Brewing scandal, Replacing the “n-word,” Buffalo beheading, and an Obama apology?
By LisaB on February 19, 2009 at 9:29 PM in Current Affairs
1) In a breaking story about corruption and earmarks, CQ has a story about the FBI, Rep. Murtha and PMA – a lobbying firm.
More than 100 House members secured earmarks in a major spending bill for clients of a single lobbying firm — The PMA Group — known for its close ties to John P. Murtha , the congressman in charge of Pentagon appropriations.
“It shows you how good they were,” said Keith Ashdown, chief investigator at the watchdog group Taxpayers for Common Sense. “The sheer coordination of that would take an army to finish.”
PMA’s offices have been raided, and the firm closed its political action committee last week amid reports that the FBI is investigating possibly illegal campaign contributions to Murtha and other lawmakers.
————————–And though some of its political money went to Senate campaigns, PMA’s earmark success was clearly the result of efforts in the House, and particularly its efforts with the clutch of Democratic defense appropriators closest to Murtha.
I can’t do justice to this story in a short bit, so you’ll have to read it for yourself.
2) Need a giggle? Apparently there is a “movement” to replace the “n-word” with “president.” Of course, the story notes that “president” will soon be off-limits to white people.
3) The NYT has a story on the E.P.A. Looks like the government will soon be looking to regulate carbon dioxide emissions. Bummer this has to happen in a seriously bad economy as it is quite likely to effect energy, transportation, and pretty much everything we do.
She [E.P.A. head Jackson] took a first step on Tuesday when she said that the agency would reconsider a Bush administration decision not to regulate carbon dioxide emissions from new coal-burning power plants. In announcing the reversal, Ms. Jackson suggested that the E.P.A. was considering additional measures to regulate heat-trapping gases.
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. . . proposed regulations would be issued in sequence, with ample opportunity for public comment and not in a sudden burst of regulatory muscle-flexing, Ms. Jackson said. The regulations would work in concert with any legislation and not supplant it, she added.“What we are likely to see is an interplay of authorities, some new, some existing,” she said.
That is not likely to assuage critics, including many Democrats from states dependent on coal-generated electricity and manufacturing jobs, where such regulation could significantly increase costs. Representative John D. Dingell, the Michigan Democrat who has long championed the interests of the auto industry, said that the regulation of carbon dioxide emissions by the E.P.A. would set off a “glorious mess” that would resonate throughout the economy.
Unfortunately, this could turn out to be particularly painful as energy costs have already been on a tear in recent years. Down where I live, it’s the summer when bills are highest. For others, it’s the winter. Wouldn’t it have been great if climate change had been addressed earlier?
4) Bishop Tutu wants Obama to apologize for Iraq, the BBC reports.
Archbishop Desmond Tutu has warned Barack Obama of the risk of squandering the goodwill he says the US president’s election has generated.
In an article for BBC News, he says it would be “wonderful” if Mr Obama apologised for the invasion of Iraq.
So, here’s my question. If Obama decided to do this, for whatever reason, whom would he be apologizing for?
5) In a piece at NRO, Mark Steyn asks some obvious questions about the idiot in Buffalo who beheaded his wife.
Kathryn, that self-pitying imam is part of a now familiar pattern: Pay no attention to that dead body; the real victim here is Islam.
Beheaded woman in Buffalo? “Shocked friend says murder damages Islam’s image.”
Hindus, Jews and Christians massacred in Bombay? “The recent terrorist attacks in Mumbai, India highlight the dangerously vulnerable situation of India’s Muslims.”
————-. . . Spousal murder is not unusual. Beheading your wife is. If Muzzammil Hassan decapitated his as an Islamic ritual, then his entire professional life — Mister Moderate Muslim — was a lie. In other words, it would be the work of moments for even the laziest hack to work up exactly the same “hypocrisy” angle that the press stampede after when some evangelical preacher turns out to have a thing for fetching young rent boys.
As I noted at the weekend, when Mr. Hassan launched his Bridges TV station to counter “negative stereotypes” of Muslims, he got the traditional tongue baths from NBC’s Brian Williams, NPR’s “All Things Considered” et al – even though the station was entirely unwatched. Don’t they have a responsibility to revisit the story now that it’s got a little more complicated – or, as old-school editors would say, “newsworthy” – than the press releases they read out a couple of years back?
Steyn also says a brief story by the Toronto Star was the most honest.
The founder of a Buffalo Muslim TV station established to portray Muslims in a good light has been charged with murder after his wife was beheaded.
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He was charged with second-degree murder. No weapon was found but “the investigation is ongoing,” Orchard Park police said.Aasiya Hassan recently filed for divorce, authorities said. According to Buffalo News reports, she obtained an order of protection on Feb. 6, barring her husband from their home in Orchard Park.
Under sharia law followed by Muslims, a woman can ask for a divorce, but only a man can grant the request, and he can refuse, according to a book on sharia published last month, Cruel and Usual Punishment, by Egyptian-born American author Nonie Darwish.
Under Islamic law, crimes such as apostasy (leaving Islam), adultery, theft or drinking alcohol are punishable by beheading, stoning, amputation of limbs or flogging, the book says.
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. . . [Muzzammil Hassan] has said that his wife was offended by a report she heard shortly after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks on the United States.“She was seven months’ pregnant,” he told Reuters news Agency in 2004. “She didn’t want her kids growing up in this environment.”
In response, he founded Bridges TV partly with the stated aim of helping non-Muslims overcome negative images they might have of Muslims and Islam.
His wife was worried about negative portrayals of muslims and how her children would negotiate that. That child would be around eight now and rather than negative stereotypes to deal with has a father who beheaded his mother. Nah, that won’t be a problem. Only “bigots against Islam” are a problem.
6) The Onion reports that the Senate is suffering from a devastating infestation of lice.
“I regret to inform the American people that the Senate chamber has been struck by a devastating case of lice,” majority leader Harry Reid (D-NV) said. “Although we’ve already dismissed a number of afflicted senators, and thrown out most of their personal belongings, it is imperative that this issue be resolved as quickly as possible.”
“This outbreak needs to be addressed,” continued Reid, speaking from behind a podium wrapped in airtight plastic sheets. “We can’t risk having lice spread to the House.”
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According to sources on Capitol Hill, signs of a potential infestation first surfaced early Monday morning when Sen. Thad Cochran (R-MS) witnessed Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) excessively scratching at the back of his head. Cochran, who sits directly behind Rockefeller, said that the five-term senator’s aggressive attempts to relieve an itch dislodged several tiny, writhing bugs, which fell onto a binder containing bill S. 2294.“It was so disgusting,” said Cochran, adding that he thought Sen. Rockefeller only had dandruff. “I’ll never cosponsor a bill with him again. I bet he doesn’t even shower.”
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Despite several days of lengthy debates, the remaining senators were not able to agree on a measure to remove the louse colonies. While one faction argued that the application of petroleum jelly or mayonnaise would suffocate the lice, Sen. Jim Bunning (R-KY) made a privileged motion that all affected heads be immediately soaked in kerosene.
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According to Beltway insiders, this is the worst contagion to hit the federal government since 2004, when a single infected gavel gave the entire Supreme Court crabs.
That last sentence is the best thing I’ve read in weeks.
, the basis for the Best Motion Picture Nominee (Golden Globes) starring Brad Pitt.
, the novel by John Le Carre, a new motion picture starring Gary Oldman and Colin Firth.
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.by David Fredosso who wrote 2008's 
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