tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-91911592024-09-15T01:12:38.450-06:00The WatcherKeeping an eye on the not-so-obvious and exposing the obvious.NeoLotushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02124288012388560456noreply@blogger.comBlogger43125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9191159.post-18268852220886593012007-05-29T23:37:00.000-06:002007-05-29T23:39:48.224-06:00Activist Judges: Conservative Style Justices’ Ruling Limits Suits on Pay Disparity function getSharePasskey() { return 'ex=1338177600&en=4a351f2c9fb850fa&ei=5124';} function getShareURL() { return encodeURIComponent('http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/30/washington/30scotus.html'); } function getShareHeadline() { return encodeURIComponent('Justices’ Ruling Limits Suits on Pay Disparity'); } function getShareDescription()NeoLotushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02124288012388560456noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9191159.post-35544264835985566902007-05-29T20:18:00.000-06:002007-05-29T20:23:13.864-06:00If only in America....Death for corrupt Chinese official Pallavi Aiyar Beijing: A Chinese court sentenced the former NeoLotushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02124288012388560456noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9191159.post-84412514739905298922006-12-30T01:10:00.000-06:002006-12-30T01:23:33.131-06:00Gov't Watchdogs Under Attack From BossesThis is a case of the public needing to do its own job of watching those they elect.Dec 27, 9:23 PM (ET)By LARRY MARGASAKWASHINGTON (AP) - The inspectors general entrusted to unearth waste, fraud and abuse in federal agencies are increasingly under attack, as top government officials they scrutinize try to erode the watchdogs' independence and authority. During 2006, several inspectors general NeoLotushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02124288012388560456noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9191159.post-1111545982559522612005-03-22T20:17:00.000-06:002005-03-22T20:46:22.560-06:00Is this for real?Michael Savage weighs in on Terri Schiavo controversy: "Deathworshipper" Democrats are "[l]ike Mengele"I'm not sure this guy is worth a comment, but, stuff like this has to be nipped in the bud.It would be funny if it wasn't so serious. As it is, I consider it sad because the grip on reality is so unhinged.However, what is pathetic is that the people being slandered seem to have no recourse NeoLotushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02124288012388560456noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9191159.post-1110621179051752322005-03-12T03:34:00.000-06:002005-03-12T03:52:59.053-06:00MoveOn.org is no longer viableGot this from Salon.com. You may need to get a day pass to read it there, but I've posted the whole thing below.My commentary on MoveOn is that they are no longer viable if they are going to pass on doing anything about the Indentured Servitude (Bankruptcy) bill. If you only fight on safe (read win-able) issues, and don't fight on the one's that really matter especially if it is an uphill battle,NeoLotushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02124288012388560456noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9191159.post-1109350113252089132005-02-25T10:41:00.000-06:002005-02-25T10:48:33.253-06:00The Peak Oil BubbleFrom Bakersfield.comPosted: Friday February 18th, 2005, 2:45 PMLast Updated: Friday February 18th, 2005, 2:45 PMExxon passes GE to be biggestKW Associates, RealtorsExxon Mobil Corp. overtook General Electric Co. as the world's biggest company by market value, underscoring the emergence of energy stocks as leaders amid surging oil prices.Exxon Mobil, the largest publicly traded oil producer, was NeoLotushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02124288012388560456noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9191159.post-1108256982283603092005-02-12T19:06:00.000-06:002005-02-12T19:09:42.283-06:00Framing the truthFrom MSNBC: Clear skies vs clean government:Congress, as usual, seems asleep at the switch. Years ago, you could always count on dozens of lawmakers, irrespective of their party affiliation, to stand up and make sure the legislative process had "integrity." Now, on both sides of the aisle, it's all about giving your wealthiest campaign contributors as much unfettered access and power as possibleNeoLotushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02124288012388560456noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9191159.post-1108085292530564172005-02-10T19:23:00.000-06:002005-02-10T19:28:12.530-06:00Beware the new Bankruptcy LegislationBanks, credit card companies and retailers have pushed for this plan since 1997. Consumer and civil rights groups and unions say the legislation is unfair to low-income working people, single mothers, minorities and the elderly, and would remove a safety net for those who have lost their jobs or face mounting medical bills.
