NYTimes By PAUL KRUGMAN
Ben Bernanke, the Federal Reserve chairman, sees “green shoots.” President Obama sees “glimmers of hope.” And the stock market has been on a tear.
So is it time to sound the all clear? Here are four reasons to be cautious about the economic outlook.
1. Things are still getting worse. Industrial production just hit a 10-year low. Housing starts remain incredibly weak. Foreclosures, which dipped as mortgage companies waited for details of the Obama administration’s housing plans, are surging again.
The most you can say is that there are scattered signs that things are getting worse more slowly — that the economy isn’t plunging quite as fast as it was. And I do mean scattered: the latest edition of the Beige Book, the Fed’s periodic survey of business conditions, reports that “five of the twelve Districts noted a moderation in the pace of decline.” Whoopee.
2. Some of the good news isn’t convincing. The biggest positive news in recent days has come from banks, which have been announcing surprisingly good earnings. But some of those earnings reports look a little ... funny.
Wells Fargo, for example, announced its best quarterly earnings ever. But a bank’s reported earnings aren’t a hard number, like sales; for example, they depend a lot on the amount the bank sets aside to cover expected future losses on its loans. And some analysts expressed considerable doubt about Wells Fargo’s assumptions, as well as other accounting issues.
Meanwhile, Goldman Sachs announced a huge jump in profits from fourth-quarter 2008 to first-quarter 2009. But as analysts quickly noticed, Goldman changed its definition of “quarter” (in response to a change in its legal status), so that — I kid you not — the month of December, which happened to be a bad one for the bank, disappeared from this comparison.
I don’t want to go overboard here. Maybe the banks really have swung from deep losses to hefty profits in record time. But skepticism comes naturally in this age of Madoff.
Oh, and for those expecting the Treasury Department’s “stress tests” to make everything clear: the White House spokesman, Robert Gibbs, says that “you will see in a systematic and coordinated way the transparency of determining and showing to all involved some of the results of these stress tests.” No, I don’t know what that means, either.
3. There may be other shoes yet to drop. Even in the Great Depression, things didn’t head straight down. There was, in particular, a pause in the plunge about a year and a half in — roughly where we are now. But then came a series of bank failures on both sides of the Atlantic, combined with some disastrous policy moves as countries tried to defend the dying gold standard, and the world economy fell off another cliff.
Can this happen again? Well, commercial real estate is coming apart at the seams, credit card losses are surging and nobody knows yet just how bad things will get in Japan or Eastern Europe. We probably won’t repeat the disaster of 1931, but it’s far from certain that the worst is over.
4. Even when it’s over, it won’t be over. The 2001 recession officially lasted only eight months, ending in November of that year. But unemployment kept rising for another year and a half. The same thing happened after the 1990-91 recession. And there’s every reason to believe that it will happen this time too. Don’t be surprised if unemployment keeps rising right through 2010.
Why? “V-shaped” recoveries, in which employment comes roaring back, take place only when there’s a lot of pent-up demand. In 1982, for example, housing was crushed by high interest rates, so when the Fed eased up, home sales surged. That’s not what’s going on this time: today, the economy is depressed, loosely speaking, because we ran up too much debt and built too many shopping malls, and nobody is in the mood for a new burst of spending.
Employment will eventually recover — it always does. But it probably won’t happen fast.
So now that I’ve got everyone depressed, what’s the answer? Persistence.
History shows that one of the great policy dangers, in the face of a severe economic slump, is premature optimism. F.D.R. responded to signs of recovery by cutting the Works Progress Administration in half and raising taxes; the Great Depression promptly returned in full force. Japan slackened its efforts halfway through its lost decade, ensuring another five years of stagnation.
The Obama administration’s economists understand this. They say all the right things about staying the course. But there’s a real risk that all the talk of green shoots and glimmers will breed a dangerous complacency.
So here’s my advice, to the public and policy makers alike: Don’t count your recoveries before they’re hatched.
Friday, April 17, 2009
Obama Says He Seeks ‘New Beginning’ With Cuba
PORT-OF-SPAIN, Trinidad (AP) -- Trading their warmest words in a half-century, the United States and Cuba built momentum toward renewed ties on Friday, with President Barack Obama declaring he ''seeks a new beginning'' -- including direct talks -- with the island's communist regime. As leaders of the Americas gathered for a summit in this Caribbean nation, the head of the Organization of American States even said he'll ask his group to invite Cuba back after 47 years.
In remarks kicking off the weekend gathering of nations -- of which Cuba was the only country in the region not represented -- Obama repeated the kind of remarks toward the Castro regime that marked his campaign for the presidency.
''The United States seeks a new beginning with Cuba,'' he said at the Summit of the Americas opening ceremony. ''I know there is a longer journey that must be traveled to overcome decades of mistrust, but there are critical steps we can take toward a new day.''
Analysts cautioned that the week's developments were encouraging but do not necessarily mean normalized relations are around the corner.
''This is a thaw, but it's a thaw that's going to take some time,'' said Michael Shifter of the Inter-American Dialogue in Washington. ''I wouldn't look for any dramatic breakthroughs. There's a lot of distrust.''
Still, President Cristina Fernandez of Argentina, in her remarks to the summit's inaugural session, won applause when she called on the United States to lift the ''anachronism that the embargo means today,'' a reference to the nearly half-century-old U.S. ban on trade with Cuba.
''Let's not miss the chance,'' she said, to build a new relationship with Cuba.
The flurry of back-and-forth gestures began earlier this week when Obama dropped restrictions on travel and remittances to Cuba, challenging his Cuban counterpart, Raul Castro, to reciprocate. Obama noted those moves and renewed his promise for his administration to engage with the Cuban government ''on a wide range of issues,'' including human rights, free speech, democratic reform, drugs, immigration and the economy.
''Let me be clear: I am not interested in talking for the sake of talking,'' the president said. ''But I do believe that we can move U.S.-Cuban relations in a new direction.''
To that end, Obama met with Venezuela's socialist President Hugo Chavez, a Cuban ally and fierce critic of the United States. The two met ahead of the summit's opening ceremonies. The Venezuelan presidency released a photograph of the pair shaking hands and described it as a friendly encounter.
In a diplomatic exchange of the kind that normally takes months or years, Castro had responded within hours to Obama's policy changes this week. He extended Cuba's most open offer for talks since the Eisenhower administration, saying he's ready to discuss ''human rights, freedom of the press, political prisoners -- everything.'' Cuban officials have historically bristled at discussing human rights or political prisoners, of whom they hold about 200.
The United States replied Friday, with Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton offering: ''We welcome his comments, the overture they represent, and we are taking a very serious look at how we intend to respond.''
And OAS Secretary-General Jose Miguel Insulza said he would ask the 34 member nations to invite Cuba back into the fold. Analysts doubted Insulza -- known for his political caution -- would have done so without a nod from Washington, which contributes a huge portion of the OAS budget.
''We're going step by step,'' Insulza said. He called on the group to annul the 1962 resolution that suspended Cuba because its ''Marxist-Leninist'' system was incompatible with OAS principles. If two-thirds of foreign ministers agree at a meeting in Honduras next month, the communist government will be reinstated.
Obama, in his remarks, rejected what he called a false choice ''between sticking to inflexible policies with regard to Cuba or denying the full human rights that are owed to the Cuban people.''
However, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs made clear that while Castro's new openness to change was welcome, the U.S. wasn't abandoning its demand for Cuba to start making concrete moves toward freedom.
''They're certainly free to release political prisoners,'' he said aboard Air Force One as Obama flew into Trinidad. ''They're certainly free to stop skimming money off the top of remittance payments as they come back to the Cuban island. They're free to institute a greater freedom of the press''
And Castro didn't retreat from his criticism of U.S. policy, recalling Thursday that the United States has long tried to topple the government that he and his brother Fidel have presided over for 50 years.
''That's the sad reality,'' he said.
Said Peter DeShazo of the Center for Strategic and International Studies: ''These are very preliminary steps, but they are significant.''
The U.S. severed all diplomatic ties with Cuba on Jan. 3, 1961, just three months before exiles launched their disastrous invasion of the Bay of Pigs.
The last significant effort toward talks were secret negotiations between an aide to then-Secretary of State Henry Kissinger and an emissary from the Cuban Communist Party at a crowded coffee shop at New York's La Guardia Airport on Jan. 11, 1975. Negotiators met in New York hotels and private homes over several months, but the move died when Castro sent troops into Angola.
Obama was criticized during his campaign for saying he'd meet with Castro without preconditions, and Castro said during a November interview with actor-director Sean Penn that he would meet with Obama, suggesting the U.S. Naval Base at Guantanamo Bay as a venue.
Any possible talks are likely to include involvement of senior Cuban diplomat Jorge Bolanos, head of the Cuban Interests Section in Washington. Bolanos and Deputy Foreign Minister Dagoberto Rodriguez greeted members of the Congressional Black Caucus when they visited Havana this month.
Although neither side has set conditions to simply talk, Obama insists Cuba make another move before the U.S. takes more action. Castro, meanwhile, demands the U.S. trade embargo on the island be abolished, something Obama has said will not happen without Cuban moves toward democracy.
The U.S. could balk at Castro's offer to free the about 200 political prisoners held on the island, along with their relatives, and send them all to the United States in exchange for five Cubans serving long sentences on espionage charges. On the list are several people convicted of violent acts, including two Salvadorans sentenced to death for Havana hotel bombings that killed an Italian tourist. Cuba currently has a moratorium on the death penalty.
The number of political prisoners held on the island has dropped by a third since Raul Castro assumed power from his ailing elder brother in July 2006. The Cuban Commission on Human Rights and National Reconciliation then counted 316 prisoners but as of Jan. 30 documented 205 such inmates, including 12 since freed on medical parole.
Another stumbling block toward normalization is the 1996 Helms-Burton Act, which forbids U.S. officials from restoring full diplomatic relations with Cuba as long as either Fidel or Raul Castro is in charge.THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
In remarks kicking off the weekend gathering of nations -- of which Cuba was the only country in the region not represented -- Obama repeated the kind of remarks toward the Castro regime that marked his campaign for the presidency.
''The United States seeks a new beginning with Cuba,'' he said at the Summit of the Americas opening ceremony. ''I know there is a longer journey that must be traveled to overcome decades of mistrust, but there are critical steps we can take toward a new day.''
Analysts cautioned that the week's developments were encouraging but do not necessarily mean normalized relations are around the corner.
''This is a thaw, but it's a thaw that's going to take some time,'' said Michael Shifter of the Inter-American Dialogue in Washington. ''I wouldn't look for any dramatic breakthroughs. There's a lot of distrust.''
Still, President Cristina Fernandez of Argentina, in her remarks to the summit's inaugural session, won applause when she called on the United States to lift the ''anachronism that the embargo means today,'' a reference to the nearly half-century-old U.S. ban on trade with Cuba.
''Let's not miss the chance,'' she said, to build a new relationship with Cuba.
The flurry of back-and-forth gestures began earlier this week when Obama dropped restrictions on travel and remittances to Cuba, challenging his Cuban counterpart, Raul Castro, to reciprocate. Obama noted those moves and renewed his promise for his administration to engage with the Cuban government ''on a wide range of issues,'' including human rights, free speech, democratic reform, drugs, immigration and the economy.
''Let me be clear: I am not interested in talking for the sake of talking,'' the president said. ''But I do believe that we can move U.S.-Cuban relations in a new direction.''
To that end, Obama met with Venezuela's socialist President Hugo Chavez, a Cuban ally and fierce critic of the United States. The two met ahead of the summit's opening ceremonies. The Venezuelan presidency released a photograph of the pair shaking hands and described it as a friendly encounter.
In a diplomatic exchange of the kind that normally takes months or years, Castro had responded within hours to Obama's policy changes this week. He extended Cuba's most open offer for talks since the Eisenhower administration, saying he's ready to discuss ''human rights, freedom of the press, political prisoners -- everything.'' Cuban officials have historically bristled at discussing human rights or political prisoners, of whom they hold about 200.
The United States replied Friday, with Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton offering: ''We welcome his comments, the overture they represent, and we are taking a very serious look at how we intend to respond.''
And OAS Secretary-General Jose Miguel Insulza said he would ask the 34 member nations to invite Cuba back into the fold. Analysts doubted Insulza -- known for his political caution -- would have done so without a nod from Washington, which contributes a huge portion of the OAS budget.
