Look Who’s Hitched!
The secret lives of Washington’s power couples
By T. A. Frank
Some couples you don’t want to mess with. Maybe they trap you in a corner at parties, or maybe they call each other “Bushie,” or maybe the wife is a covert operative at the CIA specializing in weapons of mass destruction. In such cases, particularly the last of these, it’s best to keep a prudent distance. Still, in the summer of 2003, anger caused Vice President Dick Cheney to abandon such discretion. The trigger was an op-ed in the New York Times by one Ambassador Joseph Wilson, who described taking a CIA-sponsored trip to Niger in 2002 and debunking claims of Iraqi uranium purchases, only to see the White House ignore the findings and mislead the public about evidence for WMD in Iraq.
Cheney did not enjoy the article. Poring over each sentence, the vice president underlined passages and scribbled vexed notes in the margins. “Do we ordinarily send people out pro bono to work for us?” he wrote. “Or did his wife send him on a junket?” The “wife” referred to one Valerie Plame, who, Cheney had learned, worked as a WMD specialist at Langley. After discussion with his chief of staff, I. Lewis (“Scooter”) Libby, Cheney decided that Libby should go forth and whisper to colleagues and journalists about Valerie possibly having pulled strings for Joe at the CIA to get him a trip to Niger. The old-fashioned nepotism-conflict-of-interest angle looked like a promising sell.

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/features/2007/0705.frank.html


Mosquito infected child with fatal virus
Published Sat, Aug 11, 2007
A Mossy Oaks Elementary second-grader apparently died this week from a rare mosquito-borne virus that isn't contagious, her doctor said Friday.
Marissa Norris, 7, who took ill one week ago and was hospitalized Aug. 4, died Tuesday at Medical University of South Carolina. With the permission of the girl's parents, Billy "Chuck" and Christine Norris, Dr. Joseph Floyd said Friday that tests confirmed Marissa died from Eastern equine encephalitis.
According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there have been 220 confirmed cases of this disease between 1964 and 2004. The disease is carried by mosquitoes that have fed on the blood of infected birds. Only certain types of mosquitoes carry the disease.

http://www.beaufortgazette.com/local_news/story/6618363p-5895401c.html


Heat wave burns local utilities
By Heidi Cenac (Contact)
Friday, August 10, 2007
ANDERSON — Thousands of Anderson residents didn’t have enough water pressure to take a shower Friday night after a backup generator failed at the Anderson Regional Joint Water System’s Lake Hartwell Water Treatment Facility.
The water treatment facility is one of many Duke Energy users that receives a fee to use its own emergency power when electricity demand is increasing beyond capacity.
“Demand is as high as it’s ever been this week,” said Randy Wheeless, a spokesperson for Duke Energy.
Approximately 50 percent of your electricity bill comes from air-conditioner usage, Mr. Wheeless said. With triple-digit temperatures most days this week, Upstate residents have been using a lot of air conditioning.
The recent heat wave helped customers set a record for electricity demand at Duke Power. For the past three days, the company has asked some users, such as the water treatment plant, to use their backup power sources, he said.

http://www.independentmail.com/news/2007/aug/10/heat-wave-burns-local-utilities/


Anderson jail official calls for expansion
By Pearce Adams (Contact)
Friday, August 10, 2007
ANDERSON COUNTY — Anderson County politicians soon might have to ask their taxpayers to pay for crime in their communities.
Overcrowding at the Anderson County Detention Center could mean investing in another jail with a 300 percent increase to the total additions made over the last 50 years, said Capt. Garry Bryant, director of the current 257-inmate detention center.
Because of arrests by the almost 196-deputy Anderson County Sheriff’s Office and other agencies, the jail’s census is holding steady at about 436 inmates each day, he said.
If arrests continue to increase as they have for 10 years, containment could become an issue.
No cost estimates are yet available for increasing the detention center to a recommended space for about 750 inmates.
It’s a “critical” problem for the current 45 security guards on each 12-hour shift to control inmates in cells with poor visibility and outdated technology, Capt. Bryant said.

http://www.independentmail.com/news/2007/aug/10/anderson-jail-official-calls-expansion/


Homeland Security after six years of the Bush Administration translates into fire personnel that are entering hopeless fires in warehouses that cost them their lives trying to save 'property.' This is insane. They should have never been inside that building so much outside with fire trucks equipped to spray the fire large volume hoses

Firefighters issued prayers and mayday from blaze that killed 9
Sat, Aug 11, 2007
Associated Press
CHARLESTON — What appear to be the last words of firefighters who perished in a furniture store blaze in June were made public Friday as the city released recordings of radio transmissions from the inferno that claimed nine lives.
In one, a firefighter shouts a garbled "mayday" and shortly afterward a voice says, "I love you." The end of a prayer sounds over the radio and officials ask whether everyone is out of the building.
"No sir," comes one reply, "we still got guys in there."
In all, the city released more than 900 radio transmissions from the time the fire was reported the evening of June 18 to about noon the next day. No transcripts were released along with the recordings and it's not clear who is speaking.
Families of the fallen firefighters and members of the Charleston Fire Department listened to the radio calls Friday before they were released.

