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, November 18, 2010

Sick of the Chinese Yet? These People Are Not Our Friends...




Here the Chinese Communists at it One Year Ago







Report: Chinese company 'hijacked' U.S. web traffic

From Dugald McConnell, CNN


November 18, 2010 3:19 a.m. EST

Washingtom (CNN) -- Internet traffic from several U.S. government agency sites was briefly diverted through servers in China in April, congressional investigators reported Wednesday.

For 18 minutes, about 15 percent of all web traffic was redirected through China, including traffic to and from the sites of the U.S. Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, the office of the Secretary of Defense, the Senate and NASA, according to a report delivered to Congress by the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission.

Investigators say the web traffic was diverted by China Telecom, a state-owned enterprise.

They do not know whether the diversion was intentional, whether the government of China played any role, or whether any sensitive data was compromised.

The report says that the irregular routing could have allowed the surveillance of users or sites, the disruption or diversion of communications and the compromising of supposedly secure encrypted sessions.
Cyber warfare, corporate espionage

Pentagon spokeswoman Lt. Col. April Cunningham said the Defense Department "is concerned about any Internet traffic being intentionally rerouted outside of the usual operations." But, she said, "the security of Department of Defense information is not affected by misdirection of internet traffic." The Pentagon had no information to confirm whether the incident occurred, she said.

The Pentagon is in the process of establishing procedures "to address any potential current and future vulnerability," Cunningham told CNN.

Larry Wortzel, a member of the commission, said that given access to a stream of military traffic for 18 minutes, it might be possible "with really good computers" to get "a little information."

But another risk, he said, was that it could create an opening for spyware infiltration. "If you were a pretty knowledgeable intelligence service, you would get the internet addresses of everybody that communicated. And then you could essentially engineer a fake e-mail," he said, "and if someone opened an attachment, you would then insert a virus into the whole system."

The report alleges that the diversion was caused when China Telecom briefly offered a false electronic notification to internet traffic on the web, causing some traffic to mistakenly conclude that the quickest way to reach its destination was to travel through the company's servers in China.

A spokesman for the Chinese embassy in Washington rejected the claim.

"The commission's specious and unwarranted allegations against China and its enterprises are irresponsible," said Wang Baodong. "China will never do anything to harm other countries' national security, either in real or virtual worlds."

He also pointed out that China Telecom, in a statement to Reuters, has denied any hijacking of internet traffic.

77 comments:

  1. "What could you do if you had the stream of email traffic for 18 minutes to and from the US Joint Chiefs of Staff? Most importantly you would get the internet addresses of everybody that communicated."

    ReplyDelete
  2. Carolyn Bartholomew, vice chairwoman of the commission, said the efforts of Chinese individuals and organisations to penetrate US networks "appear to be more sophisticated than techniques used in the past," raising fears that the Chinese Government is behind the attacks.

    ReplyDelete
  3. ...but on the other hand they do buy a lot of our bonds. It can't be that serious can it?

    ReplyDelete
  4. .
    China will soon have the power to switch off the lights in the West

    This is such an obvious threat, I have to think the government (regardless fo party) is aware of its seriousness and is taking steps to address and counter it.

    Hopefully, I'm not being naive.

    China's new super computers are an indication of their technical competance. Plus they have four times our population to draw hackers from. The US needs to step up and support counter efforts in a big way.

    And maybe go beyond counter measures and develop our own 'cyber' warriors.

    What's the NSA up to these days, Selah?

    .

    ReplyDelete
  5. .
    "The commission's specious and unwarranted allegations against China and its enterprises are irresponsible," said Wang Baodong. "China will never do anything to harm other countries' national security, either in real or virtual worlds."

    Well that makes me feel better.


    .

    ReplyDelete
  6. Charlie Chi-com chides the US and President Obama ...

    Saying, simply, Hu Jintao to Obama: Turn Off Lights

    Just listen to Charlie, every ting gonna be alright.

    ReplyDelete
  7. AP KABUL, Afghanistan -
    - With the war at a critical stage, Afghanistan's president is publicly berating his NATO allies, criticizing military tactics and occasionally reminding them that they are not the only players in his country.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Sarah Palin, President?

    Her coattails failed, even in Griz Country!

    The know a quitter, when they see one.

