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TRUTH TEST: Ads against Michele Bachmann
Found: 2 Days 21 Hours 40 Minutes ago
KSTP 5 News - A special interest group opposed to Republican incumbent Michele Bachmann's re-election, "Alliance for a Better Minnesota," is airing an ad attacking her record... ...
Lights On For Safety
Found: 6 Days 17 Hours 30 Minutes ago
KBJR News - As the days get shorter and more vehicles are on the road after dark, automotive visibility becomes increasingly important....
Legals published in the 10/02/08 Plaindealer
Found: Minutes ago
St. James News - NOTICE OF MORTGAGE FORECLOSURE SALE THE RIGHT TO VERIFICATION OF THE DEBT AND IDENTITY OF THE ORIGINAL CREDITOR WITHIN THE TIME PROVIDED BY LAW IS NOT AFFECTED BY THIS ACTION....
Eight Years Is Enough
Found: 1 Week 3 Days 9 Hours 24 Minutes ago
Eden Prairie News - Eight Years Is Enough LikablePalin's likable quotient is high, but everything else about her related to her ability to be VP is severly lacking..."McCain's 'Stop Sarah Palin'strategy working like a charm, polls showFresh evidence tonight that the brilliant McCain campaign strategy to lock away the political effervesence of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin to stoke overconfidence among the nation's Democrats and set the stage for yet another improbable Arizona comeback is working exactly as planned.For more than 10 days now the 44-year-old mother of five, who upset the ancient Republican establishment in Alaska two years ago by driving herself to campaign events and talking to pretty much any group that would have her, has been cut off from normal Americans who watched her by the many millions give a spunky speech at the Republican National Convention and then overnight turned her name into seven of the top 10 search terms on Google.But John McCain's strategists had a better idea than letting Palin be Palin. They set her up with TV reporters born to ask questions until they found some she couldn't answer. No doubt the campaign's idea was to show the hockey mom was pretty much like any other American who couldn't recall Marbury v Madison if their cellphone depended on it. Wait, come to think of it, the other vice presidential candidate didn't cite a famous Supreme Court case by name either. But nevermind. We don't want to confuse the conventional Palin story line.So the pressure is even greater for Thursday night's sole vice presidential debate between Palin and Democrat Joe Biden, the senator from somewhere who wears his hair down pretty much all the time. The Washington Post published a new poll this morning showing that six out of 10 Americans now see Palin's two years as governor of the largest state as insufficient experience to become president.Almost half the voters polled expressed discomfort with McCain's age and, of those, 85% found Palin too inexperienced to take over. A third of those polled now say they're less likely to vote for McCain because of Palin. It's almost like a dream, it's working so well. A previous Times poll showed little Palin effect on female voters.Our colleague Mark Silva over at the Swamp reports on a separate Pew Research Center poll that also shows this Hanoi strategy unfolding perfectly. Confidence in Palin's ability to lead has plummeted from 52% in early September before the imprisonment of Palin to 37% now.It's not all good news though. The Pew poll finds 70% view Palin as down-to-earth, vs only 55% for the gaffey guy who's been a yabbering senator with congressional perqs since Palin was eight years old.Also discouraging for the McCain camp must be the finding of a new Marist Poll, described by the Swamp's same Silva. It reveals that while a plurality (45%) expect Biden to perform better in the debate and a majority (61%) expect him to show a greater understanding of issues, compared to Palin's 36% and 28%, nearly two out of three expect Palin to come across as more likeable, compared to Biden's measly 23% anticipated likeability.To facilitate the latest McCain plunge into oblivion by Nov. 4, the hockey mom is clearly going to have to do something outrageous during the debate to drive down her likeability. Maybe talk innocently about hairplugs. Or let slip something about her home state being 279 times larger than, say, Delaware."http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/washington/2008/10/sarah-palin-pol.html...
