I'MMA LET YOU FINISH
Hot Saturday morning and getting hotter by the minute.
WHere are you, mer?
Darn! Too late again! 
love that global warming...like the op-ed piece in the NYT about Barton, but the typical liberal Times is too wussy to come out and say that he is in the pockets on big oil!
Progressives need to start being assholes - it seems that the sheeple only respond to the whip!
I hate the damn threadbot, a real conversation killer.
mogwai ... the editorial does mention that Barton ""has been a leading beneficiary of campaign funds from the oil, gas and utility industries..."
res, Starting reading the thread below.
I'm in East TN. The temp is suppose to hit 95-97 today and tomorrow. The humidity is what makes it so unbearable.
love that global warming...like the op-ed piece in the NYT about Barton, but the typical liberal Times is too wussy to come out and say that he is in the pockets on big oil!
The fundies will save us all with their angel-piss-powered engine.
Damn it Jim, I'm just a backwoods climatologist, not God.
This was from last night's thread.
RNC Talking Points
Interesting. Sort of.
I'm in East TN. The temp is suppose to hit 95-97 today and tomorrow. The humidity is what makes it so unbearable.
mer
What kind of humidity you gettin' there?
Houston is at about 96% this morning. I expect that to drop into the 80% range, but that's because of rain later.
76 degrees, goin' for 92, but again, because of the rain.
This morning I was greeted with the AJC's coverage of Chimpy's Bamboozlepalooza stop in Atlanta and my local hillbilly rag's sorry attempt at a similar story.
The AJC actually printed (on the jump, page A9) a photo of some of the 150 protesters, and took the time to quote some of them.
My hillbilly rag quoted nobody but Chimpy and Mama Corleone.
and it occurred to me: for all the whining I hear from white, red-state Reep assholes about the lack of assimilation of our local Latin-american immigrants, the truth is, it's the Reep assholes who won't assimilate. If they choose to, they can read nothing but hillbilly papers, listen to nothing but RW hate radio, and watch nothing but Foxsnooze.
Is atrios trying to tell us that the troubles in the monkey palace are the results of the love that binds chimpy and rove & company?
That would explain gannon/guckert.
I don't like to visualize chimpy, rove, and cheney sharing their "threads", however.
From the previous thread on Jack Welch and the corporate media. Sure would like to see some cites in that article.
Angel piss -
Good one LR
I read the editorial. I can't describe in words how angry it makes me that we have a government that allows people like this Barton cretin to harass scientists as such.
The mother fucker should be drawn and quartered.
Does anyone remember that video passed around circa 1990 saying that even if global warming was for real, that would hardly be a bad thing. Think of the Minnesota banana crop! Think of the coastal development in Antarctica! Think of how much easier drilling for Siberian oil will be!
I kid you not, and the video was apparently quite popular in the Poppy Bush White House
I read the editorial. I can't describe in words how angry it makes me that we have a government that allows people like this Barton cretin to harass scientists as such.
If we didn't have fools in the legislature, it wouldn't be a representative body.
The fundies will save us all with their angel-piss-powered engine.
Actually, they are working to converting blood directly into oil -- that way, we could meet our engergy needs without sending our sons and daughters oversees.
We could just kill them here and convert them to meet our energy needs.
My understanding is that the only problem is that the military-industrial complex is not ready to give up their perpetual war.
Some people just resist change.
History's purchased pages to call them great.
The humidity is what makes it so unbearable.
Or as I like to say, "It's not the heat; it's the stupidity!"
Hydrate!
From the Repuke talking points link above. Melmac's talking to black folk here. This is too much to be believed.
“…It’s more than just words, and more than outreach. Republicans are committed to inclusion. Outreach is when you show up to ask for the vote 4 weeks before the election. I’m here 4 years before the next presidential election asking for your help. “
Translation:
We in the repuke party love all you African-Americans. We think everyone ought to own one or two...
Knoxville at 8:20:
Temp. 77
Humidity 87
I feel like I'm living in a swamp.
I was reading about the Egyptian bombings a few minutes ago. My brain is numb.
Central Iowa Today, 100 degrees, 90 percent plus humidity.
Same tomorrow.
OYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY
Oh, and morning.
In the words of Cardinal Milfington...
Keep on fornicating, fornicators.
This prolongued heatwave reminds me that perhaps we have stopped going there and just have arrived in Hell in a handbasket.
Stressed US Troops
In Iraq 'Turning
To Drugs'
By Thomas Harding in Baghdad
The Telegraph - UK
http://www.rense.com/general67/turn.htm
Just another example of the "flypaper" strategy -- send our sons and daughters to iraq. Let them do their drugs OVER THERE so that we do not have to fight drugs AT HOME!
I had a dream.
From Tierney's column:
The OxyContin crisis was fanned by sensationalized press coverage and by popular fears that unsuspecting patients getting this painkiller were being turned into dangerous addicts. While it's true that chronic-pain patients taking opioids for a long time require higher and higher doses, the drugs typically don't give them a high or interfere with their lives. Instead, the drugs enable them to function.
Is this an attempt to get Rush "Ten Tits" Limpballs off the hook?
The LA Times reports that the CIA leak case has progressed from investigating the leak to investigating whether perjury and/or obstruction of justice occurred.
Sniff Sniff
Do I smell another Watergate?
attaturk ... I had no idea you were in zee heartland of the homeland.
Yo! Big fish outta wahtta! as they'd say here.
Central Iowa Today, 100 degrees, 90 percent plus humidity
Great, and it's headed this way (Wis). I've got a house to paint this weekend. Iced tea by the gallon.
Billmon's got a good post up about the human race being dumber than dirt.
Smart enough to create global warming, but either don't care or know what to do about it.
Tierney is a boil on the boil on the ass of what is left of the NYT.
Fantasy in which I indulge over and over ...
Guardian starts up its U.S. edition. Steals Krugman, Herbert, Rich, MoDo, and, on some days, Kristoff, and now, Vowell from the NYT. Gets Elvis Mitchell to do the movie reviews. Gets Wolcott, William Greider, and a few other gems.
