novatownhall blog

Report: Daschle Received $220G From Health Care Groups With Vested Interest.

Sen. Tom Daschle, President Obama’s nominee to head the Department of Health and Human Services, reportedly received $220,000 in speaking fees from health care groups with a vested interest in the work he would do once confirmed as health chief.

Tom Daschle, the former South Dakota senator picked by President Obama to reside over the nation’s healthcare system, received $220,000 in speaking fees from health care groups with an interest in the work he would do once confirmed as health chief, Politico.com reports.

Daschle, who has come under fire in recent days for his failure to pay taxes, reportedly received thousands from health care groups — such as the Health Industry Distributors Association — that stand to gain or lose depending on the outcome of Obama’s universal health care initiative.
Read Story at FOXNews

Isn’t this the administration that claimed they would end corruption in Washington ?

I saw this coming from the otherside of the mountain just past the horizon and I’m sure that our constant bloggers have also.  Here at NOVA TOWNHALL where WE print the news that isn’t fit for print….by any other media like to keep our people informed.  It has been 11 days since “I” day (infer any meaning you want) and the bad news is coming in by the truck load.  And the news is bad for EVERYONE (almost-we’ll just say the majority of taxpayers) yet there is no outcry from the left.  Where did they go?  The smattering of negativity on constitutional rights (in specific the 2nd Amendment) is normal.  Since there is no Bush to bash for our current problems, who’s bashing THIS administration?  Just us?

The convienient silence is another indicator of what the liberal is made of.  They are always there to bash the opposition and pass blame on someone else.  But when the problem is on their side of the fence and even when it is them, you don’t hear a peep.  They are too proud to say that they are wrong in the way they think and the things that they do.  If they don’t say anything then people will just forget-about-it!  Make no mistakes-the liberals and ignorant got us into this mess and the liberals are controlling and promoting more of a mess.  They have no honor or spine.  Here Liby-Liby-Liby!  Crawl out of your hole and come justify why things are happening they way they are and who is to blame.  Can you just imagine what the next 3 years and 354 days are going to be like?

I am choking on all that is happening with the meddling of Congress and the office of the President affecting our economy.  Seems that Christmas (more aptly Qwanza) will be coming many times this year and every year to come.  California has its own way of dealing with money problems and its people.  Seems the “Republican” Governor wants your money.  As long as he keeps it, you won’t be making any purchases or interest with it.  Folks, this is only the beginning of the Gestapo State.  All the loones are showing their true feathers. 

Now me being an individual that believes in the law of the land and doing things according to our Constitution (he,he), I might suggest that you get a deferral on your tax returns if you OWE money.  The others that are receiving a refund-input your income tax forms NOW and do it electronically!  That way we draw as much money from the government that we can get before it is frozen and that monies that is due, well……they can just wait awhile-like after the federal budget is due.  Maybe it will shutdown the government long enough to pay for this tax burden the government is putting on us and our great-great-great grandchildren.  Hmmmmm.  How do I come up with this stuff.  I’m having another glass of wine! 

No, the other Obama, George.  Check it out here.  Now, if I remember correctly, there was a mini-campaign going to help George out since he only made a dollar a month (actually, less than a dollar a DAY) and compassion was running high being as how Bore-rock was doing nothing to help his kin out of squalor (except, of course, his illegal aunt-did you see her ball dress?).  For those that sent money, let this be a lesson to you.  I don’t know how much Mary-Jane costs in Africa (Wolverene-do you have an idea?) but I bet, if of course he is guilty, he got the money from “donations”.  And what better way to spend it.  Seems the whole family may be a rotten apple barrel.

White House: Daschle Had ‘Tax Issues,’ Shouldn’t Bar His Cabinet Confirmation

The White House has acknowledged that former Sen. Tom Daschle, President Obama’s nominee to head the Department of Health and Human Services, had “some tax issues,” which, the administration says, have been resolved and shouldn’t bar his confirmation as secretary.

FOX News confirmed that Daschle alerted the Senate Finance Committee, which will oversee his confirmation hearing, that the matter involves more than $100,000 in back taxes and interest for a car and driver that was provided to him for four years by Leo Hindery, a wealthy Democratic donor and longtime friend of Daschle’s.

Daschle incorrectly assumed the use of the car and driver was not subject to taxation. But the White House says he discovered the error during preparation for his confirmation and filed amended tax returns with the proper payment and interest.

Read at FOXNews

In other words, when he was nominated, Daschle paid his back taxes to hopefully settle the issue.

