bmags

QUOTE (Texsox @ Jul 29, 2008 -> 07:34 PM) y'all know Alaska will elect someone just like him?! I really think they are starting to clean up, this probe wiped out a lot, but he's running in a primary despite this being Ted friggen Stevens, THE alaskan political figure since before Alaska was a state. And he was supposed to eek it out. The party will probably replace him, I believe.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jul 29, 2008 -> 08:03 PM) Can we have him shipped out in some sort of pneumatic tube? "It's a SERIES OF TUBES"

Hope everyone doesn't have any problems

I picked school.

Okay, Balta, found you an answer, from MSNBC's story: Per Republican Senate caucus rules, if a member is indicted, he or she can no longer serve as chairman or ranking member of a committee. Stevens is a ranking member of the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee.

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/7/2...8612/592/558752 hahahaha this is my district. I am a big fan of Judy Baker, but this Brock Olivo thing is really funny. So, he is a former U of Mizzou running back, one of the few players with his name and number on our stadium's wall. And so the 9th is where columbia is situated. He's basically running on his name, admitted to never voting in an election and honestly has absolutely no idea on any policy people ask him about. It's a seat vacant by the pretty popular Kenny Hulshof who is leaving to run for governor. He won by heavy margins in a pretty liberal area. The republicans couldn't find anyone to get this seat, while the dems through hugely popular Judy Baker and Mo's Speaker of the HOuse. bahahahaha, please watch that

QUOTE (Texsox @ Jul 29, 2008 -> 06:16 PM) I do not know enough about the national test to draw a comparison. I do know that we have a major controversy here about "teaching to the test" and the many, many, classroom hours that are devoted to "test taking skills" that have no other value other then learning to take standardized tests. There is a lot of pressure placed on schools to have their students do well on these tests. That has been a seismic shift over the past 10-15 years. Careers and made and lost on how well students do on the tests. I'd like to know if the same students took both tests. How large of a sample size was used and how well distributed it was. It would also be helpful to know if either test was administered in Spanish. Bottom line, teachers have curriculum in place that helps kids to sort out answers and other test taking strategies. I fail to find much value in that. Interesting. We'll see how NCLB pans out in it's successes, but I can't see it being renewed.

QUOTE (Texsox @ Jul 29, 2008 -> 06:09 PM) Election year politics I guarantee you the Dems would much rather Young and Stevens on the tickets than off them, Tex.

Balta, I believe Vincent Fumo had to step down right away for his indictment on racketeering charges, but I am not sure of the timeline.

a little background: http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/...ion_broader.php Stevens Investigation Broader Than Veco Home Makeover By lkmcgann - July 31, 2007, 12:15PM It's official: the FBI is looking into more than Sen. Ted Stevens' Veco-overseen remodeling project. Roll Call reports that the FBI and the Department of Interior are also looking into a series of earmarks for one of Stevens' pet projects. The project, the Alaska SeaLife Center in Seaward, Alaska, has received some $50 million in federal money since 1998. One of Stevens' former aides, Trevor McCabe, was paid $558,000 of that money for an adjacent piece of land. Federal investigators want to know more about the arrangement. It wasn't the only time that federal money found its way to McCabe's pocket. McCabe is also tied to the federal investigation of Stevens' son, former state Senate President Ben Stevens. The FBI raided the younger Stevens' offices last year, gathering documents related to his time on an Alaska board that handed out millions in federal grants to the seafood industry. While Stevens was on the board, he partnered with McCabe in a consulting company that took fees from the companies that received the federal money. The older Stevens saw to it that the board was stocked with federal funds. If the three-pronged federal investigation into Stevens run by the IRS, FBI and Interior Department doesn't impress you, Roll Call mentions that the raid of a US senator's home is a historical moment in Congressional corruption: "Stevens appears to be the only member of the Senate to have his home searched by the FBI." I believe last year raids on numerous Alaskan politicians led to a few convictions and appeals now. It looks like Stevens covered his tracks a little better.

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/2008/07/...indicted_on.php Wow! Finally. This has nothing to do with party, but Alaskan politics have been pretty corrupt especially recently with the Don Young pork barrel bridge to nowhere's and coconut road fiasco. And Ted Stevens has been just as bad. And finally, people are getting indicted for their misconduct instead of a slap on the wrist.

He said he wouldn't vote for his own bill anymore because he "heard the American people"

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jul 29, 2008 -> 05:29 PM) One monetary factor that does seem to work out very well and hold strongly in the stats is that if the majority of the kids in a school come from low income households, then it tends to drag down the whole school. More discussion in the article. Basically, the more you can spread out the low income kids, the less you concentrate the high income family kids, the better everyone does. The problem is, when you go in to places like New York, Chicago, L.A., the big urban centers, the schools that are the biggest problems, the ones where we're leaving children behind, you're running in to something like 80-90% or more of the population of that school coming from low income, poverty line type families. At that point it's basically endemic. If you give everyone a voucher, it doesn't work, because all the schools in the area are the same thing, the only thing you can do is bus every student 2 hours out in to the suburbs, and no one's going to pay for that. Absolutely. Like I said I don't know the answer. But it seems clear the most important moment in education is k-5, so if we can lower class sizes to 15 in inner cities and get pre-K education perhaps we can start seeing improvement in reading levels. ANd to do this we need teachers and schools and money.

