GOP Budget Plan Fizzles Amid Lack Of Details, Infighting, Mockery

House Republicans today made a big show about how they were going to drop their own brand-new alternate budget proposal, packed with urban-suburban hip-hop "flava" and dance moves Eric Cantor learned at the Verizon Center, watching Britney Spears. As it turns out, READY THEY WERE NOT, and so everyone is making fun of them, and it.

And look: I know that a lot has changed since that first, much-hyped-but-ultimately-detail-free attempt that Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner made at presenting his bank bailout plan. You know...Watchmen opened, and we've all filled out our NCAA brackets, and that guy from American Idol who desecrated the corpse of Johnny Cash got himself a haircut and wasn't half bad on the teevee last night. And yet, I still remember Geithner, rightly getting criticized for a presentation that did not live up to the advance word that President Barack Obama himself put out on the street. The administration, quite rightly, took their lumps for suggesting Geithner was going to deliver the goods when, in reality, he was far from ready for prime time. And the GOP, fairly, led that chorus of criticism.

But for all the criticism, the Geithner lesson didn't seem to be a teachable one. And, as far as MSNBC's Contessa Brewer was concerned, she wasn't having it:

Stimulus? U.S. to Buy Chinese Condoms, Ending Alabama Jobs
Mike McGraw | Kansas City Star

Call it a condom conundrum.

At a time when the federal government is spending billions of stimulus dollars to stem the tide of U.S. layoffs, should that same government put even more Americans out of work by buying cheaper foreign products?

In this case, Chinese condoms.

That's the dilemma for the folks at the U.S. Agency for International Development, which has distributed an estimated 10 billion U.S.-made AIDS-preventing condoms in poor countries around the world.

But not anymore.

In a move expected to cost 300 American jobs, the government is switching to cheaper off-shore condoms, including some made in China.

The switch comes despite implied assurances over the years that the agency would continue to buy American whenever possible.

"Of course, we considered how many U.S. jobs would be affected by this move,” said a USAID official who spoke on the condition that he would not be named. But he said the reasons for the change included lower prices (2 cents versus more than 5 cents for U.S.-made condoms) and the fact that Congress dropped “buy American language” in a recent appropriations bill.

Besides, he said, the sole U.S. supplier — an Alabama company called Alatech — had previous delivery problems under the program.

It's clear that Alatech's problems over the years, which apparently have been resolved, may have driven U.S. officials to seek much less expensive foreign-made condoms in the first place.

But that's cold comfort to Fannie Thomas, who has been making AIDS-preventing condoms in southeastern Alabama for nearly 40 years in the small town of Eufaula.

“We pay taxes down here, too, and with all this stimulus money going to save jobs, it seems to me like they (the U.S. government) should share this contract so they can save jobs here in America,” Thomas said.

Thomas and others at the Alatech plant said there aren’t many alternatives for them if it closes down, which is a likely result of the contracting switch.

In fact, the government is close to accepting condoms from two offshore companies: Unidus Corp., which makes condoms in South Korea, and Qingdao Double Butterfly Group, which makes them in China.

Man Plays Madoff's Prison Number and Wins $1,500

NEW YORK – Wall Street swindler Bernard Madoff is a lucky charm for one New York City construction worker. Queens resident Ralph Amendolaro said he saw Madoff's prison number in a newspaper and had a good feeling so he played the last three digits of it in the state lottery's Numbers game. It hit March 15, paying $1,500.

Lottery officials say other people had the same idea. The number combination 0-5-4 produced 501 winning tickets the Sunday after Madoff's guilty plea, up from 120 winners the previous day.

Madoff's prison registration number is 61727-054.

A lottery spokeswoman says people often play numbers they see on the news.

So many people played the flight number of a jet that landed safely in the Hudson River that the lottery had to halt sales.

Steele's Fate May Rest in the 20th District Congressional Race in NY

By: David Phillips

March 23, 2009

Yoda’s World

Chairman Michael Steele has said that the race in the 20th Congressional District is “going to be a battle royale. We’ve come to play.”

The national Main Stream Media is starting to take notice of this race a bit more than they normally would because of the grumblings in the Republican Party about whether Steele can handle the job as Chairman of the RNC, all because of Steele’s recent openness about Rush Limbaugh where Steele said  that Rush was "incendiary" and just an "entertainer. Then the following week in an interview with GQ magazine's Lisa Depaulo Steele said a woman should have the right to choose an abortion.

