Items by Wellsy

• Obama lowers expectations at jobs summit

  —Wellsy's World

  As the American economy remains sluggish and unemployment remains high, President Obama held a “jobs summit” today after mounting pressure by both sides of the political spectrum to start focusing on job creation and the economy, a policy area the administration has largely ignored since the passage of the stimulus [...]
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  Posted: December 03, 2009, 10:30pm EST
  by Wellsy

• East Anglia research, NASA climate data under scrutiny

  —Wellsy's World

  The University of East Anglia announced today that, as part of its probe into the troubling e-mails from its Climatic Research Unit, the research data itself will be under scrutiny to determine whether or not scientists fudged data. The announcement comes after the head of the CRU, Phil Jones, stepped down [...]
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  Posted: December 03, 2009, 10:00pm EST
  by Wellsy

• Obama to send 30,000 troops to Afghanistan

  —Wellsy's World

  President Obama pledged to send 30,000 additional combat troops to Afghanistan during the first part of 2010. In a speech at West Point, the transcript of which is at the LA Times, the President outlined a strategy that would see troops begin to come home 18 months after the surge. [...]
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  Posted: December 01, 2009, 10:39pm EST
  by Wellsy

• Russia building weapons factories in Venezuela

  —Wellsy's World

  Reassuring news comes out of Caracas today as Forbes is reporting that Russia is building factories that assemble automatic weapons and plans on finalizing a deal to send 53 military helicopters to Venezuela. Arms deals between Russia and Venezuela have been going on since 2001, and in the intervening years Hugo [...]
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  Posted: December 01, 2009, 9:39pm EST
  by Wellsy

• Honduras has a new President

  —Wellsy's World

  The political crisis that has gripped Honduras for the last five months will hopefully be over after elections on Sunday handed the Presidency to conservative rancher Porfirio “Pepe” Lobo. Lobo received 56% of the vote, well ahead of the nearest challenger at 38%, and turnout was exceptionally high as 61% [...]
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  Posted: November 30, 2009, 11:20pm EST
  by Wellsy

• Why Kathleen Sebelius wants the current health care bill

  —Wellsy's World

  Why does Health and Human Services Sec. Kathleen Sebelius want the current health care bill to pass? It probably has a lot to do with her personal policy preferences and her loyalty to the Democratic platform and the Obama administration. It probably also has a lot to do with the [...]
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  Posted: November 30, 2009, 10:14pm EST
  by Wellsy

• UN, White House dig in on ClimateGate

  —Wellsy's World

  Number of comments: 1
  After a series of embarrassing e-mails from the East Anglia CRU and the disclosure that the same group of scientists doesn’t have their original source data upon which computer models of anthropogenic global warming are based, the push is on to frame it all as much ado about nothing. Move along, folks, [...]
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  Posted: November 30, 2009, 9:42pm EST
  by Wellsy

• Global warming data dumped as ClimateGate intensifies

  —Wellsy's World

  The scandal surrounding a key university in global warming science continues to mushroom even further. Scientists at the East Anglia Climatic Research Unit (CRU) were already on the defensive after a series of embarrassing internal e-mails was stolen by a hacker and released to the Internet, showcasing an effort to [...]
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  Posted: November 29, 2009, 9:57pm EST
  by Wellsy

• Wellsy’s World turns 1

  —Wellsy's World

  A year ago today, the site you’re reading now, Wellsy’s World, came into existence. I had no idea how any of this was going to turn out when I wrote that weak little introductory post last November – I just wanted to comment with a degree of discernment on some [...]
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  Posted: November 26, 2009, 10:00am EST
  by Wellsy

• Happy Thanksgiving

  —Wellsy's World

  Today as we get together with friends and family, stuff our faces and contentedly watch football as our meals digest, keep in mind the bounty, blessings, and freedoms this great nation has enjoyed throughout the years. Remember also that while we have it fairly good these days, those who came before us [...]
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  Posted: November 26, 2009, 8:00am EST
  by Wellsy

• Lou Dobbs: Perot of 2012?

  —Wellsy's World

  Number of comments: 1
  After leaving CNN following a fairly successful run as a political commentator, Lou Dobbs has been publicly flirting with the idea of running for public office. Now a new Rasmussen poll states the obvious and says a Presidential bid would siphon off up to 14% of the Republican vote, enough [...]
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  Posted: November 25, 2009, 9:34pm EST
  by Wellsy

• Mary Landrieu and the Lousiania Purchase

  —Wellsy's World

  Number of comments: 1
  As I’m sure you’ve heard by now, on Saturday night (yet another example of fantastic legislative transparency) the Senate voted to open debate on Sen. Reid’s health care bill by a margin of 60-39. Several moderate Democrats had expressed reservations about the bill, including Ben Nelson, Blanche Lincoln, and Joe [...]
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  Posted: November 23, 2009, 11:05pm EST
  by Wellsy

• Controversy deepens over leaked global warming e-mails

  —Wellsy's World

  Number of comments: 1
  The debate over the causes and severity of climate change was thrown into disarray over the weekend as a series of internal e-mails from the East Anglia Climate Research Center were released by hackers to the Internet. The e-mails, confirmed to be genuine by the CRU, show a definite hostility [...]
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  Posted: November 23, 2009, 10:27pm EST
  by Wellsy

