George Benson & McCoy Tyner Trio
“Stella by Starlight”

Heartless Bastards. These friggin’ rat-bastard leaders are in charge of, among other things, seeing to it that their constituents have (and keep) a job. They failed. They failed miserably. So, instead of getting to screw over people just once, they get a second chance at it – screwing them over while out on the street, cold and hungry.

People, when do we grab for our pitchforks?

New ordinance seeks to clear sidewalks of homeless, attract businesses

Officials with the City of Knoxville say a major issue is literally standing in the way of attracting new businesses to the “Downtown North” district.

When driving down Broadway Street or Central Avenue, the scenery often includes businesses, as well as people, who perhaps have seen better days.

Leaders argue that crowds of the area’s homeless population lying around the streets of Downtown North are not exactly the picture of economic development they’re hoping to send potential businesses.

Right now, though, the sidewalk ordinance is so vague that police have a hard time forcing them to move. [...]

“When we see people who are sitting on the sidewalk, we see people who really aren’t accomplishing anything,” said Volunteer Ministry Center CEO Ginny Weatherstone. [...]

“We don’t want anybody out on a sidewalk. We want them in a place where they’re working toward getting off the street,” said Major Don Vick of the Salvation Army of Knoxville.

(HT: Revelations From An Unwashed Brain)

This story may be going from an oddball WTF story to a Gestapo disruption of a political gathering.

Candidate to confront deputies over raid

Host, guest arrested at Busby fundraiser

ENCINITAS — Francine Busby says she will demand an explanation from the Sheriff’s Department about deputies breaking up a fundraising party held for her in Cardiff and arresting the host.

The party was Friday night in the 1300 block of Rubenstein Avenue, the home of Shari Barman, a Busby supporter.

It ended with Barman, 60, being arrested and jailed on suspicion of battery on a peace officer, and resisting, delaying and obstructing a peace officer.

Pam Morgan, 62, a Rancho Santa Fe resident and one of the guests, also was arrested and taken to the Encinitas Sheriff’s Station, where she was cited for resisting, delaying and obstructing a peace officer.

Other partygoers were doused with pepper spray, and seven deputies, a sergeant and a helicopter were dispatched to the neighborhood of expensive homes.

FYI: stealing millions is now called “doing foolish things“…

Private Banker Moved Funds Undetected

Hernán Arbizu said private bankers were under pressure…

He grew up in elite circles in Buenos Aires, acquiring the polish and privileged connections that paved the way for him to become a star private banker in New York to wealthy clients at UBS and JPMorgan Chase.

But as Hernán E. Arbizu tended the fortunes of his gilded South American clients, he says he also illegally took millions of dollars from them for years while at both banks, without being detected.

What is more, Mr. Arbizu said he regularly dipped into UBS client accounts — and even visited the Swiss giant’s offices in Manhattan to ensure that the illicit transactions went through — for at least a year after he left UBS for a new job at Chase in the fall of 2006. [...]

The curious case of Mr. Arbizu, whose career exploded when a Chase customer discovered and reported his crime in May 2007, offers a rare window into this well-shielded world, and raises questions about how carefully some of its largest institutions monitor their bankers.

This story isn’t really fair to doctors because I know one that gives free tootsie pops at each visit.

Pa. doc at center of VA cancer probe admits errors

PHILADELPHIA – A doctor accused of botching dozens of prostate cancer surgeries at a Veterans Administration hospital admitted Monday that he sometimes missed his target when implanting radioactive seeds, leaving patients with incorrect dosages.

But Dr. Gary D. Kao called the mistakes commonplace in aiming seeds at the walnut-sized prostate, which sits near the bladder and rectum, and he steadfastly refused to become a scapegoat for the scandal at the VA Medical Center in Philadelphia.

“Contrary to the allegations that I was a ‘rogue’ physician, … I always acted in the best interest of the patients in delivering this important treatment,” Kao, a radiation oncologist, testified at a Senate field hearing at the hospital, where he worked from 2002 to 2008.

I hate it when CIA agents lose their Italian villas…

U.S. spy says just followed orders in Italy kidnap

ROME (Reuters) – A former U.S. spy at the center of a kidnapping trial in Italy appeared to acknowledge a role in the abduction of a Muslim cleric but said he was only following orders, according to a rare interview published on Tuesday.

Robert Seldon Lady is one of 26 Americans, almost all believed to have been working for the CIA, who are accused along with Italian spies of grabbing a terrorism suspect off the streets of Milan in 2003 and flying him to Egypt.

There, Hassan Mustafa Osama Nasr says he was tortured and held for years without charge.

“I’m not guilty. I’m only responsible for carrying out orders that I received from my superiors,” Lady, the CIA’s Milan station chief at the time, was quoted as telling Il Giornale newspaper when asked whether he participated in the abduction.

He said he committed no crime because it was a “state matter.” “I console myself by reminding myself that I was a soldier, that I was in a war against terrorism, that I couldn’t discuss orders given to me.”

A new video out by the Children’s Defense Fund urging you to call your representatives in congress in support of REAL health care reform. Is this kid cute or what?

Good…the Republicans wasted all that money on this fight.

The Minnesota Supreme Court has just issued its long-awaited judgment in the Senate race, declaring that Democrat Al Franken is the winner. And Norm Coleman, his opponent, at 4 p.m., announced that he had conceded and contacted Mr. Franken.

The 32-page unanimous decision by the state’s highest court was released after a seven-months long battle over the seat formerly held by Norm Coleman. On every ground, the judicial panel rejected Mr. Coleman’s claims of trial errors or constitutional violations, and decided that Mr. Franken’s election should be certified by the state as valid.

Mr. Coleman stepped outside his home just a short while ago to give his news conference. He indicated that he and Mr. Franken had a positive, personal talk and he told the Democrat that being senator was the “best job he’ll ever have.”

The Republican’s statement began this way: “Ours is a government of laws, not men and women. The Supreme Court of Minnesota has spoken and I respect its decision and will abide by the result. It’s time for Minnesota to come together under the leaders it has chosen and move forward. I join all Minnesotans in congratulating our newest United States Senator – Al Franken.”

U.S. REVERSES DRUG POLICY IN AFGHANISTAN

GOING NOWHERE FAST IN AFGHANISTAN

IS FIXING CONGRESSIONAL PROCEDURE A LOST CAUSE?

OBAMA GIVES BIDEN IRAQ ASSIGNMENT

WITH A WHIMPER, NOT A BANG: A MILESTONE ON THE WAY TO THE END OF AMERICAN IRAQ

HONDURAS’ MILITARY COUP TESTS THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION

OBAMA TOUGHENS RULES FOR SOME LIGHTING

$2.775 BILLION TO SUPPORT ISRAEL NUCLEAR WEAPONS PROGRAM WHILE U.S. FALLS APART

IN YOUR NAME

THE IRAN CRISIS: WHAT TO WATCH FOR TODAY

04-309: DEATH BY TORTURE

DEADLY MARKET BOMB HITS KIRKUK

Johnny Winter
“Illustrated Man”

Our Buck, he’s always got a full schedule on the weekends!