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WASHINGTON (Map, News) - YouTube disses Tony Snow
1| Talk about cheap shots. When former White House press secretary and long-term journalist Tony Snow died last weekend, Youtube editors chose to mark his passing by featuring a rant that accused him of “hundreds of thousands of deaths.”
Details: When NBC’s Tim Russert died a month earlier, Youtube editors properly featured six video tributes to the immensely respected former “Meet the Press” host and Democratic congressional aide, including one by GOP presidential candidate John McCain.
Obama wants a new security force
2| Democratic presidential aspirant Barack Obama proposed “a civilian national security force that’s just as powerful, just as strong, just as well-funded” as the U.S. military.
Details: When journalists started asking for details for what Obama had in mind, campaign officials refused to elaborate. They still refused even after journalists noted that the official transcript did not include the proposal, even though Obama clearly said it in a Youtube video of the speech.
We have ways of making you talk
3| U.S. District Court Judge Cormac Carney has ordered a reporter to disclose confidential sources for a story on suspected espionage on behalf of the Chinese government.
Details: Reporter Bill Gertz of The Washington Times will appear next week under Carney’s order, according to his lawyer, but he is asking to be excused from revealing his sources. Gertz had reported on possible charges being filed in the espionage case.
Earmarks getting more costly
4| This year’s Labor-Health and Human Services spending bill contains 934 earmarks costing more than $690 million, all for projects requested by senators and representatives.
Details: The 934 total is actually down slightly from last year when there were 941 earmarks in the bill, but the total cost is up a whopping 37 percent. Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, is chairman of the Senate Labor-HHS subcommittee and he got 73 earmarks worth in excess of $36 million.
That’s not funny
5| Canada’s speech censors are at it again, this time charging a standup comedian with not being funny.
Details: Canada’s Human Rights Commission accepted a complaint against Guy Earle after a lesbian activist heckled him during a show at a Vancouver restaurant that turned ugly. Earle admits he acted inappropriately but the speech police are the only jokers in this case.
Didn’t this used to be called “massive resistance"?
61 The D.C. government is imposing such severe restrictions on gun owners that they will virtually nullify the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent ruling striking down the city’s 32-year-old gun ban.
Details: The regulations say all guns must be kept unloaded and disassembled unless there is a “reasonably perceived threat of immediate harm.” But by that time, it will be too late to use an unloaded, disassembled weapon for self-defense. That effectively negates what the court ruled is a basic constitutional right of every D.C. resident.
Raising taxes on Nats fans
7| The D.C. Council wants to raise the already too-high sales taxes on Nats fans.
Details: Legislation introduced by D.C. Councilman David Catania, independent, at large, would raise the city sales tax on tickets, concessions and merchandise at the Nationals’ new tax-funded stadium to a whopping 15 percent — a 5 percent increase. Poor attendance at the last-place team’s games this season, and team owner Ted Lerner’s refusal to pay rent, have left the city unable to collect the $42 million it needs to pay debt service on the stadium bonds. But sticking it to fans — who already pay 20 percent more for tickets than they were initially led to believe — will mean fewer of them in the stands.
Throwing cold water on HOT lanes
8| Transportation progress in Virginia for the birds
Details: Sierra Club and Audubon Society member have been trying to force the Virginia Department of Transportation to halt construction of the long-awaited Capital Beltway HOT lanes, scheduled to begin this week, on grounds that it will disturb barn swallows and blue-gray gnat-catchers nesting in nearby trees. Nice try, but an official from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service pointed out that construction activities will be at least 500 feet from any nests.
Punishing candidates for not raising taxes
9| Business group refuses to contribute to statehouse candidates in Virginia who didn’t vote for a major tax increase.
Details: The Greater Washington Board of Trade announced Thursday that it will stop bankrolling General Assembly candidates in Virginia until the legislature passes major new transportation funding, i.e. higher taxes. The announcement came on the same day that Gov. Tim Kaine announced he was freezing hiring and spending because of dwindling tax receipts from struggling Virginia businesses — who need more taxes like a dog needs more fleas.
Arrest warrants for dead people
10| A D.C. Superior Court judge decided to issue arrest warrants for residents who don’t show up for jury duty ... because they’re dead.
Details: Chief Judge Rufus King issued arrest warrants for 92 people for not obeying a court summons to report for jury duty, including two deceased city residents and several people who haven’t lived in the District for more than a year. So that’s why jurors haven’t been showing up! The Washington Post reported that Judge King later admitted that the city’s computer database was “not current.”
Comments from Examiner Readers
5:24 PM MST on Sun., Aug. 10, 2008 re: "Do Republicans have the guts to win the energy fight?"
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Examiner Reader said:
You? Pretty ignorant I would say. This article is so dead on, that it's hard to believe Americans have not figured this out on their own. Sure, we should develop solar and wind power, BUT we should also develop oil, gas and nuclear energy at the same time. We should immediately start to drill for new oil & gas reserves and start immediate construction of nuclear power plants as well as new refineries. You dumb-ass Democrats just don't get it!! Go live in the 3rd World if you don't like the continued industrialization of this nation. Try living where they don't have running water, electricity and person transportation. You clowns are driving this economy into the ground with all the BS environmental regulations. The tide has turned and Americans are waking up to the cold, hard reality - we need to stop trying to "save the world" and focus on saving our country!!!