• Giuliani may run for Senate instead of NY gov

  —Wellsy's World

  The New York Daily News is reporting that after months of speculation, former NYC mayor Rudy Giuliani will not run for governor of New York, but instead run in 2010 for the Senate seat currently occupied by Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand. Further speculation postulates that he’d use that as a stepping-stone to [...]
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  Posted: November 19, 2009, 9:49pm EST
  by Wellsy

• Jesse Jackson: You can’t be black and vote against health care

  —Wellsy's World

  Ugly racial politics were on full display yesterday when Rev. Jesse Jackson spoke to a reception held by the Congressional Black Caucus. Long a racial demagogue, Jackson used the occasion to call out a black congressman who voted against Pelosi’s health care bill. Via the Hill: “We even have blacks voting [...]
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  Posted: November 19, 2009, 9:25pm EST
  by Wellsy

• Reid’s Senate health care bill has arrived

  —Wellsy's World

  Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid finally unveiled his health care reform bill today, which weighs in at over 2,000 pages and has been scored by the CBO at a cost of $849 billion. Reid bragged the Senate plan would save $127 billion over 10 years – that’s great, but it also [...]
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  Posted: November 18, 2009, 10:46pm EST
  by Wellsy

• National debt now over $12 trillion

  —Wellsy's World

  Number of comments: 5
  Sobering news from the Treasury Department today as the nation learns it’s in the hole to the tune of over $12 trillion. My share ($38,974.34) is just a bit less than my yearly salary as a microbiology med tech, but doesn’t cover the share of my wife or daughter either. [...]
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  Posted: November 17, 2009, 10:35pm EST
  by Wellsy

• Stupak sticks to his guns on abortion amendment

  —Wellsy's World

  Rep. Bart Stupak doubled down today on his strong stance against federal funding of abortion in the health care reform effort. He pledged that if any attempt is made to water down the language of his amendment or to remove it entirely, a tactic that was suggested by Rep. Debbie Wasserman-Schultz [...]
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  Posted: November 17, 2009, 9:59pm EST
  by Wellsy

• Gallup shock: Health coverage not gov’t responsibility

  —Wellsy's World

  An astounding Gallup poll came out today that states that a majority of Americans (50%-47%) now believe the government shouldn’t be responsible for making sure everyone has health insurance. That’s amazing in and of itself, but when you look at the trend it’s simply astonishing. Just three years ago in [...]
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  Posted: November 13, 2009, 11:15pm EST
  by Wellsy

• Obama now wants to cut deficits next year

  —Wellsy's World

  In a move that seems now too ridiculous to be believed, President Obama is hinting that his focus in 2010 will be on cutting the federal deficit in a shift toward fiscal responsibility. The move comes after the shocking gubernatorial defeats in New Jersey and Virginia amid rising voter concern about [...]
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  Posted: November 13, 2009, 10:30pm EST
  by Wellsy

• KSM to be tried in NYC for 9/11 plot

  —Wellsy's World

  Attorney General Eric Holder announced today that 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheik Mohammed would stand trial in New York City along with four other terrorists for the attacks that killed nearly 3,000 Americans on that bloody day eight years ago. Holder has said he would seek the death penalty for the [...]
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  Posted: November 13, 2009, 10:03pm EST
  by Wellsy

• Obama now wants new options on Afghanistan

  —Wellsy's World

  Nearly three months after Gen. Stanley McChrystal submitted his analysis of the Afghanistan situation and a request for more troops, President Obama has now reportedly rejected all of the options submitted by his national security team and pushed for revising how and when America would hand over power to the [...]
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  Posted: November 12, 2009, 2:00pm EST
  by Wellsy

• Quinnipiac: Ohio rejecting Obama health care, favoring GOP

  —Wellsy's World

  Quinnipiac University has released two polls over the last 48 hours that have shown severe warning signs for Democrats in Ohio and across the country. Yesterday’s poll had incumbent Dem Gov. Ted Strickland locked in a dead heat with challenger John Kasich in a race that hasn’t really begun in earnest yet. [...]
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  Posted: November 12, 2009, 1:28pm EST
  by Wellsy

• Veteran’s Day

  —Wellsy's World

  To all veterans past and present, all this blogger has to offer you is his heartfelt thanks for your service and sacrifice. For some, the debt is to great to ever repay. Many servicemen and women serving currently and in wars past often downplay their role, humble and job-oriented, and [...]
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  Posted: November 11, 2009, 7:48pm EST
  by Wellsy

• Scozzafava complains about GOP, vows to “work against” them (A final word on NY-23)

  —Wellsy's World

  Dede Scozzafava, the GOP nominee for the NY-23 Congressional district, has a sympathetic piece in the Washington Times about those mean ol’ Republicans and those rascally conservatives who “forced” her out of the race. Brave Dede even has a warning for those who weren’t jazzed about her nomination: “There is a lot [...]
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  Posted: November 10, 2009, 10:43pm EST
  by Wellsy

• Obama to send 40,000 troops to Afghanistan (?)