So first Steele pissed off the retarded right wing of the GOP who worship Rush Limbaugh and who see him as the GOP leader, and then he pissed off the religious right wing of the GOP which wants abortions abolished completely.

So now it's put or shut up for Steele, if he can deliver the 20th congressional district to the GOP in the special election on March 31 then these grumblings will fade away.

The House seat up for grabs was held by Kirsten Gillibrand who on January 23, 2009, was appointed by Governor David Paterson to fill the Senate seat vacated by Hillary Rodham Clinton.

The Republican candidate is Jim Tedisco who has been a State Assemblyman since 1982 and his Democratic opponent is Scott Murphy who is a businessman.

So, Steele has a seasoned politician in Tedisco running against a businessman who is new to politics. The RNC Chairman has been pouring money into Tedisco’s campaign so the cards are in favor of the republican candidate, and if he loses, Chairman Steele may lose as well.

Steele was elected on the sixth and final ballot beating out South Carolina Republican party Chairman Katon Dawson 91 to 77.

I wonder what her thinking is on the outcome of the election, is she hoping that Tedisco wins because another republican would be in the House, or is she thinking that if Tedisco loses and Steele is voted out of his RNC Chair, that she might have another shot at the job.

It will be interesting to see how this all plays out.

In an episode entitled "FOX-y Lady," the "Family Guy" took on their own network's news branch this Sunday. The plot revolves around the family's matriarch auditioning to be a Fox News anchor after the woman who held the job previously turned out to be too ugly for HDTV.

In the following scene Lois gets a tour of Fox's studio. She has her liberal dog in toe to prove to him that it's not a "lie factory." It doesn't go well, although the family's fascist baby says it "feels like a warm blanket."

Bill Introduced to Help Ailing Newspaper Industry
AFP

A US senator has introduced legislation aimed at helping ailing US newspapers by giving them tax breaks as non-profit organizations.

"We are losing our newspaper industry," Senator Benjamin Cardin, a Democrat from Maryland, said in introducing the Newspaper Revitalization Act.

"The economy has caused an immediate problem, but the business model for newspapers, based on circulation and advertising revenue, is broken, and that is a real tragedy for communities across the nation and for our democracy.

"It is in the interest of our nation and good governance that we ensure they survive," Cardin said in a statement on Tuesday.

The senator cited the recent closures of two newspapers, Denver's Rocky Mountain News and the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, in introducing the bill and noted that many other publications were threatened.

Cardin said the act would grant newspapers tax-free status as non-profits, an arrangement similar to that enjoyed by public broadcasting outlets, which survive on tax-deductible contributions from listeners.

"Under this arrangement, newspapers would not be allowed to make political endorsements, but would be allowed to freely report on all issues, including political campaigns," he said.

"Advertising and subscription revenue would be tax exempt and contributions to support coverage or operations could be tax deductible," he said.

Cardin's statement said "the measure is targeted to preserve local newspapers serving communities and not large newspaper conglomerates."

"This may not be the optimal choice for some major newspapers or corporate media chains, but it should be an option for many newspapers that are struggling to stay afloat," he said.

Cardin's legislation drew immediate fire from influential media critic Jeff Jarvis who called it "another well-meaning but ultimately dangerous attempt to provide a government rescue for newspapers.

"It's doubtful that taxpayers will want to help bail out newspapers, too," Jarvis wrote on his blog, BuzzMachine.com.

US newspapers have been grappling with a steep drop in print advertising revenue, steadily declining circulation and the migration of readers to free news online.

One of the largest newspaper chains, the Tribune Co., filed for bankruptcy last year and the editors of its flagship Chicago Tribune and Los Angeles Times announced plans on Tuesday to combine their foreign reporting operations.

EPA Moves to Halt 'mountaintop removal' Coal Mining
Andy Mead | Lexington Herald Leader

Using a proposed mine in Kentucky and one in West Virginia as examples, the federal Environmental Protection Agency signaled Tuesday that it is cracking down on mountaintop removal coal mining.

The agency released letters it had sent the day before to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers that challenged permits requested by the mines.

EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson said she had "considerable concern regarding the environmental impact these projects would have on fragile habitats and streams."

She also said the EPA will review other mining permits, using "the best science" and following "the letter of the law."

Environmentalists hailed the move as a sharp break from the eight years of the Bush administration.

"I think it's very positive — just the kind of thing the EPA should have been saying," said Joe Lovett, executive director for the Appalachian Center for the Economy and the Environment.

