Category: Breaking News

He’ll ask for a recount

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The count is now official, and Democrat John Lehman had defeated Van Wanggaard in the race for Wisconsin state senate, flipping the chamber to the Democrats:

Wisconsin Democrats moved a step closer to winning a recall challenge in the state Senate on Tuesday after a vote canvass in Racine County padded their candidate’s lead over state Sen. Van Wanggaard by 55 votes.

If the state elections board certifies the results, Democrats will have salvaged a single win after suffering bruising losses in the other five recall elections last week.

The canvass found that Democrat John Lehman had 36,351 votes, or 50.6 percent, while Wanggaard received 35,517 votes, or 49.4 percent. The margin of victory was 834 votes, surpassing the 779-vote difference that stood before the canvass was conducted.

Lehman’s victory isn’t official until the state Government Accountability Board certifies the results. That’s expected to happen next week.

800 votes might not sound like a not, but it’s more than 1% which means that there is not an automatic recount, but I’m sure that Wanggaard will ask for one.

It’s a long shot, but it also serves to forestall the Dems taking control of the Senate.

Think Norm Coleman/Al Franken writ small.

I’m sure that Wanggaard will be well rewarded for his efforts by the Koch brothers.

This Smells Like Karl Rove Punking Dan Rather

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We have a story that Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker fathered a child out of wedlock, and was rather a cad about it, by noted brain injury specialist Dr. Bernadette Gillick, who said that it was her roommate.

There has since been a denial from the woman in question. (Actually, within hours of the publication of the story)

It smells to me a lot like the punking that Rove gave Dan Rather over George W. Bush’s Texas National Guard service (or lack thereof).

In the case of W, the stories were probably true, and the false story was likely floated in order to defuse the issue.

In the case of Scott Walker, I’m not sure if there is an actually baby that he abandoned, or this is an attempt to distract attention from the John Doe investigation which has already snared his closest political advisers, but it smells like a ‘Phant false flag operation.

In related news, the DoJ will be sending observers to monitor the elections.

I hope they bring cuffs to Waukesha county, because with county clerk Kathy Nickolaus running elections there, despite having been forced to delegate her duties to her deputy, I expect it to be an orgy of irregularities there.

Bummer of a Birthmark, George

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Bummer of a birth mark

George Zimmerman’s bail has been revoked because the judge has determined that he lied about his finances at the bail hearing:

A Florida judge on Friday revoked the bond of George Zimmerman, who has been charged with second-degree murder in the shooting of Trayvon Martin, after state prosecutors argued that Mr. Zimmerman, with the help of his wife, had misled the court about his finances.

During an afternoon hearing in Sanford, Fla., a Seminole County Circuit Court judge, Kenneth R. Lester Jr., ordered Mr. Zimmerman, 28, a former neighborhood watch volunteer who himself aspired to be a judge, to surrender to authorities within 48 hours.

Judge Lester made his ruling shortly after an assistant state attorney, Bernardo de la Rionda, asserted that Mr. Zimmerman and his wife, Shellie, during a bail hearing on April 20, had “lied” and “were very deceptive” about assets available to them. That hearing cleared the way for Mr. Zimmerman’s release from jail on $150,000 bond. He had to put up 10 percent, or $15,000, to make bail.

The judge determined that Mr. Zimmerman, who has been in hiding because of concerns about his safety, had engaged in “material falsehoods.” At issue is the roughly $200,000 Mr. Zimmerman raised through a legal defense Web site, money that Mr. Zimmerman’s lawyer, Mark M. O’Mara, said he learned of several days after the bond hearing.

So, now in addition to going back to jail, the judge has just called him a liar.

His defense team has to be throwing a fit right now.

What the F%$#?

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Keith Olbermann just got fired by Current TV:

The cable channel indicated that he had failed to honor the terms of his five-year, $50 million contract, giving the channel the right to terminate it. Starting Friday night, the former New York Gov. Eliot L. Spitzer will take over Mr. Olbermann’s 8 p.m. time slot.

In reading the statement from Current TV (Below, after break) it appears that he was simply too difficult to work with.

I can’t imaging that it’s ratings.  He really put the network on the map.

This is a recurring issue in his career, and he really needs to address this.

From current:

To the Viewers of Current:
We created Current to give voice to those Americans who refuse to rely on corporate-controlled media and are seeking an authentic progressive outlet. We are more committed to those goals today than ever before.
Current was also founded on the values of respect, openness, collegiality, and loyalty to our viewers. Unfortunately these values are no longer reflected in our relationship with Keith Olbermann and we have ended it.
We are moving ahead by honoring Current’s values. Current has a fundamental obligation to deliver news programming with a progressive perspective that our viewers can count on being available daily — especially now, during the presidential election campaign. Current exists because our audience desires the kind of perspective, insight and commentary that is not easily found elsewhere in this time of big media consolidation.
As we move toward this summer’s political conventions and the general election in the fall, Current is making significant new additions to our broadcasts. We have just debuted six hours of new programming each weekday with Bill Press (“Full Court Press” at 6 am ET/3 am PT) and Stephanie Miller (“Talking Liberally” at 9 am ET/6 pm PT).
We’re very excited to announce that beginning tonight, former New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer will host “Viewpoint with Eliot Spitzer,” at 8 pm ET/5 pm PT. Eliot is a veteran public servant and an astute observer of the issues of the day. He has important opinions and insights and he relishes the kind of constructive discourse that our viewers will appreciate this election year. We are confident that our viewers will be able to count on Gov. Spitzer to deliver critical information on a daily basis.
All of these additions to Current’s lineup are aimed at achieving one simple goal — the goal that has always been central to Current’s mission: To tell stories no one else will tell, to speak truth to power, and to influence the conversation of democracy on behalf of those whose voices are too seldom heard. We, and everyone at Current, want to thank our viewers for their continued steadfast support.
Sincerely,
Al Gore & Joel Hyatt
Current’s Founders

Olbermann’s statement:

My full statement:

I’d like to apologize to my viewers and my staff for the failure of Current TV.
Editorially, Countdown had never been better. But for more than a year I have been imploring Al Gore and Joel Hyatt to resolve our issues internally, while I’ve been not publicizing my complaints, and keeping the show alive for the sake of its loyal viewers and even more loyal staff. Nevertheless, Mr. Gore and Mr. Hyatt, instead of abiding by their promises and obligations and investing in a quality news program, finally thought it was more economical to try to get out of my contract.

It goes almost without saying that the claims against me implied in Current’s statement are untrue and will be proved so in the legal actions I will be filing against them presently. To understand Mr. Hyatt’s “values of respect, openness, collegiality and loyalty,” I encourage you to read of a previous occasion Mr. Hyatt found himself in court for having unjustly fired an employee. That employee’s name was Clarence B. Cain.

In due course, the truth of the ethics of Mr. Gore and Mr. Hyatt will come out. For now, it is important only to again acknowledge that joining them was a sincere and well-intentioned gesture on my part, but in retrospect a foolish one. That lack of judgment is mine and mine alone, and I apologize again for it.

It’s a Good Election Night

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But not a great one, with Ohio overturning Governor John Kasich’s union busting bill, while in Mississippi, they defeated the “fetal personhood” referendum, and Maine defeated the elimination of same day voter registration by the ‘Phants.

On the other side, it’s likely that Virginia’s state Senate will flip to the ‘Phants, (actually a 20-20 tie, but the Lt. Gov, who breaks ties is a Republican) with the pivotal seat having the Republican leading by 86 votes, and Mississippi approved a poll tax strict photo ID requirements.

I will say that the recall of über wingnut, and state senate leader, Steve Pearce in Arizona, made famous as the sponsor of Arizona’s “Papers Please” law, does make me chuckle.

If They Believe Mayor Bloomberg, They Are Idiots…

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He’s claiming that the Occupy Wall Street people need to leave Zuccotti Park to allow for cleaning:

The small Manhattan square occupied by anti-Wall Street protestors for almost four weeks will be temporarily cleared for cleaning on Friday, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg said.

