Tag: News

Republicans Meeting with Obama “productive”, but no deal yet.

Looks like this one might go on for a while.

The Story:

Senate Republicans described a high-stakes meeting with President Obama on Friday as positive, but did not announce a deal, as they continued to work toward a bipartisan plan that could end the partial government shutdown and raise the debt ceiling. 

Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, who is helping lead the effort on the Senate side to craft an alternative proposal, said she presented a plan to the White House that would fund the government for six months and raise the debt ceiling through the end of January. 

She said Obama did not say, “that’s a great idea.” But Collins said there were discussions about both short- and long-term approaches. She called on Obama to put out a debt-ceiling plan of his own. 

Sen. Thad Cochran, R-Miss., said he was optimistic, though there were no deadlines or specifics discussed. Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., called the meeting “constructive.” 

Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., was less hopeful about the state of play. He said the meeting was not very encouraging. Though Coburn said talking is better than the alternative, the senator said he “didn’t think” it helped address the debt-ceiling crisis. 

via Senate Republicans say White House meeting positive, but no deal reached | Fox News.

 

Another shoe in Detroit’s Corruption Drops: Friend of ex-Detroit mayor gets 21-year sentence for corruption

Good to hear about this one; this guy was a straight up thug, just like the former mayor.

(Reuters) – A friend and former business associate of former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick must serve 21 years in prison for corruption, a federal judge said Friday, a day after she handed Kilpatrick one of the longest prison terms ever given a U.S. politician.

Bobby Ferguson, 44, would stop at nothing to further his business interests, said U.S. District Court Judge Nancy Edmunds in sentencing him on nine counts including extortion and bribery. Kilpatrick was sentenced to 28 years in prison.

“The atmosphere of corruption forced many good people away from the city,” said Edmunds. “The impact on the morale of the city of Detroit cannot be overstated.”

Ferguson’s lawyers had argued for a sentence of no more than 10 years, saying the government sought to lay the blame for all of Detroit’s ills on Ferguson and Kilpatrick.

Detroit, which filed for bankruptcy in July, has lost more than half of its population since the 1950s, leaving it with a shrinking tax base and huge debt.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Bullotta had argued for Ferguson’s sentence to be equal to Kilpatrick’s, on the grounds that Ferguson was the “muscle and money man” who bullied business people, threatening financial harm and cancellation of their city contracts if his demands were not met.

via Friend of ex-Detroit mayor gets 21-year sentence for corruption | Reuters.

West, Texas Fertilizer Plant fined $118,000 by OSHA for explosion that killed 15 and injured 160

Remember this?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PDMmOpfvyWw

Well, check out just how much this company ended up having to pay for their negligence.

Via WFAA:

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration has issued 24 citations to the West Fertilizer Company for serious safety violations found in an investigation following the deadly explosion there in April.

Fifteen people were killed and more than 160 were injured in the April 17 blast. Sen. Barbara Boxer, D – Calif., announced the citations on a conference call with reporters Thursday morning.

Boxer, who chairs the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, is heading the charge at the Capitol to determine whether regulations were followed at the fertilizer plant ahead of the April blast. She said the owner, Adair Grain Inc., will have to pay $118,300 in fines. The citations were issued Wednesday morning, Boxer said.

The explosion, which left a crater 90 feet wide and 10 feet deep, caused more than $100 million in property damages, according to a report by the Insurance Council of Texas. More than 200 homes were destroyed or damaged. In May, a $1 million investigation by state and federal officials did not find a concrete cause for the explosion.

The fire did begin in the plant’s seed room, which backed up to an ammonium nitrate storage bin. The location housed 150 tons of the chemical, of which between 28 and 34 exploded. The force of the ammonium nitrate explosion was equal to 15,000 to 20,000 pounds of dynamite exploding.

Boxer said she scheduled the conference call because she is concerned that inspections of facilities housing large amounts of chemicals are lagging due to the government shut down.

“I’m stepping in here in the hopes that, as a result of my telling you these things, maybe another explosion could be prevented,” she said.

The citations, which Boxer repeatedly described as “serious safety violations,” are for, among other things, unsafe handling and storage of anhydrous ammonia and ammonium nitrate. OSHA found poor labeling of ammonia storage tanks as well as replacement hoses that were not tested for pressure.