''We're going step by step,'' Insulza said. He called on the group to annul the 1962 resolution that suspended Cuba because its ''Marxist-Leninist'' system was incompatible with OAS principles. If two-thirds of foreign ministers agree at a meeting in Honduras next month, the communist government will be reinstated.
Obama, in his remarks, rejected what he called a false choice ''between sticking to inflexible policies with regard to Cuba or denying the full human rights that are owed to the Cuban people.''
However, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs made clear that while Castro's new openness to change was welcome, the U.S. wasn't abandoning its demand for Cuba to start making concrete moves toward freedom.
''They're certainly free to release political prisoners,'' he said aboard Air Force One as Obama flew into Trinidad. ''They're certainly free to stop skimming money off the top of remittance payments as they come back to the Cuban island. They're free to institute a greater freedom of the press''
And Castro didn't retreat from his criticism of U.S. policy, recalling Thursday that the United States has long tried to topple the government that he and his brother Fidel have presided over for 50 years.
''That's the sad reality,'' he said.
Said Peter DeShazo of the Center for Strategic and International Studies: ''These are very preliminary steps, but they are significant.''
The U.S. severed all diplomatic ties with Cuba on Jan. 3, 1961, just three months before exiles launched their disastrous invasion of the Bay of Pigs.
The last significant effort toward talks were secret negotiations between an aide to then-Secretary of State Henry Kissinger and an emissary from the Cuban Communist Party at a crowded coffee shop at New York's La Guardia Airport on Jan. 11, 1975. Negotiators met in New York hotels and private homes over several months, but the move died when Castro sent troops into Angola.
Obama was criticized during his campaign for saying he'd meet with Castro without preconditions, and Castro said during a November interview with actor-director Sean Penn that he would meet with Obama, suggesting the U.S. Naval Base at Guantanamo Bay as a venue.
Any possible talks are likely to include involvement of senior Cuban diplomat Jorge Bolanos, head of the Cuban Interests Section in Washington. Bolanos and Deputy Foreign Minister Dagoberto Rodriguez greeted members of the Congressional Black Caucus when they visited Havana this month.
Although neither side has set conditions to simply talk, Obama insists Cuba make another move before the U.S. takes more action. Castro, meanwhile, demands the U.S. trade embargo on the island be abolished, something Obama has said will not happen without Cuban moves toward democracy.
The U.S. could balk at Castro's offer to free the about 200 political prisoners held on the island, along with their relatives, and send them all to the United States in exchange for five Cubans serving long sentences on espionage charges. On the list are several people convicted of violent acts, including two Salvadorans sentenced to death for Havana hotel bombings that killed an Italian tourist. Cuba currently has a moratorium on the death penalty.
The number of political prisoners held on the island has dropped by a third since Raul Castro assumed power from his ailing elder brother in July 2006. The Cuban Commission on Human Rights and National Reconciliation then counted 316 prisoners but as of Jan. 30 documented 205 such inmates, including 12 since freed on medical parole.
Another stumbling block toward normalization is the 1996 Helms-Burton Act, which forbids U.S. officials from restoring full diplomatic relations with Cuba as long as either Fidel or Raul Castro is in charge.THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
What if Fox News threw a tea party and nobody came?
While millions of people were scrambling to make it to the post office by 5 p.m. on Wednesday, far, far fewer showed up at Fox News' Tax Day Tea Parties. Media Matters for America extensively documented the incessant promotion of the tea parties by Fox News and its anchors and contributors. In fact, in the 10 days leading up to the protests, Fox News aired 107 ads promoting them. And in addition to encouraging its viewers to attend the protests, Fox News announced that viewers who couldn't attend could attend "a virtual tax day tea party" at TheFoxNation.com.
Well, tax day arrived, and Fox News didn't disappoint. Reporting from a protest in Boston, Fox Business Network anchor Cody Willard stated, "I'm on your side. I'm trying to take down the Fed." He also asked, "Guys, when are we going to wake up and start fighting the fascism that seems to be permeating this country?" At a protest in front of the Alamo, Glenn Beck hosted unofficial NRA head Ted Nugent, who played guitar while Beck interviewed Joe Horn, who was identified by a Fox News graphic as having "shot 2 illegals burglarizing home." Of course, Beck wasn't covering the protest so much as leading it. Meanwhile, John Gibson expressed his "hope[]" that "millions of people" would participate in the protests, while Neil Cavuto appeared to inflate the numbers at the rally he was attending in Sacramento. Cavuto stated of the Sacramento tea party: "They were expecting 5,000 here, it's got to be easily double, if not triple that." However, moments earlier, before Cavuto went on the air, a microphone caught Cavuto stating to a producer "There's gotta be 5,000" -- not "double, if not triple" that number.
Geraldo Rivera was not impressed, asserting, "The grand total of all of the tea party demonstrators" was less than the number "at that immigration rally in 2006 in the city of Chicago alone." Rivera added that the immigration rally was a "truly spontaneous demonstration," while the tea parties "may have had aspects of spontaneity."
While Bill O'Reilly was defending Fox News' coverage of the tea parties, calling it "vastly superior to anything else around," other networks were calling out Fox News for its support of the protests. On CNN, reporter Susan Roesgen grilled a Chicago protester who referred to President Obama as a "fascist" and said the protests were "highly promoted by the right-wing conservative network Fox." On the CBS Evening News, reporter Dean Reynolds cited Beck and Cavuto as among the "rightward-leaning commentators" who "embraced the cause." On ABC's World News, reporter Dan Harris said the protests were "cheered on by Fox News and talk radio." And CNN's Howard Kurtz asserted: "I don't think I've ever seen a news network throw its weight behind a protest like we are seeing in the past few weeks with Fox and these tea parties."
But Stephen Colbert summed it up best: "I would like to throw my support behind this grassroots effort by Fox News Corporation."
Conservatives freak out about a report on extremist hate groups
Overshadowing the tea-party protests was the leaking of an April 7 Department of Homeland Security intelligence assessment of right-wing extremism. Several conservative media figures chose to align themselves with the violent and racist hate groups mentioned in the report rather than the DHS. The report sought to identify factors -- such as the economic downturn and an African-American president -- that these extremist groups would use to target new recruits. Rush Limbaugh claimed: "[Y]ou have a report from Janet Napolitano and Barack Obama Department of Homeland Security portraying standard, ordinary, everyday conservatives as posing a bigger threat to this country than Al Qaeda terrorists or genuine enemies of this country like Kim Jong-Il." And Sean Hannity stated that the DHS "is warning law enforcement officials about the rise in right-wing extremist activity" and asserted that the department "would define it as people that maybe think we're not controlling our borders, people that have pro-life bumper stickers." And Lou Dobbs asked his viewers: "Do you think a person concerned about borders and ports that are unsecured, illegal immigration, Second Amendment rights, or a returning veteran from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan is likely or even possibly probable, as the Department of Homeland Security suggests, to be a right-wing extremist?" Of course, the report doesn't actually say that, but Dobbs' point was echoed ad nauseam in the conservative media. Rather than explaining that the report focused on how certain views are used as tools by hate groups to recruit, the DHS report was portrayed as an indictment of anyone who holds those views.
Conservative media also seized upon an aspect of the report -- that returning military veterans are likely to be targeted by extremist groups -- to claim that the report considered war veterans a threat. Cavuto claimed that the report "more or less states the government considers you a terrorist threat if you oppose abortion, speak out against illegal immigration, or you are a returning war veteran." In fact, the report concludes that "rightwing extremists will attempt to recruit and radicalize returning veterans in order to exploit their skills and knowledge derived from military training and combat."
More significantly, in reporting on this aspect of the report, Cavuto and others in the conservative media did not note that in reaching its conclusion about returning veterans, the DHS cited a 2008 FBI report -- authored during the Bush administration -- that stated, in the words of the DHS, that "some returning military veterans from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have joined extremist groups." But it should come as no surprise that conservative media figures would overlook the Bush administration's role in their efforts to portray the Obama administration as anti-military.
While decrying the partisan nature of the report, most media outlets also failed to note that the DHS issued an assessment on January 26 of left-wing extremism, which concluded that "a number of emerging trends point to leftwing extremists maturing and expanding their cyber attack capabilities over the next decade with the aim of attacking targets in the United States."
The paranoia persisted on Fox News, even after Shepard Smith and Catherine Herridge debunked the claims on which much of it was based. Herridge noted the January DHS report and said: "[E]ven at the end of last year, prior to the inauguration, the Homeland Security Department under the Bush administration was sounding the alarm about the potential for right-wing groups to act, specifically because of the economy, and also because America was going to have its first African-American president." Herridge also asserted: "I would point out that both of these assessments ... were commissioned under the Bush administration. It takes some time to do them. They only came out after he had left office."
Since the DHS report came to light on the eve of the tea parties, several media figures drew a link between those events and the DHS report, suggesting that the DHS would be watching the protesters. Limbaugh claimed: "When Obama's policies are the centerpiece then the people that showed up at the tea parties have to be monitored by Homeland Security." And TheFoxNation.com ran the headline: "Is Homeland Security Targeting Tea Parties?"
Other noteworthy quotes this week:
Following a three-judge panel's ruling in the Minnesota Senate race that Democratic candidate Al Franken "won," Joe Scarborough asked, "[W]hen are the Republicans going to give up the ghost on this?" He continued: "Seriously. Norm [Coleman], I like you. You lost, OK?" He again added: "It's over. I'm sorry."
Bernard Goldberg, author of A Slobbering Love Affair: The True (and Pathetic) Story of the Torrid Romance Between Barack Obama and the Mainstream Media, told Hannity: "I'm sorry, Sean ... but we have to stop going out of our way to find fault with every single thing he [Obama] does."
In an April 15 Spectator article, former Bush speechwriter David Frum wrote: "[T]o listen to Fox News and other conservative media, you'd think we were living in Czechoslovakia in the final hours before the 1948 communist coup."
On MSNBC, Chris Matthews called Texas Gov. Rick Perry a "bozo" and said, "I'm sorry ... you can't decide whether to stay in the Union or not." He added: "Why are you talking about secession? That is whack-job stuff."
On CNN's Lou Dobbs Tonight, Minneapolis radio host Chris Baker said of stimulus spending: "The craziest expenditure I've seen so far is Ed Rendell in Pennsylvania. To cheer up the people of Pennsylvania -- a World Series apparently didn't do it -- but they're hiring comics, magicians, and mimes. True. Check the facts." In fact, Baker was apparently the victim of an April Fools' Day joke by The Patriot-News of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.
Well, tax day arrived, and Fox News didn't disappoint. Reporting from a protest in Boston, Fox Business Network anchor Cody Willard stated, "I'm on your side. I'm trying to take down the Fed." He also asked, "Guys, when are we going to wake up and start fighting the fascism that seems to be permeating this country?" At a protest in front of the Alamo, Glenn Beck hosted unofficial NRA head Ted Nugent, who played guitar while Beck interviewed Joe Horn, who was identified by a Fox News graphic as having "shot 2 illegals burglarizing home." Of course, Beck wasn't covering the protest so much as leading it. Meanwhile, John Gibson expressed his "hope[]" that "millions of people" would participate in the protests, while Neil Cavuto appeared to inflate the numbers at the rally he was attending in Sacramento. Cavuto stated of the Sacramento tea party: "They were expecting 5,000 here, it's got to be easily double, if not triple that." However, moments earlier, before Cavuto went on the air, a microphone caught Cavuto stating to a producer "There's gotta be 5,000" -- not "double, if not triple" that number.
Geraldo Rivera was not impressed, asserting, "The grand total of all of the tea party demonstrators" was less than the number "at that immigration rally in 2006 in the city of Chicago alone." Rivera added that the immigration rally was a "truly spontaneous demonstration," while the tea parties "may have had aspects of spontaneity."
While Bill O'Reilly was defending Fox News' coverage of the tea parties, calling it "vastly superior to anything else around," other networks were calling out Fox News for its support of the protests. On CNN, reporter Susan Roesgen grilled a Chicago protester who referred to President Obama as a "fascist" and said the protests were "highly promoted by the right-wing conservative network Fox." On the CBS Evening News, reporter Dean Reynolds cited Beck and Cavuto as among the "rightward-leaning commentators" who "embraced the cause." On ABC's World News, reporter Dan Harris said the protests were "cheered on by Fox News and talk radio." And CNN's Howard Kurtz asserted: "I don't think I've ever seen a news network throw its weight behind a protest like we are seeing in the past few weeks with Fox and these tea parties."
