Exactly my point.

The superfund had nothing to do with Formosa.

Different mess. You're thinking of Alcoa.

Exactly my point.

They didn't shift. You did.

I always considered them far left. That they're now seen that way by a pretty large portion of the population seems to indicate that America has, by-and-large, shifted away from them.

Uhhh...Bee

Where did either Formosa or Alcoa enter into the following exchange (which is what my post in re the dates of the "Superfund" and whose Administration put it into place was all about)?







You said it wasn't on President Carter's watch, as Tom had stated. Record shows that it was.

Did your Formosa/Alcoa coments get inadvertantly posted in the wrong thread in response to some other poster?

Buzzing around the hive with such velocity can get a busy li'l bee a bit on the dizzy side!

The superfund was enacted by Carter. The fight with Formosa wasn't until the late 1980s. Carter was not the President. My comments were regarding the pork that will clean up Galveston. Calhoun County is a bit south of there so I mentioned it.



Clear now?

Then Tom made the crack about the superfund.

I'm not the one that can't follow a thread here.

[center]good grief



[/center]

Bee

I think there were more than a few of us on-thread that thought you were saying that the Superfund did not happen in President Carter's administration, when you replied to Tom. If that indeed was not what you were saying, then we simply misunderstood what it was you were trying to say.

Out.

Right-o!

And if America was to believe ol' Peanuts --which was always a stretch in the first place-- Superduperfund was not only supposed to clean up present messes, but also take a stab at making any more of them a low probability.

I can see how she got there but I cannot see how she expected anyone else to get to Formosa. Nobody, but nobod figured that out.

Why did we need a superfund? Let Formosa clean up their own messes.

I'M MELTING!!! OH WHAT A WORLD!!

See this thread.

http://spannerbackup.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=243

Yeah, I've seen that one!

More than a few of you piled on ya mean?

I have been talking about Seadrift, Texas.

Misunderstanding on your part noted.

AS IF Carter had anything to do with the scum in Formosa dumping toxins 10 years later?! I don't think you can blame Carter for expecting bidness and gubmint to act somewhat responsibly.

Whatever Mr. Corkscrew. I can see why lil bart got so sick of th BS around here.

Piled on, hell. Nobody but you knew what you were trying to say, and I'm not so sure you even did.

None of the other posters made you stupid. You got that way all by yourself, missie.

I wasn't blaming Carter for anything more than being the source of just another big gubmint honey-pot giveaway program that never delivered the goods.

IOW just another anti-democrat rant that had nothing to do with Calhoun County or my comment.

Fair enough.

its always fun to fight as many straw man wing chun dummies as possible.

This article on the Abramoff scam deserves a little more screen time.



Abramoff Indicted in Casino Boat Purchase
Lobbyist, Associate Charged With Fraud

By James V. Grimaldi
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, August 12, 2005; Page A01

MIAMI, Aug. 11 -- Washington lobbyist Jack Abramoff and a business partner were indicted by a federal grand jury in Fort Lauderdale on Thursday, charged with five counts of wire fraud and one count of conspiracy in their purchase of a fleet of Florida gambling boats from a businessman who was later killed in a gangland-style hit.

Abramoff, 46, was arrested in Los Angeles in the late afternoon and was expected to be taken before a U.S. magistrate there on Friday. He was indicted along with Adam Kidan, the former owner of the Dial-a-Mattress franchise in Washington. Kidan, 41, of New York City, will surrender to the FBI here by Friday morning, his attorney, Martin I. Jaffe, said in a written statement.





Jack Abramoff, right, listens to attorney Abbe Lowell on Capitol Hill last year.


Five years ago, while he was still one of the capital's most prominent Republican lobbyists, Abramoff, with Kidan and former Reagan administration official Ben Waldman of Springfield, Va., took over SunCruz Casinos. The company operated a fleet of gambling boats from as many as 11 ports in Florida. Although the indictment does not detail the effort, Abramoff leveraged his connections with members of Congress to advance the SunCruz deal, according to interviews and thousands of documents, court records and e-mails filed in related bankruptcy cases.

Abramoff's spokesman in New York, Andrew Blum, declined to comment, referring calls to Abramoff's Miami attorney, Neal Sonnett, who did not return calls. Kidan said in a statement that he had cooperated with investigators, adding: "I did nothing wrong and these allegations are totally unfounded."

