ChiefsPlanet - Washington D.C. and the Holy Land

Poop Let's get some normalcy back in this forum: Palin's "refudiate" a top word search

SNR — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 04:28:54 GMT

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/...EJq_AD9I3CGD04

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (AP) � Merriam-Webster's "Word of the Summer" is not even a word. That's something no one can "refudiate."

Sarah Palin's attempt to splice "refute" and "repudiate" on a news show and in a Twitter message in July led to more searches on the publisher's online dictionary during the summer than most real words did. But don't expect all the interest in "refudiate" to lead to an actual dictionary entry.

The former Alaska governor has laughed off criticisms about her pseudo-word, noting that Shakespeare also coined new words.

'Refute' and 'repudiate' do have similar meanings. Refute means to prove something wrong or deny its truth or accuracy. Repudiate means to refuse any connection with something or reject it as untrue or unjust.

"I think people immediately knew what she was trying to say because the words `refute' and `repudiate' were also being looked up very, very frequently," said John Morse, Merriam-Webster's president and publisher.

"It's an interesting blend, but no, `refudiate' is not a real word," he said.

But that could someday change. Many of today's accepted words once were considered strange hybrids, too, including contraption (contrivance plus trap and invention) and splatter (splash and spatter).

Massachusetts-based Merriam-Webster started tracking trends on what news-driven words were looked up most frequently after Princess Diana's death. That's when its editors noticed a spike in online searches for certain words associated with that event, such as paparazzi (aggressive photographers focusing on celebrities) and cortege (a funeral procession).

It's now able to track all searches on its website, naming the top trend words of each year and an annual compilation of "new words" accepted into the dictionary, such as "blog" and "staycation."

"Refudiate" is joined on this summer's list of top words by "inception" and "despicable," for which online searches jumped immediately as movies were released with those words in the titles. Some other often-searched words included "moratorium," "austerity," "opulent" and "doppelganger."

Obama NYT: Obama will not extend Bush Tax Cuts

DJ's left nut — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 03:53:44 GMT

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/39049387...new_york_times

WASHINGTON � President Obama will rule out on Wednesday any compromise that would extend the Bush-era tax cuts for the wealthy beyond this year, officials said, adding a populist twist to an election-season economic package that is otherwise designed to entice support from big businesses and their Republican allies.

Mr. Obama�s opposition to allowing the high-end tax cuts to remain in place for even another year or two would be the signal many Congressional Democrats have been awaiting as they prepare for a showdown with Republicans on the issue and ends speculation that the White House might be open to an extension. Democrats say only the president can rally wavering lawmakers who, amid the party�s weakened poll numbers, feel increasingly vulnerable to Republican attacks if they let the top rates lapse at the end of this year as scheduled.

It is not clear that Mr. Obama can prevail given his own diminished popularity, the tepid nature of the economic recovery and the divisions within his party. But by proposing to extend the rates for the 98 percent of households with income below $250,000 for couples and $200,000 for individuals � and insisting that federal income tax rates in 2011 go back to their 2001 levels for income above those cutoffs � he intends to cast the issue as a choice between supporting the middle class or giving breaks to the wealthy.

In a speech in Cleveland on Wednesday, Mr. Obama also will make a case for the package of roughly $180 billion in expanded business tax cuts and infrastructure spending disclosed by the White House in bits and pieces over the past few days. He would offset the cost by closing other tax breaks for multinational corporations, oil and gas companies and others.

While the speech will be centrist in its policy prescriptions other than the Bush tax cuts, Mr. Obama�s language will be partisan as he seeks to sharpen the contrasts between Republicans� record and efforts by Democrats to create more jobs, aides said.

White House officials have strenuously avoided labeling the proposal a second stimulus plan, a phrase that has taken on negative political connotations since the original roughly $800 billion recovery plan and subsequent additions have failed to push unemployment down substantially.

But it would provide his party with an agenda for the home stretch of the midterm campaign � though one with small chance of being enacted quickly or helping the economy before Election Day if it were.

The two major pieces of the package � expanding and making permanent a popular credit for businesses� research and experimentation expenses, and allowing them to write off the full value of new equipment purchases through 2011 � are ones that have longstanding Republican and corporate support.

The administration calculated that the package had to be attractive to Republicans and business groups if it has any chance of passage in the short time Congress will be in session before going home to campaign.