Anyone other than myself see a disturbing trend here ? When Obama said he wanted the rich to pay more taxes, he was referring to those outside of his own party ?

Supply and demand. The more of something that exists, the less its value is.

The federal government increased our taxes by taking half of everything you have.

Check out this (click here) video and look at the change at the end of the video. What we are looking at is any dollars you have are now worth half as much.

Viewers of 24 have seen Chloe O’Brian cut and paste an image from a surveillance camera into facial recognition software and within moments, the suspect is identified. I have always viewed this with a certain degree of skepticism, but I shall no longer do so.

This week I received an update to Apple’s photo management, iPhoto 09, and one of the new features is something called “Faces”. The way this works is rather unique, when you start it for the first time, it processes all of your photos looking for and remembering the faces that it finds. Once this is complete, you select a few photos of people and associate them with a name, then the applicaton will go off and match other photos of the person you just identified.

How well does this work, amazingly well. I have some group photos of sports teams, and the program correctly identified the individuals in these photos. What is also impressive that photos of children taken over the span of five years, elementary school age to teen, were correctly identified as the same individual. Amazing stuff. Internet buzz is that it also works with cats..

If a consumer product can do this, what can facial recognition technology do on a more powerful computer than what I have here on my desktop ?

Chloe, I shall never doubt you again. As a matter of fact, I’m a little concerned..

I was reading (the geek that I am) about Google Streetview at Network World and that it has both pluses and minuses in that it killed a young deer, and also that it help return a kidnapped child to her parents. It also was used by police and found a crop of drugs growing in a field. The thing that I think most salient about the story was two lines. While the uses of Streetview can be bad, they can also be good. But the last word was:

So yes, while Google can be insensitive at times, especially when it comes to images uploaded by StreetView, it’s also a proven force for good in the world. In other words, a tool is only as good (or bad) as the person using it. Google doesn’t kill Bambis, people do.

Where have I heard that before … Oh yeah, guns don’t kill people, people do. Guns, like Google Streetview has the potential to do good (stop crime, feed families through hunting, prevent dictatorships from starting) or evil. All of it based on the goodness of the corruption of the person using the tool.

Don’t take away the tool because some people use it for evil (don’t take away my car because some people drive drunk, or speed … illegal driving kills more people than illegal use of a gun). Take away the evil person that uses the good tool for an evil purpose.

One of the things that Obama and his league of thousands have said is that he represents change. What change? He is not changing anything, but using the same tired, failed policies of the past. Who has he put into his cabinet? Who are all his top ranking officer holders? The same tired bunch of political hacks we’ve seen during the Clinton years. There is no change, just recycling. I know a teacher who said in a former job that his job was to corrupt foreign dignitaries. He stated that there wasn’t a single Senator in DC (this was when Obama was in the Senate) that was not cut from the same cloth as those who were members of the Soviet Politburo. I have another friend that works in DC, that when I told him what the teacher said, I was surprised that he didn’t disagree. People that work closely with any senator or representative get to see these guys as nothing more than the power brokers. continue reading…

I never knew the man, but he was responsible for allowing the employment of the people who populated the segment of Loudoun County government which was so incredibly ineffective and which had such an immediate bearing on my life: Loudoun County Zoning Enforcement.

As referenced in the above link, Loudoun County zoning enforcement has been the ultimate joke when it comes to local government effectiveness. Loudoun County zoning “enforcement” has presided over illegal migrants establishing a major beachhead in our community.

I know it is an open question whether illegals got preferential treatment from mortgage loaners. It is also an open question whether illegal immigrants have been getting a pass from local government authorities for anything the illegals might do.

But one thing we can say for sure: Kirby Bowers allowed Terry Wharton to remain employed by Loudoun County, and Terry Wharton was the guy who allowed this to happen throughout our communities – simply because Mr. Wharton was never reined in.

And consequently, Loudoun County zoning “enforcement” was the biggest joke in the nation under Kirby Bowers’ watch. We actually had someone who was apparently an advocate for illegal immigrants serving as our lead zoning enforcement agent.

Surprise, surprise: Sterling became Loudoun County’s safe zone for illegals.

Goodbye, Kirby. As far as I can tell, I need to say: Thank you for nothing. If you have any ideas or evidence which contradict my summation, please post in the comments and I will gladly bring to the front page.

But as far as I can tell, you presided over the ineffectiveness of Loudoun County zoning enforcement.

