Global Warming Skeptic, Now Agrees Climate Change Is Real

A prominent physicist and skeptic of global warming spent two years trying to find out if mainstream climate scientists were wrong. In the end, he determined they were right: Temperatures really are rising rapidly.

The study of the world's surface temperatures by Richard Muller was partially bankrolled by a foundation connected to global warming deniers. He pursued long-held skeptic theories in analyzing the data. He was spurred to action because of "Climategate," a British scandal involving hacked emails of scientists.

Yet he found that the land is 1.6 degrees warmer than in the 1950s. Those numbers from Muller, who works at the University of California, Berkeley and Lawrence Berkeley National Lab, match those by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and NASA.

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Herman Cain Sexual Harassment Accusations

GOP presidential hopeful Herman Cain has denied a report alleging that he sexually harassed women during his time as head of the National Restaurant Association.

Politico released a story Sunday evening, noting that at least two female employees made complaints about Cain:

During Herman Cain’s tenure as the head of the National Restaurant Association in the 1990s, at least two female employees complained to colleagues and senior association officials about inappropriate behavior by Cain, ultimately leaving their jobs at the trade group, multiple sources confirm to POLITICO.

The women complained of sexually suggestive behavior by Cain that made them angry and uncomfortable, the sources said, and they signed agreements with the restaurant group that gave them financial payouts to leave the association. The agreements also included language that bars the women from talking about their departures.

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Idea That Deregulation Leads To Jobs 'Just Made Up

Key proposals from the Republican presidential candidates might make for good campaign fodder. But independent analyses raise serious questions about those plans and their ability to cure the nation's ills in two vital areas, the economy and housing.

Consider proposed cuts in taxes and regulation, which nearly every GOP candidate is pushing in the name of creating jobs. The initiatives seem to ignore surveys in which employers cite far bigger impediments to increased hiring, chiefly slack consumer demand.

"Republicans favor tax cuts for the wealthy and corporations, but these had no stimulative effect during the George W. Bush administration, and there is no reason to believe that more of them will have any today," writes Bruce Bartlett. He's an economist who worked for Republican congressmen and in the administrations of Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush.

As for the idea that cutting regulations will lead to significant job growth, Bartlett said in an interview, "It's just nonsense. It's just made up."

Government and industry studies support his view.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics, which tracks companies' reasons for large layoffs, found that 1,119 layoffs were attributed to government regulations in the first half of this year, while 144,746 were attributed to poor "business demand."

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Why Dems are winning the money war

According to the laws of political gravity, this shouldn’t be happening.

President Barack Obama’s approval ratings are in the dumps, and so is the economy. Wall Street’s cash cows are angry at the Democratic Party and its sudden embrace of populist rhetoric. Almost no one thinks Democrats have a shot at winning back the House next year and Republicans have an excellent chance of winning control of the Senate.

Yet even with the prospect of an entirely GOP-controlled federal government in 2013, Democrats are outraising their GOP counterparts in month after month.

In September alone, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee nearly doubled the National Republican Congressional Committee’s take, while the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee raised $1 million more than the National Republican Senatorial Committee.

What gives?

Here why Democrats are winning the money chase.

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Marco Rubio’s compelling family story embellishes facts, documents show

During his rise to political prominence, Sen. Marco Rubio frequently repeated a compelling version of his family’s history that had special resonance in South Florida. He was the “son of exiles,” he told audiences, Cuban Americans forced off their beloved island after “a thug,” Fidel Castro, took power.

But a review of documents — including naturalization papers and other official records — reveals that the Florida Republican’s account embellishes the facts. The documents show that Rubio’s parents came to the United States and were admitted for permanent residence more than two-and-a-half years before Castro’s forces overthrew the Cuban government and took power on New Year’s Day 1959.

The supposed flight of Rubio’s parents has been at the core of the young senator’s political identity, both before and after his stunning tea-party-propelled victory in last year’s Senate election. Rubio — now considered a prospective 2012 Republican vice presidential candidate and a possible future presidential contender — mentions his parents in the second sentence of the official biography on his Senate Web site. It says that Mario and Oriales Rubio “came to America following Fidel Castro’s takeover.” And the 40-year-old senator with the boyish smile and prom-king good looks has drawn on the power of that claim to entrance audiences captivated by the rhetorical skills of one of the more dynamic stump speakers in modern American politics.

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GOP Blocks Jobs Bill....AGAIN

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Weekly Address: Bringing Home Our Troops

President Obama discusses how the death of Moammar Qadhafi in Libya and the announcement that troops from Iraq will return home by the end of the year are strong reminders that the United States has renewed its leadership in the world.

Angery Taxpayers

GOP Hypocrite

Hypocrite

Hearing date set for clerk lawsuit

A judge has been assigned and a hearing date scheduled in the matter of an Article 78 proceeding filed against Oswego County Clerk George Williams.

