It's hot. It's 100 degrees outside in the afternoon, and your scribe is becoming lethargic. Sorry for the wait......
Make sure you watch #6........very funny...
1/ It's pretty clear Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas is corrupt, but now we know who owns him - Harlan Crow, a Texas billionaire who is a mini Koch brother, supporting extreme right wing causes and tax breaks etc etc.
A long, detailed and convincing article from the NYTimes that lays out a case for impeachment for Justice Thomas - but will anything come of it? My bet - no......
Justice Clarence Thomas was given a $15,000 bust of Lincoln in 2001 by a group for which a friend is a trustee.
By MIKE McINTIRE
Published: June 18, 2011
PIN POINT, Ga. — Clarence Thomas was here promoting his memoir a few years ago when he bumped into Algernon Varn, whose grandfather once ran a seafood cannery that employed Justice Thomas’s mother as a crab picker.
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Algernon Varn, whose grandfather once ran a seafood cannery where Justice Clarence Thomas's mother worked, on the site of the old cannery. Mr. Varn said Justice Thomas put him in touch with a buyer to restore the property and build a museum.
Mr. Varn lived at the old cannery site, a collection of crumbling buildings on a salt marsh just down the road from a sign heralding this remote coastal community outside Savannah as Justice Thomas’s birthplace. The justice asked about plans for the property, and Mr. Varn said he hoped it could be preserved.
“And Clarence said, ‘Well, I’ve got a friend I’m going to put you in touch with,’ ” Mr. Varn recalled, adding that he was later told by others not to identify the friend.
The publicity-shy friend turned out to be Harlan Crow, a Dallas real estate magnate and a major contributor to conservative causes. Mr. Crow stepped in to finance the multimillion-dollar purchase and restoration of the cannery, featuring a museum about the culture and history of Pin Point that has become a pet project of Justice Thomas’s.
The project throws a spotlight on an unusual, and ethically sensitive, friendship that appears to be markedly different from those of other justices on the nation’s highest court.
The two men met in the mid-1990s, a few years after Justice Thomas joined the court. Since then, Mr. Crow has done many favors for the justice and his wife, Virginia, helping finance a Savannah library project dedicated to Justice Thomas, presenting him with a Bible that belonged to Frederick Douglass and reportedly providing $500,000 for Ms. Thomas to start a Tea Party-related group. They have also spent time together at gatherings of prominent Republicans and businesspeople at Mr. Crow’s Adirondacks estate and his camp in East Texas.
In several instances, news reports of Mr. Crow’s largess provoked controversy and questions, adding fuel to a rising debate about Supreme Court ethics. But Mr. Crow’s financing of the museum, his largest such act of generosity, previously unreported, raises the sharpest questions yet — both about Justice Thomas’s extrajudicial activities and about the extent to which the justices should remain exempt from the code of conduct for federal judges.
Although the Supreme Court is not bound by the code, justices have said they adhere to it. Legal ethicists differed on whether Justice Thomas’s dealings with Mr. Crow pose a problem under the code. But they agreed that one facet of the relationship was both unusual and important in weighing any ethical implications: Justice Thomas’s role in Mr. Crow’s donation for the museum.
2/ And speaking of the Supreme Court they [of course] sided with Wal-Mart in a class action suit, basically stating Wal-Mart is too big for little people to sue.....
And so the right wing, [and Justice Clarence "bought and sold" Thomas] continues it's war on women and the working class......
Supreme Court Conservatives Thwart Wal-Mart Sex Bias Case
By Mark Sherman, Associated Press
20 June 11
he Supreme Court on Monday blocked a massive sex discrimination lawsuit against Wal-Mart on behalf of female employees in a decision that makes it harder to mount large-scale bias claims against the nation's biggest companies.The justices all agreed that the lawsuit against Wal-Mart Stores Inc. could not proceed as a class action in its current form, reversing a decision by the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco. By a 5-4 vote along ideological lines, the court said there were too many women in too many jobs at Wal-Mart to wrap into one lawsuit.
The lawsuit could have involved up to 1.6 million women, with Wal-Mart facing potentially billions of dollars in damages
3/ Was the President born on Earth? Good question, which Tom Tomorrow tries to answer......
4/ I know I rave on about the corruption in Washington, but this article illustrates how insidious it is - it's about Warren Hatch, a conservative Republican from Utah who has consistently blocked efforts to stop misleading claims for health food supplements. He is doing this because there are quite a few of these corporations in Utah, and in return for protecting their business model they contribute heavily to Hatch's campaign.