But Stephen Colbert summed it up best: "I would like to throw my support behind this grassroots effort by Fox News Corporation."
Conservatives freak out about a report on extremist hate groups
Overshadowing the tea-party protests was the leaking of an April 7 Department of Homeland Security intelligence assessment of right-wing extremism. Several conservative media figures chose to align themselves with the violent and racist hate groups mentioned in the report rather than the DHS. The report sought to identify factors -- such as the economic downturn and an African-American president -- that these extremist groups would use to target new recruits. Rush Limbaugh claimed: "[Y]ou have a report from Janet Napolitano and Barack Obama Department of Homeland Security portraying standard, ordinary, everyday conservatives as posing a bigger threat to this country than Al Qaeda terrorists or genuine enemies of this country like Kim Jong-Il." And Sean Hannity stated that the DHS "is warning law enforcement officials about the rise in right-wing extremist activity" and asserted that the department "would define it as people that maybe think we're not controlling our borders, people that have pro-life bumper stickers." And Lou Dobbs asked his viewers: "Do you think a person concerned about borders and ports that are unsecured, illegal immigration, Second Amendment rights, or a returning veteran from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan is likely or even possibly probable, as the Department of Homeland Security suggests, to be a right-wing extremist?" Of course, the report doesn't actually say that, but Dobbs' point was echoed ad nauseam in the conservative media. Rather than explaining that the report focused on how certain views are used as tools by hate groups to recruit, the DHS report was portrayed as an indictment of anyone who holds those views.
Conservative media also seized upon an aspect of the report -- that returning military veterans are likely to be targeted by extremist groups -- to claim that the report considered war veterans a threat. Cavuto claimed that the report "more or less states the government considers you a terrorist threat if you oppose abortion, speak out against illegal immigration, or you are a returning war veteran." In fact, the report concludes that "rightwing extremists will attempt to recruit and radicalize returning veterans in order to exploit their skills and knowledge derived from military training and combat."
More significantly, in reporting on this aspect of the report, Cavuto and others in the conservative media did not note that in reaching its conclusion about returning veterans, the DHS cited a 2008 FBI report -- authored during the Bush administration -- that stated, in the words of the DHS, that "some returning military veterans from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have joined extremist groups." But it should come as no surprise that conservative media figures would overlook the Bush administration's role in their efforts to portray the Obama administration as anti-military.
While decrying the partisan nature of the report, most media outlets also failed to note that the DHS issued an assessment on January 26 of left-wing extremism, which concluded that "a number of emerging trends point to leftwing extremists maturing and expanding their cyber attack capabilities over the next decade with the aim of attacking targets in the United States."
The paranoia persisted on Fox News, even after Shepard Smith and Catherine Herridge debunked the claims on which much of it was based. Herridge noted the January DHS report and said: "[E]ven at the end of last year, prior to the inauguration, the Homeland Security Department under the Bush administration was sounding the alarm about the potential for right-wing groups to act, specifically because of the economy, and also because America was going to have its first African-American president." Herridge also asserted: "I would point out that both of these assessments ... were commissioned under the Bush administration. It takes some time to do them. They only came out after he had left office."
Since the DHS report came to light on the eve of the tea parties, several media figures drew a link between those events and the DHS report, suggesting that the DHS would be watching the protesters. Limbaugh claimed: "When Obama's policies are the centerpiece then the people that showed up at the tea parties have to be monitored by Homeland Security." And TheFoxNation.com ran the headline: "Is Homeland Security Targeting Tea Parties?"
Other noteworthy quotes this week:
Following a three-judge panel's ruling in the Minnesota Senate race that Democratic candidate Al Franken "won," Joe Scarborough asked, "[W]hen are the Republicans going to give up the ghost on this?" He continued: "Seriously. Norm [Coleman], I like you. You lost, OK?" He again added: "It's over. I'm sorry."
Bernard Goldberg, author of A Slobbering Love Affair: The True (and Pathetic) Story of the Torrid Romance Between Barack Obama and the Mainstream Media, told Hannity: "I'm sorry, Sean ... but we have to stop going out of our way to find fault with every single thing he [Obama] does."
In an April 15 Spectator article, former Bush speechwriter David Frum wrote: "[T]o listen to Fox News and other conservative media, you'd think we were living in Czechoslovakia in the final hours before the 1948 communist coup."
On MSNBC, Chris Matthews called Texas Gov. Rick Perry a "bozo" and said, "I'm sorry ... you can't decide whether to stay in the Union or not." He added: "Why are you talking about secession? That is whack-job stuff."
On CNN's Lou Dobbs Tonight, Minneapolis radio host Chris Baker said of stimulus spending: "The craziest expenditure I've seen so far is Ed Rendell in Pennsylvania. To cheer up the people of Pennsylvania -- a World Series apparently didn't do it -- but they're hiring comics, magicians, and mimes. True. Check the facts." In fact, Baker was apparently the victim of an April Fools' Day joke by The Patriot-News of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.
JEANINE GAROFALO on MSNBC w Olbermann
JANEANE GAROFALO, ACTOR: speaching on the demos on tax day 4-15/09:
You know, there is nothing more interesting than seeing a bunch of racists become confused and angry at a speech they‘re not quite certain what he thinks. It sounds right to them, and then it doesn‘t make sense.
Let‘s be very honest about what this is about. It‘s not about bashing Democrats. It‘s not about taxes. They have no idea what the Boston Tea party was about.
They don‘t know their history at all. This is about hating a black man in the White House. This is racism straight up. That is nothing but a bunch of tea bagging rednecks. And there is no way around that. And, you know, you can tell these type of right-wingers anything and they‘ll believe it, except the truth. You tell them the truth and they become—it‘s like showing Frankenstein‘s monster fire. They become confused, angry, highly volatile.
That guy caused in them feelings they don‘t know because of their limbic brain—we‘ve discussed before, the limbic brain inside a right-winger or Republican or conservative or your average white power activist - - the limbic brain is much larger in their head space than in a reasonable person. And it is pushing against the frontal lobe. So their synapses are misfiring.
OLBERMANN: How do you break through that?
GAROFALO: I don‘t think you do, for most of them. This is a pathological—it‘s almost pathological or elevated to a philosophy or lifestyle. Again, this is about racism. It could be any issue, any port in a storm. These guys hate that a black guy is in the White House, but they—they immigrant bash. They pretend taxes and tea bags—like I said, most of them probably couldn‘t tell you thing one about taxation without representation, the Boston Tea Party, British imperialism, whatever the history lesson has to be.
But these people always—unless there‘s some people with Stockholm Syndrome.
OLBERMANN: I didn‘t see them. They were in the back. They weren‘t near the cameras, which is bad strategy on the part of the people staging this at Fox.
GAROFALO: True. And Fox News loves to foment this anti-intellectualism. That is their bread and butter. If you have a cerebral electorate, Fox News goes down the toilet very, very fast. It is sick and sad to see Neil Cavuto doing this. They‘re been doing this for years. That‘s why Roger Ailes and Rupert Murdoch started this venture, is to disinform and to coarsen and dumb-down a certain segment of the electorate.
But what is really—I didn‘t know there were so many racists left. I didn‘t know that. As I said, the Republican hype in the conservative movement has now crystallized into the white power movement.
OLBERMANN: Is that not a bad long-term strategy. Even though—your point is terrifying there are that many racists left.
GAROFALO: Right.
OLBERMANN: The flip side of it is there aren‘t that many racists left.
GAROFALO: You‘re the minority, literally tens of people showed up to this thing across the country.
OLBERMANN: But if you spear your television network or your political party towards a bunch of guys who are just looking for a reason to yell at the black president, eventually you will marginalize yourself out of market, won‘t you?
GAROFALO: No. Here‘s what the right-wing has—there are no shortages of the natural resources of ignorance, apathy, hate sphere. As long as those things are in the collective conscious and unconscious, the Republicans will have some votes, and Fox News will have viewers. What else have they got. If they didn‘t do that, who‘s going to watch?
I mean, they have tackled that elusive clam—I said clam—you know, the clam demo, the 18 to 35 clam demo. Klan, with a K, demo. Who else is Fox talking? What is it, urban older white guys, and the girlfriend—you know, the women who suffer from Stockholm Syndrome again. There‘s a lot of Stockholm Syndrome, is what I‘m saying, ultimately.
OLBERMANN: What if somebody was at one of these things hurts somebody.
GAROFALO: That is an unfortunate byproduct, since the dawn of time, of a volatile group like this of the limbic brain. Violence, unfortunately, may or may not ensue. It depends on immigrant bashing and hating the black guy in the White House. Will people act on that? It‘s not new. But, you know, Fox doesn‘t mind fomenting it. Michelle Bachmann doesn‘t mind fomenting it. Glenn Beck doesn‘t mine fomenting it.
** Your reaction?? Hk
You know, there is nothing more interesting than seeing a bunch of racists become confused and angry at a speech they‘re not quite certain what he thinks. It sounds right to them, and then it doesn‘t make sense.
Let‘s be very honest about what this is about. It‘s not about bashing Democrats. It‘s not about taxes. They have no idea what the Boston Tea party was about.
They don‘t know their history at all. This is about hating a black man in the White House. This is racism straight up. That is nothing but a bunch of tea bagging rednecks. And there is no way around that. And, you know, you can tell these type of right-wingers anything and they‘ll believe it, except the truth. You tell them the truth and they become—it‘s like showing Frankenstein‘s monster fire. They become confused, angry, highly volatile.
That guy caused in them feelings they don‘t know because of their limbic brain—we‘ve discussed before, the limbic brain inside a right-winger or Republican or conservative or your average white power activist - - the limbic brain is much larger in their head space than in a reasonable person. And it is pushing against the frontal lobe. So their synapses are misfiring.
OLBERMANN: How do you break through that?
GAROFALO: I don‘t think you do, for most of them. This is a pathological—it‘s almost pathological or elevated to a philosophy or lifestyle. Again, this is about racism. It could be any issue, any port in a storm. These guys hate that a black guy is in the White House, but they—they immigrant bash. They pretend taxes and tea bags—like I said, most of them probably couldn‘t tell you thing one about taxation without representation, the Boston Tea Party, British imperialism, whatever the history lesson has to be.
But these people always—unless there‘s some people with Stockholm Syndrome.
OLBERMANN: I didn‘t see them. They were in the back. They weren‘t near the cameras, which is bad strategy on the part of the people staging this at Fox.
GAROFALO: True. And Fox News loves to foment this anti-intellectualism. That is their bread and butter. If you have a cerebral electorate, Fox News goes down the toilet very, very fast. It is sick and sad to see Neil Cavuto doing this. They‘re been doing this for years. That‘s why Roger Ailes and Rupert Murdoch started this venture, is to disinform and to coarsen and dumb-down a certain segment of the electorate.
But what is really—I didn‘t know there were so many racists left. I didn‘t know that. As I said, the Republican hype in the conservative movement has now crystallized into the white power movement.
OLBERMANN: Is that not a bad long-term strategy. Even though—your point is terrifying there are that many racists left.
GAROFALO: Right.
OLBERMANN: The flip side of it is there aren‘t that many racists left.
GAROFALO: You‘re the minority, literally tens of people showed up to this thing across the country.
OLBERMANN: But if you spear your television network or your political party towards a bunch of guys who are just looking for a reason to yell at the black president, eventually you will marginalize yourself out of market, won‘t you?
GAROFALO: No. Here‘s what the right-wing has—there are no shortages of the natural resources of ignorance, apathy, hate sphere. As long as those things are in the collective conscious and unconscious, the Republicans will have some votes, and Fox News will have viewers. What else have they got. If they didn‘t do that, who‘s going to watch?
I mean, they have tackled that elusive clam—I said clam—you know, the clam demo, the 18 to 35 clam demo. Klan, with a K, demo. Who else is Fox talking? What is it, urban older white guys, and the girlfriend—you know, the women who suffer from Stockholm Syndrome again. There‘s a lot of Stockholm Syndrome, is what I‘m saying, ultimately.
OLBERMANN: What if somebody was at one of these things hurts somebody.
GAROFALO: That is an unfortunate byproduct, since the dawn of time, of a volatile group like this of the limbic brain. Violence, unfortunately, may or may not ensue. It depends on immigrant bashing and hating the black guy in the White House. Will people act on that? It‘s not new. But, you know, Fox doesn‘t mind fomenting it. Michelle Bachmann doesn‘t mind fomenting it. Glenn Beck doesn‘t mine fomenting it.
