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Source: Los Angeles Times Posted on 05.15.08 by Steve Trinward “Republican John McCain, in a speech forecasting what the country would look like after his first term in office, said today that he expects the war in Iraq to be won and most troops to be home by January 2013. The prediction marks a major departure for McCain, who railed against rival Mitt Romney shortly before the Florida primary for his remark in April 2007 that he thought President Bush and Iraqi leaders should privately discuss a timetable for withdrawing troops from Iraq. At the time, McCain suggested that the comment would embolden America’s foes in Iraq. The Arizona senator leveled the same criticism at Democratic Sens. Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton, stating that their advocacy for withdrawing troops from Iraq amounted to setting a date for ’surrender.’” [editor’s note: Keep rattlin’ them sabers, Old John; time for housecleaning, anyway - SAT] (05/15/08) Link: http://tinyurl.com/4sgpgf Filed under: CANDi News and PND News and RRND News | |
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Source: Arizona Republic Posted on 05.15.08 by Steve Trinward “Sweet sorghum is grown in the U.S. for cooking and livestock feed. But the tall plant also could help at the gas pump. A sugary sap inside the plant’s stalk, which grows as tall as 12 feet, can be turned into a potent biofuel, and experts and companies are studying its potential with hopes that farmers will want to plant more of it. Ethanol made from the stalk’s juice has four times the energy yield of the corn-based ethanol, which, unlike sweet sorghum, is already in the marketplace. Sweet sorghum produces about eight units of energy for every unit of energy used in its production. That’s about the same as sugarcane but four times as much as corn.” (05/15/08) Link: http://tinyurl.com/6s4hqn Filed under: CANDi News and PND News and RRND News | |
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Source: Tennessean Posted on 05.15.08 by Steve Trinward “Most of a $30 million fund for land and soil conservation programs in Tennessee appears likely to fall victim to the state’s budget crunch. Lawmakers confirmed Thursday that they plan to use about $12 million from the fund to help make up for a rejected plan to end a tax exemption for family-owned businesses. Gov. Phil Bredesen has proposed using another $12 million from the pool to help bridge other budget gaps. That real estate transfer tax money is currently spent on wetlands acquisition, local and state parks and soil conservation. The fund is drawn from a 37-cent tax on every $100 of real estate deals. Bredesen’s original budget plan this year had envisioned restoring the fund its full $30 million level after it had been raided for other purposes in previous years. But that was before the extent of the budget shortfall for the upcoming budget year became clear earlier this month.” [editor’s note: Sure, anything’s fair game to avoid CUTTING that bloated budget! - SAT] (05/15/08) Link: http://tinyurl.com/5rhpcz Filed under: CANDi News and PND News and RRND News | |
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Source: Tennessean Posted on 05.14.08 by Steve Trinward “Homeowners near Egyptian Lacquer Manufacturing Co. say they’re prepared to take the paint manufacturer to federal court to sue them to clean up the pollution under their homes if action on the matter isn’t taken in the next three months. Environmental attorney Elizabeth Murphy says three homeowners she represents are worried about their health, families and homes because of the continued exposure to pollution flowing to Liberty Creek and the Harpeth River.” [editor’s note: It will be interesting to watch this story, since back before federal courts intervened (back in the 1930s IIRC?) to protect corporatist polluters, this was how “water pollution disputes” were settled … in court! - SAT] (05/14/08) Link: http://tinyurl.com/4sgxbd Filed under: CANDi News and PND News and RRND News | |
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Source: Christian Science Monitor Posted on 05.14.08 by Steve Trinward “Between the gas pump and the grocery checkout, Americans have plenty of reasons to list inflation as Economic Enemy No. 1. But how bad is it, really? The short answer: bad enough, but don’t judge the problem only by what it costs to fill a fuel tank. It’s not surprising that many people feel as if inflation is running hotter than the government’s consumer price index (CPI) suggests: just under 4 percent over the past year. … Another cause for worry: Wages are not keeping up with inflation.” [editor’s note: When do they ever? - SAT] (05/15/08) Link: http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0515/p01s04-usec.html Filed under: CANDi News and PND News and RRND News | |
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Source: Arizona Republic Posted on 05.14.08 by Steve Trinward “An executive order signed by Gov. Janet Napolitano has prompted state police to cancel a $1.6 million agreement with the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office and, instead, use the money to create a fugitive task force. The move effectively stripped two squads of Sheriff’s Office deputies from a statewide multiagency team designed to go after crimes dealing with human smuggling. It also took away Arpaio’s ability to tap some of the squad members to supplement immigration sweeps at the state’s expense. In response, Sheriff Joe Arpaio accused the governor of orchestrating with others to pull the money from his department as political payback. House Speaker Jim Weiers, R-Phoenix, meanwhile, called for an audit of the Department of Public Safety.” [editor’s note: Some of the stuff happening in this state … at ALL levels of gummint! Ernie Hancock must be drooling, once again - SAT] (05/14/08) Link: http://tinyurl.com/5ak7ka Filed under: CANDi News and PND News and RRND News | |
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Source: San Francisco Chronicle Posted on 05.14.08 by Steve Trinward “A federal appeals court blocked the Bush administration’s plans today for logging three tracts in the northern Sierra and said the government has failed to justify a critical element in its plan for the forests — selling trees to lumber companies to pay for removing brush that increases the threat of fire. Preventing fires is important, ‘but are there no alternative ways of getting money to do the clearing?’asked the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco. The court said the U.S. Forest Service has not explored the obvious alternatives: finding the money elsewhere in its budget or asking Congress for more.” (05/14/08) Link: http://tinyurl.com/5gbtbx Filed under: CANDi News and PND News and RRND News | |
