Noisy Sex Session Awakens Entire Street

Bill's Comment: A breather in between all of this political stuff. I figured that you might get a kick out of this one.
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Noisy Sex Session Awakens Entire Street

Tue Aug 31,10:20 AM ET

BERLIN (Reuters) - A pair of young lovers so annoyed their neighbors with a noisy sex session that police had to go and ask them to lower the volume, police said on Tuesday.

Officers in the western city of Essen interrupted the couple shortly after midnight after neighbors, listening to the sounds through an open window, called to complain.

"Gradually more and more neighbors gathered in front of the house to investigate the noise," said a police spokesman.

The embarrassed couple were asked to close the window and continue at a lower volume, he said.

Millions Blocked from Voting in U.S. Election

Bill's Comment: The election is not even here yet, and they are already crying, and excuse that I am not buying. What about those in the military overseas? At least their argument is legitimate. It goes to show you to not believe in everything you read and see in the "mainstream" media.
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Millions Blocked from Voting in U.S. Election

circa 9/22/04.
Source: Reuters

By Alan Elsner

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Millions of U.S. citizens, including a disproportionate number of black voters, will be blocked from voting in the Nov. 2 presidential election because of legal barriers, faulty procedures or dirty tricks, according to civil rights and legal experts.

The largest category of those legally disenfranchised consists of almost 5 million former felons who have served prison sentences and been deprived of the right to vote under laws that have roots in the post-Civil War 19th century and were aimed at preventing black Americans from voting.

But millions of other votes in the 2000 presidential election were lost due to clerical and administrative errors while civil rights organizations have cataloged numerous tactics aimed at suppressing black voter turnout. Polls consistently find that black Americans overwhelmingly vote for Democrats.

"There are individuals and officials who are actively trying to stop people from voting who they think will vote against their party and that nearly always means stopping black people from voting Democratic," said Mary Frances Berry, head of the U.S. Commission on Human Rights.

Vicky Beasley, a field officer for People for the American Way, listed some of the ways voters have been "discouraged" from voting.

"In elections in Baltimore in 2002 and in Georgia last year, black voters were sent fliers saying anyone who hadn't paid utility bills or had outstanding parking tickets or were behind on their rent would be arrested at polling stations. It happens in every election cycle," she said.

In a mayoral election in Philadelphia last year, people pretending to be plainclothes police officers stood outside some polling stations asking people to identify themselves. There have also been reports of mysterious people videotaping people waiting in line to vote in black neighborhoods.

Minority voters may be deterred from voting simply by election officials demanding to see drivers' licenses before handing them a ballot, according to Spencer Overton, who teaches law at George Washington University. The federal government does not require people to produce a photo identification unless they are first-time voters who registered by mail.

"African Americans are four to five times less likely than whites to have a photo ID," Overton said at a recent briefing on minority disenfranchisement.

Courtenay Strickland of the Americans Civil Liberties Union testified to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights last week that at a primary election in Florida last month, many people were wrongly turned away when they could not produce identification.

BLACKS' BALLOTS REJECTED

The commission, in a report earlier this year, said that in Florida, where President Bush (news - web sites) won a bitterly disputed election in 2000 by 537 votes, black voters had been 10 times more likely than non-black voters to have their ballots rejected and were often prevented from voting because their names were erroneously purged from registration lists.

Additionally, Florida is one of 14 states that prohibit ex-felons from voting. Seven percent of the electorate but 16 percent of black voters in that state are disenfranchised.

In other swing states, 4.6 percent of voters in Iowa, but 25 percent of blacks, were disenfranchised in 2000 as ex-felons. In Nevada, it was 4.8 percent of all voters but 17 percent of blacks; in New Mexico, 6.2 percent of all voters but 25 percent of blacks.

In total, 13 percent of all black men are disenfranchised due to a felony conviction, according to the Commission on Civil Rights.

"This has a huge effect on elections but also on black communities which see their political clout diluted. No one has yet explained to me how letting ex-felons who have served their sentences into polling booths hurts anyone," said Jessie Allen of the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University.

Penda Hair, co-director of the Advancement Project, which seeks to ensure fair multiracial elections, recently reported that registrars across the country often claimed not to have received voter registration forms or rejected them for technical reasons that could have been corrected easily before voting day if the applicant had known there was a problem.

Beasley said that many voters who had registered recently in swing states were likely to find their names would not be on the rolls when they showed up on Election Day.

"There is very widespread delay in the swing states because there have been massive registration drives among minorities and those applications are not being processed quickly enough," she said.