Bloomberg went to the protest site, where several hundred people are camped out, to explain the move, which would be the first time the demonstrators are asked to leave, the mayor’s office said.

Bloomberg said the owners of the plaza wanted to exercise their duty in cleaning it — and that this was their right, although protestors would be allowed back immediately.

My first question is why did they sell a public park to private owners?

It was not clear whether this signaled an attempt by the city to clear out the protest, which is being held in a privately owned plaza that the owners are obliged to make available to the public.

Holloway promised “protesters will be able to return to the areas that have been cleaned, provided they abide by the rules that Brookfield has established for the park.”

Among new rules posted at the park are a ban on sleeping bags and other camping paraphernalia.

Yeah, like this this isn’t an attempt to shut these folks down.

Expect cops to start seriously breaking heads in the next week.

(on edit)

The deadline given by Brookfield is 7:00am EDT (GMT-4) today.

Wisconsin Recall Update

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As it stands right now, 2 Republicans were recalled, and 3 survived the vote, and one race, the race between Alberta Darling (R) and Sandy Pasch (D), is too close to call.

I’m not going to be up late enough to call this, but considering the fact that part of the district is in Waukesha County, where Waukesha County Clerk Kathy Nickolaus mysteriously found a few thousand votes for Supreme Court Justice David Prosser in April, I’m going to say that a surprisingly robust turnout from Waukesha County county will likely have ‘Phant winning.

Nicklaus is either incompetent or corrupt, but each time something comes up, the irregularities cut in favor or Republicans, so I’ll go with corrupt.

This means that the Republicans will maintain control of the Senate, which is a bummer.

Yes, recalls are hard, and the performance was historically good, these were Republican leaning districts, and the elections were close, but this is going to be spun as a Republican victory by the media and the conventional wisdom.

I will bet heavy odds that in the next few weeks, a senior administration official will be anonymously quoted excoriating the grass roots over wasting all that money and effort, just like they did over the Blanche Lincoln primary challenge.

In any case, I am turning off the teevee and going to bed.

(Morning update via mobile)
Confirmed. Only two pickups. Damn.

Oh Crap!

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The Japanese have just raised the nuclear alert level of the Fukushima Daiichi power plant to 7, the highest possible level, and only reached once before, at Chernobyl:

Japan is to raise the nuclear alert level at the Fukushima Daiichi power plant to a maximum seven, putting the emergency on a par with the 1986 Chernobyl disaster.

Nuclear safety officials had insisted they had no plans to raise the severity of the crisis from five – the same level as the Three Mile Island accident in 1979 – according to the international nuclear and radiological event scale.

But the government came under pressure to raise the level at the plant after Japan’s nuclear safety commission estimated the amount of radioactive material released from its stricken reactors reached 10,000 terabecquerels per hour for several hours following the earthquake and tsunami that devastated the country’s northeast coast on 11 March. That level of radiation constitutes a major accident, according to the INES scale.

This ain’t an attempt to corner the market on glow in the dark watches, this is serious.

Sikorsky X2 Wins Collier Trophy

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Click for full size

Demonstrator


Commercial variant


Assault and utility


Search and rescue


Attack

The award of what is arguably the most prestigious award in aerospace is well deserved.

They have validated that their advancing blade concept helicopter can work, and work without the workload or vibration issues that bedeviled its predecessor in the 1980s, and they have done so on a relative shoestring.

It appears to have most of the advantages, and none of the disadvantages of tilt-rotor technology.

He’s Officially Running

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Yes, leave me off your mailing list

A while ago, I demanded that my email be removed from the OFA list, so I did not get the email blast announcing the fact that Barack Obama is officially running for reelection.

I’m just glad that I live in Maryland, because if my vote counted here, I might have to vote for him again.

Thankfully, my vote does not matter, so I don’t have a moral dilemma:  I can write in Howard Dean.