It's Bush's fault...

...or it could be because Cindy Sheehan is putting a boost in the economy by putting her Crawford, Texas property for sale.

From AP:

Wall Street advanced sharply Wednesday, sending the Standard & Poor's 500 index to its first record close in more than seven years, after minutes from the Federal Reserve's last meeting offered investors no major surprises about the economy. The Dow Jones industrials also reached a new high close.

Technorati tags: business stocks S & P economy Bush

Iowa Sears boots two cops out of store for wearing uniforms

This is how retail works: You unlock the door in the morning, you staff the store, you stock the shelves, and welcome customers in.

If a couple of customers some in dressed in their police uniforms, you treat them as any other customer.

Except at a Sears store in Des Moines, Iowa.

From the Des Moines Register:

Sears corporate officials Tuesday apologized to two police officers who were told to leave the retailer's store at Merle Hay Mall in Des Moines because their uniforms were a distraction to store security personnel.

"I was dumbfounded," Officer Richard Glade said. "I said, 'You've got to be kidding me.' "

Kimberly Freely, a spokeswoman at the Illinois headquarters of Sears' corporate parent, initially called the incident a "mix-up." She did not elaborate, but later, in a written statement, she described the episode as a case of mistaken identity.

"Our store management was attempting to address an ongoing issue of excessive socialization between mall security officers and store associates, which had been hampering associates' productivity," Freely's statement read. "In no way was this an attempt to prevent on- or off-duty officers from shopping at our store. Sears is issuing a formal apology to the Des Moines Police Department through store management, and we look forward to serving all members of the Des Monies community."

Complete idiocy. Sears used to be America's largest retailer, and it's pretty easy to see why they've taken a fall. Morons run the show there.

Three weeks earlier, another Des Moines cop in uniform was booted out of the store.

The last time I was in Des Moines, I noticed other retailers besides Sears.

Technorati tags: retail news Sears business Des Moines Iowa police law enforcement

Fred Thompson's campaign to be born after the Fourth of July

A few years ago I read--I think it was in the National Review--that Tennessee was a good place for a president to come from.

I don't believe they had Al Gore in mind.

The reasoning was this: It's a little eastern, geographically, it's southern, but not Deep South, it's close to the Midwest, and its early heroes, Andrew Jackson and Davy Crockett, were cowboys before cowboys existed.

In short, many Americans can relate to the state.

And since Fred Thompson is a common fixture on our television screens via Law and Order, America may relate to Fred. He's expected to announce his run for the presidency after the July 4 holiday.

The Republican field will get a little more crowded, but perhaps by then, one of the weaker candidates, such as Wisconsin's Tommy Thompson, will have dropped out. His only hope for support is to get confused for Fred.

The picture? Taken at the Cumberland Gap last fall.

Related post: Cumberland Gap: Where the West was first won

Thanks for link: Leslie's Omnibus

Technorati tags: republican politics election 2008 Fred Thompson Tennessee Tommy Thompson

Father of Chicago alderman charged in phony ID ring

Earlier this year, Ricky Munoz won reelection to his seat as alderman Chicago's 22nd Ward on the city's southwest side.

But last month, federal agents raided a retail photo studio in the ward that allegedly was part of a plot to produce phony identification cards. The owner of the shop is Elias Munoz, Ricky's father.

From ABC 7 Chicago:

Federal agents allege that a ring of fake ID sellers that operated for at least 3 1/2 years in the parking lot of a Little Village strip mall routinely sent their customers -- sometimes over 100 a day -- to Nuevo Foto Munoz, 3105 W. 26th St., to fill out forms and have their pictures taken for $10 each. At another location, the counterfeiters used the snapshots to make bogus Social Security cards, green cards and driver's licenses.

I don't think I paid more than six dollars for my passport photo I got last winter at a Morton Grove Walgreens; I live in a middle class part of the Chicago area, and Munoz's ward, well, let's just say it's not in prosperous part of the metropolis. So $10 for a similar pic is a bit high. But part of the senior Munoz' defense will be that he was just taking photographs.

