31 January 2011
barky: judge who struck down obama care engaging in "judicial activism"
the white house blog excerpt:Today’s ruling – issued by Judge Vinson in the Northern District of Florida – is a plain case of judicial overreaching.
The judge’s decision contradicts decades of Supreme Court precedent that support the considered judgment of the democratically elected branches of government that the Act’s “individual responsibility” provision is necessary to prevent billions of dollars of cost-shifting every year by individuals without insurance who cannot pay for the health care they obtain.
And the judge declared that the entire law is null and void even though the only provision he found unconstitutional was the “individual responsibility” provision.
This decision is at odds with decades of established Supreme Court law, which has consistently found that courts have a constitutional obligation to preserve as a much of a statute as can be preserved. As a result, the judge’s decision puts all of the new benefits, cost savings and patient protections that were included in the law at risk.
Under today’s view of the law, seniors will pay higher prices for their prescription drugs and small businesses will pay higher taxes because small business tax credits would be eliminated. And the new provisions that prevent insurance companies from denying, capping or limiting your care would be wiped away.
We don’t believe this kind of judicial activism will be upheld and we are confident that the Affordable Care Act will ultimately be declared constitutional by the courts.(bold barky's) ~ read more
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live report from cairo egypt uprising
press tv correspondent, jihan hafez, in cairo gives a live report on what she's witnessing.
originally aired from 6:03 pm cairo, egypt time.
29 January 2011
debbie gibson
it's 1987 all over again and that was a very good year and the original non-trashy britney spears -- debbie gibson.
ms. gibson is still "the youngest person ever to write, produce and perform a number one single, 'foolish beat'"
"shake your love"
original music video
BABY!
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"only in my dreams"
live
... as real as it may seem ...
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"lost in your eyes"
original music video
... you can take me to the sky ...
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"out of the blue"
live
all it took was just one smile
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"electric youth"
original long form video
zappin it to ya
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"foolish beat"
live
it started the day that i left you
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daffodils blooming 2011
we were pleased to look out today and see the first flowers of the year beginning to bloom.
these daffodils are descendants of the bulbs first planted by our old irish granny probably about 70, 80 years ago. they usually start coming up around christmas time and bloom in the first week or so of february.
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perez hilton posts about "the story of bonnie and clyde"
via perez hilton:Sources confirm that The Story of Bonnie and Clyde, starring Hilary Duff as Miz Bonnie will being filming in March in Alabama and Louisiana.
Rounding out the cast of characters are Cloris Leachman, Lee Majors, Thora Birch and Kevin Zegers as Clyde! ~ read more
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28 January 2011
video egyptian president hosni mubarak speech addressing egyptian unrest
link to video watch/download page
press tv joined in progress -- originally aired from 0016 cairo, egypt time, saturday 29 january 2011.
26 January 2011
alexandria, la. city attorney charles johnson: city "council leadership has plunged the city into chaos"
kalb
UPDATED 5:55 pm cstEarly Wednesday News Channel 5 received a tip alleging that several Alexandria City Court prosecutors were suddenly fired.
We contacted Alexandria City Attorney Chuck Johnson for a comment and he released the following statement to us:
"None of the prosecutors at City Court were "fired" today.
I was forced to relieve them of their duties and to assume their responsibilities myself because the budget amendment passed last night by the council has no funding with which to pay them.
They are not employees of the city.
They are outside contract counsel paid through my professional fees and services line item.
This is just the first of a series of unfortunate fiscal measures which my division will be implementing.
Many more lawyers whom have done excellent work for the city over the years will have to be let go, through no fault of their own.
This reckless decision by the council leadership has plunged the city into chaos.
I will only be able to use contract attorneys with the special expertise we need in complex cases in only the most dire circumstances.
The hotel initiative is now imperiled, as well as several other major economic development projects."
