December 17, 2011

Nikki Haley gives Romney the kiss of death

The national news acts like Haley's endorsement will seal a victory for him in the SC primary. If that had occurred in the first three months of her term, it might have helped.

Since then she has pissed off just about everybody in the state. The Republicans and even the Tea Party are less enamored of her. Her popularity is on a steep slide.

A WaPo writer made her seem like a hard charging reformer who wants to turn the state around. In reality, she has been the pettiest governor in memory. She is also the least transparent, and nobody trusts her.

She wanted to drug test welfare recipients. To bolster her case, she made up an outlandishly high % of job applicants who supposedly failed a drug test at the Savannah River Nuclear Plant. She also pre-determined the outcome of a committee considering joining the health care program after it passed. That wasted $1M dollars.

Those are only two of the stupid moves she has made. She is considered worse than The Applachian Trail Guide who lived in the governor's mansion for 2 terms.

Romney may win, but I would be surprised. If he does, it would be in spite of The Queen Bee and her knighting of him.

(If you think what I say is harsh, it doesn't compare to what the other side says about her.)

December 16, 2011

Tweets about McQueary's testimony in pretrial for Curley & Schultz

Dan Wetzel (@DanWetzel)
12/16/11 9:50 AM
For the ongoing McQueary testimony, transcribed live, follow @NateBauerBWI Warning, it's not pretty

Sara Ganim (@sganim)
12/16/11 9:37 AM
He told paterno: "i saw jerry with a young boy in the shower/that it was way over the lines and extremely sexual in nature

Sara Ganim (@sganim)
12/16/11 9:38 AM
Paterno said, you've done the right thing.

Sara Ganim (@sganim)
12/16/11 9:38 AM
he was slumped back in his chair, he said well im sorry you had to see that. it's terrible.

Sara Ganim (@sganim)
12/16/11 9:53 AM
Curley called 4 days after mtg and said they alerted 2ndMile, told him not to bring kids around

Sara Ganim (@sganim)
12/16/11 9:53 AM
McQueary: "I thought I was talking to the police"

Sara Ganim (@sganim)
12/16/11 9:54 AM
but he still saw jerry by himself in the facilities,
"i personally found it troubling and not right"

Sara Ganim (@sganim)
12/16/11 9:55 AM
"Coach Paterno did ask me … two or three months after that… if i was OK in relation to what i saw and if i was handling it ok

Sara Ganim (@sganim)
12/16/11 9:56 AM
"no question in my mind that I conveyed to them/I saw Jerry in the showers/that it was severe sexual acts/ that it was wrong/over the line


Bastids! If true, they all knew exactly what was happening. Teevee report said that McQueary was direct and forceful in his testimony.

I read a little of the transcribed tweets. Not for the faint of heart.

December 16, 2011

A Policeman With A Woman Trapped Beneath A Bus

A West Valley City police officer who put his own life on the line to comfort a critically injured woman trapped beneath a bus was recognized by his colleagues Thursday for his compassion.

West Valley Sgt. Mike Powell said officer Kevin Peck on Monday initially crawled beneath the bus to check the pulse of 24-year-old Aryann Smith, when the young woman suddenly grabbed his hand and told him not to leave her alone.

Ignoring the possible danger, Peck, a nine-year veteran of the department, remained beneath the Utah Transit Authority bus, holding Smith’s hand until medical personnel arrived. Smith suffered two broken legs that reportedly required surgery to repair.

"Nobody wants to be injured and be by themselves," Powell said. "What a horrible thing [it would be] to be alone and no one there."
<snip>
http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/news/53127345-78/peck-

Kudos to Sgt. Peck!

December 16, 2011

Houston DA convening grand jury to indict protestors for using PVC pipe as a 'criminal instrument'

Across the country, Occupy protesters have sparked a variety of official responses. Some have faced police in riot gear with pepper spray, while others have been nudged out by authorities for “health and safety concerns.” In Houston, where the protesters and the police had been relatively genteel, the authorities now are pursuing highly aggressive legal cases against a group of activists.