So where's the harm, you ask? Over 2000 people have died because of the unregulated ingredients in these supplements, and most of the health claims are bogus anyway....so Hatch does the dirty work, the corporations make megabucks, and we the consumers get screwed again....
It's a small example of how the system is rotten, but the corruption is everywhere, in every industry, some of them dangerous. Corruption isn't good......
In the town of Lehi is the sprawling headquarters of Xango, where company officials praised Mr. Hatch, a Utah Republican, late last year for helping their exotic fruit juice business “operate without excessive intrusion” from Washington.
Up in Sandy, Utah, is 4 Life Research, whose top executives donated to Mr. Hatch’s last re-election campaign after federal regulators charged the company with making exaggerated claims about pills that it says helps the immune system. And nearby in West Salem, assembly-line workers atNeways fill thousands of bottles a day for a product line that includes Youthinol, a steroid-based hormone that professional sports leagues pushed to ban until Mr. Hatch blocked them.
“Senator Hatch — he’s our natural ally,” said Marc S. Ullman, a lawyer for several supplement companies.
Mr. Hatch, who credits a daily regimen of nutritional supplements for his vigor at 77, has spent his career in Washington helping the $25-billion-a-year industry thrive.
He was the chief author of a federal law enacted 17 years ago that allows companies to make general health claims about their products, but exempts them from federal reviews of their safety or effectiveness before they go to market. During the Obama administration, Mr. Hatch has repeatedly intervened with his colleagues in Congress and federal regulators in Washington to fight proposed rules that industry officials consider objectionable.
While Congress is often stalled or bitterly divided in addressing some of the nation’s most pressing problems, like the economy and immigration, legislative champions like Mr. Hatch are often remarkably successful in delivering for niche industries or parochial programs. It is not unusual, of course, for lawmakers to fight for local interests, but Mr. Hatch’s alliances are particularly strong and mutually beneficial.
5/ Probably the definitive "two guitars and a drummer" band of the last 40 years was Rush, and here they are live in concert from 1981 with "Tom Sawyer".
Either you will like this, or not......4 minutes.....crank it up!
6/ John Oliver has some very funny moments on the Daily Show, and this is a really, really, really good 2 minute clip.......love the bleeding ears....
7/ I'm not suggesting Republican Paul Ryan put together his awful budget plan to benefit himself - that's a stretch, but it's funny that many of the major sections of the Ryan plan benefit his family businesses.....
When House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan unveiled the GOPblueprint for cutting government spending, he asked Americans to make sacrifices on everything from Medicare to education, while preserving lucrative tax subsidies for the booming oil, mining and energy industries.
It turns out a constituency within his own personal investments stood to benefit from those tax breaks, Newsweek and The Daily Beast have learned.
The financial disclosure report Ryan filed with Congress last month and made public this week shows he and his wife, Janna, own stakes in four family companies that lease land in Texas and Oklahoma to the very energy companies that benefit from the tax subsidies in Ryan's budget plan.
Ryan's father-in-law, Daniel Little, who runs the companies, told Newsweek and The Daily Beast that the family companies are currently leasing the land for mining and drilling to energy giants such as Chesapeake Energy, Devon, and XTO Energy, a recently acquired subsidiary of ExxonMobil.
Some of these firms would be eligible for portions of the $45 billion in energy tax breaks and subsidies over 10 years protected in the Wisconsin lawmaker’s proposed budget. “Those [energy developing companies] benefit a lot from these subsidies,” explained Russ Harding, an energy policy analyst with the Mackinac Center for Public Policy, when presented with the situation, without reference to Ryan. “Without those, they’re going to be less profitable.”
To ethics watchdogs, Ryan’s effort to extend the tax breaks creates the potential appearance of a conflict of interest.
8/ Most interesting segment of Jon Stewart on Fox News Sunday with Chris Wallace. The interview was, I thought, fascinating because on live TV Jon is quick on his feet, and while in non-comedic mode he makes a lot of sense, actually more sense than most "serious" news people.....
There are two clips - the full 24 minute interview, and a 2 minute highlight summary. If you have the time watch the long version. Actually if you say you don't have the time, what the hell are you watching? It's summer - TV is awful......