** Your reaction?? Hk
FREE SPEACH IN FLORIDA or NOT!
An unemployed blogger named Jeff accepted an invitation to speak to
teabaggers in Florida. 4-15/09
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
I want to start, also by honoring the service of our veterans, our current service members. Thank you so much for all you‘ve done for this country.
I also want to say—a little history lesson here, back in 2000, there was a bunch of surplus in the country. And then in the next eight years, it was destroyed by the spending of the Bush administration. So here we are today—here we are today in a situation—here we are today. Here, if you make less than 250,000 dollars a year, just cheer.
(CHEERING)
Your taxes are going to be cut under the current budget. Congratulations. I was laid off in September because my employer had to make budget cuts. That‘s before the election, OK. So let‘s remember that if you‘re going to argue about lower taxes and less spending, to place the blame where the blame belongs, and that‘s squarely in the hands of the Republican—
--------------------------------------- Jeff then was booed by the teabagger haters and non-thinkers! JEFF they can't handle the truth or the logic!! hk
teabaggers in Florida. 4-15/09
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
I want to start, also by honoring the service of our veterans, our current service members. Thank you so much for all you‘ve done for this country.
I also want to say—a little history lesson here, back in 2000, there was a bunch of surplus in the country. And then in the next eight years, it was destroyed by the spending of the Bush administration. So here we are today—here we are today in a situation—here we are today. Here, if you make less than 250,000 dollars a year, just cheer.
(CHEERING)
Your taxes are going to be cut under the current budget. Congratulations. I was laid off in September because my employer had to make budget cuts. That‘s before the election, OK. So let‘s remember that if you‘re going to argue about lower taxes and less spending, to place the blame where the blame belongs, and that‘s squarely in the hands of the Republican—
--------------------------------------- Jeff then was booed by the teabagger haters and non-thinkers! JEFF they can't handle the truth or the logic!! hk
Family says Gallo isn't a 'monster'
ARE YOU KIDDIN' ME?!
Would you favor cars becoming non-operative
if there is alcohol detected at a certain level?
Hk
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
FULLERTON, Calif. -- Andrew Thomas Gallo, the man charged with killing Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim pitcher Nick Adenhart and two others in a car accident April 9, is an alcoholic, his family told ESPN.com.
But the family, in its first public interview, stressed that they feel Gallo is a good man who is being demonized by the media in the wake of the crash, which killed the 22-year-old Adenhart, Courtney Stewart and Henry Pearson, and seriously injured Jon Wilhite. Wilhite is currently at UC Irvine Medical Center with serious internal injuries.
Andrew Gallo, right, talks with his lawyer at a court hearing April 13.
"It was an accident," Gallo's mother, Sandra Sagahon, said. "He never meant to hurt anybody, ever."
The Gallo family has temporarily left its home after receiving death threats in the week since Gallo was charged with three counts of murder, driving under the influence of alcohol and fleeing the scene of an accident. He could receive 55 years to life if convicted on all charges.
He remains in the Orange County jail, with bail set for $2 million. He is set to be arraigned on June 8. Police say he had nearly triple the legal blood-alcohol level at the time of his arrest.
"People think my son is a monster," says Thomas Gallo, Andrew's father and a real estate agent from San Gabriel, Calif. "He's not."
Andrew Gallo was born in Almonte, Calif., on Dec. 10, 1986, to Thomas and Sandra Sagahon. Andrew is the younger of two children, and lived in Baldwin Park, Calif., before Thomas and Sandra divorced when Andrew was 5.
According to his father, Andrew took the divorce especially hard. "I saw a lot of anger," Thomas Gallo said. "He was devastated."
Sandra moved the family to San Bernardino, Calif., when Andrew was 14. Sandra said she was growing her family with her new husband, and they wanted to be closer to his work.
Away from his friends and starting anew, Andrew found the move difficult, according to his mother. "Maybe he was lonely," Sagahon said.
Over the next few years, Andrew bounced between living with Sandra and Thomas, who also had remarried and lived in Covina, Calif. Always moving between two families, Andrew seemed to feel out of place, his family said.
At some point, he began drinking. Thomas Gallo does not allow alcohol in his home, so Andrew usually went out with friends and his stepbrother, Raymond Rivera, who is two years younger than Andrew.
Lilia Gallo, Andrew's stepmother, said Raymond Rivera -- who was with Gallo in the red minivan on the night of the crash -- is an alcoholic, and that Raymond and Andrew are often together. Andrew worked construction jobs while living at home with Thomas. He was arrested on suspicion of DUI for the first time in 2006.
"I didn't think he was out getting into trouble," Sagahon says. "It was an accident. It's not like he was a bad kid or a gang member."
As part of Gallo's plea deal on that arrest, he went to the Bible Tabernacle, a rehabilitation facility in Canyon Country, Calif., which is also a Christian ministry. Bible Tabernacle uses faith instead of therapy to heal. Mario Harper, who runs the facility, said its intent is to put discipline back into men's lives.
Gallo was required to stay at Bible Tabernacle for six months, waking each morning at 5:30, reading his bible for 90 minutes, then working each day as a grounds crew member, raking leaves and taking out trash, among other tasks.
In September, Gallo returned to the Bible Tabernacle. Harper says the family sent him through a friend of the church, but the Gallo family says he went on his own. They said they were shocked when he called them and said he was back in rehab.
At the time, Gallo was unemployed and trying to stay clean. Debra Rivera, Andrew's sister-in-law, says he would come to her house to escape.
"It was sort of a haven for him," she said.
Just a few months into his second stint at the Bible Tabernacle, Gallo was expelled. Harper says he was talking back to the staff, disrespectful of authority.
"A kid with an attitude like that usually ends up in jail," Harper said.
Gallo went home and lived with his father in San Gabriel.
On the night of April 8, he and Raymond Rivera borrowed Thomas Gallo's minivan to drop off a job application at a Sears. The two men then went to The Redwood Inn, a bar in a West Covina strip mall, sometime before 8 p.m. that night, according to Chuck, the owner of the bar who declined to give his last name. Gallo had a shot and a beer, according to Chuck, then left.
He and Rivera walked six doors down to The Well Bar, a watering hole where the bartenders wear bikinis. John Miles, one of the owners, confirmed that Gallo and Rivera were there, drinking Bud Light and leaving around 10 p.m.
Miles said the men "got hammered" elsewhere, and that his bar is not culpable for what happened. "It's a shame what happened to those people," Miles said. "Our system doesn't seem to work."
Where Rivera and Gallo went afterward is unclear. Just over two hours later, they were barreling down Orangethorpe Ave., in Fullerton, almost 30 miles south of West Covina. They collided with Courtney Stewart's silver Mitsubishi Eclipse around 12:20 a.m. PT.
"Those angels that [died] were good people," Sagahon said. "And so [is] my son. He's a wonderful kid.
"I don't want another tragedy like this," she said. "I don't wish this upon nobody, not those parents that lost their three little angels. Would someone want to be in my shoes right now? I don't think so and I don't wish it upon anybody ... We don't want to be there either, and unfortunately, we were put here and left here for a reason for people to see, to react and think before they do."
The Gallo family says Andrew was trying to pull his life together, that he told them he was set to start a new construction job on April 9 -- the day of the accident -- and was talking about long-term goals of owning his own construction company.
That means little to the families of the victims. When Gallo was in an Orange County court Monday, Carrie Stewart-Dixon, mother of Courtney Stewart, brought 16 friends and family with her. All of them were wearing T-shirts with Courtney's picture and her full name written underneath. Carrie entered the courtroom at 2:30 p.m. and walked to the front row, standing up to make sure Gallo saw her. Gallo, wiping his eyes, made eye contact, but never looked up again.
"I wanted him to see her mother," Stewart-Dixon said afterward. "I didn't feel sorry for him in the least. I'm sure his attorney told him to [cry]."
Stewart-Dixon scoffed at the notion this was an accident.
"Accidents happen; when you're drinking and driving it's murder," she said. "You know what you're doing."
Amy K. Nelson is a staff writer for ESPN
Would you favor cars becoming non-operative
if there is alcohol detected at a certain level?
Hk
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
FULLERTON, Calif. -- Andrew Thomas Gallo, the man charged with killing Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim pitcher Nick Adenhart and two others in a car accident April 9, is an alcoholic, his family told ESPN.com.
But the family, in its first public interview, stressed that they feel Gallo is a good man who is being demonized by the media in the wake of the crash, which killed the 22-year-old Adenhart, Courtney Stewart and Henry Pearson, and seriously injured Jon Wilhite. Wilhite is currently at UC Irvine Medical Center with serious internal injuries.
Andrew Gallo, right, talks with his lawyer at a court hearing April 13.
"It was an accident," Gallo's mother, Sandra Sagahon, said. "He never meant to hurt anybody, ever."
The Gallo family has temporarily left its home after receiving death threats in the week since Gallo was charged with three counts of murder, driving under the influence of alcohol and fleeing the scene of an accident. He could receive 55 years to life if convicted on all charges.
He remains in the Orange County jail, with bail set for $2 million. He is set to be arraigned on June 8. Police say he had nearly triple the legal blood-alcohol level at the time of his arrest.
"People think my son is a monster," says Thomas Gallo, Andrew's father and a real estate agent from San Gabriel, Calif. "He's not."
Andrew Gallo was born in Almonte, Calif., on Dec. 10, 1986, to Thomas and Sandra Sagahon. Andrew is the younger of two children, and lived in Baldwin Park, Calif., before Thomas and Sandra divorced when Andrew was 5.
According to his father, Andrew took the divorce especially hard. "I saw a lot of anger," Thomas Gallo said. "He was devastated."
Sandra moved the family to San Bernardino, Calif., when Andrew was 14. Sandra said she was growing her family with her new husband, and they wanted to be closer to his work.
Away from his friends and starting anew, Andrew found the move difficult, according to his mother. "Maybe he was lonely," Sagahon said.
Over the next few years, Andrew bounced between living with Sandra and Thomas, who also had remarried and lived in Covina, Calif. Always moving between two families, Andrew seemed to feel out of place, his family said.
At some point, he began drinking. Thomas Gallo does not allow alcohol in his home, so Andrew usually went out with friends and his stepbrother, Raymond Rivera, who is two years younger than Andrew.
Lilia Gallo, Andrew's stepmother, said Raymond Rivera -- who was with Gallo in the red minivan on the night of the crash -- is an alcoholic, and that Raymond and Andrew are often together. Andrew worked construction jobs while living at home with Thomas. He was arrested on suspicion of DUI for the first time in 2006.
"I didn't think he was out getting into trouble," Sagahon says. "It was an accident. It's not like he was a bad kid or a gang member."
As part of Gallo's plea deal on that arrest, he went to the Bible Tabernacle, a rehabilitation facility in Canyon Country, Calif., which is also a Christian ministry. Bible Tabernacle uses faith instead of therapy to heal. Mario Harper, who runs the facility, said its intent is to put discipline back into men's lives.
Gallo was required to stay at Bible Tabernacle for six months, waking each morning at 5:30, reading his bible for 90 minutes, then working each day as a grounds crew member, raking leaves and taking out trash, among other tasks.
In September, Gallo returned to the Bible Tabernacle. Harper says the family sent him through a friend of the church, but the Gallo family says he went on his own. They said they were shocked when he called them and said he was back in rehab.
At the time, Gallo was unemployed and trying to stay clean. Debra Rivera, Andrew's sister-in-law, says he would come to her house to escape.
"It was sort of a haven for him," she said.
Just a few months into his second stint at the Bible Tabernacle, Gallo was expelled. Harper says he was talking back to the staff, disrespectful of authority.
"A kid with an attitude like that usually ends up in jail," Harper said.
Gallo went home and lived with his father in San Gabriel.
On the night of April 8, he and Raymond Rivera borrowed Thomas Gallo's minivan to drop off a job application at a Sears. The two men then went to The Redwood Inn, a bar in a West Covina strip mall, sometime before 8 p.m. that night, according to Chuck, the owner of the bar who declined to give his last name. Gallo had a shot and a beer, according to Chuck, then left.
He and Rivera walked six doors down to The Well Bar, a watering hole where the bartenders wear bikinis. John Miles, one of the owners, confirmed that Gallo and Rivera were there, drinking Bud Light and leaving around 10 p.m.
Miles said the men "got hammered" elsewhere, and that his bar is not culpable for what happened. "It's a shame what happened to those people," Miles said. "Our system doesn't seem to work."
Where Rivera and Gallo went afterward is unclear. Just over two hours later, they were barreling down Orangethorpe Ave., in Fullerton, almost 30 miles south of West Covina. They collided with Courtney Stewart's silver Mitsubishi Eclipse around 12:20 a.m. PT.
"Those angels that [died] were good people," Sagahon said. "And so [is] my son. He's a wonderful kid.
"I don't want another tragedy like this," she said. "I don't wish this upon nobody, not those parents that lost their three little angels. Would someone want to be in my shoes right now? I don't think so and I don't wish it upon anybody ... We don't want to be there either, and unfortunately, we were put here and left here for a reason for people to see, to react and think before they do."
The Gallo family says Andrew was trying to pull his life together, that he told them he was set to start a new construction job on April 9 -- the day of the accident -- and was talking about long-term goals of owning his own construction company.
That means little to the families of the victims. When Gallo was in an Orange County court Monday, Carrie Stewart-Dixon, mother of Courtney Stewart, brought 16 friends and family with her. All of them were wearing T-shirts with Courtney's picture and her full name written underneath. Carrie entered the courtroom at 2:30 p.m. and walked to the front row, standing up to make sure Gallo saw her. Gallo, wiping his eyes, made eye contact, but never looked up again.
"I wanted him to see her mother," Stewart-Dixon said afterward. "I didn't feel sorry for him in the least. I'm sure his attorney told him to [cry]."
Stewart-Dixon scoffed at the notion this was an accident.
"Accidents happen; when you're drinking and driving it's murder," she said. "You know what you're doing."
Amy K. Nelson is a staff writer for ESPN
Mad as Hell at Teatime
Eugene Robinson
April 17, 2009
The cool, cerebral White House might logically conclude that Wednesday's decidedly uncool, uncerebral "tea bag" protests were intellectually and politically incoherent, and therefore not worth a second thought. That would be a dangerous mistake.
The made-for-television demonstrations in cities across the country were generally small, and the only thing they proved conclusively is that -- you might want to sit down -- some Americans don't much enjoy paying taxes. What the rallies suggested, however, is that opposition to the Obama administration is coalescing into what I would call a Howard Beale Faction, in honor of the choleric anchorman in the movie "Network" whose signature line now seems to have been elevated into philosophy: "I'm as mad as hell, and I'm not going to take this anymore!"
Not going to take what anymore? Well, whatever. The occasion was Tax Day, April 15, and clearly there was a lot of anger about taxes. That can't have been the only source of ire, however, since President Obama's policies mean that the vast majority of Americans will be paying less in income taxes, not more. In terms of logical self-interest, only the wealthy should have come out to dump their tea bags and wave their pitchforks.
There was anger at hemorrhagic government spending, and this plotline in the mad-as-hell narrative at least made sense. A neutral observer might point out that the president who should have to answer for this year's astronomical $1.7 trillion deficit is George W. Bush, since this is his budget -- and since he's the one who hid the costs of our two faraway wars and demanded a king's ransom to bail out the banks. But it's not as if Obama is some kind of tightwad, given his decision -- which I support -- to push ahead with new spending on health care, education and energy. And anyway, in the worldview of the Howard Beale Faction, the important distinction isn't between one president and the next. It's between "us" and "them."
Some protesters were mad about measures they feared Obama and the Democratic majorities in Congress might take to strengthen gun control laws. Some were mad about illegal immigration, some about abortion, some about gay marriage. At times, the protests ventured into fantasyland. Texas Gov. Rick Perry, caught up in the excitement of the day, prattled nonsensically about Texas's onetime status as an independent country and how, purportedly, the state had reserved the right to secede.
The protests were all over the map and thus hard to take seriously. A reality check would show that Obama's approval rating is running higher than 60 percent in most recent polls. Surveys indicate that Americans blame Wall Street and the Bush administration for the woeful state of the economy. Generally speaking, the polls show that most Americans are willing to go along with the president's agenda, at least for now, and realize that it will take time to begin seeing results.
But the polls also point to what looks like a reservoir of simmering discontent. For example, according to a CBS News-New York Times survey released last week, 47 percent of respondents were willing to believe that the Obama administration's bailout assistance to the banks would ultimately benefit all Americans, as opposed to 40 percent who believed the money would just benefit the banks. But in that same poll, 58 percent of respondents said they disapproved of the administration's plans to provide financial aid to the banks. In other words: Maybe this is necessary, but we don't like it. Among self-described independent voters, 68 percent disapproved of how the administration was bailing out the banks.
I dwell on this one question buried deep inside one poll because I think it contains a quiet warning -- the same message that could be discerned amid the random noise of the Howard Beale shoutfests. When the economy begins to rebound, Wall Street will come back first -- already, we're seeing some big banks, still bloated with taxpayer funds, reporting healthy profits. After recovery begins, unemployment will almost certainly continue to rise for months until it hits its peak. The mad-as-hell faction may thrive and multiply.
A growing sense of us vs. them, of the little guy vs. the big guy, is out there waiting to be exploited by anyone clever enough to fashion a sophisticated populist critique of the Obama administration's policies. I know it seems crazy to use words like "clever" and "sophisticated" in connection with today's Republican Party, but stranger things have happened.
April 17, 2009
The cool, cerebral White House might logically conclude that Wednesday's decidedly uncool, uncerebral "tea bag" protests were intellectually and politically incoherent, and therefore not worth a second thought. That would be a dangerous mistake.
The made-for-television demonstrations in cities across the country were generally small, and the only thing they proved conclusively is that -- you might want to sit down -- some Americans don't much enjoy paying taxes. What the rallies suggested, however, is that opposition to the Obama administration is coalescing into what I would call a Howard Beale Faction, in honor of the choleric anchorman in the movie "Network" whose signature line now seems to have been elevated into philosophy: "I'm as mad as hell, and I'm not going to take this anymore!"
Not going to take what anymore? Well, whatever. The occasion was Tax Day, April 15, and clearly there was a lot of anger about taxes. That can't have been the only source of ire, however, since President Obama's policies mean that the vast majority of Americans will be paying less in income taxes, not more. In terms of logical self-interest, only the wealthy should have come out to dump their tea bags and wave their pitchforks.
There was anger at hemorrhagic government spending, and this plotline in the mad-as-hell narrative at least made sense. A neutral observer might point out that the president who should have to answer for this year's astronomical $1.7 trillion deficit is George W. Bush, since this is his budget -- and since he's the one who hid the costs of our two faraway wars and demanded a king's ransom to bail out the banks. But it's not as if Obama is some kind of tightwad, given his decision -- which I support -- to push ahead with new spending on health care, education and energy. And anyway, in the worldview of the Howard Beale Faction, the important distinction isn't between one president and the next. It's between "us" and "them."
Some protesters were mad about measures they feared Obama and the Democratic majorities in Congress might take to strengthen gun control laws. Some were mad about illegal immigration, some about abortion, some about gay marriage. At times, the protests ventured into fantasyland. Texas Gov. Rick Perry, caught up in the excitement of the day, prattled nonsensically about Texas's onetime status as an independent country and how, purportedly, the state had reserved the right to secede.
The protests were all over the map and thus hard to take seriously. A reality check would show that Obama's approval rating is running higher than 60 percent in most recent polls. Surveys indicate that Americans blame Wall Street and the Bush administration for the woeful state of the economy. Generally speaking, the polls show that most Americans are willing to go along with the president's agenda, at least for now, and realize that it will take time to begin seeing results.
But the polls also point to what looks like a reservoir of simmering discontent. For example, according to a CBS News-New York Times survey released last week, 47 percent of respondents were willing to believe that the Obama administration's bailout assistance to the banks would ultimately benefit all Americans, as opposed to 40 percent who believed the money would just benefit the banks. But in that same poll, 58 percent of respondents said they disapproved of the administration's plans to provide financial aid to the banks. In other words: Maybe this is necessary, but we don't like it. Among self-described independent voters, 68 percent disapproved of how the administration was bailing out the banks.
I dwell on this one question buried deep inside one poll because I think it contains a quiet warning -- the same message that could be discerned amid the random noise of the Howard Beale shoutfests. When the economy begins to rebound, Wall Street will come back first -- already, we're seeing some big banks, still bloated with taxpayer funds, reporting healthy profits. After recovery begins, unemployment will almost certainly continue to rise for months until it hits its peak. The mad-as-hell faction may thrive and multiply.
A growing sense of us vs. them, of the little guy vs. the big guy, is out there waiting to be exploited by anyone clever enough to fashion a sophisticated populist critique of the Obama administration's policies. I know it seems crazy to use words like "clever" and "sophisticated" in connection with today's Republican Party, but stranger things have happened.
Thursday, April 16, 2009
Top News HEADLINES
Somali PM Asks for More Help to Fight Pirates
MOMBASA, Kenya (AP) -- Somalia's prime minister says his government has identified many pirate leaders and would be willing to share that information with other countries, including the United States, to get the resources needed to go after them.
Israeli Conductor Barenboim Gets Ovation in Egypt
CAIRO (AP) -- Israeli conductor Daniel Barenboim stirred a sold out Cairo Opera House Thursday with a performance of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony, drawing ovations in his first visit to Egypt.
Drought in West Africa Repeats and May Get Worse
WASHINGTON (AP) -- West Africa is already living on the edge, and new research indicates that even worse droughts are possible than the one that devastated the region in the late 20th century.
15 Gunmen, 1 Soldier Killed in Mexican Shootout
MEXICO CITY (AP) -- A shootout between Mexican troops and a convoy of gunmen left 15 assailants and one soldier dead hours before President Barack Obama arrived in the country to show his support for the fight against drug cartels.
Health Advocates Tout New Model of Female Condom
NEW YORK (AP) -- Advocates of the female condom are promoting a less costly, more user-friendly version that they hope will vastly expand its role in the global fight against AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases. An early version of the female condom was introduced in 1993, and it remains the only available woman-initiated form of protection against both STDs and unintended pregnancy.
Accused Marine Returning to US From Mexico
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) -- A Marine accused of killing a pregnant colleague in North Carolina and fleeing to Mexico will be returned to the U.S. this week, federal authorities said Thursday.
Iranian Scientists Claim They Have Cloned a Goat
ISFAHAN, Iran (AP) -- Iranian scientists have cloned a goat and plan future experiments they hope will lead to a treatment for stroke patients, the leader of the research said Wednesday. The female goat, named Hana, was born early Wednesday in the city of Isfahan in central Iran, said Dr. Mohammed Hossein Nasr e Isfahani, head of the Royan Research Institute.
Bacteria Found Thriving Beneath Antarctic Glacier
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Hidden in the bone-chilling dark beneath an Antarctic glacier, a colony of strange bacteria is thriving. Scientists investigating the flow of blood-red water from beneath the glacier discovered the bacteria, which have survived for millions of years, living on sulfur and iron compounds, they report in Friday's edition of the journal Science.
Planet-Hunting Spacecraft's First Images Released
PASADENA, Calif. (AP) -- NASA's new planet-hunting telescope has beamed back the first images of a patch of faraway sky in the Milky Way galaxy where it hopes to find Earth-like planets. NASA on Thursday released several images snapped by Kepler earlier this month, including a view of a distant part of our galaxy containing some 14 million stars. Scientists say more than 100,000 of those stars are potential candidates for research.
Obama to Seek Ratification of Arms Treaty
MEXICO CITY (AP) -- Confronting a security threat on the America's doorstep, President Barack Obama arrived Thursday in Mexico declaring solidarity with a neighbor deeply troubled by drugs and violence and pledging action to slow the contributing flow of weapons from the U.S.
For Sale: A Taste of Royalty From Princess Bride
LONDON (AP) -- Would you pay 145 pounds ($215) for a slice of very stale cake? That's what an antiques fair in Birmingham hopes to earn Thursday when people bid for the remnant from one of Britain's most controversial royal weddings.
Capone May Have Had 1 Last Hit _ a Musical 1
CHICAGO (AP) -- He never sang to the feds, but it turns out Al Capone had a song in his heart. All it took was a stint in Alcatraz to bring it out.
No Charges Against CIA Officials for Waterboarding
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Obama administration on Thursday informed CIA officials who used waterboarding and other harsh interrogation tactics on terror suspects that they will not be prosecuted, senior administration officials told The Associated Press.
80-Year-Old Omaha Store Owner Foils Armed Robber
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) -- An 80-year-old's quick thinking foiled an armed robber's attempt to hold up an Omaha liquor store. Store owner Floyd Westbrook was closing up his Sugar Hill Package Liquor on Wednesday when a man wearing a ski mask and holding a gun ran in and demanded money.