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Source: Fox News Posted on 05.14.08 by Steve Trinward “A former Washington state social worker has been accused of faking brain cancer to avoid work. Theft charges were filed Tuesday against 40-year-old Sandra Dee Martinez, formerly of Mountlake Terrace, who was employed by the Department of Social and Health Services in Arlington. According to investigators, Martinez presented fake letters that appeared to be from doctors saying she had malignant brain tumors. Prosecutors wrote that she received $21,000 worth of paid leave and took advantage of sick days donated by co-workers last year. Prosecutors wrote that Martinez came under scrutiny after using a neighbor’s computer and leaving one of the letters on the printer. Arlington Police Chief John Gray says Martinez has moved to another state and won’t speak with investigators.” (05/14/08) Link: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,355773,00.html Filed under: CANDi News and PND News and RRND News | |
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Source: Fox News Posted on 05.13.08 by Steve Trinward “Texas child welfare officials conceded Tuesday that a newborn’s mother, held in foster care as a minor after being removed from a polygamous sect’s ranch, is an adult. A Child Protective Services attorney told state District Judge Barbara Walther that the mother of a boy born April 29 is not a minor, as CPS had claimed as justification for holding her. The woman had been held along with more than 400 children taken last month from a west Texas ranch run by the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. State officials say the children were endangered by underage and polygamous spiritual marriages.” [editor’s note: And if this surprises anyone, they’ve just not been watching close enough - SAT] (05/13/08) Link: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,355504,00.html Filed under: CANDi News and LAND News and PND News and RRND News | |
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Source: Christian Science Monitor Posted on 05.13.08 by Steve Trinward “Rather than send her kids off on the yellow bus, Briana LeClaire has school come to her home. Her kids attend a virtual public school, connecting online to teachers and coursework. Everything from books to microscopes to radish seeds arrives via brown trucks. Mrs. LeClaire describes it as the 21st-century, middle-class version of the private tutor. Her 6th-grader can move quickly through her strong subjects, such as literature, and spend more time on her weaker areas, like math. Enrollment in online classes last year reached the 1 million mark, growing 22 times the level seen in 2000, according to the North American Council for Online Learning. That’s just the start, says a new paper by the Hoover Institute, a conservative think tank at Stanford University. Its authors predict that by 2019 half of courses in Grades 9 to 12 will be delivered online.” (05/14/08) Link: http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0514/p03s08-usgn.html Filed under: CANDi News and PND News and RRND News | |
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Source: Arizona Republic Posted on 05.13.08 by Steve Trinward “Arizona Sen. John McCain broke with the Bush administration and Republican Party orthodoxy Monday as he not only declared global warming real, but reached out to Democrats and independents with a free-market solution that includes capping carbon-fuel emissions. The GOP presidential contender also prodded China and India, two major emitters of the greenhouse gases blamed for the planet’s warming, to join the effort, although he muted planned talk of tariffs against them in favor of ‘effective diplomacy’ to encourage their compliance. An aide later said that McCain didn’t want to be interpreted as being ‘at odds with his commitment to open trade.’ [editor’s note: Let’s hope the “true conservatives” are willing to hold Old John’s feet to the fire on this claim, even though neither has the foggiest idea what “free trade” actually means - SAT] (05/13/08) Link: http://tinyurl.com/3jd9xs Filed under: CANDi News and PND News and RRND News | |
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Source: Boston Globe Posted on 05.13.08 by Steve Trinward “Sponsors of a measure to halt shipments of oil to the US Strategic Petroleum Reserve — offered as a way to help bring down record gasoline prices — say they are confident the bill will pass. The proposal was the lone measure endorsed in both Senate Republican and Democratic gasoline price plans. House and Senate plans set for a vote today would halt deliveries to the reserve until December unless oil falls to $75 a barrel for more than 90 days. ‘Everyone expects it to pass,’ said Bill Wicker, a spokesman for New Mexico Democrat Jeff Bingaman, speaking of Senate prospects. ‘Oil got up to $125 per barrel, and it no longer made sense,’ Wicker said of Republicans decision to support the measure.” (05/13/08) Link: http://tinyurl.com/4vgbtd Filed under: CANDi News and PND News and RRND News | |
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Source: Boston Globe Posted on 05.12.08 by Steve Trinward “A group of antitax activists launched a campaign over the weekend to abolish the state income tax, setting the stage for a contentious public battle if the measure is added to the ballot this fall. After pushing a similar initiative that almost passed six years ago, a group called the Committee for Small Government is back for another round, asking voters to end the income tax and save the average taxpayer $3,600 a year. The group, led by libertarian Carla Howell, is almost certain to gather the 11,000 signatures needed to put a question on the November ballot. To say that state officials are worried about the prospect would be an understatement.” [editor’s note: Go, Carla! As this battle continues, they may get closer and closer each time, until … dare we speak? Taxachusetts sheds its moniker? - SAT] (05/12/08) Link: http://tinyurl.com/5brr3v Filed under: CANDi News and PND News and RRND News | |
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Source: Fox News Posted on 05.12.08 by Steve Trinward “Ron Paul has no chance of winning the Republican presidential nomination this year, but he continues to head toward the party’s National Convention with an ardent group of supporters and a second-phase strategy aimed at raising the profile of his libertarian-leaning issues. John McCain locked down the delegates he needs to win the nomination two months ago, but Paul continues to be a draw on primary ballots. Just last week in North Carolina, Paul took 7 percent of the vote along with five convention delegates. He similarly won 8 percent of the votes in Indiana, although he didn’t pick up any delegates there.” [editor’s note: If Ron has an agenda in mind, it’s still open to speculation; one can only hope it has something to do with injecting a little liberty into the GOP program somehow - SAT] (05/12/08) Link: http://tinyurl.com/5amdbb Filed under: CANDi News and PND News and RRND News | |