Williams and the office of the clerk is the subject of an Article 78 legal proceeding filed by a business owner who alleges Williams has been improperly charging the public for criminal searches.

The Order to Show Cause references New York State Civil Practice Law and Rules, section 8021, which states a county clerk can charge “for certifying to a search of any records, other than those in an action or relating to real property, for a consecutive two year period or fraction thereof, for each name so searched, five dollars.”

The petitioner, APS Information Services, Inc. alleges in court papers that Williams has been unlawfully charging the fee for searches that are not certified and further alleges that Williams denies access to the records in absence of the fee.

As the county clerk, Williams has custody of the county’s criminal court records.

Attorney Scott Chatfield, who represents APS Information Services said Wednesday that Judge Norman Siegel of Oneida County has been assigned to the case and has scheduled Nov. 10 as the date for both sides to present arguments.

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DECORATED MARINE SGT. SHAMAR THOMAS ADDRESSES NYPD

Occupy Wall Street's Real Demands

Rep. Keith Ellison,



Occupy Wall Street activism is gaining strength daily, but pundits and politicians are struggling to understand the emergence of this movement.

The reaction in Washington says more about us -- the political insiders -- than it does about the thousands of participants. Almost as soon as it formed, the protesters were criticized for not having concrete demands. No one could identify the group's "leader." Even the media didn't take the New York occupation seriously until YouTube videos showed people being arrested. Now in their fourth week, the protests are proving that it is not the concreteness of their demands but the staying power and resonance of their anger that have caught our attention.

The Occupy movement is attracting ordinary Americans through concrete action that conveys a clear message. The message is that working Americans want Wall Street to be accountable. The message is that working Americans want a fair tax system. Americans want the Congress to pass legislation that produces jobs.

Ordinary Americans understand that Wall Street's transgressions are clear. Wall Street set off the global financial crisis by gambling with our retirement savings and mortgages. Companies like Goldman Sachs bet against the very mortgages they were selling, knowing these investments -- and the middle class's -- would fail while they made millions. After taking billions in taxpayer bailout funds, banks cut small business's credit lines and, in the case of Bank of America, laid off 30,000 American workers. They've increased consumers' fees and won't lend to worthy customers. Years after the crisis hit, the mortgage industry was still using fake signatures to sign documents and the foreclosure crisis persists. The Occupy movement seeks accountability.

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County Clerk George Williams loses unemployment benefits case

The County of Oswego lost an unemployment case that stems back to May when a letter written by County Clerk George Williams led to the resignation of an employee.

The employee said she quit due to Williams’ impugning of her integrity. The employee filed for unemployment and the county fought the claim.

Administrative Law Judge Brian Mohin sided with the employee and agreed she is entitled to benefits.

The recent decision states, “The credible evidence establishes that the claimant voluntarily quit her ongoing employment on June 13, 2011 because the employer had written a letter to the county legislature accusing the claimant of transmitting information about visitors to the county clerk’s office.”

The judge’s ruling continues, “On May 28, 2011, the county clerk wrote a letter to Republican members of the county legislature describing difficulties experienced by the county clerk and listing the claimant as a member of “the cast of characters or disgruntle (sic) employees in the County Clerk’s Registrar’s Office so that you know them by name.”

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Oswego County Clerk George Williams sued for improperly charging the public for criminal searches

Oswego County Clerk George Williams is the subject of an Article 78 legal proceeding filed by a business owner who alleges Williams has been improperly charging the public for criminal searches.
The Order to Show Cause references New York State Civil Practice Law and Rules, section 8021, which states a county clerk can charge “for certifying to a search of any records, other than those in an action or relating to real property, for a consecutive two year period or fraction thereof, for each name so searched, five dollars.”

The petitioner, APS Information Services, Inc. alleges in court papers that Williams has been unlawfully charging the fee for searches that are not certified and further alleges that Williams denies access to the records in absence of the fee.

The case also cites access to records through the Freedom of Information Law and states, “It was only because the respondent illegally denied the petitioner its right of access to the criminal indexes that the respondent placed itself in a position to be able to extort money from the petitioner.”

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Occupy Wall Street Protests Spread To Europe, Asia

ROME -- Italian riot police fired tear gas and water cannons Saturday in Rome as violent protesters hijacked a peaceful demonstration against corporate greed, smashing bank windows, torching cars and hurling bottles.

Elsewhere, hundreds of thousands nicknamed "the indignant" marched without incident in cities across Europe, as the "Occupy Wall Street" protests linked up with long-running demonstrations against European governments' austerity measures.

