One Heart Beat Away: Dr. Biden On Call

Not much to say, besides the man says whatever comes to mind. I would call that a gaffe, but gaffes usually have a kernel of knowledge or truth in them. This is just the rambling of an old man. Is it any wonder they keep him under wraps. So far we have 109 cases of swine flu in America and one reported death. On a purely anecdotal level I was in New York City today and did see a person wearing a mask. It seemed a bit out of place. From what I have heard they aren't all that effective in preventing the transfer, although I suppose wearing one can't really hurt.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Via HA:

BIDEN: I would tell members of my family, and I have, that I wouldn’t go anywhere in confined places now. It’s not that it’s going to Mexico, in a confined aircraft when one person sneezes, it goes all the way through the aircraft. That’s me. I would not be, if I had another way, another way of transportation, suggesting they ride the subway.

Like I said, the ramblings of an old man.

Update:

White House, We Are Sorry!

(CNN) — The White House apologized Thursday "if anybody was unduly alarmed" by Vice President Joe Biden's comments that seemed to suggest Americans should avoid air travel or confined spaces of any kind.

"What the vice president meant to say was the same thing that many members have said in the last few days," White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said. "And that is, if you feel sick, are exhibiting flu-like symptoms….that you should take precautions, that you should limit your travel."

Man Kills 6 and Himself with Car In Assassination Attempt on Queen Beatrix

A car ploughs through spectators in Apeldoorn, Netherlands, Thursday, April 30, 2009. The speeding car raced toward an open bus carrying Queen Beatrix and her family, during celebrations for the national Queen's Day holiday, careening through spectators. Dutch television says two people were killed and about a dozen injured. The small black car appeared to be deliberately heading at high speed toward the royal bus and passed within a few meters before it plowed into a stone monument. About 20 people were seen flying through the air after the car swerved across police railings, where crowds of people lined five or six deep to see the royal family pass on its way to a palace on Thursday. The TV put the number of casualties at 14. (AP Photo/Robin Utrecht, Pool) bc30

The attacker is in critical condition and apparently the attack was an assassination attempt on the Royal Family. Now its seven dead including the driver.

APELDOORN, Netherlands (Reuters) - A Dutchman deliberately drove his car toward an open bus carrying Queen Beatrix and her family on Thursday, killing five people and injuring 12 in a crowd watching the parade.

The black car driven by the 38-year-old missed the bus by four or five meters before slamming into a stone monument in central Apeldoorn, about 90 km (56 miles) east of Amsterdam.

Members of the royal family looked on in horror as the small Suzuki hurtled past and the popular Queen appeared visibly shaken when she appeared later on television on the Queen's Day national holiday.

"What started as a beautiful day has ended in terrible drama, which has shocked us deeply," Beatrix, 71, said in a brief address. She canceled further official festivities.

Obama Sets Personal Record for Misleading in One Conference

We all know about Obama's tendency to lie, exxagerate, say one thing while doing the other, last nights press conference was a buffet of nonsense that might be his personal best.


For starters:

His assertion that his proposed budget ''will cut the deficit in half by the end of my first term'' is an eyeball-roller for many economists, given the uncharted terrain of trillion-dollar deficits the government is negotiating.

--He promised vast savings from increased spending on preventive health care in the face of doubts that such an effort, however laudable it might be for public welfare, can pay for itself, let aloneyield huge savings.

--He pitched a remedy for Social Security's long-term crisis that analysts say won't fix half the problem.

There will be no entitlement reform, Pelosi and Reid don't want it and the President lacks the political will to fight his own base. His budget is a lie and swimming in the red. As for health care savings, this is a talking point on the left as they try and explain how certain actions will stop future illness, hence saving money. This in turn will balance out the hundreds of billions in extra spending the President plans. Add that to alleged savings from electronic records and the books will balance. In reality these unproven savings will be minimal but the costs will skyrocket.

The Biggest Lie of the Evening:

OBAMA: ''We began by passing a Recovery Act that has already saved or created over 150,000 jobs.'' -- from news conference.

THE FACTS: This assertion is dubious on several levels. For starters, the U.S. has lost more than 1.2 million jobs since Obama took office, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Even if Obama's stimulus bill saved or created as many jobs as he says, that number is dwarfed by the number of recent job losses.

But Obama's number is murky, at best. The White House has not yet announced how it intends to count jobs created by the stimulus bill. Obama's number is based on a job-counting formula that his economists have developed but have not made public. Until that formula is announced -- probably in the coming week or so -- there's no way to assess its accuracy.

Whatever the formula, economists who study job creation say it will require some creative math. That's because Obama has lumped ''jobs saved'' in with ''jobs created.

Saved jobs are as real as the health care savings he points to, they exist in his talking points but not in reality. Of course Obama, showing his "New Era of Responsibility" blames Bush, AP calls him on it:

OBAMA: ''Number one, we inherited a $1.3 trillion deficit. ... That wasn't me.'' -- in Missouri.

THE FACTS:

Congress, under Democratic control in 2007 and 2008, held the purse strings that led to the deficit Obama inherited. A Republican president, George W. Bush, had a role too: He signed the legislation.

Obama supported the emergency financial bailout package in Bush's final months -- a package Democratic leaders wanted to make bigger.

To be sure, Obama opposed the Iraq war, a drain on federal coffers for six years before he became president. But with one major exception, he voted in support of Iraq war spending.

The nonpartisan Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget has estimated Obama's policy proposals would add a net $428 billion to the deficit over four years, even accounting for his spending reduction goals. Now, the deficit is nearly quadrupling to $1.75 trillion.

Other whoppers, during the campaign Obama cautioned against ''sweeping statements about the cost-saving potential of prevention, however, are overreaching.'' , last night he said this

"I think one basic principle that we know is that the more we do on the (disease) prevention side, the more we can obtain serious savings down the road. ... If we're making those investments, we will save huge amounts of money in the long term.''

Of course in the real world here are the facts:

And a study released in December by the Congressional Budget Office found that increasing preventive care ''could improve people's health but would probably generate either modest reductions in the overall costs of health care or increases in such spending within a 10-year budgetary time frame.''

Lies and misdirection as the President blows smoke.