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Source: Arizona Republic Posted on 05.12.08 by Steve Trinward “When Maulit Shelat heard about the Bush administration’s plan to pump up the economy by sending out stimulus checks, he sat down with his wife and drew up a list of priorities. But Shelat is married to a foreigner who hasn’t completed the often years-long process that would let her apply for a Social Security number. Because they filed jointly, her not having that number makes him ineligible for the rebate checks that started going out last week. He is among an estimated hundreds of thousands of taxpayers — from legal immigrants to soldiers based abroad — who won’t be getting a share of the stimulus package because of a provision aimed at preventing illegal immigrants from getting rebates.” [editor’s note: Did anyone not know this was a scam to sniff out “illegals?” - SAT](05/12/08) Link: http://tinyurl.com/6xx5wt Filed under: CANDi News and PND News and RRND News | |
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Source: San Francisco Chronicle Posted on 05.11.08 by Steve Trinward “By declaring bankruptcy, Vallejo has thrust itself into the national spotlight as a test case for thousands of floundering cities desperate to unload their extravagant public employee contracts. ‘There’s a wave of this coming across the U.S.,’ said Sajan George, an adviser to struggling public entities who worked on restructuring Orange County after it declared bankruptcy in 1994. ‘What happens in Vallejo could definitely set a precedent.’ Battered by the plummeting housing market and skyrocketing public employee contracts, Vallejo made dubious history Tuesday night by becoming the largest California city to declare bankruptcy. The North Bay city of 117,000 was on track to start the fiscal year July 1 with a $16 million deficit and no money in reserve.” (05/11/08) Link: http://tinyurl.com/6bketo Filed under: CANDi News and PND Events and RRND News | |
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Source: Christian Science Monitor Posted on 05.11.08 by Steve Trinward “Fans compare him to Barack Obama, but Cedomir Jovanovic’s youthful calls for change are not nearly as popular in his native Serbia — especially since he accepts Kosovo’s independence. Though popular among trendy urbanites, Mr. Jovanovic and his Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) have so far mustered only 6 to 7 percent support nationwide, according to polls. But he’s no stranger to altering the course of a nation: A leader of the 1990s student protests against former President Slobodan Milosevic in the 1990s, he helped negotiate his surrender in 2001. So ‘Ceda,’ as he is known, has no illusions about toppling the government in May 11 parliamentary elections. Rather, he’s settling in for a long battle.” (05/07/08) Link: http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0507/p04s01-woeu.html Filed under: CANDi News and PND News and RRND News | |
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Source: The Local [Germany] Posted on 05.08.08 by Steve Trinward “A Muslim girl in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia cannot skip co-ed swimming lessons because of religious prohibitions against wearing formfitting clothing, a German court ruled on Wednesday. The administrative court in Dusseldorf ruled that the state’s responsibility to educate the girl outweighed the potential infringement on her religious freedom. The 12-year-old girl’s parents sued her school in the northern German city of Remscheid after the school refused to allow the girl to skip swimming class. Citing religious reasons, the parents said they did not want their daughter to participate because her body would not be covered. The ruling means the girl must participate in swimming lessons starting next week, Sabine Ernst of the Alexander von Humboldt School told German news agency DDP. Ernst declined to state what the consequences could be if the girl declines to attend.” (05/08/08) Link: http://www.thelocal.de/11755/20080507/ Filed under: CANDi News and LAND News and PND News and RRND News | |
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Source: Fox News Posted on 05.08.08 by Steve Trinward “Code Pink is now resorting to witchcraft to beef up the number of its supporters protesting Berkeley’s controversial Marine Corps Recruiting Center. The women’s anti-war group has told ralliers to come equipped with spells and pointy hats Friday for ‘Witches, clowns and sirens day,’ the last of the group’s weeklong homage to Mother’s Day. ‘Women are coming to cast spells and do rituals and to impart wisdom to figure out how we’re going to end war,’ Zanne Sam Joi of Bay Area Code Pink told FOXNews.com. The group’s week of themed protests, which included days to galvanize grannies and bring-your-daughter-to-protest, appears to have done little to boost its flagging numbers.” (05/08/08) Link: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,354400,00.html Filed under: CANDi News and PND News and RRND News | |
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Source: Boston Globe Posted on 05.08.08 by Steve Trinward “A major Wall Street firm agreed to return $37 million to 17 cities and towns in the state, as well as to the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority, after it allegedly misled them into buying investments they thought were as safe as cash. UBS Financial Services Inc. reached an agreement with Attorney General Martha Coakley after she found that the brokerage had not fully disclosed the risks of the investments, known as auction-rate securities. Cities were unable to get their hands on their money when the market for these investments evaporated almost overnight. Winchester, which had invested more than any other town, will receive $6.8 million in the settlement. The turnpike will receive $4.4 million, and the city of Holyoke and its retirement system will get $3.2 million.” [editor’s note: Fascinating, how if someone bilks consumers, all it is a reason to slap their hands, but if they bilk a government entity … it’s payback time? - SAT] [editor’s note: Even more fascinating is that these wise and all-knowing pols would believe that securities are “safe as cash.” Any investment that’s as safe as cash will be as “profitable” as stuffing that cash in your mattress to inflate. Profit comes from RISK - TLK] (05/08/08) Link: http://tinyurl.com/6hybbq Filed under: CANDi News and PND News and RRND News | |
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Source: Christian Science Monitor Posted on 05.07.08 by Steve Trinward “With a nationwide housing crisis far from over, the risk of future mortgage losses is rapidly shifting from the private sector toward government — and potentially US taxpayers. This is occurring partly by choice, as policymakers try to stop a wave of foreclosures. It is also happening by circumstance, as the crisis has left government-linked entities as the lenders of last resort in a troubled marketplace. One symbol of rising risks came on Tuesday, as mortgage giant Fannie Mae announced a $2.2 billion loss for the year’s first quarter. The Federal National Mortgage Association, the official name that has been shortened to Fannie Mae for convenience, is not officially part of the government. But its public charter, created in the wake of the Depression, is to help make sure that home loans remain available in bad times as well as good.” (05/08/08) Link: http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0508/p02s01-usec.html Filed under: CANDi News and PND News and RRND News | |