The LA Times reports that the CIA leak case has progressed from investigating the leak to investigating whether perjury and/or obstruction of justice occurred.
If this is a good as it gets, I will take it, but I am reminded of watergate and the fact the public did find out why a sitting president that was going to win an election by a landslide had his aides break into the democratic national headquarters at watergate.
Must have been some serious shit that someone wanted to squash.
Perhaps the same thing will happen here -- it will all become about the obstruction of justice and the lies to the grand jury instead of the lies to the public and the global community that resulted in an illegal war of aggression.
Don't get me wrong, I will take it if we can throw the bastards out -- but there is really a much bigger crime here.
War crimes and crimes against humanity.
Chicago sitteth at the Northwest gate.
Anyone listening to NPR? Some silly journo lady is on saying, in contrast to What's the Matter with Kansas, and the BTK killer and the evolution debate, where Kansas has taken some hits, What's Right with Kansas?
Her first example? An woman in her mid-80s who's an ace whistler. Cue audio clip of whistling. Other examples follow, such as a woman who hikes.
Feral Liberal ... The caffeine in the tea will dehydrate you.
STick with straight water!
A LOT of water.
Many problems can be solved by adequate hydration.
If we didn't have fools in the legislature, it wouldn't be a representative body.
Hahahahahahaha. While that's oh so true, That nit wit Barton is not so much a representitive of his foolish constituancy as he is of Big Energy. Nearly all my reps give more weight to Bidnez concerns and Big Energy (the folks lining their pockets) than of the actual people they are sent to DC to look out for. And the fools in this state keep re-electing them for their "values."
How the hell can a grown man call himself "Scooter?"
Does he wear long pants?
Her first example? An woman in her mid-80s who's an ace whistler. Cue audio clip of whistling. Other examples follow, such as a woman who hikes.
Draco | Email | 07.23.05 - 8:45 am |
But are there any who can hike and whistle at the same time?
res ipsa-
I read your post and just about zoomed out of here to head over to the Guardian, before I noticed that you were describing 'your fantasy.'
It's mine, too. One of 'em.
Anon,
1.5-2% of troops using drugs is about what we find in garrison Army wide, although in some areas the numbers have been slowly creeping up with the growing popularity of meth and ecstasy.
General order # 1, which applies only to US troops, forbids possesion or use of alcohol, controlled substances and pornagraphy (i swear). Beating the alcohol and pornography ban is one of the major pastimes here. I'm not real sure that big Army is serious about it since the local vendors sale us porn dvds here on post.
Smart enough to create global warming, but either don't care or know what to do about it.
From deep to deep she varies pace, and while she comes is gone.
SteveLG ...
They were planning a U.S. edition about two years ago. Then they dropped the plans. Dunno why. Maybe circulation issues. It would probably be pretty uneven.
War crimes and crimes against humanity.
Anonymous
Great post, Anon. I can't understand why people don't see the connection to the atrocity of Iraq in this whole scandal. I guess the American public is back to being willfully naive.
Oh, and good morning, rational people.
the wapo at least didn't wimp out re barton. from today's op ed:
Hunting Witches
Washington Post
Saturday, July 23, 2005; A16
"THIS IS HIGHLY usual," declared a spokesman for the House Energy and Commerce Committee when asked this week whether the request by committee Chairman Joe Barton (R-Tex.) for information from three climate scientists was out of the ordinary. He and his boss are alone in that view. Many scientists and some of Mr. Barton's Republican colleagues say they were stunned by the manner in which the committee, whose chairman rejects the existence of climate change, demanded personal and private information last month from researchers whose work supports a contrary conclusion. The scientists, co-authors of an influential 1999 study showing a dramatic increase in global warming over the past millennium, were told to hand over not only raw data but personal financial information, information on grants received and distributed, and computer codes.
Rep. Sherwood L. Boehlert (R-N.Y.), chairman of the House Science Committee, has called the investigation "misguided and illegitimate." Raymond S. Bradley of the University of Massachusetts, one of the targets, calls it "intrusive, far-reaching and intimidating." Alan I. Leshner, chief executive of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, said that although scientists "are used to answering really hard questions," in his 22 years as a government scientist he never heard of a similar inquiry, which he suspects could "have a chilling effect on the willingness of people to work in areas that are politically relevant."
Mr. Barton's attempt to dismiss all this as turf-battling on the part of Mr. Boehlert, like his spokesman's claim that such demands for data are normal, is disingenuous. While the Energy and Commerce Committee does sometimes ask for raw data when it looks at regulatory decisions or particular government technology purchases, there is no precedent for congressional intervention in a scientific debate. As Mr. Bradley pointed out in his response to Mr. Barton, scientific progress is incremental: "We publish a paper, and others may point out why its conclusions or methods might be wrong. We publish the results of additional studies . . . as time goes on robust results generally become accepted." Science moves forward following these "well-established procedures," and not through the intervention of a congressional committee that is partial to one side of the argument.
If Mr. Barton wants to discuss the science of climate change, there are many accepted ways to do so. He could ask for a report from the Congressional Research Service or the National Academy of Sciences. He could hold a hearing. He could even read all of the literature himself: There are hundreds of studies in addition to the single one that he has fixated on. But to pretend that he is going to learn something useful by requesting extensive data on 15th-century tree rings is ludicrous; to pretend that it is "normal" to demand decades worth of unrelated financial information from scientists who are not suspected of fraud is outrageous. The only conceivable purpose of these letters is harassment. This bizarre episode deserves much wider condemnation from congressional leaders.
O ye who lead, take heed!
The caffeine in the tea will dehydrate you
Point well taken, thanks. Off to hit the ladders, have a great weekend everyone.
Good morning!
The earth is not the steadfast place we landsmen build upon.
Good morning, all -- Could someone try accessing the new article on Tom Noe at the Toledo Blade? I'm getting error messages every time I click the front page link. Sure would like to know if other folks have better luck . . .