The cases involve seven people arrested while blocking the road to the Port of Houston on Monday on the felony charge of using or possessing a “criminal instrument” — referring to PVC pipe that the activists use to link themselves together to make arrest more difficult.

Even though a Houston district court judge dismissed the cases on Wednesday, saying the prosecutors had not shown probable cause for the felony arrest, the district attorney attorney’s office said Thursday that it would seek an indictment by a grand Jury.

“Highly unusual,” is how it was characterized by Sandra Guerra Thompson, a criminal law professor at the University of Houston Law Center. “What we’re talking about is civil disobedience. We have a long history in this country of people committing crimes to bring attention to social issues… At the same time, the government has in the past arrested people when they needed to maintain order… Generally in this type of passive resistance, you’re not going to see felony charges.”

More: http://usnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/12/15/9475696-houston-da-turns-up-the-heat-on-occupy-activists

He is bound and determined to convict these protestors for felonies. This will carry stiffer penalties and fines.

This is just WRONG! Bastid!

December 16, 2011

How To Indefinitely Detain Jamie Dimon

From Emptywheel:
Kagro X and I were engaging in a little thought experiment on Twitter to show how easy it would be to solve our dangerous bankster problem by indefinitely detaining them.
It turned out to be pretty easy to do. Here’s how.

First, before you indefinitely detain a bankster, you need to show either that he is,
A person who was part of or substantially supported al-Qaeda, the Taliban, or associated forces that are engaged in hostilities against the United States or its coalition partners, including any person who has committed a belligerent act or who has supported such hostilities in aid of such enemy forces.

Or, you need to show he has supported (using the Iraq AUMF that we’re keeping around to make sure the President’s authority isn’t limited to just al Qaeda),
another international terrorist group that the President has determined both (a) is in armed conflict with the United States and (b) poses a threat of hostile actions within the United States;

Now, making that case with Jamie Dimon is very easy to do, because his company, JP Morgan Chase, has materially helped Iran. We have several pieces of proof it has done so. First, there’s the Treasury Report showing that JPMC:

Gave a $2.9 million loan on December 22, 2009 to the Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines, which the Office of Foreign Assets Control has found to be involved in WMD proliferation
Advised and confirmed a $2,707,432 letter of credit on April 24, 2009, in which the underlying transaction involved a vessel identified by OFAC as blocked due to its affiliation with the same Iranian shipping line
Processed nine wire transfers between April 27, 2006 and November 28, 2008, which totaled $609,308, some of which involved sanctioned Iranian and terrorist entities
Transferred 32,000 ounces of gold bullion valued at approximately $20,560,000 to benefit a sanctioned Iranian bank on May 24, 2006
More: http://bit.ly/sMKQbX

He should be the first resident of one of those detention camps that the government claims are imaginary. I can imagine that he belongs there.

December 16, 2011

The Hardest Job

I believe that this time of year the hardest job is playing Santa. There are always a myriad of rules to learn to be an effective Santa. You have to know how to deal with a variety of situations, and not all of them involve kids.

It is the psychological toll of listening to kids that would undo me. There are always kids who bring impossible and heartbreaking requests. This year and in the past few years those types of requests have grown exponentially. More and more kids aren't just asking for toys and such. They are asking for food, shelter, jobs for their parents, and many other vital needs.

Santa should be a jolly old man of lore who brings toys to the good and coal to the bad. Now he is an existential branch of social services. Kids are pinning their hopes on him for the impossible.

I don't know how someone can sit and listen to earnest requests for help for others without breaking down. That would be like staring at hope and devastating disappointment in the face because you know what's coming on December 25th.

These kids are dead serious. They are counting on Santa to not just fill a stocking but to save a family or radically change desperate lives.

Our country has now come to this. The last best hope for kids is Santa. Never mind the better angels of our nature and the promise of living in America. Kids can see that help from most quarters is in short supply so they reach to one last avenue of hope.

