Archive: ‘News’ Category
I bet whoever sent Daschle that anthrax is pissed by this news:
NBC: Daschle to be Obama’s HHS Secretary
Former majority leader wrote a book proposing health care improvements
 WASHINGTON - NBC News confirms from Democratic sources that former S.D. Sen. Tom Daschle will be President-elect Barack Obama’s Health and Human Services secretary nominee.
In addition, an official with Obama’s transition team says Daschle will oversee Obama’s health policy working group.
Daschle had been a close adviser to Obama throughout the Illinois senator’s campaign for the White House. Daschle, who represented South Dakota in the Senate, recently wrote a book on his proposals to improve health care and is working with former Senate majority leaders on recommendations to improve the system.
This is so sad:
Boy, 12, shot dead while trick-or-treating
Victim’s father, brother also wounded after approaching S.C. home
SUMTER, S.C. - A 12-year-old boy trick-or-treating with his family in central South Carolina was shot from inside a home Friday and killed, and his father and brother were wounded by the gunfire, authorities said.
The shooting suspect, Quentin Patrick, was in custody, a jail official said. Patrick, 22, has been charged with murder and three counts of assault and battery with intent to kill.
The family was headed home from a city-sponsored event downtown when they decided to stop at a few homes, Sumter Police Chief Patty Patterson said. The father and his four children approached a home with a porch light on about 8:30 p.m. local time while their mother waited nearby in a vehicle.
As the family was at the door, they thought they heard fireworks. The 12-year-old boy, his father and brother were all hit by the gunfire. The boy died at a hospital, Coroner Verna Moore said. The other two children were not hurt.
What a sad story. And even sadder is the fact that we’ll probably be seeing more of this in the coming months/years.
Upset over finances, man kills family, self
Police say victims include man’s wife, three children and mother-in-law
LOS ANGELES - An unemployed man with an advanced finance degree who was despondent over his own financial problems shot and killed his wife, three children, mother-in-law and then himself in an upscale home in a gated community, police said Monday.
Officers found the bodies Monday morning after the wife failed to show up at a neighbor’s home to go to work, Deputy Chief Michel Moore said. The deaths occurred sometime after Saturday evening. [...]
The notes attest to the man’s financial difficulties, and he takes responsibility for killing his family members, Moore said.
Looks like the south may not rise again after all.
Gas shortage leads to fights, threatens college football in South
(CNN) — Gas shortages are afflicting drivers across the Southeast. Some of the problems were caused by Hurricane Ike affecting oil production and refining along the Gulf Coast, but empty gas pumps also are being blamed on the consumers themselves. [...]
Athens, Georgia
A petroleum executive suggested that the football game between the University of Georgia and University of Alabama should be canceled this weekend because fans could drain all the gas in the Athens area, WSB-TV in Atlanta reported.
“That gas needs to be used for people to go to work, and for people to take care of their families,” Tex Pitfield, president and CEO of Saraguay Petroleum in Atlanta, told WGAU radio in Athens.
But representatives of Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue said he would not consider “a ridiculous idea like this,” WSB said. (emphasis mine)
Gov. Perdue thinks it’s a ridiculous idea to consider the needs of the people trying to get to and from work next week. Well, neither does the Bulldog crowd, apparently. Drink and me merry… and to hell with tomorrow.
Short and sweet:
WASHINGTON (AP) — Lawmaker says Democrats to allow offshore oil drilling ban to lapse
What it means, and if it’s valid, I do not know. But I aim to research this more.
Poor Obama. Just trying to run the crooks out of Washington, and look how he is thanked:
|
 Obama camp links McCain to Abramoff scandal
Barack Obama’s campaign is linking John McCain to the infamous Jack Abramoff scandal that ended several Republicans’ political careers three years ago in a new campaign ad hitting Georgia airwaves Wednesday.
The 30-second spot is the Obama campaign’s second negative ad in the past 24 hours. It attacks the Arizona senator for his association with former Christian Coalition head Ralph Reed, one of the Republicans implicated in the scandal.
|
|
|
|
McCain cuts into Obama’s lead
Sen. John McCain has chipped away at Sen. Barack Obama’s lead, with a national survey of polls showing the Democratic presumptive nominee up by just 1 percentage point in the presidential race.
According to CNN’s average of recent national surveys, Obama is ahead of McCain 45 percent to 44 percent.
Obama’s lead in the “poll of polls,” which consists of seven surveys, is down from 3 percentage points on Wednesday and down from 8 percentage points in mid-July.
|
|
Florida man pleads not guilty in Obama threat case
A man who prosecutors said threatened to assassinate presumptive Democratic nominee Barack Obama pleaded not guilty Wednesday before a federal magistrate, officials said.
Raymond Hunter Geisel told classmates at a training seminar that he would kill Obama if Obama were elected president, according to a law enforcement official.
An affidavit filed by a Secret Service agent in U.S. District Court claims that Geisel, of Marathon, Florida, threatened to “kill, kidnap and cause bodily harm upon a major candidate for president of the United States, that is, Senator Barack Obama.”
|
|
Remember the great recall of Governor Gray Davis? Will we hear similar chants for Arnold’s head from Californians in coming months? Probably not.
