Congress on vacation ’til after Labor Day. They skipped out after the uber-contentious debt ceiling vote, before finishing a deal for the FAA (Federal Aviation Administration). Because of this nearly 80,000 workers are now not being paid, and the government will lose nearly a billion in fees – AS EVERYONE COMPLAINS ABOUT THE WEAK JOBS RATE AND LACK OF REVENUES. If Congress was a public corporation, shareholders would be screaming and picketing! Obama gave a speech today, suggesting they return to DC to finish this matter. If you ask me he should have demanded, not suggested! Stay tuned.
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Shot in head in a January massacre (19 wounded, 6 fatally) Rep. Gaby Giffords (D-Arizona) appeared publicly for the first time since the catastrophic event, to cast her vote to raise the debt ceiling. Enduring multiple surgeries and tortuous months of therapy, it was uncertain if she would ever walk or talk, yet alone play a role in politics.This valiant survivor received bipartisan cheers as she appeared among her brethren – easing for that brief moment the dangerous contentiousness that now haunts Congress.
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His primetime speech regarding the deficit and how it must be fixed was well thought out and made sense. It’s extraordinarily alarming that Congress has now reached unprecedented levels of partisan dysfunction. So much so that the country, and the world economy, could be in peril. The insane, unyielding posturing by the ultra-radical new representatives (60 Tea Party Republicans) is beyond comprehension. Unwilling to compromise, they seem willing to break the back of the average person to support tax loopholes for oil companies and those who fly in private jets. Listen to this President: Contact your Congressperson, NOW! There is no time to wait…A deal must be struck: The ceiling must be lifted, and cuts, but theproper ones, need to be enacted.
Firstly, we must recall how the debt grew…the legacy of George W. Bush, it was run up by his tax cuts, saving the financial system in 2008 after the unprecedented catastrophe created by deregulation and an opportunistic financial community (a necessary expense that Obama continued), lack of revenues in the ongoing years of fragile economy recovery – and unending wars. The wars must end…in foreign lands – & in the Beltway. That would save trillions. The President made it clear he is willing to tweak social entitlements, so the Tea Party must step up.
but the elaborate faux Apple store in the remote city of Kunming, China has taken knock-offs to a new level. Even the staff thought they were working for America’s most coveted brand.
The Mickey Cohen of Boston,James “Whitey” Bulger, 81, legendary fugitive mobster, has just been apprehended – after more than 15 years on the lam & an international manhunt. Whitey surrendered at his rent-controlled apartment, 3 blocks from the Pacific, in pricey, pristine Santa Monica, a star-studded beachside community in Los Angeles. Offering $2 million bounty, the FBI had just began running TV ads about him, but not in the LA market! In the apartment, his digs since 1996, authorities found inside the walls more than $800,000 cash, 30 guns, assorted knives and forged documents. Whitey’s story, like the story of L.A.’s own brazen and outrageous underworld boss Mickey Cohen (which may be read in my forthcoming book, MICKEY COHEN: THE LIFE AND CRIMES OF L.A.’S NOTORIOUS MOBSTER, coming May 1, 2012) is amazing. While Whitey ruled Beantown for a generation, his brother politician BILLY BULGER– with whom he shared a very close and well known relationship – was one of the most powerful figures in Massachusetts politics (Kennedys and John Kerry kissed his ass!!!)
Whitey is infamous not only for his murderous ways, prominent brother, but also for being a top FBI informant -while having a personal FBI agent on payroll. The 2006 film, The Departed, directed by Martin Scorsese, was a prosaic (with changed names) version of his story, but is worth seeing for the performance of incomparable Jack Nicholson as the Whitey-ish mobster. Many non-fiction books have been written, but the one I love is The Brothers Bulgerby Howie Carr. An outstanding read, you get the true story of both the mobster and his equally fascinating brother!
