Kerik Sentenced To 4 Years In Prison

post from jobsanger on 19 February 2010 01:04:00 AM. © jobsanger

How the mighty one has fallen. Bernard Kerik was once called one of the best police chiefs in this country and was called a hero after 9/11 (although I think it was the men who he commanded that were the real heroes and Kerik was just trying to trade off their heroism).
But regardless of whether it was his own heroism or his men's heroism, Kerik nearly used that to catapult himself into an important national office. George Bush bought into the hype and in 2004 he nominated Kerik to become the head of the Homeland Security Department.
It looked like he would actually head that department, but Democrats created a firestorm of protest, delaying the nomination and finally forcing it to be withdrawn. And that's a good thing because Kerik has turned out to be far from a hero. He's just another criminal.
Last November, he pled guilty to eight felonies, including tax fraud and lying to the White House while they were vetting him for the job at Homeland Security. He will remain free (with an electronic ankle bracelet) until May 17th when he must report to a federal prison (which is yet to be designated).
Kerik must also pay $188,000 in restitution and also pay income taxes and penalties on six years of tax returns. He has know about the restitution and taxes with penalties since last November, but has yet to pay a single penny.
The federal court guidelines recommended 27 to 33 months in prison, but the federal judge exceeded that and sentenced Kerik to 48 months, saying the guidelines didn't consider "the almost operatic proportions of this case". He went on to chastise Kerik by saying, "The fact that Mr. Kerik would use that event (9/11) for personal gain and aggrandizement is a dark place in the soul for me."
Kerik had pleaded for a short sentence, saying he had "become a better person". Maybe so, but I don't think that should even be considered until he finishes serving that four year sentence -- which he richly deserves.

Read The Full Article:
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blogspot/lhav/~3/JFzzxlFIZ3Q/kerik-sentenced-to-4-
years-in-prison.html

Digg this

Republican Pride

post from jobsanger on 19 February 2010 01:03:00 AM. © jobsanger

Political Cartoon is by Pat Bagley in the Salt Lake Tribune.

Read The Full Article:
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blogspot/lhav/~3/KZJN4AwPKxM/republican-pride.html

Digg this

Randall County Healthier Than Potter County

post from jobsanger on 19 February 2010 01:02:00 AM. © jobsanger

Potter and Randall counties share a border and a large city. The northern half of Amarillo is in Potter county and the southern half of the city is in Randall county. Considering that, I would've thought that the two counties would be very similar healthwise. But evidently I am wrong.
The University of Wisconsin's Population Health Institute has conducted a survey of 3,000 counties nationwide. The report they recently released compares the counties within a state rather than to counties nationwide. They surveyed 221 out of Texas' 254 counties, and it looks like Randall county came out a lot better than Potter county did.
Each county was rated twice -- for Health Outcomes and for Health Factors. Out of the 221 counties surveyed, Randall came out looking pretty good. Randall ranked #20 in Health Outcomes and #8 in Health Factors. Meanwhile, Potter county ranked #203 in Health Outcomes and #202 in Health Factors.
That just blew me away! How could these two counties be so radically different in health, especially considering they share the same large city?
Another thing I found interesting was the percentage of uninsured residents. Randall county has 21% of its citizens without any health insurance, while Potter county has a 22% uninsured rate. While that's slightly better than Texas as a whole (26%), it's still a lot of uninsured people in the two counties. That's over a fifth of each county. Using 2008 estimated population figures, that would mean about 26,601 Potter county residents and 24,054 Randall county residents do not have health insurance.
With those kind of figures, I find it amazing that both counties vote solidly Republican (and like good Republicans oppose any real health care reform). Obviously, the 78% or 79% in each county that has insurance doesn't realize that the large number of uninsured pushes up the cost of health care and health insurance for everyone. It drives the cost of things like hospital care up and the insurance must then pay those higher costs (resulting in higher premiums).
These folks may not realize it, but they are already paying for the health care of those without insurance. It would be cheaper for them if there was a public health insurance option that would not only cover the uninsured, but would create a downward pressure on health premiums for everyone.
But have you ever tried to reason with a Republican -- it ain't easy!

Read The Full Article:
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blogspot/lhav/~3/qSiioCeTxJs/randall-county-health
ier-than-potter.html

Digg this

Curling

post from jobsanger on 19 February 2010 01:01:00 AM. © jobsanger

Political Cartoon is by Nate Beeler in The Washington Examiner.

Read The Full Article:
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blogspot/lhav/~3/NIxgQAQwx3U/curling.html

Digg this

Late Late Night FDL: We The People, Solemnly

post from Firedoglake on 19 February 2010 01:00:33 AM. © Firedoglake

FireDogLake readers davedwards1 and oregondave -- We The People Solemnly.[...]

Read The Full Article:
http://firedoglake.com/2010/02/18/late-late-night-fdl-we-the-people-solemnly/

Digg this

With So Few Gays In Congress, Is It Really
Possible To Legislate Against Discrimination And Bigotry

post from DownWithTyranny! on 19 February 2010 01:00:00 AM. © DownWithTyranny!