Biz Credit Freeze
Firms
Found: 1 Week 3 Days 9 Hours 24 Minutes ago
Eden Prairie News - Biz Credit FreezeFirms small and large face drastic cutbacks as banks decline to lend the money that keeps the wheels of commerce turning.By Marla Dickerson, Tiffany Hsu and Jerry Hirsch, Los Angeles Times Staff Writers October 2, 2008 "Janet Hildreth is gearing up for Black Friday at her San Francisco flooring company. Orders have plunged so precipitously that she is laying off half of her 40-person staff at the end of this week -- the first such cuts in the 36-year history of Tree Lovers Floors Inc.Full coverage: Financial crisisWhy the $700-billion rescue plan failedOn the bailout: Voters vented, lawmakers listenedHildreth had intended to get through the rough patch by using her $250,000 home equity line of credit to help meet payroll. But her bank, Pasadena-based IndyMac, was seized in July by federal regulators. The institution recently froze her credit line, Hildreth says, even though she has excellent credit and more than $400,000 in equity in her home.Plan B was to tap a $30,000 American Express credit line. But AmEx slashed the maximum she could borrow on the line to $1,000 because she hadn't used it."I'm mad at the banks,"said Hildreth, 47. "Because of all the deadbeats, they're coming after me. But they're contributing to the problem by denying credit . . . to people who've never been late."Her former husband, Christopher Hildreth, 57, who founded the business and is still a partner, is cashing in an insurance policy to keep the company afloat.As lenders tighten their fists and consumers tighten their belts, businesses from small restaurants to industry titans such as AT&T are getting squeezed. Some are slicing inventory as they struggle to find financing to buy new merchandise. Others, unable to get loans to cover payroll and operating costs, are laying off employees or closing their doors. Even businesses that have healthy revenue and are up to date on their payments are having their loans called in or their interest rates raised.Some businesses are landing loans against the odds. Tracis Verfaillie applied successfully last month for a $11,000 loan for Chocolatt, the confectionary he owns in West Los Angeles. His good credit history was the clincher, he said. But the National Small Business Assn. reported that 67% of small businesses said in August that they had been affected by the credit crunch -- and that was before September's market turmoil. The number of small businesses using bank loans was at a 15-year low and 32% said their loan terms were getting worse. The same was happening with credit card rates, 63% said.The credit manager's index, which the National Assn. of Credit Management uses to measure credit and collections professionals'confidence in the economy, dropped a record 3.3% in September.The speed and depth of the credit crisis has been stunning, catching even the most seasoned businesspeople by surprise, said Cris Steller, owner of Roseville, Calif.-based Steller & Steller Association and Insurance Consulting. Steller, whose company manages trade associations for industries including automotive and construction, said many of his clients and peers saw trouble brewing months ago and slashed expenses accordingly. But none anticipated having their business credit lines pulled at the same time that their customers could no longer get financing. He named three local car dealerships and one boat dealership that have closed in the last year alone."Payrolls are getting harder to meet. Cash flow is extremely difficult,"Steller said. "I'm getting the feeling that if we don't have sort of a federal deal that a lack of cash flow is going to bring everything to a halt."Start-ups, manufacturers and construction businesses are in a particularly bad bind, said Scott Hauge, president of Small Business California. Business owners who took out home equity lines of credit to supplement their budgets are hitting a wall as banks begin freezing or restricting the funds. As vendors tighten their credit terms, businesses are being pressed to cover their loans more quickly. Meanwhile, clients are trying to delay payments as long as possible. But big companies are hardly immune to the woes.The credit crunch has slowed the efforts of DineEquity Inc., the Glendale company that owns the Applebee's and IHOP restaurant chains, to sell many of its 483 company-owned Applebee's locations to franchisees. Shedding those locations was to be a key component of DineEquity's $1.9-billion acquisition of Applebee's last year. But potential buyers have been unable to get the financing to finish the deals, according to analysts. Last month, JPMorgan analyst Steven Rees said, DineEquity had completed only 26 transactions and "has a long way to go to reach its 100-unit goal by year-end."Even the world's largest telecommunications company is not immune: AT&T Inc. said it was unable last week to sell any commercial paper (essentially short-term IOUs) for terms longer than overnight, despite its solid debt rating.Georgia-based Bill Heard Enterprises Inc., the largest chain of Chevrolet dealerships in the country, shut down its 14 locations last week after losing as much as $5 million a month. The company filed for bankruptcy protection Monday."The rest of this article is at this URL:http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-credit2-2008oct02,0,5767056.story...
Political endorsements by pastors in Minnesota, elsewhere draw ...
