite our hands now and then. Yes, in my "private life" as well as my public life... I WANT ABSOLUTLY NOTHING TO DO WITH ATTORNEY GENERAL ERIC HOLDER!
Posted by: Besoeker || 02/18/2009 21:06 Comments || Top||

#9  I'm offended that the NBA doesn't reflect America's rich heritage of short white guys. They are a significant proportion of the population, yet they aren't represented in proportional numbers. What say you, Eric Holder? A DOJ-led national suit? RICO? (is RICO a slur?)
Posted by: Frank G || 02/18/2009 21:37 Comments || Top||


Castration off table, Scalping of Pell Grant students is Jesse's concern.
ESSENCE.com asked the civil rights leader and founder of the Rainbow PUSH Coalition, Inc. to pen an "open letter to President Barack Obama." With the passion Jackson is known for, he asks the nation's first Black President to carefully examine important policies including those relating to the economy, education and Voting Rights Act.

Dear Mr. President:

What a joy and relief it is to be able to salute you as President Obama. Congratulations on a magnificently run campaign. Your discipline, vision, strength and courage will take America and the world a long way. Now that we have made it through the courtship of the primary season, the engagement party in Grant Park on November 4th, and the wedding on January 20th, we're entering into marriage--the final stage, one that is full of challenges.

It's high noon in our politics, where hope abounds. But it is midnight in our economics. But we have hope that the darkness will lead to a new light that will shine even brighter. We are in a time of the worst economic crisis of the last half century, and amid expanding wars and conflicts in Iraq, the Middle East and Africa. The two great themes of ending poverty at home and unnecessary wars abroad must dominate our priorities.

We need an economic stimulus. We also need equal protection under the law, which we've never had. Those who have been dealt the most inequality deserve targeted stimulation. Our character is measured, as you mentioned in your Inauguration speech, by how we treat the least of these. The least of these are gripped in poverty, high infant mortality, less access to capital, first-class jails and second-class schools, the highest victims of home foreclosures. They need targeted job creation and job training to offset targeted discrimination and denial leading to structural inequality. They need to be able to restructure and modify their loans, real foreclosure relief to save their homes.

Mr. President, I applaud your recent proposals to recommit our nation to education and invest in our most valuable asset, our youth. As you do, I'd like you to consider the RainbowPush Education Stimulus Plan, a simple yet sweeping plan to help families finance college costs that are steadily putting higher education out of the reach of most Americans. I propose that students holding and applying for college loans should be offered interest rates that do not exceed 1 percent--the same favorable terms that are being offered to large banks by the federal government. It's simply a matter of fairness.

Currently, students are generally forced to borrow loans with interest rates that range from 4 to 8 percent. Since that's inadequate to pay the costs of tuition and housing, most of them borrow from the commercial banks with 12 to 14 percent interest rates. Yet, these are the same banks that can borrow from the federal government at 1 percent interest; it's like scalping students. Many students must also finance their education with credit cards that carry interest rates of 20 percent or higher. As you know from your personal experience, graduating students will be saddled with debt for decades to come.

It gets worse when the students who get the loan cannot start payments within six months and are then penalized. As jobs are leaving, chances are they cannot start working in six months and need a longer grace period. Furthermore, the schools that lend them the money are penalized if students default on their loans; this pattern must end.

Through this 1 percent student loan program, along with the expansion of the Pell Grant program, which should correspond with the cost of the average college education, these programs will go a long way in developing the next generation of intellectual talent and leaders of our nation. This is an opportunity we cannot afford to pass up. We must go another way and seek the change that you eloquently talked about and promised.

Section Five Voting Rights Act, the key to political enfranchisement for all Americans, is now in peril as the Supreme Court reviews its validity. We must fight for the Voting Rights Act and prevail. Lyndon Johnson was right in his vision of a Great Society and the War on Poverty. We must build up on that great democratic tradition and carry it forward today.

Lifting the boats at the bottom is our moral challenge. Our foreign policy must place a priority on the escalating Middle East crisis which affects the whole region. One thousand lives were lost in the Gaza crisis while 3,000 died from cholera in Zimbabwe. Children in Haiti--100 miles off our shores--are eating mud pies as a staple. We must have one set of rules and standards and not lure Cubans to come to U.S. as refugees, and then deport or jail Haitians.

Twisting words sometimes has deadly consequences. What is an economic political refuge? Well, they are all human beings fleeing for their lives.

We're anxious to work with you, Mr. President. To follow through on Dr. King's last message, brought forward on his last birthday celebration, let us gather the moral courage to end poverty at home and end unnecessary wars abroad. I'm convinced that, yes, we can. We will. We must.

Keep hope alive.

Reverend Jesse L. Jackson, Sr.
President and Founder
RainbowPUSH Coalition, Inc.

"We're anxious to work with you" Rantburg translation - we need job appointments in your administration and free money.
Posted by: Besoeker || 02/18/2009 08:05 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Call me!
Posted by: Seafarious || 02/18/2009 9:43 Comments || Top||

#2  PUSH will get part of ARRA - probably in the mulit-millions. ACORN is set for up to $3 billion. I have applied for $200 million and am fairly certain I have a good chance to get it. I told them I was a stockholder in the First Rantburg Bank of Florida and we forgot our FDIC premium and were now exposed to our depositors commenters.
Posted by: Jack is Back! || 02/18/2009 9:48 Comments || Top||

#3  The last gasp of the dying scam artist...
Posted by: tu3031 || 02/18/2009 9:54 Comments || Top||



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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.
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In no particular order...
Steve White
Seafarious
tu3031
badanov
sherry
ryuge
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trailing wife
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Glenmore
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Two weeks of WOT
Wed 2009-02-18
  Four killed, 18 injured in Peshawar car bombing
Tue 2009-02-17
  Surprise! Pervez Musharraf was playing 'double game' with US
Mon 2009-02-16
  Another Wazoo dronezap
Sun 2009-02-15
  Talibs: Pak will surrender in Swat
Sat 2009-02-14
  Suspected U.S. Missile Strike Zaps 27
Fri 2009-02-13
  Canadian Muslim sentenced for firebombing Jewish institutions
Thu 2009-02-12
  Pak arrests 'main operator' in Mumbai attacks
Wed 2009-02-11
  Taliban Attack Afghan Government Buildings, Killing 20
Tue 2009-02-10
  FBI woman sexually harassed me: 26/11 accused terrorist
Mon 2009-02-09
  Female Tamil Tiger bomber kills 28 after hiding among refugees
Sun 2009-02-08
  India wants Pak declared terrorist state
Sat 2009-02-07
  Russia allows transit of US military supplies
Fri 2009-02-06
  Islamabad High Court frees AQ Khan
Thu 2009-02-05
  Thirty dead in Pakistan blast: hospital
Wed 2009-02-04
  Bridge Attack Severs Afghan Supply Route

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