[UPDATE] - Stewart slammed Fox News on Monday night's episode of 'The Daily Show' for editing his interview with Wallace. Watch the clip here.
[ORIGINAL STORY] - The Daily Show's Jon Stewart entered the proverbial lion's den, appearing live on Fox News Sunday to debate "media bias" with host Chris Wallace.
Early in the interview, Wallace flashed a previous quote of Stewart's calling Fox News a "relentless agenda-driven 24 hour news opinion propaganda delivery system," and asked Stewart, "Where do you come up with this stuff?"
Stewart responded, "Uh, it's actually quite easy."
Later, when Wallace argued that a clip about Sarah Palin from the Daily Show was political commentary, Stewart told Wallace, "You're insane... Here's the difference between you and I. I'm a comedian first. My comedy is informed by an ideological background, there's no question about that. But the thing that you will never understand...is that Hollywood, yeah, they're liberal, but that's not their primary motivating force. I'm not an activist. I am a comedian."
9/ You may have heard the rumblings about the Greek government and it's debt. Here are the facts, from Simon Johnson who makes sense of the issue. Short and informative article......
China and the Saving of Europe
By Simon Johnson
The Greek government owes more than it can afford to pay, now or in the near future, at market interest rates. There are two options: reduce the payments through some form of restructuring, or move the debt into the hands of people who are willing to charge below market rates for the foreseeable future.
In this decision, the International Monetary Fund has relatively little say – this is really a political decision to be made by the European Union, with discrete backing from the US and China.
While the EU leadership is surely tired of Greek politicians at this point, they also fear greatly the implications for other eurozone countries if Greece says it can’t pay or won’t pay. The realization that spreads on Spanish government debt will rise sharply concentrates the mind wonderfully.
10/ For connoisseurs of bizarre commercials, this one is a doozy.....golf, rum, pirates and gators .......1 minute.....
11/ So will Jeb run for President in 2012? No says the BBC, but wait four more years......
Jeb Bush: No run in 2012, but I don't rule out 2016
By Katty KayBBC News, WashingtonIt is a truism of political dynasties that there is a chosen heir - the one who should or would or could have been next. It is certainly apt of the Bush family.
Jeb Bush is the son who was groomed for the presidency.
He was the one most Republicans expected to succeed his father into the Oval Office.
And today, looking at their, let's be frank, lacklustre field, many Republicans still wish he would do just that
12/ Wordy but interesting article about how America's infrastructure is slipping behind the rest of the world - this time it's broadband, and the failure of AT&T and Verizon to upgrade the systems to fiber optics. Both companies took billions from the government to pay for much faster broadband, but haven't even come close to delivering. The regulators were "captured", i.e. corrupted......
Some of the state commitments were enormous. Pacific Bell in California claimed it would spend $16 billion by 2000 and furnish 5.5 million homes with upgrades. Verizon, New Jersey, was to have 100 percent of the work in that state finished, as was Verizon in Maryland. Connecticut was to be completed by 2007. Ameritech, in five Midwestern states, was to have 6 million homes equipped with high-speed broadband by 2000; US West was to have half a million homes wired per year in their 12 states, starting in 1995.
None of this was done. In 2009, working with Columbia University’s CITI program and tasked by the FCC to supply information about ”historical evaluation of the relationship between previous such announcements and actual deployment,” Teletruth issued a report outlining the failure to deploy broadband based on commitments made.
Today Verizon and AT&T have 7 million upgraded-TV homes out of 120 million promised. The standard speed in America is 5-6 mbps, while in Hong Kong, for a price cheaper than DSL, customers have 1 gigabit speeds (1000 mbps). While actual speeds may vary, South Korea, France, and Japan have made 100mbps bi-directional services their standard.
None of this was done. In 2009, working with Columbia University’s CITI program and tasked by the FCC to supply information about ”historical evaluation of the relationship between previous such announcements and actual deployment,” Teletruth issued a report outlining the failure to deploy broadband based on commitments made.
Today Verizon and AT&T have 7 million upgraded-TV homes out of 120 million promised. The standard speed in America is 5-6 mbps, while in Hong Kong, for a price cheaper than DSL, customers have 1 gigabit speeds (1000 mbps). While actual speeds may vary, South Korea, France, and Japan have made 100mbps bi-directional services their standard.
13/ Our intrepid Governor is making a pathetic attempt to get some good PR going, given his approval rating of 29%, which is just about every moron in Florida.
