Saturday, December 6, 2008
Friday, December 5, 2008
Secret Santas in 3 states spread cheer, $100 bills
ST. LOUIS -At a suburban Goodwill store on Friday, Theresa Settles selected a large, black comforter to warm her family until she can raise the money to turn the gas heat back on. A petite woman approached, her face obscured by dark sunglasses and a wrapped winter scarf, and handed Settles two $100 bills stamped with the words "secret Santa." "The only condition," she said, "is that you do something nice for someone. Pass it on."
"I will," Settles said, the only words she could get out of her mouth.
The secret Santa was a protege of Kansas City's undercover gift giver, Larry Stewart, who died of cancer nearly two years ago. Stewart roamed city streets each December doling out $100 bills to anyone who looked like they might need a lift.
Before his death in January 2007, Stewart told a friend how much he would miss his 26 years of anonymous streetside giving, during which he gave away about $1.3 million. Stewart, from the city suburb of Lee's Summit, made millions in cable television and long-distance telephone service.
The friend promised Stewart he would be a secret Santa the next year. "He squeezed my hand and that was it," said the Kansas City Santa, who would say only that he was an area businessman and investor. "I honored a promise."
Two secret Santas, one from the Kansas City area and the other from the St. Louis area, descended on thrift stores, a health clinic, convenience store and small auto repair shop to dole out $20,000 in $100 bills, hugs and words of encouragement to unsuspecting souls in need.
In this economy, they weren't hard to find.
Cynthia Brown, 40, was laid off three weeks ago from her food service job. Santa found her at the St. Louis County health clinic and gave her $100, exactly what she had asked to borrow from her mother a night ago to buy food.
"I have three daughters, and I can't get unemployment yet. I was down in food," she said.
Leotta Burbank, 50, of West Frankfurt, Ill., was at a thrift store Friday to buy decorations for her sister-in-law's room at a St. Louis hospice, where she is dying of pancreatic cancer.
When Santa gave her money, Burbank collapsed into his arms and wouldn't stop hugging him.
"God provides," she said. "This is real emotional for me."
For the secret Santas, it's not about keeping Stewart's memory alive as much as the meaning behind his legacy.
"It's not about the man, it's not about the money, it's about the message," the Kansas City Santa said. "Anyone can be a secret Santa with a kind word, gesture, a helping hand."
He said the money is given without judgment, but on the condition that the receiver pass along a kindness to someone else. Stewart began his holiday tradition at a restaurant in December 1979, after he had just been fired. He gave a waitress $20 and told her to keep the change and was struck by her gratitude.
Stewart also gave money to community causes in Kansas City and his hometown of Bruce, Miss.
The secret Santas want to expand their operation to every state, but so far only nine givers operate in Charlotte, N.C., Phoenix, St. Louis and Kansas City. They plan to start giving in Detroit this holiday season.
Secret Santa World, http://secretsantaworld.net
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OPRAH SAYS SARAH PALIN SNUBBED HER
I guess she is not used to everyone bowing down to her. If you ask me Oprah snubbed Palin during the compaign and now she wants ratings. Good for you Sarah!!
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Supreme Court today deliberates suit blocking Obama presidency.
It may come as something of a shock to those millions planning trips to Washington for the Jan. 20 inauguration of President-elect Barack Obama that he isn't really legally capable of taking the oath.
It's the birth certificate thing. And we have a tendentious video below to show the kind of claims being made that he is not a "native-born" American.
That's because he was born in Kenya to an alien father and isn't a natural-born American as the Constitution requires and the copy of his Hawaii birth certificate looks fake to many and the state won't release the original, which makes everything that much more suspicious.
This controversy has been brewing for many months online with few taking it seriously. The Ticket wrote about it last June and again in August.
We published a birth certificate provided by the Oba
ma presidential campaign, which has caused hundreds of commenters to argue back and forth over its authenticity, especially in recent weeks.
And we'll publish it again right here.
Crackpot controversy, you say. He's been accepted as a U.S. citizen.