News Channel 5 is trying to get City Council reaction to Johnson's comments and will provide those whenever possible. ~ read more
grant parish, la. sheriff baxter welch named as other man in divorce petition
the divorce petition of grant parish, louisiana resident david brian elias asserts that his wife heather denine tyler elias "committed adultery with baxter welch."
baxter welch is the sheriff of grant parish, louisiana.
sheriff welch is the second louisiana sheriff in recent months (the other being ouachita parish, sheriff royce toney) to be named as the "other man" in a divorce petition.
grant parish, la. sheriff named as other man in divorce petition
this petition was originally posted to the gannett/the town talk website here but it is not the complete petition. for some reason gannett/the town talk suppressed among other things -- the rule to show cause, service instructions as well as the complete petition including the prayer and verification.
see gannett/the town talk: grant parish divorce petition alleges deputy had affair with sheriff.
*also something else mysterious that we noticed: this petition asks for a louisiana code of civil procedure article 103 divorce -- however, when you navigate over to the official website of the louisiana state legislature www.legis.state.la.us containing the louisiana code of civil procedure at: www.legis.state.la.us/lss/lss.asp?folder=68 you notice that it suspiciously does not contain ccp 103.
*UPDATE 8:40 am cst 26 january 2011: "bigdummy" in a comment here informs us that it's louisiana civil code not code of civil procedure. the louisiana civil code is here. louisiana civil code article 103 is here.
if you're wondering if adultery is a crime in louisiana -- according to lake charles, louisiana attorney, andrew casanave, it is not a crime.
25 January 2011
"the story of bonnie and clyde" filming set to begin spring 2011
tonya holly with cypress moon productions says that a casting call will be held in february; preproduction in march with filming to begin in alexandria, la. in april 2011.
UPDATE: 26 january 2011 kalb.com q&a with 'bonnie and clyde' producer.
related posts
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"wanted"
link to video watch/download page
a look into the fresno, california, crime stoppers program.
24 January 2011
fred rosenfeld on gannett/the town talk's reporting of mayor roy's vandalized wikipedia entry
ksyl talk back 970 pre-show co-host, fred rosenfeld, on yesterday's lousy reporting by gannett/the town talk on city of alexandria, la. mayor jacques roy wikipedia entry vandalism.
link to audio download page
we agree with what mr. rosenfeld is really on about.
bob madison, who never has anything intelligent to say, mused, "well it's an anonymous blogger who gave an opinion you know." vandalizing a wikipedia entry IS NOT blogging, anonymous or otherwise. legitimately editing a wikipedia entry is not blogging either.
23 January 2011
woodworth speed trap creep wants to know where his money or school is at
the following letter appeared in today's gannett/the town talk "your mail" (formerly called reader's write) section and we're posting it here because of the great comment left by "combineman" which is at the bottom.Your Mail: Where's the school?
Combineman wrote:
For the past two parish tax collection seasons I, and others in my area, have paid the property tax assessed for the proposed new school at Woodworth.
The tax associated with building the school caused my property taxes to increase some 35 percent. For two years that increase in millage has been collected.
Where's the school? It hasn't even been started yet. It is my understanding that the land that was to be given by the U.S. Forest Service had Indian relics on it, and could not be donated.
How long can the School Board collect taxes for a project that they have not begun, and apparently don't even have the property yet to build it on?
While they are waiting to find a place to build it, what about the inflationary cost of building the school? The initial call for the bond issue had a limit set for the amount of money associated with building the school.
While the School Board fiddles around, the cost of the project is going up. Are they going to ask for an additional tax?
I asked the District Attorney if there was a limitation of time that could elapse from the passage of a tax issue to the beginning of the construction of the project. I got no answer.
Are the citizens going to be assessed for the 20 years of taxes, and the school not begun to be built? What is happening to the tax money while we are waiting?
And, by the way, the citizens defeated the maintenance tax proposal associated with this school. So, how does the School Board hope to maintain it, even if it is built? Another building like the parish coliseum?
This is all ridiculous, just like those managing the project.
The collected taxes should be returned to the taxpayers as it is obvious that it is not on the front burner for the School Board.