    AP WASHINGTON - An exultant Sen. Lisa Murkowski is celebrating her write-in victory over Sarah Palin's favored candidate in Alaska, saying the "most phenomenal coalition" of Republicans, Democrats and independents re-elected her against long odds.

    ReplyDelete
  9. China Telecom rejected the claims in an email statement, but offered no further comment.

    IDG News Service - China's largest fixed-line phone carrier has denied it hijacked worldwide Internet traffic this past April following a US government report that said the company had redirected network routes through Chinese servers.

    ReplyDelete
  10. ABC News -

    Dirty politics are behind Bristol Palin's success on "Dancing With the Stars," some viewers and critics contend. Palin still has a chance to win it all, despite being consistently at the bottom of the leader board.


    Proxy politics in Prime Time!

    That's Entertainment!

    ReplyDelete
  11. This is really funny, coming from Mrs Palin ...

    msnbc.com - ‎12 hours ago‎
    Anonymous / AP

    Sarah Palin writes in her new book that it was "disgusting" to watch the estranged father of her grandchild exploit his sudden fame.


    This from a grandmother that could not stay on the job she was elected to, because she wanted to exploit HER OWN sudden fame.

    The one occurrence of Mrs Palin having some coattails, and she finds it "disgusting".

    ReplyDelete
  12. Ahmed Ghailani will face between 20 years and life in prison as a result of his conviction on one charge related to the 1998 embassy bombings in Africa. But because a jury acquitted him on more than 280 other charges -- including every count of murder -- critics of the Obama administration’s strategy on detainees said the verdict proved that civilian courts could not be trusted to handle the prosecution of Al Qaeda terrorists.

    Maybe the prosecution should not "pile on" charges it cannot prove.

    If the fellow was held as a POW, he'd be in for the duration of the "Long War".

    He'd never be released.

    While trying these fella, in civilian courts exemplifies "The paradox with these kinds of cases ..."

    ReplyDelete
  13. Guvnor Moonbeam To Save California

    Moonbeam to the rescue.

    We need someone with an insider's knowledge, but an outsider's mind.


    All politicians lie.

    Guv Moonbeam

    ReplyDelete
  14. When you have the dynamic duo of Obama and Holder in charge of US Justice, what would you expect? Anyone with an ounce of common sense would have seen the necessity for a military tribunal and an execution squad.

    The only choice should have been whether he preferred to be blindfolded or not.

    ReplyDelete
  15. The gray, dark, cold night of November 17/18 2010 the first snow of the season fell in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho. The earth is white, boon to deer hunters, the lights shine bright at the Ray Kroc Center across the vacant lot, the traffic flows on Northwest Boulevard, and the coffee is on, the daughter sleeps, my back complains about the couch, the sun struggling to rise. Mark it on your calendar. Life seems to go on.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Deuce said...
    "What could you do if you had the stream of email traffic for 18 minutes to and from the US Joint Chiefs of Staff? Most importantly you would get the internet addresses of everybody that communicated."


    You going to blame Israel on that also?

    ReplyDelete
  17. Poor, poor rat, to be hung up on the Jews, and Sarah Palin, and the federal socialists, all at the same time. Life must be tough.

    ReplyDelete
  18. And they claim Gaza has no building materials

    Thursday, November 18, 2010

    Ryan Jones


    Again and again, the lies regarding what is going on in the Gaza Strip and who is responsible for the situation there are exposed. And again and again, the media that propagates those lies brushes aside the truth.

    One of the favorite claims by those intent on smearing Israel is that the so-called “Gaza siege” is preventing desperately-needed building material from entering the terrorist-ruled territory.

    That assertion was proved false this week when Hamas Housing Minister Yousef Alamanti confirmed to United Press International (UPI) that approval had been given for the construction of a massive new residential complex in central Gaza.

    The project will include three high-rise buildings containing a total of 25,000 apartments, a mosque, playground, shopping center and schools.

    It is difficult to understand how such an expansive project could be built if Israel is not letting Gazans get their hands on even basic building materials.

    The truth is that no such siege exists. Yes, there is an embargo on certain items that Hamas has in the past used to manufacture rockets that are then fired into southern Israel, but most goods are free to enter Gaza as normal. In fact, Gazans are able to procure many goods for free, as they have so successfully portrayed the territory as the most destitute place on earth that the international community regularly foots the bill.

    Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs regularly publishes on its website details regarding the quantities of goods entering Gaza via Israeli land crossings every day.

    Evidence that the Israeli information, and not the media propaganda, is accurate is in plain sight in Gaza City, where just this past summer construction was completed on a massive luxury shopping mall.


    While there is a building moratorium in Jerusalem.

    ReplyDelete
  19. bob: While there is a building moratorium in Jerusalem.


    not for arabs...

    ReplyDelete
  20. heh, my daughter, who worked at BurgerKing for awhile, where her friend was shot in the head in the drive through, an odd circumstance, before going to WaldenBooks, appreciated this story--

    A BurgerKing Fuck You

    She aced her anthropology test yesterday, takes a written on horses today, then is off for a Thanksgiving Week.

    ReplyDelete
  21. Talking about dancing --

    A Christmas Tradition
    Fri 5th Nov 2010 12:00 PM

    Twirling across the floor at Le Danse studio on Fourth Street, the dancers were hard at work Saturday. With only one month until opening day, they were rehearsing a scene from "The Nutcracker," the classic Tchaikovsky ballet that’s become a Coeur d’Alene Christmas tradition.

    Every year, Le Danse performers and other local dancers join with professionals from the Eugene Ballet Company for a special "Nutcracker" performance. Normally performed at the North Idaho College auditorium, this year the ballet has moved to the Ray and Joan Kroc Center on Golf Course Road - a smaller, more intimate venue.

    "I’m excited," said Le Danse owner Debi Terracciano, an accomplished dancer and longtime instructor. "The good thing about having it at the Kroc Center is we get to do two performances." Shows are scheduled for Saturday, Dec. 4, at 3 and 7 p.m. Area dancers, ranging from 6 to 18 years old, will play a variety of "Nutcracker" roles. Young ballerinas will take the stage as baby mice, angels,ladybugs and party children. A few older, more experienced dancers will perform the Waltz of the Flowers, which was the focal point of Saturday’s rehearsal.

    Terracciano has been teaching dance for 29 years. She knows "The Nutcracker" inside and out; for two decades she has worked with the Eugene Ballet Company, putting on shows every Christmas. "Everybody gets invited," she said. "This is my sixth year doing it here."

    One of Terracciano’s senior dancers is 17-year-old Sarah Olsen, a dual-enrollment student at NIC and resident of Coeur d’Alene. She loves ballet, especially the aesthetics of a dancer’s movement - the spins, the steps, the fluid athleticism. "It’s just so beautiful, and elegant," Olsen said. "Really pretty, graceful. It just makes me feel so pretty." She’ll dance in her fourth "Nutcracker" this December, but 2010 will be her last year in the show. For a young dancer like Olsen, performing alongside professionals is a remarkable experience. "It’s just so amazing to be with them, because it’s such an honor to be dancing with them," she said. "I just don’t want to mess up. I usually get nervous right before the show."

    Some of "The Nutcracker" dancers will also perform in "Alice in Wonderland," another cooperative effort between area youngsters and pros from Eugene. That show will take place in February.

    Tickets for "The Nutcracker" are still available, Terracciano said. Prices are $25 for adults and $10 for children under 18. Tickets can be ordered through Le Danse by calling 667-3342. They will also be available at the door, but seats are filling fast.

    The dancers are ready to show off their talents in front of a live audience. "I have seen how excited (the kids) get," Terracciano said. "Once the music starts, I feel like a little kid. It’s good family fun."

    By NICK ROTUNNO/Staff writer, Coeur d’Alene Press


    "Everybody gets invited," she said. "This is my sixth year doing it here."

    Our girls here just don't lay down and die.

    I'd like to go to this.

    ReplyDelete
  22. Bad News For People Who Like To Eat

    Senate Bill 510 passes.

    Peace is Congress in recess.

    ReplyDelete
  23. Idiots on the Left May Get Violent

    I've listened to this craparoo violence stuff from the left all my life. These people suffer from some kinda cognitive impairment. Can't sit quietly in an apartment and read a good book. All the while Ray Kroc has actually done something to help things along a little.

    ReplyDelete
  24. .