Thanks.
.
.
Smart enough to create global warming, but either don't care or know what to do about it.
Damn, haloscan cut off!
Who are really the fools, the ones that proclaim the super-rich are ignorant and refuse to acknowledge how our economic system creates this mess or the super-rich that make money hands over fist on the publics ignorance of economics?
I am sure the super rich believe they and their children will be able to "buy their way" into a comfortable environment and will have all of their needs and wants met.
I believe they are probably correct in the short-term. In the long-term, we are all dead anyhow, so they say, "WTF!"
IMHO, virtuall ALL issues that are on the eschaton threads are about ECONOMICS, yet most prefer to frame them as smart/dumb, left/right or right/wrong.
We get nowhere, like the fool that scratches himself raw because he is allergic to strawberries, while eating loads and loads of strawberry shortcake.
The real morons are the ones that proclaim they want change, but refuse to look at the money trail.
"I CAN'T HERE YOU, LA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA"
An woman in her mid-80s who's an ace whistler. Cue audio clip of whistling. Other examples follow, such as a woman who hikes.
Sad thing is, that is probably as good as it gets when you look at "what's right with kansas"
IMHO, sounds like she is confirming EVERTYING in that book.
Crooks & Liars has a good Olberman interview w/Joseph Wilson up.
The summer laden breeze out of the mideast is sinister with sounds of nameless battles overseas.
I'm not real sure that big Army is serious about it since the local vendors sale us porn dvds here on post.
Did you see my post about following the "money trail?"
EVERYTHING in iraq is about making money for chimpy's base.
You hear more and more people saying that to know what is really going on in our own country you have to read a foreign paper. Corporate media is ruining this country every bit as much as ChimpCo.
Hotter than hot here again today. Weatherbots say it will be 104.
Funny thing. I've been flipping around the cable "news" networks today and seems that Faux isn't aware that Turdblossom is in shit up to his chin. What gives? No mention of Treasongate at all.
From the above WaPo article on Barton:
Mr. Barton's attempt to dismiss all this as turf-battling on the part of Mr. Boehlert, like his spokesman's claim that such demands for data are normal, is disingenuous.
Disingenuous? DISINGENUOUS?
hay soos kreesto. What it is is criminal.
Johnson said he wished a Republican lawmaker would have the courage to stand up and "call the ugly dog the ugly dog."
Let's not trash Santorum's paramour.
Tierney is part of the "ITS OK TO BE A CRIMINAL" class.
He will excuse any crime any place any time...if one is a Republican.
Why the NYT gives this idiot the time of day much less great real estate doesn't baffle me at all.
The real morons are the ones that proclaim they want change, but refuse to look at the money trail.
Any suggestions on what to do about it?
Welcome Jeff Gannon to Traitor Gate...
Please forgive me Hecate.
Vote Green and not DEAN
Dean is selling out the Democrattic party to the pro-life and gun nuts.
Blindness we may forgive, but baseness we will smite.
Corporate media is ruining this country every bit as much as ChimpCo.
i>
Bigvic, are you man enough to handle the truth?
FROM THEIR POINT OF VIEW, THEY ARE NOT RUINING ANYTHING -- THEY ARE GETTING WEALTHY FAR BEYOND AVARICE!
They have learned to play our economic game to win -- the morons are the ones that scratch their heads and refuse to follow the money trail!
Its the game, stupid (not direct to you, bigvic
From the land where global warming is local - it RAINED last night. In Phoenix. Blessed be!
I see that the idiot Green fool is still here.
Uh, greenie, it ain't 2000 anymore.
While it's true that chronic-pain patients taking opioids for a long time require higher and higher doses, the drugs typically don't give them a high or interfere with their lives. Instead, the drugs enable them to function.
Or as known to junkies world wide, the "gettin' normal" effect.
Res,
i watched the Olberman segment on Tivo this AM. Wilson is so measured in his comments, especially compared to those assholes Mehlman and King who are next to hysterical every time they slander Wilson. I hope the Wilsons win a few choice civil suits after the criminal probe is over.
Good to know Rep. Barton and the faith-based science community are keeping an eye on this for us.
Signs point to global influenza outbreak--WHO warning
22/7/2005
By Stephanie Nebehay
GENEVA (Reuters) - Indonesia's first human bird flu case, coupled with more birds dying elsewhere including Russia, are signs a long-dreaded global influenza pandemic may be approaching, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said on Friday.
Health officials fear the virus will mutate and mix with human influenza, creating a deadly pandemic strain that becomes easily transmissible and could kill millions of people.
Margaret Chan, WHO's new director for pandemic influenza preparedness, said there had been no known sustained human to human transmission of the deadly virus, but called for stepping up disease surveillance among poultry and humans worldwide.
Indonesia this week confirmed its first death from the virus, which has so far killed more than 50 people since late 2003 in Vietnam, Thailand and Cambodia, roughly half of the known cases.
An Indonesian government official was confirmed as having died of the H5N1 bird flu virus, but results of laboratory tests on his two young daughters who also died are still awaited.
"This is more evidence for us to be concerned about developments in the region," Chan told a news briefing.
"This is perhaps the only time since 1968, which was the last pandemic, that we are getting signs, symptoms and warnings from nature ... More and more birds are dying in different parts of the world -- this is the kind of signals, and early warnings that we are referring to."
Russia this week said it had discovered a disease in poultry in a remote village in Siberia, its first suspected case of bird flu. Around 300 birds died and specimens are being analysed.
RISK LEVEL THREE OF SIX
Chan, a former health director of Hong Kong who helped contain its bird flu and SARS outbreaks of 1997, said the WHO's risk assessment of a global pandemic still stood at three on a scale of six.
"We need to be very vigilant and look for early signals or signs of sustained human to human transmission," she said. "We need to advise people from farm to table on what actions they can take or can advise communities to take to reduce that risk."
Mixed poultry trading -- where ducks, geese, chickens and sometimes pigeons are sold side-by-side at market -- can be an "enabling environment for the virus to mutate", Chan said.