U.A.W Gains in Detroit: Some Chysler Bondholders Balk

What is there to say, the Union will continue to extract maximum benefits from the companies, they companies will not profit, and the government will fill in the balance with bailouts to ensure the UAW stays in business, with the understanding that the Union will continue to vote for the Democratic party. Basically our taxpayer dollars are being used do Obama can craft a massive political machine that will ensure Michigan will continue voting for him and his party. All paid for by you and me.

Under the deal approved Wednesday, the union would end up controlling 55% of Chrysler's privately held stock. That stock, which the union is accepting rather than $7 billion in cash it was owed by Chrysler, will be used to cover the future health care costs of 65,000 retired UAW members and their families...........

According to restructuring plans proposed this week, the union will have more than half the stock in Chrysler and a third of General Motors, meaning it will have tremendous influence, with the government, in determining the future of the companies.

The United Automobile Workers union said Wednesday that its members ratified a cost-cutting deal with Chrysler by a 4-to-1 margin.

“Our members have responded by accepting an agreement that is painful for our active and retired workers, but which helps preserve U.S. manufacturing jobs and gives Chrysler a chance to survive,” Ron Gettelfinger, the union’s president, said in a statement.

The prospect of a big ownership stake for the U.A.W. in G.M. has angered holders of billions of dollars in bonds, who stand to get only a fraction of the restructured company. As for Chrysler, the banks, hedge funds and others that lent it money have been promised only cash, not stock.

“We believe the offer to be a blatant disregard of fairness for the bondholders who have funded this company and amounts to using taxpayer money to show political favoritism of one creditor over another,” a group of G.M. bondholders said in a statement this week.

Oh you bondholders, unless you can ring something to the table to keep the Democrats in power you will get nothing!

In the last 20 years, the U.A.W. has donated more than $25.4 million to federal candidates, 99 percent of it to Democrats, according to OpenSecrets.org, a site that tracks campaign contributions.

The union ranks No. 16 on the group’s list of top 100 political donors, known as “heavy hitters.” The U.A.W. was well ahead of G.M., which gave $10 million in that period, ranking it 73rd. Chrysler and Ford Motor did not make the list.

Mr. Gettelfinger, the current president, has also been an effective, steel-nerved leader, and has managed to maintain the union’s importance in recent negotiations, even though the U.A.W. has lost nearly 200,000 members since he took office in 2003.

Mr. Gettelfinger’s influence stems in part from the fact that the U.A.W. represents nearly all the auto workers at the Detroit companies. (Workers at a few plants are represented by the I.U.E.) By contrast, airline workers are represented by multiple unions.

“The U.A.W. is so overwhelmingly dominant,” said Duane Woerth, former president of the Air Line Pilots Association. “You’re only talking to one union and that gives them more power.”

Mr. Woerth, whose union was involved in 22 bankruptcy cases involving big and small airlines during his tenure as its president, said the pressure that bondholders and other investors might put on the U.A.W. has been mitigated by Democrats’ support.

You don't say, so now we have the spectacle of Federal dollars pouring into the companies, the companes then being handed over to the UAW, and the Union pouring money and votes to the Democrats. No where in the article is it mentioned about building better ot cheaper cars.

Update:
Chrysler bondholders to Government and UAW, Drop Dead!

DETROIT — Last-minute efforts by the Treasury Department to win over recalcitrant Chrysler debtholders failed Wednesday night, setting up a near-certain bankruptcy filing by the American automaker, according to people briefed on the talks.

And why shouldn't they, its a rotten deal and the the reason the banks, who owned 70% of Chrysler's debt agreed was due in no small part to Obama's strong arm tactics.

Chrysler goes under, white house is calling it a surgical bankruptcy.

DETROIT--The bankruptcy case, which government officials envisioned as a swift, “surgical” process, was filed in United States Bankruptcy Court in New York, with the first hearing scheduled for Friday morning. It is the first time a major American car company has tried to restructure under bankruptcy protection since Studebaker in 1933.

Wine May Add 5 years to Life, Beer 2 1/2

Great News, as long as you don't abuse it.

April 30 (Bloomberg) -- Half a glass of wine a day may add five years to your life, a new study suggests. Drink beer, and you’ll live only 2 1/2 years longer.

Dutch researchers followed 1,373 men for more than four decades, noting their eating and drinking habits. Men who had about 20 grams of alcohol daily -- equivalent to a half a glass of wine -- had 2 1/2 years added to their life expectancy at age 50, compared with men who didn’t drink at all, according to the research published today in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health. Men who consumed only wine had twice as much added longevity.

Light alcohol intake was linked to lower cardiovascular, cerebrovascular and overall mortality in the study. Researchers had known that moderate drinking is tied to a lower risk of heart disease, possibly because of an increase in high density lipoprotein or so-called good cholesterol as well as a reduction in platelet clumping, making it more unlikely for clots to form. It is the first study to show that one kind of alcohol is superior to others in prolonging life, the researchers said.

“In this study, 70 percent of all wine consumed was red wine,”

Cold Case: 72 year old arrested for Connections to 25 Murders

Pretty sick, and the fact that they were still able to nail him after all this time is impressive.

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Los Angeles police believe a 72-year-old man charged with two cold-case killings is tied to two waves of Southern California serial killings involving as many as 25 victims.

LAPD Detective Richard Bengston says DNA matching former insurance adjuster John Floyd Thomas Jr. was found at five crime scenes spanning the killing-and-rape rampages in west Los Angeles in the 1970s and Claremont in the 1980s.

Police plan to reveal details of the case at a press conference Thursday.

Thomas was charged April 2 with murdering a 68-year-old woman in 1972 and a 67-year-old woman in 1976.

Fannie and Freddie Costs to Reach 290 billion

Lets just call it the gift that keeps on giving, from subsidyscope via The Economist. By the way that is just for 2009, overall the cost will be a cool 389 billion.

Federal subsidies to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are projected to reach $290 billion in fiscal year 2009 and total $389 billion between fiscal years 2009 and 2019. Using numbers from the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), Subsidyscope finds that the projected costs of subsidizing Fannie and Freddie exceed the aggregate subsidies provided by the Treasury's Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP), which are expected to total $356 billion over the same 2009-2019 period. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are government-sponsored enterprises that purchase mortgages and guarantee pools of mortgages. TARP is a U.S. Treasury program that purchases preferred stock and warrants from banks and other financial institutions, provides asset guarantees and makes loans to automotive companies.

