A former mayor found sitting naked and holding a beer at a Rabun County campsite told police he wasn't the same naked man seen walking around earlier. No, I'm not the perv you're looking for...
Mark Musselwhite, 43, said he was hot and had been in the creek, according to a Georgia Department of Natural Resources incident report. He apparently didn't think he was doing anything wrong.
Enlarge this image (Had to leave that in)
Mark Musselwhite was elected to the Gainesville City Council in 2000, serving for six years, including as mayor of the town. Musselwhite, of Gainesville, was arrested last weekend after being confronted by state DNR authorities. He was charged with public indecency.
"He told me he was the ex-mayor of the city Gainesville and he was a very political person," DNR Ranger Brandon Walls wrote in the report. "I have nothing to hide!"
Walls and a deputy sheriff went to the campsite Saturday evening after a complaint of a man walking naked in Earls Ford Road, according to the report. Musselwhite appeared to be intoxicated, and several alcoholic beverages were at the campsite, Walls said. No surprise there.
Walls said he had spoken to Musselwhite earlier in the day regarding an ATV the former mayor was driving.
"He looked at us and said hello," according to the report.
Musselwhite then asked why he was being visited. "I said the complainant had specifically said his campsite, and the fact that he was still nude made me think it was him," Walls wrote. Can't get anything past Officer Squarenuts, nosiree ...
Musselwhite denied that he was the nude man identified in the complaint.
An unidentified female was also at the campsite. Argentine news babe? More importantly -- nekkid?
Musselwhite, a Republican, was elected to the City Council in 2000. He served on the council for six years, including as mayor of the town. In 2006, he lost a bid for a state Senate seat.
Musselwhite previously served as deacon of First Baptist Church in Gainesville. He could not be reached for comment Friday evening.
#1
It was indeed hot in North Ga. this week end, but I stayed away from the creeks. Did get a little wet while helping save a Labrador Retriever who fell overboard at the Lake Burton marina. Rabim County isn't a bad place to go skinny dipping in the creek...regardless of your politics. A staunch Republican enclave, even the black bears are conservative. I strongly recommend a private cabin and site as opposed to a public campground
......whatamoron.
Former state Health Commissioner Antonia Novello is expected to accept a plea deal to fraud-related charges Friday in Albany County Court, the Daily News has learned.
Novello, a former U.S. surgeon general who was state health commissioner under former Gov. George Pataki from 1999 through 2006, was charged in a 20-count indictment with using state workers to run errands, take her on shopping sprees and act as house servants.
The 64-year-old, who lives in Florida, was facing up to 12 years in prison if convicted.
She is set to appear before Albany County Judge Stephen Herrick.
Her lawyer, Stewart Jones, did not return a call for comment last night.
A spokeswoman for Albany County District Attorney David Soares had no comment.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/27/2009 00:00 ||
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.. was charged in a 20-count indictment with using state workers to run errands, take her on shopping sprees and act as house servants.
So she treated them like serfs taxpayers. What do you expect with the prevailing mentality that the people exist to serve the ruling class government, rather than the government exists to serve the people.
Though not as much as The $100 Million Dollar Man - Al Gore.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has vowed to bring the Obama-Waxman-Markey (OWM) anti-global warming cap-and-trade energy bill to the floor for a final vote Friday, which raises an interesting question: How much money will Pelosi make if the measure becomes law, as seems quite likely?
Pelosi, of course, is not the only member of Congress to own significant shares of energy companies. Senators and representatives from all over the country do, not just the "oilies" from energy states like Texas, Oklahoma and Louisiana.
But as House Speaker, Pelosi's ownership of an unknown number of shares in the Clean Energy Fuels Corp. (CLNE) valued at between $15,000 and $50,000, may deserve particular attention.
Shares of CLNE have gone up and down in value in recent years, thanks to the fluctuations in the price of natural gas and changes in the oil industry worldwide. And a Pelosi spokesman told The Washington Examiner last year that her husband takes care of their stock portfolio, so she has no knowledge of how any of her family investments will be affected by any particular piece of legislation before Congress.