Each of the six counts in the indictment could bring a punishment of as much as five years in prison and a $250,000 fine. Federal authorities are also seeking $60 million from Abramoff and Kidan, the money lost by a lender they had sought out to help finance the casino ships' purchase.

The indictment marks the first formal charges against Abramoff, who has been at the center of a Washington controversy this year involving the large sums of money he collected from Indian casino interests and the influence he exerted on their behalf.

Abramoff and Kidan are accused of faking a wire transfer of $23 million, the equity they had agreed to put into the $147.5 million purchase of SunCruz from Konstantinos "Gus" Boulis, the multimillionaire founder of the popular Miami Subs chain of sandwich shops. The wire transfer, said R. Alexander Acosta, the U.S. attorney here, "was counterfeit."

"The defendants never transferred the funds and never made a cash equity contribution toward the purchase of SunCruz," Acosta said.

As part of the fraud, Abramoff and Kidan lied on their personal financial disclosure statements, the indictment alleges. The two also used money borrowed from individuals, which they called "flash funds," to lead "potential lenders to believe [they] had the necessary funding to complete the sale of SunCruz," the indictment alleges. In reality, they did not have those funds, according to the indictment.

"Abramoff and Kidan did not put any of their own money into this deal," said Timothy J. Delaney, assistant special agent in charge of the FBI's Miami office.

After the sale, Boulis retained a piece of the business, but relations among the partners quickly soured, according to lawsuits and bankruptcy records. Boulis accused Kidan of maintaining connections to organized crime, and he and Kidan came to blows during a business meeting.

On Feb. 6, 2001, Boulis was killed as he drove home from a business meeting by someone in a Mustang who fired three hollow-point bullets into his chest. No one has been arrested in the slaying.

Today, the SunCruz casino boats are sailing under new ownership after a bankruptcy auction. Foothill Capital sued the partners in the deal over the $60 million in loans, eventually settling with Waldman for $450,000 and with Abramoff for an undisclosed amount. Litigation continues with Kidan.

Federal authorities sidestepped specific mention of Abramoff's high-powered political connections. At an afternoon news conference here, Acosta did not mention Abramoff's use of congressional contacts to seal the SunCruz deal. The closest officials came to doing so was when Delaney said that, "regardless of position, status, wealth or associations, fraudulent activity will not be tolerated."


But Abramoff's dealings with SunCruz were intertwined with his relationships with powerful members of Congress and their staffs. As the negotiations warmed up, House Majority Leader Tom DeLay's office -- he was the House minority whip then -- gave Boulis a flag that had flown over the Capitol. And as the SunCruz deal was closing, Abramoff brought his lead financier to a DeLay fundraiser in the lobbyist's box at FedEx Field during a Monday Night Football game between the Washington Redskins and the Dallas Cowboys.

To help land the deal, an Abramoff associate, Michael Scanlon, persuaded Rep. Robert W. Ney (R-Ohio) to officially criticize Boulis in the Congressional Record; later, Ney praised Kidan in the official publication of Congress.

Abramoff listed Tony Rudy, a top DeLay aide at the time, and Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Calif.) as personal references on his loan papers. And he flew key members of DeLay's staff -- including his current chief of staff -- on a SunCruz jet and took them for a night of gambling on a SunCruz boat at the 2001 Super Bowl in Tampa. The Super Bowl trip came just days before Boulis's slaying.

Ney has said he was duped by Abramoff and Scanlon. DeLay's spokesmen have said he does not remember meeting the banker or sending the flag. His spokesman declined to comment. Rudy has declined to comment. Rohrabacher has said he gladly served as a reference for Abramoff.

An FBI official said Thursday that the case is still under investigation, but he indicated that no other arrests are imminent.

So just when are these hypocrite corporate fascist whores going to be shut down?

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -


Falwell's 'vote Christian call' criticized


Anti-Defamation League presses conservative preacher to retract statement calling for Americans to 'vote Christian' in 2008
By Associated Press


LYNCHBURG, Virginia - The Anti-Defamation League is calling on the Rev. Jerry Falwell to retract a "vote Christian in 2008" statement made months ago in a letter raising money for his ministries.