    Bad News For People Who Like To Eat

    After the election both parties indicated that they got the message the American people were trying to send.

    So what is their priority, the first thing they have to get solved?

    Tax policy? Spending cuts? An actual budget? No. S510.

    .

    ReplyDelete
  25. Good News: Opec is increasing Oil Shipments (1.2%.)


    Bad News: It's every bit going to China.


    We have, in the last few weeks, been importing about 1.2 Million Barrels/Day less than the average for 2010. At the same time China has been suffering widespread Diesel shortage. We're being outbid.

    ReplyDelete
  26. "We have, in the last few weeks, been importing about 1.2 Million Barrels/Day less than the average for 2010."

    Global cooling ahead.

    Gotta be, since Chi-Com emmissions don't count.

    ReplyDelete
  27. "Maybe the prosecution should not "pile on" charges it cannot prove."

    Yeah, he intended for the building to blow up, but not the people inside.

    ReplyDelete
  28. I must sadly report the death of Viktor Silo. It is my understanding that his passing was a peaceful one.

    He was a great fan of the Elephant Bar. He was also a good man and patriot; I shall miss him.

    His family would appreciate your kind thoughts and prayers, I am certain.

    ReplyDelete
  29. Huge Phillie Fed Manufacturing Number, today. 22, I think it was. vs a - 15 from the Empire Mfg Index.

    Unemployment number held at 439,000.

    Petroleum/Products Supplied ticked up to 19.3 Million Barrels/Day last week.

    Absolutely No Inflation, other than a slight increase in Food/Energy (mostly Energy.)

    Last I saw the GM IPO was doing well. Looks like, for the time being, the world is "inching" along.

    ReplyDelete
  30. One more EIA Report like we've had for the last two weeks, though, and we're looking at $3.00 gasoline.

    ReplyDelete
  31. Dang. That saddens me greatly. I have a sense of profound loss.


    Battle Hymn of the Republic

    RIP

    ReplyDelete
  32. Piss on the Chinese. We did That while they were still trying to figure out indoor plumbing.

    ReplyDelete
  33. I should say, "Men like Victor did that."

    ReplyDelete
  34. Nice choice Rufus!

    My thoughts and prayers are with Viktor's family.

    ReplyDelete
  35. allen said...
    I must sadly report the death of Viktor Silo. It is my understanding that his passing was a peaceful one.

    He was a great fan of the Elephant Bar. He was also a good man and patriot; I shall miss him.

    His family would appreciate your kind thoughts and prayers, I am certain.


    wow..

    how can we contact them

    ReplyDelete
  36. I reposted the previous post on Viktor, Please repost your comments there.

    ReplyDelete
  37. This will take a little typing, but it's essential Emerson, and Swedenberg too - (I also ended up with a book on Kellogg and Wallace, and the first page I turned to was the Menu of Sexual Delights and Prices at the old whore houses there) -

    The thoughts in which he (Swedenberg) lived were, the universality of each law in nature; the Platonic doctrine of the scale or degrees; the version or conversion of each into other, and so the correspondence of all the parts; the fine secret that little explains large, and large, little; the centrality of man in nature, and the connection that subsists through all things; he saw that the human body was strictly universal, or an instrument through which the soul feeds, and is fed by the whole of matter; so that he held, in exact antagonism to the skeptics, that, "the wiser a man is, the more will he be a worshipper of the Deity". In short, he was a believer in the Identity-philosophy, which he held not idly, as the dreamers of Berlin or Boston, but which he experimented with and stablished through years of labor, with the heart and strength of the rudest Viking that his rough Sweden ever sent to battle.

    :)

    cont...

    ReplyDelete
  38. This theory dates from the oldest philosophers, and derives perhaps its best illustration from the newest. It is this: that nature iterates her means perpetually on successive planes. In the old aphorism, nature is always self-familiar. In the plant, the eye or germinative point opens to a leaf, then to another leaf, with a power of transforming the leaf into radicle, stamen, pistil, petal, bract, sepal, or seed. The whole art of the plant is still to repeat leaf on leaf without end, the more or less of heat, light, moisture, and food, determining the form it shall assume. In the animal, nature makes a vertebra, or a spine of vertebrae, and helps herself still by a new spine, with a limited power of modifying its form -- spine on spine, to the end of the world.

    cont...