Recommended measures include separating poultry, vaccination of poultry, and other biosecurity measures on farms, she said.
"Our experience is that if you are prepared for a pandemic you get less impact in terms of mortality and morbidity and social and economic disruption," she said.
Chan also said that the WHO, a United Nations agency, was still pressing China to allow international laboratories to examine specimens from birds in Qinghai, where the H5N1 virus has killed more than 5,000 birds from five species.
The WHO is urging China to test the other 184 species in the area, fearing birds which appear healthy could also spread the disease. This would help understand the evolution of the virus and inform public health decisions, according to Chan.
What, me worry?
Anon,
What do you suggest we do about it?
Coming this Fall: "The Return of Man Hands".
Any suggestions on what to do about it?
I have not ever seen that this is the place to talk about action, guess its more fun to bitch.
For starters, those that want change could talk about the economic issues and our so-called "free markets (NOT) instead of good/bad, left/right, smart/dumb.
That will take a great deal of work in and of itself.
Then we could talk about what are the companies that are profiting off the perpertual war machine AND the consumer economy.
We could organize to stop buying some of the stupid stuff that we really don't need -- things from companies that support all of this (coors comes to mind, as does bud, coke and pepsi).
Ever since the SCOTUS decision in 2000 and the theft of the 2004 election via electronic voting -- the public no longer actually owns its vote. Now, the neocons and repugs tell us our votes are "proprietary data."
Only real vote that is accurately counted is the dollars we spend.
But like I said earlier, I have yet to see this forum be used to actually DO ANYTHING about the conversations in these threads.
Perhaps I'm moody, but this is one of those mornings when I feel that the news is so nuts and the nation is so broken that "it's the end of the world as we know it and I feel fine." I can't wait to see how these "interesting times" will resolve themselves, as in the disintegration of the US or something.
Is anyone else a fan of one of my favorite movies, John Boorman's semi-autobiographival Hope and Glory? The movie was set during the London Blitz, and focuses on the wonder of seeing most of what you know destroyed, then realizing how little you miss, especially with opportunities for fun.
Not that I expect the people of Iraq to feel anything similar--it's grim there. But I like seeing the whole fabric of US federal gov't in a crisis, long overdue since the '80 election of Reagan. I certainly don't want real bombs, as depicted in the movie, but the Bushies might be the greatest anarchists ever
watertiger! You're still alive!
George Bush on the bird flu epidemic: Bring it on!
I noticed Tierney's article today as well.
That is TWO CONSECUTIVE articles excusing Rush Limbaugh!!!
Definitely IOKIYAR.
Uh, greenie, it ain't 2000 anymore.
So what.
Dean is still a disaster like he was in 2000. The perfect storm and orange hat campaign certainly alienated voters in Iowa and around the USA. I will be willing to bet the losses in 2006 will be spectactular under Chairman Dean.
The WHO is urging China to test the other 184 species in the area, fearing birds which appear healthy could also spread the disease. This would help understand the evolution of the virus and inform public health decisions, according to Chan.
What, me worry?
Longview | 07.23.05 - 9:09 am | #
There's no such as evolution.
But like I said earlier, I have yet to see this forum be used to actually DO ANYTHING about the conversations in these threads.
Anonymous | 07.23.05 - 9:14 am
What would you think about, um, identifying yourself? As a start? In some fashion?
watertiger! You're still alive!
Alas. And frustratingly non-vegetative.
cs,
The link the Blade put on the front page is indeed broken. I couldn't get into the article either, and I received the same error message.
Hopefully they get it fixed pronto.
wd=Corncerned Troll
I can't wait to see how these "interesting times" will resolve themselves, as in the disintegration of the US or something.
Could part of the problem be that we just sit back and "wait to see?"
Just saying...
Dan Schorr's losing it.
What would you think about, um, identifying yourself? As a start? In some fashion?
LOL -- like that will help!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Please, get real
Dan Schorr's losing it.
He lost it some time ago, IMHO.
.
I guess Chairman Dean is the new "Great Helmsman" of the democratic party and all of his words are divine and true based on his mandate from heaven. No criticism of his words are permitted from mere mortals.
But like I said earlier, I have yet to see this forum be used to actually DO ANYTHING about the conversations in these threads.
Anonymous | 07.23.05 - 9:14 am | #
The first step would be to imprison Chimpy and his acolytes.
Joe Wilson handles himself with such class and sophistication. As compared to the hyperventilating Mehlman who speaks so fast and furious that his lies overlap.
I have not ever seen that this is the place to talk about action, guess its more fun to bitch.
That's one of the more absurd posts I've read today. Clearly the poster doesn't know much about all the activists here or it would be embarassed to make such a comment.
Suddenly we rise into a tropospere of icy certainty.
The first step would be to imprison Chimpy and his acolytes.
GREAST POINT, would give us time to "regroup."
But don't kid yourself -- the forces behind this administration reach far beyond his crimes. They have been pulling the strings for many years.
Want to know who they are? JUST FOLLOW THE MONEY TRAIL!
And then realize, its the rules of the game that let it all happen.
Could part of the problem be that we just sit back and "wait to see?"
To Troll at 9:20, Not to reify things, but I don't have a whole lot of influence on how far the limits of capitalism, nationalism and militarism are being pushed these days, especially by the Bushies who believe in End Times, unlike me.
But End Times can be a self-fulfilling prophecy, and it's looking more and more like it. As I said, that might just be my mood this morning. And go Cheney yourself.
bigvic -- LOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
It puts the lotion on its skin or it gets the hose again.
Please, get real
Anonymous | 07.23.05 - 9:22 am
Well, if you feel that's best. It's just that taking advice from people hiding behind curtains has always been a chancy sort of thing to do. And one does wonder just how confident the advisor can be, cowering and hiding and all that.
here's the toledo story:
OHIO INVESTMENT SCANDAL
Noe transferred $3.18M to own firm, review finds
Checks being examined as part of coin probe
Noe transferred state money to his personal business.