Politically, however, the president in effect is daring Republicans to oppose the plan, in that way proving Democrats� contention that they will block even their own ideas to deny Mr. Obama any victories. And by proposing business tax breaks that, according to nonpartisan analyses, would do more to stimulate the economy than extending the Bush tax rates for the wealthy, Mr. Obama hopes to buttress Democrats� opposition to extending those rates.

With its tilt toward business tax cuts, the package that Mr. Obama is proposing risks discouraging liberals in his party who want more spending for projects that provide jobs, especially for a construction industry still staggered by the collapse of the housing boom.

They are not likely to be satisfied by another of the president�s proposals � to provide $50 billion immediately to build roads, air traffic control systems, waterways and more, and, for the long term, to create a national infrastructure bank � another bipartisan idea � that would leverage federal money with state, local and private-sector investments to finance projects.

In any case, the administration acknowledges that its blueprint might not pass before Election Day, or even in the lameduck Congress afterward.

__________________________________________________________

Brilliant - businesses aren't hiring because they're terrified of this Administration and Obama's still pushing his class warfare rhetoric. He can trump up his own 'business credits' all he wants, but the business owners aren't going to care. They're simply tired of being targets and if these tax cuts are not renewed, watch unemployment spike again and the market tank shortly thereafter.

Politics are really the only thing this man knows, and he doesn't even know politics as much as he knows unabashed partisian bickering and thinly veiled populism.

Nat'l Security Burning the Quran...thoughts??

petegz28 — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 02:26:03 GMT

So what does you peeps think of this church that is planning on a ceremony to burn the Quran on 9/11???

Elections Comrade Daley will not seek reelection as mayor of Chicago

frazod — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 00:11:44 GMT

No link, just heard it on the radio.

I'd like to think this is good news for Chicago, but God only knows what manner of moron will replace him.

Poop MIssion Accomplished II - This Time It's Personal!

Taco John — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 23:56:33 GMT

General Politics They talk about me like a dog!

ROYC75 — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 21:36:08 GMT

http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_upshot...-me-like-a-dog

Well, who would have thought this ? Obo is unhappy about his failed policies and low approval ratings,then blames others and claims, They treat me like a dog.

So sad to see our POTUS fail so miserably that he has to blame others for his failed policies.

Please Dems & Libs, explain 2 things to me.

# 1. Why did he wait so long to address the economy when it was the center point of the election. ( Please explain why he said the economy is 1st on his agenda and now he wants to do something about it 22 months later ?)

# 2. Are the Dems & Libs too afraid to state the real reason of the Financial & Housing market crash ? ( Make sure you include Barney & Chris i your explanations )

Yes Mr. President, do want the keys back to our Great country that the Dems, Lib's and the POTUS created and are failing to address just to push their socialistic agenda across the American people.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I'm even more disappointed with Obama, I was leery of him before the election, I'm thoroughly convinced he was under qualified to be POTUS then and the proof is positive now . Little to no experience in the Senate, his voting record proved it, his ideology from within his party, his family,his church, etc.

You get what you pay for, we are now forced with the fruits he bears.

U.S. Issues Rand Paul Unveils Congressional Priority: Battle for Balanced Budget Amendment

Taco John — Mon, 06 Sep 2010 21:50:08 GMT

Elections Democrats Ashamed of Health Care Bill - Running against it in election year.

Taco John — Mon, 06 Sep 2010 18:25:54 GMT

At least five of the 34 House Democrats who voted against their party�s health care reform bill are highlighting their �no� votes in ads back home. By contrast, party officials in Washington can�t identify a single House member who�s running an ad boasting of a �yes� vote � despite the fact that 219 House Democrats voted in favor of final passage in March.

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0910/41777.html

Economics $50 Billion More In Infrastructure Spending In The Works.......

Stinger — Mon, 06 Sep 2010 14:04:50 GMT

Obama calling for more infrastructure spending

Sep 6, 8:33 AM (ET)

By JULIE PACE

WASHINGTON (AP) - Vowing to find new ways to stimulate the sputtering economy, President Barack Obama will call for long-term investments in the nation's roads, railways and runways that would cost at least $50 billion.

The infrastructure investments are one part of a package of targeted proposals the White House is expected to announce in hopes of jump-starting the economy ahead of the November election. Obama will outline the infrastructure proposal Monday at a Labor Day event in Milwaukee.

