Friday, June 3, 2011

Rick Santelli's Chicago Tea Party

Rick Santelli's Chicago Tea Party

MTA Officers Detain Man For Taking Pictures

Posted: 02 Jun 2011 12:07 PM PDT

From: Baltimore.cbslocal.com

BALTIMORE (WJZ) — The Maryland Transit Administration says more training may be called for after three MTA officers detained a man for taking pictures at a light rail station.

Pat Warren has more on the incident.

According to the ACLU, this isn't the first time MTA Police have overstepped their bounds.

In a YouTube posting, Christopher Fussell left the camera rolling when he was confronted by three MTA officers for taking pictures at the Baltimore Cultural Light Rail Station.

"It is my understanding that I am free to take pictures as long as it's not for commercial purposes but for personal use," Fussell said in the video.

"Not on state property, not without proper authorization," an officer said.

To read more, visit:  http://baltimore.cbslocal.com/2011/06/01/mta-officers-detain-man-for-taking-pictures/

Where’s my $65,000 tax refund?

Posted: 02 Jun 2011 12:03 PM PDT

By Blake Ellis, CNNMoney.com

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) — Tina and Kenny Thomas filed their taxes in February and are still waiting for their refund.

The Thomases are expecting a whopping $65,000 check from the IRS this year, thanks to the adoption tax credit they claimed after adopting five special needs children from foster care over the past few years.

The refund was supposed to arrive on May 3, according to the “where’s my refund?” tool on the IRS website. They’re still waiting for a check.

The family is buying a home in foreclosure for $55,000 and agreed to pay cash with their refund. But the check didn’t arrive by their closing date. They’ve already extended the closing date once, but if they don’t get the money by June 13, they may lose the house.

“We are frustrated because [the IRS] knows they owe it,” said Tina. “If we owed them, they would be charging us hundreds of dollars in interest. It’s a lot of money so it seems like they’re trying to prolong it as much as possible.”

While the couple finally received about $5,000 — the portion of their refund that doesn’t include the adoption credit — they have yet to see the bulk of the money.

To read more, visit:  http://money.cnn.com/2011/06/02/pf/taxes/adoption_tax_credit_refund_delay/?section=money_latest

Horror for US Economy as Data Falls off Cliff

Posted: 02 Jun 2011 11:59 AM PDT

By: Patrick Allen, CNBC.com

The last month has been a horror show for the U.S. economy, with economic data falling off a cliff, according to Mike Riddell, a fund manager at M&G Investments in London.

“It seems that almost every bit of data about the health of the US economy has disappointed expectations recently,” said Riddell, in a note sent to CNBC on Wednesday.

“US house prices have fallen by more than 5 percent year on year, pending home sales have collapsed and existing home sales disappointed, the trend of improving jobless claims has arrested, first quarter GDP wasn't revised upwards by the 0.4 percent forecast, durables goods orders shrank, manufacturing surveys from Philadelphia Fed, Richmond Fed and Chicago Fed were all very disappointing.”

“And that's just in the last week and a bit,” said Riddell.

Pointing to the dramatic turnaround in the Citigroup “Economic Surprise Index” for the United States, Riddell said the tumble in a matter of months to negative from positive is almost as bad as the situation before the collapse of Lehman Brothers in 2008.

“The correlation between the economic surprise index and Treasury yields is very close, so the lesson is that whatever your long term macro views are regarding hyper inflation vs. deflation or the risk of the US defaulting, the reality is that if you want to have a view about government bond prices, the best thing you can do is look at the economic data to see what's actually going on,” said Riddell.

To read more, visit:  http://www.cnbc.com/id/43239586

Bird-watcher wrongly arrested for possession of pot had sage in backpack

Posted: 02 Jun 2011 11:55 AM PDT

By SUSANNAH BRYAN, PalmBeachPost.com

She prayed for peace that day.

But the sage that Robin Brown carried on a bird-watching outing in Weston landed her in jail on felony charges of marijuana possession.

Now she is suing over the wrongful arrest.

“I’m not out for revenge,” said Brown, 49, a soft-spoken woman from Montana who moved to Hollywood in 2007. “I’m trying to bring information to light so that it doesn’t happen to anyone else.”

Sheriff’s Deputy Dominic Raimondi, 51, mistook Brown’s sage for marijuana, then searched her car and found more. His field kit said the sage — purchased at an airport gift shop in Albuquerque, N.M. — tested positive for marijuana.

He did not arrest her that day in March 2009, but sent the 50 grams of “contraband” to the crime lab for a more definitive test.

Assistant State Attorney Mark Horn ordered Brown’s arrest without having the sage tested, court records show.

To read more, visit:  http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/bird-watcher-wrongly-arrested-for-possession-of-pot-1507669.html

Netflix sharing will be a crime in TN

Posted: 02 Jun 2011 11:49 AM PDT

Written by Sheila Burke and Lucas L. Johnson II, Tennessean.com

State lawmakers in country music's capital have passed a groundbreaking measure that would make it a crime to use a friend's login — even with permission — to listen to songs or watch movies from services such as Netflix and Rhapsody.

The bill, which has been signed by Gov. Bill Haslam and takes effect July 1, was pushed by recording industry officials to try to stop the loss of billions of dollars to illegal music sharing. They hope other states will follow.