And, some in office wonder why the public is against new taxes?
Could be this is a good example.
Richard G. Moriarty
Woodworth
AWWW Someone who lives in the biggest speed trap in the state is whining about money being unfairly taken from them.What a tragedy.Sounds like whoever collects the tax money also collects the fine money.Hilarious!
1/23/2011 7:40:19 AM
see also
the woodworth label
in the footer of this post
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city of alexandria, la. mayor jacques roy wikipedia entry vandalized
among other "news" in today's "city notebook" the gannett/the town talk repeater, bret h. mccormick, beneath the heading "'wiki' woes" tells how mayor roy's "online profile" [correct term: wikipedia entry] "recently was changed [correct term: vandalized] to take shots at the mayor."
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anyway, mr. mccormick goes on to write how "an anonymous user, [correct term: vandal] whose ip address traced to sturgis, ky., updated [correct term: vandalized] roy's profile [correct term: wikipedia entry] around 5 a.m. jan. 8 and included derogatory comments about roy and members of his family."
naturally, we were intrigued and it made us wonder why someone in sturgis, kentucky would be interested in alexandria, louisiana goings-on.
so we navigated over to mayor roy's wikipedia entry: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacques_Roy;
then clicked on "view history" to pull up the revision history. there are only two revisions -- read instances of vandalism -- from 8 january 2011 -- one from 4:51 am and the second minutes later at 4:55 am.
both are from the ip address: 98.67.201.113.
however, when we did a whois lookup of 98.67.201.113 it resolves to an ip location in marksville, louisiana -- not sturgis, kentucky.
a traceroute also resolves to a host located in louisiana. as far as we can tell none of the hops even go through kentucky.
according to the revision history of jacques roy, the 8 january 2011 vandalism went unnoticed until 21 january 2011.
another interesting tidbit to be gleaned from the revision history is the five "revisions" made on 12 january 2010 from ip number: 12.34.246.74.
that ip number resolves to a computer registered to state farm mutual automobile insurance company.
related posts
edited for typos at 12:05 pm cst 24 january 2011
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22 January 2011
office depot; borders two of ten american companies predicted to disappear in 2011
according to an 18 january 2011 report by douglas mcintyre with daily finance, office depot and borders are two of ten companies predicted to disappear in 2011.
office depot has a store in alexandria, la. located at 1804-c macarthur drive. borders has stores in baton rouge, metairie and new orleans.
see 10 american companies that will disappear in 2011.
21 January 2011
dean martin asks the duke what he wants for his baby daughter
UPDATE: 06 september 2010:
we added this clip to the internet archive. you can click here or the "external link" towards the bottom of this post to view it / download it from there.
we added this clip to youtube. a regular wst... reader emailed it to us with this note: "listen to the whole conversation between dean martin and the duke. the end is very enlightening." indeed.
the two movies that the duke and dean martin made together were 'the sons of katie elder' and 'rio bravo.'
the western that the duke mentions he was working on with kirk douglas must have been 'the war wagon.'
marisa, the duke's then eight month old daughter is marisa carmela wayne she was born on 22 february 1966 which means that this clip is taken from "the dean martin show" original air date: 27 october 1966.
if you would like a copy then click here to download the clip 5mb .wmv file or use zamzar the youtube url is at the source link below.
pineville, la city council member nathan martin and wife are "adopting internationally"
a few minutes ago city of pineville, la. city council member for district #5, nathan martin, posted to his personal blog the news that his wife and he are adopting internationally. see we're adopting!
council member martin and his wife lori join another local blogger, perpetual renovator in exploring the international adoption process.
todd palin in sex scandal - national enquirer
read more >>>>====
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20 January 2011
speaking of birds...
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this is too weird. earlier today we posted a few snaps of an odd bird we spotted -- then a few minutes ago the library of congress tweeted about a cooper's hawk that has taken over its main reading room. see watching our researchers like a hawk.