One of the first posts I ever did was calling these monstrosities a quagmire, over 29 billion. Chicken feed!

Swiming in the Red: House Passes 3.5 Trillion Dollar Budget

What is there to say, Obama and the Dems are going to pass a budget that fundamentally damages the long term health of the Nation. Opportunity and prosperity will be replaced with enforced inequality and influence peddling as the primary way to become wealthy. As for the budget, it has been ripped apart as delusional, bleak as could be, and in denial of reality.Update: Associated Press Calls Obama out.

Total Deficit or Surplus (Percentage of GDP)

The Full CBO Breakdown.

The House today passed a $3.5 trillion budget outline that lays the groundwork for President Obama's ambitious initiatives on health care and education.

The 233-193 vote was largely along party lines. The Senate is expected to pass the budget later today, allowing Obama to commemorate his 100th day as president with a major legislative victory.

"It is a very happy day for our country," said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.)

The budget resolution extends tax cuts for families who make less than $250,000 each year, increases the size of Pell Grants and provides money for "clean energy" initiatives that Obama has proposed.

Republicans today continued to attack the budget, saying that such high spending levels will drive the federal deficit dangerously high. The deficit would hit $1.2 trillion in the fiscal year that begins in October and remain elevated through 2014, when it is projected to hit $523 billion.

"It puts all of this debt on the backs of our children and grandchildren," said House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio.). "This is not the American way."

But have no fear, Obama has called for a 100 hundred million dollars in cuts:

Via RightKlik:

Oh and the Bush tax cuts for the "wealthy" 250,000 expire in 2010 as well as Obama's 400 dollar and 800 dollar tax cut that he and the media are always crowing about will also expire.

China and The Dollar

There is a great deal of talk about China as the US creditor and how they have bankrolled the Government's spending for some time now. Just the other day China scaled back its purchase of US assets in an attempt to diversify its holdings. This week The Economist took a look at the whole picture of China and the dollar:

CHINA is America’s largest creditor. Thanks to a policy of piling up foreign-exchange reserves and investing most of them in dollar assets, China’s government bought around one quarter of the net increase in Treasuries over the past two years. But just as Washington needs to sell record amounts of debt to fund its soaring budget deficit and to bail out its banks, there are signs that Beijing’s appetite for American debt may be shrinking.

According to official figures, China’s reserves fell in January and February. Taking the first quarter as a whole they rose by just $8 billion, compared with $154 billion a year earlier.

So we have an apparent scale back, but how much do they currently have?

According to the official figures, China’s foreign reserves are $1.95 trillion. But Mr Setser (Council on Foreign Relations) reckons that the true figure is around $2.3 trillion if hidden reserves are included, such as those of the China Investment Corporation (CIC), the country’s sovereign-wealth fund, and the “other foreign assets” of the PBOC. Taking this wider measure of foreign-exchange reserves, and then adjusting for changes in the value of non-dollar reserves caused by swings in the dollar, Mr Setser reckons that China’s total reserves rose by around $40 billion in the first quarter, only one-fifth of their increase in the first quarter of 2008. On the face of it, this represents a big drop in China’s demand for foreign assets.

2.3 trillion, wow that is almost one year of Obama spending! So what are they holding:

What of the idea that China’s government has diversified into other currencies? Here, too, the statistics are hard to make sense of. The State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE), which manages the country’s reserves, does not disclose such details. America’s Treasury reports on foreigners’ investments in American securities, but these figures may understate China’s stash because China buys some dollar assets though non-American intermediaries. For instance Mr Setser and his colleague, Arpana Pandy, estimate that since mid-2006, China has accounted for around 30% of purchases of American Treasuries though London. If these flows are added in to Washington’s figures, China has about $1.5 trillion invested in dollar assets, of which about half are in Treasuries. This is about 70% of China’s total reserves. While that is down from over 80% in 2002, the drop largely reflects the weaker dollar, not a shift into other currencies.

The article points out that not all of the US assets bought by China are actually through the government. In many cases "private" hands in are buying assets for their own profit. Reading the article I wish they would expand on that subject. The hybrid nature of Chinese Capitalism makes me wonder how private some of that money actually is.


Conclusion:

What does this all add up to? China is trying to have it both ways. It wants to lessen its dollar exposure, but it also wants to hold down the yuan. The picture has been temporarily clouded by shifts in “hot capital” flows, but so long as China runs a large current-account surplus, its reserves will rise. In order to keep the yuan weak against the dollar, a large chunk of those reserves will end up in greenbacks. Beijing’s appetite may not match Washington’s growing need for cash. But China cannot sour on the dollar without letting its own currency rise.

Martha E. Stark: Corrupt Democrat of the Day

Power Corrupts, it always has and always will, this appears to be a textbook case of a person to comfortable in the job to the point that they confused the average perks with abusing the system.

Through her lawyer, Ms. Stark said she had done nothing wrong, and in a terse resignation letter suggested she had been pushed out.

“As I serve at the pleasure of the mayor, I hereby resign,” she wrote. “It has been my great honor to serve” and “I very much appreciate the opportunity.”

As recently as several weeks ago, buffeted by questions about her conduct, she sent an e-mail message to her staff saying “rumors of my demise (have been and are) greatly exaggerated!”

“Sorry you’re stuck with me,” she continued. “I’m not going anywhere.” She said the mayor had assured her “they want me around for the long haul.”

Aides to the mayor and city investigators declined to comment on what in the review of Ms. Stark appeared to have further eroded Mr. Bloomberg’s support for the commissioner.

Ms. Stark, whose resignation is effective at the close of business on Friday, will be temporarily replaced by Michael Hyman, deputy commissioner for the Tax Audit, Policy and Enforcement Division. During his 21-year career with the finance agency, he has also served as a senior analyst, director of research, and assistant commissioner for the Office of Tax Policy.

A City Hall spokesman said that there was no timetable for naming a new commissioner. The mayor is scheduled to release his latest budget proposal on Friday, but officials said Ms. Stark’s departure would not affect the content or presentation, because decisions had already been made.

And yes the word Democrat is never mentioned in the story.

North Korea Threatens Nuclear Test

Seems like the North Koreans are up to their usual behavior. First we had the missile launch, then we had the Euna Lee and Laura Ling, now these threats.

SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea on Wednesday threatened to conduct a nuclear test and also to test an intercontinental ballistic missile unless the U.N. Security Council apologizes for imposing sanctions against it.

The North's foreign ministry spokesman, in a statement carried by the official KCNA news agency, also demanded the Security Council withdraw all resolutions against the state for previous missile and nuclear tests.

"Unless the U.N. Security Council immediately apologizes, we will have no choice but to take inevitable additional self defense measures to protect the Republic's highest interest," the spokesman said.

"This will include a nuclear test and a test of a intercontinental ballistic missile."

The South Korean and Chinese foreign ministries had no immediate comment.

The Security Council imposed sanctions on North Korea following a ballistic missile launch in July 2006 and a nuclear test a few months later.

Who Was on Airforce One During the Overflight?

Who is on the manifest for the "training" mission that scared the hell out of New York? I would like to know, campaign donors, connections, loyal supporters, no one? As of now the cost is a cool 329,000 for the debacle.

In other news here is the latest info:

"To say that it should not be made public knowing that it might scare people it's just confounding," Sen. Charles Schumer said. "It's what gives Washington and government a bad name. It's sheer stupidity."

The flyover -- apparently ordered by the White House Office of Military Affairs so it would have souvenir photos of Air Force One with the Statue of Liberty in the background -- had President Obama seeing red. He ordered a probe and apologized.

"It was a mistake. It will never happen again," President Obama said.

The NYPD was so upset about the demand for secrecy that Police Commissioner Ray Kelly vowed never to follow such a directive again and he accused the feds of inciting fears of a 9/11 replay.

"Did it show any insensitivity to the psychic wounds New York City has after 9/11? Absolutely. No questions about it. It was quite insensitive."

The cost of the frivolous flight was about $60,000 an hour and that was just for Air Force One. That doesn't include the cost of the two F-16s that came along.

The fact that Ray Kelly has essentially declared he would not follow a Federal directive should tell you how stupid the the secrecy was in the first place.

Multiple Companies Submit Applications to Build New Reactors

As a strong supporter of Nuclear I found this interesting, no details yet as of where.

A list of companies that have announced their intent to submit applications to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for new plant licenses:

-- Alternate Energy Holdings/Unistar: One unit in Elmore County, Idaho

-- Amarillo Power/Unistar: One unit in vicinity of Amarillo, Texas

-- AmerenUE/Unistar: One unit in Callaway County, Mo.

-- Constellation/Unistar: One unit in Calvert County, Md.*

-- Constellation/Unistar: One unit in Oswego County, N.Y.

-- Detroit Edison: One unit in Frenchtown Township, Mich.

-- Dominion: One unit in Louisa County, Va.

-- Duke: Two units in Cherokee County, S.C.

-- Duke: Undetermined number of units in Davie County, N.C.

-- Duke: Undetermined number of units in Oconee County, S.C.

-- Entergy: Undetermined number of units in West Felciana Parish, La.

-- Entergy: Undetermined number of units in Claiborne County, Miss.

-- Exelon: Undetermined number of units in Clinton, Ill.

-- Exelon: Undetermined number of units in Victoria County, Texas

-- Florida Power & Light: Two units in Miami-Dade County, Fla.

-- Luminant: Two units in Glen Rose, Texas.

-- NRG Energy/STPNOC: Two units in Matagorda County, Texas.

-- PPL Corp./Unistar: One unit in Luzerne County, Pa.

-- Progress Energy: Two units in Wake County, N.C.

-- Progress Energy: Two units in Levy County, Fla.

-- PSEG: Undetermined number of units in Lower Alloways Creek, N.J.

-- South Carolina Electric & Gas: Two units in Fairfield County, S.C.

-- Southern Co.: Two units in Burke County, Ga.

-- TVA/NuStart Energy: Two units in Jackson County, Ala.

* AmerenUE has suspended plans for the project.

Source: Nuclear Energy Institute

From Scare Force One to Soaring Blunder, NY Papers Report the Flyover

A round up of yesterdays terrifying flyover.


The NY Post is Calling it "Scare Force One"

The Daily News: "Plane Stupid"

The NY Times:"Jet Flyover Frightens New Yorkers"

The WSJ is calling a "Soaring Blunder"

On Monday morning, one of the 747s used to ferry around the U.S. president was dispatched to the Statue of Liberty, escorted by a fighter jet. Assignment: Get some fresh glamour shots of the plane.

The Air Force said the flight needed to remain confidential. So while New York police knew about it, as did at least one person in the mayor's office, regular New Yorkers remained in the dark.

As a result, to onlookers Monday all across downtown Manhattan -- where the World Trade Center once stood -- the photo shoot looked like a terrorist attack. People watched in horror as a massive aircraft, trailed closely by an F-16 fighter jet, banked and roared low near the city, in a frightening echo of the events of Sept. 11, 2001.

Fearing the worst, thousands of people streamed out of the skyscrapers and into the streets. Some buildings ordered evacuations. "Oh God, it was mayhem in here, just mayhem," says Rubin Shimon, manager of Styling Haircutters, a barbershop near Ground Zero. Many people took shelter in the shop to call loved ones on their cellphones.

It was all over in a half-hour or so. Then the finger-pointing began. "I'm annoyed -- furious is a better word -- that I wasn't told," said New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg at a news conference. He'd been scheduled to talk about a swine-flu outbreak at a Queens school, but also sounded off at the federal government for its "badly conceived" flyover plan.

Opponent of Chavez Granted Asylum in Peru

Manuel Rosales on the Run

With Chavez cracking down its no wonder his opponents are fleeing for their lives, just the other day he arrested his former ally General Raúl Baduel, at gun point in front of his wife. Of course using the state to jail opponents is what Chavez does, and gets away with.

LIMA, Peru (CNN) -- Venezuela has blasted Peru's granting of political asylum to a Venezuelan politician wanted on corruption charges.

"Despite the amount of evidence, the Peruvian government decided to grant Manuel Rosales political asylum," Venezuela's government said in a statement Monday. "It's a decision that thwarts international law, inflicts a blow to the fight against corruption and is an affront to the people of Venezuela."