While the proposal calls for investments over six years, the White House said spending would be front-loaded with an initial $50 billion to help create jobs in the near future.

The goals of the infrastructure plan include: rebuilding 150,000 miles of roads; constructing and maintaining 4,000 miles of railways, enough to go coast-to-coast; and rehabilitating or reconstructing 150 miles of airport runways, while also installing a new air navigation system designed to reduce travel times and delays.

Obama will also call for the creation of a permanent infrastructure bank that would focus on funding national and regional infrastructure projects.

Administration officials wouldn't say what the total cost of the infrastructure investments would be, but did say the initial $50 billion represents a significant percentage. Officials said the White House would consider closing a number of special tax breaks for oil and gas companies to pay for the proposal.

Obama made infrastructure investments a central part of the $814 billion stimulus Congress passed last year, but with that spending winding down, the economy's growth has slowed. Officials said this infrastructure package differs from the stimulus because it's aimed at long-term growth, while still focusing on creating jobs in the short-term.

In a Labor Day interview on CBS'"Early Show," Labor Secretary Hilda Solis said the plan Obama was to unveil Monday would "put construction workers, welders, electricians back to work ... folks that have been unemployed for a long time."

With the unemployment rate ticking up to 9.6 percent, and polls showing the midterm elections could be dismal for Democrats, the president has promised to unveil a series of new measures on the economy.

In addition to Monday's announcement in Milwaukee, Obama will travel to Cleveland Wednesday to pitch a $100 billion proposal to increase and make permanent research and development tax credits for businesses, a White House official said.

While the idea is popular in Congress, coming up with offsetting tax increases or spending cuts has been a stumbling block. Similar to his proposal to pay for the infrastructure investments, Obama will ask lawmakers to close tax breaks for oil and gas companies and multinational corporations to pay for the plan.

Other stimulus measures the administration is considering include extending a law passed in March that exempts companies that hire unemployed workers from paying Social Security taxes on those workers through December. Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., has proposed extending the exemption an additional six months.

Obama is also continuing to prod the Senate to pass the small business bill that calls for about $12 billion in tax breaks and a $30 billion fund to help unfreeze lending. Republicans have likened the bill to the unpopular bailout of the financial industry. And the president wants to make permanent the portion of George W. Bush's tax cuts affecting the middle class.

Wary of the public's concern over rising deficits, the administration insists a second stimulus plan, similar to last year's $814 billion bill, is not in the works.

Int'l Issues North Korea's Commucon 2010: Do you have your tickets?

Crush — Sun, 05 Sep 2010 07:16:22 GMT

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...090403059.html

N. Korea's leader set to begin power shift to son, experts say

By Chico Harlan
Washington Post Foreign Service
Sunday, September 5, 2010

TOKYO - North Korean leader Kim Jong Il will probably use an upcoming meeting of party elites to introduce his heir apparent, initiating the Stalinist dictatorship's second hereditary power transfer, U.S. and South Korean experts and officials say.

Kim's youngest son, Kim Jong Eun, is widely expected to be given at least one high-level leadership position - the first step to claiming absolute power on a par with his father's.

Experts differ on whether the younger Kim's rise will be publicly heralded. But in any case, moves made in coming days could lend the first real insight into Kim Jong Il's strategy for maintaining his family's power as his country deals with a frail economy, severe food shortages and international pressure to denuclearize.

North Korea has not announced dates for the party delegates meeting in Pyongyang, a rare forum reserved for landmark decision-making. Good Friends, a Seoul-based humanitarian group with ties to the North, said the forum would begin Saturday. Other experts predicted it would open Monday, with Kim Jong Eun being promoted on the final day. North Korea celebrates the anniversary of its founding Thursday.

Observers say that the elder Kim, who suffered a stroke in 2008, is rushing the power transfer because of health problems. Kim Jong Eun is thought to be in his mid- or late 20s.

"This conference would be an opportunity to lay the foundation of the post-Kim Jong Il era," said Kim Heung-kyu, a professor at Sungshin Women's University in Seoul.

North Korea held similar delegates' conferences in 1958 and 1966. Such meetings provide latitude for juggling the hierarchy, revising the constitution and adjusting the balance of power between the military and Workers' Party. Many North Korea analysts in Seoul and Washington predict that Kim Jong Il will attempt either to rebuild power in the Workers' Party, which has lost influence to the military and seen its membership decline, or dilute power in the military. Either way, Kim wants a system where elites on both sides check each other.

