Mother Jones reports:
“As we reported earlier, European companies are using political action committees to spend quite a bit on lawmakers who have blocked climate legislation in the Senate. But as Wonk Room reported over the weekend, foreign oil and gas interests have also directed quite a bit of cash to the US Chamber of Commerce, which is running a $75 million campaign focused on ousting congressional Democrats.”
None of the revelations in this following news story surprise me. I’ve said it before (column link below)
“Deepwater Horizon disaster was no accident - it was a certainty”
BP and Transocean, another partner, 'misinterpreted or chose not to conduct' key tests, inquiry reveals
Excerpt:
“BP and its cement contractor, Halliburton, knew weeks before the Deepwater Horizon explosion that the cement mixture they planned to use to seal the new well was unstable but still completed the work, staff for the presidential commission investigating the accident said in a letter Thursday.”
One reader suggests that pressing pound (#) during robocalls can get you off at least that caller's list, but an expanded button combo might work better.
The way I figure it, anything is worth trying to discourage those disruptive calls in the evening. Good luck, and let me know what happened.
It’s just another reminder of the world we live in now. Regardless of the counties we conquer and occupy, we aren’t going to stop extreme Muslims from attacking us, or the rest of the Western world.
Jihad, a religious war, was declared prior to 9/11, and is being waged every day and moment throughout the world. The U.S. needs to back out of the counties it currently occupies with military forces, and to increase peaceful diplomatic efforts across the globe. We need to use economic means to achieve goals instead of using our military might to make everything right. We also need to put more money towards national security at home, and that’s only possible if we quit pumping billions of dollars into countries we occupy, and bring our troops home.
The argument that troops on the ground are needed to enforce our will worldwide doesn’t hold up under the technology we have available to us. Drones have proven to be effective. We control the skies and the sea with our technology. Mix economic sanctions in and you have (what should be) a model for 21st geo-politics.
As It Stands, meanwhile let’s hope the quality of wannabe Muslim terrorists attacking us doesn’t improve!
Justice Department says he thought he was working with al-Qaida
“A Pakistani-born U.S. citizen was arrested Wednesday on charges of planning bombings at Metrorail stations in the Washington, D.C., area after an FBI sting operation, the Justice Department announced. "Farooque Ahmed, 34, of Ashburn, Va., was arrested today for attempting to assist others whom he believed to be members of al-Qaida," the department said in a statement.”
Sister Virginia Muller had never heard of shortstop Honus Wagner.
But she quickly learned the baseball great is a revered figure among collectors, and the most sought-after baseball card in history. And thanks to an unexpected donation, one of the century-old cards belongs to Muller and her order, the Baltimore-based School Sisters of Notre Dame.
The sisters are auctioning off the card, which despite its poor condition is expected to fetch between $150,000 and $200,000. The proceeds will go to their ministries in 35 countries around the world.
The card is part of the T206 series, produced between 1909 and 1911. About 60 Wagner cards are known to exist.
A near-mint-condition T206 Wagner card sold in 2007 for $2.8 million, the highest price ever for a baseball card. Muller remains aghast that the 1 1/4-inch-by-2 1/2-inch piece of cardboard could sell for even a fraction of that.
An equipment failure disrupted communication between 50 nuclear missiles and a launch control center over the weekend, although the Air Force never lost the ability to launch the missiles, officials said.
Air Force spokesman Lt. Col. Todd Vician said the break occurred early Saturday at Warren Air Force Base in Wyoming and lasted less than one hour. The White House was briefed about the failure Tuesday morning.
Photo – Getty Image
Pioneering TV cartoon artist Alexander Anderson Jr., who created Rocky the flying squirrel and Bullwinkle the moose, has died at age 90.
Growing up, Rocky & Bullwinkle were my favorite TV cartoon characters. I still laugh at their antics which can be seen on TV re-runs.
Most notably, the Cleveland, Ohio city team I played guard for in 1972, and the 101st MP team that I played small forward with in 1971 (we won the 5th Army Championship that year).
I played in men’s leagues up to 1991 until I sustained a back fracture rebounding. By then, I had broken both ankles, several fingers, both of my knee were in need of surgery, and I was overweight. Reluctantly, I retired from the sport I love. I tried playing briefly 1n 1993 but a back stabilization surgery ended that.