The West Fertilizer Co. was found to have inadequate relief valves and no barrier protection around the ammonia piping. There was no respiratory protection program, OSHA found, nor were there appropriate fire extinguishers. Forklift operators were not property trained and the fertilizer plant did not have a hazard communication program or an emergency response plan.

16 people die, 160 are injured and huge number of people are put out of their homes and businesses; and the only thing this company has to pay is $118.000?!?! This is an outrage! AngryThe owners of this company ought to be brought up on murder charges for their negligence.

However:

The investigation into the West explosion is ongoing. More fines are possible, Boxer said.

I won’t hold my breath, least I turn blue and die. As you all know, I am a Paleoconservative of the Pat Buchanan stripe. However, there is one thing that I cannot stand and I have been known to speak out against it on here; and that crony capitalism. This was nothing more than a corporate whitewashing of an ugly accident by the Texas office of OSHA, in concert with this company.

I think that if the Obama administration was worth a tinker’s damn; that he would order a full investigation by the justice department and see if there was any criminal liability on the part of the owners and if so, see if charges could be brought against the owners of this company. Sixteen lives were snuffed out, because the owners of this company could not be bothered to follow OSHA’s rules. This is unacceptable and something should be done.

However, because we have a President and an Attorney General, who are nothing more than a bunch of “House Negros”, nothing will be done at all. Waiting

Video: CBN NewsWatch: October 9, 2013

On CBN Newswatch, Oct. 9:

  • Pentagon deal restores death benefits to vets’ families
  • Obama names Janet Yellen for new Fed chief
  • Sex Politics: CA schools not ‘interested in education
  • and more.

(Via CBN News)

Please note: At one point, I had thought about not posting these videos anymore. Mainly because of criticism from a well-known atheist. Well, after praying about it and really reflecting on it; I have decided that I am not going to allow other people tell me how to run this blog. It is mine, and I reserve the right to publish whatever I darned well please here. If fundamentalist atheists don’t not like it; too bad. This is a political blog, and not a Christian one; however, I will not hide my Christian beliefs, just to appease someone, who’s mission in life is to criticize with whom he disagrees with. I don’t work like that, never have, never will….

Video: CBN News Channel Morning Edition: Oct. 9, 2013

On CBN News Today, Oct. 9:

  • Budget battle showing first signs of a truce
  • UK high court hears bed and breakfast case
  • and more

(via CBN News)

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Please note: At one point, I had thought about not posting these videos anymore. Mainly because of criticism from a well-known atheist. Well, after praying about it and really reflecting on it; I have decided that I am not going to allow other people tell me how to run this blog. It is mine, and I reserve the right to publish whatever I darned well please here. Iffundamentalist atheists don’t not like it; too bad. This is a political blog, and not a Christian one; however, I will not hide my Christian beliefs, just to appease someone, who’s mission in life is to criticize with whom he disagrees with. I don’t work like that, never have, never will….

Military family needs our help

There are times, when this blog is used for good. This, is one of those times.

Video:

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

The Story is via NBCNews.com: (H/T to HotAir.com)

In what veterans call an outrageous slight after the ultimate sacrifice, the shuttered federal government is withholding a $100,000 payment normally wired to relatives of fallen soldiers — including the families of five killed in Afghanistan over the weekend.

The payment, known as the death gratuity, is typically sent to families of the fallen within three days to help them cover funeral costs or travel to meet the flag-draped coffins of their loved ones.

“It is upsetting because my husband died for his country, and now his family is left to worry,” said Ashley Peters of Springfield, Mo., whose husband, Jeremy, was a special agent assigned to the Army’s 5th Military Police Battalion and was among the five killed. “My husband always said if something happened to him we would be taken care of.”

Sad Part:

“It is upsetting because my husband died for his country, and now his family is left to worry,” said Ashley Peters of Springfield, Mo., whose husband, Jeremy, was a special agent assigned to the Army’s 5th Military Police Battalion and was among the five killed. “My husband always said if something happened to him we would be taken care of.”…

“If Congress were trapped in a car that sunk down in a river, I would swim to the window, and I would look them all in the eye and say, ‘Suck water,’” said Randall Patterson, the father of Private [Cody] Patterson. The father used an expletive to characterize members of Congress who “are still getting paid.”…

The mother and brother of Peters, the special agent from the 5th Military Police Battalion, said that they were too upset to talk. His step-grandfather, Peters Jerry, said that the sergeant was getting out of the military after this tour, so that he could be home more with his 20-month-old son.