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Source: CNN Posted on 05.05.08 by Steve Trinward “An Iranian official says the government wants the United States to stop its ’savage attacks’ in Iraq before its envoys hold more talks with U.S. and Iraqi officials, Iran’s Fars News Agency reported. ‘Under the current circumstances and given the U.S. widespread attacks against Iraqi people in different cities, Iran does not feel these negotiations are necessary,’ an unnamed official told Fars. The official — described as a senior member of Iran’s negotiating team — delivered the remarks as U.S. and Iraqi troops have been fighting Shiite militants in Baghdad and in Basra. The Bush administration says many of these fighters have backing from Iranian agents.” (05/05/08) Link: http://tinyurl.com/48olj4 Filed under: CANDi News and PND News and RRND News | |
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Source: San Francisco Chronicle Posted on 05.05.08 by Steve Trinward “Struggling Giants pitcher Barry Zito will make $14.5 million this year. Mark Yudof, the new head of the University of California, earns $591,000 plus perks. Hillary and Bill Clinton grossed an estimated $20.4 million in 2007, while Barack Obama’s family took in $4.2 million. A fire captain in the financially stressed town of Vallejo earns $250,000. And the head of a street maintenance crew filling potholes on your block may be making $107,000. A flood of newly available information about the paychecks of everyone from street cleaners to corporate chief executive officers to athletes is turning up on the Internet and elsewhere and that, in turn, has turned up the heat on an age-old debate: How much pay is too much?” (05/05/08) Link: http://tinyurl.com/4d6f28 Filed under: CANDi News and PND News and RRND News | |
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Source: Arizona Republic Posted on 05.05.08 by Steve Trinward “As college tuitions continue to outpace inflation, a new study finds that students are a growing source of revenue for colleges but little of that money is going into classroom instruction. And, it says, while enrollments, revenue and total spending have increased over the years, the percentage of students who complete a degree hasn’t grown nearly as dramatically. The findings fuel rising concerns about whether the investment in higher education by families and taxpayers translates into better results. Higher education leaders typically argue that spending increases are necessary to maintain educational quality, but ‘what we see across a broad range of indicators is that states and institutions are spending money in areas that may not be in line with the public priority of preparing more graduates,’ said report author Jane Wellman, director of the Delta Cost Project, a Washington-based non-profit.” (05/05/08) Link: http://tinyurl.com/459mau Filed under: CANDi News and PND News and RRND News | |
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Source: Fox News Posted on 05.05.08 by Steve Trinward “The police chief in Riverdale accidentally shot himself in an ankle while demonstrating how to dislodge a jammed handgun. Chief Dave Hansen was taken to McKay-Dee Hospital in Ogden for surgery. The 54-year-old chief accidentally fired a gun during a training exercise inside a conference room at Riverdale police headquarters. A fire captain and Riverdale Mayor Bruce Burrows confirmed the chief shot himself Saturday in an ankle bone. They said he was trying to fix a gun with a jammed round when the bullet fired. Riverdale police officers carry .40-caliber pistols. Hospital supervisor Rohn Larsen said Hansen was in stable condition Sunday. Larsen said he couldn’t reveal which ankle — left or right — the chief shot.” (05/05/08) Link: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,354149,00.html Filed under: 2AM News and CANDi News and PND News and RRND News | |
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Source: Christian Science Monitor Posted on 05.05.08 by Steve Trinward “Farmers in Ethiopia are better off now than they were four years ago, in part due to better-than-average rains and rising grain prices globally. But there’s another reason: Africa’s largest beneficiary of foreign aid has shifted from food aid to cash assistance. Ethiopia is seen by aid organizations as a model of how to best help hungry nations. But in an effort to prevent food riots in cities, the government here is again relying on foreign food aid and now prohibits foreign aid groups from buying grains from local farmers. In effect, it may be undermining its own success story.” (05/06/08) Link: http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0506/p01s06-woaf.html Filed under: CANDi News and PND News and RRND News | |
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Source: Arizona Republic Author: Dennis Wagner Posted on 05.04.08 by Steve Trinward “A book is hardly needed to spread the story of Pat Tillman. The nation and world have been inundated with four years of reports on his life and death, his gridiron glories, indomitable spirit, military service and betrayal. We know the undersized overachiever became an All-Pro player with the Arizona Cardinals, then gave up a multimillion-dollar contract to serve his country after the 9/11 terrorist attacks. We know that Tillman was killed by fellow soldiers on an Army Ranger mission in Afghanistan, an event that was the subject of six investigations. Amid millions of written words, Americans might wonder: What more is there to tell? Yet Mary Tillman, who is to appear tonight on 60 Minutes, has written 330 additional pages. The book, Boots on the Ground by Dusk: My Tribute to Pat Tillman, with journalist Narda Zacchino, describes a family’s behind-the-scenes quest for truth spliced with flashbacks about the soldier’s life and exploits.” (05/04/08) Link: http://tinyurl.com/5eosx9 Filed under: CANDi News and PND News and RRND Commentary | |
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Source: Fox News Posted on 05.04.08 by Steve Trinward “It looks like something out of the latest science-fiction movie, but it could be the next line of defense for U.S. soldiers fighting on the front lines. The British defense and aerospace company BAE Systems is creating small electronic insects, spiders and snakes that have the ability to enter places before combat soldiers and electronically report back what’s inside, the U.K.’s Daily Mail newspaper reported. BAE just signed a multi-million dollar contract to develop the robots for the U.S. Army, the newspaper reported. Some of the insect-like robots will have small cameras, while others will have sensors able to detect chemical, biological or radioactive weapons.” [editor’s note: Quick now, read this story without thinking of either Terminator or Matrix! - SAT] [additional editor’s note: Actually, I thought of Minority Report - TLK] (05/04/08) Link: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,354107,00.html Filed under: CANDi News and PND News and RRND News | |