Democrats, meanwhile, want the bill to prohibit protesters from using NeoLotushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02124288012388560456noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9191159.post-1107585869013898612005-02-05T01:41:00.000-06:002005-02-05T00:44:29.013-06:00Bloomberg: Municipal Bonding on the SlyFeb. 4 (Bloomberg) -- New York State can't stop gorging on bonds, which means future taxpayers will be gouged.
In a report released this week, Comptroller Alan Hevesi provides details of how he says the state has misused its credit.
``It has increasingly used debt to pay for the operating expenses of State and local government,'' the report says. ``And, rather than carefully planning how NeoLotushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02124288012388560456noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9191159.post-1107556750100056662005-02-04T16:27:00.000-06:002005-02-04T16:39:10.100-06:00Deja Vu: 100 years laterIt is said that those who fail to learn from history are condemned to repeat it.
The Last Twenty-five Years
The Politico-Economic Situation in the United States a Quarter of a Century Ago
The destruction of free government in all but name and the establishment of a plutocracy of privileged wealth masquerading as a republic, was the deadly peril that confronted our people at the dawn of theNeoLotushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02124288012388560456noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9191159.post-1107488972169113092005-02-03T21:46:00.000-06:002005-02-03T22:03:30.610-06:00The Birth Tax
by free speech zone via daily kos.
NeoLotushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02124288012388560456noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9191159.post-1107387964698588212005-02-02T17:27:00.000-06:002005-02-02T17:46:04.696-06:00Campaign Finance Reform?From Yahoo! News: Lott called six- and seven-figure checks that independent political groups poured into last year's presidential election "sewer money" that must be stopped. The Mississippi Republican said his committee would vote next month on legislation that would put strict new limits on fund-raising and spending by partisan tax-exempt groups active in congressional or presidential NeoLotushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02124288012388560456noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9191159.post-1107022564439132192005-01-29T12:11:00.000-06:002005-01-29T12:18:02.840-06:00The politics of changeGloria Totten wrote:
It spells trouble in this country if our future is in the hands of one person running for one office. Did we invest too much at the top of the ticket this year while eschewing the hard work of building the base necessary at the local level? Long-term change will only be accomplished by rededicating ourselves to developing a permanent and sophisticated program to recruit NeoLotushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02124288012388560456noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9191159.post-1107020857132727652005-01-29T11:45:00.000-06:002005-01-29T11:47:37.133-06:00Citizens Oath of OfficeFrom Progressive Trail:
"I do solemnly pledge that I will faithfully execute the office of citizen of the United States, and that I will, to the best of my ability, help create a truly democratic world by (1) going beyond mainstream corporate news media to seek out information about important political, economic, and social issues; (2) engaging fellow citizens, including those who disagree withNeoLotushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02124288012388560456noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9191159.post-1106958967750619162005-01-28T18:31:00.000-06:002005-01-28T18:36:07.750-06:00When oil peaks...From Asia Times
Jan 26, 2005
When oil peaks ...
By Tony Wesolowsky
PRAGUE - Fertilizer, DVDs, rubber, cheap flights, plastics and metals. None of these things have anything in common, right? Think again. An ingredient in all of them, in one form or another, is oil.
Oil is the precious primer of the world economic engine, making it hum. Oil provides 40% of the world's energy needs, and NeoLotushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02124288012388560456noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9191159.post-1106929955669045822005-01-28T10:30:00.000-06:002005-01-28T10:32:35.670-06:00Venezuela, Oil, & the U.S.US prepares invasion of Venezuela: Venezuelan ambassador
www.chinaview.cn 2005-01-28 10:15:32
BUENOS AIRES, Jan. 27 (Xinhuanet) -- The United States is preparing a future invasion of Venezuela to control the petroleum of the South American country as it did in Iraq, said Venezuela's acting ambassador to Paraguay, Elmer Nino.
Nino, cited Thursday by local Paraguayan daily ABC Color, NeoLotushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02124288012388560456noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9191159.post-1106696570529804022005-01-25T17:38:00.000-06:002005-01-25T17:42:50.530-06:00Notice: The paradigm has shiftedThis blog has been fairly scattered which follows the scatteredness of my thoughts and feelings as I've tried to sort through all that has happened since last year.
