Socialism and prescription porn welcome here!

Halters Excellent Pick: David Cook For The Ethics Commission!
I learned about this the other night from David Cook’s son, Phillip, a friend of the blog, but everyone else seems to have beat me to reporting it.  On his way out of office, Lt. Gov Bill Halter had the chance to appoint someone to the state board of ethics and he couldn’t have made a better choice.  Former Representative Cook (our choice for Congress you’ll recall) was probably the most honest and decent member of the State Legislature.  Over his years in the Ho...

Amazon threatens to dump Illinois associates over unconstitutional bill - Tenaska threatens to abandon project
* The so-called Amazon Tax also passed the House yesterday… Now, some large Internet Retailers such as Amazon.com and Overstock.com don’t collect Illinois sales taxes because they don’t have a physical Illinois presence. Shoppers technically still owe the taxes, but the vast majority don’t pay because they’re unaware. The Legislation would force Amazon to collect the taxes because they have certain kinds of contracts with Illinois companies. It was approved by a 88-29 vote. I

Illinois moves to tax online purchases, hits bloggers, small business
Internet Retailer today: Lawmakers in Illinois have voted for a 6.25% tax on online retail purchases. The levy, which still needs the Governor's approval, would apply to goods bought through affiliates of online Retailers that take in least $10,000 worth of annual sales in the state. Illinois Affiliate Tax Will Harm Small Businesses and Reduce Tax Revenue Tax Foundation here. Just got an email from Amazon:

The NY Times Explains the Constitution
Posted by John at 6:04 PM It is fascinating to see the liberal response to House Republicans reading the Constitution in the House chamber. At the New York Times, reporter Kate Zernike offers an "annotated guide" to the Constitution that purports to explain the main Battlegrounds between, as the Times frames the dispute, the Tea Party and Progressives: The following is an annotated guide to the clauses most revered, and disputed, by advocates on either side of the political spectrum. The Times'...

Republican Hot Air
So, the Republicans in the House are now promising to follow the Constitution. Does this mean Social Security and the federal Minimum Wage will be abolished, to name just two out of hundreds of thousands of Unconstitutional federal programs? Don’t hold your breath. I note also that Republicans in the House are going to vote on repealing ObamaCare. Does this mean they will also vote to Repeal Bushcare, otherwise known as the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act ...

Ex-Vermont U.S. Attorney Office Aide Tipped Drug Dealer, Feds Say
A former aide in the Vermont U.S. Attorney’s office on Tuesday pleaded Not Guilty to charges related to claims she tipped off a suspected Drug Dealer to an ongoing Criminal Investigation, the Burlington Free Press reported. Danielle Hall is charged with one count of obstruction of justice and one count of making false statements. According to the indictment, while working as a legal aide in the office, Hall twice in 2008 spoke to Michael Ryan , a suspect in a federal grand-jury investigati...

You Got Served, Fiddler on the Roof
Hi. I’m Mark Jaquith (JAKE-with). I’m a Lead Developer for the WordPress publishing platform and am a freelance WordPress consultant. This is my personal blog. You can subscribe to my feed or follow me on Twitter....

Gov. Pat Quinn (D, IL) about to destroy IL Amazon affliliates?
It’s certainly looking that way: the Democrat-run (Democrat-dominated) State Legislature has just passed a bill to tax online purchases (via Points and Figures, via Instapundit): the bill is just waiting for Governor Pat Quinn’s (D) signature, which is almost certainly inevitable.  In fact, the state of Illinois is going to raise taxes across the board - because that’s what Democrats do .  Business is good; raise taxes.  Business is bad; raise taxes.  Business is in a

Judge has final say in Anna Nicole Smith case
Los Angeles — A judge who once warned that if he disagreed with jury verdicts in the Anna Nicole Smith prescription drug case he might make changes in those decisions now has the chance to do just that at sentencing for a Psychiatrist and Smith’s lawyer boyfriend. Attorneys for Dr. Khristine Eroshevich and Howard K. Stern are asking that their felony convictions be reduced to Misdemeanors, or dismissed. In the alternative they are asking for a new trial. In a surprising turnaround, ...

Anna Nicole convictions dismissed
A judge has dismissed drug Conspiracy charges against the boyfriend and Psychiatrist of Anna Nicole Smith. A jury in October found Howard Stern and Dr Khristine Eroshevich guilty of conspiring to obtain Prescription Drugs for the former Playboy model by Fraud. Los Angeles judge Robert Perry ruled at a sentencing hearing he did not believe she was an addict under anti-drug laws. Smith died in 2007 at 39 from a prescription drug Overdose. The pair were not charged in her death. "The court has...

Good news? Recession slowed health care spending
WASHINGTON (AP) — It sounds like good news: The Recession slowed the growth of the nation’s Health Care bill to the Lowest Levels ever measured. But a government report Wednesday said medical costs still gobbled up a record share of the overall economy, meaning the slowdown did not change the nation’s underlying problem with out-of-control Health Care spending. Americans spent $2.5 Trillion on Health Care in 2009, or $8,086 per person, said the new estimates by number crunchers...

Good news? Recession slowed health care spending (AP)
WASHINGTON – It sounds like good news: The Recession slowed the growth of the nation's Health Care bill to the Lowest Levels ever measured. But a government report Wednesday said medical costs still gobbled up a record share of the overall economy, meaning the slowdown did not change the nation's underlying problem with out-of-control Health Care spending. Americans spent $2.5 Trillion on Health Care in 2009, or $8,086 per person, said the new estimates by number crunchers at Medicare's ...