Falwell, founder of Liberty University in Lynchburg, Va., and Moral Majority , included with his mass fund-raising letter for Falwell Ministries a sticker that reads, "I Vote Christian."


Abraham Foxman, the Anti-Defamation League's national director, said Falwell's statements are "directly at odds with the American ideal and should be rejected."


"Understanding the danger of combining religion and politics, our founding fathers wisely created a political system based on individual merit and religious inclusiveness," Foxman said.


Falwell: Statement misunderstood



Foxman said Rev. Falwell "should retract his divisive and un-American call to action. Appeals to voters should not be on the basis of religion, nor should a candidate's religious beliefs be a litmus test for public office."



Falwell told The News & Advance of Lynchburg Tuesday that his statement was misunderstood.


"What I was saying was for conservative Christian voters to vote their values, which are pro-life and pro-family," Falwell said. "I had no intention of being anti-Jewish at all."



ADL said Falwell’s “vote Christian” appeal was contained in the fundraising letter in which Falwell urged supporters to “call America back to God.”



ADL said the letter included a car sticker, which read, “I Vote Christian.”






http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3125365,00.html

The intolerance this embodies is anything but Christian.

Since when is Exclusion part of being or acting Christian? Did scripture read:



???? Not exactly.

You boycott them if they recognize a different religion. You ruin their business, destroy any chance of earning an honest living as a merchant because they choose to say happy holidays rather than merry Christmas.

Seems simple to me.

Good old fashioned, good ole boy, redneck, vicious, screaming idiot Christianity.

Well dont you remember? After the last "election" CNN and everyone were telling us that folks voted according "to their ethics and values" values being most important.

Well gee, when I voted I wasnt asked anything about ethics or values. Just where in the hell did that pure propaganda bullsh!t come from I wonder?

falwell is going to be explaining it away on CNN in just a few.

Let me know if he's hit by a bolt from the blue.

No bolt but I swear I saw a golden aura glowing around him and a spectral dove landed on his shoulder.

Oh, those were just from the special effects unit, ala Heinlein's Revolt In 2100.

Space

Or possibly the Servants of the High Lord Mota (Heinlein's Sixth Column/The Day After Tomorrow) assuming one of their Aspects.

Gotta love the tongue-in-cheek "Mota". Reverse it and you'll see what I mean.

Funny I thought "Hey this is TV - you sure it wasn't just an ILM thing?" when I read that.

Needed laughs on a Friday.

Lobbyist Abramoff posts bond
Washington insider faces federal fraud and conspiracy charges

Friday, August 12, 2005; Posted: 6:51 p.m. EDT (22:51 GMT)


LOS ANGELES, California (CNN) -- Washington lobbyist Jack Abramoff, an associate of several influential GOP figures, appeared in federal court Friday on wire fraud and conspiracy charges and was released on $2.25 million bond.

Abramoff and a partner were indicted Thursday by a grand jury in Florida on charges they misled lenders and forged a key document used to obtain loans for the 2000 purchase of a casino boat venture.

When asked by U.S. District Court Judge Phil Game Jr. if he understood the charges against him, Abramoff said, "Yes, sir."

Abramoff -- handcuffed and wearing a white polo shirt -- surrendered his passport, and Game told him he is allowed only to travel in the Los Angeles area, south Florida and Maryland.

The judge also told Abramoff he needs to maintain his "course of mental health treatment."

Abramoff is scheduled to appear Tuesday morning in federal court in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, where a grand jury returned an indictment against him and Adam Kidan, his partner in the 2000 purchase of SunCruz Casinos. (Full story)

Each man faces five counts of wire fraud and one of conspiracy. The maximum possible sentence on each count is five years in prison and fines up to $250,000.

Abramoff is already under investigation by congressional committees and the Justice Department over allegations that he and another partner swindled Indian tribes out of millions of dollars they paid to help sway lawmakers on gambling issues.

He is a longtime associate of several influential Republican figures, including House Majority Leader Tom DeLay of Texas, Americans for Tax Reform President Grover Norquist, and former Christian Coalition Executive Director Ralph Reed.