Found: 1 Week 5 Days 17 Hours 4 Minutes ago
The Post-Bulletin - WASHINGTON -- A church-state separation group filed complaints Monday with the Internal Revenue Service against six churches whose pastors either endorsed or made pointed comments about political candidates from their pulpits Sunday....
Bailout- AP
Found: 1 Week 6 Days 17 Hours 15 Minutes ago
Eden Prairie News - Bailout- AP VersionWASHINGTON (AP) -- Congressional leaders and the Bush administration agreed Sunday on the main elements of a $700 billion bailout for the financial industry, paving the way for swift enactment of the largest government intervention in markets since the Great Depression.Negotiators sought to iron out the final shape of the legislation and it still had to be reviewed by House Republicans, whose fierce opposition to a federal rescue nearly torpedoed an emerging bipartisan pact late in the week. Officials in both parties said they hoped for a House vote Monday."We've still got more to do to finalize it, but I think we're there,"said Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, who participated in the talks at the Capitol.The measure would create a program that lets the government spend unprecedented sums of public money to prop up tottering financial institutions by buying their sagging mortgage-based investments and other devalued assets.A breakthrough came when Democrats agreed to incorporate a GOP demand - letting the government insure some bad home loans rather than buy them - designed to limit the amount of federal money used in the rescue.Another important bargain, vital to attracting support from centrist Democrats and Republicans who are fiscal hawks, would require that financial firms repay the government for any losses. A leading proposal would impose a 2 percent tax on the companies if, after five years, the program had not made back what it spent."This is the bottom line: If we do not do this, the trauma, the chaos and the disruption to everyday Americans'lives will be overwhelming, and that's a price we can't afford to risk paying,"Sen. Judd Gregg, the chief Senate Republican in the talks, told The Associated Press on Sunday. "I do think we'll be able to pass it, and it will be a bipartisan vote."Congressional leaders, who announced the tentative deal after marathon negotiations that ended early Sunday, hope to have a House vote Monday; a Senate vote would come later.The presidential nominees came behind the outlines of the bailout. "This is something that all of us will swallow hard and go forward with,"said Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz. "The option of doing nothing is simply not an acceptable option."Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., sought credit for taxpayer safeguards added to the initial proposal from the Bush administration. "I was pushing very hard and involved in shaping those provisions,"he said.Under the plan, the government would purchase mortgage-backed securities and other bad debts held by banks and other investors. The money should help troubled lenders make new loans and keep credit lines open. The government would later try to sell the discounted loan packages at the best possible price.The legislation would place "reasonable"limits on severance packages for executives of companies that benefit from the rescue plan, said a senior administration official who was authorized to speak only on background.The government would receive stock warrants in return for the bailout relief, giving taxpayers a chance to share in financial companies'future profits.To help struggling homeowners, the plan would require the government to try renegotiating the bad mortgages it acquires with the aim of lowering borrowers'monthly payments so they can keep their homes."Nobody got everything they wanted,"said Democratic Rep. Barney Frank of Massachusetts, chairman of the House Financial Services Committee. He predicted it would pass, though not by a large majority.Gregg, R-N.H., said he thinks taxpayers will come out as financial winners. "I don't think we're going to lose money, myself. We may, it's possible, but I doubt it in the long run,"he said.Frank appeared on C-SPAN, Obama was on CBS'"Face the Nation,"while McCain spoke on "This Week"on ABC.---Associated Press writer Holly Ramer in Concord, N.H., contributed to this report.http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/F/FINANCIAL_MELTDOWN?SITE=INKEN&SEC......