Schwarzenegger may cut 20,000 jobs
SACRAMENTO (KABC) — Governor Schwarzenegger, (R) California, will reportedly sign an order to reduce state worker pay to the federal minimum wage on Monday. This will affect more than 200,000 state workers and is apparently an effort to save money to cover costs, as the budget standoff continues.
The California Supreme Court ruled in 2003 that without a state budget, federal labor laws require the state to pay either federal minimum wage, or flat rates to those who work overtime. The order would stop state agencies from authorizing overtime for most employees.
The Governor also plans to issue a state hiring freeze for all departments, with the exception of public safety jobs.
Bush Signs Massive Housing Relief Bill
President Bush this morning signed into law the most sweeping housing legislation in decades, aimed at calming rocky financial markets and giving mortgage relief to up to 400,000 homeowners.
Look for major problems to arise from this down the road.
|
|
|
|
Have we forgotten about our very own William Jefferson? Look for his name to be brought up… A LOT!.. as it should. We bought that. We just haven’t paid for it yet. But we will.
|
McCain Charge Against Obama Lacks Evidence
For four days, Sen. John McCain and his allies have accused Sen. Barack Obama of snubbing wounded soldiers by canceling a visit to a military hospital because he could not take reporters with him, despite no evidence that the charge is true.
The attacks are part of a newly aggressive McCain operation whose aim is to portray the Democratic presidential candidate as a craven politician.
“…repeated pledges by the Republican that he will never question his rival’s patriotism.” Sure makes McCain look like the “craven politician” doesn’t it?!
|
|
|
Calling All Cops, Statesville, NC PD On The Line Saving Gas
Those high prices at the pump even have police rethinking how they can do their jobs. Assistant Chief Tom Anderson, Statesville Police Department told us: “Some of the more minor reports we would take by having an officer dispatched, we are giving people the option of being able to make those reports over the telephone lines.”
|
|
|
|
Use it or not, Sullivans Island charges for water
CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) - Some folks on Sullivans Island don’t use any water and aren’t even hooked up to the local water system. But all property owners in the town will soon be paying a water bill. The Charleston Post and Courier reports the town council this month decided that owners of the 90 vacant lots on the island will have to start paying $35 a month as a basic water and sewer fee.
|
|
Eastland Mall Shooting (Charlotte, NC)
There’s a crime alert at Eastland Mall. The shooting doesn’t help Eastland’s crime haven reputation. Mall management did everything from installing more cameras, hiring more police, and kicking trouble makers out. This week the mall’s owner announced they are calling it quits. Glimcher Realty is walking away from the 90-acre property.
|
|
“Some passengers vomited after disembarking.”
I wouldn’t have waited. A big pop, oxygen masks deployed… the barf bag couldn’t have gotten up to face no where near in time.
Hole in Qantas jet forces emergency landing
(CNN) — A Qantas flight from Hong Kong to Melbourne made an emergency landing in the Philippines on Friday after a hole appeared in the fuselage and the cabin lost pressure suddenly.
“There was an almighty crack,” one passenger said. “We dropped a bit in the air, but other than that it was fine.” [...]
Images of the Boeing 747-400 after it landed showed a large hole where the leading edge of the wing attaches to the fuselage. [...]
Qantas said the hole, which was between 2.5 to three meters in diameter, was being inspected by engineers.
|
 Qantas pilot Captain John Francis Bartels looks at the damaged fuselage in Manila, Philippines. |
 A TECHcrunch Image I posted a story earlier regarding the new un-biased reporting of the Associated Press (AP). While doing some more research on this matter, I ran across a site that reminded me of AP’s recent blowup regarding what equates to “fair use” of their material.
AP would rather online bloggers wouldn’t quote their work. As a matter of fact, they’re trying to rewrite common law regarding fair use… to their advantage, of course.
I, like many other bloggers, am very resolute in that I refuse to quote the AP any longer. If they prefer to get along without our “word of mouth” advantage, an advantage many other news sources enjoy having, then that is perfectly fine by me.
Dismissing privacy concerns, a federal judge overseeing a $1 billion copyright-infringement lawsuit against YouTube has ordered the popular online video-sharing service to disclose who watches which video clips and when.
A judge ordered YouTube to produce data on which of its videos get viewed most often and by whom.
U.S. District Judge Louis L. Stanton authorized full access to the YouTube logs after Viacom Inc. and other copyright holders argued that they needed the data to show whether their copyright-protected videos are more heavily watched than amateur clips.
The data would not be publicly released but disclosed only to the plaintiffs, and it would include less specific identifiers than a user’s real name or e-mail address.
Lawyers for Google Inc., which owns YouTube, said producing 12 terabytes of data — equivalent to the text of roughly 12 million books — would be expensive, time-consuming and a threat to users’ privacy.
More at CNN
|
|
|
Hey, what about Russell’s Steak...