I'd love to see those two dirtbags go down in flames with Abramoff. If DELay goes to I'd be happy as hell but DC is too corrupt for the Hammer to be touched. He's a made man.

Abramoff's name has surfaced amid ethics questions about DeLay. The Washington Post reported earlier this year that DeLay took two expensive overseas trips that Abramoff and other lobbyists bankrolled -- a possible violation of House rules.

DeLay has denied any wrongdoing, calling the report "just another seedy attempt by the liberal media to embarrass me."

The grand jury in Fort Lauderdale accused Abramoff and Kidan with using falsified loan applications and a counterfeit wire transfer notice to persuade lenders to support their $148 million purchase of SunCruz Casinos, which runs gambling boats out of six Florida ports.

The partners obtained $60 million in loans from two companies, Foothill Capital Corp. and Citadel Equity Fund Ltd., after submitting a transfer report that falsely stated they had put up $23 million in cash as a down payment, U.S. Attorney Alexander Acosta said Thursday.

"SunCruz subsequently declared bankruptcy, resulting in substantial losses," Acosta said.

Abramoff made a fortune from the gaming operations of six Indian tribes while privately mocking tribal leaders as "monkeys" and "morons," according to e-mail obtained by a Senate committee.





Abramoff's lawyers have said he did nothing wrong and that he and partner Michael Scanlon are being singled out for activities that are commonplace in Washington.

http://www.cnn.com/2005/POLITICS/08/12/abramoff/index.html




Love the stock photo of him and his lawyer though.

But of course.

There was some good reporting on it in the Orlando Sentinal. Florida is inneresting. The gubmint is conservative, but the courts are fairly liberal.

We'll see.

Saipan Tribune


Floating casino on its way to Saipan .

Florida-based company infusing $10 million to deploy the facility in the northwestern part of the island


A huge Florida-based leisure company is seriously looking at putting up a multi-million-dollar investment on Saipan, a development seen to alleviate the CNMI's economic conditions, which had gone sour since the Asian contagion in 1997.

Executives of SunCruz Casinos were on island earlier this week to meet with key government officials where concrete plans for the establishment of a $10-million floating casino near the coast of Saipan were discussed.

The 150-foot vessel, which will be moored in an area near the Saipan International Seaport, will house a fine-dining restaurant, live entertainment center and a casino of 165 gaming machines and 25 tables.

According to SunCruz Casinos Chair Adam R. Kidan, initial infusion of investment would amount to between $10 million and $12.5 million while other business opportunities throughout the Northern Marianas are being carefully looked at for future expansions.

Mr. Kidan's group were in the Northern Marianas in December last year to explore possible business opportunities here. Company officials also simultaneously conducted a trade visit in Guam where SunCruz Casinos also intend to bring in a floating facility.

SunCruz Casinos is primarily engaged in the operation of floating entertainment and gaming facilities in several areas in the mainland United States and other countries in Asia and the Carribbean.

Among the areas where the company operates floating casinos are: Key Largo, Hollywood, Florida; Jacksonville; Port Canaveral; Daytona Beach; Clearwater; Fort Myers; John's Pass TI; Myrtle Beach in South Carolina; and Panama City.

SunCruz is also in the final stages of bringing its floating casino in some Asian countries like Hong Kong and the region's casino gaming hub -- Macau.

"We are continuously deploying floating casinos to areas where there are good potentials. The Northern Marianas can be a casino hub in the Pacific Region, especially with its proximity to Asia where millions play cards and machines," said Mr. Kidan.

Part of the plans for the Northern Marianas is the training of at about 200 to 250 local workers who are promised to receive a compensation package which is above the prevailing minimum wage in the mainland US.

Mr. Kidan said the business operation will create job opportunities for local workers who may also ask to be transferred to other company-operated floating casinos in the mainland US, Asia or the Carribbean.

SunCruz Casinos, which commenced operations in 1989, is also seriously eyeing some investment opportunities in the Northern Islands which, Mr. Kidan said, hold the potential of attracting thousands of tourists because of the area's scenic beauty.

The company intends to bring in some of its casino employees in Florida to conduct the training of local workers who will be accepted to work on Saipan's own floating casino.