    ReplyDelete
  39. I am saddened to hear of Victor's passing.

    I tried his site "Victor Silo" but it is "closed."

    ReplyDelete
  40. A poetic anatomist, in our own day, teaches that a snake, being a horizontal line, and man, being an erect line, constitute a right angle; and, between the lines of this mystical quadrant, all animated beings find their place; and he assumes the hair-worm, the span-worm, or the snake, as the type or prediction of the spine. Manifestly, at the end of the spine, nature puts out smaller spines, as arms; at the end of the arms, new spines, as hands; at the other end, she repeats the process, as legs and feet. At the top of the column, she puts out another spine, which doubles or loops itself over, as a span-worm, into a ball, and forms the skull, with extremities again; the hands being now the upper jaw, the feet the lower jaw, the fingers and toes being represented this time by upper and lower teeth. This new spine is destined to high uses. It is a new man on the shoulders of the last. It can almost shed its trunk, and manage to live alone, according to the Platonic idea in the Timaeus.

    cont...

    ReplyDelete
  41. Within it, on a higher plane, all that was done in the trunk repeats itself. Nature recites her lesson once more in a higher mode. The mind is a finer body, and resumes its functions of feeding, digesting, absorbing, excluding, and generating, in a new and ethereal element. Here, in the brain, is all the process of alimentation repeated, in the acquiring, comparing, digesting, and assimilating of experience. Here again is the mystery of generation repeated. In the brain are male and female faculties: here is marriage, here is fruit. And there is no limit to this ascending scale, but series on series.

    cont...

    ReplyDelete
  42. Every thing, at the end of one use, is taken up into the next, each series punctually repeating every organ and process of the last. We are adapted to infinity. We are hard to please, and love nothing which ends: and in nature is no end; but every thing, at the end of one use, is lifted into a superior, and the ascent of these things climbs into daemonic and celestial natures. Creative force, like a musical composer, goes on unweariedly repeating a simple air or theme, now high, now low, in solo, in chorus, ten thousand times reverberated, till it fills earth and heaven with the chant.

    Emerson, on Swewdenberg

    Happy thoughts for the day.

    Now, would anyone like to know the cost of "Straight, French, no frills", and the minutes allowed at the old Oasis Bordello in Kellogg, Idaho?

    ReplyDelete
  43. I'll tell you anyway. It was $25 dollars for ten minutes worth.

    Two more dissimilar books I couldn't have picked up.


    RIP Viktor

    ReplyDelete
  44. Your link does not work, Melody.

    ReplyDelete
  45. What is it with the bedbugs? I've never ever seen one. Cept in some movie long ago, where the girl pulled back the covers, and the sheet was crawling with them.

    Maybe they don't thrive in our colder climate.

    I've had some battles royale with spiders, though. And so far have always won.

    ReplyDelete
  46. We all know what is going to be in Mel's survival kit on her next travel.

    ReplyDelete
  47. 4) Alcohol

    For rubbing, and drinking, would be my hunch.

    ReplyDelete
  48. While no one saw the shooting, people who saw the pair earlier said they noticed nothing unusual. The twins were observed chatting amiably and changed their targets at least twice.

    ...

    Police yesterday sent fingerprints taken from the dead woman and her surviving twin to US immigration authorities in the hope of matching prints so they could positively identify the pair.

    In the absence of confirmation from fingerprints or an interview with the surviving twin, police were ready to ask the women's parents for a visual identification when they arrived in Denver tomorrow.


    Range Shooting

    ReplyDelete
  49. ah, here's the old menu --

    Menu
    January, 1988
    Oasis Bordello

    Straight, no frills $15 8 min

    Straight, regular $20 13 min

    Half & Half, no frills $20 11 min

    Half & Half, deluxe $25 15 min

    Straight, French, no frills $25 10 min

    Straight, French $30 15 min

    "69" (at a whorehouse???) $30 15 min

    Half Hour $35

    Per Hour $70

    Bubble Bath & Half Hour $50

    Bubble Bath & Hour $80

    Positions $5 each plus $2 each (whatever that means)

    Vibrator $15 plus regular party price plus $5

    Doubles double price per party, time same as one





    A close examination indicates the best buy might be the Bubble Bath & Hour @ $80

    ReplyDelete
  50. Bed bugs run along the crease of the mattress. If you see a black line in that crease my suggestion would be to go to another hotel.