By STEVE EDERand JOSHUA BOAK
BLADE STAFF WRITERS
COLUMBUS — A seemingly endless stream of cash flowed into Tom Noe’s personal business, Vintage Coins and Collectibles, from Ohio’s $50 million rare-coin ventures that the former Toledo-area coin dealer managed, documents show.
During the last 18 months of the failed venture, Mr. Noe authorized at least $3.18 million in checks to Vintage Coins from the coin funds, a Blade review of 15,000 pages of transaction records show.
A spokesman for Attorney General Jim Petro’s office confirmed yesterday that the checks are being examined as part of the investigation into the coin funds.
On Thursday, Mr. Petro charged that Mr. Noe stole nearly $4 million from Ohio beginning on the same day the Toledo-area coin dealer received his first installment of $25 million from the state in 1998.
Yesterday morning, an attorney for Mr. Noe’s wife, Bernadette, said Mrs. Noe — a former chairman of the Lucas County Republican Party — is “surprised and stunned” by the developments, which have “strained” their marriage.
However, later in the day, the Noes were spotted together by Blade reporters in Columbus with their lawyer.
They refused to comment on Mr. Petro’s charges.
Also yesterday, Gov. Bob Taft, who initially defended Mr. Noe — one of his most steadfast campaign contributors — said during an appearance in Cincinnati that Mr. Noe was “obviously not what he appeared to be.”
The Democratic National Committee responded to this week’s news by repeating its calls on President Bush to return the more than $100,000 that Mr. Noe raised for his re-election campaign.
DNC Chairman Howard Dean said in a statement: “We are learning more every week about the extent to which the Republican Party’s culture of corruption has polluted the Republican-dominated government in Ohio.”
Dozens of checks
Dozens of checks were written from the accounts of Capital Coin to Vintage Coins during the past 18 months, ranging from just a few thousand dollars to $600,000.
From Jan. 1 through May alone, Mr. Noe authorized more than $1 million in checks to Vintage Coins.
The Blade, so far, has received three boxes of transaction records from the state’s coin funds, but the attorney general has said there are up to 120 boxes packed with records of the venture.
Most of the checks contain no explanation for the transfer of funds.
The totals are typically rounded numbers and some were unsigned in the records obtained by The Blade.
A spokesman for National City Bank of Toledo — the bank named on many of the checks — was unable to confirm whether the checks written to Vintage Coin were eventually signed or whether the bank has been contacted by statewide investigations into Mr. Noe.
“At this time, we cannot disclose specific information about our customers and their accounts because this information is confidential and we respect their privacy,” said Tom Tennant, a spokesman for the bank.
Mark Anthony, a spokesman for the attorney general’s office said, “We’re looking at all these documents to determine what to add to our case.”
Additionally, there were a number of noteworthy transactions from coin fund accounts:
*On March 29, 2005, a Capital Coin partner, Rare Coin Alliance, issued a check for $75,000 to Capital Coin Fund II. That same day, Capital Coin Fund II issued a check for the same amount back to Rare Coin Alliance.
*On March 2, 2005, Spectrum Numismatics International Inc., in Irvine, Calif., issued a check for $33,976 to “Tom Noe.” However, National City Bank records show that the same amount was deposited in Capital Coin Fund II accounts one day later.
*On March 24, 2002, Numismatic Professional Ltd., a state coin fund subsidiary in Evergreen, Colo., issued a check for $119,150 to “Vintage or CCF II.” In effect, the check was written to both Mr. Noe’s personal account and to the state’s Capital Coin Fund II.
There is also a number of checks written from Vintage Coins to the coin fund and its various subsidiaries.
One check from Vintage Coins, written on April 22, 2005, was directed to Capital Coin Fund II for $6,515.
On May 6, 2005, Vintage Coins wrote a check for $9,875 to Capital Coin Fund II. There was no explanation for why either check was written.
“Our lawyers are looking at the same documents but for a slightly different purpose,” Mr. Anthony said. “I’m reticent about making any analysis.”
Strain on the marriage
An attorney for Mrs. Noe said yesterday the new allegations have “put a strain on the [Noes’] marriage” and that Mrs. Noe is “surprised and stunned by what she is discovering.”
“She never had suspicions that her husband was engaged in this kind of behavior,” said Buswell “Buzz” Roberts, who is representing Mrs. Noe in her civil matters.
“Any spouse in this situation would be very surprised and disappointed,” he said.
Although her attorney yesterday said their marriage was strained, the Noes were together when spotted by a Blade reporter last night in a downtown Columbus parking garage with one of their attorneys, Douglas Grover.
The Noes got into the same garage elevator with the reporter.
After exiting the elevator, Mr. Grover said he would not comment on Mr. Petro’s allegations about his clients. When the reporter turned to interview the Noes, they had disappeared.
The reporter found the Noes hiding in a garage stairwell.
When asked to respond to Mr. Petro’s allegation, Mr. Noe said, “Didn’t you talk to my attorney?”
When asked again for a reaction in his own words, Mr. Noe repeatedly replied, “No. Thank you,” each time more firmly than the time before.
Mrs. Noe also declined to comment and walked away.
The Noes were meeting with their attorney, who is with the firm Thompson Hine LLP, which has an office in the One Columbus building, adjacent to the Leveque Tower where The Blade has its Columbus bureau.
While the first Blade reporter was attempting to interview the Noes, a second Blade reporter went to the garage exit gate.
Mr. Noe left the garage driving a black Cadillac, after paying the $12 parking fee.
He again refused to comment, telling the garage attendant to call security.
The lawyer sat in the passenger seat and Bernadette Noe, a coat draped over her head, sat in the back of the car.
Judge David Cain of the Franklin County Common Pleas Court has set a 9 a.m. hearing on Monday to hear new complaints by Mr. Petro in the Noe case.
Mr. Petro said yesterday he would ask the court to order the Noes to ask for approval before selling any assets above $5,000 in light of the accusations that Mr. Noe stole from the state.