The legislation was aimed at hackers and thieves who sell passwords in bulk, but its sponsors acknowledge it could be employed against people who use a friend's or relative's subscription.

While those who share their subscriptions with a spouse or other family members under the same roof almost certainly have nothing to fear, blatant offenders — say, college students who give their logins to everyone on their dormitory floor — could get in trouble.

"What becomes not legal is if you send your username and password to all your friends so they can get free subscriptions," said the bill's House sponsor, Rep. Gerald McCormick.

Under the measure, download services that believe they are getting ripped off can go to law enforcement authorities and press charges.

To read more, visit:  http://www.tennessean.com/article/20110602/NEWS/306020033/Netflix-sharing-will-crime-TN?odyssey=tab|topnews|text|FRONTPAGE

E. coli Outbreak Caused by New Strain

Posted: 02 Jun 2011 11:46 AM PDT

From: FOXNews.com

London – An entirely new super-toxic bug is causing the frightening food poisoning outbreak that has sickened at least 1,600 people and killed 18, researchers and global health officials said Thursday.

The DNA of the new E. coli strain, believed to have contaminated salad vegetables, was analyzed by Chinese and German scientists. It contains several genes that cause antibiotic resistance and is similar to a strain that causes serious diarrhea and is found in the Central African Republic, according to a statement from the Shenzhen, China-based laboratory, BGI. Those scientists were working together with the University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf.

“This is a unique strain that has never been isolated from patients before,” Hilde Kruse, a food safety expert at the World Health Organization, told The Associated Press. The new strain has “various characteristics that make it more virulent and toxin-producing” than the many E. coli strains people naturally carry in their intestines.

Preliminary genetic sequencing suggests the strain is a never before seen combination of two different E. coli bacteria, with aggressive genes that could explain why the outbreak appears to be so massive and dangerous, the agency said.

Researchers have so far been unable to pinpoint the food source of the illness, which has now spread to at least 10 European countries and fanned uncertainty about eating tomatoes, cucumbers and lettuce. The germ has caused 499 to develop a kidney failure complication.

Germany is hardest hit.

Fearful of the outbreak spreading east to Russia, the country extended a ban on vegetables to the entire European Union from just Germany and Spain, a move the bloc quickly called disproportionate.

To read more, visit:  http://www.foxnews.com/health/2011/06/02/new-strain-e-coli-in-europe/

Sources say Chaffetz is in against Hatch

Posted: 02 Jun 2011 11:43 AM PDT

BY ROBERT GEHRKE, The Salt Lake Tribune

Utah Rep. Jason Chaffetz has told several Utah political insiders that he plans to run against Sen. Orrin Hatch next year, setting up a major intraparty Republican 2012 battle.

All eyes have been on the second-term congressman for months. But five Utah politicos, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Chaffetz has told them directly in recent weeks that he will contend for the Republican nomination.

Chaffetz said Tuesday that he's not making any official announcement yet, but he is moving toward a Hatch challenge.

"I have an increasing clarity," Chaffetz said. "Until I walk up to the microphone to make an announcement, it's not official. But it's no secret I've been thinking about this and I've been gravitating in that direction."

Hatch's campaign manager, Dave Hansen, said he has heard that Chaffetz has made some calls to tell people he would get in, but hasn't heard anything definitive.

"We'll just have to wait and see if he does it and, if and when he does, then I'll have a comment on it," Hansen said. "The senator's campaign is not based on who his opponents are. It's basically just making sure we get his message out."

To read more, visit:  http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/news/51919110-78/chaffetz-hatch-utah-republican.html.csp

TV Executives Admit in Taped Interviews That Hollywood Pushes a Liberal Agenda

Posted: 02 Jun 2011 11:38 AM PDT

By Paul Bond, Hollywoodreporter.com

Some of TV's top executives from the past four decades may have gotten more than they bargained for when they agreed to be interviewed for a politically charged book that was released Tuesday, because video of their controversial remarks will soon be hitting the Internet.

The book makes the case that TV industry executives, writers and producers use their clout to advance a liberal political agenda. The author bases his thesis on, among other things, 39 taped interviews that he'll roll out piecemeal during the next three weeks.

The Hollywood Reporter obtained several of the not-yet-released clips, embedded below. Each contains a snippet of an interview, usually some historical footage of the TV shows the interviewee was responsible for and, naturally, a plea to purchase the book, "Primetime Propaganda" by Ben Shapiro and published by Broad Side, an imprint of HarperCollins.

In one video, Friends co-creator Marta Kauffman says that when she cast Candace Gingrich-Jones, half-sister of Republican former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, as the minister of a lesbian wedding, "There was a bit of 'fuck you' in it to the right wing."

Kauffman also acknowledges she "put together a staff of mostly liberal people," which is another major point of Shapiro's book: that conservatives aren't welcome in Hollywood.

Maybe that's because they're "idiots" and have "medieval minds." At least that's what Soap and Golden Girls creator Susan Harris thinks of TV's conservative critics.

To read more, visit:  http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/tv-executives-admit-taped-interviews-193116

Detained for photography in Baltimore

Posted: 02 Jun 2011 09:10 AM PDT
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