  —Wellsy's World

  CBS News is reporting that President Obama has decided to send nearly 40,000 additional combat troops to Afghanistan, honoring the majority of Gen. Stanley McChrystal’s request for that country. The administration still says that troops aren’t the only answer and Afghan Pres. Hamid Karzai bears a lot of responsibility for [...]
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  Posted: November 09, 2009, 10:44pm EST
  by Wellsy

• The Fall of the Berlin Wall, 20 years later

  —Wellsy's World

  Twenty years ago today, a decades-long symbol of division and oppression came crashing down. The roar of its falling stones was felt across Europe, across Russia, across America, across the entirety of the whole of planet Earth. It signalled the beginning of the end of Soviet hegemony in Eastern Europe [...]
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  Posted: November 09, 2009, 10:02pm EST
  by Wellsy

• House narrowly passes Pelosi health care bill

  —Wellsy's World

  A little after 11 pm on the East Coast, Democrats in the House were able to get the votes needed to pass the bill introduced by Speaker Nancy Pelosi. The margin, however, was extremely close for a party with a commanding majority – 220-215, with 39 Democrats opposing the bill [...]
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  Posted: November 08, 2009, 2:56pm EST
  by Wellsy

• Hoyer: House health care vote may be delayed

  —Wellsy's World

  Speaker Nancy Pelosi had hoped to have a vote on her behemoth health care bill in a rare Saturday vote in what seemed to be a rush to hurry through unpopular legislation before any more issues could be raised about it. Today, however, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer indicated the vote may [...]
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  Posted: November 06, 2009, 10:10pm EST
  by Wellsy

• Ugh: Unemployment hits 10.2%

  —Wellsy's World

  (See below for image credit.) The latest unemployment figures continue to show a bleak picture for job hunters as the unemployment rate climbed to 10.2% in October. Counting those who have settled for part-time jobs or have stopped looking, the rate is 17.5%. It’s the first time that America has reached [...]
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  Posted: November 06, 2009, 9:41pm EST
  by Wellsy

• Pelosi to try to push through House health care bill on Saturday

  —Wellsy's World

  House Democrats have scheduled a rare Saturday vote in an attempt to rush through Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s health care reform bill before any more moderates have a chance to get queasier in the wake of eye-opening GOP wins in Virginia and New Jersey. The bill is still getting text added into [...]
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  Posted: November 05, 2009, 10:29pm EST
  by Wellsy

• 12 dead in Fort Hood shooting rampage

  —Wellsy's World

  Tragedy struck the military here in America as an Army psychiatrist opened fire with two handguns at Fort Hood in Texas. Twelve people have died as a result of the attack, and 30 were wounded in the attack by Major Nidal Malik Hasan, recently promoted and due to be deployed [...]
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  Posted: November 05, 2009, 10:00pm EST
  by Wellsy

• Gary Leitzell on track to upset Rhine McLin in Dayton mayoral race

  —Wellsy's World

  On an issue of local importance to the Miami Valley, independent challenger Gary Leitzell has pulled ahead of Democratic incumbent Rhine McLin in the race for mayor of Dayton, OH. Leitzell leads McLin by 4 points with 94% of precincts reporting in. I’m making an executive decision and making a call (purely as [...]
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  Posted: November 03, 2009, 11:12pm EST
  by Wellsy

• Earthquake: Christie wins in NJ

  —Wellsy's World

  Of the three heavily watched national races, the governor’s race in New Jersey was the one that most on both sides looked toward most closely as a bellwether for the national mood and the fortunes of both political parties. In an upset that is sure to send shock waves to [...]
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  Posted: November 03, 2009, 10:40pm EST
  by Wellsy

• McDonnell wins big in Virginia

  —Wellsy's World

  In a race where the only uncertainty was the margin of victory, Republican gubernatorial candidate Bob McDonnell annihilated Democrat Creigh Deeds by a margin of 18 points. Going into Election Day, the margin in the polls had been widening, leaving this race in little doubt. Republicans won the other two [...]
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  Posted: November 03, 2009, 10:17pm EST
  by Wellsy

• Biden, absolutists, and irony

  —Wellsy's World

  Vice President Joe Biden was in upstate New York today stumping for Bill Owens in the heated NY-23 Congressional special election. You know, the one that doesn’t matter and has no national portent whatsoever, except if Owens wins, of course. In any event, Biden had a few words to say [...]
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  Posted: November 02, 2009, 10:41pm EST
  by Wellsy

• Ousted GOP candidate endorses Dem in messy NY race

  —Wellsy's World

  Number of comments: 4
  The drama over the special election in NY-23 has taken a variety of surprising turns over the past few weeks. The Republican candidate, Dede Scozzafava, was selected by a county board of GOP supervisors and got a load of initial cash and support from the national Republican establishment. But a [...]
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  Posted: November 01, 2009, 11:35pm EST
  by Wellsy

• Zelaya to be reinstated in Honduras deal

  —Wellsy's World

  In a deal brokered by senior US diplomats, an agreement has been reached that will potentially reinstate Manuel Zelaya as President of Honduras after he was was ousted in June. Under the agreement, interim President Roberto Micheletti will step down and Zelaya will resume his office until upcoming presidential elections at the end [...]
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  Posted: October 30, 2009, 10:04pm EDT
  by Wellsy