I was traveling back from Albania so I missed Eric Massa and his pal Duncan Hunter, Jr. when they were on CNN with Kyra Phillips on New Years Day. When I saw Eric the other day he asked me to take a look. Forget about Hunter and the stupidity, bigotry and predictable and marketable partisan anger. Hunter is just another GOP Ken doll lucky enough to have a job that doesn't require a mind. (After the "debate" he sheepishly told Eric he wouldn't tangle with him on that topic again. Hard to imagine what topic Duncan Hunter, Jr would tangle with someone on-- other than his specialty, hermaphrodites.)

When cornered by reporters on the illegitimacy of his premises, Congressman Hunter Jr. has chosen to turn on the gay men and women serving honorably in our Armed Forces and resort to homophobia.

He claims repealing DADT will open a Pandora?s Box, filling our military ranks with ?transsexuals and hermaphrodites?. He insists that homosexuals don?t have the same discipline and moral integrity to keep them from mounting their heterosexual comrades in showers, barracks and close quarters. Setting aside the disrespectful and degrading element of this argument for just one second, the military has in place rigid policies against sexual misconduct, assault, and unbecoming behavior. We don?t need a ban on an entire gay demographic of men and women willing to give up their lives in defense of their country.

Rep. Eric Massa claimed Hunter is ?disconnected from reality? if he believes he never had gay men serving alongside him while he was under fire in Fallujah.

I know I told you to forget Hunter. So sorry for all that. Now forget him.

The reason the clip is worth looking at is because it will help give you some insight into what leadership is all about. And that has nothing to do with a doofus like Hunter. Eric Massa and I don't agree on every single congressional vote. But its his character that makes him so much more admirable than your canned politician. New York's Southern Tier isn't exactly a hotbed of gay activism and although a friend of Ken's who is gay lives nearby, I doubt there are too many members of the LGBT community in New York's 29th CD. Even though over half the people-- if only 5% of the landmass-- of the dustrict is in Monroe County, Rochester's small but vibrant gay community is in another district. Massa doesn't even have Cornell or SUNY Binghamton in his district. Instead he has one of only 4 (out of 29) congressional districts in New York State that voted for McCain. The PVI is R +5. It was Bush's best-performing CD in NY in 2000 and 2004.

Eric is the first Democrat to represent the area in Congress since the mid-1800s. He's not taking strong, principled stands on controversial issues to pander to anyone. Taking a leadership role on abolishing Don't Ask, Don't Tell is different from passively voting for it. It means Eric is on the frontlines of a raging battle with screaming maniacs for whom hatred of gays is the center of their lives. He does it for one reason: he believes, based on a career in the military, that it's the right thing to do. Helping Eric win re-election to a very targeted seat would also be the right thing to do. But don't take my word for it. Take a look at the video below-- and then, if you agree, hit this link and imagine if we had a Congress without men like Eric Massa in it.

video details and more

Read The Full Article:
http://downwithtyranny.blogspot.com/2010/02/with-so-few-gays-in-congress-is-it.ht
ml

Digg this

Vancouver Medal Count Projections: Day 7

post from FiveThirtyEight: Politics Done Right on 19 February 2010 12:58:00 AM. © FiveThirtyEight: Politics Done Right

Well, another good day for the United States, capped off by Evan Lysacek's razor-thin win in men's figure skating, which none of the nine forecasters that we tracked had predicted (although most had him taking the silver). The only downer was the U.S.'s failure to win gold in women's halfpipe, although we still took both the silver and the bronze.

Still, while the U.S. currently has an impressive 11-medal lead against host Canada, that's going to get much narrower, as most of the canucks' best sports are still ahead. We have Canada winning 5-6 more medals in speed skating, 4 medals or so in short track, 3-4 in freestyle skiing, and 4 between hockey and curling.

Germany, on the other hand, is in a little bit of trouble. As compared with the United States and Canada, they rely on completely dominating just a couple of sports -- particularly, the sliding sports (luge, bobsled, skeleton) and biathlon/cross-country -- and they've failed to pick up quite as many medals there as expected. I just don't know that they have enough spots where they can pick up medals to make up for the places where they've underperformed -- and so it looks quite likely that the medals title will go to a North American country for the first time since 1932.

Canada still leads the United States in the gold medals projection, with Norway slipping past Germany into third place. There's a good chance that the gold medals title will come down to women's hockey and ice dancing, where the U.S. and the Canadians are projected to finish 1-2.

p.s. Speaking of women's hockey, these highlights of Slovakia's 82-0 win over Bulgaria in the qualifying tournament are entertaining on a number of levels.

Read The Full Article:
http://www.fivethirtyeight.com/2010/02/vancouver-medal-count-projections-day-7.ht
ml

Digg this

move over MLK

Lawmaker in Utah suggests that Martin Luther King should share his holiday with John Browning, Utah[...]

Read The Full Article:
http://www.whereistheoutrage.net/wordpress/2010/02/19/move-over-mlk/

Digg this

Move over, MLK

Lawmaker in Utah suggests that Martin Luther King should share his holiday with John Browning, Utah[...]

Read The Full Article:
http://www.whereistheoutrage.net/wordpress/2010/02/19/move-over-mlk/

Digg this

Domestic Terror in Texas

Why is it that a handful of thugs and plunderers can commit unthinkable atrocities (and in the case of the GM executives, for scores of years) and when it?s time for their gravy train to crash under the weight of their gluttony and overwhelming[...]

Read The Full Article:
http://www.taylormarsh.com/2010/02/19/domestic-terror-in-texas/

Digg this