    ReplyDelete
  51. We've been in lots of motels and hotels. I swear I've never come across one.

    ReplyDelete
  52. I just told you what to look for. You probably wouldn't even see them moving. Just a black line.

    ReplyDelete
  53. I'll look much closer in the future, thanks for the tip.

    ReplyDelete
  54. I wonder if they had bedbugs in those old whorehouses.

    Kinda an interesting chapter.
    Some of the girls married well off clients, became honored members of the community, more went downhill to drugs, and finally death in the alley.

    Dad taught there for two years, before law school. Couldn't stand the place.

    Idaho State Police closed them down years ago.

    ReplyDelete
  55. Are you talking about Wallace, by chance, bob?

    ReplyDelete
  56. Indian Maoist militants, known as Naxalites, have been meeting with members of the outlawed Pakistani militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), according to the director-general of police for India’s Chhattisgarh state. Based on information from a police source, state police chief Vishwa Ranjan said Nov. 11 that two LeT operatives attended a Naxalite meeting in April or May.

    ...

    Local Indian media sources report that Naxalite forces have an arsenal of approximately 20,000 weapons — an average of two weapons per soldier. The Naxalites have obtained this arsenal from four different sources:

    1. From Indian security forces, either by Naxalite raids on their outposts in Naxalite-controlled areas or bribing or coercing members of the security forces to sell or give them firearms and ammunition, along with ballistic vests and tactical gear, including night-vision optics.

    ...

    Theft from businesses operating in the Naxalite-controlled areas, including fertilizer distributors and mining companies that maintain stocks of explosives, blasting caps and detonators.

    Local arms factories run directly by Naxalites or other criminal groups.

    ...

    Procuring foreign weapons, ammunition and explosives from external militant and criminal groups operating within and outside of India.


    Naxalite Movement

    ReplyDelete
  57. Kellogg/Wallace, Sam.

    Happened to pick up a book at the library today about how it was back when. Was interested, dad taught there a couple of years.

    Tough living, taken all in all.

    Writer is a woman who grew up there. Pretty well done, really.

    ReplyDelete
  58. The Good Times Are All Gone Now -- Life, Death, and Rebirth in an Idaho Mining Town

    Julie Whitesel Weston

    Most of the mines are closed, The Spokane Stock Exchange is closed, the bordellos are closed, the Swiss built a tram goes up what's the name of that peak, and there's a big auto company there now. The EPA superfund has cleaned up much of the lead mess, and there is a memorial to the miners that died in the Sunshine Mine Disaster.

    ReplyDelete
  59. The peak - Schweizer?

    My dad used to tell stories of my uncle (his younger brother) racing in the car from Spokane over to Wallace on the weekends to go to the brothels.

    Probably around '67 '68.

    ReplyDelete
  60. Schweitzer is up by Sandpoint, isn't it? I can't think of the name of it, but don't think it's Schweitzer.

    ReplyDelete
  61. You're right, it is up by Sandpoint.

    ReplyDelete
  62. Bob, did you know that the last traffic light to be taken down along the entire I-90 corridor was in Wallace?

    ReplyDelete
  63. Miss T mentioned that. She and Miss Fely went through after the light was taken down, I believe. Now you just sail right on through, no reason to stop, with the bordellos being closed. :)

    I never went there anyway.

    There was a famous actress from there, whose name escapes me right now, cause I'm so tired. One of the biggies. Her little sister hangs around the Coeur d'Alene Casino. I'll think of it and let you know.

    nite Sam, I'm beat

    ReplyDelete
  64. I'm going to KFC for the Hillary Clinton meal deal tonight.

    2 small breasts, 2 large thighs, & a big red box.

    ReplyDelete
  65. House Panel Recommends Censure for Rangel

    The House ethics committee on Thursday recommended that Representative Charles Rangel be formally censured for ethical misconduct, the most serious punishment the House can mete out to a member short of expulsion.

    The 9-to-1 vote came after an emotional day and deliberations that the panel’s chairwoman, Zoe Lofgren, Democrat of California, called “wrenching.” At one point, Mr. Rangel struggled to compose himself as he pleaded for mercy from the panel.