See Villafane Studios on FaceBook
“There are hundreds of plausible nominees for the title of America’s Second-Smarmiest Politician, but surely the top spot is un-contested.”
----------------------------------------------------
As It Stands “Scum of the Year” candidate, Grayson, has already earned the much coveted top spot on this blog.
----------------------------------------------------
“Americans of all political persuasions can come together in affirming one proposition: Public life would be improved by scrubbing Rep. Alan Grayson from it. This act of civic hygiene probably will be performed Nov. 2 by voters of Florida’s Eighth Congressional District. Polls indicate that a majority of them plan to deny Grayson, 52, a second term by electing his resonantly named opponent, Daniel Webster.”
By Dave Stancliff/For the Times-Standard
Posted: 10/24/2010 01:17:30 AM PDT
We seldom know the impact, negative or positive, we have had on people when we lose touch with them.
I remember when I was in fourth grade, a month into the new semester, my homeroom teacher and principal met with my parents. I was sure I was in trouble.
Instead, as it turned out, my teacher recommended I move up a grade. My parents thought it was a dandy idea, and I was devastated at the thought! All my friends were in fourth grade, and I didn't want to leave them.
The difference between the grades meant separation during recess. Fourth graders and below played on one side of the field -- fifth and six graders on the other. It was an invisible wall that couldn't be breached without consequences.
In the chaos of my new surroundings I found an unlikely friend; my English teacher, Mr. Moore. I'm not sure why he took me under his wing, but he did and I'm forever grateful. He opened up the world of writing to a lonely kid with a chip on his shoulder. I had an imagination without borders and he showed me how to unleash it on paper.
I still haven't written the great American novel, or any novel for that matter, but I've been happily writing for newspapers for decades. I still think about him. Mr. Moore will never know how much he meant to me. I'm sure he's long gone now.
Someone from my past thought that until last August. Like Mark Twain's famous quote, my death was greatly exaggerated. One of my former reporters (from The Desert Trail newspaper) recently wrote a column for The Ventura Star (A Wall Worth Remembering -- Aug. 27) and practically eulogized me.
It turns out the author, Woody Woodburn (Pictured above with his family), tried to find me for years. We parted ways in the mid-1980s. He knew I was a Vietnam veteran who was dealing with issues he could never understand. He feared -- he later told me in an e-mail -- that I was dead when he couldn't find me in the mid-1990s.
In his column, he talked about what an inspiration I had been to him and what a good person he felt I was. I found out about this column when my name popped up under a “Google Alert” on Aug. 27. I was surprised, more like shocked, and humbled. I had no idea how much I had meant to him.
Since then, we have exchanged e-mails and photos. We plan to get together the next time my wife and I go down south to where Woody and his wife, Lisa, live. Woody worked as a sports writer for a several publications, including the Daily Breeze in Torrance, Ventura County Newspapers, and the Ventura County Star.
He even wrote a book titled, “The Pirate Collection: Columns on a Decade of Dominance,” about Ventura College basketball. Woody has become a fixture in the Ventura community since the 1989 season when he wrote a heartwarming column about VC star Lester Neal, who rose from the depths of the Chicago Southside to become the Western State Conference Player of the Year.
To give you an idea how good a sports writer he is, Woody's column about Louis Zamperini, a gifted runner who competed in the 1936 Olympics, was included in the Best American Sports Writing series in 2001. That's hitting the big time.
Quite an honor for the tall, skinny young man fresh out of college I hired so many years ago. Woody also co-wrote a book with Wayne Bryan titled, “Raising Your Child to be a Champion.” Currently he writes a lifestyle column for the Ventura Star, is a freelance writer and is shopping around for an agent for his next book.
As It Stands, it just goes to show that sometimes you can make a more positive impact on people than you think.
PHOTO – Woody is wearing the yellow t-shirt. On his left is daughter Dallas. On his right is his son Greg, and wife Lisa.
Here’s a link to Woody’s column with the Ventura County Star
The last decade has been a turning point in American society where traditional norms and truth have fallen alongside the wayside and chaos ...