Experts: Spot of Mexican Surrender in Texas Found
DALLAS (AP) -- Archaeologists believe they have found the spot where hundreds of Mexican soldiers surrendered to the Texas army after a battle that sealed Texas' independence from Mexico.
Senate Panel to Probe Wiretapping Violations
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The head of the Senate Intelligence Committee said Thursday that the panel would hold a hearing to get to the bottom of reports that the National Security Agency improperly tapped into the domestic communications of American citizens.
Indonesia Clears Time of Defaming Suharto
JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) -- Indonesia's top court cleared Time magazine of defaming ex-dictator Suharto by alleging in a cover story that his family amassed a fortune during his rule. It said Thursday the publication did not have to pay $106 million in damages.
Homeland Security Chief Defends Agency Risk Report
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano on Thursday dismissed criticism of an intelligence assessment by her agency that says some military veterans could be susceptible to extremist recruiters or commit lone acts of violence.
DirecTV, Comcast Hit With Fines
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Satellite television provider DirecTV Inc. and cable company Comcast Corp. will pay out a combined $3.2 million to settle claims that they broke the law by placing phone calls to people who had asked the companies not to call them again. It's the second time DirecTV has been hit with such a fine.
Democrats: Texas Gov Should Disavow Secession Talk
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) -- A group of Texas Democrats says Republican Gov. Rick Perry was reckless when he suggested at an anti-tax rally that fed-up Americans may one day want to secede from the United States.
Not on the Menu: Pizza Workers Charged in Pranks
CONOVER, N.C. (AP) -- A gross video posted on YouTube showing a Domino's Pizza worker stuffing cheese up his nostril and waving salami under his rear end as he is making sandwiches has led to charges against him and a co-worker who recorded him, authorities said Wednesday.
Race, Service Mark 2nd Anniversary of Va. Tech
BLACKSBURG, Va. (AP) -- Randy Sterne got chills Thursday as he watched hundreds of balloons sail into a bright, sunny sky at the start of a 3.2-mile run to honor 32 people killed by a student gunman at Virginia Tech two years ago. Later in the day, several thousand people gathered for a somber memorial service.
All Minn. Bridge Victims Accept State Settlements
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) -- The state of Minnesota has reached settlements with all 179 eligible victims of the bridge collapse in Minneapolis two years ago.
Bolivian Police Uncover Plot Against President
LA PAZ, Bolivia (AP) -- Bolivian police say they broke an armed international group on Thursday that was plotting to assassinate President Evo Morales and the vice president.
Obama: Memos' Release Required by Law
WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Barack Obama says the release of legal opinions governing harsh questioning of terrorism suspects is required by the law and should help address ''a dark and painful chapter in our history.''.
Obama to Seek Ratification of Arms Treaty
MEXICO CITY (AP) -- Confronting a security threat on the America's doorstep, President Barack Obama arrived Thursday in Mexico for a swift diplomatic mission to show solidarity on drugs and guns with a troubled neighbor -- and to prove the U.S. is serious about the battle against trafficking.
No Charges Against CIA Officials for Waterboarding
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Attorney General Eric Holder says the government won't prosecute CIA officials for using waterboarding and other harsh interrogation tactics on terror suspects.
The INFLUENCE GAME: Peanuts Want Gov't Help, Too
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The battered peanut industry has a new message: Peanuts are safe to eat, and there's a law in the works to make them even safer. So have a handful.
Roadside Bomber Sentenced to 25 Years in Prison
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The only Iraq war insurgent to be prosecuted in U.S. court was sentenced Thursday to 25 years in prison, but how much time he'll serve will be up to the Netherlands.
Baby Pythons Escape During Flight in Australia
MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) -- Four baby pythons escaped from a container aboard a passenger plane in Australia, leading to a search that forced the cancellation of two flights, the airline said Thursday. Twelve non-venemous Stimson pythons were being transported Tuesday on a flight from Alice Springs to Melbourne in the plane's cargo area in a bag inside a plastic foam box with air holes.
NY Governor Introduces Bill to Allow Gay Marriage
NEW YORK (AP) -- Gov. David Paterson announced plans Thursday to legalize same-sex marriage in New York, comparing the effort to the fight for the abolition of slavery.
Venezuela Opposes Americas Summit Declaration
CUMANA, Venezuela (AP) -- President Hugo Chavez says Venezuela will vote against the declaration of the Summit of the Americas in a gesture of protest against the United States.
Board Rejects Demjanjuk Bid, Court Wants More Info
CLEVELAND (AP) -- A U.S. immigration appeals board on Thursday denied a request to reopen the deportation case of John Demjanjuk, who is wanted in Germany to face accusations that he served as a Nazi death camp guard.
Obama: Better Trains Foster Energy Independence
WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Barack Obama called Thursday for the country to move swiftly to a system of high-speed rail travel, saying it will relieve congestion, help clean the air and save on energy.
Mudslide Buries 25 Homes in Peru, 30 Feared Dead
LIMA, Peru (AP) -- Peru's civil defense says a mudslide has buried 25 homes in two towns in the northern highlands. As many as 30 people are missing.
Suicide Bomber Strikes Iraqi Military Base
BAGHDAD (AP) -- A suicide bomber struck an Iraqi military base Thursday in an attack that Iraqi officials first said killed 16 soldiers but later maintained no one died but the attacker.
Stimulus Funds in States: It Costs Money to Spend
LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) -- When it comes to the $787 billion in federal stimulus money flowing from Washington to the states, it will cost money to spend money.
Awash in Celebrities, US Still Hungry for Heroes
WASHINGTON (AP) -- A nation awash in celebrities still hungers for genuine heroes, never more so than in dreary times like these.
Prison for Mich. Couple Accused of Grill Cremation
DETROIT (AP) -- A Detroit couple who admitted killing their 2-year-old son and allegedly tried to cremate his body on a barbecue grill have been sentenced to prison.
US-Israeli Differences Over Palestinians Emerge
JERUSALEM (AP) -- Stark differences between U.S. and Israeli policy toward peace talks with the Palestinians emerged clearly Thursday in the first meetings between President Barack Obama's Mideast envoy and top leaders of the new Israeli government.
3 More Not Guilty Pleas in Blagojevich Case
CHICAGO (AP) -- Ousted Gov. Rod Blagojevich's most recent chief of staff, former chief fundraiser and another Illinois political insider pleaded not guilty Thursday to charges that they took part in what prosecutors allege was widespread corruption.
Crew Members Urging Stronger Security for Ships
OXON HILL, Md. (AP) -- An emotionally drained but ebullient Maersk Alabama crew told gripping stories of captivity at sea Thursday while urging stronger protection for ships operating in treacherous Horn of Africa waters.
Rebels Promises to Free Army Cpl Held for 11 Yrs
BOGOTA (AP) -- Colombia's largest rebel group promised on Thursday to release an army corporal kidnapped 11 years ago in a hostage case made famous by his father, who walked across the country to push for his release.
Syracuse Teen Admits to Sniper Killing of Neighbor
SYRACUSE, N.Y. (AP) -- A 16-year-old admitted Thursday that he was the sniper who gunned down a city worker outside the victim's home in January, but offered no explanation for the crime.
Thieves Smash Car Windows to Steal Inspection Tabs
PORTLAND, Maine (AP) -- Drivers may have a new reason to fear an automobile break-in: the inspection stickers they must plaster to the inside of their windshield in many states.
Ex-Police Chief Gets 3 Years for Kicking Suspect
HAMMOND, Ind. (AP) -- A former Indiana police chief has been sentenced to nearly 3 1/2 years in federal prison for using unreasonable force in kicking a handcuffed suspect he believed had robbed his house.
US Official: Rescued Captain Expected Home Friday
WASHINGTON (AP) -- A U.S. official says a homecoming is planned Friday for the rescued American captain of a ship pirated off the Somali coast.
IG: IRS Allows Improper Tax Credits for Foreigners
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The IRS allowed more than 1 million foreigners -- many of them in the U.S. illegally -- to improperly claim $1.8 billion in child tax credits in 2007, a government investigator said Thursday.
Alaska Gov. Palin Back on Road With Indiana Trip
EVANSVILLE, Ind. (AP) -- Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin is to speak during an anti-abortion group's dinner in Indiana Thursday night in her first out-of-state trip on a partisan agenda since the presidential campaign ended.
Sri Lankan Troops Attack Rebel Defenses
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) -- Sri Lankan troops backed by helicopter gunships attacked Tamil Tiger defenses in the northeast Thursday, a rebel-allied Web site reported, as international pressure grew for a new cease-fire to allow civilians to escape the fighting.
Tent School Opens for Youngest Italy Quake Victims
POGGIO PICENZE, Italy (AP) -- Some of the youngest victims of central Italy's earthquake got a taste of normalcy Thursday when the school bell rang, summoning them to makeshift classrooms set up among the tents they now call home.
US Seeks Transit Deal With Turkmenistan
ASHGABAT, Turkmenistan (AP) -- A senior U.S. diplomat says the United States hopes to reach an agreement with Turkmenistan on allowing the transit of non-lethal goods to neighboring Afghanistan.
US Urges Iran to Release Accused US Journalist
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Iran stands to gain U.S. goodwill by ''responding in a positive way'' to the case of an American journalist tried on spy charges by an Iranian court this week, a U.S. official said Thursday.
Ill. Rep. Blames Heroin Deaths on Mexican Drugs
CHICAGO (AP) -- An Illinois congressman says at least 31 people in two suburban Chicago counties have died this year after overdosing on unusually strong heroin from Mexico.
$40M Fuel Theft From Army Prompts Global Manhunt
ALEXANDRIA, Va. (AP) -- A former Army contractor convicted of stealing $40 million worth of fuel from a military base in Iraq is helping authorities search the globe for other suspects in the case.
Wild Bear Closes Central Park in Slovenian Capital
LJUBLJANA, Slovenia (AP) -- Slovenia is home to about 430 brown bears, but residents of Ljubljana, the capital, rarely see any but the two who live in the local zoo.
US Court: Ex-Israeli Cabinet Member Cannot Be Sued
NEW YORK (AP) -- A federal appeals court says a former Israeli security chief cannot be sued in the United States for 15 deaths in a Gaza City bombing.
US Army Soldier Sentenced to Life in Prison
VILSECK, Germany (AP) -- A U.S. Army soldier convicted of murder in the 2007 killings of four bound and blindfolded Iraqis was sentenced on Thursday to life in prison.
Scholarship Honors US Captain Held by Pirates
BOURNE, Mass. (AP) -- A new scholarship at the Massachusetts Maritime Academy will honor the graduate who was recently held hostage by pirates off Africa.
A Key to Women's Rights in Afghanistan: Men
KABUL (AP) -- There are a handful of them at every women's rights gathering in Afghanistan: men.
AP Source: Talk of Delaying 2 WTC Towers for Years
NEW YORK (AP) -- The owners of ground zero, locked in a new round of heated talks with a private developer about how and when to build office towers at the World Trade Center site, have proposed indefinitely putting off two of three planned skyscrapers until the real estate market recovers, officials familiar with the negotiations say.
Heavy Security Surrounds Obama's Mexican Visit
MEXICO CITY (AP) -- Heavily armed police are patrolling a wealthy neighborhood near Mexico's presidential residence as President Barack Obama heads to the capital on his first visit to the country.
March Housing Construction Falls 10.8 Percent
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Housing construction plunged to the second lowest level on record in March, reversing a big jump from the previous month. Economists, however, were heartened by indications that the long slide in single-family construction could be coming to an end.
Medvedev: Russia Needs More Political Competition
MOSCOW (AP) -- Russia needs stronger political competition and a greater freedom to protest, President Dmitry Medvedev said in remarks released Thursday, sending the strongest signal yet that he may rethink the legacy of predecessor Vladimir Putin.
French Captain Recounts Hostage-Taking by Pirates
PARIS (AP) -- A French captain who knows his pirates has some advice for other sailors: ''When you see them coming, it's too late.''.
Gorbachev: US Military Power Blocks 'No Nukes'
ROME (AP) -- President Barack Obama's call for a nuclear weapons-free world is welcome, but the huge U.S. defense budget may prove an ''insurmountable obstacle'' to reaching that goal, former Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev said Thursday.
Dutch to Invite Dalai Lama to Parliament
THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) -- Dutch lawmakers said Thursday they will invite the Dalai Lama to parliament despite a warning from China that the visit would harm relations between the two nations.