Obama Version
Obama inclined
Found: 1 Week 6 Days 17 Hours 15 Minutes ago
Eden Prairie News - Obama VersionObama inclined to support Wall Street bailoutObama says McCain deserves no credit in forging tentative $700 billion Wall Street bailoutSTEPHEN OHLEMACHERAP NewsSep 28, 2008 09:30 ESTDemocratic presidential nominee Barack Obama said Sunday his Republican rival deserves no credit for helping to forge a tentative agreement on the $700 billion bailout of Wall Street.Instead, Obama said he deserves credit for making sure the proposal includes safeguards for taxpayers. Obama said he is inclined to support the bailout because it includes increased oversight, relief for homeowners facing foreclosure and limits on executive compensation for chief executives of firms that receive government help."None of those were in the president's provisions. They are identical to the things I called for the day that (Treasury) Secretary (Henry) Paulson released his package,"Obama said. "That I think is an indication of the degree to which when it comes to protecting taxpayers, I was pushing very hard and involved in shaping those provisions."The safeguards were supported by many in Congress, including Democrats and Republicans.Republican presidential nominee John McCain announced last week that he was suspending his campaign to focus on the crisis.Asked during an interview on CBS'"Face the Nation"whether McCain deserved credit for bringing lawmakers together, Obama said "no.""Here are the facts: For two weeks I was on the phone everyday with Secretary Paulson and the congressional leaders making sure that the principles that have been ultimately adopted were incorporated in the bill,"Obama said.Congressional leaders were working through the weekend on a package to bailout troubled Wall Street firms. They hope to have a House vote on the measure Monday, with a vote in the Senate coming later.Under the plan, the federal government would buy mortgage-backed securities and other bad debt held by banks and other investors. The money should help troubled lenders make new loans and keep credit lines open. The government would later try to sell the discounted loan packages at the best possible price."My inclination is to support it because I think Main Street is now at stake,"Obama said.Obama also said the next president should work to overhaul the regulatory structure of Wall Street, though he offered no specifics."We have to remember how we got here, not so much to allocate blame as to understand the choices that are going to face the next president,"he said. "Unless we update our 20th century regulatory framework for a 21st century global financial system, then we are going to continue to be vulnerable to this kind of situation. And I think the next president has to come in with a very strong package of reforms."http://www.talkleft.com/wireservice?articleId=33814147&channelId=1180&bu......
McCain backs bailout while
Found: 2 Weeks 4 Hours 18 Minutes ago
Eden Prairie News - McCain backs bailout while defending deregulationECONOMY | Obama puts some blame on poor oversight WASHINGTON -- John McCain defended deregulation on Wall Street even as he endorsed a $700 billion bailout of financial firms, in an interview aired Sunday.Barack Obama said an inadequate regulatory system was partly responsible for the crisis. McCain has long supported fewer regulations for businesses. But as the financial crisis on Wall Street worsens, McCain is calling for more government. Obama said McCain is late in calling for better oversight after years of supporting fewer regulations.McCain was asked if he regretted supporting a 1999 law that removed barriers between investment banks and commercial banks erected in 1933 in response to the 1929 stock market crash.''No,'' McCain said. ''I think the deregulation was probably helpful to the growth of our economy.''McCain defended the Bush administration's bailout as necessary but acknowledged it could get expensive.''We're going to take over these bad loans,'' he said. ''And we're going to have the taxpayer help you out. But when the time comes and the economy recovers, then anything that's gained back is going to go to the taxpayers first.''I'm not saying this isn't going to be messy. And I'm not saying it isn't going to be expensive. But we have to stop the bleeding.''The plan would dole out huge sums of money to financial firms to purchase bad mortgage-backed securities so the firms can resume normal lending operations.In a statement to reporters, McCain said he favors a bipartisan oversight panel including Warren Buffett, Mitt Romney and Michael Bloomberg to monitor the bailout.Obama said, ''There were a lot of factors involved'' in the crisis. ''But I think there is no doubt that if we had had a regulatory system that had kept pace with the changes in the financial system, that would have had an enormous impact in containing some of the problems that are out there.''http://www.suntimes.com/news/politics/mccain/1177603,CST-NWS-camp22.arti......