http://www.aikenstandard.com/news/story/308775163616359.php



Anguish, courage
By Ron Menchaca (Contact), Glenn Smith (Contact)
The Post and Courier
Saturday, August 11, 2007
Tapes reveal chaotic scene at fatal fire
As smoke and flames overcame them, trapped Charleston-area firefighters cried for help, prayed to God and said goodbye to loved ones while the ceiling above them in the Sofa Super Store warped and sagged toward collapse.
Radio transmissions from the deadly fire on June 18 reveal how the blaze suddenly overwhelmed firefighters as they struggled with low water pressure and confusion about who was still in the burning structure and who had escaped.
The city released the transmissions Friday in response to Freedom of Information Act requests from The Post and Courier and others.
The recordings reveal moments of anguish, chaos and courage as firefighters battled the inferno and searched for the nine men who would perish in its flames.

http://www.charleston.net/news/2007/aug/11/anguish_courage/



Families hear tapes
Saturday, August 11, 2007
The families of six of the dead firefighters discussed the tapes after hearing them. Two families declined to comment and one couldn't reached. Here's what some of the families had to say:
Families each were taken to individual rooms. Firefighter friends brought Christine Prevatte, Mark Kelsey's companion, to hear the tapes. The mood was quiet but not somber, she said. She heard his voice once, crushingly.
"We cried and we listened to it. It was very hard," she said. "It was something we had to do. It's hopefully going to help us get a little closure. It's going to help us deal with our grief."
Randy Hutchinson, brother of Capt. Billy Hutchinson III, found the tapes helpful, especially in letting him follow the movement of the officers and men up to — and then immediately after — the fatal eruption of flame from overhead.

http://www.charleston.net/news/2007/aug/11/families_hear_tapes12761/



Helping families of fallen firefighters
Saturday, August 11, 2007
Neighborhood hosts fundraiser: Regatta on James Island is hosting a fundraiser Aug. 18 to benefit the city of Charleston's Fireman's Fund for the families of the nine firefighters who lost their lives in the Sofa Super Store fire in June.
The public in invited to participate 10 a.m.-5 p.m. at the Regatta community clubhouse. WEZL radio station will host a live remote at the site from 11 a.m.-2 p.m. A donation table will be active throughout the day.
Regatta on James Island is located on Central Park Road, just off Folly Road.
For more information, go to http://www.ownregatta.com/.

http://www.charleston.net/news/2007/aug/11/helping_families_fallen_firefighters12765/



Grants to help protect homes against storms' fury
By Peter Hull (Contact)
The Post and Courier
Saturday, August 11, 2007
On The Web
For more information and how to apply for grants, go to scsafehomes.com, or call the state Insurance Department at 803-737-6160. Parts of the Web site are under construction, but department officials expect the site to be completed by Wednesday.
A new program from the state Department of Insurance aims to offer low- income homeowners help with paying for upgrades to protect their property from hurricanes.
Officials say participating ultimately could lead to lower insurance premiums.
Called South Carolina Safe Home, the program provides grants for property owners who upgrade their homes to better withstand storm damage. Qualifying homeowners can save thousands of dollars, said Scott Richardson, Insurance Department director.

http://www.charleston.net/news/2007/aug/11/grants_help_protect_homes_against_storms12751/



Musharraf chooses democracy
Saturday, August 11, 2007
Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf has resisted the temptation to keep himself in power by declaring a state of emergency so that he could postpone elections. Instead, this key American ally has listened to Washington and committed to democracy. If Gen. Musharraf, who seized power in 1999, keeps his promise to run for the presidency and manages to win, he will legitimize his government. That would give far greater stability to Pakistan and strengthen its crucial role as a partner of the U.S. in the war against al-Qaida.
Gen. Musharraf's decision not to extend de facto rule was hailed by President Bush during a news conference this week. "My focus in terms of the domestic scene [in Pakistan] is that he have a free and fair election and that's what we have been talking to him about and hopefully they will."

http://www.charleston.net/news/2007/aug/11/musharraf_chooses_democracy/



Fire burns several acres of wooded Florence area
Friday, Aug 10, 2007 - 10:24 PM
From local reports
Fire burns several acres of wooded Florence area
A fire of unknown origin burned three to five acres of a wooded area in Florence on Friday afternoon.
The West Florence Fire Department responded about 4 p.m. to an area near the Sumter Street Extension.
Anthony Eaddy, Florence supervisor of the S.C. Forestry Commission, said workers dug ditches around the fire to prevent it from spreading. A Forestry Commission pilot flew over the scene in an aircraft to help firefighters on the ground control the blaze.
No injuries were reported and no homes were evacuated as a result of the fire, Eaddy said.
City of Florence hires prosecuting attorney
Mark Vincent Desser has joined the city of Florence as staff prosecuting attorney.