Asylum was granted to Rosales -- the mayor of Maracaibo, Venezuela -- on humanitarian grounds, Peru's foreign minister said earlier Monday.

Rosales, a leading political opponent who lost the 2006 Venezuelan presidential race to Hugo Chavez, faces charges of illegally enriching himself while governor of Zulia state. He was scheduled to turn himself in last week but instead fled to Peru.

Of course lets not forget:

Keep Alice Martin in Her Job

I found this in the morning, basically its a "progressive" site trying to figure out with members of the "politicized Bush DOJ" are still holding their position. Normaly I wouldn't do a post on another post, but this isn't the first time I have seen rumblings on the left so I am begining to wonder if pressure is starting to build there.

by Christine Bowman

BuzzFlash and a few other progressive news sites have noted that the Obama Administration is not in the least free yet of the legacy of the US attorney firing scandal of 2007 known as Prosecutorgate. Sure, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales was forced to exit in disgrace. Bradley Schlozman, Monica Goodling and Kyle Sampson also gained notoriety due to Congressional hearings. But the legacy of a deeply politicized Department of Justice (DOJ) remains. More independent-minded former US attorneys David Iglesias and Carol Lam, who failed to target Democrats for prosecution, are out. Prosecutors like Mary Beth Buchanan and Leura Canary, who have energetically targeted Democratic office holders, are in and still causing trouble.

US Attorney Mary Beth Buchanan, still heading up the Western District of Pennsylvania office, certainly personifies the problem if any one attorney does. In December 2008, having served since September 2001, Buchanan declared herself unwilling to give up her office -- Alice Martin of Birmingham, AL also refuses to bow out -- in defiance of the long-standing tradition that US Attorneys tender their resignations at the start of every new administration

I can't speak for Buchanan, But as for Martin she is involved in one of the most important corruption cases in the history of the United States. The collapse of Jefferson county Alabama and the widespread allegations of corruption against Mayor Larry Langford need to be investigated and if anything expanded upon.

• Is facing 101 counts on corruption and bribery charges
• The man who bankrupted Jefferson County Alabama
• Helped increase fees on middle and working class people
• The man who did it for designer suits and rolex watches.
• Mayor Langford's Culture of Corruption.
• Who helped J.P Morgan Chase and other Financial Groups overcharge by 100 million in fees Jefferson County.
• The same Mayor who has saddled his constituents with a billion dollar debt.

Florida Rejects Some Stimulus Money

There is no such thing as Free Money, and accepting stimulus money with strings attacked that increase the burden on business is madness.

Senator Anthony C. Hill Sr., Democrat of Jacksonville, conceded that the bill was dead for the annual session, which is supposed to end on Friday, although a budget stalemate may force legislators to extend the session by a few days.

Republican legislators say that they do not want to increase the burden on Florida’s unemployment trust fund when it is running out of money. Some statewide business groups, already bracing for an expected increase in unemployment taxes, also objected to the changes.

“The strings attached to the $444 million are going to potentially make a bad problem worse,” said Representative Adam Hasner, the House majority leader from Boca Raton.

Other Southern Republicans have raised protests about the unemployment benefits, saying that expansion could eventually require them to raise taxes. But Gov. Charlie Crist of Florida said he supported changing the law to draw the extra federal money.

“I think taking it is important,” Mr. Crist said. “I know the people need it, especially those who may be facing unemployment. I wish it would be reviewed again.”

Democrats have accused Republican lawmakers of leaving money on the table.

“The unemployed in Florida are being denied their share of the economic stimulus pie,” said United States Representative Kendrick B. Meek, Democrat of Miami, who accused the Legislature of putting “ideology over the people of Florida in their time of need.”

He who pays the piper calls the tune, states would be wise to remember that before they accept any "gifts" from the government.

Saberi Enters 5th Day of Hunger Strike

We can wish her luck, word is she is in tough straights as she enters the 5th day of her hunger strike in protest of her 8 year sentence. Wish her well and Gods speed.

Reza Saberi, the father of Roxana Saberi, who was sentenced to eight years of imprisonment this month on charges of spying for Washington, said his daughter also had lost about 10 pounds. Mr. Saberi spoke after he and his wife, Akiko, visited her in prison on Monday, a day after their daughter’s 32nd birthday.

Ms. Saberi started a hunger strike last week to protest her sentence and has demanded to be released. Her incarceration has become a new source of tension between Iran and the United States at a time when both countries have been making diplomatic overtures for improved relations after a 30-year estrangement. “She said she will continue her hunger strike until she is released,” Mr. Saberi said. “She drinks liquids but has refused to have food for seven days now.”

His daughter, who has worked as journalist in Tehran for six years, was arrested in late January for buying a bottle of wine, which is illegal in Iran. The charges against her gradually escalated to working illegally without a press card and then spying for the United States. Her press card was revoked in 2006.

Fear Returns to New York Courtesy of White House

Jim Brown, took this photograph from 10 Exchange Place in Jersey City, looking toward 77 Hudson Street and the Statue of Liberty. In the photo, the plane appears closer than it actually was.

In this case it was Luis Caldera, former Clinton Secretary of the Army and now director of the white house military office. Apparently it was for a photo-op, no word yet on why now and although they had sent an email to the Police Department about the flight, the NYPD has responded by saying they are not allowed to release the info, I am assuming for security reasons that is SOP.




It sends chills up my sign just looking at the pictures, as for the girl in the clip, you could hear it her voice.
From the Times:

But the exercise — conducted without any notification to the public — caused momentary panic in some quarters and led to the evacuation of several buildings in Lower Manhattan and Jersey City. By the afternoon, the situation had turned into a political fuse box, with Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg saying that he was “furious” that he had not been told in advance about the flyover.

At 4:39 p.m. Monday, the White House issued an apology for the flyover. Louis E. Caldera, director of the White House Military Office, who served in the Clinton administration as secretary of the Army, said in a statement:

Last week, I approved a mission over New York. I take responsibility for that decision. While federal authorities took the proper steps to notify state and local authorities in New York and New Jersey, it’s clear that the mission created confusion and disruption. I apologize and take responsibility for any distress that flight caused.

