Year: 2007

More Evidence that the Siegelman Prosecution was a Frame Up

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Read the whole article, but it appears that the first judge was removed on the case because, on the basis that, “because he was prejudiced against the prosecution. The basis cited for this prejudice was that a California U.S. attorney had, a decade earlier, conducted an inquiry focusing on Judge Clemon’s sister.”

The judge that they selected, Judge Mark Fuller, was known to have a personal grudge against Siegelman, and he also had a CURRENT complaint of criminal activity against him with the public integrity division of the DoJ.

I believe that the status of food preservation in Copenhagen is extremely poor.

One Orc in New Zealand Kills Amazon’s 1-Click Patent

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Peter Calveley of Auckland, New Zealand, after receiving poor service from Amazon, took it upon himself to document the prior art on Amazon’s one click patent. The USPTO review his research, and invalidated 21 of 26 of the claims in the patent.

Mr Calveley, whose previous claim to fame is having “worked as a motion capture performer and appeared as part of the evil armies in Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings”.

It’s amazing what disgruntled customer, his blog, and a few thousand customers can do.

What is even more amazing is that the USPTO didn’t punt this whole thing.

Cristofascist Groups Rake in the Dough

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According to Americans United for Separation of Church and State, a review of IRS returns shows that Christofascist groups receipts skyrocketed in 2006.

  • James Dobson’s Focus on the Family took in $142.2 million in 2006, a $4.4 million increase over the previous year. (In addition, Dobson’s Focus on the Family Action took in $14.6 million in 2006.)
  • Tony Perkins’ Family Research Council took in $10.3 million in 2006, an increase of over $900,000 over the previous year. (FRC Action, an affiliated group, took in $1.1 million in 2006.)
  • Don Wildmon’s American Family Association took in $16.9 million in 2006.
  • Alan Sears’ Alliance Defense Fund took in $26.1 million in 2006, an increase of $4.1 million over last year.
  • TV preacher Pat Robertson’s Christian Broadcasting Network took in $236.3 million in 2005, a $49.8 million increase over the previous year.

Remember, just because the Democrats won congress in 2006, and look likely to win the presidency in 2008 does not mean that they are going away.

By way of example 99.8%, or 499 out of 500 complaints to the FCC in 2003 were from the Christofascist group Action for Children’s Television.

These people are still a cancer on the body politic.

Ron Paul Needs to Do Something About This

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This is not a condemnation of Ron Paul, but of a small> segment of his supporters.

Specifically, Paul has become the “it girl” on the (literally) Neo-Nazis and White Nationalists. My guess is that his generally isolationist foreign policy appeals to him.

I have no doubt that Paul is horrified about this, and he needs to do something.

I’m not entirely sure what, maybe giving a speech at a synagogue and having pictures taken with a Yamulke on.

Quote of the Day: Barack Obama

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Barack Obama on Jay Leno:

Hillary is not the first politician in Washington to declare ‘Mission Accomplished’ a little too soon.

Pithy, quotable, and profoundly damning.

The answer was in response to statements about the inevitability of Hillary, and that was a delightfully sharp shiv. I’d like to see some more from Obama, because I still have doubts about his willingness to do it, as Sean Connery said in The Untouchables, “The Chicago Way”.

House Fails to Override SCHIP Veto

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Bummer.

By a vote of 273 to 156, the measure fell 13 votes short of the two-thirds majority needed for an override. Forty-four Republicans voted for the override.

So pass a 1 month extention, and come back again, and again, and again…

For what it’s worth, two “Democrats”, Representatives Gene Taylor (MS) and Jim Marshall (GA) voted with the Republicans.

Time to vote these jerks off the island. Do they have primary challengers?

Chris Dodd Is Now Number 2 On My Dem Candidates List

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As you are no doubt aware, the Senate caved to Bush and His Evil Minions™ on indemnifying the telcos.

The Honorable Christopher Dodd (D-CT) has put a hold on the bill.

As I have said before, this amnesty is about covering up the fact that Bush used the telcos to spy on his political opponents.

Any Senator in the race who does not do all they can to strike this provision (yes, that means signing on to a filibuster) will not get my vote for President, that means you, Clinton, Biden, and Obama.

For Senator Obama it means showing up for the votes and taking a stand. I know that you are running for president, but it seems that you are dodging these votes.

As to why Dodd is #2 on my list, behind Edwards, while is he is great on non-economic interests, I think that he is not as good on non-economic issues, particularly those dealing with Wall Street, though considering that 1/3 of Wall Street lives in Southern Connecticut, I’m not surprised.

More Politically Motivated Prosecutions, This Time in Mississippi

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Seems strikingly similar to the Siegelman case in Alabama, but this time in Mississippi.

The case fits a familiar pattern. The corruption Mr. Minor was charged with was disturbingly vague, as it was with Ms. Thompson [Wisconsin where her case was overturned on appeal as “beyond thin”], whose only “crime” was awarding a contract to the lowest bidder, and Mr. Siegelman, who was convicted for fairly routine political behavior.

We will be paying for the Damage inflicted by for years to come.

Sociopaths for Truth

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I thought that thistranscript from: On The Media warrented some comments:

RON ROSENBAUM: Yes, and the many repercussions for the many layers of flunkies and lackeys that this cold had. You can learn more from an investigative reporter who doesn’t speak to the person. I’ve called investigative reporters “sociopaths for truth” —

BROOKE GLADSTONE: [LAUGHS]

RON ROSENBAUM: — because they’re a different breed of cat. They’re not afraid to hurt feelings if it means telling the truth about someone.

I think that this is very true. Investigative reporters are there to make people uncomfortable, and they delight in doing so. They are generally not acceptable in polite society.

Unfortunately, the increasing professionalization of reporting, by which I mean the Journalism degrees and the whole “w(h)ine and cheese” mentality that goes along with this* has led to a snark replacing insight, and cocktail party chat replacing investigations.

*Best exemplified by the white, pampered, Ivy League staff of The New Republic.

Unconstitutional Republican Earmarks

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The Congressional Research Servicw has released a memo about the constitutionality of Alaska Representative’s Don Young’s earmark on the Coconut Road Interchange in Florida’s Lee County, which benefitted some real estate contributors of the then head House transportation panel (Corruption from north to south and from east to west).

It was inserted after both houses voted on, and passed the bill, so it is an earmark that was never voted on by anyone in congress becomes “law” (there is an appeal to the Supreme court over this).

Seriously, Republican corruption is so twisted that your average snake would be unable to follow it.

Virginia Democratic Candidates Having a Fundraising Bonanza

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Mark Warner and Tim Kaine each have over $1 million in campaign cash on hand.

Obviously, Warner’s money is about his Senate run, but Kaine’s money is about getting more Dems into the statehouse (VA Governors are limited to one term).

One could say that Virginia is trending blue, though it would be more accurate to say that Northern Virginia is Blue, and growing relative to the rest of the state.

I don’t think that Virginia will go blue this cycle (anything is possible), but it will be interesting to see where everything is following the 2010 census.