Here’s part of the agenda of a recent governmental entity:
5. Discussion on a proposal to express Solidarity with Firestone Natural Rubber Company Workers in Liberia, and formulation of a recommendation to City Council.
6. Discussion on the Subcommittee on United Nations Reports and a recommendation to extend the Subcommittee through December 2008
7. Discussion on a request for the Peace & Justice Commission to co-sponsor the January 26, 2008 United Nations Association Symposium on the 60th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and formulation of a recommendation to the City Council.
And:
Withdrawal of
California National Guard Troops from Iraq Changing the United States Drug Policy
Chevron Corporation
Marine Recruiting Office in the City of Berkeley
Believe it or not, that’s a city council meeting. I don’t see anywhere in there where they actually discuss their own city’s maintenance.However, they did find time to:
- Asking the city attorney to investigate what the city can do with respect to the military recruiting office, given a conflict between the military’s prohibition against recruiting homosexuals and the city’s laws prohibiting discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.
- Asking the city manager to write letters to various U.S. Marine officials, telling them “that the marine recruiting office is not welcome in our city, and if recruiters choose to stay, they do so as uninvited and unwelcome intruders.”
- Encouraging those groups that “volunteer to impede, passively or actively, by nonviolent means, the work of any military recruiting office located in the city of Berkeley.”
Folks, this stuff is straight out of their minutes. And, fearing not the military, apparently they do fear colognes, as they also demand:
Please refrain from wearing scented products to public meetings.
I kid you not. Straight out of THEIR agenda.
Berkeley, I’m here to tell ya. Most all of the rest of the country used to think your town is nuts. Now we know for sure they are. It’s bad enough to constantly trash people who’d lay down their lives for you all, but why the hell spend taxpayer money worrying about workers in Libya, the United Nations, and bunch of other crap that has nothing to do with the taxpayer money that put them there? I can guarantee you all 100% that if my councilor went to meetings and discussed nothing but garbage that did not affect my tax money, they’d be out ASAP. And, they know it. My city council’s pretty screwed up right now. But, I am quite certain, there is not a worse city council in the United States than Berkeley has right now. That agenda for the 2/2/04 meeting is a 100% waste of Berkeley taxpayer money. 100%. They are worried about everything BUT the welfare of Berkeley. I know a few people in Berkeley. They’re nowhere near as detached from reality as these council members are. I sure wish they’d run for council.
My idiot of the day, obviously, is most of the Berkeley City Council. Their arrogance and ignorance of why they are there amazes me.
Originally, I thought this was going to be the idiot of the day. Then, I was going to morph into Big Brother run amok. But, the story reads a lot different than the obvious.
And, it sort of finishes with:
“‘I didn’t know what to tell her,”‘ Spruill said the constituent told him before Spruill vowed to stop such displays.
“I said, ‘Sir, I’m going to be a laughingstock, but I’m going to do it,”‘ he said.
Fox then goes on to illustrate some other “offbeat” bills in Virginia. In this case, the only thing offbeat about it is Spruill singling out rubber hitch testicles. If he had broadened it to include all sexual organs, then I think it would have been a little less offbeat and make a lot more sense. And quite frankly, carting around a five year old myself, I can appreciate the predicament whoever thought publicly displaying testicles on a hitch placed on all the parents of small children in. The legislature can’t ban stupid or inconsiderate. However, they can let them know what stupid is by giving police the ability to correct their stupid actions. If whoever thinks rubber testicles is a fashion statement wants everyone to know they have a thing for rubber testicles, they can display them at home or INSIDE their vehicle in such a way as to not impress small kids. Since apparently some people aren’t bright enough to figure out the impact they are having on innocent children, and the parents thereof, it’s up to people like Lionel Spruill to make a public fool of himself in order to protect our children from the inconsiderate idiots.
Kudos to Mrs. Moon for pointing out that I needed to address this important issue.
( BTW, the idiot of the day is not Del. Spruill, it’s the idiots driving around with their rubber testicles exposed to small children. )
The entire time Republican Governor Ernie Fletcher was in office, Attorney General Greg Stumbo dogged him about hiring people based on political patronage. Stumbo even went so far as to file corruption charges and seat a grand jury before dropping the charges so that he could run for governor himself. People of Kentucky bought into Stumbo’s allegations, with the help of the local media, and voted Ernie out. Presumably because of those allegations of patronage.