Another prominent public figure with an interest in OWM is CLNE's major domo, T. Boone Pickens, best known of late as a wind-energy investor and the man behind the largest-ever single donation to a state university, $165 million to Oklahoma State University for its athletic programs three years ago. CLNE is a cog in Pickens massive plan to create a giant wind farm in West Texas to generate electricity.
Pelosi will profit because OWM will boost the price of natural gas on the market. This is because natural gas burns with significantly less carbon emissions than other fossil fuels. For companies trying to get under OWM limits for greenhouse gases emissions, burning more natural gas instead of, say coal, will be a no-brainer. That will drive up demand for natural gas, which in turn will create upward price pressures.
Posted by: ed ||
06/27/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
so corrupt. Soo corrupt.
You know congressrat, people are keeping files on all this that you do.
#3
Barry knew the Cap & Traitors were in the bag. He knew them by name, district, and payoff, hence his and Pelosi's confidence last week. Nice of them to vote as the market was closing and the 90 day mourning period for child-fondler Jackson was just beginning.
#6
The rep traitors and the rural heartland Dems sold the country out for 20 pieces of silver. It's biblical, and it's Chicago politics on a nationwide scale. And all the MSM talks about is the Michael Jackson vaporlock.
We are going to need an act of God to save us from ourselves.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
06/27/2009 13:21 Comments ||
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#7
I don't think this bill has 60 votes in the Senate. I hope not.
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/27/2009 14:14 Comments ||
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#8
If it doesn't pass in the Senate, it doesn't matter what happened in the House.
The Wall Street Journal has a roundup on the subject:
But it isn't clear how much of the sprawling House bill will survive in the Senate, where moderate Democrats and Republicans could form a majority that backs less ambitious action. Among the potential problem areas: the House bill has a provision that would impose tariffs on goods imported from countries that don't match U.S. carbon dioxide restrictions -- a slap at China and India that some business interests fear could provoke a trade war.
Mr. Obama and House leaders struggled to win over a large group of rank-and-file Democrats who expressed doubts about the climate bill. The president lobbied hard personally and through top aides to secure votes from wavering members over the past several days. But in the end, 44 Democrats defected, joining 168 Republicans in opposition. Eight Republicans crossed party lines to support the bill.
The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office has estimated the bill would have a modest impact on family budgets. The CBO projected an annual economy-wide cost in 2020 of $22 billion, or about $175 per household. The CBO's study didn't consider the broader effect of the legislation on employment or gross domestic product.
Republicans argued that the CBO's estimate lowballs the actual cost of the bill for families. They contended the measure amounted to a job-killing tax on consumers and businesses.
#9
Senator Imhofe (R, Oklahoma) is convinced the bill will not pass in the Senate.
Passing President Obamas cap and trade energy program would cost the average Oklahoma family $3,200 a year, Sen. Jim Inhofe said Friday, but hes confident the measure will be killed in the Senate no matter what happens in the House of Representatives.
At the time of the interview Friday morning, he said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was only two votes short of winning and predicted that if she brought the question up for a vote, it would indicate she had found them. Late Friday, the bill was approved in the House on a 219-212 vote.
It doesnt matter, he declared flatly, because well kill it in the Senate anyway.
Asked if he was confident that would be the case, Oklahomas senior senator said he was absolutely certain. He noted that it would take 60 votes to break an anticipated Republican filibuster over cap and trade and predicted the most the Democrats can muster is about 34.
He said all the hubbub in the House was over Pelosis desire to attend a conference in Copenhagen and be able to stand up and say, Oh, weve passed this out of the House and were going to lead the way in America but its not going to pass the Senate.
He scoffed at Democratic claims that cap and trade doesnt represent a tax increase at all but instead is a free enterprise solution. MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) and the Wharton School of Economics came out with an analysis of what this is. They said that the range is between $330 and $350 billion a year. That translates in Oklahoma to $3,200 per family. Everyone whos reading this story right now, that would be a tax increase of over $3,000 per family. I can give you all the documentation on that.