The Workers' Party is supposed to hold a congress session every five years, but it has not met since 1980, when Kim took power from his father behind the scenes.

"The conference will be a chance for the party to recover its power," said Park Hyeong-jung, a researcher at the Korea Institute for National Unification. "The appointment of the officials can give us an idea about how North Korea will run the nation."

In recent days, North Korea has escalated its rhetoric about the "rising generation," though Pyongyang's official Korean Central News Agency has not mentioned Kim Jong Eun by name. During last week's trip to China - North Korea's primary benefactor - Kim Jong Il took part in an evening ceremony at the Nanhu State Guesthouse in Changchun City, according to the KCNA. The agency listed at least 24 Chinese and Korean officials who attended, including Jang Song Taek, Kim Jong Il's brother-in-law, who is expected to act as a regent for the power transfer, and Chinese President Hu Jintao.

According to a transcript of Kim's speech that night, published by the KCNA, Kim said that given the "complicated" international situation, "it is our important historical mission to hand over to the rising generation the baton of the traditional friendship."

A subsequent 2,860-word account of the trip, also published by the KCNA, made three references to China-North Korea relations as one "generation is replaced by another."

U.S. Issues Another Fed Lawsuit?

T-post Tom — Sat, 04 Sep 2010 16:34:50 GMT

WTF? Litigious mf'ers. Maybe it is time to change the name of the "Justice" Department.

Arizona colleges accused of immigrant discrimination
Before this year, Phoenix-area community colleges asked legal immigrants to show a green card before hiring them. The Justice Department calls the policy 'document abuse' and seeks damages.

Employers who hire illegal immigrants can be fined, but the Obama administration warned this week that they also can be fined for asking legal immigrants to show their green cards before hiring them.

The Justice Department's civil rights division sued the Maricopa County Community Colleges in Arizona, seeking damages from schools for having "intentionally committed document abuse discrimination."

Prior to this year, the local colleges in the Phoenix area asked job applicants who were not U.S. citizens to show a driver's license, a Social Security card and their permanent resident card, commonly called a green card.

The Justice Department said a valid driver's license and a Social Security card are usually sufficient to show that a person is authorized to work. Requesting a green card amounts to "immigration-related employment discrimination," said Thomas E. Perez, the assistant attorney general for civil rights.

Federal law forbids treating "authorized workers differently during the hiring process based on their citizenship status," Perez said. He said the department's Office of Special Counsel would bring legal actions against employers who impose "unnecessary and discriminatory hurdles to employment for work-authorized noncitizens."

Amid the fierce controversy over immigration, the Obama administration has launched three lawsuits this summer to protect the rights of Latinos and legal immigrants — all three targeting Arizona.

In July, the administration successfully blocked Arizona's law that authorized state and local police to check the immigration status of persons who were arrested. On Thursday, it sued Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio seeking documents that could show he has illegally targeted Latinos in the course of his immigration sweeps.

The suit against the Maricopa community colleges, announced Monday, and could affect employers across the nation.

"Employers are getting very mixed messages from the government," said Jessica Vaughan, a policy analyst with the Center for Immigration Studies.

On one hand, employers have been told they need to do more to verify that their workers are legal and authorized to work in the United States. Federal immigration law says hiring "an unauthorized alien" can result in fines of up to $3,000 per worker. However, another provision of the same law bars employers from requesting "more or different documents" than are needed to prove a noncitizen's legal status.

In the Maricopa college case, the Justice Department said it wanted "full remedial relief" for 247 noncitizens who applied for jobs with the community college district between August 2008 and January of this year, plus a civil penalty of $1,100 for each of them.

"We are extremely disappointed by the Justice Department's action. We had no intent to discriminate against any foreign national, and we feel we have been singled out for the maximum penalty under the law," said Charles Reinebold, a spokesman for the community colleges. "There was no actual harm here. This was a paperwork error, and we revised it after it was brought to our attention."

Vaughan said she was "very surprised the administration would resort to a lawsuit. In the past, the emphasis has been on mediation to resolve these issues."

But others applauded the administration's move to enforce the anti-discrimination parts of the immigration law.