So, what’s the first thing our new, improved, Democrat governor does? Check this one out:
12/14/2007
Associated Press
FRANKFORT — Gov. Steve Beshear appointed a restaurant franchise company executive on Thursday to head the state’s homeland security agency.
Beshear appointed Adam Edelen, 33, to be Kentucky’s next executive director of homeland security. Edelen currently works for Thomas & King Inc., a restaurant franchise company that operates Applebee’s and Carino’s restaurants in five states including Kentucky, according to the company’s Web site.
“The task of keeping our public safe is an awesome responsibility, and I am confident that Adam will work with our communities and first responders to ensure the state is ready and prepared for any emergency it might face,” Beshear said in a statement.
Beshear took office on Tuesday. He has been filling out his administration with top-level administrators, and on Wednesday his cabinet secretaries were sworn into office.
Edelen was an aide to former Gov. Paul Patton and has worked as vice president of the Greater Lexington Chamber of Commerce.
Registry of Election Finance records show Edelen donated $2,000 to Beshear during the past election and sponsored a fundraiser for Beshear that took in $4,000. He also contributed to Democrats Jack Conway and Crit Luallen during their winning campaigns for attorney general and state auditor.
You read that right. Based on his restaurant experience, Adam Edelen will be in charge of Homeland Security.
I’m waiting for our new attorney general to investigate this blatant and overt patronage as well. ( What’s that you say? Edelen donated to him TOO? )
Just another example of what voting incumbants out just to say you voted the incumbant out gets ya. Things are SOOOO much better now in Kentucky.
I have written a lot on Louisiana’s propensity to condone corruption in their government. From governor to mayors to congressmen, it just seemed to be an accepted part of doing business. No matter how bad things got, they just kept sending the same people back. William Jefferson’s still there, Ray Nagin’s still there, Blanco decided not to run. I fully expected the same people to run someone else to keep the same old garbage going.
For once, Louisiana proved me wrong. They elected a very young, very upstanding ( apparently ), very honest young man of Indian decent. Bobby Jindal has been on the scene for a long time, which is pretty amazing considering he’s only 36 now. He’s been in the public spotlight and never has raised an eyebrow about his ethics. On top of that, he ran on an anti-corruption theme.
Now, our governor did the same thing here four years ago. He won, and was immediately attacked by those wanting to keep the status quo in place. In our case, that was the state attorney general. Things got messy real quick. We’ll see in a couple of weeks if the status quo will regain power or not. In the meantime, Kentucky has thrived quite well.
That can happen in Louisiana as well. When people know their money won’t be going directly to crooks like Ray Nagin, they’ll be a lot more likely to contribute to the local economy. You’ve got a good man Louisiana, I can see very good things coming for you all. Don’t let the bad ones ruin it as they have for a long time.
27
Aug
In case you haven’t seen the news or watched ANY tv at all, Idaho US Senator Larry Craig got busted for making gay advances in a Minnesota restroom stall. Pretty nutty stuff there. He pleaded no contest and will face a fine among other thins I assume. His bigger problem will be keeping his job. Some of the pundits I respect most have already written him off before next year’s election. Can’t say I disagree with them. Now, before everyone gets all partisan, Idaho’s a very strong Republican state. His replacement will be a Republican. Secondly, Craig’s voting record pretty much distinguished him as a moderate moreso than anything else. What will happen when Craig is replaced is he most likely will be replaced by a stronger conservative.
So, all the liberal Democrats better watch what they wish for in the future. In the big scheme of things, the US Senate probably just got a little more conservative. I’m not sure that’s a good thing, but since the Progressives seem to think they’re running the show in DC, it probably is right now.
