COLLECTIVE MADNESS


“Soft despotism is a term coined by Alexis de Tocqueville describing the state into which a country overrun by "a network of small complicated rules" might degrade. Soft despotism is different from despotism (also called 'hard despotism') in the sense that it is not obvious to the people."

Thursday, October 12, 2006

"It's time that America's government lived by the same values as America's families" - Harry Reid


"It's time that America's government lived by the same values as America's families. It's time we invested in America's future and made sure our people have the skills to compete and thrive in a 21st century economy. That's what Democrats believe."
-Harry Reid

“The failure of the White House to produce relevant documents is reason enough for any senator to oppose this nomination. The administration cannot treat the Senate with such disrespect without some consequences,”-Harry Reid

Harry Reid quote



AP Exclusive: Reid Got $1M in Land Sale
By JOHN SOLOMON and KATHLEEN HENNESSEY
The Associated Press
Thursday, October 12, 2006; 3:52 AM


WASHINGTON -- Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid is awaiting word from the Senate ethics committee on whether he failed to properly account for a business deal that allowed him to collect a $1.1 million windfall on land he hadn't personally owned for three years.

Reid sought the opinion after The Associated Press reported Wednesday that the senator didn't disclose to Congress that he first sold the land to a friend's company back in 2001 and took an ownership stake in the company. He didn't collect the seven-figure payout until the company sold the land again in 2004 to others.

Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., speaks to reporters following a news conference in Las Vegas on Wednesday, Oct. 11, 2006. Reid collected a $1.1 million windfall on a Las Vegas land sale even though he hadn't personally owned the property for three years, property deeds show.(AP Photo/Laura Rauch) (Laura Rauch - AP)

Reid reported the 2004 transaction as a personal sale, never disclosing his earlier sale or the stake in the company.

The Nevada Democrat's deal was engineered by Jay Brown, a longtime friend and former casino lawyer whose name surfaced in a major political bribery trial this summer and in other prior organized crime investigations. Brown has never been charged with wrongdoing, except for a 1981 federal securities complaint that was settled out of court.

Ethics experts told AP that Reid's inaccurate accounting of the deal to Congress appeared to violate Senate ethics rules and raised other issues concerning taxes and potential gifts.

29 comments:

  1. Mr Reid, Mr Hastert, they all have their Real Estate deals.
    Time for a new choice, just can't find it on the menu

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  2. Sen Reid is at least a traditional Dem senate leader. Like Tom Daschle and George Mitchell, they speak softly and smile and seem so harmless and accommodating. The fact that they lie like persian rugs doesn't seem to much bother their party.

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  3. rufus, I'm still holding the string I started buying summer 05. I know I've missed some great trading opps--just scared of getting caught "out".

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  4. Rasmussen is a lift--the 7 pts in three days is a significant movement.

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  5. There's a rat in the hen house.

    While scanning "To Hell in a Rocket..."
    I saw my moniker, my nom de plume, used, but not abused, by some devilish dog. An unknown blogger was using my moniker, not all that badly, but never the less....

    Some blogger savy impersonator with a sense of humor.

    I feel so liberated, returned to anonymous status by the Google system's quirks. A proliferation of user names seems apt for the format.

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  6. rufus, the thing to do with energy trading, i think, is to use an 18 month horizon.

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  7. and no calls or puts--forget 'em. too many smart fast black boxes.

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  8. Today, those who know how Russian state policy is determined and who controls it are limited to a small group in the Kremlin. Analysts note that some 6,000 former KGB officials hold key positions in the Russian government at a time when power is increasingly centralized in Moscow.

    It is not clear that Putin has the power to set policy unilaterally. He faces pressure to accommodate the interests of the siloviki - the powerful senior figures in the Federal Security Service, the military, and the Ministry of the Interior.

    Two likely explanations for recent events is that either Putin has sanctioned deliberate policies, or his lame-duck status - his term is scheduled to end in 2008 - means that he no longer has the power to ensure domestic order, or set the direction for Russia's foreign policy. The latter may explain Russia's increasingly disturbing policies toward Belarus, Iran, Georgia, Moldova, and Ukraine.

    the link to the CSM, for those that care.

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  9. Wow--we have 50 counties choked with the stuff--very interesting indeed--

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  10. Transport is a killer--just like the "cedar" (actually, Mountain juniper) all over the Texas hill Country--it claims first water, before Oaks and best grasses, so we fight it. it's easy to cut down, but a bitch to haul off to burn piles.

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  11. I've got a couple of acres of mesquite they can come clear.

    At the tree density they are talking about, you could only use the harvested ground for a year, as pasture. After that you've got a hugh thorn thicket, at 300 trees per acre.

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  12. roots are like that damn prickly pear. poison, or nothing.

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  13. I've got 20 acres of the juniperwood, buddy. My get away campgrounds.
    Pretty much a worthless tree, except for fence posts & it's green.

    Prolific though, they can also grow to be hugh, I've got a couple must be 80 ft tall, just giants. Dead mamouths as well, just the branches bleaching in the sun. Have not had a fire in the area in a hundred years or more.

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  14. yep--good fenceposts, if dried out properly and got heartwood. But useless as firewood--oily smoke, and no coals. Low BTUs overall.

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  15. white-Collar Crookery always sets-up the Fool defense, saying--when/if need arises--"I'm Sorry, I Was Just So Busy Doing My Real Job and Caring For My Family, That, I Goofed."

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  16. Yes, it means that "time" is always on one side or the other--

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  17. The emergence of a democratic goverment, as I recall.
    That's Job 1

    Be all you can be
    in an Army of One

    Or as Jr tells me
    Once a Marine, always a Marine
    Why reenlist?

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  18. You must be right, as there *was* no "lite' for at least half of those 40 years. Oh, well, who needs a memor

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  19. trish said...
    2. WTF is "the job"?

    That would very much depend on the modifiers, keeping also in mind that everything has a sexual component.

    the good job
    the poor job
    the blow job
    the hand job
    the rim job
    the snow job
    the con job

    Serialization of modifiers can be definitive as well.

    the good blow job
    the poor hand job
    the obvious snow job
    the fabulous con job

    Why do we need a definition of "war?" I understood that we were not in one.

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  20. Furthermore, Trish, you are being grossly unfair. What do you expect from a man who defines for his wounded countrymen Islam as the “Religion of Peace” and says, “Brownie, you’ve done a fabulous job?” You act as if Mr. Bush is the leader of the free world, or something. “To whom little is given, little is expected.”

    While I would not say it, there are those who say that Mr. Bush has engaged in an unparalleled, five year con job on the American public, resulting in a harsh rim job on the Constitution of the United States.

    The last report I saw called for current troop levels in Iraq to remain until 2010. While I believe that modestly accurate and essential to the job of defending the Strait etc, there are those who would claim a monumental snow job by the administration.

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  21. Goin' to Montana...

    watch out where the huskies go
    don't you eat no yellow snow

    One of the six,
    likely to switch

    Big Sky country

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  22. two in a row,
    with snow.
    s'no co
    incidence.

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  23. Tony, Tony ...
    Where fore art tho, Tony?

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  24. Given this, the political may yield to the astronomical.
    Extinction

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