how about his immigration stance and torture stance. those irk me to no end.

www.talkingpointsmemo.com/electioncentral Man Denied DOJ Job Because of Wife's Democrat Ties Is Identified By Kate Klonick - July 29, 2008, 10:31AM Among our coverage yesterday of the OIG report, was the specific case of an "experienced terrorism prosecutor" who was denied a DOJ promotion because Monica Goodling discovered that his wife was a longtime Democrat. That man has now been identified by The Buffalo News as William J. Hochul Jr., a career federal prosecutor from Western New York, whose wife, Kathleen Hochul, was a longtime Democrat: The report does not name that attorney, but sources told The Buffalo News that it was William J. Hochul Jr., a winner of the Attorney General's Award for Exceptional Service -- and the husband of Kathleen C. Hochul, a longtime Democratic activist and former Hamburg Town Board member who was elected Erie County clerk in 2007. The Justice Department's liaison to the Bush White House, Monica M. Goodling, blocked Hochul's appointment to the counterterrorism post, sources said. "As a result, a much less experienced, but politically acceptable, attorney was assigned this important responsibility," says the report, issued by the Justice Department's Office of Professional Responsibility and Inspector General. The Buffalo News also identifies another Western New York federal prosecutor mentioned in the report, who was also nixed by Goodling for a promotion to Main Justice: Similarly, although Michael A. Battle -- former U. S. attorney in Western New York -- headed the Executive Office of U. S. Attorneys from 2005 to 2007, Goodling blocked his choice for his own top assistant. Goodling viewed Battle's pick as a "political infant" who had not proved himself to the Republican Party, Battle told investigators. Sources identified the failed nominee as John Kelly of the U. S. attorney's office in Rochester.

Clean air Act of 1990: Acid Rain A two-phase, market-based system will reduce sulfur-dioxide emissions from power plants by more than half. By the year 2000, total annual emissions are to be capped at 8.9 million tons, a reductions of 10 million tons from 1980 levels. Plants will be issued allowances based on fixed emission rates set in the law and on their previous fossil-fuel use. They will pay penalties if emissions exceed the allowances they hold. Allowances can be banked or traded. In Phase I, large, high-emission plants, located in eastern and midwestern states, will achieve reductions by 1995. In Phase II, which commences on January 1, 2000, emission limits will be imposed on smaller, cleaner plants and tightened on Phase I plants. All sources will install continuous emission monitors to assure compliance. Nitrogen-oxide reductions will also be achieved, but through performance standards set by EPA. I was under the impression this greatly lowered our SO2 and I was under the impression this was cap and trade. Certainly worked better than CAA of 77 no?

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Jul 29, 2008 -> 03:22 PM) School funding is one of the great political conundrums of our time. Who has an answer? Not me. Especially after I studied amt. of $ spent on students and things like grad rates, and they weren't necessarily positively correlated. It was all over the place. There are so many factors. Right now I'm interested in a few options. Tennessee STAR program has shown that smaller class sizes in elementary ages proved to make them better students ALL the way through H.S. graduation. Also, I think I am going to support pre-K education, I believe that will make a big difference. Maybe year round schooling is a good idea. It can solve overcrowding and that loss of knowledge in summer. On vouchers I have no idea. I see studies with completely different results all the time. I'm willing to see how NCLB works, but, after it's done I'd favor taking the federal gov't back out or national restrictions and maybe use revenue sharing to help out state education.

QUOTE (Texsox @ Jul 29, 2008 -> 03:38 PM) Technology. One of the major expenses in schools is textbooks. Keeping up to date text is an expensive chore. Most here have gone to college, we know the worse costs of textbooks, and the cost to schools ain't that much better. The cheapest route would be either a Kindle style device, but they would be stolen or lost and the people who need them the most are the very ones who could not afford to replace them. IMHO, and the teacher unions would go nuts. We need lower education requirements for the younger grades. Private schools are not required to hire teachers with teaching certificates or even college degrees in Texas. The result at one private, religion based school I know of are lower salaries, but 10-12 kids in a classroom. I believe some high school grads can teach second grade with the proper supervision and a little training. There is a crossover point, perhaps 5th grade or so, where advanced training is required, but looking at some of the home schooling data and some of the schools I see here, smaller class size and more individualized instruction is important. The only way to afford that is lowering salaries. To lower salaries, we would need to create another group of teachers. Can I ask you a question, Tex? (i'm going to ask it before a response) I was recently reading about NCLB, and in it they allow states to make their own test or they could use the national test. In Missouri, they tested kids with both and the MAP test was harder and the kids did slightly better on the national test. 25% passed. In Texas, 24% passed the national test, but on their state test, 90% passed. Now, I am well aware of the huge variations mere wording can have on a similar question for kids from different cultures. And so maybe Texas nailed it. But, did they just give out a completely fluff test?

QUOTE (LosMediasBlancas @ Jul 29, 2008 -> 06:10 AM) John Mayer sux every ass. One of the most over rated musicians of any era. And by the way, why the f is he always trying so hard to be funny and failing at that even worse than at music? It really bugs me that he will copy solos from stevie ray vaughan live but never credit him. Technically, the guy is sound, but (and this is the heart of my music beliefs) talent means absolutely s*** in music. There've been some that have been blessed with talent and something to say, but if I had the choice to choose among a great technical guitarist and one who can make a product of his life and feelings, it's the latter every time. And when people give credit to mayer as a positive when he says he only makes pop songs for money but his real heart is in the john mayer trio, it just makes me cringe.

I'm glad the definitive report finally came out. I'm shocked at how little people know about the U.S. Attorney scandal. You know Iraq fatigue? I believe there is Bush fatigue. http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/...bian_rumors.php In Gonzales' DOJ, Lesbian Rumors Could Cost You Your Job By Kate Klonick - July 28, 2008, 10:29PM It wasn't just Democrats who Monica Goodling was trying to rid the Justice Department of. If you were gay -- or even rumored to be gay -- your career was in jeopardy. Today's IG report offers new details in the case of Assistant U.S. Attorney Leslie Hagen, whose tenure at Main Justice came to an end because Monica Goodling picked up on rumors that Hagen was gay and had an allegedly romantic relationship with her supervisor, the then-U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Michigan, Margaret Chiara. Hagen, whose case was first reported by NPR in April, is not identified by name in the IG's report. However, her attorney confirmed to TPMmuckraker this afternoon that Hagen is the unnamed, allegedly lesbian, AUSA detailed in the report. "I think the report vindicates what she has been saying all along," said Lisa Banks of Katz, Marshall and Banks LLP. "That she was the victim of pernicious discrimination from Monica Goodling." Hagen had worked as a federal prosecutor for Chiara in Michigan before being detailed to DOJ headquarters in Washington, where she she worked in the Executive Office of U.S. Attorneys (EOUSA). When it was time to renew Hagen's detail to the EOUSA, Goodling blocked it, and prevented her from obtaining other details within DOJ as well. Calling Goodling's actions "wholly inappropriate," the report concluded that Goodling broke federal law in discriminating based on sexual orientation. The ostensible reason for the actions taken against Hagen were rumors that she had improperly benefited financially from the purported relationship with Chiara, in the form of large bonuses and trips with Chiara at government expense. The report concludes, however, that Goodling never substantiated the allegations of financial improprieties and that Hagen's rumored sexual orientation was the reason she was not allowed to remain at Main Justice. One of the witnesses cited in the report is Mary Beth Buchanan, the former executive director of the EOUSA who remains the U.S. Attorney in Pittsburgh: Buchanan said that Goodling told her that the AUSA and the U.S. Attorney were involved in a relationship, and that it would not be appropriate for the Department to do anything to further that relationship, such as employing them in the same geographic area. According to Buchanan, at that time the U.S. Attorney was trying to find a position in the Washington, D.C. area. Buchanan said she understood that Goodling was telling her not to select the AUSA because it would look like the Department was sanctioning the homosexual relationship. As to the veracity of the rumors that surrounded Hagen and Chiara, Hagen's attorney described them as "completely false" in the interview with TPMmuckraker. "There was nothing to verify that my client was gay -- she never identified as such," Banks said. "The supposed relationship between her and the U.S. attorney was completely false, and nothing more than co-workers and friends. There was no improper relationship. No improper government trips. No improper bonuses." Calls to Chiara's office were not immediately returned. It's not clear what, if any, light the Hagen episode shines on the firing of Chiara as U.S. attorney. The professed reasons for the firings of the eight U.S. attorneys have never been very clear, but the circumstances surrounding Chiara's removal have been especially murky. Appointed U.S. attorney in 2001, she was asked to resign by Michael Elston, the chief of staff to Deputy Attorney General Paul McNulty, in November 2006. That was more than a month before the seven other U.S. attorneys were fired, in calls from Michael Battle, who had succeeded Buchanan as the executive director of the EOUSA. Chiara's resignation was effective March 16, 2007. The official, albeit vague, reasons for Chiara's firing were "poor management issues" and a "loss of confidence by career individuals," according to then-Attorney General Alberto Gonzales in testimony to the Senate. But there was scant documentation within DOJ of Chiara's alleged problems. In the absence of a more substantial explanation from the justice Department for Chiara's firing, it's not unreasonable to wonder if the rumors of her lesbian relationship with Hagen led to Chiara's downfall, too. As a Republican source told NPR, "To some people, that's even worse than being a Democrat."

I'm coming home for the weekend, I might catch Hollywood Holt at the empty bottle. Might I see anyone else there?

google has so much cool stuff it's hard to even keep track of. what are your web sites athomeboy

I guarantee you, despite them breaking federal laws, they won't have anything happen to them.

going the way of some other things... is that implying it's going to the graveyard? Cap and trade has been the only thing that works. Unless they can show something else that will work better I don't know how you can disagree with it. (unless you are from WV)

http://www.suntimes.com/news/nation/107795...k072808.article This might have something to do with that accident last week. I wish him the best and hopefully the tests come back benign.