    “I don’t know how much longer I have to live,” said Mr. Rangel, 80, his eyes watery and his voice quivering. But, he said, whatever time he has, he will spend it trying “to help people and thank God for what he’s given to me.”

    A censure would mark a momentous downfall for Mr. Rangel, a Democrat who for 40 years has represented Harlem, where he was born. As a decorated Korean War veteran and civil rights advocate, he became a combative and irrepressible voice for liberal causes and, in 2007, snared one of the most powerful positions in Congress, the chairmanship of the Ways and Means Committee...


    Censure for Rangel

    Old Charlie may be humiliated (if that's possible for a Senator) but he will still have his job.

    I found it interesting that the guy responsible for the prosecution of the case said there was no proof of corruption because Charlie did not receive any personal gain.

    In modern English usage the words corruption and corrupt have many meanings:

    Political corruption; however, means the abuse of public power, office, or resources by government officials or employees for personal gain, e.g. by extortion, soliciting or offering bribes[2]



    Mr. Rangel’s troubles began in July 2008, when news reports revealed that he had accepted four rent-stabilized apartments from a Manhattan developer at prices significantly below market value. As his personal finances were scrutinized in the months that followed, Mr. Rangel was charged with an assortment of other violations, including a failure to pay taxes on rental income from the Caribbean villa and failure to disclose hundreds of thousands of dollars in assets on his financial disclosure forms.

    Mr. Rangel’s fund-raising for a City College of New York building to be named in his honor led to additional ethics complaints because he used Congressional stationery and staff, sought donations from corporations with business before his committee and helped extend a tax loophole worth hundreds of millions of dollars for an oil company at the same time he was asking for a $1 million contribution from its top executive.


    One has to assume that if Charlie didn't reap personal gain it was simply by the fact that he got caught first.

    .

    ReplyDelete
  66. .
    Jobless benefit bill rejected
    Dems don't get required House votes to pass extension after GOP decries its cost.


    The U.S. House rejected an extension of benefits for unemployed workers Thursday, with Republicans bristling over the proposal's $12 billion cost.

    House Democrats hoped to avoid a long debate over the extension, bypassing the normal motion to recommit by suspending the lower chamber's normal voting rules.
    Such a move requires a two-thirds majority to approve the measure, leading to the bill's failure, despite a 258-154 vote.

    An estimated 2 million jobless Americans are on track to lose benefits under the bill, which would extend payments for up to 99 weeks of unemployment until the end of February 2011. …

    This year, Democrats and Republicans erupted in argument over the current extension that lasts through the end of this month.

    GOP members said the cost was too high and wanted to compensate with savings elsewhere in the budget; Democrats argued it was dangerous to leave job seekers hanging with unemployment rates at historic levels...



    Unemploymnt Benfits Extension Defeated

    .

    ReplyDelete
  67. .
    Stay Away From My Junk

    Charles Krauthammer is a dick. But when he is right he is right. The terrorists have won.

    .

    ReplyDelete
  68. .
    European Import Has Cars Spinning. Heads, Too.

    Traffic is going in circles. Armed with mounting data showing that roundabouts are safer, cheaper to maintain and friendlier to the environment, transportation experts around the country are persuading communities to replace traditional intersections with them.

    There’s just one problem: Americans don’t know how to navigate them...


    What Goes Around Comes Around

    Must admit my first experiances with roundabouts was not enjoyable. The big one outside Logan Airport in Boston and some in New Jersey are not all that driver friendly especially during rush hour. That being said, I really like them now.

    They are being put in all over southeast Michigan and it seems to really speed things up.

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  69. We were thinking roundabouts in my development - two of 'em -- we have a few in Moscow. Here, with all the signage, they are aesthetically unpleasing - looks like a bunch of yard sale signs - and they are definitely a lot more expensive to build. I suggested to the City - I'll provide the land - you provide the money for the excess costs over a regular intersection. hhmmmm, no Bob, quess not. Maybe they will change their minds. With a little fountain or something in the middle, and knock off all that signage that looks like a small forest, they can be attractive. The name of this game here is - screw bob for all we can get. Where's the stimulus money when you need it?

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