He has a letter writing campaign to newspapers that you just sign and send.....but you can also edit, and put in a few choice comments as well....
So have at it DDD readers......write to the Orlando Sentinel, or the Miami Herald.....IN YOUR OWN WORDS! Not the Ricksters......
14/ I've never understood why station wagons have never really caught on in the US.....we love our 2006 Mazda 6 Wagon, and if we ever replace it it might be this one......
AS the world has grown smaller, Americans have acquired tastes that were once foreign. Soccer, si. Sushi, yum. The Euro-style sport wagon? Forget it.
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Like most others who write about cars, I can’t drive a station wagon without bemoaning their withered sales. I’ve worn down my shrink asking why we Yanks, given the choice between a wagon and an S.U.V. — a vehicle that’s heavier, clumsier and often no roomier — will choose the S.U.V. every time. It’s especially illogical that more fuel-efficientwagons are getting the bum’s rush when gas prices have soared.
But there’s little sense fighting it. So ignore my praise of the 2011 Acura TSXSport Wagon, just as you would dismiss a glowing review of the latest Senegalese pop sensation. Instead, throw those conformist bucks at, oh, anAcura RDX, a turbocharged crossover sport utility that costs more, gets six to eight fewer miles per gallon on the highway and offers no appreciable advantages in roominess or roadworthiness.
With an RDX, at least you won’t need to justify your choice to the neighbors, already hemming you in with their BMW X Box, Mercedes High-Class or other status-flaunting luxury S.U.V. And while the TSX isn’t as splashy as upscale wagons like the Audi A4 Avant, BMW 3 Series or Cadillac CTS, it costs $7,000 to $14,000 less.
But a handful of smart iconoclasts with a taste for driving — or maybe Senegalese pop — will find this TSX a slick-driving, money-saving delight. Maybe they can start a club with other wagon owners, including the Volvo die-hards and Caddy-come-latelys, to somehow make the station wagon cool again
Todays video - European Toyota commercial....watch this one carefully, very funny......
Todays wry but amusing jokes
UNIVERSAL LAWS:
| 1. Law of Mechanical Repair - After your hands become coated with grease, your nose will begin to itch and you'll have to pee. 2. Law of Gravity - Any tool, nut, bolt, screw, when dropped, will roll to the least accessible corner. 3. Law of Probability -The probability of being watched is directly proportional to the stupidity of your act 4. Law of Random Numbers - If you dial a wrong number, you never get a busy signal and someone always answers. 5. Law of the Alibi - If you tell the boss you were late for work because you had a flat tire, the very next morning you will have a flat tire. 6. Variation Law - If you change lines (or traffic lanes), the one you were in will always move faster than the one you are in now (works every time). 7. Law of the Bath - When the body is fully immersed in water, the telephone rings. 8. Law of Close Encounters -The probability of meeting someone you know increases dramatically when you are with someone you don't want to be seen with. 9. Law of the Result - When you try to prove to someone that a machine won't work, it will. 10. Law of bio mechanics - The severity of the itch is inversely proportional to the reach. 11.. Law of the Theater and Hockey Arena - At any event, the people whose seats are furthest from the aisle, always arrive last. They are the ones who will leave their seats several times to go for food, beer, or the toilet and who leave early before the end of the performance or the game is over. The folks in the aisle seats come early, never move once, have long gangly legs or big bellies, and stay to the bitter end of the performance. The aisle people also are very surly folk. 12. The Coffee Law - As soon as you sit down to a cup of hot coffee, your boss will ask you to do something which will last until the coffee is cold. 13. Murphy's Law of Lockers - If there are only two people in a locker room, they will have adjacent lockers. 14. Law of Physical Surfaces - The chances of an open-faced jelly sandwich landing face down on a floor, are directly correlated to the newness and cost of the carpet or rug. 15. Law of Logical Argument - Anything is possible if you don't know what you are talking about. 16. Brown's Law of Physical Appearance - If the clothes fit, they're ugly. 17. Oliver's Law of Public Speaking - A closed mouth gathers no feet. 18. Wilson's Law of Commercial Marketing Strategy - As soon as you find a product that you really like, they will stop making it. 19. Doctors' Law - If you don't feel well, make an appointment to go to the doctor, by the time you get there you'll feel better. But don't make an appointment, and you'll stay sick. |
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