A pretty stunning gain out of Iowa for Obama, where an Iowa Democratic official confirmed to me just now that the county convention results will translate into a 25-14-6 edge for Obama over Clinton and Edwards.
That's a gain of nine for the Illinois Senator over the results reported in January, while Clinton lost one delegate. (Edwards lost eight).
Obama gains a net of 10 delegates in Iowa, while a net of 9 delegates is what Clinton obtained over Obama with a substantial win in Ohio eleven days ago.
Small Enough To Drown in a Bathtub
Posted by echidne
That's how Grover Norquist memorably said the federal government should be. That the government also does useful things which would go down the drain of that mythical bathtub is often forgotten. For instance, the FDA might want to test all heparin products imported into the country, to save a few lives here and there. But the FDA needs to be a little bigger than bathtub-sized to manage that.
UCLA Medical Center is taking steps to fire at least 13 employees and has suspended at least six others for snooping in the confidential medical records of pop star Britney Spears during her recent hospitalization in its psychiatric unit, a person familiar with the matter said Friday.
In addition, six physicians face discipline for peeking at her computerized records, the person said.
Staff gets fired but doctors keep their jobs... for the same offense.
Whuh? Any sensible person with money would travel by Acela from Washington to Philadelphia instead of by plane, and anyone with time pressures would travel by train instead of car.
Next up: "Man of the people" St. John McCain dines on local peasant cuisine, beluga caviar encrusted foie gras.
Balance and real news reporting not on ideological agenda
John Bertran, the Melbourne Florida investment counselor and insurance salesman who co-chairs Friends of Tucker Carlson today blasted MSNBC for canceling the show of conservative pundit, Tucker Carlson.
Friends of Tucker was formed and posted a website last December in the wake of rumors that Carlson would be purged by Liberals at the cable news network.
"The left-wing activists at MSNBC have succeeded in limiting the voice of the one independent minded conservative they have on the air," said Bertran. "Psycho socialist, Keith Olbermann, Tim O'Neil 'butt-boy' Chris Matthews and lefty hit man Dan 'Danny the rug' Abrams are trying to limit an important conservative and libertarian voice on MSNBC," the conservative activist said.
"Joe Scarborough's praise of the Clintons in a bald-faced effort to save his job makes me want to vomit," said Bertran. "Kommissar, Phil Griffin, the MSNBC Executive, is the ideological cleanser."
Viewers should beware the pro-liberal bias of MSNBC and protest this corruption of a news organization with NBC Executives.
Besides, Chris Matthews was Tip O'Neill's buttboy, not Tim O'Neil's.
One area that has shown particular strain is the mortgage market, especially what's known as the sub-prime sector of the mortgage market. This market has seen tremendous innovation in recent years, as new lending products make credit available to more people. For the most part, this has been a positive development, and the reason why is millions of families have taken out mortgages to buy their homes, and American homeownership is at a near all-time high.
The United States has entered a recession that could be "substantially more severe" than recent ones, former National Bureau of Economic Research President Martin Feldstein said Friday.
"The situation is very bad, the situation is getting worse, and the risks are that it could get very bad," Feldstein said in a speech at the Futures Industry Association meeting in Boca Raton, Florida.
According to CNBC, JP Morgan is acting as an intermediary for Bear Stearns because Stearns doesn't normally have access to the Fed discount window. Lucky for everyone, this is a nonrecourse loan! JP Morgan is using some pile of shit from BS as collateral, and if that collateral isn't worth anything JP Morgan won't be held liable if there's a default.
No worries. The Fed did this type of thing in the 30s, too.
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Bear Stearns Cos (BSC.N: Quote, Profile, Research) Chief Executive Alan Schwartz on Wednesday dismissed recurring speculation that the investment bank faces a cash crunch, saying it has hefty cash reserves that have remained little changed this year.
Schwartz, in a televised interview on CNBC, also said he is comfortable with the range of analysts' earnings estimates for the fiscal first quarter ended Feb. 29. Results for the quarter are due next week.
"We don't see any pressure on our liquidity, let alone a liquidity crisis," he said.
NEW YORK (AP) -- JPMorgan Chase says that in conjunction with the Federal Reserve Bank of New York it will provide temporary funding for Bear Stearns.
The funding will be provided as necessary for up to 28 days. During that time, JPMorgan Chase will also help Bear Stearns find permanent financing.
Bear Stearns says its liquidity significantly deteriorated over the past day and the temporary funding will help it continue operating normally. The investment bank added there is no guarantee any permanent strategic alternatives will be successful.
BAGHDAD, March 13 -- Iraqi leaders have failed to take advantage of a reduction in violence to make adequate progress toward resolving their political differences, Gen. David H. Petraeus, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, said Thursday.
Petraeus, who is preparing to testify to Congress next month on the Iraq war, said in an interview that "no one" in the U.S. and Iraqi governments "feels that there has been sufficient progress by any means in the area of national reconciliation," or in the provision of basic public services.
The general's comments appeared to be his sternest to date on Iraqis' failure to achieve political reconciliation. In February, following the passage of laws on the budget, provincial elections and an amnesty for certain detainees, Petraeus was more encouraging. "The passage of the three laws today showed that the Iraqi leaders are now taking advantage of the opportunity that coalition and Iraqi troopers fought so hard to provide," he said at the time.
Bush SOTU, 2007:
The people of Iraq want to live in peace, and now it's time for their government to act. Iraq's leaders know that our commitment is not open-ended. They have promised to deploy more of their own troops to secure Baghdad -- and they must do so. They pledged that they will confront violent radicals of any faction or political party -- and they need to follow through, and lift needless restrictions on Iraqi and coalition forces, so these troops can achieve their mission of bringing security to all of the people of Baghdad. Iraq's leaders have committed themselves to a series of benchmarks -- to achieve reconciliation, to share oil revenues among all of Iraq's citizens, to put the wealth of Iraq into the rebuilding of Iraq, to allow more Iraqis to re-enter their nation's civic life, to hold local elections, and to take responsibility for security in every Iraqi province. But for all of this to happen, Baghdad must be secure. And our plan will help the Iraqi government take back its capital and make good on its commitments.
The former treasurer for the National Republican Congressional Committee diverted hundreds of thousands of dollars -- and possibly as much as $1 million -- of the organization's funds into his personal accounts, GOP officials said yesterday, describing an alleged scheme that could become one of the largest political frauds in recent history.
For at least four years, Christopher J. Ward, who is under investigation by the FBI, allegedly used wire transfers to funnel money out of NRCC coffers and into other political committee accounts he controlled as treasurer, NRCC leaders and lawyers said in their first public statement since they turned the matter over to the FBI six weeks ago.
"The evidence we have today indicated we have been deceived and betrayed for a number of years by a highly respected and trusted individual," said Rep. Tom Cole (R-Okla.), the NRCC chairman.
Nobody Cares What Pissypants Says
Posted by Atrios
One thing I think the Democrats have failed to recognize, though maybe they're starting to, is that Bush is so unpopular that beating him on anything is almost by definition popular. They could shoot down Bush's proposal for free ice cream day and it'd probably be popular as long as the headlines said something like "Democrats beat Bush."
And Pissypants's teevee tantrums get completely drowned out by all the campaign coverage. He can't have much influence on the narrative anymore.
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