• Economy grows in 3rd quarter, experts still worried

  —Wellsy's World

  Number of comments: 1
  We’ll get to why they’re worried in a second. The big headline is that the American economy grew at an annual rate of 3.5% between July and September. The report by the Commerce Department boosted world stock markets and was the biggest rate of growth since the third quarter of [...]
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  Posted: October 29, 2009, 10:38pm EDT
  by Wellsy

• Pelosi unveils House health care plan

  —Wellsy's World

  In a ceremony closed to the public, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi unveiled to much fanfare her version of health care reform that includes a public option. Weighing in at an astounding 1900 pages, it has an estimated (emphasis on estimated) net cost of $894 billion, making each word worth roughly $2.24 [...]
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  Posted: October 29, 2009, 10:13pm EDT
  by Wellsy

• Lieberman, Snowe and other moderates to oppose Reid’s public option Senate bill

  —Wellsy's World

  Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid announced yesterday that he was planning on sending a bill to the Senate floor that has a public option with an opt-out clause for states (although apparently a co-op will also be involved too). He’s going to run into some problems, however, from his previous [...]
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  Posted: October 27, 2009, 10:08pm EDT
  by Wellsy

• NEA Chair: Obama most powerful writer since Caesar

  —Wellsy's World

  The new chair of the National Endowment for the Arts, Rocco Landesman, addressed grantmakers in a post on the official NEA website. He seems like a nice guy, but he makes a rather over-the-top and completely absurd comparison regarding our current President’s place in literary history: My answer is pretty simple. There [...]
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  Posted: October 27, 2009, 1:15pm EDT
  by Wellsy

• Guest posting on The Moderate Voice

  —Wellsy's World

  I’ve really dropped the ball in passing along a bit of news regarding myself and this site. A few months ago, Joe Gandelman e-mailed me and asked if I’d like to write a few guest posts for his site, The Moderate Voice. I happily accepted, and I’ve sent him a [...]
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  Posted: October 25, 2009, 10:49pm EDT
  by Wellsy

• Broadcast news stands up for Fox, rebuffs White House

  —Wellsy's World

  Number of comments: 2
  There was a heartening turn of events on Thursday that doubled as bad news for the White House in its ill-advised war on Fox News. As part of its petulant campaign against Fox, the Obama administration tried to exclude Fox News from participating in a press pool interview with “pay czar” [...]
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  Posted: October 25, 2009, 9:58pm EDT
  by Wellsy

• Obama admin to slash executive pay

  —Wellsy's World

  Number of comments: 1
  The Obama administration indicated today that it will slash the salaries of executives of companies who received bailout money by up to 90%. Kenneth R. Feinberg is the Treasury Department official in charge of executive compensation and will implement the plan that will see the salaries of 25 execs cut [...]
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  Posted: October 21, 2009, 10:17pm EDT
  by Wellsy

• The White House’s curious war against Fox News

  —Wellsy's World

  Over the last week, members of the White House staff have gone out of their way to single out Fox News as an unworthy news organization. It began with White House communications chief Anita Dunn’s rant on CNN last Sunday saying Fox wasn’t a real news network and was more [...]
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  Posted: October 19, 2009, 10:15pm EDT
  by Wellsy

• Dollar losing status as world reserve currency

  —Wellsy's World

  Number of comments: 1
   Troubling news on the strength of the dollar as a report comes out showing that banks are moving away from using it as their reserve currency. Central banks increased their foreign currency holdings by $413 billion last quarter to a global total of $7.3 trillion. The bad news for us [...]
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  Posted: October 13, 2009, 10:44pm EDT
  by Wellsy

• Senate Finance Committee approves Baucus bill

  —Wellsy's World

  With a vote of 14-9, the Senate Finance Committee approved the healthcare reform bill summary proposed by Sen. Max Baucus. Republican Sen. Olympia Snowe crossed party lines to support the measure, though she said she could not guarantee her future support for the bill depending on the direction legislation takes. The President and [...]
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  Posted: October 13, 2009, 9:32pm EDT
  by Wellsy

• More Nobel perspective

  —Wellsy's World

  Is it flogging a dead horse? Perhaps. But a few columnists caught my attention when analyzing Barack Obama’s undeserved Nobel Peace Prize. Ross Douthat of the New York Times says Obama missed an opportunity: Here was an opportunity to cut himself free, in a stroke, from the baggage that’s weighed his [...]
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  Posted: October 12, 2009, 11:20pm EDT
  by Wellsy

• BBC: What happened to global warming?