Panel OKs Extension of Tax Cuts

Panel OKs Extension of Tax Cuts

circa 9/23/04

By MARTIN CRUTSINGER, AP Economics Writer

WASHINGTON - Legislation to extend several popular middle class tax cuts cleared a House-Senate conference and could be on President Bush (news - web sites)'s desk within days, handing him a major legislative victory in the closing weeks of the presidential campaign.

The $145.9 billion package marked the fourth significant tax cut package that the president has championed since taking office.

The bill was considered must-pass legislation by Republicans because without it provisions dealing with the child tax credit, relieving the marriage penalty and providing an expanded 10 percent tax bracket would have expired at the end of this year.

The House was expected to take up the measure as early as Thursday. Republican leaders predicted it would win Senate passage either Friday or early next week.

"President Bush has made it a priority to make sure that families keep more of their own money, and we intend to deliver on that priority," House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Bill Thomas, R-Calif., said after a joint House-Senate conference committee completed work on the bill late Wednesday.

While Democrats has originally argued that the government could not afford the price tag of extending the tax cuts in light of soaring budget deficits, leaders of both parties expected the legislation to pass easily in both chambers.

Bush had rejected a deal in July that would have extended the tax cuts for just one year and paid for them by closing various corporate tax loopholes. He held out instead for a five-year extension in a gamble that opposition would lessen the closer lawmakers got to the November elections.

All members of the House must stand for re-election on Nov. 2, as will two-dozen senators.
Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D., who is in a tight re-election race, said last week that he could support the longer extension and would not insist on the tax cuts being paid for by raising taxes in other areas.

The tax package would keep the child tax credit at $1,000, instead of letting it drop to $700. It also would continue an expanded 10 percent tax rate that lowers tax bills for virtually all taxpayers. A third provision would continue to offer married couples relief from the so-called marriage penalty that can take a bigger tax bite from some couples than if they were single taxpayers.

The child tax credit was extended for five years, while the marriage penalty relief was extended for four years and the expanded 10 percent tax bracket for six years.

In addition to those three provisions, the tax package would extend for one year current relief from the alternative minimum tax, which was intended to make sure that wealthy Americans did not escape paying taxes but is starting to ensnare more middle income taxpayers.

The cost of the middle class tax relief was put at $131.4 billion over 10 years.

At the last minute, the Republican leaders of the conference committee decided to extend, generally for one year, nearly two dozen business tax breaks. The largest one of these would extend a research and development tax credit for one year at a cost of $7.56 billion.

Other tax breaks which would be extended included support for the economic recovery of New York City's lower Manhattan district, which was hit during the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, and tax credits to support the purchase of electric cars and the production of electricity from wind and biomass products, including poultry litter. The total cost for expanding the expiring business tax breaks was put at $12.97 billion.

Sen. Max Baucus (news, bio, voting record), D-Mont., failed in his efforts to amend the package by including additional corporate tax breaks or alternatively to hold down the cost by limiting the middle class tax breaks to just one year and paying for it by closing various corporate tax shelters.

Sen. Blanche Lincoln (news, bio, voting record), D-Ark., also was unsuccessful in efforts to expand the part of the child tax credit that is refundable to low-income wage earners with children.

"This would provide additional tax relief for working families," she said, arguing that her provision would have benefited more than 4 million families whose earnings are too low to take full advantage of the refundable child tax credit.

Sen. Charles Grassley (news, bio, voting record), R-Iowa, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, said he hoped with passage of the middle class tax relief, the White House would honor a pledge to support a separate corporate tax bill needed to repeal an export subsidy that has been ruled illegal by the World Trade Organization (news - web sites) and replace it with other types of corporate tax breaks.

As long as that subsidy remains in place, Europe is imposing penalty tariffs on 1,600 U.S. manufactured goods and farm products exported to Europe. The tariff, now 11 percent, is increasing 1 percentage point per month.
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Bill's Comment: If we can work those European countries to either reduce or eliminate the penalty tariffs, this will be a win-win situation for both sides.

Cleveland Ranked Nation's Poorest Big City

Cleveland Ranked Nation's Poorest Big City

circa 9/23/04

By M.R. KROPKO, Associated Press Writer

CLEVELAND - Crushed by the loss of steel and other manufacturing jobs, Cleveland has ranked high for poverty before — but never No. 1. That changed when a report from the U.S. Census Bureau (news - web sites) recently rated it has the nation's poorest big city, putting it ahead of Detroit, Miami and Newark, N.J.

"To be ranked No. 1, that's bad," said Councilman Zachary Reed. "Let's be honest, the fact is people in our community are living in poverty and just making it day to day."

The unwanted distinction is the latest in a litany of struggles for Cleveland, which appeared to be on the rebound over the past decade, with the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Cleveland Browns Stadium, Jacobs Field and Gund Arena.

But this year the budget-strapped port city laid off hundreds of police officers and firefighters and reduced trash pick up and other city services.

Hundreds of teachers and other workers were laid off from city schools and officials are pushing a $68 million tax increase on the November ballot to try to ease some of the schools' financial needs.

With a poverty rate of 31.3 percent in 2003, Cleveland stands out even in Ohio: Cincinnati's was 21.1 percent, Toledo 20.3 percent and Columbus 16.5 percent.

The overall poverty rate in the United States was 12.7 percent, according to the survey released Aug. 26.

"I guess I am a little surprised, because my sense was that Cleveland was a city on the rebound," said Tom Kaplan, the associate director of the Institute for Research on Poverty at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Despite Cleveland's thriving image in the 1990s, poverty was always in the background, said Myron Robinson, president of the Urban League of Greater Cleveland and co-chair of a newly formed civic committee on job creation.

"We had probably about 42,000 African American males unemployed then, as now. It didn't get a lot of attention until now. It's like we hit rock bottom."

The city remains home to a few steel and other manufacturing companies, many with scaled back work forces.

Hospitals, banks, law firms and universities are other big employers in Cleveland, which has a 12.2 percent unemployment rate. That's nearly double the state rate of 6.3 percent in August, when the national rate was 5.4 percent.

Deann Hazey, spokeswoman for the Convention & Visitors Bureau of Greater Cleveland, views tourism as one solution to the poverty problem.

"We want to create a greater demand in the hospitality industries. Those with good people skills, not necessarily a college degree, can find a good job opportunity and work their way up," she said.

Rose Blade lives in Cleveland's Mount Pleasant neighborhood, where well-maintained homes and businesses mix with those in disrepair. The former factory worker is among the thousands who are unemployed.

"Things are really tough around here," said Blade, 45. "There's too many hungry people."
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Bill's Comment: So much for LBJ's "War on Poverty". I am sure that this is not how the late President envisioned it to be. Speaking of the Democratic Party, what is the Kerry/Edwards plan?

What is the common link between Cleveland, Detroit, Detroit, and Newark, NJ? They are all mayored by Democrats! If want to see a successful big city, look at New York City over the last ten years, under the Republican leadership of both former Mayor Rudy Giulianai and current Mayor Michael Bloomberg. The last big city success under Democratic Party regime was when current Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell was chief executive for Philadelphia.

Something else to think about for Election Day. ...

Game Puts Players in Kerry's Swift Boat

Game Puts Players in Kerry's Swift Boat

Fri Sep 24, 7:38 AM ET

By MATT SLAGLE, AP Technology Writer

DALLAS - An upcoming video game lets players re-enact the Swift boat mission in Vietnam that won Sen. John Kerry (news - web sites) a Silver Star award for battlefield heroism.

The first-person shooter "Kuma War" uses a ripped-from-the-headlines approach where gamers can download and then relive actual battles, mainly from the current war in Iraq (news - web sites).

Beginning Sept. 30, the "John Kerry" mission will be available for download as an add-on pack for the game, made by New York-based Kuma Reality Games.

The Kerry mission is based on the Navy's records of the encounter on Feb. 28, 1969.

Playing as Lt. John Kerry, you lead three Swift boats into enemy fire on the banks of the Mekong Delta. Don't try to turn around and flee — the game is scripted, so you have no choice but to attack the enemy before they kill you.

Kerry is unaware of the game and had no comment, spokeswoman Allison Dobson told The Associated Press. She said Kerry doesn't play video games.

The Silver Star was awarded for Kerry's actions in pursuit of enemy forces while commander of Swift boat unit PCF-94.

Some veterans have challenged the Democratic presidential candidate's version of the circumstances surrounding the incident that led to the award, as well as his three Purple Heart medals.

"The level of rancor has been such that few of us know what is supposed to have occurred in anyone's version of the story," Kuma Reality chief executive Keith Harper said. "Kuma Games is in a unique position to bring clarity to ordinary people's understanding of Swift boats, of the men who served in them, and of the events in question by letting you, as Lt. John Kerry, join Swift boat PCF-94 during these important events."

Last week, Navy inspector general Vice Adm. R.A. Route concluded in a memo that procedures were followed properly in the approval of Kerry's awards.