#10
I wish I could be as certain - the Senate is a convention of posturing morons, liars, thieves, and whores
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/27/2009 17:44 Comments ||
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#11
The question isn't whether the Repubs could block passage if it came to a vote - they can't - but whether they can hold 40 votes to support a filibuster. In my opinion that would be close. There are some who would vote against the bill but not for a filibuster - both Ds & Rs.
The House ethics committee is investigating a Caribbean trip taken last year by members of the Congressional Black Caucus, but they put a fellow CBC member in charge of the probe. Among those on the trip was House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charles Rangel, D-N.Y., who is already the subject of an ethics probe over nonpayment of taxes and other issues.
The group of members, all Democrats, said their trip was sponsored by a non-profit group, but the conservative National Legal and Policy Center, claims for-profit companies paid for the trip, which is a violation of House rules because it would give lobbyists for those companies access to members.
The ethics committee has formed a special subcommittee made up of four House members who will make a recommendation to the full ethics committee as to whether they think the members committed an ethics violation. Leading the investigation is fellow Congressional Black Caucus member G.K. Butterfield, D-N.C. The ranking Republican on the subcommittee is J. Gresham Barrett, R-S.C., who is running to replace embattled governor and fellow Republican Mark Sanford.
Posted by: ed ||
06/27/2009 00:00 ||
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The old rules no long apply. The new rules are now in effect. Please place your seatbacks and tray tables in the upright and locked positons. Sit back and enjoy get used to the ride. On behalf of CAPT Shakedown and crew, we know you used to have a choice in voting and we be glad you voted democrat.
House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers Jr. has backed off his plan to investigate purported wrongdoing by the liberal activist group ACORN, saying ?powers that be? put the kibosh on the idea.
Mr. Conyers, Michigan Democrat, earlier bucked his party leaders by calling for hearings on accusations the Association of Community Organization for Reform Now (ACORN) has committed crimes ranging from voter fraud to a mob-style "protection" racket. "The powers that be decided against it," Mr. Conyers told The Washington Times as he left the House chambers Wednesday.
The chairman declined to elaborate, shrugging off questions about who told him how to run his committee and give the Democrat-allied group a pass.
Conyers spokesman Jonathan Godfrey said late Thursday, several hours after the first request for comment, that the chairman had been referring to himself as "the powers that be."
Pittsburgh lawyer Heather Heidelbaugh, whose testimony about ACORN at a March 19 hearing on voting issues prompted Mr. Conyers to call for a probe, said she was perplexed by Mr. Conyers' explanation for his change of heart. "If the chair of the Judiciary Committee cannot hold a hearing if he wants to, [then] who are the powers that he is beholden to?" she said. "Is it the leadership, is it the White House, is it contributors? Who is 'the power'?"
The comment spurred similar questions by House Republicans, who asked whether House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was involved in blocking the probe. "Chairman Conyers has a responsibility to explain who is blocking this investigation, and why. Is it Speaker Pelosi? Others in the Democratic leadership? Who in Congress is covering up ACORN's corruption?" said Michael Steel, spokesman for House Minority Leader John A. Boehner, Ohio Republican.
Rep. F. James Sensenbrenner Jr. of Wisconsin, ranking Republican on the Judiciary subcommittee on the Constitution, civil rights and civil liberties, said the chairman should be calling the shots.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/27/2009 00:00 ||
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I wonder if Rep. Conyers was affected somehow by his wife Monica pleading guilty to a felony on Friday. She has not yet been sentenced. Does she know something he doesn't want publicized?
"I also want to make it equally clear that the evidence offered no suggestion that U.S. Rep. John Conyers, Mrs. Conyers' husband, had any knowledge or role in Mrs. Conyers' illegal conduct, nor did the congressman attempt to influence this investigation in any way."
#4
the US Atty takes direction from Obama through Holder. Conyers dropped the Acorn investigation due to "the powers that be" when HE is the committee chairman. Can you connect the dots?
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/27/2009 11:44 Comments ||
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I think Obama has something on Rep. Conyers that turned up in investigating the Mrs., and so he can pull the strings whenever he wishes.
#6
One would hope that Representative Conyers cared about his wife's immediate future, even if he were not involved in any wrongdoing himself. This puts him even more in a position to be pressured.