The flyover, which began around 10 a.m., resulted in widespread confusion and a flood of calls to emergency hot lines. Perplexed officials at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and other authorities were inundated with calls from anxious ferry passengers, office workers and residents.

The mayor said the Police Department and someone in his administration – he did not say who – received an e-mail from the Federal Aviation Administration late on Thursday, informing them that there would be “a fly-by for a photo-op, as they described it.”

But have no Fear Robert Gibbs is here!

Robert Gibbs, the White House press secretary, said Monday afternoon that he was unaware of the flyover. At his daily press briefing, Mr. Gibbs initially referred questions to the F.A.A. and the Air Force. When told that those government offices were referring questions to the White House, Mr. Gibbs said: “I have no information on this other than what I saw.”

Mr. Gibbs, pressed by reporters, said he had seen news reports of the flyover, but declared: “I was working on other things. You might be surprised to know that I don’t know every movement of Air Force One.” Later, he added that he would look into the matter.

What a Punk! Question, How long before Truthers run with this?

Obama's Taxes on Small Business

WaPo has a pretty good story on the damage to be inflicted on small businesses by the Obama admin. This is no surprise since the biggest winners of Obama economic plans will be the crony capitalists that make up so much of the democratic party, after detailing the story of small businesswomen Gail Johnson the story goes on to say:

Since last year's campaign, President Obama has vowed repeatedly not to increase taxes for families making less than $250,000 a year. That pledge, while politically popular, has left him with just two primary sources of funding for his ambitious social agenda: about 3 million high-earning families and the nation's businesses.

Johnson, with her company, falls into both categories. If Obama's tax plans are enacted, her accountant estimates that her federal tax bill -- typically, around $120,000 a year -- would rise by at least $23,000, a 19 percent increase.

"You hear 'tax the rich,' and you think, 'I don't make that much money,' " said Johnson, whose Rainbow Station programs are headquartered near Richmond. "But then you realize: 'Oh, if I put my business income with my wages, then, suddenly, I'm there.' "

No kidding, how do you think people on Long Island feel about the 250,000 mark. Out here to successful people, hardly rich by any standard could be in the mark. That includes middle class professionals such as teachers as well.

Across the nation, many business owners are watching anxiously as the president undertakes expensive initiatives to overhaul health care and expand educational opportunities, while also reining in runaway budget deficits. Already, Obama has proposed an extra $1.3 trillion in taxes for business and high earners over the next decade. They include new limits on the ability of corporations to automatically defer U.S. taxes on income earned overseas, repeal of a form of inventory accounting that tends to reduce business taxes, and a mandate that investment partnerships pay the regular income tax rate instead of the lower capital gains rate.

You should be nervous, wait till Obama increases energy costs or foists health care costs. Who knows what crazy regulations and fees these guys are cooking up as we speak. Of course its all about fairness and inequality, but in the real world its about increasing the burden on those most likely to create jobs:

Whatever the figure, Republicans argue that those who fall into the upper brackets tend to be firms with the greatest capacity for job creation. In a 2007 survey, the National Federation of Independent Business found that about 15 percent of small-business owners -- and half of those with at least 20 employees -- said they expected their household income to exceed $200,000. In the Washington region, Census figures show one in seven families earn more than $200,000 a year.

"For the vast majority of people who earn less than $200,000, raising taxes on higher earners might not sound so bad. Yet a lot of small businesses are in that category," Sen. Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa) said in a recent radio address. "Tell these business owners their taxes will go up; odds are, they'll cut spending . . . stop hiring and lay people off."

This is just one more disaster waiting to happen. Is it any wonder Obama may be liked, his policies less so.

Doctor Shortages in America

I know people who are doctors and there are several reasons for the shortage. First it is extremely tough to become a doctor. I knew a guy from his freshman year in college all the way through residency who now is part of a practice. Residency alone was an extraordinary amount of work and the battery of tests was a nightmare in itself. Now Obama is trying to Nationalize Health Care and this is only going to make matters worse:

The officials said they were particularly concerned about shortages of primary care providers who are the main source of health care for most Americans.

One proposal — to increase Medicare payments to general practitioners, at the expense of high-paid specialists — has touched off a lobbying fight.

Family doctors and internists are pressing Congress for an increase in their Medicare payments. But medical specialists are lobbying against any change that would cut their reimbursements. Congress, the specialists say, should find additional money to pay for primary care and should not redistribute dollars among doctors — a difficult argument at a time of huge budget deficits.

Some of the proposed solutions, while advancing one of President Obama’s goals, could frustrate others. Increasing the supply of doctors, for example, would increase access to care but could make it more difficult to rein in costs.

The need for more doctors comes up at almost every Congressional hearing and White House forum on health care. “We’re not producing enough primary care physicians,” Mr. Obama said at one forum. “The costs of medical education are so high that people feel that they’ve got to specialize.” New doctors typically owe more than $140,000 in loans when they graduate.

The President is only partially right, its not just the costs or even primarily the cost, its the demands and hurdles needed to become a doctor that are causing the shortage, and to be frank most of us are glad the process is so rigorous.

Solutions:

Miriam Harmatz, a lawyer in Miami, said: “My longtime primary care doctor left the practice of medicine five years ago because she could not make ends meet. The same thing happened a year later. Since then, many of the doctors I tried to see would not take my insurance because the payments were so low.”

To cope with the growing shortage, federal officials are considering several proposals. One would increase enrollment in medical schools and residency training programs. Another would encourage greater use of nurse practitioners and physician assistants. A third would expand the National Health Service Corps, which deploys doctors and nurses in rural areas and poor neighborhoods.

Senator Max Baucus, a Montana Democrat and chairman of the Finance Committee, said Medicare payments were skewed against primary care doctors — the very ones needed to coordinate the care of older people with chronic conditions like congestive heart failure, diabetes and Alzheimer’s disease.

“Primary care physicians are grossly underpaid compared with many specialists,” said Mr. Baucus, who vowed to increase primary care payments as part of legislation to overhaul the health care system.

The use of PA's and nurse practitioners is going to go through the roof, that is all ready taking place. As for increasing payments on Medicare and Medicaid, well they probably should but that is going to add to an enormous deficit we are running. And yes Government control does lead to waiting lists for the working and middle class:

The experience of Massachusetts is instructive. Under a far-reaching 2006 law, the state succeeded in reducing the number of uninsured. But many who gained coverage have been struggling to find primary care doctors, and the average waiting time for routine office visits has increased.