Tony Newman: Nice People Take Drugs
Nice People Take Drugs. That's the name of a campaign launched by Release, a nonprofit service and advocacy organization in the United Kingdom. The campaign aims to inspire a more honest discussion and approach to drug use in our society and also to highlight the stigma faced by people who use or have used illicit drugs. I first heard about the campaign when I received a call from someone at Release who was coming to New York and other U.S. cities to take photos of Americans holding up signs...

Judge Tosses Jury Verdicts Against Anna Nicole Smith's Boyfriend
Howard K. Stern caught a break today when the judge threw out the jury's Guilty verdicts against him. Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Robert J. Perry dismissed two counts of conspiring to provide Prescription Drugs against Howard K. Stern, 42, Smith's lawyer and boyfriend at the time of her death in 2007, saying there was "insufficient evidence," despite the fact a jury had convicted him in October. The judge also dismissed all but one Guilty verdict against Anna Nicole Smith's fo...

With sentencing, judge has final say in Smith case
LOS ANGELES (AP) — A judge who once warned that if he disagreed with jury verdicts in the Anna Nicole Smith prescription drug case he might make changes in those decisions now has the chance to do just that Thursday at sentencing for a Psychiatrist and Smith’s lawyer boyfriend. Attorneys for Dr. Khristine Eroshevich and Howard K. Stern are asking that their felony convictions be reduced to Misdemeanors, or dismissed. As an alternative they are asking for a new trial. In a surprising ...

Verdict overturned in Anna Nicole case
LOS ANGELES, Jan. 6 (UPI) -- A Los Angeles judge has overturned a jury's October conviction of lawyer Howard K. Stern, the former boyfriend of late model Anna Nicole Smith. Smith died in 2007 of an accidental prescription drug Overdose. She was 36. Stern was convicted of two counts of Conspiracy for providing her with drugs obtained through alleged illegal prescriptions. He was found Not Guilty on seven other charges. However, People.com said a judge ruled Thursday there is no evidence Stern int...

Case dismissed against Anna Nicole Smith boyfriend
Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Robert J. Perry dismissed two counts of conspiring to provide Prescription Drugs against Howard K. Stern, 42, Smith's lawyer and boyfriend at the time of her death in 2007, saying there was "insufficient evidence," despite the fact a jury had convicted him in October. The judge did say that prosecutors could decide to retry him on the two felony accounts if they desired. Judge Perry also dismissed three of four charges on which Smith's former Psychiatrist, Dr. K...

With sentencing, judge has final say in Smith case
FILE - In this Dec. 11, 2009 photo, Anna Nicole Smith's lawyer and ex-boyfriend, Howard K. Stern leaves Los Angeles Superior Court after a hearing of the Conspiracy trial of Stern, Sandeep Kapoor and Dr. Khristine Eroshevich. Prosecutors in the Anna Nicole Smith prescription drug case are urging a judge to choose felony Probation, Community Service and fines rather than Prison for Dr. Khristine Eroshevich and Howard K. Stern, her Psychiatrist and lawyer-boyfriend convicted of obtaining drugs fo ...

Penn investigates death at frat house New Year's Eve
University of Pennsylvania police and officials are continuing to investigate the death of Matt Crozier, a 20-year-old college Basketball player who died this week after falling between floors at a New Year's Eve party inside a Penn fraternity house. Crozier, a La Salle College High School graduate and Student at John Carroll University in Ohio, died Wednesday at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. He suffered severe head injuries after falling over a railing from the second floor to...

The Hills Sam Youngman Blasts Olbermann Over Professional Left Comments
On Wednesday night’s Countdown, host Keith Olbermann made a somewhat cryptic reference to the “Professional Left” flap that put many liberals into meltdown mode. Speaking of Robert Gibb s’ departure with former Governor Howard Dean (D-Vt), Olbermann said that he knew “from conversations at the time” that the kerfuffle was caused by “a combination of not setting ground rules with some reporters, and a lot of misunderstandings and frustrations.” He w...

Jeffrey Evans: And the Winners of the Stupidest Text Messages of the Year Are...
This is a list I did not want to write and, hopefully, I will never have to write again... but I doubt it. The "Texties" are awards given by my company, TigerText, to individuals who made the most egregious texting errors of the calendar year -- the folks who had the worst "I'm such an idiot for sending that" moments of 2010. We judged the "winners" based on the following criteria: absurdity of message sent, creativity in language, thoughtlessness, personal reputation destruction, and the imp...

Open Thread
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The Globo warming debate and teh jobs it chases out of US
It is long, but is an interesting debate on the facts of Global Warming and the effects of this administration's policy which is causing uncertainty in the market place. Will the EPA start regulating water vapor now? Will they tell you to turn off your shower? It is a point I have raised and is now being asked by others. Related articles GOP Targets EPA Rules To Address Global Warming (NPR.org) GOP Bills Would Curb EPA on Global Warming Battle (abcnews.go.com) GOP fires early salvo on global ...

Friday January 7th, 2010
What’s on your minds this Friday? What are people talking about in your part of the country? Be the first to like this post. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed. Blog at WordPress.com. — Theme: Connections by www.vanillamist.com....

The job killing health care bill
Image via Wikipedia IBD: The Democrats' overhaul was supposed to increase access to Health Care. Yet construction on 45 Hospitals has been shut down due to the Legislation. This is a step back, not ahead. As part of their effort to eventually end all private health care, the Democrats placed a provision in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act that in essence shuts down construction of new physician-owned Hospitals and blocks existing ones from expanding. At issue is Section 6001. It ...