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Bob Woodward, who along with Carl Bernstein brought down President Nixon back in the 70s, has called the Obama administration a a "rat's nest of concealment and lies." He could have well added that it is run like a mafioso family, complete with threats and harsh punishments for not taking an offer you can't refuse. Woodward, himself was threatened, when he exposed that the sequester came from Obama and not the republicans.

Polls tell us that the vast majority of Californians believe their Legislature is ineffective and at least semi-corrupt.The 120 men and women who serve in the Legislature don't like being held in such low esteem.However, their poor image is enhanced when a legislator is arrested for drunken driving or nailed for sexual harassment, or when their leaders hand out fat raises to their staffers and deny media access to their financial records – to name but a few recent imbroglios. The public might be more tolerant of such hijinks if lawmakers were also doing their jobs – i.e., dealing with...

AUSTIN, Texas, Aug. 25 (UPI) -- Former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Texas, will be tried on money laundering charges in Austin, a Texas judge ruled Wednesday. The ruling came as part of pretrial hearings during which DeLay argued he should be tried in Houston, near his home, because the case involves election matters, the Austin American-Statesman reported. His attorney, Dick DeGuerin also argued DeLay could not get a fair trial in Travis County. "I know there's negative feeling about Tom DeLay -- and it's strong," Senior District Judge Pat Priest said, adding DeLay could get a fair trial nonetheless....

Arnold Schwarzenegger was elected governor of California six-plus years ago on his pledge to balance the deficit-ridden state budget, vowing to root out "waste, fraud and abuse" with a massive overhaul of state government that would "blow up the boxes." It was a popular notion. But the budget remains chronically unbalanced, state government is not noticeably smaller or more efficient, and Schwarzenegger should know it's impossible for him or any other governor to clean up the mess through management alone. Schools, colleges and local governments spend the vast majority of the state's general fund dollars. The state directly spends only...

Life in Houston hasn't been easy, with many lacking health insurance, jobs, survey finds Houston may be hot, unfriendly and frustratingly difficult to navigate, but more than two-thirds of the poorest New Orleans evacuees who fled to the city after Hurricane Katrina plan to stay, a Rice University survey released today shows. Almost 69 percent of the 1,081 people queried in the National Science Foundation-funded study conducted in July by political science professors Rick Wilson and Robert Stein said they likely will remain in Houston. That figure is up from about 57 percent in October and 51 percent in September...

City expands sidewalk law Sitting or lying banned in 3 more neighborhoods; citywide extension of the law debated Responding to residents' demands to reduce crime and clear out vagrants, the City Council on Wednesday added three neighborhoods to an ordinance that bans sitting or lying on sidewalks during most of the day, and some members said it should apply citywide. The ordinance, which also prohibits putting personal possessions on the sidewalk, already exists in downtown and Midtown, but now will apply to the Old Sixth Ward, Avondale and Hyde Park. Before the panel approved the measure, several council members sounded...

CHICAGO - If you're a cell phone-using, goose liver-eating, cigarette-smoking, fast food-loving person, Chicago might not be your kind of town. In this city that once winked at Prohibition, members of the City Council are trying to crack down on things they deem unhealthy, immoral or just plain annoying. A proposal that would restrict fast-food chains from cooking with artery-clogging trans fat oils got a public airing last week, and in the past year alone aldermen have banned smoking in nearly all public places and the use of cell phones while driving. In April, Chicago became the first U.S. city...

Warren Community College President Defends Professor’s Harassment of Young Conservative Professor Admits Radical Diatribe Student Fights Back HERNDON, VA –Young America’s Foundation exposed Warren Community College’s radical Professor John Daly, who in an email to student Rebecca Beach, vowed to intimidate those students who host conservative speakers and called for American soldiers in Iraq to murder their superiors. Instead of admonishing the professor’s intemperate attack on a student’s right of free expression, Warren Community College President William Austin said Prof. John Daly has “first amendment rights” to harass Rebecca. Furthermore, the President is trying to bully Rebecca into silence. He...

THE NEW YORK OBSERVER will report tomorrow: 'Former 60 Minutes Wednesday executive editor Josh Howard has told colleagues that before he resigns, the 23-year CBS News veteran will demand that the network retract remarks by CBS president Leslie Moonves, correct its official story line and ultimately clear his name'... In the event of a lawsuit, Mr. Howard has told associates that he would like to see Moonves put under oath to talk about his own roles in the network's stubborn, hapless defense of the flawed segment on President Bush's National Guard service. Howard has also indicated to colleagues that he...

Today’s Special Election Day DUmmie FUnnies editions starts off much earlier than I had planned. Why? Because yesterday I was suffering a bad case of the pre-election jitters. However, when I woke up this morning my mood completely changed since I am now secure in the knowledge that Bush will WIN big. However, the mood on the DUmmie site is now shifting from false optimism to downright gloom. You can see an example of DUmmie gloom on this THREAD appropriately titled, “I'm very used to having the American people disappoint the shit out of me.” And I think, DUmmie BurtWorm...

They are cowards...

I guess they didn't want us to see them cry

Look at this:The Diebold GEMS central tabulator contains a stunning security holeSubmitted by Bev HarrisThu, 08/26/2004 Issue: Manipulation technique found in the Diebold central tabulator -- 1,000 of these systems are in place, and they count up to two million votes at a time. By entering a 2-digit code in a hidden location, a second set of votes is created. This set of votes can be changed, so that it no longer matches the correct votes. The voting system will then read the totals from the bogus vote set. It takes only seconds to change the votes, and to date...

Rush is quoting posters from DU again. They're server crashed! He was quoting about how posters thought Bush was more of a danger than Saddam!