Massachusetts is instructive for the waiting lists and soaring costs that are becoming synonymous with the program:


Imagine that on a Federal level and Obama and the Democrats are full of it when they say "electronic" record keeping is going to somehow generate so much savings that it balances out the increased costs. In short its the typical talking point this admin uses when faced with fiscal reality. It sounds good and it can neither be proved or disproved but allows Obama and associates to argue with a straight face.

US Troops could stay in Mosul past June

Staff Sgt. Eddie Fonoti of the 25th Infantry Division Special Troops Battalion pulls security outside the Benham Monastery near Mosul, Iraq.

It might be needed and although the status of force agreement called for a withdrawal of US troops from cities by June 30, it was understood that the US would provide support over the deadline if needed and Clinton in Baghdad the other day hardly sounded defeatist.

WASHINGTON (April 14, 2009) – U.S. soldiers could remain in Mosul, Iraq, past June 30, when Iraqi forces are scheduled to assume full security responsibilities for the entire country, a senior U.S. military commander in the area said Tuesday.

Army Col. Gary Volesky, commander of the 1st Cavalry Division’s 3rd Heavy Brigade Combat Team, said in a video news conference from Iraq that the Iraqi government will make that determination.

“We are conducting an assessment right now with our Iraqi counterparts to determine what the way ahead is for security in Mosul,” Volesky said. “If the Iraqi government believes we should stay in Mosul to continue the security progress, we’ll support our Iraqi counterparts past 30 June.”

For Now Iraqi troops are still leading the security efforts and in time it will be their decision on keeping troops in the cities.

But, Volesky said, he remains confident in his Iraqi counterparts. He compared Iraqi forces during his previous deployment to Iraq in 2004 to now and called the Iraqis “100 percent” improved. The 25,000 Iraqi soldiers and policemen in his area of responsibility conduct independent operations daily and actually take the brunt of insurgent attacks in the city, he said.

“Insurgents have focused their attacks on the Iraqi security forces, and the Iraqis have not wavered at all,” he added.

Iraqis, for the most part, continue to lead the security effort there, with help from U.S. aviation, engineer and intelligence assets that the Iraqi military can’t provide themselves, Volesky said, but the Iraqis forces are doing well with what they have.

“They’re all in the lead right now,” Volesky said. “I don’t own a base, and I coordinate all of my operations with them. So, they’re doing those things today that we expect them to do when we eventually leave.”

Good Luck

GOP Pushes Nuclear

The other day Lamar Alexander mad a big push to build nuclear power plants as part of an energy policy for America, it is the right choice and he should keep pushing the subject. Democrats keep pushing alternate energy and green jobs, it is a questionable argument at best.





In reality alternate energy is a fraction of America's power. You will notice that 36% is hydro, which means dams, a frequent target of destruction by the left. As for Biomass, a big chunk of that is wood burning with Industrial production being the bulk of it. Mostly its paper mills and wood manufacturing plants, clearly this makes sense since they have the scraps on hand to fire up a boiler for generation purposes. Another chunk is ethanol production, whose negatives in financial and social cost clearly out weigh any alleged benefit. In short all the advertising in the world about green power cannot cover up the reality that renewable energy is barely fraction of what we need, and if one delves further into the data its clear that much of what is "renewable" energy in generated not through solar and wind, but through particular industries where it makes sense.

Flaws of Renewable:
1.Renewable Energy is Expensive and Capital-Intensive
2. Renewable Resources Are Often Geographically Remote
3. Lack of storage facilities for energy.(Electricity is difficult to store on a large scale.)

Swine Flu Cases Rising Across Globe

Most things I view as overblown or scare tactics, this one makes me nervous more then the usual pandemic fears. So far two in Kansas and now 8 in New York. New Zealand?

As health officials from New York to Mexico raced on Saturday to combat a rare and rapidly spreading influenza virus, eight students at a Queens high school tested positive for a type of influenza that is probably swine flu, and possibly the same strain that has killed as many as 68 people in Mexico City.

How bad is it?

Officials with the W.H.O. were discussing whether to declare an international public health emergency, a move that could involve travel advisories and the closing of borders.

In Mexico, where the flu outbreak is believed to have started, the president assumed emergency powers to deal with the crisis. All public gatherings were banned, including more than 500 concerts and sporting events and the popular bicycle rides on closed boulevards. A few dozen more suspected cases were reported.

Details are as of yet sketchy especially if the students had recently been to Mexico and we have a family quarantined in Texas. From what I have read this strain can be treated by tamiflu and a vaccine is in the works, either way I don't like it. Now we have a an Emergency Declared.
Facts on Swine FLU

From the CDC:

Swine Influenza (Flu)

Swine Influenza (swine flu) is a respiratory disease of pigs caused by type A influenza that regularly cause outbreaks of influenza among pigs. Swine flu viruses do not normally infect humans, however, human infections with swine flu do occur, and cases of human-to-human spread of swine flu viruses has been documented. See General Information about Swine Flu.

From December 2005 through February 2009, a total of 12 human infections with swine influenza were reported from 10 states in the United States. Since March 2009, a number of confirmed human cases of a new strain of swine influenza A (H1N1) virus infection in California, Texas, and Mexico have been identified. An investigation into these cases is ongoing. For more information see Human Swine Flu Investigation.

General Information about Swine Flu
Questions and answers and guidance for treatment and infection control

Human Swine Flu Investigation Apr 25, 2009
Information about the investigation of human swine flu in California

CDC Health Advisory April 25, 2009, 3:00 EST (03:00 PM EDT)
Investigation and Interim Recommendations: Swine Influenza (H1N1)
Distributed via Health Alert Network
CDCHAN-000281-2009-04-25-ALT-N

Why its such a Concern:

Fears of a lethal pandemic lie in the nature of flu germs, which mutate readily and can become virulent by exchanging genes with related influenza viruses. While the H5N1 bird virus that spread across Asia in the last few years, killing millions of fowl and several hundred people, never gained genes to spread easily among humans, the Mexican swine flu already has, said Malik Peiris, a microbiologist from the University of Hong Kong.