  —Wellsy's World

  Number of comments: 2
  The BBC has a wonderfully balanced article on global warming that notes that the past 11 years have seen no increase in global temperature and that current climate models have failed to predict such a trend. What’s more, some scientists think we may actually be in a period of global [...]
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  Posted: October 12, 2009, 10:13pm EDT
  by Wellsy

• CBO: Tort reform produces real savings

  —Wellsy's World

  Number of comments: 1
  CBO Director Doug Elmendorf released a statement on his blog indicating that the Congressional Budget Office had taken a look at current proposals to limit malpractice lawsuits. They found that tort reform could save $54 billion over the next 10 years, a figure that wouldn’t completely cover budgetary shortfalls but [...]
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  Posted: October 12, 2009, 9:40pm EDT
  by Wellsy

• Nobel Peace Prize now officially a joke after Obama selection

  —Wellsy's World

  The Nobel Peace Prize was already flirting with irrelevance after recent selections like Al Gore, Yasser Arafat, and Jimmy Carter, but after the award was today announced as going to President Barack Obama, in office for only nine months and for only 12 days when the nomination period expired, the award [...]
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  Posted: October 09, 2009, 10:36pm EDT
  by Wellsy

• Ethics probe on Charlie Rangel widens

  —Wellsy's World

  Rep. Charlie Rangel is finding himself in deeper trouble every day as the House Ethics Committee announced today it was expanding its probe into Rangel’s finances. In an investigation that has already lasted 16 months, the committee voted unanimously to expand its probe, revealing that it had already issued 150 [...]
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  Posted: October 08, 2009, 11:07pm EDT
  by Wellsy

• Obama to shift focus away from Taliban

  —Wellsy's World

  Number of comments: 1
  Pick your preferred source on this one, whether it’s the AP or the Times of London. The Obama administration appears to be headed down a course that would see the focus of military operations in Afghanistan shift away from fighting the Taliban toward simply hunting al-Qaeda. During the shift the [...]
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  Posted: October 08, 2009, 10:41pm EDT
  by Wellsy

• Obama’s ironic taste in art

  —Wellsy's World

  The above piece of art is called “I Think I’ll ….” by Ed Ruscha and deals with the subject of indecision. And Obama has chosen it to hang in his White House residence. No, this is not a joke. You can’t make this stuff up, folks. :: :: :: :: :: [...]
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  Posted: October 08, 2009, 9:43pm EDT
  by Wellsy

• The hypocrisy of Code Pink

  —Wellsy's World

  Code Pink is now apparently rethinking its opposition to the war in Afghanistan and its demand for immediate pullout of troops. Of course, they haven’t officially dropped their opposition, but they have been making statements about shifting their focus and being “more flexible” in a pullout timeline. This is supposedly in reaction to [...]
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  Posted: October 07, 2009, 10:56pm EDT
  by Wellsy

• CBO scores Baucus bill as deficit reducer

  —Wellsy's World

  The Congressional Budget Office released its scoring of the current version of the Baucus health care bill, giving it a projected cost of $829 billion over ten years. More importantly, it scored the bill as reducing deficits by $81 billion over the same time period. Sen. Baucus is obviously pleased, but [...]
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  Posted: October 07, 2009, 10:21pm EDT
  by Wellsy

• Husted vindicated by Ohio Supreme Court

  —Wellsy's World

  Number of comments: 2
  Ohio State Senator Jon Husted was vindicated by the Ohio Supreme Court today after it ruled 7-0 that he was indeed a resident of Kettering and is thus able to vote there. The ruling is a smackdown of Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner who ruled a few weeks ago that [...]
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  Posted: October 06, 2009, 11:22pm EDT
  by Wellsy

• Obama admin cuts off funds for Iran human rights watchdogs

  —Wellsy's World

  There’s shock in the foreign policy community as the largest watchdog of Iranian human rights violations has just had its federal funding request denied and as a consequence must shut down in May. The Iran Human Rights Documentation Center has been issuing reports since 2004 on forced confessions of journalists, the 1988 [...]
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  Posted: October 06, 2009, 10:36pm EDT
  by Wellsy

• Pelosi floats new VAT tax

  —Wellsy's World

  Speaker Nancy Pelosi told Charlie Rose on Monday that a new tax is “on the table” to help Congress pay for its massive spending programs. The so-called value-added tax (VAT) taxes manufacturers at each stage of production for the value an additional producer adds to the final product. Pelosi said [...]
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  Posted: October 06, 2009, 10:00pm EDT
  by Wellsy

• A “conservative” Bible? Give me a break

  —Wellsy's World

  Number of comments: 1
  Rod Dreher tells us about the folks at Conservapedia that have begun the Conservative Bible Project, which seeks to erase the “liberal bias” that has apparently crept into modern translations of the Bible. The creators of the project complain about a Bible that’s dumbed-down, too ambiguous and wordy, and lacking, no kidding, free [...]
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  Posted: October 06, 2009, 9:38pm EDT
  by Wellsy

• Totally weak: CNN reduced to fact-checking SNL

  —Wellsy's World

  Number of comments: 2
  Can there be any more doubt about bias in the mainstream media? Wolf Blitzer and CNN devote an entire segment fretting about the factual accuracy of an SNL sketch and also manage to work in an unrelated and unflattering clip of Tina Fey’s impersonation of Sarah Palin. It’s pathetically hilarious [...]
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  Posted: October 05, 2009, 10:13pm EDT
  by Wellsy

• Dollar may be dropped in oil trade

  —Wellsy's World

  A troubling article in the UK Independent reports that Gulf Arabs are planning with China, Russia and France to begin dropping the dollar as the trading currency for oil and moving to a hodgepodge of currencies including the Chinese yuan, the Japanese yen and the euro. Meetings have already been [...]
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  Posted: October 05, 2009, 9:55pm EDT
  by Wellsy

• Making Grandpa an ex-con: federal overcriminalization

  —Wellsy's World

  I just read a thought-provoking article in the Washington Times on the overcriminalization from federal law violations. Rep. Robert C. Scott (D-VA) and Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX) held a hearing over the summer over the rapid expansion of federal law that can sometimes trip up otherwise law-abiding citizens. The example cited by the [...]
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  Posted: October 05, 2009, 8:08pm EDT
  by Wellsy

• Obama’s Olympic push fails, Games awarded to Rio

  —Wellsy's World

  Number of comments: 2
  The International Olympic Committee stunned the United States when it eliminated Chicago in the first round of voting for the 2016 Summer Games host city, eventually awarding Rio de Janeiro with hosting duties (by the way, congratulations and good for you, Brazil). The defeat stung even more for President Obama, [...]
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  Posted: October 02, 2009, 10:18pm EDT
  by Wellsy

• Another Senator won’t read the health care bill

  —Wellsy's World

  Number of comments: 1
  Thomas Carper, Democratic Senator from Delaware and a member of the Senate Finance Committee, told CNS News that he doesn’t expect to read the actual language of his committee’s health care bill because it’s too “arcane” and “confusing.” Here’s what else he had to say: I don’t expect to actually read [...]
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  Posted: October 02, 2009, 9:33pm EDT
  by Wellsy

• Empire State Building honors Communist Revolution

  —Wellsy's World

  The Empire State Building has often used the lights on the top floors to commemorate certain days or occasions, but the most recent event has taken many by surprise and angered quite a few. On Wednesday, the top of the New York City landmark was illuminated in yellow and red [...]
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  Posted: October 01, 2009, 9:43pm EDT
  by Wellsy

• Don’t waste your tears on Roman Polanski

  —Wellsy's World

  Number of comments: 5
  The arrest of fugitive director Roman Polanski in Switzerland has sent shock waves of righteous indignation throughout the Hollywood community. The capsule version of Polanski’s sin is this: in 1977, he plied a 13-year-old girl with alcohol and drugs before raping her. After a plea agreement in which the charges [...]
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  Posted: September 29, 2009, 10:09pm EDT
  by Wellsy

• Senate Finance Committee rejects public option

  —Wellsy's World

  The Senate Finance Committee rejected two amendments offered by Senators Charles Schumer and Jay Rockefeller that would have injected a taxpayer-funded and government-run public option into the bill authored by Sen. Max Baucus currently under consideration. The Rockefeller amendment was voted down by a margin of 15-8, which saw chairman Baucus [...]
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  Posted: September 29, 2009, 9:23pm EDT
  by Wellsy

• Obama to Copenhagen in Olympic push

  —Wellsy's World

  Number of comments: 2
  President Obama will fly to Copenhagen, Denmark to lend his support for the bid by Chicago for the 2016 Olympics, the first time a sitting American President has made such an appearance. The other potential favorite is Rio de Janeiro alongside other contenders Madrid and Tokyo, and Obama will try [...]
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  Posted: September 28, 2009, 9:09pm EDT
  by Wellsy

• Obama has talked to Afghanistan commander only once

  —Wellsy's World

  In an interview on CBS’ 60 Minutes, the commanding American general in Afghanistan, Gen. Stanley McChrystal, said he has spoken with President Obama only once in the 70 days he has held the post. The admission comes right after an assessment by Gen. McChrystal that warns of failure of Afghanistan [...]
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  Posted: September 28, 2009, 8:33pm EDT
  by Wellsy

• Disgrace: ACORN sues undercover journalists

  —Wellsy's World

  Number of comments: 15
  After a series of videos that showcased ACORN employees in four cities giving tax advice and other aid to undercover journalists posing as a pimp and prostitute interested in starting an underage brothel, ACORN has tied the knot on its own noose – it has sued the two under-30 journalists involved [...]
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  Posted: September 25, 2009, 12:16am EDT
  by Wellsy

• Manuel Zelaya is a head case

  —Wellsy's World

  Deposed Honduran President Manuel Zelaya told the Miami Heraldthat his throat is sore from toxic gases and that Israeli mercenaries are torturing him with high-frequency radiation. He’s been sleeping on chairs while holed up in the Brazilian embassy during a city-wide curfew in the Honduran capital of Tegucigalpa. Zelaya says [...]
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  Posted: September 24, 2009, 11:06pm EDT
  by Wellsy

• Gallup: 80% are OK with current health care

  —Wellsy's World

  Number of comments: 7
  Gallup has another interesting poll that illustrates the perceptions of the public regarding their own health care quality and costs and reveals the core reason why Americans are skeptical of the current health care plan (Heads up from Hot Air). The poll finds that 80% of Americans are either satisfied [...]
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  Posted: September 23, 2009, 10:57pm EDT
  by Wellsy

• Obama speaks to the United Nations

  —Wellsy's World

  (Image credit: The Globe and Mail) President Obama gave a speech before the General Assembly of the United Nations that, like his Cairo speech, was long on hype and short on substance. The full text of the speech can be found here at the New York Times, and I’d urge you [...]
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  Posted: September 23, 2009, 10:27pm EDT
  by Wellsy

• Should Condi Rice increase her profile in the GOP?