"It is important to choose where to put investments. A myriad of things have to be considered, including the potentials of an area to sustain the business, as well as the existing laws on investments," said Mr. Kidan.

Once the floating casino is deployed and moored on Saipan, the Northern Marianas is anticipated to witness the entry of more than a million visitors every year since Mr. Kidan noted that each of the company's vessel receives about two million visitors each year.

He added that SunCruz Casinos is also eyeing investments in the transportation sector since a reliable transport system is essential to the company's floating casino business, which is heavily dependent on casino players from other countries.

Mr. Kidan and other executives of SunCruz Casinos will be back on Saipan to meet with other CNMI government officials, including Gov. Pedro P. Tenorio and members of the Legislature, as well as private sector leaders.

In his meeting with House Speaker Benigno R. Fitial earlier this week, he said the company is hoping to deploy the floating casino to the Northern Marianas by August this year.

The floating casino can accommodate about 1,200 guests who may partake in a fine-dining experience, enjoy the vessel's in-house live entertainment groups, or play with hundreds of gaming machines and more than 20 tables.

http://www.saipantribune.com/archives/news...2012:00:00%20AM

Oh, great! Now they're selling the looted casino to Saipan, after declaring bankrupcy? These guys are utterly and completely without shame!

That's what they wanted. Not what they'll get.

Actress Paid Not to Talk of Schwarzenegger Affair


Publisher of Tabloids, Bodybuilding Magazines Gave Woman $20,000 After Actor Joined Governor's Race

By Amy Argetsinger
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, August 13, 2005; Page A02

LOS ANGELES, Aug. 12 -- Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, already facing plummeting approval ratings and questions about his business dealings, took another hit Friday with a report that a tabloid publisher with close ties to the former movie star paid an alleged paramour of his $20,000 not to discuss their relationship.

The August 2003 confidentiality agreement between American Media Inc. -- publisher of the National Enquirer, Globe and Star -- and bit-part actress Gigi Goyette was reached two days after Schwarzenegger announced his candidacy for governor, and seven months before he signed on as an editor for two bodybuilding magazines owned by the company.


http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...5081201651.html

Don't worry. They just engages in "outercourse".

After us, the deluge.

Hey brother InYerFace...

Did cha forget about me?

http://normalflora.org/charlieray.html

need web space- got any?

What would you like?

I still have the CD you sent me... I could post something off of it if you'd like...

I still love "Transcendance"(hope I got that right:~)... which tune would you like with it?...

How's that sound?

I need space for yours

Bush is notheing but a corporate whore with no ethics whatsoever.




Bush makes history - a five-year streak without saying 'no'


By Josh Burek | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor


WASHINGTON – Like pardons and executive orders, vetoes are among the cherished privileges of the Oval Office. Ike liked them. So did presidents Truman and Cleveland - and both Roosevelts.

But apparently not George W. Bush. In fact, well into the fifth year of his presidency, he has yet to issue a single veto.



It's a streak unmatched in modern American history, one that throws into question traditional notions of checks and balances.

Although the streak could end next month - Mr. Bush is threatening a veto if Congress eases his restrictions on federal funding for stem-cell research - the Bush era thus far underscores a historically high-water mark of collegial cooperation between Congress and the White House, experts say.

"We're pretty close to a parliamentary government," says G. Calvin Mackenzie, professor of government at Colby College in Watervillle, Maine, referring to Congress's close alignment with the executive branch. "We don't have much recent history with that."

Other presidents have enjoyed majority support in Congress. But few, if any, have gotten the level of disciplined backing that Mr. Bush gets from House and Senate Republicans.

"There is unusual coherence between Republicans in Congress and the president," Professor Mackenzie adds. "So there's very little getting to his desk that hasn't been pre-approved by the Republican leadership."

On many major bills that Bush has signed - No Child Left Behind and tax relief, for example - the veto was never a consideration because the White House itself had proposed the legislation. Yet on dozens of other bills, the president has become a rubber stamp for a spendthrift Congress, betraying his campaign image as a fiscal conservative, critics say.

"The notion of limited government and frugal government has been shattered by this administration, which cares far less about limited government than it does in building conservative government - a government with huge payoffs to corporate America," says Allan Lichtman, a presidential historian at American University in Washington.

http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0816/p01s04-uspo.html