US 'will not stop' N Korea rocket

US Defence Secretary Robert Gates says North Korea is likely to launch a rocket soon, and Washington would not attempt to stop it.

North Korea has said it will launch a satellite into orbit next month.

South Korea, Japan and the US say the launch is cover for a test of the Taepodong-2 ballistic missile.

Japan had said earlier it would deploy missile interceptors to destroy any parts of a North Korean rocket that might fall on its territory.

North Korea has said it would regard any rocket intercept as an act of war.

But Mr Gates said the US would not attempt to shoot it down.

'Aberrant missile'

"I would say we're not prepared to do anything about it," he told Fox News Sunday.

"If we had an aberrant missile, one that looked like it was headed for Hawaii, we might consider it, but I don't think we have any plans to do anything like that at this point," said Mr Gates.

The US had previously said the launch would violate UN Security Council resolutions, while Russia has said North Korea should "abstain" from testing any missiles.

North Korea says it intends to test-fire the rocket between the 4 and 8 April.

The trajectory issued by Pyongyang shows the rocket will pass over Japan, with the first booster stage landing in the sea to the west, the second in the Pacific Ocean to the east.

Japan's interception is only likely to be activated if the launch does not go as planned and debris appears to be falling towards Japan.

Eating Red and Processed Meats May Increase Risk of Death

ROCKVILLE, Maryland, March 25, 2009 (ENS) - People who eat more red meat and processed meats appear to have a "modestly increased risk of death" from all causes and also from cancer or heart disease over a 10-year period, finds a new study of half a million U.S. men and women who were aged 50 to 71 when the research began in 1995.

This health effect does not extend to consumption of poultry. Researchers found that a higher intake of white meat results in a slightly decreased risk for overall death and cancer death.

Rashmi Sinha, PhD, and colleagues at the National Cancer Institute at Rockville studied the association between meat intake and risk of death among more than 500,000 people who were part of the National Institutes of Health-AARP Diet and Health Study.

Participants were recruited from six states - California, Florida, Louisiana, New Jersey, North Carolina, and Pennsylvania - and from metropolitan areas - Atlanta, Georgia, and Detroit, Michigan. Questionnaires on demographic and lifestyle characteristics, including dietary habits, were mailed to 3.5 million members of AARP [The American Association of Retired Persons] in 1995.

The researchers asked people to recall what they ate over the previous 12 months and fill out a detailed questionnaire. Instructions said, "Answer each question as best you can. Estimate if you are not sure. A guess is better than leaving a blank."

The approximately 500,000 participants were then followed for 10 years through Social Security Administration Death Master File and National Death Index databases. Participants filled out questionnaires at the five year mark and the 10 year mark. During the follow-up period, 47,976 men and 23,276 women died.

Bush to Write Book on Important Decisions of Presidency

Former President George W. Bush is writing a book focusing on defining decisions he's made in his personal and political life, a publishing house announced Thursday.

The book, tentatively titled "Decision Points," is to be published in fall 2010, according to the Crown Publishing Group. Financial terms weren't disclosed.

The book will focus on about 12 important decisions made by the former president. Topics will include his decision to run for president, his choice of his closest advisers, the September 11 terrorist attacks, the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, his response to Hurricane Katrina, the forming of his stem cell research policy, his decision to quit drinking, how he found faith and his relationships with his father, mother, siblings and wife.

"I am spending time on the book every day," Bush was quoted saying in a news release. "My goal is to bring the reader inside the Oval Office for the most consequential moments of my personal and political life.

"I look forward to painting a vivid picture of the information I had, the principles I followed, and the decisions I made," Bush said.

Main Entry: mar·riage
Pronunciation:..'mer-ij, 'ma-rij..
Function: noun
Etymology: Middle English mariage, from Anglo-French, from marier to marry
Date: 14th century
1 a (1): the state of being united to a person of the opposite sex as husband or wife in a consensual and contractual relationship recognized by law (2): the state of being united to a person of the same sex in a relationship like that of a traditional marriage <same-sex marriage> b: the mutual relation of married persons : wedlock c: the institution whereby individuals are joined in a marriage

Merriam-Webster dictionary will now be BANNED from all Private religious schools...Culminating with a book burning and marshmallow roast on Saturday April 11, 2009 on the eve of Easter...Contact your local Church or Catholic school for those who want a ride on the Bus of Righteousness to the main Event or wish to contribute books...

Sincerely,

Pastor I.C. Clearly...