But here's the thing: The United States Supreme Court officially takes up the issue of whether to ponder whether Obama can become president in formal discussions today in Washington.
What? Yup! A similar case was thrown out earlier this fall, but Justice Clarence Thomasdistributed the legal papers in Donofrio vs. Wells to his court colleagues for legal conference today.
Hardly anyone thinks the case has a serious chance of ...
... succeeding, given the court's distaste for hanging chads and public disfavor for its involvement in settling the Al Gore-George W. Bush presidential contest over Florida in 2000.
Similar conspiracy efforts were mounted over John McCain having been born in a U.S. naval hospital in the Panama Canal Zone, where his father was stationed. They too might well have proceeded had the Arizonan won on Nov. 4.
But just think what would happen if the court did consider blocking Obama's inauguration, with the world already having congratulated him and Obama's Cabinet half-formed, not to mention him already having resigned from the Senate. Oops.
You'll note that Sens. Joe Biden and Hillary Clinton have not yet taken that irreversible step. Just saying.
Our blogging colleague Frank James over at the Swamp has pulled together considerable material on the controversy:
The suit originally sought to stay the election, and was filed on behalf of Leo Donofrio against New Jersey Secretary of State Nina MitchellWells.
Legal records show it is only the tip of an iceberg of nationwide efforts seeking to derail Obama's election over accusations that he either wasn't born a U.S. citizen or that he later renounced his citizenship in Indonesia.
In one of those delicious ironies that makes life so interesting, the justice who distributed the case to his colleagues was none other than Thomas, only the second African American to sit on the high court. One presumes the justices saw some legal issue to mull.
A recent Tribune story wrote: "The most famous case questioning Obama's citizenship was filed in Pennsylvania in August on behalf of Philip J. Berg and sought to enjoin the Democratic National Committee from nominating Obama.
"The U.S. Supreme Court declined to accept the case. Earlier, a federal judge rejected it for "lack of standing" -- ruling that Berg had no legal right to sue. In cases like this, judges sometimes believe the matter is best left to political institutions, such as the Electoral College or Congress, according to legal scholar Eugene Volokh of the University of California at Los Angeles."
The remaining case with the highest profile is Donofrio vs. Wells. Because it was distributed by Justice Thomas to other justices, it gained undue importance for people unschooled in how the court works, Volokh said.
But it was. Now come the court's discussions. And presumably some decision on deciding.
James has more on this much-ignored story over here.
--Andrew Malcolm
Speaking of the Obama Cabinet and inauguration, we'll have full Ticket coverage. To get cellphone alerts on each new item, register here. RSS feeds are also available here.
Photo credit: Family via Associated Press
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Definition of Concurrent
| 1. | occurring or existing simultaneously or side by side: concurrent attacks by land, sea, and air. |
| 2. | acting in conjunction; cooperating: the concurrent efforts of several legislators to pass the new law. |
| 3. | having equal authority or jurisdiction: two concurrent courts of law. |
| 4. | accordant or agreeing: concurrent testimony by three witnesses. |
| 5. | tending to or intersecting at the same point: four concurrent lines. |
| 6. | something joint or contributory. |
| 7. | Archaic. a rival or competitor. |
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LAS VEGAS – A broken O.J. Simpson was sentenced Friday to as many as 33 years in prison for a hotel armed robbery after a judge rejected his apology and said, "It was much more than stupidity." The 61-year-old football Hall of Famer stood shackled and stone-faced as Judge Jackie Glass rattled off the punishment. Moments before, Simpson made a rambling, five-minute plea for leniency, simultaneously apologizing for the holdup as a foolish mistake and trying to justify his actions.
He choked back tears as he told her: "I didn't want to steal anything from anyone. ... I'm sorry, sorry."
Simpson said he was simply trying to retrieve sports memorabilia and other mementos, including his first wife's wedding ring, from two dealers when he stormed a Las Vegas hotel room on Sept. 13, 2007.
But the judge emphasized that it was a violent confrontation in which at least one gun was drawn, and she said someone could have been shot. She said the evidence was overwhelming, with the planning, the confrontation itself and the aftermath all recorded on audio or videotape.
lass, a no-nonsense judge known for her tough sentences, imposed such a complex series of consecutive and concurrent sentences that even many attorneys watching the case were confused as to how much time Simpson got.
Simpson could serve up to 33 years but could be eligible for parole after nine years, according to Elana Roberto, the judge's clerk.
The judge said several times that her sentence in the Las Vegas case had nothing to do with Simpson's 1995 acquittal in the slaying of his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ronald Goldman.
"I'm not here to try and cause any retribution or any payback for anything else," Glass said.
Simpson was immediately led away to prison after the judge refused to permit him to go free on bail while he appeals.
Simpson's co-defendant and former golfing buddy, Clarence "C.J. Stewart, also was sentenced to at least 15 years.
Outside court, Goldman's father, Fred Goldman, and sister, Kim, said they were delighted with the sentence.
"We are thrilled, and it's a bittersweet moment," Fred Goldman said. "It was satisfying seeing him in shackles like he belongs."
The Goldmans took a measure of credit for Simpson's fate, saying their relentless pursuit of his assets to satisfy a $33.5 million wrongful-death judgment "pushed him over the edge" and led him to commit the robbery to recover some of his sports memorabilia.
Simpson and Stewart were both brought to the courtroom in dark blue jail uniforms, their hands shackled to their waists with chains. Simpson, who looked weary and had not been expected to speak, delivered a somber statement to the judge.
As he spoke in a hoarse voice, the courtroom was hushed. His two sisters, Shirley Baker and Carmelita Durio, sat in the front row of the courtroom, along with his adult daughter.
Both men were convicted Oct. 3 of 12 criminal charges, including kidnapping and armed robbery.
"As stupid and as ill-conceived as it was, it wasn't something that was from this evil mind they teach us about," Simpson attorney Yale Galanter said before sentencing.
"Not bright, not smart, not well thought out, but certainly not from an evil mind," Galanter said.
Most of the 63 seats in the courtroom were taken by media, lawyers and family members of the defendants. Fifteen members of the public were also allowed.
After sentencing was over, the Goldmans left the courtroom and Kim threw her arms around her father and wept.
Simpson's sisters declined to comment, but Shirley Baker said on her way out: "It's not over."
Jurors who heard 13 days of testimony said after the verdict that they were convinced of Simpson's guilt because of audio recordings that were secretly made of the Sept. 13, 2007, robbery at the Palace Station casino hotel.
The confrontation involved sports memorabilia brokers Alfred Beardsley and Bruce Fromong. It was recorded by collectibles dealer Thomas Riccio, who was acting as middleman.
"Don't let nobody out of this room!" Simpson commands on the recordings, and instructs other men to scoop up items he insists had been stolen from him.
On Tuesday, Glass is scheduled to sentence four former co-defendants who took plea deals and testified against Simpson and Stewart.
Michael McClinton, Charles Cashmore, Walter Alexander and Charles Ehrlich could receive probation or prison time. McClinton could get up to 11 years; the others face less.
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What do you do when you are on a Trendmill next to Barack Obama?
It’s a Recession, Not a Depression
Did you have ANY doubts that we have been in a recession? I sure didn’t. Yesterday, the National Bureau of Economic Research here in the United States confirmed it, “Yes, it is officially a recession.”
What may come as a surprise to you, though, is that we have been in a recession here in the United States for a year already, since December 2007. At least — that’s according to the definition given by the aforesaid authorities.
But it’s a strange thing about recessions. Just as it takes a while to determine you’re in one, there’s also a lag on the back end. We’ll likely be coming out of the recession before anybody confirms that.
That’s why, in a strange way, it’s a good thing that we have been in this recession for a year now. Recessions by nature are temporary. Historically the “official recession” doesn’t last long — not more than a year and a half.
Here’s a chart from an article by Jon Hilsenrath of the Wall Street Journal, showing recession time frames:
No one knows for sure how long this recession will last. Federal Reserve Chairman Bernanke gave a speech yesterday in which he said that weakness in the economy would likely continue for a while. His remarks struck me as realistic: not overly optimistic nor pessimistic. And here’s the important news: he scoffed at references to the Great Depression of the 1930s, saying “there’s no comparison.”
Chances are the only way we will really know we are coming out of recession and back into growth is by looking backwards, after we have already started the recovery. And just like it’s darkest before the dawn, we may be ready to come out of this situation precisely when things appear bleakest. We just may not know it until later, after we look backwards.
Hang in there!
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75th Anniversary of the 21st Amendment.
The Twenty-first Amendment (Amendment XXI) to the United States Constitution repealed the Eighteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, which had mandated nationwide Prohibition.
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(Photo) Jennifer Aniston Wet T Shirt Pic in New Calendar
Employers cut 533K jobs in Nov., most in 34 years
WASHINGTON — Skittish employers slashed 533,000 jobs in November, the most in 34 years, catapulting the unemployment rate to 6.7 percent, dramatic proof the country is careening deeper into recession.
The new figures, released by the Labor Department Friday, showed the crucial employment market deteriorating at an alarmingly rapid clip, and handed Americans some more grim news right before the holidays.
As companies throttled back hiring, the unemployment rate bolted from 6.5 percent in October to 6.7 percent last month, a 15-year high.
Job losses were widespread, hitting factories, construction companies, financial firms, retailers, leisure and hospitality, and others industries. The few places where gains were logged included the government, education and health services.
The loss of 533,000 payroll jobs was much deeper than the 320,000 job cuts economists were forecasting. The rise in the unemployment rate, however, wasn't as steep as the 6.8 percent rate they were expecting. Taken together, though, the employment picture was dismal.
The job reductions were the most since a whopping 602,000 positions were slashed in December 1974, when the country was in a severe recession.
Job losses in September and October also turned out to be much worse. Employers cut 403,000 jobs in September, versus 284,000 previously estimated. Another 320,000 were chopped in October, compared with an initial estimate of 240,000.
Employers are slashing costs to the bone as they try to cope with sagging appetites from customers in the U.S. and in other countries, which are struggling with their own economic troubles.
The carnage — including the worst financial crisis since the 1930s — is hitting a wide range of companies.
In recent days, household names like AT&T Inc., DuPont, JPMorgan Chase & Co., as well as jet engine maker Pratt & Whitney, a subsidiary of United Technologies Corp., and mining company Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc. announced layoffs.
Fighting for their survival, the chiefs of Chrysler LLC, General Motors Corp. and Ford Motor Co. will return Friday to Capitol Hill to again ask lawmakers for as much as $34 billion in emergency aid.
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Dixie Chicks singer sued for defamation
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — Dixie Chicks singer Natalie Maines is the target of a defamation lawsuit by the stepfather of one of three 8-year-old boys slain in 1993.
Maines spoke out for three people convicted of the slayings and alleged the stepfather was instead involved in the killings.
Terry Hobbs, stepfather of Steve Branch, who was killed in 1993 with Christopher Byers and Michael Moore, filed suit in Pulaski County Circuit Court on Nov. 25. The suit names all three members of the Dixie Chicks, but focuses on Maines.
The suit seeks compensatory and punitive damages. Hobbs claims he suffered loss of income, injury to his reputation and emotional distress.
Maines attended a Dec. 19 rally in Little Rock, where she claimed Jason Baldwin, Damien Echols and Jessie Misskelley — known to sympathizers as the "West Memphis Three" — were innocent and that supposed new evidence pointed to Hobbs. Her comments echoed a Nov. 26, 2007, letter that was still on the Dixie Chicks' Web site on Thursday, in which she claimed that new DNA testing of hair from the crime scene linked Hobbs to the killings and that his behavior after the slayings indicated his guilt.
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