Gening Liao, a lawyer for the National Immigration Law Center in Los Angeles, said the law itself is clear.

"If you bring in a driver's license and a Social Security card, those documents are sufficient. Employers are prohibited from asking for extra documents or different documents," she said. "This is blatant discrimination, and we get calls about it all the time. We hope to see more lawsuits like this."

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationwo...,5792545.story

Obama $700,000 pissed away

HonestChieffan — Sat, 04 Sep 2010 16:07:14 GMT

Northwestern prof defends federally funded humor grant
Thursday, September 02, 2010

http://abclocal.go.com/wls/story?sec...al&id=7647039o

Eric Horng, ABC 7 Chicago reporter
September 2, 2010 (EVANSTON, Ill.) (WLS) -- A research professor at Northwestern University is defending a more than $700,000 stimulus grant he has received to create computer software that tells jokes.

Professor Kristian Hammond says it's serious work. But some critics say using stimulus money for this type of research is no laughing matter.

Critics say the project is simply a waste of taxpayer money. But the man behind this next-generation software say those detractors, which include Senator John McCain, have never bothered to call and ask him what his work is all about.

In a building at Northwestern in Evanston, computer sciences professor Kristian Hammond is trying to make computers funny.

"Understanding what makes humor, what makes irony, what makes interesting juxtapositions, to understand what that means we can actually create it. We can create new material," said Hammond.

It's all heady, academic stuff, but Hammond is trying to give computers intuition.

The next-generation software looks at news stories and social media, and brings words together to form original lines of thought -- a joke, if you will.

The material generated so far is not exactly killer standup material, and Hammond's critics certainly aren't laughing.

The project has received more than $700,000 in federal stimulus money. Recently, Senator McCain singled out Hammond's project, calling it a "joke machine," one of many examples, he said, of wasteful spending.

"None of them really have any meaningful impact on creating jobs," McCain said.

"You can take anything and give money out and 'create jobs,' but this is not the type of thing that leads towards long-term robust growth," said U.S. Rep. Peter Roskam, (R) western suburbs.

"We have nothing but anticipation that this will actually create more and more jobs," said Hammond.

Hammond received the funding after he applied to the National Science Foundation, beating out dozens of other applicants.

"The same technology could be used to write scientific papers," said Hammond.

In fact, the project also looks at voting behavior and migration patterns.

Hammond hopes it will all lead to a smarter internet.

"We're working on a technology we think in the long run will co-opt the engines," said Hammond. "So when you communicate with a search engine, rather than telling it what you want, it infers what you want."

That's all well and good, say critics, who argue it's not exactly a "shovel ready" project, as advertised by the White House.

The funding is spread over three years, and Hammond says he is using it to hire a small staff and buy equipment.

Hammond says he never thought the project would generate this kind of attention.

(Copyright �2010 WLS-TV/DT. All Rights Reserved.)

Int'l Issues Kooky Kraut Commies Corrupt Kids!

gblowfish — Sat, 04 Sep 2010 03:21:42 GMT

http://tinyurl.com/26bs8yu
German party mistakenly hands out porn pens to kids
Reuters

BERLIN (Reuters Life!) � To sweeten their first day at primary school German children are normally given a cardboard cone filled with sweets, but schoolchildren in Essen this year opened their cones to find pens which project erotic images.

Children attending the Adolf Reichwein School in the northwestern German city were handed cones containing the pens by members of the German Communist Party, according to the school's headmaster.

Angry parents who discovered that the pens given to their six-year-old children could project erotic images of women informed the headmaster.

In a press release the German Communist Party stated that it had purchased the pens from a discount store, which had said the pens lit up at the push of a button.

"The German Communist Party deeply regrets what has happened and is outraged that this kind of thing, which borders on pornography, can be purchased in normal shops," it said, adding that its lawyers were now investigating whether the vendors could be prosecuted.

The party has offered to exchange the pens for something more suitable for children.

U.S. Issues OHHNOESS FLA Conservative/R Gov candidate picks a black female as running mate

HonestChieffan — Sat, 04 Sep 2010 02:08:14 GMT

http://hotair.com/archives/2010/09/0...orial-contest/

Obama Taxpayers likely to face initial loss on GM IPO-sources

petegz28 — Sat, 04 Sep 2010 01:17:37 GMT

http://uk.reuters.com/article/idUKN0315109920100903

:facepalm: