Our Quote of the Day is from Sydney J. Harris who said, "Many a secret that cannot be pried out by curiosity can be drawn out by indifference."
Some observations on the news...
Citigroup is spending some $7 billion to buy back securities that were hawked to investors as safe despite inherent liquidity risks. The buy-back was induced by pressure from the SEC and state regulators. Citigroup is also to pay $100 million in fines.
Arnold Schwarzenegger upped the ante in his struggle with the California legislature to submit a long overdue state budget. Said the governor, he wouldn’t sign any legislation on his desk and he would veto any bills before they might automatically become law if the governor didn’t act on them in the mandated 12 days. So the senate leader announced that the bills would be withdrawn before the governor could veto them. Among the pieces of most urgent legislation that arrived on his desk were, as listed in the Los Angeles Times, bills that would "exempt law enforcement from a ban on weapons in state game refuges; deny dental licenses to people federally registered as sex offenders; and allow the Purple Feet Wine Boutique and Tasting Room to sell beer and wine at functions sanctioned by the city of Dana Point, revamp the California Seed Advisory Board and allow public safety officials to wear military decorations on certain holidays, and update state law enforcement training programs to include a course on interacting with autistic people." Further evidence of the nobility of state government was demonstrated by the DMV closing all of their offices on Saturday, except one in Sacramento which is only accessible to legislators and their staffs.Back in 1975 when the president refused to help New York City get back on its financial feet, the headline in the New York Daily News read, "Ford to City: Drop Dead." That headline came to mind with the sentencing by the military panel in the first Guantanamo case, that of Osama bin Laden’s driver. They said the same thing to the government prosecutors by sentencing Hamdan to only five more months in prison, due to his time already served. This, when the prosecution was calling for a sentence of 30 years or life. It’s not clear what the Bush administration will do with this "small player" when Hamdan has finished his sentence – they would want to keep him in custody "until the end of the war on terrorism" – but they should be leaving office anyway shortly after his prison term is up. Rosa Brooks has a very sharp
take on the trial in the Los Angeles Times. She asks, "But are these guys really the worst of the worst, evil terrorist masterminds who so threaten ‘the continuity of the operations of the United States government’ that they couldn't possibly be tried in U.S. civilian courts? After 6-1/2 years -- after detaining hundreds of people at Guantanamo, after trying interrogation techniques adapted from the Chinese and the KGB, after countless protests from the International Committee for the Red Cross, after alienating close allies and creating a cause celebre for our enemies -- have the military commissions really been worth it?"There were 18 suspected illegal immigrants in a 1990 Chevy Suburban when it went off an Arizona road, hit an embankment at a high rate of speed, and rolled over several times. Nine were killed as the roof collapsed; nine were injured.
The legislation that will put tobacco products under the FDA, finally, has a loophole in it that will allow the tobacco companies to come out with new products for 21 months without FDA approval. The supporters of the measure say it was what they needed to get the bill passed and the nearly two-year smoking break won’t matter much. Ah good, so when the new cigarettes come out and are successfully marketed, hooking people who wouldn’t have started smoking otherwise, we’ll just call that collateral damage.
In the wake of the latest developments, the widow of one of the people who was killed by Bruce Ivins anthrax mailings went public again about her suit against the U.S. government which she holds responsible for her husband’s death. Said Britisher Maureen Stevens of the Army scientist, "He was not just a little bit weird – he was certifiable, and he had been for years. It is now time for the United States of America to own up to its responsibility to my family and to right this wrong that resulted in the loss of my beloved husband and my children's beloved father." She filed her suit in 2003, and the statement came at a press conference yesterday in Florida where her husband had worked as a photo editor at American Media Inc. I don’t like lawsuits but I sure would like to think that (1) the people who hired Ivins and kept him in place would be held criminally responsible, (2) every government employee who works with dangerous components would be immediately removed if found to be even a little mentally unstable, and (3) criteria need to be redefined to prevent crazy people from getting anywhere near – let alone being left alone with – WMDs ever again. Of course there’s the problem that anyone who would develop this stuff would have to be crazy, so maybe everyone should stop playing these insane mega-death games.
"[Berwyn Heights, Maryland] Mayor Cheye Calvo got home from work, saw a package addressed to his wife on the front porch and brought it inside, putting it on a table. Suddenly, police with guns drawn kicked in the door and stormed in, shooting to death the couple's two dogs and seizing the unopened package." That’s the AP lead on a shocking story about the Price George’s County police making a drug raid. The package contained 32 pounds of marijuana, but the drugs were merely dropped off on the porch. The couple had nothing to do with stuff. The two black labs were known by everyone in the middle-class neighborhood to be gentle. The PGC police have refused to clear the mayor and his wife or to apologize for killing their dogs; the police thought they were in danger. They say everything they did was within the law. The mayor is asking the U.S. Justice Department to investigate, as well they should since the police have a couple of other serious blemishes on their record recently, including the death of a prisoner in custody. If what the police did in this drug case was actually legal, then the laws need to be changed.A German bank is foreclosing on the $3.5 billion Cosmopolitan Resort & Casino in Las Vegas. The owner reportedly defaulted on a $760 million loan. Deutsche Bank is already in talks with several major gambling entities to arrange for someone to run the place for them. Said one analyst, "Deutsche Bank wants to be engaged in banking, not running a casino." The whole city, and particularly the gaming industry, is suffering because of the soaring costs of food and fuel, and rising unemployment. The Nevada Gaming Commission reported revenues down 16% in May for the fifth consecutive monthly decline.
Perhaps you’ve heard about a purportedly serious flaw in Internet security. It has to do with the DNS system. Now wait, don’t click away; I’m not going to explain it, I’m just reporting some facts that might be worth your attention. First, the problem was reported earlier this year but didn’t get a whole lotta attention. Second, the discoverer of the flaw says it’s more serious than people are taking it. Third, there’s probably nothing you either need to do or would know how to do, so you’re better off not worrying about it. And finally, you should always pay attention to the websites you visit, especially if you are asked to provide any personal information or to transfer money. Said the chief technology officer for Verisign, a major global player in Internet security, the threat has "been overplayed in a sense. I think it has served to confuse the consumer into believing there is somehow now a way to misdirect them to a wrong site. The fact of the matter is that there have been many ways like phishing attacks to misdirect them for a long time and this is just yet another of those ways that will be surgically exploited." So the same ole advice holds: Watch where you e-step.
Diggers in London say they may have discovered one of the original Shakespearean theaters. The Museum of London archaeologists say they think what developers stumbled upon as they were excavating underneath a vacant garage is The Theatre, which was built in 1576 and where was probably debuted "The Merchant of Venice" and "Romeo and Juliet." Shakespeare's company, the Lord Chamberlain's Men, had moved to The Theatre in the 1590s after having being forced to relocate from The Rose. While the Shakespearians owned The Theatre they didn’t own the land under it, so when a dispute later arose with the landowner, they dismantled the building, rebuilt it on the other side of the Thames River and named it the Globe. It is believe that The Theatre also saw productions of "Henry IV," "Richard II," "King John," and "the Merry Wives of Windsor."
In related news on The Continent, Bulgarian archaeologists have discovered what they claimed is a 1,900-year-old chariot. The well-preserved vehicle was unearthed at a dig at an ancient Thracian tomb in the southeast part of the country.
Finally, we all know some people have more money than brains. A new example is someone who spent more than a quarter-million dollars for Elvis Presley's favorite performance costume. His peacock jumpsuit was claimed for $300,000, elevating it to the status of being the priciest Elvis memorabilia auctioned.
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