PALIN PERKSSep 28, 11:58 AM
Found: 2 Weeks 4 Hours 40 Minutes ago
Eden Prairie News - PALIN PERKSSep 28, 11:58 AM EDTAP Investigation: Palin got zoning aid, gifts WASILLA, Alaska (AP) -- Though Sarah Palin depicts herself as a pit bull fighting good-old-boy politics, in her years as mayor she and her friends received special benefits more typical of small-town politics as usual, an Associated Press investigation shows.When Palin needed to sell her house during her last year as Wasilla mayor, she got the city to sign off on a special zoning exception - and did so without keeping a promise to remove a potential fire hazard.She gladly accepted gifts from merchants: A free "awesome facial" she raved about in a thank-you note to a spa. The "absolutely gorgeous flowers" she received from a welding supply store. Even fresh salmon to take home.She also stepped in to help friends or neighbors with City Hall dealings. She asked the City Council to add a friend to the list of speakers at a 2002 meeting - and then the friend got up and asked them to give his radio station advertising business.That year, records show, she tried to help a neighbor and political contributor fighting City Hall over his small lakeside development. Palin wanted the city to refund some of the man's fees, but the city attorney told the mayor she didn't have the authority.Palin claims she has more executive experience than her opponent and the two presidential candidates, but most of those years were spent running a city with a population of less than 7,000.Some of her first actions after being elected mayor in 1996 raised possible ethical red flags: She cast the tie-breaking vote to propose a tax exemption on aircraft when her father-in-law owned one, and backed the city's repeal of all taxes a year later on planes, snow machines and other personal property. She also asked the council to consider looser rules for snow machine races. Palin and her husband, Todd, a champion racer, co-owned a snow machine store at the time.Palin often told the City Council of her personal involvement in such issues, but that didn't stop her from pressing them, according to minutes of council meetings.She sometimes followed a cautious path in the face of real or potential conflicts - for example, stepping away from the table in 1997 when the council considered a grant for the Iron Dog snow machine race in which her husband competes.But mostly, like other Wasilla elected officials at the time, she took an active role on issues that directly affected and sometimes benefited her. Her efforts to clear the way for the $327,000 sale of the Palin family home on Lake Wasilla is an example.Two months before Palin's tenure as mayor ended in 2002, she asked city planning officials to forgive zoning violations so she could sell her house. Palin had a buyer, but he wouldn't close the deal unless she persuaded the city to waive the violations with a code variance.The Palins, who were finishing work on a new waterfront house on Lake Lucille about two miles away, asked the city for the variance. The request was opposed by one planning official and some neighbors."I would ask that the Wasilla Planning Commission apply the exact same rules in this situation that it would apply to other similar requests so that our community can see that being a public figure does not give anyone special benefits," urged neighbor Clyde Boyer Jr. in a 2002 note to the city.The Palins' house was built by the original owner too close to the shoreline and too close to adjacent properties on each side, including a carport that stretched so far over it nearly connected the two houses.The Palins didn't create the zoning problems, but they should have known about them when they bought the house, wrote Susan Lee, a code compliance officer with the Matanuska-Susitna Borough, in response to the Palins' request. The borough, similar to a county government, makes recommendations to the city, which has final say.Lee, in recommending the city reject the request, noted that the exception was needed to resolve an "inconvenience" the Palins experienced while trying to sell their house. In 1989, another borough planner told a previous owner that a variance for the carport couldn't be approved because it didn't meet required conditions and was a potential fire hazard.But in August 2002, Wasilla Planner Tim Krug approved a "shoreline setback exception" for the Palins' house being built too closely to the water. He sent an e-mail to the mayor saying he was drafting another variance for the side of the house built too close to the property line, but that he understood from her that the other side "will be corrected and the carport will be removed."Krug asked Palin to let him know if he was wrong in his impression that the carport would be removed.A few minutes later, the mayor e-mailed back: "Sounds good."On Sept. 10, 2002, the seven-member Wasilla Planning Commission unanimously approved a variance for both sides of the property, with language covering "all existing structures." Less than a week later, the Palins signed a deed to sell the house to Henry Nosek.The carport was never removed.Nosek said Sarah Palin didn't do anything more than any other citizen would have done."I sincerely don't feel that Sarah used her position as mayor at the time to get that accomplished," said Nosek, who no longer lives in the home.James Svara, professor of public affairs at Arizona State University and author of "The Ethics Primer for Public Administrators in Government and Nonprofit Organizations," suggested such behavior is part of small-town politics."Small towns are first-person politics, and if people are close, it's hard to separate one's own personal interest and one's own personal property from the work of the city," Svara said. The key questions from an ethics standpoint include whether the politician makes a potential conflict of interest known and removes himself or herself from actions related to it, he added."I think in a small town there is a greater likelihood that people will accept that you will pay careful attention to friends and neighbors," he said, adding that there may be some local gossip about it, but not a lot of public scrutiny. "At the national level, there will be far more people watching, there will be far more pressures to come forward to try to influence the outcome."http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/P/PALIN_ETHICS?SITE=DCUSN&SECTION=T......
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