Friday, September 30, 2011

Kathy Nickolaus Crime or No Crime?

"A county clerk likely violated the law when she failed to report thousands of votes in this spring's Wisconsin Supreme Court election, but her conduct wasn't criminal, state investigators said Wednesday. Waukesha County Clerk Kathy Nickolaus couldn't explain how she failed to report the votes, investigators said, but they concluded she probably loaded a blank template into a reporting database rather than a template that contained the vote totals. Wisconsin law requires county clerks to post all returns on Election Night. "A county clerk likely violated the law when she failed to report thousands of votes in this spring's Wisconsin Supreme Court election, but her conduct wasn't criminal, state investigators said Wednesday. Waukesha County Clerk Kathy Nickolaus couldn't explain how she failed to report the votes, investigators said, but they concluded she probably loaded a blank template into a reporting database rather than a template that contained the vote totals. Wisconsin law requires county clerks to post all returns on Election Night. Read more here. Amazing to believe that this is not a prosecutable crime. If I would have done something like this of course it's crime. So what did they do? Look into her vacuous eyes and decide everything was OK? Besides screwing around with previous elections she personifies the republican penchant for vote tampering (as opposed to voter fraud a nonexistent issue used to justify crappy legislation such as voter ID).

Saturday, September 24, 2011

Poverty Intensifies In Fitzwalkerstan

In several sets of dismal statistics the economic implosion in Wisconsin was brought into sharp focus by the U.S. Census Bureau. For example: "To all those Wisconsin workers who feel like they've been economically squeezed in the first decade of the 21st century: It's not your imagination. It's reality. Adjusted for inflation, median household income in the state declined 14.5% between 1999 and 2010, according to U.S. Census Bureau estimates released Thursday. The rate of decline in Wisconsin dwarfed the national drop of 8.9% in median household income over the same period." Even worse was the poverty rate in Milwaukee which is now the 8th poorest city in the United States, worse than Katrina battered New Orleans. "Milwaukee's poverty rate was 29.5% last year, up from 27% in 2009. In all, 171,521 people - including nearly half the city's children - lived below the poverty line in 2010 as Milwaukee remained among America's 10 most impoverished big cities." The rate of child poverty in Milwaukee is now approaching a staggering 50%. "The stark figures detail the continued economic devastation wrought by America's Great Recession. Poverty among Milwaukee's children shot up to 46.1% last year, up from 39.4% in 2009, according to Census Bureau estimates. Among minorities, 41.4% of Milwaukee's black residents and 32.3% of Hispanics were poor."

Wednesday, September 21, 2011

Wall Street Occupation

An uncovered story of great significance, a potential revolution in the U.S. We won't give up as we have less and less to loose.

Sunday, September 18, 2011

Friday, September 16, 2011

Politkovskaya Revisited

More info on the Politkovskaya hit: "The nuanced and explosive case of Anna Politkovskaya continues to stretch its tentacles far and wide, as investigators and a key witness pin the blame on Russian exile Boris Berezovsky. Dmitry Pavlyuchenkov, former Moscow police boss currently under arrest, has made a pre-trial agreement with the sleuths and given detailed testimony on the murder of the Novaya Gazeta journalist, naming Berezovsky as the man who ordered her death. Pavlyuchenkov’s damning indictment tallies with leads already uncovered by the Investigative Committee, Kommersant reported. Recent breakthroughs concerning Pavlyuchenkov and supposed gunman Rustam Makhmudov have won the support of Novaya Gazeta and point to a political will to get to the bottom of the case, Tim Roth in Russia Profile wrote. Not the first time This is not the first occasion that now London based Berezovsky’s name has appeared in the case. In 2008 Dmitry Dovgy, former chief investigator in the Prosecutor General’s office who was sacked and convicted for corruption, told Izvestia soon after he was suspended that Berezovsky had ordered the killing. Berezovsky dismissed the accusations in an interview with Ekho Moskvy radio. “This is another attempt to distract the investigation from searching for the real person behind the murder,” the tycoon said, RIA Novosti cited. He has been on Russia’s wanted list for a number of crimes since falling out with Vladimir Putin after his arrival in the president’s office. Killers for hire The latest allegations connect Berezovsky with a supposed group of hired thugs, cobbled together by Chechen crime lord Lom-Ali Gaitukayev. At first engaged in different suspect practices, they are then believed to have turned their hands to murder on demand. The group included ex-millionaire Sergei Kadzhikurebanov, the Dzhabrail brothers, Ibragim and Rustam Makhmudov and Pavlyuchenkov. Kadzhikurebanov is currently serving eight years for extorting money from Pavlyuchenkov and Gaitukayev is doing 15 years for organizing an assassination attempt on businessman Gennady Korban in Ukraine in 2006. Pavlyuchenkov acquired the address and knowledge of Politkovskaya’s usual comings and goings through some of his junior police officers and gave an Izh gas pistol, converted to fire live ammunition, to the Makhmudov brothers. They then shot Politkovskaya in the lift of her stairwell on Oct. 7, 2006, Putin’s birthday, Kommersant reported. One favor for another The Investigative Committee recently finished interrogating Pavlyuchenkov and will soon present the fruits of its work on him to a court. As long as there are no surprises the document will secure the ex-cop at least a minimum term, Kommersant reported. His defense, who did not contest his arrest warrant, did object the terms of his arrest. Given his active cooperation with investigators and the state of his health Pavlyuchenkov’s lawyers hope that he can be moved to house arrest."

Saturday, September 10, 2011

Illegal

Do something illegal?Statement or command?

9-11 10 Years of Mindlessness

The upcoming 10th anniversary of the 9-11 catastrophe is, not surprisingly, an occasion in the U.S. to renew the Fear. The Fear has become such an ubiquitous feature of American life many Americans can't even recognize it. Its features include the use of Orwellian language such as "The Patriot Act", "Homeland Security", "WMDs", and of course the ever present "War on Terror". A certain sort of mindlessness has been unleashed in the country exemplified by mindless wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, mindless immolation of the constitution and human rights in general, mindless persecution of Muslims, mindless support of Israel, mindless militarism, mindless political organizations such as the Tea Party, and mindless political and social conformity. The "War on Terror" is an amorphous never ending blob that indefinitely perpetuates the National Security State and creates more terrorists than ever existed previously. The smoking ruins of the WTC could now just as easily symbolize the collapse of the American economy, which while not solely caused by 9-11, got a good healthy push over the cliff by the trillion dollar wars and financial irresponsibility of the previous administration and to a large degree continued by the Obama presidency. In this context the death of Osama Bin Laden may prove to be of little consolation to Americans now living in a degraded society for the foreseeable future.

Wednesday, September 07, 2011

Record Ice Melt Looms

While morons debate the facts reality continues to pile up regarding climate change. The National Snow and Ice Data Center continues the accumulation of facts: "Arctic sea ice extent averaged for August 2011 reached the second lowest level for the month in the 1979 to 2011 satellite record. Both the Northwest Passage and the Northern Sea route appear to be open. Throughout August, sea ice extent tracked near the record lows of 2007, underscoring the continued decline in Arctic ice cover. Note: Arctic sea ice extent will likely reach its minimum extent for the year sometime in the next two weeks. NSIDC will make a preliminary announcement when ice extent has stopped declining and has increased for several days in a row. Monthly data for September will be released in early October."