U.S. Rep. Keith Ellison could use some advice on transparency in government. Fortunately, he's on friendly terms with two good sources: Sen. Amy Klobuchar and Rep. Tim Walz, two Democratic colleagues who have decided not to accept privately funded travel while in Congress.
Once enlightened, Ellison should quickly release all available details about a fall 2008 trip he took to Mecca courtesy of the Muslim American Society of Minnesota.
Ellison cleared the 16-day trip with the House Ethics Committee, but he has declined to reveal how much he spent on travel, food and lodging. That leaves him wide open for the type of attacks Klobuchar and Walz must have anticipated when they made their 2006 pledges to steer clear of trips that could present real or perceived conflicts of interest.
Ellison's office has maintained that the Mecca trip was "personal,'' but it also says the Ethics Committee is revisiting the question of whether the costs must be reported.
Ellison, a second-term congressman, is making a freshman mistake. If he has nothing to hide, why is he declining to release a detailed summary of his expenses? And why has he refused to release the entire letter from the Ethics Committee explaining why the trip was approved?
Under the 2007 ethics reform legislation, lobbyists are prohibited from sponsoring trips for members of Congress. Nonprofit entities, such as the Muslim American Society, can cover the costs of such trips, but the travel is subject to ethics guidelines that require detailed disclosure.
Despite what you might hear on partisan talk radio or read on some blogs, this kind of travel is both common in Washington and bipartisan. Many trips are sponsored by nonprofit organizations that are holding events on issues related to congressional committee work or legislative agendas.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/27/2009 00:00 ||
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Ambrose Bierce defined politics as: Politics: A strife of interests masquerading as a contest of principles. The conduct of public affairs for private advantage.
Governor Mark Sanford of South Carolina, an anti-tax crusader, acknowledged that he used taxpayers' money to see Maria Belen Chapur, 43, in Buenos Aires last year during a nine-day trip to Brazil and Argentina that cost $12,000 (£7,250).
But Mr Sanford, 49, showed no signs of resigning, holding a cabinet meeting preceded by another flurry of apologies to colleagues. "I right now am focused on the important part of this, the family in this circumstance," he said as he left home.
The first public images of Miss Chapur, a divorced mother of two, emerged in a video of her reporting for a Spanish language news channel from New York after the September 11th terrorist attacks in 2001.
Mr Sanford's wife Jenny, on her way to a boat ride with the couple's four young sons, said she was "going to worry about my family and the character of my children". The 47-year-old wife was not concerned about her husband's career, she added. "He'll have to worry about that."
The South Carolina governor, who had harboured presidential ambitions, disappeared to Buenos Aires for almost a week after leading his staff to believe that he was hiking on the Appalachian trail.
He held a rambling, tearful press conference in which he confessed to having an affair with a "dear, dear friend" who he had initially been counseling "to get back with her husband for the sake of her two boys" because "not only was it part of God's law, but ultimately those two boys would be better off for it". Mrs Sanford then revealed that the couple had previously agreed to a "trial separation" with "the goal of ultimately strengthening our marriage" and she had not known he had gone to Buenos Aires.
She explained: "We reached a point where I felt it was important to look my sons in the eyes and maintain my dignity, self-respect, and my basic sense of right and wrong. I therefore asked my husband to leave two weeks ago."
In a statement, Mr Sanford said he would pay back an undisclosed amount for the trip to Brazil and Argentina. "I made a mistake while I was there in meeting with the woman who I was unfaithful with."
Posted by: Fred ||
06/27/2009 00:00 ||
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I therefore asked my husband to leave two weeks ago."
I guess a steak dinner, a couple of glasses of nice Merlot, a BJ, and a good nights sleep were no longer on the table at that pont. BOTH are losers! I'll be watching MBC.
#2
She wanted to maintain her self-respect so she asked Governor Jerk-face to leave. I suppose that's better than the other way to maintain her self-respect, which involves a long kitchen knife ...
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/27/2009 10:54 Comments ||
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Albany's dysfunctional follies veered further into the inane on Thursday: Gov. Paterson cut off some Senate pay, a lawmaker branded the governor a "coke snorting" womanizer and the Senate - once again - accomplished nothing.