Other recent "Kuma War" missions include "Battle in Sadr City," which creator Kuma Reality Games says is based on an actual U.S. Army operation that occurred May 23, 2004.
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On the Net:
http://www.kumawar.com

Another "Attic Days" Session

Hi Everyone,
It is time for another "Attic Days" session. While most of us, including myself, are still in a fall cleaning mode, why not do it with the archives in my e-mail? I will tryo to focus on ones that pertain to bothcurrent and relevant issues.

Enjoy what lies ahead!

Bill

Curt Schilling on "The Late Show with David Letterman", 10/21/04

This is the Top Ten List from Thursday night, with Boston Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling. Enjoy!
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Schilling delivers Top Ten
10/22/2004 12:46 AM ET

Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling appeared on Late Show with David Letterman on Thursday night to deliver The Top Ten list.

Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling, who picked up the win in Game 6 of the ALCS against the Yankees despite an ailing right ankle, appeared on Late Show with David Letterman on Thursday night to deliver The Top Ten list: Top Ten secrets of the Red Sox comeback.

10. Unlike the first three games, we didn't leave early to beat the traffic.

9. We put flu virus in Jeter's Gatorade.

8. Let's just say Pete Rose made some phone calls for us.

7. We asked Pokey Reese to be a little less Pokey.

6. It's not like we haven't won a big game before -- it's just been 86 years.

5. Honestly, I think we were tired of hearing about the Patriots.

4. The messages of encouragement Martha sent on prison napkins.

3. We pretended the baseball was Letterman's head.

2. What'd you expect -- we have a guy who looks like Jesus!

1. We got Babe Ruth's ghost a hooker and now everything's cool.

This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.

Report Cites Corruption in Oil Nations

Report Cites Corruption in Oil Nations

Wed Oct 20, 9:06 AM ET

Source: Associated Press

LONDON - Most oil-producing nations are also rife with corruption, and oil companies should provide more information about their operations to help clean up the market, a global watchdog group said Wednesday in an annual report.

Angola, Azerbaijan, Chad, Ecuador, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq (news - web sites), Kazakhstan, Libya, Nigeria, Russia, Sudan, Venezuela and Yemen scored very low in clean government practices, said Transparency International Chairman Peter Eigen in releasing the "Corruption Perceptions Index" for 2004.

"In these countries, public contracting in the oil sector is plagued by revenues vanishing into the pockets of Western oil executives, middlemen and local officials," he said.

Eigen said oil companies could help stamp out corruption by publishing details of the fees, royalties and other payments made to governments and state oil companies.

Transparency International said 146 countries were surveyed for the report — not just oil-producers — and it found that corruption was rampant in 60 nations.

The survey found that 106 scored lower than a 5, with a top score of 10 being the least corrupt. Bangladesh, Haiti, Nigeria, Chad, Myanmar, Azerbaijan and Paraguay were perceived to be the most corrupt, all scoring lower than 2.

The United States ranks number 17, with a score of 7.5, tied with Belgium and Ireland, better than France but worse than Canada.

The index is compiled from a series of polls on perceptions of corruption made by independent organizations. This year's report is based on 18 surveys conducted since 2002, by a dozen groups. The index rates only those countries which appear in three or more surveys.

Finland, New Zealand, Denmark, Iceland, Singapore, Sweden and Switzerland were rated the least corrupt, all scoring higher than 9 out of 10 on the index.

Compared to last year's report, corruption was perceived to be worse in Bahrain, Belize, Cyprus, Dominican Republic, Jamaica, Kuwait, Luxembourg, Mauritius, Oman, Poland, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, and Trinidad and Tobago.

Improved scores were recorded for Austria, Botswana, Czech Republic, El Salvador (news - web sites), France, Gambia, Germany, Jordan, Switzerland, Tanzania, Thailand, Uganda, United Arab Emirates and Uruguay, Transparency International said.

Love-Making Couple Sparks Police Emergency

Love-Making Couple Sparks Police Emergency

Wed Oct 20,10:31 AM ET

Source:Reuters

LONDON (Reuters) - British police sprang into operation after receiving an emergency '999' phone alert from a woman in apparently in some distress -- only to discover it had accidentally been made by a couple having sex.

Officers at Durham in northern England became alarmed when the call came through to their headquarters in the middle of the night and all they could hear was what sounded like a woman crying with a man's voice in the background.

Police traced the number and rushed to the scene, where they found the embarrassed and disheveled couple who explained they were "messing around."

"It happened while they were having sex. The woman had depressed with her foot the '9' button on the phone which happened to be on the floor," a Durham police spokesman told Reuters Wednesday.

"It certainly put a smile on the faces on the police side -- we were just very relieved it wasn't a violent situation and that the couple were clearly getting on very well together."