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Source: Christian Science Monitor Posted on 05.04.08 by Steve Trinward “Iran says it will back Iraq in its ongoing fight against its Shiite militias. That pledge came after a delegation from Iraq’s ruling Shiite bloc pressed its neighbor on what it called fresh ‘evidence’ it was arming and training militants. The five-member group sent by Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki returned to Baghdad Saturday, saying it had received a ‘positive’ response after confronting officials with US and Iraqi intelligence on Iranian weapons caches that US officials say included weaponry manufactured in 2008. ‘The delegation saw a positive stance from the brothers in Iran to support the government’s efforts in extending the sovereignty of the state and to fight outlaws,’ Iraq’s deputy parliament speaker Khalid al-Attiya, who visited Iran, said Saturday.” (05/05/08) Link: http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0505/p01s01-wome.html Filed under: CANDi News and PND News and RRND News | |
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Source: Boston Globe Posted on 05.04.08 by Steve Trinward “In March 2005, one of the Pentagon’s most trusted contractors — Virginia-based MPRI, founded by retired senior military leaders — won a $400 million contract to train police in Iraq and other hotspots. Two months later, MPRI set up a company in Bermuda to which it subcontracted much of the work. It was not the first time that MPRI executives had used a shell company in an offshore tax haven to perform government-funded work. A year earlier, MPRI headed a joint venture that won a $1.6 billion contract to provide US peacekeeping forces in Kosovo and elsewhere. Three months later, MPRI set up a company in the Cayman Islands to do the work. Like MPRI’s Bermuda subsidiary, the Cayman Islands company appears to have no phone number, website, or staff of its own there.” (05/04/08) Link: http://tinyurl.com/3lwuwq Filed under: CANDi News and PND News and RRND News | |
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Source: Arizona Republic Posted on 05.01.08 by Steve Trinward “Global warming is taking a break that could last for another 10 years or so. That’s the latest word from a team of climate researchers in Germany. Global average temperatures should remain above normal, the team suggests. … The forecast is ‘very bold,’ cautions Tom Delworth, a scientist at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory at Princeton University. But, he adds, it represents the cutting edge of climate modeling. The German effort is one of the first widely published attempts to offer climate forecasts on time scales of a decade or so, rather than a century or more. The findings appear in today’s edition of Nature.” (05/01/08) Link: http://tinyurl.com/5jlaur Filed under: CANDi News and PND News and RRND News | |
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Source: Fox News Posted on 05.01.08 by Steve Trinward “The debate over evolution is evolving. Although federal courts have banned teaching ‘creation theory’ or ‘intelligent design theory’ in public schools, legislators in several states are seeking new ways to allow teachers to cast doubt on the theory of evolution. The Florida House of Representatives passed a bill this week that will require schools to teach ‘critical analysis’ of evolution. On Tuesday Michigan introduced a similar ‘academic freedom’ bill. Louisiana, Alabama and Missouri also have legislation under debate, although no state has adopted a law yet. Opponents say these bills that allow the questioning of evolution are a smokescreen for teaching creationism or intelligent design.” (05/01/08) Link: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,353767,00.html Filed under: CANDi News and RRND News | |
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Source: Boston Globe Posted on 04.30.08 by Steve Trinward “By most accounts, William Allen has been masterful at acquiring junk. Now, the feisty 79-year-old is learning about fighting for his land. Allen has battled the town of Essex for three decades over a junkyard at his Southern Avenue house, set amid a string of antique shops near the picturesque downtown. A dilapidated refrigerator, pile of tires, overflowing dumpster, and several heavy trucks mark the front and side of the property these days. Officials are not sure what else is behind them. Over the next week, Allen will challenge a petition to place another Essex property he owns up for sale to pay for cleanup of his Southern Avenue homestead. He also will face the auction of a house he owns in Ipswich. Bills have come due for years of unpaid taxes on one front and for mountains of disputed debris on the other.” (04/30/08) Link: http://tinyurl.com/65dgmz Filed under: CANDi News and LAND News and PND News and RRND News | |
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Source: Raw Story Posted on 04.30.08 by Steve Trinward “Any job applicant knows that background checks are routine — especially for jobs involving authority or oversight of money. So why didn’t the San Diego Republican Party do a simple Google search before naming Tony Krvaric as its chairman? Online research reveals that Krvaric is the co-founder of Fairlight, a band of software crackers which later evolved into an international video and software piracy group that law enforcement authorities say is among the world’s largest such crime rings. After co-founding Fairlight in Sweden, Krvaric established U.S. operations for the organization, including an arm headquartered in Southern California — a major center for the computer and video game industry.” (04/30/08) Link: http://tinyurl.com/66cn4t Filed under: CANDi News and PND News and RRND News | |
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Source: San Francisco Chronicle Posted on 04.30.08 by Steve Trinward “Mothers Against Drunk Driving wants a stricter rating on Grand Theft Auto IV. The organization is calling on the Entertainment Software Ratings Board, the independent organization that assigns video-game ratings, to reclassify ‘GTA IV’ as an Adults Only game. The action-driving game, which includes the ability to drive while intoxicated, is currently rated ‘M for Mature.’ ‘Drunk driving is not a game, and it is not a joke,’ MADD said in a statement released Tuesday. ‘Drunk driving is a choice, a violent crime and it is also 100 percent preventable.’” [editor’s note: MADD would look a lot better in this arena had it focused its attention on removing repeat-offender drunks from the highways, instead of on lowering legal limits on alcohol to where a glass of wine with a heavy dinner is considered over the line - SAT] (04/30/08) Link: http://tinyurl.com/yu7gg6 Filed under: CANDi News and LAND News and PND News and RRND News | |
