12.31.08
Stephanopoulos: Burris Will Not Be Senator for Long Time, If Ever At All
George Stephanopoulos on Roland Burris’s chances of ever becoming a United States Senator because of his appointment by Rod Blagojevich. He thinks the chances are slim. Senate Democrats will refer to committee and let it sit as Blagojevich’s impeachment proceedings go foward.
Bobby Rush Supporting Roland Burris on CBS Early Show
Bobby Rush on the CBS Early show in support of Roland Burris’s appointment to the United States Senate. He points out that Illinois has sent 2 of the only 3 Blacks to the United States Senate over the last 150 years.
Roland Burris Media Blitz: CBS
Roland Burris on CBS’s Early show as part of his media blitz in support of his nomination by Blagojevich to the United States Senate to replace Obama.
Roland Burris Media Blitz: MSNBC
Roland Burris on MSNBC as part of his media blitz in support of his nomination by Blagojevich to the United States Senate to replace Obama.
12.30.08
Blagojevich Defies Opponents and Names Roland Burris to Fill Senate Vacancy
Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich names Roland Burris to fill Obama’s Senate seat in defiance of his foes.
Blagojevich To Name Burris To Obama’s Senate Seat
Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich is to name former Illinois Attorney General Roland Burris to replace Obama in the United States Senate.
12.29.08
New Point Man for NY “Fat Tax”
Elizabeth Benjamin reports there is a new point man for the new “Fat Tax” proposed by New York Governor Patterson. The state health commissioner Richard Daines has posted a video on YouTube.com to make his case for supporting the new tax on soda. The administration is concious of the poll release last week on by Quinniapiac University that showed little support for parts of the proposal.
Here is the video:
Big Brother Coming to Oregon
Oregon’s Governor, Ted Kulongoski, is asking the state legislature to act on plan by Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) to tax citizens on the number of miles they drive each year. The plan would use satellites and GPS devises to keep track of miles traveled by Oregonians. ODOT ran a ten-month pilot program (which ended in 2007) with 300 volunteers. The volunteers received a rebate of the 24 cent per gallon on the gas they purchased and were charged 1.2 cents per mile they traveled.
The Governor’s website says that this plan is necessary because: “As Oregonians drive less and demand more fuel-efficient vehicles, it is increasingly important that the state find a new way, other than the gas tax, to finance our transportation system.”
Privacy issues are obviously of great concern even though the report of the task force set up to look into the feasibility of this GPS tracking system states that: “no travel location points are stored within the vehicle or transmitted elsewhere. Thus there can be no ‘tracking’ of vehicle movements.” The truth is that tracking information will have to uploaded either in real time or batches. And, the same technology used to keep track of mileage can be used to track all the movements by a vehicle in real time.
The full story is available here.
12.28.08
Where Is Obama’s Loyalty to Media that Helped Elect Him?
Carol Lee at Politico.com reports that Obama is growing weary of media bubble he lives in. As she writes:
Now the president-elect appears increasingly conscious of the confines of his new position, bristling at the routine demands of press coverage and beginning to chafe at boundaries that are only going to get smaller.
Obama even took the unusual step Friday morning of leaving behind the pool of reporters assigned to follow him, taking his daughters to a nearby water park without them. It was a breach of longstanding protocol between presidents (or presidents-elect) and the media, that a gaggle of reporters representing television, print and wire services is with his motorcade at all times.
Oprah’s Latest Embarrassment
Oprah once again suffers embarrassment through the endorsement of a memoir that have been proven to be entirely made up. Angel at the Fence was supposed to be based on the true life story of Holocaust survivor Herman Rosenblat and his wife Roma. As the story went they met on opposite sides of the a sub camp at Buchenwald. (More on the story here and here.)
The Rosenblat’s literary agent, Andrea Hurst, said that “Herman Rosenblat and his wife are the most gentle, loving, beautiful people.” And questioned why she never questioned it, saying “I believed it; it was an incredible, hope-filled story.”
Oprah had invited the couple onto her show two times and called their tale “the single greatest love story … we’ve ever told on air.” Now, however, the hoax has been exposed by a Holocaust survivor in Britain just weeks before the publication date for the book and the date filming of a feature film was about to begin. Berkley Books has abruptly cancelled the February 3 publication date for the memoir.