“The concern is that this virus has the ability to transmit from humans to humans because a number of the cases who got infection have had no direct exposure to swine,” said Peiris, who has studied the SARS and avian flu viruses. “That is certainly a cause for concern.”

Health officials said they are trying to determine how the virus gained its ability to infect and spread among humans.

Swine-Flu Emergency

Mexican President Felipe Calderon declared a swine-flu emergency, giving him powers to order quarantines and suspend public events in the nation, where 1,324 patients are hospitalized with flu-like symptoms.

Its now being viewed as a global concern.

Porter Goss: Pelosi a Liar

We Know!.

Porter Goss from the WaPo-Since leaving my post as CIA director almost three years ago, I have remained largely silent on the public stage. I am speaking out now because I feel our government has crossed the red line between properly protecting our national security and trying to gain partisan political advantage. We can't have a secret intelligence service if we keep giving away all the secrets. Americans have to decide now. A disturbing epidemic of amnesia seems to be plaguing my former colleagues on Capitol Hill. After the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, members of the committees charged with overseeing our nation's intelligence services had no higher priority than stopping al-Qaeda. In the fall of 2002, while I was chairman of the House intelligence committee, senior members of Congress were briefed on the CIA's "High Value Terrorist Program," including the development of "enhanced interrogation techniques" and what those techniques were. This was not a one-time briefing but an ongoing subject with lots of back and forth between those members and the briefers.

More:

Let me be clear. It is my recollection that:

-- The chairs and the ranking minority members of the House and Senate intelligence committees, known as the Gang of Four, were briefed that the CIA was holding and interrogating high-value terrorists.

-- We understood what the CIA was doing.

-- We gave the CIA our bipartisan support.

-- We gave the CIA funding to carry out its activities.

-- On a bipartisan basis, we asked if the CIA needed more support from Congress to carry out its mission against al-Qaeda.

I do not recall a single objection from my colleagues. They did not vote to stop authorizing CIA funding. And for those who now reveal filed "memorandums for the record" suggesting concern, real concern should have been expressed immediately -- to the committee chairs, the briefers, the House speaker or minority leader, the CIA director or the president's national security adviser -- and not quietly filed away in case the day came when the political winds shifted. And shifted they have.

I wrote this at the beginning of the week:

I suspect that many Democrats are terrified of a true investigation as their role in approving and their knowledge of interrogation techniques will be exposed. Imagine Pelosi explaining, yeah I knew about this stuff while under deposition from someone like Mark Levin! Levin himself announced yesterday on the radio that he would provide all the support possible as well represent anyone Obama decides to scapegoat. Imagine that!

CDR Financial Products, Illinois, and Governor Rod Blagojevich

It all is coming full circle, Democrats, the banks, CDR financial products. Just the other day TPM, among others noticed the muni-bond scandal with Illinois and their pension disaster. But to see the connection between Illinois and New Mexico and the Democrats is just striking. Grip-gate destroyed Richardson's career, here we have the disaster of Blagoevich and all that entailed.

April 24 (Bloomberg) -- Ex-Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich’s top fundraiser represented CDR Financial Products Inc., an advisory firm under investigation in a federal pay-to- play probe in New Mexico, official Illinois e-mails show.

Milan Petrovic, who raised $1.96 million for Blagojevich, introduced CDR to Illinois budget and debt officials, according to e-mails obtained under a public records request. He and his lobbying firm also donated $20,000 to New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson, a one-time Democratic presidential candidate who withdrew from consideration as U.S. Commerce Secretary following disclosure of the CDR probe.

Richardson “is a public official I admire,” Petrovic, 43, said in a telephone interview, declining to comment further.

CDR, based in Los Angeles, has drawn federal scrutiny in Pennsylvania, Florida and New Mexico since 2004. The Justice Department is looking into whether CDR was awarded $1.5 million in bond and interest-rate swap work in New Mexico in 2004 in exchange for $100,000 in donations to Richardson political committees, according to people familiar with the matter.

I find this next part stunning:

Political Adviser

In Illinois, Petrovic has also represented Stratton & Associates, a Denver-based consulting firm run by a senior political adviser to Richardson, state lobbying records show. Stratton lobbied on CDR’s behalf in New Mexico, according to William Sisneros, chief executive officer of the New Mexico Finance Authority.

Stratton principal Michael Stratton, a senior political adviser to Richardson in his 2008 presidential campaign, didn’t return calls and e-mail requesting comment.Petrovic and his firm, Chicago-based Advanced Practical Solutions, contributed $20,000 to Richardson’s campaign and political action committees in 2004 and 2005, New Mexico political finance records show. Petrovic’s friends, business associates and clients donated at least $50,500 to Richardson.

Illinois to New Mexico

Altogether, Illinois residents and companies contributed more than $400,000 to Richardson’s re-election from 2004 through November 2006, New Mexico campaign records show.

Stratton's Role in New Mexico:

It is a standard practice that along with campaign donations CDR would hire close associates of Elected Democrats as Consultants to funnel cash directly into the pockets of the friends of Democrats. In Philadelphia it Ron White who was close a fund raiser and associate of Mayor John Street. He received a 5,000 dollar retainer and super bowl tickets for his work. Here it is Mike Stratton, a close friend Richardson.

By BARRY MASSEY – 19 hours ago

SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — One of Gov. Bill Richardson's close friends and advisers worked as a consultant for the California firm at the center of a federal pay-to-play probe that derailed the governor's appointment as commerce secretary.

Mike Stratton's consulting firm worked for CDR Financial Products to advise on business in New Mexico at the time the company was hired to work on bond deals with the New Mexico Finance Authority.

Federal investigators are now scrutinizing whether CDR's work, for which it earned nearly $1.5 million in fees, was influenced by political contributions that CDR and its chief executive David Rubin made to Richardson's political committees.

Stratton, a longtime Democratic political consultant, has been friends with Richardson for more than 25 years. He advised Richardson — and raised money for him — during the governor's failed bid for the 2008 presidential nomination.

In addition Stratton worked for the Democrat Governors association when Richardson was the head of that body. That position would have been a great way to meet and greet across the nation and build up contacts on a state and local level. The edges are fraying and this scandal will explode, we can only hope it doesn't destroy the 2.6 trillion dollar muni bond market in the process.