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Source: Arizona Republic Posted on 04.30.08 by Steve Trinward “Soldiers held Tijuana’s main hospital in a virtual lockdown Tuesday, as doctors treated eight drug traffickers wounded in shootouts in this border city. Even in Mexico’s most violent city, jaded residents feel caught in the crossfire between drug smugglers and federal troops sent in to stop them. Hospitals, schools, and even taco-and-beer tourism are on the front lines of a turf war. The latest bout of violence exploded on Saturday, with rival gang members killing each other all over Tijuana in simultaneous, pre-dawn attacks that left at least 13 dead.” (04/30/08) Link: http://tinyurl.com/45nrc9 Filed under: CANDi News and PND News and RRND News | |
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Source: Arizona Republic Posted on 04.29.08 by Steve Trinward “Leaders of two initiatives that would change the state’s employer-sanctions law said Monday that they will continue collecting signatures even though lawmakers approved a bill designed in part to keep the measures off the November ballot. Meanwhile, Gov. Janet Napolitano vetoed legislation that would have required local law enforcement to take a more active role in enforcing federal immigration law. She termed it an ‘unnecessary, unfunded mandate to law enforcement.’ Bill sponsor Rep. John Nelson of Litchfield Park shot back, calling the veto ‘a perfect example of Napolitano’s hypocrisy on immigration.’ It was all part of a flurry of action Monday as illegal immigration once again took center stage at the Capitol.” (04/29/08) Link: http://tinyurl.com/4x4ljx Filed under: CANDi News and PND News and RRND News | |
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Source: Tennessean Posted on 04.29.08 by Steve Trinward “The Senate passed a bill that would ban open alcohol containers in vehicles despite concerns raised by prosecutors and safety officials the measure could cause drunken driving enforcement efforts to lose funding. The Senate on Tuesday voted 23-7 to approve the bill sponsored by Senate Judiciary Chairwoman Mae Beavers, a Mount Juliet Republican. The companion bill is still pending in the House. ‘We’re trying to get people off the roads who are driving drunk,’ said Beavers. ‘And if you are allowing people to have an open container, that’s not going to help our drunk driving laws.’ About $12 million in federal road money is currently diverted from the state’s road fund to the Governor’s Highway Safety Office because Tennessee is out of compliance with federal laws on open containers.” (04/29/08) Link: http://tinyurl.com/2l8qqn Filed under: CANDi News and PND News and RRND News | |
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Source: Raw Story Posted on 04.29.08 by Steve Trinward “James Lee Woodard could have been out of prison long ago, had he just confessed to a parole board that he was guilty of killing his girlfriend in 1980. But the convicted Dallas man eventually stopped attending those hearings rather than admit to something he said he didn’t do. Instead, he waited 27 years until a judge on Tuesday made him the nation’s longest-serving inmate to be freed as a result of DNA testing. ‘It says a lot about your character that you were more interested in the truth than your freedom,’ state District Judge Mark Stoltz told Woodard after making his ruling, which must be formalized by an appeals court or a pardon from Gov. Rick Perry.” (04/29/08) Link: http://tinyurl.com/57w6r3 Filed under: CANDi News and PND News and RRND News | |
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Source: San Francisco Chronicle Posted on 04.29.08 by Steve Trinward “Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s startling revelation that the state’s budget deficit could grow to as much as $20 billion comes two weeks before he unveils a revised budget plan for the coming year that likely will include deep cuts in education, health services and prisons. The new deficit figure — 30 percent higher than the latest estimates by lawmakers — reflects a deepening fiscal crisis that has polarized the budget debate in the state Legislature, with Republicans vowing to fight tax increases and Democrats saying they won’t settle for cuts only. Schwarzenegger, while maintaining he won’t support raising taxes, also wants to make fundamental changes in California’s budget process, and experts said today that the governor’s deficit estimate this week could help his campaign for budget reform.” (04/29/08) Link: http://tinyurl.com/4txgkb Filed under: CANDi News and PND News and RRND News | |
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Source: Arizona Republic Posted on 04.27.08 by Steve Trinward “When the Legal Arizona Workers Act passed last year, it was hailed as landmark legislation that would help law enforcement crack down on employers who illegally hired ‘unauthorized aliens.’ However, outside of Maricopa County there have been minimal complaints, with nine of the 15 county attorneys telling The Arizona Republic they have not received a single one. Meanwhile, not one civil suit has been filed against an employer. … Supporters of the law say it’s a deterrent, no matter how it’s enforced. And, they say, as long as the statute is making it less comfortable for illegal immigrants to work in Arizona, it’s working as intended.” (04/27/08) Link: http://tinyurl.com/6lv6sk Filed under: CANDi News and LAND News and PND News and RRND News | |
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Source: Tennessean Posted on 04.27.08 by Steve Trinward “For Ramiro Aguirre, the path to deportation began with a broken headlight. A Nashville police officer pulled him over last November, and Aguirre was arrested when he couldn’t produce a driver’s license. He went from jail to a deportation center to Mexico. All after a minor traffic violation. Aguirre is not alone. In the first year that the Nashville Police and Davidson County Sheriff’s departments have participated in a nationwide immigration enforcement program, half of the nearly 3,000 people arrested under that program were caught during routine traffic stops, many of them for driving without a license. And despite local law enforcement’s stated goal of concentrating on repeat and violent offenders, that is not the case.” [editor’s note: And the real horror of this is how more and more local traffic cops do the job of the federales! - SAT] (04/27/08) Link: http://tinyurl.com/5vx7lg Filed under: CANDi News and PND News and RRND News | |
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Source: Fox News Posted on 04.27.08 by Steve Trinward “A truck jammed with as many as 60 illegal immigrants crashed and rolled in a remote part of central Arizona on Sunday morning, killing four and injuring many. The truck was carrying possibly 50 to 60 people, many of whom ran into the desert, said Vanessa White, spokeswoman for the Pinal County Sheriff’s Office. The driver is believed to be among them. Investigators believe the people on board were illegal immigrants, White said. Four men were pronounced dead at the scene, while 27 survivors were taken to hospitals. White did not know their conditions.” (04/27/08) Link: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,352783,00.html Filed under: CANDi News and PND News and RRND News | |