  —Wellsy's World

  I just read an interesting article by Nina Easton for Fortune about her conversation with former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and suggests she’s the “should-be face of the GOP.” She references Dr. Rice’s incredible intelligence and broad appeal that couples with an intriguing personal story that results in an interesting [...]
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  Posted: September 22, 2009, 11:36pm EDT
  by Wellsy

• Nanny state: Energy Sec compares Americans to unruly teens

  —Wellsy's World

  Number of comments: 2
  In a stunning display of hubris and nanny state mentality, Energy Secretary Steven Chu said that when it comes to energy policy, Americans are basically like stupid teenagers who don’t listen, leaving it to government to educate them: Speaking on the sidelines of a smart grid conference in Washington, Dr. Chu [...]
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  Posted: September 22, 2009, 9:34pm EDT
  by Wellsy

• No sympathy for Husted here

  —Wellsy's World

  Ohio State Sen. Jon Husted has filed a lawsuit before the Ohio Supreme Court after Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner ruled that he doesn’t live in Kettering where’s he registered to vote and can’t vote from that address. Brunner, a Democrat, used evidence that included water use to conclude that [...]
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  Posted: September 22, 2009, 9:16pm EDT
  by Wellsy

• Zelaya’s return sparks crisis in Honduras

  —Wellsy's World

  Number of comments: 1
  (Image credit: Reuters via UK Telegraph) Manuel Zelaya returned to Honduras on Monday and has taken refuge inside the Brazilian embassy in the capital of Tegucigalpa, while the government of interim President Roberto Micheletti continues to call for his arrest. Brazilian Foreign Minister Celso Amorim said, somewhat naively in my estimation, ”he was [...]
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  Posted: September 21, 2009, 10:08pm EDT
  by Wellsy

• Afghanistan needs more troops; will Obama listen?

  —Wellsy's World

  Number of comments: 3
  The Washington Post reports today on a confidential assessment of the Afghanistan conflict by top U.S. and NATO commander Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal. The general says the situation is growing more serious, though success is still achievable, but he says that without more American troops over the next year, the Afghanistan [...]
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  Posted: September 21, 2009, 9:19pm EDT
  by Wellsy

• Nuclear arsenal poised to be cut under Obama’s plan

  —Wellsy's World

  The UK Guardian reports that President Obama has rejected a Pentagon nuclear review as “too timid” and ordered a more radical review to pave the way for deep cuts in America’s nuclear weapons arsenal. The President’s eventual goal is the abolition of all nuclear weapons, and to that end the article [...]
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  Posted: September 21, 2009, 6:15pm EDT
  by Wellsy

• Obama “happy to look at” newspaper bailout

  —Wellsy's World

  The Hill is reporting that President Obama, in an interview with the editors of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and Toledo Blade, said that he would be “happy to look at” proposals that would give news organizations tax breaks if they reorganized as non-profits. In the past, Press Secretary Robert Gibbs has [...]
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  Posted: September 21, 2009, 1:42pm EDT
  by Wellsy

• 7 former CIA chiefs ask for end to Holder investigation

  —Wellsy's World

  In a surprising letter to President Barack Obama, seven former CIA chiefs asked for an end to the investigation by Attorney General Eric Holder into the conduct of CIA officers. The former directors argue that further investigations “will seriously damage the willingness of many other intelligence officers to take risks [...]
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  Posted: September 20, 2009, 2:12pm EDT
  by Wellsy

• Missile defense scrapped in Eastern Europe

  —Wellsy's World

  President Obama made waves today when he drew back on a Bush-era promise to build a missile defense shield around Eastern Europe, angering some in Poland and the Czech Republic and puzzling many back home. Officially, the Obama administration is only shifting tactics, focusing more on short- to mid-range missiles instead [...]
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  Posted: September 17, 2009, 10:15pm EDT
  by Wellsy

• Obama admin: Cap and trade could cost families $1700/year

  —Wellsy's World

  Number of comments: 1
  The Treasury Department, in response to a FOIA request, yesterday released an analysis of cap and trade that calculates that new carbon regulations would cost the American taxpayers up to $200 billion a year. At the upper end of the estimate, families would see their energy costs go up by $1,761 a year. [...]
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  Posted: September 17, 2009, 9:28pm EDT
  by Wellsy

• Jimmy Carter, Joe Wilson and racism

  —Wellsy's World

  One week after Rep. Joe Wilson (R-SC) made his ill-advised outburst during President Obama’s health care speech, wild speculation about what those two little words still persists one week later. The House voted yesterday to censure Rep. Wilson, which was the right thing to do, and Rep. Wilson was right [...]
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  Posted: September 16, 2009, 2:05pm EDT
  by Wellsy

• Bush and the conservative movement in his own words

  —Wellsy's World

  Byron York writes an interesting piece in the Washington Examiner regarding the tenuous nature of the link between former President George W. Bush and conservatism. Many analysts, including the vast majority on the left, have made the attempt to make Bush the leading proponent of conservative principles, in part to [...]
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  Posted: September 15, 2009, 9:31pm EDT
  by Wellsy