This is just a new twist on an old story: Not only do Chicago aldermen seem to find themselves in trouble with the law, so do their relatives--and this time it's Elias Munoz, father of Ald. Ricky (who has not been implicated).

Technorati tags: fake ID forgery crime Chicago politics Illinois

Islamic Society of Boston drops lawsuit against David Project, others

Earlier this month, friend of the blog Solomonia out in Boston put together a superb piece of original reporting called The Silencing.

Pulling a page from the CAIR playbook, the Islamic Society of Boston sued
Tthe David Project, Boston Herald, Fox-TV, and others for defamation. Simply put, the group, who is building a mosque in the Hub City's Roxbury neighborhood, has pretty clear ties to radical groups.

Rather than cleanse itself of these elements and coming clean, the Islamic Society of Boston decided to sue.

Surely, the Society thought the defendants would cave in and fall on their swords in collective PC guilt. But as Andy Whitehead of Anti-CAIR did in his legal tussle with CAIR, the Boston defendants held their ground.

And it was the Islamic Society of Boston who caved in.

Stand up to jerks like these. They're not used to people fighting back.

Pete Townshend of The Who phrased it best in "The Dirty Jobs" from his Quadrophenia masterpiece:

My karma tells me
You've been screwed again.
If you let them do it to you
You've got yourself to blame.
It's you who feels the pain
It's you that feels ashamed.

Don't feel ashamed when you fight for your rights.

Metaphorically speaking only of course, you should make the other side feel the pain when getting hit with a frivolous lawsuit.

Here is an excerpt from The David Project press release announcing the dropping of the suit by the ISB:

The David Project has announced that the Islamic Society of Boston ("ISB") and its officers have withdrawn all of their claims against all of the citizens who raised concerns about the ISB, its funding and its leadership, as well as all of their claims against the Boston Herald, Fox-TV and the various journalists whose investigative pieces about the ISB in 2003 and 2004 disclosed damaging information about the ISB and its controversial land deal with the Boston Redevelopment Authority ("BRA"). The ISB and its officers have abandoned all of their claims against all of the defendants they sued 2 years ago, without payment to the ISB or to them of any money whatsoever.

The ISB's decision to drop all of its claims against all of the 17 defendants it sued back in 2005 alleging "defamation" and accusing them of conspiring to violate its civil rights comes just months after the defendants--who included a Muslim cleric, a Christian political science professor and the Jewish daughter of Holocaust survivors, as well as Boston civic leader William Sapers and national terrorism expert Steven Emerson--had begun through their lawyers to conduct discovery into the ISB's financial records, its receipt of millions of dollars in funding from Saudi Arabian and other Middle Eastern sources, its contributions to certain organizations and the records of certain of its officers and directors. The ISB's abandonment of its lawsuits comes only weeks after two of its original Middle Eastern Trustees, Walid Fitaihi of Saudi Arabia and Ali Tobah of Egypt, suddenly resigned as Trustees just before they were required to submit themselves to the jurisdiction of the Massachusetts court hearing the case.

The David Project, whose public records litigation against the BRA forced the public disclosure of evidence regarding the below-fair-market land deal between the BRA and the ISB and the role played in that deal of BRA Deputy Director Muhammed Ali Salaam, will proceed exactly as before with its litigation, seeking the remainder of the documents presently withheld by the BRA. That litigation, The David Project v. Boston Redevelopment Authority, is on file in Suffolk Superior Court in Boston.

"We were determined from the beginning to act the way citizens should, by asking questions about this matter and by refusing to be intimidated into staying silent," said David Project founder and President Charles Jacobs, "and we intend to continue as we have before. Indeed, the evidence that has emerged about the transaction, about the BRA's failure to do due diligence into those whom it chose to subsidize and about the funding and the leadership of the organization that received this public subsidy is of extremely deep concern. That evidence not only vindicates the reporting of the courageous journalists whose investigative work broke the story back in 2003 and 2004, but validates many times over the concerns expressed by the good and decent citizens—Muslims, Christians and Jews- who refused to stay silent."