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Occupy Wall Street Protesters Swarm Midtown

NEW YORK, Oct 15 (Reuters) - Thousands of anti-Wall Street protesters rallied in New York's Times Square on Saturday, buoyed by a global day of demonstrations in support of their monthlong campaign against corporate greed.

Inspired by the Occupy Wall Street movement, protests on Saturday started in Asia and rippled through Europe back to the United States and Canada. Protesters fed up with economic inequality took to the streets in cities from Washington, Boston and Chicago to Los Angeles, Miami and Toronto.

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Quarter of Millionaires Pay Less Taxes Than Many in Middle Class

Good news for Warren Buffett: A new government analysis finds support for the billionaire's controversial call to raise taxes on the wealthy, as he released his own tax data to back up the argument.

The report, by the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service, found that when all federal taxes are taken into account, a quarter of U.S. millionaires pay a smaller share of their income in federal taxes than many middle-class families, according to The Washington Post.

Buffett earned almost $63 million last year and paid less than $7 million in federal income tax, he said in a letter sent to Rep. Tim Huelskamp, R-Kan., on Tuesday, The Wall Street Journal reports. The Berkshire Hathaway CEO has been a longtime advocate for increasing taxes on the wealthiest Americans.

“I hope you succeed in getting the ultra rich—who, as a group, are paying less of their income to the federal government than their receptionists—to share in the sacrifice many millions of other Americans soon will be asked to do,” Mr. Buffett said in the letter.

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Romney: Tax relief for the middle class is nothing more than "little Band-Aids"

Mitt Romney likes to say that he is not running for president to help the rich. But nothing in his record—or his rhetoric—suggests that's the case, and last night, he took it a step further. At the Bloomberg/Washington Post debate, Romney argued that extending the payroll tax cut—which would put $1,500 in the pockets of working Americans—is nothing more than "little Band-Aids."

Even Mark Zandi, chief economist of Moody's Analytics and an economic adviser to former Republican presidential nominee John McCain, says that not extending this middle-class tax cut could cause another recession.

So Mitt Romney would raise taxes on the middle class and put our economy at risk in the process. Does he really think we believe he's not running for president to help the rich? Or maybe it's just that this former governor whose state finished 47th in job creation doesn't understand the economic potential and imperative of middle-class tax cuts.

Republicans Keep Bloated County Legislative Districts Costing County $$$ for Political Status Quo

It didn’t take long for a special committee to decide not to reduce the number of Oswego County legislators.

Legislature Chairman Barry Leemann named Legislator Dan Chalifoux as chairman of the redistricting committee and Legislator Amy Tresidder as the vice-chairman. Legislator Fred Beardsley rounded off the committee as the third member.

According to Leemann, the committee recommended against a reduction in the number of legislators representing the county’s 122,000 residents. They will, however, redraw the district lines.

Along with the savings in salary, state retirement and benefits paid to legislators, county Election Commissioner Donald Wart said district reduction would save the taxpayers thousands of dollars in election costs.

There are currently a half-dozen small election districts because of the way the lines were drawn, Wart noted. ”If you eliminated those districts you’d be saving $9,000 a year,” he said.

The Democrat caucus requested the study and Minority Leader Mike Kunzwiler said Wednesday that he wasn’t surprised by the outcome, but he was disappointed that such a short amount of time was spent on the issue.

“I’m not surprised,” he said.

Kunzwiler added that he expects the redistricting will be gerrymandered to peg one Democrat against another in the election. The last time the county redrew the district lines, the Democrats alleged the Republicans had redrawn the lines unfairly.

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Alan Greenspan: 'I Stand With Allowing The Bush Tax Cuts To Expire'

Alan Greenspan, former Federal Reserve chairman and registered Republican, says it's time to let go of large-scale tax cuts for the wealthy.

“If we do not get Simpson Bowles as a fallback,” Greenspan told CNBC, referring to a large-scale deficit reduction program proposed by the co-chairs of President Barack Obama’s fiscal commission, “I stand with allowing the Bush tax cuts to expire. You could do it gradually, whatever. But if we think we have this luxury of waiting for a couple of years with a little stimulus now and then later tightening up. I hope the bond markets are listening.”

Greenspan’s comments come as lawmakers are wrangling over the best way to reduce the nation’s budget deficit. President Barack Obama proposed raising taxes on millionaires as part of a plan of spending cuts and tax increases to reduce the budget deficit. Republican leaders responded by accusing Obama of promoting class warfare.

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Mitt Romney's Mormonism: Pastors Say Mormons Not Christians, But Defend Candidate Against Attacks

The debate over whether a largely Protestant nation is uneasy with a potential Mormon president was reignited this week after back-to-back attacks on Republican front-runner Mitt Romney's Mormonism at the high-profile Values Voters Summit in Washington, D.C.

After prominent Texas megachurch pastor Rev. Robert Jeffress told audiences on Friday that Mormonism is a "cult" and conservative Christian activist Bryan Fischer took the stage the next day to echo similar views, a new survey released Saturday afternoon says that three out of four pastors agree, at the least, that Mormons are not Christians.

As part of a larger survey conducted by Nashville-based Lifeway Research a year ago, 1,000 pastors were polled from around the country who represented dozens of denominations. Results, originally scheduled to be released in the coming weeks, were put out early after reporters requested data because of attacks on Romney at the summit, said Ed Stetzer, president of the Southern Baptist-affiliated organization.

"The view that Mormons are not Christians is the widely and strongly held view among Protestant pastors. That does not mean they do not respect Mormons as persons, share their values on family and have much in common. Yet, they simply view Mormonism as a distinct religion outside of basic teachings of Christianity. Many of these pastors may know Mormons who consider themselves Christians, but Protestant pastors overwhelmingly do not consider them such," said Stetzer. "I know this is an unpleasant question to many, and one that some will use as a hammer on evangelicals."

Mormons do not believe in the traditional Christian Trinity of God as the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. They also have scripture in addition the Bible, such as the Book of Mormon, and believe in prophets such as Joseph Smith, Jr., who founded the Latter Day Saint movement.

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JOBS

Bull Street

Schumer Takes Reins Of Tax Policy Debate

WASHINGTON -- By choosing to adopt a millionaires tax hike as a means to cover the cost of the president's jobs bill, Democratic leadership has closed out what was once a relatively heated internal party dispute over how to wage the tax policy debate. And for the time being, the victor appears to be Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), the messaging maestro of the party who has become increasingly relied upon to chart policy.

"Since Ronald Reagan, when it comes to the issue of taxes, Democrats have had to travel uphill. Because no matter how fair our tax proposals, Republicans say, 'You are raising taxes, we're not.' And they win," the New York Democrat said in an interview with The Huffington Post on Thursday. "Now we have seen the ability to finally replace that with the clear and crisp message: We are for having millionaires and billionaires pay their fair share and the Republicans are not. And the polling data is strongly on our side. We can win this fight if we can make it."

"There is now broad acceptance by both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue and by the public for this," he added. "If Republicans had a potential advantage like this, they would hit it home day in and day out at every opportunity. And I hope we would be more like them, at least in only that regard ... We have the potential to turn the tax debate around."

Back in December 2010, Schumer first pushed colleagues to abandon the idea of allowing the Bush tax cuts for families making over $250,000 a year to expire. That level of income, he argued, represented an idea of wealth to the vast majority of the country. But most voters were also convinced that they were on the precipice of striking it big, and the prospect of a having to pay a higher tax rate once they achieved that income was a bit off-putting.

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Democrats Look To Inflict Political Pain On GOP For Blocking Obama's Jobs Bill

WASHINGTON -- If the White House is to win the debate over President Barack Obama's jobs bill, its victory won't be measured in congressional vote tallies, but rather in terms of the political discomfort inflicted on the opposition.

No one expects the American Jobs Act to pass the Senate when it comes up for a vote next week. Even if the bill miraculously receives the 60 votes needed to overcome a Republican-led filibuster, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) has said he won't bring it to the floor of the House of Representatives. And so, the White House and Democratic-allied groups have begun setting their sights on the next phase of the fight over jobs: what happens once the bill fails.

"I'll tell you, if the Republicans take the current position and hold it, that they'll do nothing, I think they'll pay a price for it," Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) told Bloomberg News Friday.

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Koch Brothers Flout Law With Secret Iran Sales

In May 2008, a unit of Koch Industries Inc., one of the world’s largest privately held companies, sent Ludmila Egorova-Farines, its newly hired compliance officer and ethics manager, to investigate the management of a subsidiary in Arles in southern France. In less than a week, she discovered that the company had paid bribes to win contracts.

“I uncovered the practices within a few days,” Egorova- Farines says. “They were not hidden at all.”

She immediately notified her supervisors in the U.S. A week later, Wichita, Kansas-based Koch Industries dispatched an investigative team to look into her findings, Bloomberg Markets magazine reports in its November issue.

By September of that year, the researchers had found evidence of improper payments to secure contracts in six countries dating back to 2002, authorized by the business director of the company’s Koch-Glitsch affiliate in France.

“Those activities constitute violations of criminal law,” Koch Industries wrote in a Dec. 8, 2008, letter giving details of its findings. The letter was made public in a civil court ruling in France in September 2010; the document has never before been reported by the media.

Egorova-Farines wasn’t rewarded for bringing the illicit payments to the company’s attention. Her superiors removed her from the inquiry in August 2008 and fired her in June 2009, calling her incompetent, even after Koch’s investigators substantiated her findings. She sued Koch-Glitsch in France for wrongful termination.

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