Our Government At Work

    

Tucson Weather Today

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After hearing about all the scandals and wrong-doings in high places, I did a quick search on the subject of political corruption -- and was amazed at how many exist and are readily available to anyone who is interested in the workings of government.

A Few Examples Of U.S. Government Corruption:

Martha N. Johnson head of the General Services Administration fired two top GSA officials and then resigned herself after it was revealed that $822,000 had been spent in Las Vegas on a four-day training conference for 300 GSA employees. (2010)

Terence Flynn an appointee of Barack Obama to the National Labor Relations Board resigned in May 2012 after being accused of serious ethical violations by leaking information to the National Association of Manufacturers.

Jesse L. Jackson Jr. (D-IL) pled guilty to one felony count of fraud for using $750,000 of campaign money to buy personal items such as stuffed animals, elk heads and fur capes. His wife, Sandi Jackson, who is a Chicago City Alderman, pled guilty to filing false income tax statements at the same time.

Tom DeLay (R-TX) On November 24, 2010, a Texas jury convicted DeLay of money laundering connected to the Jack Abramoff scandal. On January 10, 2011, he was sentenced to three years in prison in Texas.

Samuel B. Kent, Federal District Judge of Galveston, Texas, was sentenced to 33 months in prison for lying about sexually harassing two female employees.

Lewis Libby, Chief of Staff to Vice President Dick Cheney (R). 'Scooter' Libby was convicted of perjury and obstruction of justice in the Plame Affair on March 6, 2007. He was sentenced to 30 months in prison and fined $250,000. The sentence was commuted by George W. Bush (R) on July 1, 2007. The felony remains on Libby's record though the jail time and fine were commuted.

Darleen A. Druyun, Principal Deputy Undersecretary of the Air Force, pled guilty to inflating the price of contracts to favor her future employer, Boeing. In October 2004, she was sentenced to nine months in jail for corruption, fined $5,000, given three years of supervised release and 150 hours of community service. She began her prison term on January 5, 2005. CBS News called it "the biggest Pentagon scandal in 20 years" and said that she pleaded guilty to a felony.

These are only a 'few' examples. There are many, many more. So many that reading them all would make one of Satan's demons sick (If Satan or demons actually existed).

LINK

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TRIVIA

On November 13, 2009, William Jennings "Bill"Jefferson was sentenced to thirteen years in federal prison for bribery after a corruption investigation, the longest sentence ever handed down to a congressman for bribery or any other crime.

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HISTORICAL EVENT

Ruby Ridge

On this day, August 22 in 1992, on the second day of a standoff at Randy Weaver's remote northern Idaho cabin, FBI sharpshooter Lon Horiuchi wounded Randy Weaver, Kevin Harrison, and killed Weaver's wife, Vicki.

The day before, after a period of surveillance, U.S. marshals came upon Harrison; Weaver; Weaver's 14-year-old son, Sammy; and the family dog, Striker, on a road near the Weaver property. A marshal shot and killed the dog, prompting Sammy to fire at the marshal. In the ensuing gun battle, Sammy and U.S. Marshal Michael Degan were shot and killed. A tense standoff ensued, and on August 22 the FBI joined the marshals besieging Ruby Ridge.

The controversial standoff spawned a nationwide debate on the use of force by federal law enforcement agencies, and a U.S. Senate panel accused the federal agencies involved of "substantial failures" in their handling of the Ruby Ridge operation. Of particular controversy was an FBI "rule of engagement" implemented at the beginning of the Ruby Ridge siege that stated "any armed adult male observed in the vicinity of the Weaver cabin could and should be killed." Many condemned this policy as unconstitutional.

Rumors that the FBI had engaged in a cover-up regarding the Ruby Ridge operation were verified when E. Michael Kahoe, former chief of the FBI's violent crimes section, pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice in 1996. Kahoe, who had destroyed an official bureau critique of the standoff, was sentenced to 18 months in prison.

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WORD FOR TODAY

corruption
noun
-  The act or process of corrupting.
-  The state of being corrupt.
-  Decay; rot.

Corruption is spiritual or moral impurity or deviation from an ideal. Corruption may include many activities including bribery and embezzlement.

Government, or 'political', corruption occurs when an office-holder or other governmental employee acts in an official capacity for his or her own personal gain.

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CELEBRITY BIRTHDAYS

Valerie Harper
(born August 22, 1939)

Valerie Harper is an American actress known for her roles as Rhoda Morgenstern in the 1970s television series The Mary Tyler Moore Show and its spin-off, Rhoda, and later as Valerie Hogan in Valerie.

Herbert Norman Schwarzkopf, Jr.
(Aug 1934 - 27 Dec 2012)

Norman Schwarzkopf was a United States Army general. While serving as Commander-in-Chief, United States Central Command, he led all coalition forces in the Persian Gulf War.