Just a few programming notes …

- Amnesty Week 2009 was wonderful – thank you Bobby Fontaine, wherever you are. We’ll probably have another general amnesty in a few months so stay tuned. Bobby, if I recall correctly, you were the subject of our first toast during the Inauguration Day iced-tea-and-soda-crackers blowout (hey what would you expect from a bunch of uptight conservatives).

- I am still heavily weighed down by my day-job project, so participation here will remain sparse for a while. Thank goodness for our regulars, the excellent bloggers and commenters here at NVTH, for keeping the site going. When the project from hell of a lifetime is finally done, some people may say “how on Earth did you do that?” and I will say, “by giving up everything except food, alcohol, and ….”

- LOST. Oh goodness gracious, don’t get me started. Santa gave us Season One for Christmas, and as reflexively as breathing I then scarfed up the full Seasons 2-4 on DVD, which for all of our (admittedly meager) “recreation time” has been the part and parcel since New Years. If I ain’t building a Web site, I am watching Lost, these days.

But as per usual, I need to get back to the day-job Web site, so I cannot elaborate – but my wife can, so please go read her post on our latest obsession.

US law enforcement doing what it is supposed to be doing – protecting Americans:

A festering resentment began to take root in the hearts of some black and white residents, producing an odd alliance in a place that has seen decades of racism. Many blacks and whites claimed Hispanics were taking over their city and taking away jobs by not complaining about safety issues in a factory that faced $193,000 in fines last year from federal inspectors citing dangerous working conditions.

The Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency swept in last summer and staged the nation’s largest single workplace raid. When nearly 600 Hispanics were herded past black and white Howard employees, jeers and applause and wide grins erupted.

“Bye-bye,” some trilled in falsetto, fingers wagging. “Go back where you came from.”

The assembly line rattles on. But now mostly blacks work it, with a smattering of whites, for the same wages paid to Hispanics.

What a concept: The US government protecting the livelihood of US citizens. If the Obama administration were to continue this effort, it would go a long way to building support for his presidency across the political spectrum.

… and just when you thought there was absolutely nothing in politics worth getting excited about anymore, my friends I give you -

Nugent For Senate.

As your first act of community service in this new day, please sign the petition. There’s a pudgy hack comedian that might well need his ass kicked in a couple years, and Ted is the ideal man to do the kickin’.

During lobbying day in Richmond, I met Delegate Lionell Spruill, Sr., delegate for Chesapeake and Suffolk cities. I felt he was willing to listen, yet would not be considered a strong supporter of the second amendment. He explained that he had a personal aversion to firearms. He grew up in an area that was rife with gangs and shootings almost every night. He stated he did not oppose all the items we supported, but he would like to us help with finding a way to reduce the prevalence of illegal guns on the street. I am hoping this open letter moves toward that end.

continue reading…

I just received my recent edition of “The Independent” newspaper.  Front page was historical inaugeration, largest crowd, great things gonna happen, blah, blah, blah.  Now back when, there were 3 local papers; the Easterner, the Loudoun Times and the Loudoun Times-Mirror.  The Mirror costs to get and the other 2 were free (advertisers paid for).  The only one I read was the Easterner because it seemed to carry all the news that the others did AND it didn’t show a slant or bias.

The Easterner was sold and I was disheartened.  I didn’t know how I was going to obtain “accurate” news within the county.  Well, John Geddie wasn’t one to lay down and retire and he started another paper called the Independent.  I had my accurate and unbiased reporting back.  At least until John Geddie died.  That was a tragic loss.  I always liked the way John ran a paper and I was not unfamiliar with his political leanings….but he kept them OUT of the paper.  It took less than a month before his son showed his bias and I guess the edict at the paper is “liberalism and bias first-screw objectivity”!  Needless to say that it is another propaganda rag for the left and, again, there is no source for unbiased news in Loudoun.

There seems to be a trend in this county.  We are turning Democrat and everyone in any position of importance is helping to further the cause.  Heck, we have a nit-wit governor bouncing around the countryside trying to curry political favors and position from a rabid administration (he did get Chairman of the DNC) instead of taking care of the citizens of Virginia (other than blowing a BILLION dollar surplus almost before he moved into the governor’s mansion) and the “esteemed” of this county fall all over themselves giving accolades to this guy for doing……what?

The O-bummer bandwagon is in full stride and the last of the good papers has hitched their team to his wagons.  Wave of things to continually come.  I just wonder if this is the way it was originally intended to be or if Big John is rolling over in his grave.  The living will never know.