In 2000, George W. Bush won the electoral college. He however, lost the popular vote. The election was so close that Al Gore challenged one state in an effort to change the outcome of the election. The only reason it was that close was because Gore focused on a hand full of huge electoral prizes and won most of them. Bush carried about 70% of the states, but that didn’t matter, most were small electoral prizes. Gore’s strategy I felt cheated most of America. It was smart mathematically, but nevertheless allows a candidate to ignore most of America and focus primarily on California, New York, and Texas. One vote more than the other candidate in those states and you got the whole prize. The entire representation of that state. That just ain’t right. Now, Republicans are sponsoring a change to the California electoral college that will dole out electoral votes based on the percentage of votes received. This is a win-win for all of America in my opinion. First of all, it forces Democrat candidates to work California as hard, if not harder, than they ever had to before. Most popular Democrat candidates could take California for granted, it’s just that urban, and that Democrat because of it. Now, taking Los Angeles will not guarantee 55 electoral votes. They’ll have to work all of California. It’s a win for the smaller states in the rest of the country as well. If the Democrat candidate knows they’re not going to get a 20 something electoral vote bonus for one extra vote in California, they’ll attempt to make up those votes elsewhere. That will force them to recognize the Idaho’s and Alaska’s.
I like this plan a lot. I have argued that the electoral college was designed with a purpose. A purpose I agree with. However, the sheer size and disproportionate population shifts have kind of undermined the college’s intent. Proportional college allotments will return it to it’s original intent. How a state assigns their college is up to them. So, it’s all within the intent of the Founding Fathers. This is a good plan California, I hope you all take it seriously. And, I think all states should follow their lead.
A central theme in this year’s gubernatorial race in Kentucky has been the consistant charge of how corrupt the current governor’s administration has been. Fletcher was hit with several charges of illegal hiring practices by the current attorney general, Greg Stumbo. When Stumbo decided to run for governor, this presented a conflict of interest. So, Stumbo dropped the charges and ran. He lost to Steve Beshear in the primary. It appeared people believed Fletcher moreso than Stumbo. So, what does the current Democrat candidate do? He picks up right where Stumbo left off in his losing effort. Every speech he dogs Fletcher for “not obeying the law”. So, I thought this recent release merited reviewing:
The Executive Branch Ethics Commission has determined not only that Governor Ernie Fletcher did not violate state hiring laws but also that he did not violate any ethics regulations, laws and opinions.
In a letter dated June 27, 2007 the Governor was notified by the commission that after an 18 month investigation they were terminating their preliminary investigation against the Governor. The Commission determined that the facts were insufficient to constitute a violation of the Executive Branch Ethics Code KRS 11A.080 (3).
The legal threshold for the findings of a violation of the Ethics Code is much lower than that required for a criminal proceeding, especially in a preliminary investigation. Even with the lower standard, the Governor was cleared. This action by the Commission after eighteen months of investigation, further exonerates the Governor from allegations of wrongdoing with respect to the merit hiring investigation.
This pretty much ends that issue. No convictions, no citations, not one single guilty person involved. Now, Beshear has pretty much decided this is going to be his central theme, along with legalizing gambling casinos. A lot of people won’t fact-check what he’s saying. A lot won’t intentionally and a lot won’t because they’re lazy. But if they did, they’d be kind of concerned I would think about the integrity of the candidate. We’ll see what happens. Kentucky is a strong Democrat registration advantage. So, Fletcher getting beat wouldn’t surprise me all that much. If people were truly not impressed with Fletcher and voted for someone else, I’d be OK with that. However, if they vote him out because they only listened to Beshear and Stumbo and nothing else, I’d be disappointed. It wouldn’t be the first time either.
So, research before you vote. That’s all I ask.
I really don’t get too terribly involved in local elections outside of my region, but this one should be fun to watch if it materializes:
Now, in my opinion, but not the terribly most popular opinion, I think Pelosi has squandered a lot oppurnity by focusing too much on Bush and not enough on tangible legislation that could get things done. However, this is California we’re talking about and they don’t think quite the same as the rest of the country, much less my neck of the woods. So, this intangible by Sheehan might just garner some attention there. However, before anyone gets too terribly excited, Sheehan has pulled this stunt before. That time it went nowhere, as I expect this one to do as well. Michelle Maulkin seems to disagree tho.
