EVENING NEWS ROUNDUP 01/05/09

SECRETARY OF SENATE REJECTS BURRIS TROUBLE BREWING IN ILLINOIS

BUSH VOWS HUGE MARINE PROTECTION

OBAMA PICKS PANETTA FOR CIA CHIEF (anything or anybody who pisses off Feinstein can’t be all bad. She’s gonna bitch about this, but went to bat for Mukasey nomination. Go figure.)

INTERIOR SECRETARY DIRK KEMPTHORNE: HEY, I’M A BIG FUCKIN DEAL!

WORST PREDICTIONS OF 2008

WHERE’S THE ROLAND BURRIS POLL?

THE GOOD NEWS FOR COLEMAN

RICHARDSON OUT, AND GREG PALAST ISN’T SURPRISED

BOOKMARK THIS

BOOKMARK THIS, TOO. FRONTLINE TOMORROW NIGHT.

CHAVEZ SHUTS OFF OIL FOR POOR

OBAMA JUSTICE PICKS SIGNAL END OF BUSH TACTICS

GEORGE BUSH’S LEGACY OF FAILURE

FACT CHECK: FLORIDA BUDGET CUTS AMONG WORST IN NATION

Junior Wells
“Lowdown Dirty Shame”

Americans starving in the streets… but we got a nice new multimillion dollar concrete fortress in downtown Baghdad.

We voters are to blame for the mess we’re in. Why do we keep electing people who have no idea the value of a dollar? The economy has gone to hell. There’s mass unemployment. And our government spends money like it comes from a bottomless till. The right hand knows damn well what the left hand is doing!

US inaugurates new $700 million embassy in Baghdad

John Negroponte, right, and Iraqi President Jalal Talabani

BAGHDAD – The United States inaugurated its largest embassy ever in the heart of the Green Zone on Monday, officially opening the fortress-like compound that was built as a testament to America’s commitment to Iraq.

Addressing an inauguration ceremony under tight security, Ambassador Ryan Crocker said the $700 million embassy was testimony to America’s long-term friendship with Iraq, where about 146,000 U.S. troops are deployed.

“From this embassy in the years to come, we look forward to building our partnership and contributing to the future,” Crocker said.

Watch CBS Videos Online

Cheney exit interview on Face the Nation. 01/04/08

Meet the Press 01/05/09

What political wilderness? When have republicans not been in charge, leading the way, making all of the decisions? If we managed to get the number of republicans in Washington down to just one, that one republican would still manage to wield 51-percent of power and control. “Why is that?” you ask. Well it’s because our current batch of democrats consists mainly of stupid, lazy, thin-skinned, yellow-bellied republican-wannabes. Political wilderness, my ass!

Republican party showdown today

WASHINGTON DC (CNN) – Call it a first step in the Republican Party’s push to return from the political wilderness.

The six candidates running to lead the GOP’s national committee face off today at a debate in Washington. The debate for the chairmanship of the Republican National Committee comes two months after the party lost the White House and lost seats in both houses of Congress. It also comes on the day that President-elect Barack Obama, just back from vacation, spends his first full day in nation’s capitol as he prepares to take over the presidency. [...]

The debate, which will take place at the National Press Club, is being hosted by Americans for Tax Reform, a coalition of taxpayer groups, businesses and individuals opposed to higher taxes. Grover Norquist, ATR’s president and a leader among fiscal conservatives, organized the debate and will serve as moderator.

BTW, is there any way possible we could stop taxing the members of Americans for Tax Reform? They want to be American citizens with all of the services and protections which that entails, but without paying one red cent for it. God, I hate stingy, tight-assed whiners.

Obama is talking tax cuts to help stimulate the economy, and this idea is being considered? Really? Teh stupidity makes my head hurt.

Whether it be six in one hand or half a dozen in the other, it doesn’t matter… we’re going to wind up a slave nation in the end.

Motorists’ new habits spur call for gas tax increases to pay for construction, programs

WASHINGTON - Motorists are driving less and buying less gasoline, which means fuel taxes aren’t raising enough money to keep pace with the cost of road, bridge and transit programs.

A federal commission created by Congress to find a way to make up the growing revenue shortfall in the program that funds highway repairs and construction is talking about increasing federal gas and diesel taxes.

A roughly 50 percent increase in gasoline and diesel fuel taxes is being urged by the commission until the government devises another way for motorists to pay for using public roads. [...]

In a report expected in late January, members of the infrastructure financing commission say they will urge Congress to raise the gas tax by 10 cents a gallon and the diesel tax by about 12 cents to 15 cents a gallon. At the same time, the commission will recommend tying the fuel tax rates to inflation.

“Matheus” had this to say:

“This is what I pay federal INCOME taxes for..

I can’t go out and build my own freeway system so I pay my share of taxes so one can be built. That’s the social contract. —- The Problem is when the federal government spends my money on things I don’t want like beating up Iraq, spying on ME, bailing out businesses who stole MORE of MY money that they need to raise taxes to cover the shortfall.”

And the world heaves a collective sigh of relief:

Frist rules out 2010 gubernatorial bid

Former Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist announced today he won’t run for Tennessee governor in 2010 because it would require him to immediately curtail his education and health care commitments. [...]

“If I had run, I would have started running next week,” Frist told The Associated Press in a phone interview from Fort Lauderdale, Fla., where he had gathered with his family to discuss his decision. “Having a two-year campaign would mean I would have to move all those passions totally aside.”