Mr. Roberts said yesterday Mrs. Noe “has had nothing do with any of things [Mr. Noe] has been accused of.
“The state is not backing down from its position that she may have been a recipient of funds improperly taken by her husband,” he said. “We dispute these allegations.”
Mr. Roberts said there has been no change in the couple’s marital status, but Mrs. Noe is living in Florida, where she is attempting to find work.
Mrs. Noe, an attorney, has applied for positions with law firms in Florida, Mr. Roberts said.
Meanwhile, “She’s trying to keep her family together. It’s hard for her entire family — it’s been hard for her father.”
Mrs. Noe’s father is Francis “Buddy” Restivo, a retired Lucas County Common Pleas Court judge and former Toledo Municipal Court jurist.
Taft speaks in Cincinnati
Gov. Bob Taft was in Cincinnati yesterday on a bus tour across the state with U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt to hold town hall-style meetings about a new Medicare prescription drug program. The drug program begins next year.
He spoke with a group of reporters about the rare-coin scandal after the meeting.
“Mr. Noe was obviously not what he appeared to be. ... He misled many, many people,” he said. “I think everybody was misled. The Bureau [of Workers Compensation] was misled, the state was misled, the people of Ohio were misled, I was misled, many people were misled, about the nature of Tom Noe.”
Mr. Taft also responded to questions about how Mr. Noe began contributing to his campaign only a week after he transferred $1.375 million from the state rare-coin fund to his own accounts after receiving his first $25 million from the bureau in 1998.
“We’re reserving all the dollars contributed by Tom Noe and setting that aside until we can find out the source of those monies, so we can reimburse the proper party, whether it’s the state or whomever it may be,” he said. “We’re prepared to repay that to the proper authority once we understand what’s happened here. We still have a lot to understand. The criminal investigation is still under way.”
Mr. Noe is facing state and federal investigations, including a probe into whether he laundered money into President Bush’s re-election campaign.
The President’s political advisers have said the $4,000 contributed directly by Mr. Noe would be returned, but the rest of the money he raised for the campaign would not be returned for now.
DNC Chairman Howard Dean accused Mr. Noe of using “public money to buy influence at the highest levels of the Republican Party, including President Bush’s re-election campaign. President Bush should follow the lead of Ohio Republicans who have returned Tom Noe’s tainted cash.”
A spokesman for the Republican National Committee could not be reached yesterday.
Accountability?
Mr. Noe never answered to the bureau or an accountant for the checks he cut from the state coin fund to his own separate businesses.
The bureau stipulates that its investment managers submit an audited financial statement each year.
All o
Res
Are you going to be available sometime around 8/14-17. Kent is coming in to town and would like to get together with some of us.
Steve?
Watertiger?
Others.
NY Mary?
What are we all waiting for gathered together like this on the public square? The Barbarians are coming today.
here's the rest:
All of the investment’s transfers, transactions, holdings, and returns are supposed to be independently verified by the audit.
Accounting firms Plante & Moran and Doyle & McDonnell collected thousands of dollars from the fund but only inventoried documents and assets made available by Mr. Noe.
“Plante & Moran did not do an audit,” Attorney General Jim Petro said Thursday. “Plante & Moran did a review. A review provides no assurance.”
The firm’s June, 2004, review excluded $7 million worth of coins because those assets were “not on-site.”
The inventories contained hundreds of pages that listed coins, their grades, values, and serial numbers.
They neglected to include other alleged fund investments such as loans, mortgages, and collectibles ranging from presidential Christmas cards to paintings.
Executives with Plante & Moran and Doyle & McDonnell were unavailable for comment.
With the coin funds denounced by the attorney general as a Ponzi scheme, the bureau plans to evaluate its audit processes as part of its larger overhaul of investment procedures.
“That is currently under review,” spokesman Jeremy Jackson said. “Obviously, with a somewhat fractured infrastructure and issues with accountability and controls, this falls under Ennis Knupp’s broad review of our investment operations.”
As part of its investigation, the State Auditor Betty Montgomery said she is performing the thorough examination that the coin funds never received during their seven-year existence.
Mr. Petro served as auditor until 2002.
Jen Detwiler, a spokesman for Ms. Montgomery, said the bureau’s investments are regularly audited by an outside firm, KPMG. The reviews are based on “a strict set of nationally accepted auditing standards.” Ms. Montgomery was not available to speak with The Blade yesterday, Ms. Detwiler said.
Ms. Detwiler said KPMG uses a sampling process to detect problems with investments.
“In the case of BWC, it does not appear there is an indication there was a concern about the coin fund,” Ms. Detwiler said. “That being said, in light of what we know now, we are going back as part of our special audit and we are doing a transaction-by-transaction audit of the coin fund.”
Ms. Detwiler said it is not clear why the audit did not detect problems with the bureau’s coin fund.
“Once all the facts have come to light and we are in a position to understand exactly what transpired, we will be in a position to make that type of assessment,” she said. “This is an ongoing matter. We are not going to draw a conclusion before we have the facts.”
Staff writers Christopher D. Kirkpatrick and Jim Provance contributed to this report.
Contact Steve Eder at:
seder@theblade.com
or 614-221-0496.
Gee bigvic, if these threads are really so full of activist, why is there so little talk about specific action?
Sure, I see suggestions about what OTHERS need to do -- but what about ourselves.
Please enlighten me -- because I am actually on your side.
I am just saying that good ideas without work/action are dead.
From the land where global warming is local - it RAINED last night. In Phoenix. Blessed be!
Woo Hoo! I talked to my brother yesterday (he's in your hood) and they are just miserable. Their yound kids don't even want to go out to the pool.
Damn! I thought trolls slept 'til noon.
Damn! I thought trolls slept 'til noon.
It's just that taking advice from people hiding behind curtains has always been a chancy sort of thing to do.
I am not asking anyone to take my advice, I am just saying.
I dropped my handle a long time ago -- its meaningless
I prefer to be a "little bozo" on this bus instead of a "big bozo."