"Those citizens were vilified by the ISB for having had the courage to speak out", said Jacobs. "The ISB's abandonment of its claims without payment of one dollar to them, coming as it does as the ISB was ordered to turn over evidence, speaks more eloquently than anything else could about the truth of what these citizens said, about the validity of their concerns, and about the lack of merit to the ISB's allegations that they had been 'defamed' and had been financially 'damaged'. Above all, the ISB's ultimate abandonment of its lawsuits speaks eloquently about the importance of refusing to be bullied and intimidated into silence."

"This has never been about the right of all people to worship, and to construct houses of worship, which is an important right possessed equally by all people, warranting great respect," said Jacobs. "What it has been about is specific evidence about specific leaders of a specific organization, and about evidence regarding the funding of that organization and those whom it, in turn, was funding. The threat of Islamic extremism in the United States and elsewhere is a real one. Many of the most courageous and forceful individuals speaking out about this threat are themselves Muslims, and they deserve the support of all of us. The victory we have achieved in this case is a victory for many, but perhaps especially for them, as it bolsters and encourages them, and sends a message on their behalf that intimidation will not work."

ISB's dropping of the defamation suit is another victory for the blogosphere. It's effect is perhaps not as immediately apparent as the Rathergate episode, but its impact may end up being just as profound.

Martin Solomon of Solomonia has been blogging on this case for at least a couple years. Well, done, man. Relax and have a Samuel Adams.

Related post:

In Boston: A place worse than the Bridgeview Mosque

Technorati tags: law religion islam muslims Boston massachusetts CAIR

Obama universal health care plan means higher taxes

Fresh from his "No politics, please" appearance in New Hampshire, my junior Democratic senator, Barack Obama, unveiled his universal health care in Iowa City this morning, as the Des Moines Register reports:

Presidential candidate Barack Obama's plan for universal health care for all Americans requires $50 billion to $65 billion in new revenue, according to estimates released this morning by his campaign.

The campaign suggested tax increases for the wealthiest Americans may be the way Obama would pay for his plan. The campaign released estimates from the Urban/Brookings Tax Policy Center saying the money could be raised by restoring the top two personal income tax brackets and rates on dividends and capital gains to Clinton-era levels.

A vote for Obama is a vote for higher taxes.

Related post:

Obama in NH: Memorial Day not for politics

Technorati tags: Democrats Obama politics Barack Obama 2008 election Memorial Day Iowa taxeshealth care

Hillary got $4,000 donation from high school student

Hillary Clinton just might have made a very strong impression on suburban Chicago high school student, Cameron Ramsdell in 2003. Or is there another explanation?

From the Reverse Spin blog:

While Barack Obama tries to draw fine lines on who he will accept money from, his presidential opponent Hillary Clinton has shown she has no boundaries whatsoever. She is taking it from convicted criminals, accused sexual harassers and privacy pirates. Add Illinois high schoolers to that bottomless list.

According to the Federal Election Commission, Hillary took $4,000 from a Cameron Ramsdell, student, Bannockburn, IL., on Dec. 29, 2003. The FEC lists his address as 1200 Valley Road. In 2003, a Cameron Ramsdell was playing football at Lake Forest Academy, a private high school.

Most high schoolers don’t have $4,000 lying around to give away and those who do are not going to give it to a U.S. Senator from another state.

Unless, of course, his mother or other relative is an employee for a company whose top officials have given Hillary more than $150,000 over the last several years and one that could strongly benefit from a Clinton presidency. Valerie Ramsdell has been a top official for Buffalo Grove-based International Profit Associates, a business consulting firm in the cross hairs of state and federal governments for alleged fraud and blatant company wide sexual harassment. Her $4,000 donation to Hillary two weeks prior to Cameron’s listed the same 1200 Valley Road address.

Dan Curry, a good friend of mine, has been following the Hillary/International Profit Associates connection at Reverse Spin.

This 2004 NBC 5 Chicago article sums up the IPA scandal:

Feds Investigate Harassment Allegations At Suburban Company, More Than 100 People Allege Sexual Harassment

Thanks for the link:

Blogmeister USA

Technorati tags: politics 2008 election Illinois Democrats Hillary hillary clinton scandal