The only sign of progress in ending the impasse that began June 8 with a Republican-led coup was that warring senators agreed not to battle for the gavel.
Democrats and Republicans held short, separate sessions in which they did no business. Sources hinted that a deal may be near - but there were no details.
Among the day's lowlights:
Paterson ordered that the per diems and travel expenses paid to do-nothing senators be withheld.
Democrats blasted the governor for keeping them in Albany day after day and hot-headed Sen. Kevin Parker called Paterson a "coke snorting, staff-banging governor." Paterson has admitted youthful drug use and several extra-marital affairs.
The governor ordered both sides back Friday - and said he won't let them go home until they vote on important legislation.
"This is a crisis that needs to be redressed and it needs to be redressed now," Paterson told reporters. "This is a crisis of governance."
The Senate has been paralyzed since a GOP-led leadership coup on June 8 that included dissident Democrats Pedro Espada Jr. and Hiram Monserrate (D-Queens). Monserrate has since switched back to the Democrats, leaving the Senate deadlocked at 31-31.
Senators on both sides toned down the vitriol yesterday, reporting progress in negotiations for a leadership agreement that would get the Senate working again.
"We acknowledge ... we have brought obviously a lot of disrespect to this institution," Espada said.
Both sides agreed to go in separately yesterday to avoid a replay of Tuesday's circus, when each party held simultaneous sessions. The Democrats gaveled in, said they believed the session wasn't legal without the governor also calling in the Assembly, and left in under four minutes. The Republicans followed suit in even less time.
Paterson accused senators of being more interested in going home for the weekend than getting their work done. "The Senate is derelict in their duties just at the time that the people need the Senate to act the most," he said.
Paterson's continued actions and criticisms have worn thin on his fellow Democrats.
Parker, who is under indictment for felony assault, said lawmakers don't need a "coke snorting, staff-banging governor to lecture us about behavior in government."
He was unapologetic about the attack. "I'm sorry the governor has not provided the kind of leadership we need to deal with the issues of the people of New York, that's what I'm sorry about," Parker said.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/27/2009 00:00 ||
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"We acknowledge ... we have brought obviously a lot of disrespect to this institution,"
How do you bring disrespect to an institution that has sunk lower then a whore house? /rhetorical question.
#5
The Senate has been paralyzed since a GOP-led leadership coup on June 8 that included dissident Democrats Pedro Espada Jr. and Hiram Monserrate (D-Queens). Monserrate has since switched back to the Democrats, leaving the Senate deadlocked at 31-31.
And it will remain paralyzed as long as both democrats are referred to as De Queens.
#6
Don't compare the two. Whorehouses make money, not just the girls.
Well, the US Government took over the Mustang Ranch in Nevada a while back for tax delinquencies. They ran it for a while. Even with cheap liquor and loose women, they couldn't keep it in business and it closed. Tells you something, doesn't it.
The gummint can't run jack, except into the ground.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
06/27/2009 20:19 Comments ||
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#8
FYI - re: Joe Conforte's Mustang Ranch: The Gov't whores were ready to work, they just demanded the "johns" be called "lobbyists". I guy may want to visit a prostitute, however low that is, but he doesn't need to be verbally abused while doing it.
Another FYI - my Grandfather's ranch was just up the valley from there, by Derby Dam, and it was an actual ranch
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/27/2009 20:56 Comments ||
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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.
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.
Former state Health Commissioner Antonia Novello is expected to accept a plea deal to fraud-related charges Friday in Albany County Court, the Daily News has learned.
House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers Jr. has backed off his plan to investigate purported wrongdoing by the liberal activist group ACORN, saying ?powers that be? put the kibosh on the idea.
Governor Mark Sanford of South Carolina, an anti-tax crusader, acknowledged that he used taxpayers' money to see Maria Belen Chapur, 43, in Buenos Aires last year during a nine-day trip to Brazil and Argentina that cost $12,000 (£7,250).
Albany's dysfunctional follies veered further into the inane on Thursday: Gov. Paterson cut off some Senate pay, a lawmaker branded the governor a "coke snorting" womanizer and the Senate - once again - accomplished nothing.