10 agree | 9 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
Who is this guy? He has succinctly hit it right on the head. Socialists do not understand how capitalism works. Whatever they were taught in school has nothing whatsoever to do with what will bring the price of gas down. This is the one question that is never driven home to Democrat politicians. They love higher oil prices because it is an automatic tax increase they didn't have to vote on.
12 agree | 9 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
This article is a prime example of how the API (American Petroleum Institute) has successfully brainwashed the public into believing that offshore drilling will help our energy crisis, rather than tapping the abundant wind and solar energy resources that we have in this country. What a shame! One week after the API bombarded the public with their misleading ad campaign, McCain and Bush came out in favor of lifting the ban on offshore drilling! Whew, crisis solved now! No need to REALLY solve our energy crisis by developing the wind and solar to compete with oil and gas!! How ignorant can we be?
8 agree | 15 disagree
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Deborah said:
In December 1966, when John McCain requested his first combat assignment in Vietnam, Barack Obama turned 5 years old and was enjoying the freedoms a child should enjoy. As Obama turned 7, McCain had survived a burning jet fire on the USS Forrestal and had just flown his 23rd bombing mission over communist North Vietnam. In 1973, as Obama reached age 12, McCain was finally released from a prisoner-of-war camp in the Hanoi Hilton. At age 15, when Obama was still in high school, McCain became the commanding officer of a Naval Training Squadron in Florida. He turned a poorly managed military unit into a distinguished, combat-ready team. When Obama reached the legal age of 21 and was experimenting with pot and cocaine, McCain declined an admiral promotion and ran for and was elected to Congress. By 1987, Obama was a young man of 25 and McCain had assumed the office of senator from Arizona (after a successful four-year tour in the U.S. House of Representatives). At age 36,
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Gary Gross said:
What a false premise. The question isn't whether we prevail on the CR. The question is whether we'll keep talking about this issue. Shutting down the government is risky business. It isn't risky business to hold this issue over the Democrats' heads through Election Day.
8 agree | 8 disagree
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Ivan Fail said:
As a 2 time defendant in malicious, frivolous law suits, 1 by mob enforcer contract killer and loan shark Harold "Kayo" Konigsberg)I can speak from experience about what society is letting the lawyers get away with. The lawyers are getting away with it because of the divisive, turf protecting "clique system" mentality of Big Business which portrays Itself as the sole and exclusive victim of the frivolous lawsuit industry. That exclusionary arrogance coupled with the fact that Big Business itself all too ofen plays "fast and loose with ethics" via a "rip off, run around and rotten service" attitude toward the "jury pool electorate" erodes a lot of public support for effecive legal reform. That is because for the reasons cited many Americans consider the stand off between Big Business and the Trial Lawyers as just another case of "The Pot Calling The Kettle Black". And all 50 state "fox guarding the chicken house" Attorney "Disicpline" Bureaucracies have to be reformed FIRST!
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Concerned Taxpayer said:
It's strange how Bush seems to believe that SPECULATIVE coastal drilling is an answer to the gas prices - which could produce 2 barrels of oil in, say, 20 yrs from now. The questions I would be asking, instead, would be: 1) how come oil/gas prices soared during the Bush admin? 2) how come BIG OIL still received taxpayer subsidies despite CONSECUTIVE RECORD PROFITS? 3) how come I'm left eating PB&J for lunch, when I used to have much more of a choice several years back because I could afford more?? Mr. President, how come?
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Examiner Reader said:
"It's very third world"????? In what context and in what situation is a statement like this acceptable???
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Examiner Reader said:
I find it interesting how Peter Hutt is so concerned about non-profits and "mom and pop" businesses when he's probably never represented anyone less than a millionaire in his entire life.
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Examiner Reader said:
Imagine .....??? This is the best argument you have? You mean there are NO REAL EXAMPLES OF THIS EVER HAPPENING? OK, let's imagine. Let's imagine space aliens coming down from Mars. Let's imagine the ocean was full of grape Koolaid. In the world of NOT IMAGINATION, the False Claims Act has returned over $20 billion stolen by liars, cheaters and thieves working for the kind of corporations that Mr. Hutt defends. Funny that is not mentioned.
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George H. Parker, Esq., Colorado attorney said:
The Bill does not threaten anyone unless they "knowingly" commit fraud on the United States government. The amendments do not punish "accidental mistakes" as alleged by the mega-defense firm attorney. The reason for the new Bill is that federal courts are confused about many of its issues, and an Arkansas federal court has specifically asked for clarification from Congress of what it intended the law to mean. Can a government employee qualify as a "whistleblower"? Some courts say yes, others no. The Bill says "yes, and puts an end to the confusion. Is the statute of limitations 6 years or 10? Courts are split on this too. The Bill says 10 years. One of the main wrongs the Bill does is removes the "public disclosure bar" as a tool for corporations committing fraud to escape justice, a tool abused by defense lawyers. By the way, the Bill has bipartisan support from senior Democrats and Republicans. The only ones against this bill are large corporations and their attorneys.
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