English Village May Use Potholes for Speed Control
LONDON (AP) -- Here's a new road repair plan: Don't bother.
Official: Mafia Has Moved Into Italy Quake Area
ROME (AP) -- Organized crime syndicates have already moved into the central Italian region devastated by a quake this month and are looking to profit from the reconstruction of the area, the head of parliament's anti-Mafia commission said.
Demjanjuk Faces Uncertain Fate if Deported
BERLIN (AP) -- The family of alleged Nazi death camp guard John Demjanjuk is citing his poor health as it fights a U.S. drive to deport him to Germany for a possible war crimes trial. Questions remain over what would happen if he is ruled unfit to face trial once he arrives.
Serb Ex-Commander to Testify in Americans' Killing
BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) -- A former Serbian police commander on trial at the U.N. war crimes court has agreed to testify in a separate case over the 1999 execution-style murder of three Albanian-American brothers, a judge said Thursday.
Signs Threaten Killing of Texas College Students
NACOGDOCHES, Texas (AP) -- Authorities in Nacogdoches, Texas, are on alert after signs promising a deadly mass shooting were found on and near the Stephen F. Austin State University campus.
Police Probe Erie, Pa., Officer's Off-Duty Joking
ERIE, Pa. (AP) -- A city police officer was suspended after someone posted to the Web a video of him, in a bar and apparently intoxicated, joking about a homicide victim.
Potential High-Speed Rail Corridors
Ten corridors the Obama administration had identified for possible high-speed rail projects:.
Univ. Of Florida, ASPCA Fill Void for Animal CSIs
GAINESVILLE, Fla. (AP) -- Only a few investigators in the country are trained to adequately investigate and prepare cases for prosecution of the horrendous crimes against animals that can leave dogs, roosters and other animals maimed and tortured.
Twin Reno Girls Treated for Rare Disease
RENO, Nev. (AP) -- Twin 5-year-old girls living with a rare disease are among the first in the country being treated for their condition at a Reno hospital after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration granted special permission to use an experimental drug.
Mich. Muslim Group Says FBI Asking People to Spy
DETROIT (AP) -- A Michigan Muslim organization said Thursday it has asked U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder to investigate complaints alleging the FBI is asking followers of the faith to spy on Islamic leaders and congregations.
Spanish AG: No Torture Probe of US Officials
MADRID (AP) -- Spain's attorney general has rejected opening an investigation into whether six Bush administration officials sanctioned torture against terror suspects at Guantanamo Bay, saying Thursday a U.S. courtroom would be the proper forum.
Water Seeps Past Sandbags Fortifying Weak ND Dam
KATHRYN, N.D. (AP) -- National Guard troops dropped sandbags from a helicopter early Thursday to shore up a weakening dam that is protecting a small town from flooding, an official said.
French Fishing Protest Softens on English Channel
PARIS (AP) -- French fishermen allowed traffic to resume to three English Channel ports Thursday after receiving a government promise of euro4 million ($5.27 million) in aid, but they vowed to keep up their fight against European fishing quotas.
More Than Century Old, Royal Wedding Cake on Sale
LONDON (AP) -- A slice of cake from one of Britain's most controversial royal weddings is up for sale after more than 130 years.
MOMBASA, Kenya (AP) -- Somalia's prime minister says his government has identified many pirate leaders and would be willing to share that information with other countries, including the United States, to get the resources needed to go after them.
Israeli Conductor Barenboim Gets Ovation in Egypt
CAIRO (AP) -- Israeli conductor Daniel Barenboim stirred a sold out Cairo Opera House Thursday with a performance of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony, drawing ovations in his first visit to Egypt.
Drought in West Africa Repeats and May Get Worse
WASHINGTON (AP) -- West Africa is already living on the edge, and new research indicates that even worse droughts are possible than the one that devastated the region in the late 20th century.
15 Gunmen, 1 Soldier Killed in Mexican Shootout
MEXICO CITY (AP) -- A shootout between Mexican troops and a convoy of gunmen left 15 assailants and one soldier dead hours before President Barack Obama arrived in the country to show his support for the fight against drug cartels.
Health Advocates Tout New Model of Female Condom
NEW YORK (AP) -- Advocates of the female condom are promoting a less costly, more user-friendly version that they hope will vastly expand its role in the global fight against AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases. An early version of the female condom was introduced in 1993, and it remains the only available woman-initiated form of protection against both STDs and unintended pregnancy.
Accused Marine Returning to US From Mexico
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) -- A Marine accused of killing a pregnant colleague in North Carolina and fleeing to Mexico will be returned to the U.S. this week, federal authorities said Thursday.
Iranian Scientists Claim They Have Cloned a Goat
ISFAHAN, Iran (AP) -- Iranian scientists have cloned a goat and plan future experiments they hope will lead to a treatment for stroke patients, the leader of the research said Wednesday. The female goat, named Hana, was born early Wednesday in the city of Isfahan in central Iran, said Dr. Mohammed Hossein Nasr e Isfahani, head of the Royan Research Institute.
Bacteria Found Thriving Beneath Antarctic Glacier
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Hidden in the bone-chilling dark beneath an Antarctic glacier, a colony of strange bacteria is thriving. Scientists investigating the flow of blood-red water from beneath the glacier discovered the bacteria, which have survived for millions of years, living on sulfur and iron compounds, they report in Friday's edition of the journal Science.
Planet-Hunting Spacecraft's First Images Released
PASADENA, Calif. (AP) -- NASA's new planet-hunting telescope has beamed back the first images of a patch of faraway sky in the Milky Way galaxy where it hopes to find Earth-like planets. NASA on Thursday released several images snapped by Kepler earlier this month, including a view of a distant part of our galaxy containing some 14 million stars. Scientists say more than 100,000 of those stars are potential candidates for research.
Obama to Seek Ratification of Arms Treaty
MEXICO CITY (AP) -- Confronting a security threat on the America's doorstep, President Barack Obama arrived Thursday in Mexico declaring solidarity with a neighbor deeply troubled by drugs and violence and pledging action to slow the contributing flow of weapons from the U.S.
For Sale: A Taste of Royalty From Princess Bride
LONDON (AP) -- Would you pay 145 pounds ($215) for a slice of very stale cake? That's what an antiques fair in Birmingham hopes to earn Thursday when people bid for the remnant from one of Britain's most controversial royal weddings.
Capone May Have Had 1 Last Hit _ a Musical 1
CHICAGO (AP) -- He never sang to the feds, but it turns out Al Capone had a song in his heart. All it took was a stint in Alcatraz to bring it out.
No Charges Against CIA Officials for Waterboarding
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Obama administration on Thursday informed CIA officials who used waterboarding and other harsh interrogation tactics on terror suspects that they will not be prosecuted, senior administration officials told The Associated Press.
80-Year-Old Omaha Store Owner Foils Armed Robber
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) -- An 80-year-old's quick thinking foiled an armed robber's attempt to hold up an Omaha liquor store. Store owner Floyd Westbrook was closing up his Sugar Hill Package Liquor on Wednesday when a man wearing a ski mask and holding a gun ran in and demanded money.
Experts: Spot of Mexican Surrender in Texas Found
DALLAS (AP) -- Archaeologists believe they have found the spot where hundreds of Mexican soldiers surrendered to the Texas army after a battle that sealed Texas' independence from Mexico.
Senate Panel to Probe Wiretapping Violations
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The head of the Senate Intelligence Committee said Thursday that the panel would hold a hearing to get to the bottom of reports that the National Security Agency improperly tapped into the domestic communications of American citizens.
Indonesia Clears Time of Defaming Suharto
JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) -- Indonesia's top court cleared Time magazine of defaming ex-dictator Suharto by alleging in a cover story that his family amassed a fortune during his rule. It said Thursday the publication did not have to pay $106 million in damages.
Homeland Security Chief Defends Agency Risk Report
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano on Thursday dismissed criticism of an intelligence assessment by her agency that says some military veterans could be susceptible to extremist recruiters or commit lone acts of violence.
DirecTV, Comcast Hit With Fines
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Satellite television provider DirecTV Inc. and cable company Comcast Corp. will pay out a combined $3.2 million to settle claims that they broke the law by placing phone calls to people who had asked the companies not to call them again. It's the second time DirecTV has been hit with such a fine.
Democrats: Texas Gov Should Disavow Secession Talk
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) -- A group of Texas Democrats says Republican Gov. Rick Perry was reckless when he suggested at an anti-tax rally that fed-up Americans may one day want to secede from the United States.
Not on the Menu: Pizza Workers Charged in Pranks
CONOVER, N.C. (AP) -- A gross video posted on YouTube showing a Domino's Pizza worker stuffing cheese up his nostril and waving salami under his rear end as he is making sandwiches has led to charges against him and a co-worker who recorded him, authorities said Wednesday.
Race, Service Mark 2nd Anniversary of Va. Tech
BLACKSBURG, Va. (AP) -- Randy Sterne got chills Thursday as he watched hundreds of balloons sail into a bright, sunny sky at the start of a 3.2-mile run to honor 32 people killed by a student gunman at Virginia Tech two years ago. Later in the day, several thousand people gathered for a somber memorial service.
All Minn. Bridge Victims Accept State Settlements
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) -- The state of Minnesota has reached settlements with all 179 eligible victims of the bridge collapse in Minneapolis two years ago.
Bolivian Police Uncover Plot Against President
LA PAZ, Bolivia (AP) -- Bolivian police say they broke an armed international group on Thursday that was plotting to assassinate President Evo Morales and the vice president.
Obama: Memos' Release Required by Law
WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Barack Obama says the release of legal opinions governing harsh questioning of terrorism suspects is required by the law and should help address ''a dark and painful chapter in our history.''.
Obama to Seek Ratification of Arms Treaty
MEXICO CITY (AP) -- Confronting a security threat on the America's doorstep, President Barack Obama arrived Thursday in Mexico for a swift diplomatic mission to show solidarity on drugs and guns with a troubled neighbor -- and to prove the U.S. is serious about the battle against trafficking.
No Charges Against CIA Officials for Waterboarding
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Attorney General Eric Holder says the government won't prosecute CIA officials for using waterboarding and other harsh interrogation tactics on terror suspects.
The INFLUENCE GAME: Peanuts Want Gov't Help, Too
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The battered peanut industry has a new message: Peanuts are safe to eat, and there's a law in the works to make them even safer. So have a handful.
Roadside Bomber Sentenced to 25 Years in Prison
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The only Iraq war insurgent to be prosecuted in U.S. court was sentenced Thursday to 25 years in prison, but how much time he'll serve will be up to the Netherlands.
Baby Pythons Escape During Flight in Australia
MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) -- Four baby pythons escaped from a container aboard a passenger plane in Australia, leading to a search that forced the cancellation of two flights, the airline said Thursday. Twelve non-venemous Stimson pythons were being transported Tuesday on a flight from Alice Springs to Melbourne in the plane's cargo area in a bag inside a plastic foam box with air holes.
NY Governor Introduces Bill to Allow Gay Marriage
NEW YORK (AP) -- Gov. David Paterson announced plans Thursday to legalize same-sex marriage in New York, comparing the effort to the fight for the abolition of slavery.
Venezuela Opposes Americas Summit Declaration
CUMANA, Venezuela (AP) -- President Hugo Chavez says Venezuela will vote against the declaration of the Summit of the Americas in a gesture of protest against the United States.
Board Rejects Demjanjuk Bid, Court Wants More Info
CLEVELAND (AP) -- A U.S. immigration appeals board on Thursday denied a request to reopen the deportation case of John Demjanjuk, who is wanted in Germany to face accusations that he served as a Nazi death camp guard.
Obama: Better Trains Foster Energy Independence
WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Barack Obama called Thursday for the country to move swiftly to a system of high-speed rail travel, saying it will relieve congestion, help clean the air and save on energy.
Mudslide Buries 25 Homes in Peru, 30 Feared Dead
LIMA, Peru (AP) -- Peru's civil defense says a mudslide has buried 25 homes in two towns in the northern highlands. As many as 30 people are missing.
Suicide Bomber Strikes Iraqi Military Base
BAGHDAD (AP) -- A suicide bomber struck an Iraqi military base Thursday in an attack that Iraqi officials first said killed 16 soldiers but later maintained no one died but the attacker.
Stimulus Funds in States: It Costs Money to Spend
LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) -- When it comes to the $787 billion in federal stimulus money flowing from Washington to the states, it will cost money to spend money.
