4-8-09
* Democrats are far less likely than Republicans to define themselves as “extremely proud” to be an American. Nice.
* Democrats are less likely than Republicans to believe that the United States can solve its problems. In other words, we need to look outside of our country to the international community for those solutions.
* Democrat voters are far more likely than Republican voters to feel that their own success in life is beyond their control. If you can’t control your own future … just what good is freedom anyway? Right?
* Democrats are more likely than Republicans to basically give up when faced with adversity. Yup … give up and rely on government.
Cyberspies have penetrated the U.S. electrical grid and left behind software programs that could be used to disrupt the system, according to current and former national-security officials. The spies came from China, Russia and other countries, these officials said, and were believed to be on a mission to navigate the U.S. electrical system and its controls. The intruders haven’t sought to damage the power grid or other key infrastructure, but officials warned they could try during a crisis or war. “The Chinese have attempted to map our infrastructure, such as the electrical grid,” said a senior intelligence official. “So have the Russians.”
Jack Spirko owns a media company, is married to a nurse and has a son in college. He has two dogs and lives in a nice house with a pool in a diversified neighborhood in suburban Arlington, Texas. Spirko, 36, considers himself an average guy with a normal life. But for the past few years, Spirko has been stockpiling food, water, gas, guns and ammunition. He also has a load of red wine, Starbucks coffee and deodorant stashed away.
Somali pirates hijacked a U.S.-flagged, Danish-owned container ship on Wednesday with 20 American crew on board in a major escalation in attacks off the lawless Horn of Africa nation, officials said. The 17,000 ton Maersk Alabama was seized off Mogadishu far out in the Indian Ocean, but all its crew were believed to be unharmed, Andrew Mwangura, coordinator of the Mombasa-based East African Seafarers’ Assistance Program, told Reuters.
White House officials travelled to France at the start of March to discuss a visit by Mr Obama to Omaha Beach, the site of the American Cemetery, established in 1944 just after D-Day and where 9,387 American personnel are buried. Among them is Theodore Roosevelt Jr the eldest son of the 26th US President.
“It wasn’t going to happen,” said an American official in Washington. “We went through the motions to placate President Sarkozy but giving special treatment to France was not on our agenda.
Federal regulators are proposing several options for reining in the short-selling of stocks as investors and lawmakers clamor for brakes on moves they say worsened the market’s downturn. The Securities and Exchange Commission is meeting to vote on new rules restricting short-selling, in which traders try to profit from a stock’s decline by selling borrowed shares. One option being advanced for public comment involves restoring the so-called uptick rule, which requires short sellers to wait to sell shares until a stock trades at least a penny above its previous trading price.
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The U.S. Treasury said on Wednesday some life insurers have met requirements for government capital investments due to their status as bank holding companies, and their applications for bailout funds are now being considered.
Steven Crowder keeps the American apology to the world campaign flowing.
I’ll be the first to say it; Barack Obama’s G20 speech inspired me over the past week… I tell you no lies. In the spirit of his apologetic, butt-kissing extravaganza, I felt compelled to make some additional apologies on behalf of our backwards nation. I suggest you all pitch in and add your own. As Americans, we’ve all got a lot to be sorry for… But admitting that we have a problem is the first step towards recovery.
Voters in the small northeastern Missouri town of Winfield re-elected their mayor for a fourth term on Tuesday, about a month after his death. Ballots had already been printed and absentee voting had already begun when Harry Stonebraker died of a heart attack at age 69 on March 11. He won easily in Tuesday’s general election with 206 votes, or 90 percent. Alderman Bernie Panther got the other 23 votes.
The D.C. Council on Tuesday unanimously agreed that the District should recognize gay marriages performed in other jurisdictions, a likely step toward nation’s capital legalizing same sex marriage. “A marriage elsewhere is a marriage in the District,” said Ward 1 Councilman Jim Graham, who is openly gay. “This is a very important step forward.” The gay marriage recognition comes as an amendment, offered by at-large Councilman Phil Mendelson, to a bill authorizing the D.C. tax office to release personal information of filers to the U.S. District Court. The council must approve the bill a second time, likely next month; Mayor Adrian Fenty must sign it and then it must survive a 30-day congressional review before becoming law.