Here in Kentucky, we had to endure a rather ugly political fight for about a year ( it felt like a LOT longer ). Attorney General Greg Stumbo indicted Governor Ernie Fletcher and just about everyone that worked for Fletcher in any shape or capacity. As soon as the indictments were released, every media outlet in Kentucky proclaimed Fletcher’s political death. People fled the Governor’s office in droves. Then Fletcher did the unthinkable and pardoned everyone involced in Stumbo’s indictment except himself. The media proclaimed Fletcher officially 100% politically dead. Fletcher claimed at the time it was all politically motivated by Stumbo, who was toying with the idea of running for governor himself. Then, a rather odd thing happened on the way to the courthouse. Stumbo dropped the indictment. It seems there’s a rather vague little law in Kentucky that basically says a candidate can not bring suit against an elected official if they plan on running for that position. Not too long after dropping the lawsuit ( in political terms ), Stumbo announced he was teaming up with Greg Lunsford to run for the governor’s office as Lieutenant Governor. That’s a position in Kentucky that basically does nothing except wait to run for office as governor as soon as the person you teamed up with is out of the picture. Well, a funny thing happened today:
In the Republican primary:
| Fletcher/Rudolph | 100,291 | 50.2 |
| Northup/Hoover | 73,507 | 36.8 |
| Harper/Wilson | 25,898 | 13.0 |
In the Democrat primary:
| Candidate | Votes | % Votes |
| Lunsford/Stumbo | 73,108 | 21.4 |
| Richards/Brown | 44,440 | 13.0 |
| Beshear/Mongiardo | 140,574 | 41.1 |
| Galbraith/Wireman | 20,410 | 6.0 |
| Henry/True | 59,793 | 17.5 |
| Hensley/Robbins | 3,801 | 1.1 |
The politically dead Fletcher got 100,291+ votes while Stumbo’s ticket got 73,108 votes. In non-mathematical terms, Fletcher’s still alive and Stumbo’s not.
I guess Stumbo didn’t fool as many people as he thought. As noted on other blogs and media, Stumbo’s the big loser tonight. He would have easily kept his position as attorney general if he had not let his ego get in the way. And, in my opinion, the result is proper.
I’m not gonna go so far as to say Fletcher will win this fall. However, he’s been ruled dead so many times it gets kinda tiresome. And every time someone says he is, he wins. So, this fall should be a fun one to watch. Now, Steve Beshears, the Democrat candidate-elect, has been in the same boat as Fletcher, but never seemed to win anything. They both ran clean, good campaigns. This should be a fun race this fall. One that all Kentuckians can be proud of.
Nancy Pelosi ( yeah, I know, AGAIN! ), lambasted the Republicans for being nothing but crooks. Her silence on the Democrat Culture of Corruption has been deafening. This weeks’s scandal? Dianne Feinstein.
Dianne Feinstein had been on the Military Construction Appropriations committee for six years. During four of those years, Perini Corporation and URS Corp were MAJOR recipients of the largess that is the Military Construction Appropriations committee. The good folks of California were often critical, and surprised, at Feinstein’s support of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. They never bothered to ask why very much tho. Feinstein’s husband’s company, Perini, received $500 million in Iraq and Afghanistan contracts. Now, we can assume Nancy Pelosi knows Dianne Feinstein pretty well. We can also assume Pelosi knew what Feinstein’s husband did as well. What we can also assume is Nancy said NOTHING during the entire time Feinstein was lining her pockets with BILLIONS in federal money. Feinstein was profiting off the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts very overtly while Nancy Pelosi and the DNC constantly harassed Dick Cheney for once being an employee of Haliburton. And why do you suppose Nancy kept her mouth shut during all this corruption?
| Date | Amount | Recipient |
| 09/20/2002 | $350,000 | DSCC/Non-Federal Unicorp Assoc |
| 03/31/2003 | $25,000 | Democratic Senatorial Campaign Cmte |
| 04/30/2002 | $20,000 | Democratic Senatorial Campaign Cmte |
| 10/28/2004 | $10,000 | Democratic Party of South Dakota |
| 10/23/1995 | $10,000 | Democratic Senatorial Campaign Cmte |
| 12/05/1999 | $7,500 | DSCC/Non-Federal Mixed |
| 09/15/1998 | $5,000 | Democratic Senatorial Campaign Cmte |
| 05/01/2000 | $5,000 | DSCC/Non-Federal Unicorp Assoc |
| 12/05/1999 | $3,750 | DSCC/Non-Federal Mixed |
| 06/14/1999 | $2,000 | Lieberman, Joe |
| 05/10/2004 | $2,000 | Farmer, Nancy |
| 08/06/2004 | $2,000 | Salazar, Ken |
| 03/18/2005 | $2,000 | Byrd, Robert C |
| 09/26/2006 | $2,000 | Whitehouse, Sheldon |
| 06/01/2004 | $1,000 | Daschle, Tom |
| 06/01/2004 | $1,000 | Daschle, Tom |
| 06/21/2002 | $1,000 | Bradbury, Bill |
| 06/20/2002 | $1,000 | Daschle, Tom |
| 06/20/2002 | $1,000 | Daschle, Tom |
| 06/01/1998 | $1,000 | Kerrey, Bob |
| 06/01/1998 | $1,000 | Kerrey, Bob |
| 06/15/1998 | $1,000 | Nixon, Jay |
| 06/15/1998 | $1,000 | Nixon, Jay |
| 02/13/2000 | $1,000 | Northern Californians for Good Govt |
| 01/23/1999 | $1,000 | Northern Californians for Good Govt |
| 10/15/1997 | $1,000 | Northern Californians for Good Govt |
| 08/22/1997 | $1,000 | Daschle, Tom |
| 08/22/1997 | $1,000 | Daschle, Tom |
| 07/10/1996 | $1,000 | Northern Californians for Good Govt |
| 03/20/1996 | $1,000 | Minnick, Walt |
| 10/25/1996 | $1,000 | Strickland, Tom |
| 10/20/1995 | $1,000 | Dodd, Christopher J |
| 08/15/2001 | $1,000 | Strickland, Tom |
| 08/15/2001 | $1,000 | Strickland, Tom |
| 07/26/1994 | $1,000 | Hyatt, Joel |
| 04/09/1993 | $1,000 | Willie Brown for Assembly |
| 02/23/1994 | $1,000 | Democratic Senatorial Campaign Cmte |
| 02/23/1994 | $1,000 | Democratic Senatorial Campaign Cmte |
| 03/31/1999 | $1,000 | Gore, Al |
| 06/30/1999 | $1,000 | Lieberman, Joe |
| 03/23/2000 | $1,000 | Nelson, Ben |
| 07/06/2004 | $520 | America Coming Together |
| 03/01/2000 | ($1,000) | Kerrey, Bob |
| 06/30/1999 | ($1,000) | Lieberman, Joe |
| 04/19/2005 | $26,700 | Democratic Senatorial Campaign Cmte |
| 03/31/2004 | $25,000 | Democratic Senatorial Campaign Cmte |
| 10/22/1999 | $6,605 | DNC Services Corp |
Because Howard Dean, who was screaming the loudest about Republican corruption, was taking money from the Feinsteins as fast as he could stick his hands out.
Yes folks, the entire Democrat Party was profiting from the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars while Koz and all the other sheep harped on the Republicans profiting in ways they could never prove. There it is folks, in black and white. It’s overt. It’s obvious. It’s undeniable. What it also is, is cmpletely ignored by CBS, The New York Times, LA Times, etc. etc. etc.. You name a major media outlet, they’ll be on the ignoring this issue list as well. So, people like me have to rely on Rush Limbaugh and Michele Malkin. Some blogs are taking a little credit because Feinstein resigned from MILCON this week. She really didn’t have any reason to stay on MILCON any longer tho, her husband sold out of Perini and URS two years ago. Now, a lot of people will dismiss the credibility of this story because I cite Rush and Michele. I’m sure that couldn’t make Nancy, Howard, and Dianne any happier.
It just amazes me how people like Dan Rather could look the country in the face and blame it all on Dick Cheney, knowing the entire damn time it was Feinstein and the Dems making all the money off the deaths of our soldiers. And ya wanna know something else? It was that same MILCON committee shelling out billions to Feinstein at Feinstein’s direction that failed to provide adequate body armor to our troops in Iraq. And, it was that same MILCON committee handing out billions to Feinstein at the direction of Feinstein that failed to provide adequate health services to our troops that the media is whining about now.
Can we assume my "investigative" abilities are that much superior to CBS, ABC, NBC, CNN, Fox, the LA Times, the NY Times, or even the BBC? Or, can we assume that because Dianne Feinstein is an uber-liberal Democrat woman from California they all chose to look the other way while she profited off the deaths of our soldiers?
Regardless, there’s a LOT of explaining that needs to be done by Dianne Feinstein, Nancy Pelosi, and Howard Dean. However, I doubt CBS, ABC, NBC, or CNN will time to squeeze this topic in while they continue to dedicate every waking second to Gonzales firing a bunch of lawyers.