Agree or disagree as you see fit -- this is a great forum, but it is what I do when I leave this Website that counts.
I guess Chairman Dean is the new "Great Helmsman" of the democratic party and all of his words are divine and true based on his mandate from heaven. No criticism of his words are permitted from mere mortals.
Dan Schorr's losing it.
watertiger
Gave up on Dan years ago.
He's got all the insight of a mirror.
QL,
I'm already on it! Spoke to Kent last night. I suggested, in my humble Leo way, that we meet for drinks, since he'll be here for...
MY BIRTHDAY!
heh.
Res
Are you going to be available sometime around 8/14-17. Kent is coming in to town and would like to get together with some of us.
Steve?
Watertiger?
Others.
NY Mary?
QL in NY
Then everybody had best buy a hat so you'll recognise one another.
Please enlighten me -- because I am actually on your side.
This is likely to be the funniest thing I read all day.
.
The reporter found the Noes hiding in a garage stairwell.
Old school!
Please enlighten me -- because I am actually on your side.
Hell, the folks here are constantly pressuring our reps not to vote for disasterous war, environmental and economic legislation. We work with/for progressive causes and are active in volunteering in getting out the vote and working for candidates we believe in. That's hardly just sitting around bitching. What, exactly, are you doing besides bitching?
ok spork -- attack the messenger and then scream about the injustice all around us.
Likewise to your post -- but I am glad we at least share ideas.
Worrying about China and H5N1 avian influenza is so yesterday's news.
I'm scared to tell ya what was reported on tonight's local news out of China.
Then everybody had best buy a hat so you'll recognise one another.
GWPDA, Irate Scholar
More and more I feel left behind in the rush to acessorize my thoughts and opinions.
*sigh*
Why is it again that we are to have faith in anonymous messengers?
Shhhhhhhhh - it's the voice of G....
ummmmmmmmmmm, did you read the thread?
I knew I would get flamed by mentioning the word "action" and asking people to "follow the money trail"
But I know, your working on change -- more power to ya
Then everybody had best buy a hat so you'll recognise one another
Oh please. I so did that last night.
I'm also waiting for the "Arthur" accessories.
Editoress, edit thyself!
I'm also waiting for the "Arthur" accessories.
watertiger
They don't have templates for collars tho....
Tom,
I read about 3 deaths from Avian flu the other day. Shudder. With internation travel so common these days, the potential for spreading this thing world wide is scary. Tell us what you heard.
Shhhhhhhhh - it's the voice of G....
GWPDA, Irate Scholar
Did I miss the thunder? Again?
Why is it again that we are to have faith in anonymous messengers?
Didn't ask for faith just asked you to think -- is that too much?
I'm scared to tell ya what was reported on tonight's local news out of China.
Yes, tell us Tom.
SCOTT PETERSON!
WACKO JACKO!
MISSING HICK CHICK IN ARUBA!
SHARKS!
HARRY POTTER!
HURRICANES!
HEY! JUDE LAW BONED A BIG BONED NANNY!
SCOTTY BEAMED UP TO MEET JEEBUS!
has maury given connie a one way ticket to aruba?
Ouch. That's gonna leave a mark.
WT - You have mail.
fsdf
Ack ack ack, gasp I'm dying I'm dying Ack pffft pfft ack hefff heffffff
(and you're next)
SCOTT PETERSON!
WACKO JACKO!
MISSING HICK CHICK IN ARUBA!
SHARKS!
HARRY POTTER!
HURRICANES!
HEY! JUDE LAW BONED A BIG BONED NANNY!
SCOTTY BEAMED UP TO MEET JEEBUS!
HOT TOWN SUMMER IN THE CITY!
caca.
THAT's gonna leave a mark . . . again.
"I'm in the mood for Rove
Simply because you're near me..."
I guess Chairman Dean is the new "Great Helmsman" of the democratic party and all of his words are divine and true based on his mandate from heaven. No criticism of his words are permitted from mere mortals.
Why dont you deaniacs dig out your orange beanies and run another Perfect Storm campaign. Maybe you will be as successful as you were the last time you tried.
I will go with thee, and be thy guide, in thy most need to go by thy side.
GWPDA,
Maybe you should change "Irate scholar" to hatter/milliner. Heh
This morning's London Guardian, in one paragraph in a story on the Plame leak investigation, says there is a "parallel investigation" into US involvment in the creation of the Niger Embassy yellowcake forgeries.
A link and an image of a forged document at my page.
Sad when a blogger can't even whip off the usual three lines of commentary and has to rely on Open Thread posters to keep up the revenue flow.
One wonders how Asimove managed to write so much.
That is right Asimov had TALENT.
Jeepers H. Christmas, watertiger. You have an impressive photo gallery. Ouch indeedy.
Ooooh, someone's bitter! 
GWPDA,
Maybe you should change "Irate scholar" to hatter/milliner. Heh
Well, you know what -that- would make me.
I guess Chairman Dean is the new "Great Helmsman" of the democratic party and all of his words are divine and true based on his mandate from heaven. No criticism of his words are permitted from mere mortals.
Why dont you deaniacs dig out your orange beanies and run another Perfect Storm campaign. Maybe you will be as successful as you were the last time you tried.
wd | 07.23.05 - 9:55 am |
Seems some one forgot about ALL the dirty tricks the Kerry people pulled.
Many were documented right here during the campaign.
Those Skull and Bones boys really wanted a weak sister to make Bush look good.
The reporter found the Noes hiding in a garage stairwell.
maybe they were actually looking for coins
collectibles ranging from presidential Christmas cards to paintings
presidential Christmas cards are always good investments!
what kind of paintings? finger paintings?
this falls under Ennis Knupp’s broad review of our investment operations
who or what is Ennis Knupp?
Thanks for this whole Noe story. It cheered me up a lot. It's a sublimely absurd, ridiculous, idiotic coin caper, that would make a great animated movie.
The Republicans in Ohio should be laughed out of office.
No criticism of his words are permitted from mere mortals.