• Patrick Swayze loses battle with cancer

  —Wellsy's World

    Patrick Swayze has lost his battle with pancreatic cancer at the age of 57. He fought bravely for 20 months and lived longer than most with the grim prognosis that such a fast-acting cancer provides. He’ll be forever remembered for his role in the generation-defining “Dirty Dancing,” as well as [...]
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  Posted: September 14, 2009, 11:19pm EDT
  by Wellsy

• Senate votes to strip ACORN of federal funds

  —Wellsy's World

  Number of comments: 1
  In an overwhelming bipartisan vote, the Senate passed 83-7 an amendment to the HUD appropriation bill proposed by Sen. Mike Johanns that strips ACORN of any federal housing funds. ACORN was caught red-handed in a series of undercover videos by James O’Keefe and Hannah Giles that catch ACORN tax specialists [...]
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  Posted: September 14, 2009, 11:01pm EDT
  by Wellsy

• Public trust in press at two decade low

  —Wellsy's World

  The Pew Research Center has some bad news for the press in matter of political bias and general competence. According to their survey, only 29% of Americans think the press gets their facts straight in news stories, and 63% say the news is generally inaccurate. Even more damning, only 26% [...]
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  Posted: September 14, 2009, 10:14pm EDT
  by Wellsy

• Venezuela to get nuclear energy help from Russia

  —Wellsy's World

  Number of comments: 2
  Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez boasted on state television that his country will develop a nuclear energy program with the help of Russia. The agreement apparently came about during a meeting last week in Moscow between Chavez and Vladimir Putin, and Chavez states that Venezuela doesn’t seek an atomic bomb “so [...]
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  Posted: September 14, 2009, 4:45pm EDT
  by Wellsy

• An attempt at a real “reset button” on health care

  —Wellsy's World

  With the convening of Congress, the debate over health care reform has once again reared its ugly head. Despite promises of pushing a “reset button” on the back-and-forth rhetoric, the President’s speech served more as a further partisan rebuke to critics rather than a genuine moment of leadership and bipartisanship. [...]
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  Posted: September 13, 2009, 11:15pm EDT
  by Wellsy

• 9/11/01

  —Wellsy's World

  September 11th, 2001. 2,993 killed. 6,291 injured. 1 nation changed. Rest in peace. :: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: Posted in Uncategorized Tagged: 9/11, september 11th, twin towers, world trade center [...]
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  Posted: September 11, 2009, 1:25pm EDT
  by Wellsy

• Support for labor unions at historic low

  —Wellsy's World

  Over this past Labor Day weekend, a couple of national polls indicated a decreasing level of support for labor unions among the American people. Gallup released their poll on September 3, showing a 48% approval of labor unions, which is a historic low since Gallup began charting in 1937. No [...]
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  Posted: September 10, 2009, 9:53pm EDT
  by Wellsy

• ACORN: Helping pimps and underage prostitutes defraud tax laws

  —Wellsy's World

  In a shocking undercover expose by James O’Keefe, ACORN employees in Baltimore are caught on tape finding ways to get a prostitute a phony house loan and claim underage prostitutes as dependents. The video is 18 minutes long and exists in 2 parts on the BigGovernment website, but it is [...]
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  Posted: September 10, 2009, 1:41pm EDT
  by Wellsy

• New low in CNN poll packing

  —Wellsy's World

  CNN’s Political Ticker has a brand new poll proclaiming a double digit post-speech jump for Obama’s plan. Boy, what great news, right? There’s only one small problem: The sample of speech-watchers in this poll was 45 percent Democratic and 18 percent Republican. Our best estimate of the number of Democrats in [...]
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  Posted: September 10, 2009, 12:05pm EDT
  by Wellsy

• What did Obama’s health care speech accomplish?

  —Wellsy's World

  (Image credit: Sky News) Speaking before a joint session of Congress, President Barack Obama gave a much-hyped speech on health care reform, the transcript of which can be found here. He promised action, stating that the status quo is unacceptable, and spoke broadly about his goals of health care stability, coverage [...]
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  Posted: September 09, 2009, 10:40pm EDT
  by Wellsy

• Obama will endorse public option in Congressional speech

  —Wellsy's World

  Number of comments: 1
  In the much-anticipated health care speech before Congress on Wednesday, the Wall Street Journal says that President Barack Obama will push for the government-run public option. You can expect the usual talking points about “choice and competition” and how a federal insurance plan will somehow provide both. Also expect to [...]
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  Posted: September 09, 2009, 12:15am EDT
  by Wellsy

• Fines and taxes abound as health care debate resumes

  —Wellsy's World

  The health care debate will begin again in earnest this week with the President making a prime-time speech to a joint session of Congress on the subject. In the meantime, as a public option becomes increasingly less likely and compromises are hammered out in its stead, we continue to see [...]
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  Posted: September 08, 2009, 10:22pm EDT
  by Wellsy

• Traficant out of prison and back on the scene

  —Wellsy's World

  Former Rep. James Traficant was released from federal prison last Wednesday after serving seven years for bribery. He returned to Ohio on Sunday, where over 1,200 turned out in Boardman to welcome him back into society. The rally, much like Traficant, seemed to have a carnival-like atmosphere, with an Elvis impersonator and a Traficant [...]
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  Posted: September 08, 2009, 9:50pm EDT
  by Wellsy