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Source: Boston Globe Posted on 04.27.08 by Steve Trinward “Republican John McCain’s campaign appears to have violated its own stated policy of not using the aircraft of companies with lobbying interests in Washington for campaign travel, according to a Boston Globe review. The practice is legal, and the campaign of McCain, long an advocate of campaign finance reform, has changed its policy over the past year on use of private planes — from banning such corporate-jet travel to allowing limited use. McCain is the only remaining candidate who has flown on corporate jets during the campaign. Neither of the Democratic presidential candidates, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, uses private jets, and both have flown on commercial charter flights since the outset of the campaign.” (04/27/08) Link: http://tinyurl.com/648x3r Filed under: CANDi News and PND News and RRND News | |
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Source: Denver Channel KMGH Posted on 04.25.08 by Steve Trinward “Talk show host Rush Limbaugh is sparking controversy again after he made comments calling for riots in Denver during the Democratic National Convention this summer. He said the riots would ensure a Democrat is not elected as president, and his listeners have a responsibility to make sure it happens. ‘Riots in Denver, the Democrat Convention would see to it that we don’t elect Democrats,’ Limbaugh said during Wednesday’s radio broadcast. He then went on to say that’s the best thing that could happen to the country. Limbaugh cited Al Sharpton, saying the Barack Obama supporter threatened to superdelegates that ‘there’s going to be trouble’ if the presidency is taken from Obama.” [editor’s note: Ever since Olbermann began referring to him as “comedian Rush Limbaugh” … it’s all made sense - SAT] (04/24/08) Link: http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/15980105/detail.html Filed under: CANDi News and PND News and RRND News | |
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Source: Reuters Posted on 04.25.08 by Thomas L. Knapp “Republican U.S. presidential candidate John McCain accused North Carolina’s Republican Party of being ‘out of touch with reality’ over its refusal to pull an advertisement criticizing Democrat Barack Obama. In an NBC interview aired on Friday, the Arizona senator said he has done all he can to persuade the state party to cancel the television ad that criticizes Obama as ‘too extreme’ because of controversial remarks made by his former pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright. ‘They’re not listening to me because they’re out of touch with reality and the Republican Party. We are the party of Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt and Ronald Reagan and this kind of campaigning is unacceptable,’ McCain told NBC’s ‘Today’ Show.” (04/25/08) Link: http://www.reuters.com/article/vcCandidateFeed1/idUSN2535509420080425 Filed under: CANDi News and RRND News | |
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Source: Fox News Posted on 04.24.08 by Steve Trinward “The Constitution doesn’t prohibit abortion any more than it allows it, Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia says in a television news interview to be broadcast Sunday. Scalia told CBS News’ 60 Minutes that he may be conservative, but he is not biased on issues that come before the court. ‘I mean, I confess to being a social conservative, but it does not affect my views on cases,’ Scalia said in excerpts released Thursday. ‘On the abortion thing, for example, if indeed I were … trying to impose my own views, I would not only be opposed to Roe versus Wade, I would be in favor of the opposite view, which the anti-abortion people would like to see adopted, which is to interpret the Constitution to mean that a state must prohibit abortion,’ Scalia told correspondent Lesley Stahl. ‘And you’re against that?’ Stahl asked. Scalia replied, ‘Of course. There’s nothing [in the Constitution to support that view’ …” (04/24/08) Link: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,352501,00.html Filed under: CANDi News and PND News and RRND News | |
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Source: San Francisco Chronicle Posted on 04.24.08 by Steve Trinward “The Rev. Jeremiah Wright, former pastor to Barack Obama, said that publicizing sound bites of sermons in which he condemned U.S. policies was ‘unfair’ and ‘devious,’ and done by people who know nothing about his church, according to excerpts of a PBS interview released Thursday. Wright said that, as an activist, he is accustomed to being ‘at odds with the establishment,’ but the response to the sermons has been ‘very, very unsettling.’ The interview, scheduled for broadcast Friday night, is the first the pastor has given since video of his preaching gained national attention in March, putting Democratic presidential hopeful Obama on the defensive.” (04/24/08) Link: http://tinyurl.com/5jzequ Filed under: CANDi News and PND News and RRND News | |
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Source: Tennessean Posted on 04.24.08 by Steve Trinward “Next year’s state budget could face as much as $500 million in cuts as tax revenues continue to slow with the nation’s weakening economy, Gov. Phil Bredesen said on Wednesday. The state’s gloomy revenue figures mean that ‘I’m going to have to trim my sails everywhere’ in next year’s budget, Bredesen said, estimating that his $27.9 billion budget proposal from earlier this year would have to be slashed by $400 million to $500 million. ‘You don’t do that without some pain. I’m gonna do some sail-trimming, and maybe tossing some baggage overboard here to keep the ship afloat,’ he said.” [editor’s note: Given that when I moved to Nashville in late 1993, the entire state budget was well under $20 billion, this doesn’t say much for “frugality” … and now we must watch out for the end run with yet another push for a state income-tax to cover the “revenue shortfall!” - SAT] (04/24/08) Link: http://tinyurl.com/4pg5vv Filed under: CANDi News and PND News and RRND News | |
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Source: Boston Globe Posted on 04.24.08 by Steve Trinward “All the 33-year-old illegal immigrant wanted was a beer. After nearly a decade in this country, the Irish national knew to steer clear of police and federal agents. But he was stunned this month when a bartender at the Orpheum refused to serve him because his passport lacked a US Customs stamp. The Boston Culinary Group is now checking for US customs stamps if patrons present passports as ID. The man grabbed his passport and fled, abandoning a $60 orchestra seat at a Ray Davies concert and igniting a debate over a new policy that one of the country’s largest concessionaires imposed at the Orpheum and at another popular live-music venue in Boston. Officials at the Boston Culinary Group said they started checking for customs stamps last year to ensure that passports are authentic, not to enforce immigration law. But critics of the policy say that the stamp is no guarantee of validity and that checking for it is frightening to immigrants.” (04/24/08) Link: http://tinyurl.com/5vkpeh Filed under: CANDi News and PND News and RRND News | |