====UPDATED: 5:25 pm cst 21 january 2011 with cnn story
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edited for clarity 7:19 pm cst 22 january 2011
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pretty bird
we dont have a clue what kind of bird this is. we were only able to get a couple of snaps before it gracefully winged away...
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====it could be an elusive and mysterious "louisiana pterodactyl-heron-crane-bird."
And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl [that] may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven.
And God created great whales, and every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind: and God saw that [it was] good.
And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let fowl multiply in the earth. ~ genesis chapter one verses twenty - twenty-two kjv
gas up
gas prices in central louisiana continue to rise.
today at the chevron station on highway 28 east near pineville, la. the price for a gallon [3.79 liters] of regular gas was at $3.059 [2.270 eur], while supreme was at $3.359 and plus $3.219.
on 06 january 2011 the price for a gallon of regular gas at the same station was $2.949. on 17 and 24 september 2010 at the same station the price per gallon of regular gas was $2.599.
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====19 January 2011
state supremes revoke noland james hammond license to practice law; permanently prohibited from being readmitted to the practice of law
In Re Noland James Hammond G.L. and I.S. were inmates at the Bunkie Detention Center in Avoyelles Parish.
In October 2003, respondent visited the jail and told Mr. L. and Mr. S. that he was an attorney, that he was familiar with the circumstances of their cases, and that he believed they had been wrongfully convicted.
Respondent advised the men that he believed he could obtain the reversal of their convictions, resulting in their immediate release from jail, but that he would need samples of their semen in order to do so.
The following day, respondent returned to the jail accompanied by a sixteen year old girl whom he identified as his “assistant.”
Under the pretense of requiring an attorney-client contact visit, respondent obtained permission to meet with Mr. L.and Mr. S. in a private office, along with his “assistant.”
Once the four were alone, the girl performed oral sex on Mr. L. and Mr. S. while respondent videotaped the encounter
18 January 2011
road construction on edgewood drive in pineville, la. to begin wednesday 19 january 2011
via: twitter @pinevillepd
Road construction will begin tomorrow on Edgewood Drive.
The construction will be on Edgewood Drive between Anna and Ivy Lane, just west of Pineville Junior High.
The project will be to replace damaged concrete pavement sections with new concrete pavement. In addition there will be some work to the base under the concrete pavement in selected locations.
Thru traffic will be maintained during the construction process. Temporary traffic signals will be utilized to allow for lane closures.
The Pineville Police Department requests that the public remain alert to construction signs, signals, and changing roadway conditions.
The work associated with this project should take approximately one (1) month to complete.
Remember to make adjustments to your schedule to accommodate the work zone area.
UPDATE: drive-by of the construction area on friday 28 january 2011
UPDATE: playlist of drive-by vids from january and march 2011 added
15 January 2011
photo: new york city from the international space station
via: twitter: @nasa_johnson (johnson space center) retweeted by @nasa
Even the space station crew can see all the snow on the ground around New York City: http://go.usa.gov/rFo
14 January 2011
does your camera or cell phone have gps and you like to post photos online? see this video
state supremes allow g thomas porteous jr to permanently resign from the practice of law in lieu of discipline
UPDATE: slabbed:With the handwriting on the wall, he saves the do-little Chuck Plattsmeier and his band of blind mice at the Louisiana ODC the work of booting him from the legal profession .... read more
13 January 2011
FLASHBACK edwin edwards the silver fox - clip from 'louisiana boys - raised on politics'
The rise and last hurrah of Louisiana Governor Edwin W. Edwards, the best Bayou State politician of the modern era.
From the documentary LOUISIANA BOYS - RAISED ON POLITICS at www.cnam.com.
related posts
10 January 2011
oz flooding
torrential downpours continue to hammer northeastern australia. flash floods have claimed eight more lives in small towns near brisbane and 72 people have been reported missing so far.