Untrue. Constructive crit is welcomed. Ranting and progagating falsehoods will be shouted down as loudly as you scream them.
Why dont you deaniacs dig out your orange beanies and run another Perfect Storm campaign.
Because that didn't work, so we're on to other strategies. It's called learning from the past.
in a story on the Plame leak investigation, says there is a "parallel investigation" into US involvment in the creation of the Niger Embassy yellowcake forgeries.
I read something similar yesterday. How the hell long does it take our crack intel community to find the source of a badly forged doccument? maybe we should get the 101st keyboard monkeys on the case and solve it tomorrow.
Wheee! I just fixed a bug that has been tormenting me for a week!
You can all come out again now, the world of sample tracking is safe.
sorry was just watching the end of the Real Madrid - Beijing Hyundai match.
you asked
And the three deaths of bird flu were in Indonesia. I'm really not that worried about the bird flu. If a government takes action, then most outbreaks are short lived. Unfortunately the cure leaves a lot of dirt poor farmers with less than they had before.
And the institutional cure commonly floated for bird flu is institutionally bad for dirt poor rural farmers.
You have an impressive photo gallery
I am everywhere. All the time. I know all.
It's hard work bein' omniscient, omnipresent, and omnivorous.
On July 22, the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) denounced the latest efforts of the Bush Administration to block the release of the Darby photos and videos depicting torture at Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison facility.
BushCo successfully stopped the release again. Boy these must be really effin' awful...!
People are so used to Tierney being a flaming jackass that when he's right he doesn't get enough credit. What he's saying about undermedicated pain is old, old news, bears repeating and has more to do with docs afraid to make addicts out of people dying of cancer or in intractable pain than Rush-type criminality. I don't see what to object to in his articles on this problem, other than a reflexive derision of their source. Ask any hospice worker; look at the people to whom Kevorkian's way out appealed.
Meanwhile, there's a great summary of Bush environmental malfeasance in the current NYRB by Tim Flannery (alas, not linkable). Not cheery reading.
Hey res: howyadoon?
sheets unsullied by mere mortals above.
Sad when a blogger can't even whip off the usual three lines of commentary and has to rely on Open Thread posters to keep up the revenue flow.
Sad when a blogger is expected to be a god who cannot take time to do shit in the real world. You know, like celebrate his anniversary, take a nap, appear on progressive talk radio, pass notes from NTodd to Janeane Garofalo, sit on the can and do the crossword puzzle, testify before the FEC, etc.
That is right Asimov had TALENT.
Another stupid baker who makes apple pie with oranges.
A feline concatenation of circumstances.
sheets unsullied by mere mortals above.
Damn it, and I just got here!
Tom,
Is that one the horsemen of the apocalypse riding through China?
SCOTT PETERSON!
WACKO JACKO!
MISSING HICK CHICK IN ARUBA!
SHARKS!
HARRY POTTER!
HURRICANES!
HEY! JUDE LAW BONED A BIG BONED NANNY!
SCOTTY BEAMED UP TO MEET JEEBUS!
Sad when a blogger can't even whip off the usual three lines of commentary and has to rely on Open Thread posters to keep up the revenue flow.
One wonders how Asimove managed to write so much.
That is right Asimov had TALENT.
asimov had talent, but half of his output was regurgitated anthologies. while on the subject of scifi, the dragonrider series by anne mccaffrey should be required readin', what with all the open thread here.
"Many were documented right here during the campaign."
Someone might want to explain to anonymous the difference in meaning between "documented", "rumored" and "discussed".
Tom,
Is that one the horsemen of the apocalypse riding through China?
mikeysez
I dunno. But I get the creeps reading about unknown diseases that cause fevers and bleeding beneath the skin and seem to have a high death to infection ratio. {though this will probably keep this from being too widespread.}
Thankfully, I don't slaughter pigs.
I knew I would get flamed by mentioning the word "action" and asking people to "follow the money trail"
No, you get flamed for the sanctimonious assumption that no one around here does anything. Pompous assertions like that are bound to raise a few hackles.
I understand your frustration, I really do, as I have been watching this slow train wreck for the last 25 years.
I think more than a few of us are aware of the MONEY TRAIL. Although keeping current on all the players is sometimes a difficult task.
Sounds like you have a brilliant idea for a blog on the topic, as well as an obvious passion for it needed to do the job well. I promice that if the moneytrail blog shows up in yer homepage, I'll check it out.
'till then, quityerbitchin'
Untrue. Constructive crit is welcomed. Ranting and progagating falsehoods will be shouted down as loudly as you scream them.
I have never propogated any falsehoods about DEAN but have generally used his own statements to point out that I dont agree with them.
Are you denying that he wants pro-Lifers in the democratic party and recently made public statements confirming that.
Do you deny that he recently made statements in Wisconsin about concelaled carry laws and how proud he was of his NRA endorsements.
Why dont you deaniacs dig out your orange beanies and run another Perfect Storm campaign.
Because that didn't work, so we're on to other strategies. It's called learning from the past.
I wish you were so tolerant of other political movements and forgiving of their past mistakes.
"Rove is just a four-letter word (dee-dum dee-dum dee-dum)."
so here's a non-sequitor.
Regarding these torture pictures and videos that have been blocked from release; didn't our entire congress see this material over a year ago?
They all got their moment under the hot lights, looking pale and exhausted by their endless disgust. They all got their name in print commenting on the abuse, about how we weren't going to let this stand and guilty parties would be dealt with.
At the time there were plenty of hints about what that material consisted of, the murder, the rape, the humiliation, even the mention of minors and women.
So what happens when that evidence is finally released, and Americans finally get to see the full force of our detention camps. Will these senators and representatives come fresh with a new fiery sense of outrage? Will the Bush administration pretend to be surprised and make fresh demands for justice? Will we meet a new young batch of unsupervised low-ranking men and women who can be railroaded through the media and judicial proceedings? Will the bar for American conduct be dropped in the dirt by the usual bunch of appologists?
I don't know a lot, but i know the answer to those questions.
yes.
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