If Santa is the best we can offer our kids in the way of hope of help then what good are we? What kind of grotesque version of the nation that once tried to pull kids up and out or at least help them along have we become?

If I was a Santa these days, I don't think I would sleep for a long, long time if ever again.

December 15, 2011

Occupy protesters shed felony charge for PVC possession ( yes, PVC)

Seven Occupy Houston protesters arrested during port demonstrations cannot be charged with possessing or using a "criminal instrument" – a felony in Texas – for their use of PVC pipe, a judge said Wednesday.

The Houston Police Department made the charge upon breaking up a demonstration at the Port of Houston, conducting in tandem with West Coast port occupations. The demonstrators used PVC “arm tubes” to lock their linked arms together, which prevented police from arresting them, according to a report in the Houston Chronicle. Houston police then called in the Houston Fire Department rescue team, the report said.

The HPD has used the "criminal instrument" against protesters on previous occasions, according to Attorney Randall Kallinen, who is representing one of the seven arrested on the charge. The charge usually does not hold up in court in these cases, but because it is a felony charge it has a chilling effect on would-be activists, he said.

“Everybody gets charged with criminal instrument. Everyone goes to jail, where they have a higher bail, and some of them can’t raise it. So there is a probability that they will remain in jail longer” than those arrested on the misdemeanor charges that are typical for peaceful protest.
<snip>
http://usnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/12/14/9454279-occupy-protesters-shed-felony-charge-for-pvc-possession

PVC? Seriously...
They will now arrest protestors for carrying anything, and use their vast legal imaginations to charge them with felonies.

They make McGyver's imaginative use of objects look like amateurism.

I dunno what country I live in, but it increasingly bears no resemblance to the one I grew up in.
I realize there were abuses of power then, but now they are codified in the law.

December 15, 2011

47 Smithsonian panoramic virtual tours of museum and exhibits

Never been to The Smithsonian? 47 Panoramic Virtual Tours

There are 47 virtual panoramas of the exhibits. They can be viewed from small to large images.

http://www.mnh.si.edu/panoramas/htmlVersion/index.html

Fun!

December 15, 2011

Attorney: Sandusky may have been teaching kids to shower

HARRISBURG, Pa. (WHTM) -
A Carlisle attorney who has joined Jerry Sandusky's defense team says the former Penn State assistant football coach may have showered with young boys because the children lacked basic hygiene skills.

Sandusky is accused of molesting ten boys he met through The Second Mile charity he founded for troubled youth.

"Some of these kids don't have basic hygiene skills," attorney Karl Rominger said. "Teaching a person to shower at the age of 12 or 14 sounds strange to some people, but people who work with troubled youth will tell you there are a lot of juvenile delinquents and people who are dependent who have to be taught basic life skills like how to put soap on their body."

Rominger, who spoke with abc27 News Tuesday, added that his college cross country coach often showered with the team.
<snip>
http://www.abc27.com/story/16319215/carlise-attorney-hired-by-sandusky

Now that's an offensive defense....



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December 14, 2011

Seal pup wanders into home and puts his flippers up

A wandering baby fur-seal wriggled through the cat-door of a Bay of Plenty house - and made himself at home on the couch.

A stunned Annette Swoffer thought she must have been hallucinating when she found the young pup hanging out with her cats in her kitchen on Sunday night.

The seal had made its way from the Welcome Bay waterfront, through the suburb's residential area, across busy Welcome Bay Rd, up a slip road, along Ms Swoffer's long driveway, under a gate, through the cat door and up some stairs before he was found in the kitchen about 9.30pm.

"I was in my office and I heard an awful racket down below... I thought the cats have brought a rabbit or something in so I went down and had a look - and there's a seal in my kitchen.

"I thought 'I'm hallucinating, this is just wrong'."

More: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10772980

That seal baby KNEW where it wanted to go!