Cynthia Jane "Cindy" Williams
(born August 22, 1947)

Cindy Williams is an American actress best known for starring in the television situation-comedy series Laverne & Shirley, in the role of Shirley Feeney, and for her role as Laurie Henderson in the classic film American Graffiti.

Steve Kroft
(born August 22, 1945)

Steve Kroft is an American journalist and a longtime correspondent for 60 Minutes. His investigative reporting has garnered him much acclaim, including three Peabody Awards and nine Emmy awards, one of which was an Emmy for Lifetime Achievement.

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The two most notorious examples of federal abuse of police powers were seen at Ruby Ridge and Waco, where non-aggressive citizens were needlessly provoked and killed by government agents.
--Ron Paul

NASA TV

 

This Is Who I Am

    

Wi-Fi Parking Meter Lawsuit, Etc.

Tucson Weather Today

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Resident files $1.7B claim with City Hall says the Santa Monica Daily Press. It seems that Santa Monica has installed some new Hi-Tek parking meters that, among other  things, uses Wi-Fi to control the meters, such as notifying a controller whenever a car leaves its parking space and then the controller zeroes out the meter. Something like that.

So, reports the Santa Monica Daily Press: Denise Barton asserts that radiation from the wireless signals emanating from the meters, which is similar to Wi-Fi Internet or cellular waves, is causing ringing in her ears, ear infections and tightness on the back, left side of her neck.

Barton is suing for $1.7 billion, plus another $1.7 million every month thereafter.

Good Gravy!

Only on Planet Earth.

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A couple of months ago I became confused when I ran across an aritcle (written by a Brit) wherein he several times added an 's' to the word 'math' -- I queried a group of people I respect and was told that the word is spelled m-a-t-h in the U.S. and m-a-t-h-s in England. I accepted that and let it go. But I now see this controversy is raging elsewhere -- in Discover magazine, and by some notables.

One of those notables is Sean Carroll, who is a Senior Research Associate in the Department of Physics at the California Institute of Technology. He is the author of a graduate-level textbook, Spacetime and Geometry: An Introduction to General Relativity, as well as a set of Teaching Company lectures on dark matter and dark energy. His latest book, From Eternity to Here: The Quest for the Ultimate Theory of Time, explores the relationship between entropy, cosmology, and the arrow of time.

So which is correct, Math or Maths?

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WORD FOR TODAY


torque  [tork]
noun

A twisting force that tends to cause rotation.

Torque is the tendency of a force to rotate an object about an axis, fulcrum, or pivot. Just as a force is a push or a pull, a torque can be thought of as a twist to an object. Mathematically, torque is defined as the product of force and the lever-arm distance, which tends to produce rotation. Loosely speaking, torque is a measure of the turning force on an object such as a bolt or a flywheel. For example, pushing or pulling the handle of a wrench connected to a nut or bolt produces a torque (turning force) that loosens or tightens the nut or bolt.

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BORN ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

   
Al Roker

Born Aug 20, 1954

Age: 57 years old.

Albert Lincoln "Al" Roker, Jr. is an American television weatherman as well as an actor and book author. He is best known as being the weather anchor on NBC's Today. On Monday, July 20, 2009, he began co-hosting his new morning show, Wake Up with Al, on The Weather Channel, which airs weekdays from 6am to 7am ET, one hour earlier than Today. He holds an expired American Meteorological Society Television Seal, #238. Writing with Dick Lochte, Roker began a series of murder mysteries in 2009 that feature Billy Blessing, a celebrity chef turned amateur detective. The second book in the series, The Midnight Show Murders (2010), was nominated for a 2011 Nero Award.

Jacqueline Susann


Born Aug 20, 1921
Died Sept 21, 1974

Jacqueline Susann was an American author known for her best-selling novels. Her most notable work was Valley of the Dolls, a book that broke sales records and spawned an Oscar-nominated 1967 film and a short-lived TV series.

Ron Paul


Born Aug 20, 1935
Age: 76 years old.

Ronald Ernest "Ron" Paul is an American physician, author, and politician who has been serving as the U.S. Representative for Texas's 14th congressional district, which includes Galveston, since 1997. He is a three-time candidate for President of the United States, as a Libertarian in 1988 and as a Republican in 2008 and currently 2012. He is a member of the Republican Party. He holds libertarian views and is a critic of American foreign, domestic, and monetary policies, including the military–industrial complex, the War on Drugs, and the Federal Reserve.

H.P. Lovecraft


Born Aug. 20, 1890
Died Mar. 15, 1937

Howard Phillips Lovecraft, known as H. P. Lovecraft, was an American author of horror, fantasy and science fiction, especially the subgenre known as weird fiction.

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The world is indeed comic, but the joke is on mankind.

--H. P. Lovecraft