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Source: Fox News Posted on 04.22.08 by Steve Trinward “A judge in western Kentucky has sent a woman to jail because her son wouldn’t go to school. Samantha Kinney of Earlington pleaded guilty to failing to keep her son in middle school classes. The court in Madisonville sentenced Kinney to a week on jail on her second offense. She had pleaded guilty to a like charge in December. Records show the boy had 16 unexcused absences this school year, besides medical absences. Hopkins County Attorney Todd P’Pool said sending a parent to jail is the final alternative in a chronic truancy case. He said the case marks the first time it’s happened in Hopkins County.” (04/22/08) Link: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,352186,00.html Filed under: CANDi News and PND News and RRND News | |
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Source: Christian Science Monitor Posted on 04.22.08 by Steve Trinward “They once plotted insurrection in Britain. Young, middle-class, and angry, they were the vanguard of a generation of disaffected Muslims that, at its most extreme, gave rise to the July 7, 2005, transportation bombers. But now, in one of the most visible assaults on political Islam from within the British Muslim community, a network of ex-radicals launched on Tuesday a movement to fight the same ideology that they once worked to spread. The Quilliam Foundation — named for a 19th-century British convert to Islam — aims to propagate a tolerant and pluralistic view of Islam among young Muslims who are the most vulnerable to radicalism.” (04/23/08) Link: http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0423/p01s09-woeu.html Filed under: CANDi News and PND News and RRND News | |
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Source: Boston Globe Posted on 04.22.08 by Steve Trinward “It’s a theory that gives indigestion to mainstream archeologists. Namely, that some of the immense blocks of Egypt’s Great Pyramids might have been cast from synthetic material — the world’s first concrete — not just carved whole from quarries and lugged into place by armies of toilers. Such an innovation would have saved millions of man-hours of grunting and heaving in construction of the enigmatic edifices on the Giza Plateau. ‘It could be they used less sweat and more smarts,’ said Linn W. Hobbs, professor of materials science at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. ‘Maybe the ancient Egyptians didn’t just leave us mysterious monuments and mummies. Maybe they invented concrete 2,000 years before the Romans started using it in their structures.’” [editor’s note: And MAYBE, just maybe, the alleged tyranny of the Egyptians over their Hebrew slaves has been … umm, severely exaggerated for effect — just like so much of so-called “sacred history” from which we are supposed to derive all our beliefs? - SAT] Link: http://tinyurl.com/3sxnfr Filed under: CANDi News and PND News and RRND News | |
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Source: St. Louis Post Dispatch Posted on 04.21.08 by Thomas L. Knapp “Ron Paul’s local forces came armed with a portable copier and Robert’s Rules of Order as they marched Saturday into the cafeteria of Kirkwood High School. But that wasn’t enough to counter the tactics of Republican regulars at the party’s 2nd Congressional District convention. Within minutes, amid a mix of cheers and protests, district GOP leaders disqualified almost half of the convention delegates or alternates — most of them suspected supporters of the Texas congressman’s presidential bid. … [Convention chair Rich] Magee, mayor of Glendale, said the delegate purge complied with last-minute changes in convention rules approved by the state party, which placed credentials committee business atop the agenda.” (04/20/08) Link: http://tinyurl.com/5v36f4 Filed under: CANDi News and LAND News and RRND News | |
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Source: Tulsa World Posted on 04.20.08 by Steve Trinward “Hundreds of survivors, relatives and friends of the 168 people killed in the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building bombing gathered at the Oklahoma City National Memorial to remember those lost and families forever changed 13 years ago Saturday. ‘The evil act perpetrated here illustrated the depths of human depravity, and yet, it also came to illustrate the best of humanity — the love and compassion, the concern and generosity and spirit of our people,’ Gov. Brad Henry said. ‘Oklahomans met tragedy with triumph.’ The outdoor ceremony on the grounds of the destroyed federal building began with 168 seconds of silence. Later, several siblings of those who died in the bombing read the names of all of those killed.” [editor’s note: No mention in this story of the still unresolved questions surrounding this tragedy, just a whitewash of any fedgov hand in the play - SAT] (04/20/08) Link: http://tinyurl.com/5loqf5 Filed under: CANDi News and PND News and RRND News | |
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Source: Arizona Republic Posted on 04.20.08 by Steve Trinward “Chinese-Americans rallied outside CNN’s Hollywood office on Saturday to demand the firing of commentator Jack Cafferty for calling China’s goods ‘junk’ and its leaders a ‘bunch of goons and thugs.’ ‘We understand free speech,’ Lake Wang, 39, told the Los Angeles Times. ‘But what if Cafferty said this about other racial groups? I think he would be fired. I think he’s jealous of China.’ A crowd estimated by police at 2,000 to 5,000 gathered, chanting ‘Cafferty, Fire,’ and singing Chinese songs. The crowd was peaceful, and no arrests were made, police Sgt. David Torres said. Another two dozen people holding Chinese flags also demonstrated outside CNN’s corporate headquarters in Atlanta.” (04/20/08) Link: http://tinyurl.com/62qx5p Filed under: CANDi News and PND News and RRND News | |
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Source: Fox News Posted on 04.20.08 by Steve Trinward “A White Rock couple has this proposal: Write a 500-word essay and you could win their home. But the Gaming Control Board says the contest that has a $100 entry fee might not be legal under state law. If someone is truly raffling off their home, it would be illegal under the Bingo and Raffle Act because it’s not being done by a qualified nonprofit organization, said Gaming Control Board deputy director Greg Saunders. However, if the essay contest is deemed ‘a game of skill,’ he said the Tiffany and Todd Lovell are in the clear. ‘We haven’t made that determination yet,’ he said.” [editor’s note: About ten years ago, I helped design a website for a local couple with the same intention; the trick is to hire an independent testing service to evaluate the essays - SAT] (04/20/08) Link: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,351852,00.html Filed under: CANDi News and PND News and RRND News | |