“It will be devastating,” Jerry said of the delay in the death gratuity. He said that he blamed Republicans and the Tea Party…

Also suspended is a year’s worth of housing allowance, typically paid in a lump sum to the surviving spouse or dependent children of a soldier. For a sergeant in the Washington area with dependents, it amounts to more than $2,000 per month.

Blackfive reports:

Update 4: To help the wounded in the recent attacks, you can visit the following to help:

http://americasfund.org/
http://semperfifund.org/
http://www.soldiersangels.org/

Ranger Up has a blog posting up too. 

Seeing the Government and basically both parties do not give a crap about our Military; let’s try to give a little. I cannot, I am out of work right now. But, I can use this blog, and what little of a bully pulpit that I have here to spread the word around.

Also too, and I believe this one is most important: For all of my criticisms of the neoconservatives and wilsonian foreign policy;  this one thing I will never criticize and that is the United States Military and its fighting Men and Woman. That might be Lew Rockwell and the militant libertarian’s bag; but it is not mine at all. Those guys put their lives on the line at the behest of the United States Government and they never question the actions at all. They do it, for simple love of Country — and I God Bless them for it.

At the risk of sounding like a fascist: I have always and will always say that anyone who says a unkind word about the men and women of the United States Military; is nothing more than an Anti-American buffoon and an unpatriotic person. Just the way that I feel about that one.  

I never was able to serve in the United States Military, I never graduated from high school; due to having A.D.H.D. and my math not being that great. However, I did do will in English and in History. So, it’s because the History of the Military and because my respect for what they do, which is keep us safe is why I do what I do here on this blog. God Bless the families of our fine Military and may he keep those who have lost loved ones on the battlefield. Praying

Video: CBN News Channel Morning Edition: Oct. 8, 2013

On CBN News Today, Oct. 8:

  • Day eight, no deal: default shadows shutdown talks
  • Amber Alert site back up after public backlash
  • and more.

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Please note: At one point, I had thought about not posting these videos anymore. Mainly because of criticism from a well-known atheist. Well, after praying about it and really reflecting on it; I have decided that I am not going to allow other people tell me how to run this blog. It is mine, and I reserve the right to publish whatever I darned well please here. Iffundamentalist atheists don’t not like it; too bad. This is a political blog, and not a Christian one; however, I will not hide my Christian beliefs, just to appease someone, who’s mission in life is to criticize with whom he disagrees with. I don’t work like that, never have, never will….

Hmmmmm: NSA Director Alexander Admits He Lied about Phone Surveillance Stopping 54 Terror Plots

Looks like the Obama administration is continuing with the same stuff that the Bush administration did.

Quote:

The head of the National Security Agency (NSA) admitted before a congressional committee this week that he lied back in June when he claimed the agency’s phone surveillance program had thwarted 54 terrorist “plots or events.”

NSA Director Keith Alexander gave out the erroneous number while the Obama administration was defending its domestic spying operations exposed by whistleblower Edward Snowden. He said surveillance data collected that led to 53 of those 54 plots had provided the initial tips to “unravel the threat stream.”

But Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont), chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said on Wednesday during a hearing on the continued oversight of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act that the administration was pushing incomplete or inaccurate statements about the bulk collection of phone records from communications providers.

“For example, we’ve heard over and over again that 54 terrorist plots have been thwarted by the use of (this program),” Leahy said. “That’s plainly wrong,” adding: “These weren’t all plots and they weren’t all thwarted.”

Alexander admitted that only 13 of the 54 cases were connected to the United States. He also told the committee that only one or two suspected plots were identified as a result of bulk phone record collection.

via Controversies – NSA Director Alexander Admits He Lied about Phone Surveillance Stopping 54 Terror Plots – AllGov – News.

New lies for old. There is no difference anymore. Hence why I am not voting Republican come 2016, unless something changes drastically on that side of the fence; and I know darned well I am not voting for a Democrat, ever again. 😡