A commenter from KnoxNews.com hit the nail on the head:

“Phew! What a relief.
Tennesseeans[sic] should feel as if they just missed getting hit by a bus.”

“[T]here have been enough Bushes in there.”

You got that right! They’ll have me to clean if this shit happens.

George Bush Snr would like to see son Jeb in White House

As the world prepares to bid a less-than-fond farewell to President Bush, the founder of the political dynasty is hinting that Washington may not have seen the last of his family.

George Bush Snr, the former president and father of the current White House occupant, today urged his second son to seek election to the Senate next year in Florida. “I’d like to see him run,” he said. “I’d like to see him be president some day.”

Jeb Bush, the former governor of Florida, has long been regarded as his father’s favourite. “He’s a guy who really has a feel for people, the issues in Florida and nationally and his political days ought not to be over,” said the ex-president.

“I think he’s as qualified and able as anyone I know.”

Charlotte is such a beautiful city, with the most hospitable people to be found anywhere. So it’s sad to see the shitty effects of a republican administration taking it’s toil on this wonderful place.

Charlotte Home Values Post Record Decline

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Home prices in Charlotte recorded their worst annual downfall on record in October, tracking a menacing national trend but avoiding some of the major corrections faced in San Francisco or Phoenix. [...]

“I’ve seen ups and downs,” said Dot Munson, president of Charlotte Regional Realtor Association and a real estate agent in the region for 25 years. “But I have not seen a time like this when everything seems upside down.” [...]

Still, Munson said things could get worse as Wells Fargo & Co. completes an integration with the former Wachovia Corp. and sheds some of its Charlotte positions. Wachovia has about 20,000 employees in Charlotte. Bank of America Corp. is also working on eliminating some 35,000 jobs, some of which are sure to come in the city.

Disenfranchised - I remember that word well, from the presidential election of 2000. I also remember the boos and sneers coming from the republican side of the aisle when democrats asked that all Florida votes be counted. And we saw how that worked out too. Nothing stinks worse than a republican in a tight race.

Panel to declare Franken winner of Senate race

MINNEAPOLIS, Minnesota (CNN) — A state election board on Monday will announce Democrat Al Franken has defeated Republican incumbent Norm Coleman in Minnesota’s U.S. Senate race, state officials told CNN Sunday.

The canvassing board on Monday will say a recount determined Franken won by 225 votes, Secretary of State Mark Ritchie told CNN.

However, Coleman’s campaign, which contends the recount should have included about 650 absentee ballots it says were improperly rejected in the initial count, has indicated it will challenge the certification.

Coleman campaign manager Cullen Sheehan said his team believes the recount process was broken and that “the numbers being reported will not be accurate or valid.”

“The effort by the Franken campaign, supported by the secretary of state, to exclude improperly rejected absentee ballots is indefensible and disenfranchises hundreds of Minnesota voters,” Sheehan said.

Dean Martin
“Volare”

Bittersweet. Just wanted to share…

Conn. man’s last lotto ticket wins $10M for widow

DANBURY, Conn. – On the day that Donald Peters died, he unknowingly provided financial security for his wife of 59 years and their family.

Peters bought two Connecticut Lottery tickets at a local 7-Eleven store on Nov. 1 as part of a 20-year tradition he shared with his wife Charlotte. Later that day, the 79-year-old retired hat factory worker suffered a fatal heart attack while working in his yard in Danbury.

On Friday, his widow cashed in one of the tickets: a $10 million winner which, in her grief over her husband’s death, she had put aside and almost discarded before recently checking the numbers. [...]

The Peters children think their father would have appreciated the irony.

“He’d be very mad, he just passed away and she won a lot of money,” said Brian Peters, one of the couple’s three children. “He’d say, ‘Figures!’”

Here’s the Sunday talk show lineup…… revisionist week.

Face the Nation: Vice President Dick Cheney

Meet the Press: The Democratic agenda: Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.) Panel: Jeffrey Goldberg, the Atlantic; Katty Kay; Hisham Melhem, Al-Arabiya; Richard Engel, Andrea Mitchell. Moderator: David Gregory

This Week With George Stephanopoulos: Illinois Senate appointment: Sens. Richard Durbin (D-Ill.); Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.). Panel: Katrina vanden Heuvel, the Nation; Jonathan Karl; Roland Burris; Cokie Roberts; George Will

Fox News Sunday With Chris Wallace: Former President George H.W. Bush talks about his tenure in office, current issues facing the president-elect, the political future of his son Jeb and the legacy of his son George.

Late Edition With Wolf Blitzer: Israel-Gaza conflict: Saeb Erakat, chief Palestinian negotiator. The economy; the transition; inauguration countdown: Gov. Jon Corzine (D-N.J.); Gov. Mark Sanford (R-S.C.). The economy; auto industry bailout: former Gov. Mitt Romney (R-Mass.). The transition; the inauguration; Gov. Blagojevich scandal: Ed Rollins, Republican strategist; James Carville. Panel: Amy Walter; Gloria Borger; Ed Henry.

The Chris Matthews Show: Journalists discuss President-elect Barack Obama’s campaign promises.

Fareed Zakaria on CNN: GPS Global financial crisis; Obama administration: Sam Palmisano, chief executive, IBM. Terrorism; Al Qaeda: author Gilles Kepel (”Beyond Terror and Martyrdom”). Moderator: Fareed Zakaria.

Ricky Lee Jones
“Last Chance Texaco”