Awash in Celebrities, US Still Hungry for Heroes
WASHINGTON (AP) -- A nation awash in celebrities still hungers for genuine heroes, never more so than in dreary times like these.
Prison for Mich. Couple Accused of Grill Cremation
DETROIT (AP) -- A Detroit couple who admitted killing their 2-year-old son and allegedly tried to cremate his body on a barbecue grill have been sentenced to prison.
US-Israeli Differences Over Palestinians Emerge
JERUSALEM (AP) -- Stark differences between U.S. and Israeli policy toward peace talks with the Palestinians emerged clearly Thursday in the first meetings between President Barack Obama's Mideast envoy and top leaders of the new Israeli government.
3 More Not Guilty Pleas in Blagojevich Case
CHICAGO (AP) -- Ousted Gov. Rod Blagojevich's most recent chief of staff, former chief fundraiser and another Illinois political insider pleaded not guilty Thursday to charges that they took part in what prosecutors allege was widespread corruption.
Crew Members Urging Stronger Security for Ships
OXON HILL, Md. (AP) -- An emotionally drained but ebullient Maersk Alabama crew told gripping stories of captivity at sea Thursday while urging stronger protection for ships operating in treacherous Horn of Africa waters.
Rebels Promises to Free Army Cpl Held for 11 Yrs
BOGOTA (AP) -- Colombia's largest rebel group promised on Thursday to release an army corporal kidnapped 11 years ago in a hostage case made famous by his father, who walked across the country to push for his release.
Syracuse Teen Admits to Sniper Killing of Neighbor
SYRACUSE, N.Y. (AP) -- A 16-year-old admitted Thursday that he was the sniper who gunned down a city worker outside the victim's home in January, but offered no explanation for the crime.
Thieves Smash Car Windows to Steal Inspection Tabs
PORTLAND, Maine (AP) -- Drivers may have a new reason to fear an automobile break-in: the inspection stickers they must plaster to the inside of their windshield in many states.
Ex-Police Chief Gets 3 Years for Kicking Suspect
HAMMOND, Ind. (AP) -- A former Indiana police chief has been sentenced to nearly 3 1/2 years in federal prison for using unreasonable force in kicking a handcuffed suspect he believed had robbed his house.
US Official: Rescued Captain Expected Home Friday
WASHINGTON (AP) -- A U.S. official says a homecoming is planned Friday for the rescued American captain of a ship pirated off the Somali coast.
IG: IRS Allows Improper Tax Credits for Foreigners
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The IRS allowed more than 1 million foreigners -- many of them in the U.S. illegally -- to improperly claim $1.8 billion in child tax credits in 2007, a government investigator said Thursday.
Alaska Gov. Palin Back on Road With Indiana Trip
EVANSVILLE, Ind. (AP) -- Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin is to speak during an anti-abortion group's dinner in Indiana Thursday night in her first out-of-state trip on a partisan agenda since the presidential campaign ended.
Sri Lankan Troops Attack Rebel Defenses
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) -- Sri Lankan troops backed by helicopter gunships attacked Tamil Tiger defenses in the northeast Thursday, a rebel-allied Web site reported, as international pressure grew for a new cease-fire to allow civilians to escape the fighting.
Tent School Opens for Youngest Italy Quake Victims
POGGIO PICENZE, Italy (AP) -- Some of the youngest victims of central Italy's earthquake got a taste of normalcy Thursday when the school bell rang, summoning them to makeshift classrooms set up among the tents they now call home.
US Seeks Transit Deal With Turkmenistan
ASHGABAT, Turkmenistan (AP) -- A senior U.S. diplomat says the United States hopes to reach an agreement with Turkmenistan on allowing the transit of non-lethal goods to neighboring Afghanistan.
US Urges Iran to Release Accused US Journalist
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Iran stands to gain U.S. goodwill by ''responding in a positive way'' to the case of an American journalist tried on spy charges by an Iranian court this week, a U.S. official said Thursday.
Ill. Rep. Blames Heroin Deaths on Mexican Drugs
CHICAGO (AP) -- An Illinois congressman says at least 31 people in two suburban Chicago counties have died this year after overdosing on unusually strong heroin from Mexico.
$40M Fuel Theft From Army Prompts Global Manhunt
ALEXANDRIA, Va. (AP) -- A former Army contractor convicted of stealing $40 million worth of fuel from a military base in Iraq is helping authorities search the globe for other suspects in the case.
Wild Bear Closes Central Park in Slovenian Capital
LJUBLJANA, Slovenia (AP) -- Slovenia is home to about 430 brown bears, but residents of Ljubljana, the capital, rarely see any but the two who live in the local zoo.
US Court: Ex-Israeli Cabinet Member Cannot Be Sued
NEW YORK (AP) -- A federal appeals court says a former Israeli security chief cannot be sued in the United States for 15 deaths in a Gaza City bombing.
US Army Soldier Sentenced to Life in Prison
VILSECK, Germany (AP) -- A U.S. Army soldier convicted of murder in the 2007 killings of four bound and blindfolded Iraqis was sentenced on Thursday to life in prison.
Scholarship Honors US Captain Held by Pirates
BOURNE, Mass. (AP) -- A new scholarship at the Massachusetts Maritime Academy will honor the graduate who was recently held hostage by pirates off Africa.
A Key to Women's Rights in Afghanistan: Men
KABUL (AP) -- There are a handful of them at every women's rights gathering in Afghanistan: men.
AP Source: Talk of Delaying 2 WTC Towers for Years
NEW YORK (AP) -- The owners of ground zero, locked in a new round of heated talks with a private developer about how and when to build office towers at the World Trade Center site, have proposed indefinitely putting off two of three planned skyscrapers until the real estate market recovers, officials familiar with the negotiations say.
Heavy Security Surrounds Obama's Mexican Visit
MEXICO CITY (AP) -- Heavily armed police are patrolling a wealthy neighborhood near Mexico's presidential residence as President Barack Obama heads to the capital on his first visit to the country.
March Housing Construction Falls 10.8 Percent
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Housing construction plunged to the second lowest level on record in March, reversing a big jump from the previous month. Economists, however, were heartened by indications that the long slide in single-family construction could be coming to an end.
Medvedev: Russia Needs More Political Competition
MOSCOW (AP) -- Russia needs stronger political competition and a greater freedom to protest, President Dmitry Medvedev said in remarks released Thursday, sending the strongest signal yet that he may rethink the legacy of predecessor Vladimir Putin.
French Captain Recounts Hostage-Taking by Pirates
PARIS (AP) -- A French captain who knows his pirates has some advice for other sailors: ''When you see them coming, it's too late.''.
Gorbachev: US Military Power Blocks 'No Nukes'
ROME (AP) -- President Barack Obama's call for a nuclear weapons-free world is welcome, but the huge U.S. defense budget may prove an ''insurmountable obstacle'' to reaching that goal, former Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev said Thursday.
Dutch to Invite Dalai Lama to Parliament
THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) -- Dutch lawmakers said Thursday they will invite the Dalai Lama to parliament despite a warning from China that the visit would harm relations between the two nations.
English Village May Use Potholes for Speed Control
LONDON (AP) -- Here's a new road repair plan: Don't bother.
Official: Mafia Has Moved Into Italy Quake Area
ROME (AP) -- Organized crime syndicates have already moved into the central Italian region devastated by a quake this month and are looking to profit from the reconstruction of the area, the head of parliament's anti-Mafia commission said.
Demjanjuk Faces Uncertain Fate if Deported
BERLIN (AP) -- The family of alleged Nazi death camp guard John Demjanjuk is citing his poor health as it fights a U.S. drive to deport him to Germany for a possible war crimes trial. Questions remain over what would happen if he is ruled unfit to face trial once he arrives.
Serb Ex-Commander to Testify in Americans' Killing
BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) -- A former Serbian police commander on trial at the U.N. war crimes court has agreed to testify in a separate case over the 1999 execution-style murder of three Albanian-American brothers, a judge said Thursday.
Signs Threaten Killing of Texas College Students
NACOGDOCHES, Texas (AP) -- Authorities in Nacogdoches, Texas, are on alert after signs promising a deadly mass shooting were found on and near the Stephen F. Austin State University campus.
Police Probe Erie, Pa., Officer's Off-Duty Joking
ERIE, Pa. (AP) -- A city police officer was suspended after someone posted to the Web a video of him, in a bar and apparently intoxicated, joking about a homicide victim.
Potential High-Speed Rail Corridors
Ten corridors the Obama administration had identified for possible high-speed rail projects:.
Univ. Of Florida, ASPCA Fill Void for Animal CSIs
GAINESVILLE, Fla. (AP) -- Only a few investigators in the country are trained to adequately investigate and prepare cases for prosecution of the horrendous crimes against animals that can leave dogs, roosters and other animals maimed and tortured.
Twin Reno Girls Treated for Rare Disease
RENO, Nev. (AP) -- Twin 5-year-old girls living with a rare disease are among the first in the country being treated for their condition at a Reno hospital after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration granted special permission to use an experimental drug.
Mich. Muslim Group Says FBI Asking People to Spy
DETROIT (AP) -- A Michigan Muslim organization said Thursday it has asked U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder to investigate complaints alleging the FBI is asking followers of the faith to spy on Islamic leaders and congregations.
Spanish AG: No Torture Probe of US Officials
MADRID (AP) -- Spain's attorney general has rejected opening an investigation into whether six Bush administration officials sanctioned torture against terror suspects at Guantanamo Bay, saying Thursday a U.S. courtroom would be the proper forum.
Water Seeps Past Sandbags Fortifying Weak ND Dam
KATHRYN, N.D. (AP) -- National Guard troops dropped sandbags from a helicopter early Thursday to shore up a weakening dam that is protecting a small town from flooding, an official said.
French Fishing Protest Softens on English Channel
PARIS (AP) -- French fishermen allowed traffic to resume to three English Channel ports Thursday after receiving a government promise of euro4 million ($5.27 million) in aid, but they vowed to keep up their fight against European fishing quotas.
More Than Century Old, Royal Wedding Cake on Sale
LONDON (AP) -- A slice of cake from one of Britain's most controversial royal weddings is up for sale after more than 130 years.
WORLD's WORST PERSON 4-15/09
Republican Senator Richard Burr of North Carolina.
According to a newspaper in Hendersonville, in that state, he told his constituents that last fall, as the economic crisis, that he knew exactly what to do.
“On Friday night, I called my wife and I said, Brooke, I‘m not coming home this weekend. I will call you on Monday. Tonight, I want you to go the ATM machine. And I want you to draw out everything it will let you take. And I want you to tomorrow.
And I want you to go Sunday.”
So, there it is. For anybody who thought the Republicans didn‘t actually have a plan to offer as an alternative to the Obama stimulus and the bail outs, you were wrong. There it is, the Senator Burr plan. Start a run on the banks!
Senator Richard Burr,today‘s worst person in the world.
Keith Olbermann MSNBC
According to a newspaper in Hendersonville, in that state, he told his constituents that last fall, as the economic crisis, that he knew exactly what to do.
“On Friday night, I called my wife and I said, Brooke, I‘m not coming home this weekend. I will call you on Monday. Tonight, I want you to go the ATM machine. And I want you to draw out everything it will let you take. And I want you to tomorrow.
And I want you to go Sunday.”
So, there it is. For anybody who thought the Republicans didn‘t actually have a plan to offer as an alternative to the Obama stimulus and the bail outs, you were wrong. There it is, the Senator Burr plan. Start a run on the banks!
Senator Richard Burr,today‘s worst person in the world.
Keith Olbermann MSNBC
USA WAR DEAD 4,275 IRAQI DEAD over 500,000
Thank You G W BUSH!
The REAL cost($)of over THREE (3) TRILLION DOLLARS
and a major reason why the USA has led the WORLD
into a major economic downturn period.
REMINDER the costs do NOT include YOUR lost job(s)
and the value of your dollar and savings gone!!
AND we can't even measure the cost to the people of the world
and lives lost because of this blunder!
Again THANK YOU - GWB & DICKIE BRUCE!
The REAL cost($)of over THREE (3) TRILLION DOLLARS
and a major reason why the USA has led the WORLD
into a major economic downturn period.
REMINDER the costs do NOT include YOUR lost job(s)
and the value of your dollar and savings gone!!
AND we can't even measure the cost to the people of the world
and lives lost because of this blunder!
Again THANK YOU - GWB & DICKIE BRUCE!
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