09 January 2011
multiculturalism unveiled part 1
link to video watch/download pageFundamentally challenges the term “Multiculturalism” and how this term is exploited in the Canadian political discourse.
noted and quoted:
"multiculturalism -- i think it's a bullshit concept."
"i dont know what it is. i dont know if its just a term that they made up to try to lure more ethnicities into the country and you know take away their backgrounds from them and have them work half assed jobs."
"the first time i went to a shopping mall ... supermarket, in ottawa an old white man told me 'you niggers are never gonna be as good as us.' are you going to tell me that's a multicultural society?
"when we say multiculturalism we can say yes in fact jail is very multicultural. go to the prison system you see all different types of shades and colors. but is that really worth anything?"
"it means one thing to be on the subway and hear different languages or on the street and hear different languages but what if those communities come and say 'hey, you know what? we want -- though our different languages, to also be part of the everyday curriculum.' then all of a sudden you've got a whole different set of claims."
jared lee loughner statement of probable cause / criminal complaint
News reports from Fox and other networks that Loughner is a US Army combat veteran of the war in Afghanistan are false.
That such information, easily verified in seconds, was released to the world, was extremely irresponsible and highly prejudicial to veterans.
Veterans Today finds this type of journalism despicable. ~ Veterans Today
08 January 2011
councilman harry silver phones into the fred and dave show
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link to audio download page
tail hooked
we're really enjoying the @navynews twitter feed
110107-N-7981E-178 PACIFIC OCEAN (Jan. 7, 2011)
An F/A-18E Super Hornet assigned to Strike Fighter Squadron (VFA) 81 makes an arrested landing aboard the aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson (CVN 70).
Carl Vinson and Carrier Air Wing (CVW) 17 are on a deployment to the U.S. 7th Fleet area of responsibility.
(U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class James R. Evans/Released)
07 January 2011
06 January 2011
uss ronnie raygun underway
via: twitter @navynews
110104-N-1722W-068 SAN DIEGO (Jan. 4, 2011)
The aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan (CVN 76) departs Naval Air Station North Island.
Ronald Reagan is on a scheduled underway for training and certification in preparation for a deployment in early 2011.
(U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Trevor Welsh/Released)
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05 January 2011
michael hoffman: in defense of robert e lee
link to audio download pageIn response to the Jan. 3 nationwide broadcast by PBS "public" television of a documentary on Confederate General Robert E. Lee, Michael Hoffman appeared on the Jeff Rense Radio program, Jan. 4, 2011, discussing General Lee and the antebellum South.
03 January 2011
state senator rob marionneaux threatens to sue the daily kingfish blog
daily kingfish had ran a check of outstanding parking and traffic tickets on the city of new orleans official website nola.gov and found over $2,000 worth of unpaid parking/traffic tickets linked to what they thought was state senator rob marionneaux's legislative prestige license plate "LA17" and posted it.
not long afterward, daily kingfish received "several vaguely threatening emails from the senator's senate committee staff regarding the parking tickets issue."
eventually, dk received an electric letter from senator marionneaux himself threatening legal action unless dk retracted its post.
a few minutes ago wst... ran a check from nola.gov for unpaid traffic tickets registered to license plate "LA17"
click picture to enlarge
12:04 pm cdt 03 january 2011in his letter to dk, senator marionneaux wrote that his vehicle has "never been registered with the state plate 'LA17'" and that he had his boys over at the city of new orleans parking ticket division as well as at the department of public safety and corrections, office of state police and office of motor vehicles look into the matter -- and wouldnt you know it -- each office confirmed that he does not have any outstanding violations on his driving record.
left unanswered in all this, is who is the owner of the prestige plate "LA17" and is it indeed a legislative prestige plate?
read the daily kingfish story here.
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gannett paywalls coming
here's something interesting we stumbled across this morning:
see also
gannett blog
tallahassee democrat adds paywall
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01 January 2011
"the loss of a teardrop diamond" hotel bentley scene
====we believe that these scenes were shot on 04 and/or 05 september 2007.
see also
historic hotel bentley website
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