This morning I awoke with a sense of clarity. Hearing birds sing on a sunny spring-like day in January in Minnesota was at first a bit like feeling not ready for prime time. But as I woke up, got some coffee in me, and mulled over NeoLotushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02124288012388560456noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9191159.post-1105939333599732192005-01-16T22:50:00.000-06:002005-01-16T23:24:08.536-06:00City Councils, City Administrators, and City Planners Beware!Sharp Cuts in HUD Community Efforts
By Jonathan Weisman, Washington Post Staff Writer
The White House will seek to drastically shrink the Department of Housing and Urban Development (news - web sites)'s $8 billion community branch, purging dozens of economic development projects, scrapping a rural housing program and folding high-profile anti-poverty efforts into the Labor and Commerce NeoLotushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02124288012388560456noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9191159.post-1105936357608472392005-01-16T22:28:00.000-06:002005-01-16T22:32:37.606-06:00Another manufactured "crisis"NeoLotushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02124288012388560456noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9191159.post-1105935945956616302005-01-16T22:13:00.000-06:002005-01-16T22:25:45.956-06:00Interesting connection between the inaugural and Homeland SecurityFrom Salon.com quoting the Washington Post:
"The region has earmarked federal homeland security funds for such priorities as increasing hospital capacity, equipping firefighters with protective gear and building transit system command centers." But now, the Post reports, nearly $12 million will now have to be spent on such essentials as "reviewing stands."
IF the threat of terrorism is real, andNeoLotushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02124288012388560456noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9191159.post-1105146991732969192005-01-07T19:15:00.000-06:002005-01-07T19:16:31.733-06:00Something funny for a changeJan 7, 3:17 PM (ET)
LAKE STEVENS, Wash. (AP) - Someone in the Census Bureau may be watching a little too much MTV. Bevis Lake, a 5.7-acre body of water in a forested area about 25 miles northeast of Seattle, is now appearing in Bureau records with a different name: Butthead Lake.
Those two names - Bevis and Butthead - are almost identical to the 1990s MTV cartoon show "Beavis and Butt-head," NeoLotushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02124288012388560456noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9191159.post-1105062422239761022005-01-06T19:31:00.000-06:002005-01-06T19:47:02.240-06:00Oil News 1-5-05ConocoPhillips dropped out of a nonprofit group lobbying the U.S. government to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska to oil exploration.
ConocoPhillips said in a statement that it left Arctic Power, an Anchorage-based group formed in 1992, and will focus on other projects in the state, which accounts for 30 percent of its oil production. The refuge is sometimes referred to by its NeoLotushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02124288012388560456noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9191159.post-1104715645148461212005-01-02T19:13:00.000-06:002005-01-02T19:27:25.146-06:00The killing begins....er...continuesWASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Rep. Robert Matsui (news, bio, voting record) of California, a top Democrat in Congress re-elected overwhelmingly in November to a 14th two-year term, has died of a rare blood disorder, his office said on Sunday. He was 63.
Let's not forget Paul Wellstone went down in a plane crash just before the 2002 election, thus clearing the way for Norm (Kofi Annan's a criminal) NeoLotushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02124288012388560456noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9191159.post-1104559069238494302004-12-31T23:54:00.000-06:002005-01-01T01:21:22.216-06:00You call this moral values?WASHINGTON (AP) - Republican leaders are considering a change in House ethics rules that could make it harder to discipline lawmakers.
The proposal being circulated among House Republicans would end a general rule against any behavior that might bring "discredit" on the chamber, according to House Republican and Democratic leadership aides. House members would be held to a narrower standard of NeoLotushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02124288012388560456noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9191159.post-1104259575491326132004-12-28T13:39:00.000-06:002004-12-28T12:46:15.490-06:00Ethics Committee to Investigate McDermottWASHINGTON (AP) - The House ethics committee will investigate Rep. Jim McDermott, D-Wash., to determine whether he violated standards of conduct when an illegally recorded telephone conversation was leaked to reporters during a committee investigation.
McDermott was ranking Democrat on the ethics committee at the time, and the panel was investigating the conduct of then-Speaker Newt Gingrich, NeoLotushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02124288012388560456noreply@blogger.com0