http://www.morningnewsonline.com/midatlantic/scp/news.apx.-content-articles-FMN-2007-08-10-0019.html



105-degree heat blows lid off city record
Greenville breaks previous high of 104; demand on power grid causes some outages
Published: Saturday, August 11, 2007 - 2:00 am
By Ben Szobody
STAFF WRITER
bszobody@greenvillenews.com
What's your view? Click here to add your comment to this story.
Greenville's new all-time heat record is 105 degrees, set Friday when official temperatures spiked just before 4 p.m.
What's worse, some residents living through this week's triple-digit streak faced the added shock of losing power when they needed it most.
Duke Energy officials have been so busy taking phone calls that they haven't tracked the cause of every power outage in the area, though some have been caused by "unprecedented demand" related to the heat, said spokeswoman Paige Sheehan.

http://www.greenvilleonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070811/NEWS01/708110308



Bush, Congress could collide on Iran
By Matt Stearns McClatchy Newspapers
Posted on Fri, August 10, 2007
WASHINGTON — Taking military action against Iran could put President Bush on a collision course with Congress, leading Democrats and a Republican lawmaker cautioned Friday following Bush's threat of unspecified consequences for alleged Iranian meddling in Iraq.
It's been the consensus for months among the Democrats who hold the majority that Bush must get congressional authorization before any military strike.
But the authorization would be no easy sell. Two knowledgeable U.S. officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity because intelligence on Iran is highly classified, said that the administration so far doesn't have "smoking-gun" evidence that could be used publicly to justify an air attack.

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/227/story/18852.html


Cheney urging strikes on Iran
By Warren P. Strobel, John Walcott and Nancy A. Youssef McClatchy Newspapers
Posted on Thu, August 9, 2007
WASHINGTON — President Bush charged Thursday that Iran continues to arm and train insurgents who are killing U.S. soldiers in Iraq, and he threatened action if that continues.
At a news conference Thursday, Bush said Iran had been warned of unspecified consequences if it continued its alleged support for anti-American forces in Iraq. U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker had conveyed the warning in meetings with his Iranian counterpart in Baghdad, the president said.
Bush wasn't specific, and a State Department official refused to elaborate on the warning.
Behind the scenes, however, the president's top aides have been engaged in an intensive internal debate over how to respond to Iran's support for Shiite Muslim groups in Iraq and its nuclear program. Vice President Dick Cheney several weeks ago proposed launching airstrikes at suspected training camps in Iran run by the Quds force, a special unit of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, according to two U.S. officials who are involved in Iran policy.

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/homepage/story/18834.html



Aug 11, 12:14 AM EDT
High-risk mortgages become toxic mess
By MICHAEL LIEDTKE
AP Business Writer
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- When Linda Martin refinanced the mortgages on three different houses nearly three years ago, she thought the lower monthly payments would help her save more money for retirement.
Instead, the Lakewood, Colo. skin-care specialist is sinking in financial quicksand amid a widening mortgage morass that's pulling down home prices and threatening to drag the U.S. economy into a recession.
"I'm hanging on by a thread, not knowing whether I am going to be living in a car in six months," said Martin, who declined to reveal her age.
Martin is among the hundreds of thousands of borrowers saddled with "option" adjustable rate mortgages, risky loans that dangled bargain-basement introductory payments and also let borrowers defer a portion of interest payments until later years.
Millions of other borrowers are wrestling with another type of adjustable rate mortgage, or ARM, called "interest-only." These loans allowed borrowers to pay just enough each month to cover the interest owed on the loan, leaving the balance of the outstanding debt unchanged.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/T/TOXIC_MORTGAGES?SITE=SCAIK&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT



Aug 11, 12:15 AM EDT
Reserve acts to stem credit turmoil
By JEANNINE AVERSA
AP Economics Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Federal Reserve, trying to calm turmoil on Wall Street, announced Friday that it will pump as much money as needed into the U.S. financial system to help overcome the ill effects of a spreading credit crunch.
The Fed, in a short statement, said it will provide "reserves as necessary" to help the markets safely make their way. The central bank did not provide details but said it would do all it can to "facilitate the orderly functioning of financial markets."
The Fed pushed $38 billion in temporary reserves into the system Friday, on top of a similar move the day before.
Financial markets in the United States and around the globe have been shaken by fears about spreading credit problems that started with home mortgages for those with tarnished credit histories. Investors are worried that these problems will infect the larger financial system and possibly hurt the U.S. economy.
The Fed's action may have eased some investors' anxieties. The Dow Jones industrials were down around 90 points in afternoon trading Friday following much sharper losses near the start of the session.
Presidential spokeswoman Dana Perino said the Fed is an independent body, and the White House will not comment on its decisions.
"But I can assure you that there are many of the president's advisers who are keeping a very close eye on all the market activity and making sure that policies are put in place to keep our economy strong and growing," she told reporters in Kennebunkport, Maine, where President Bush is spending the weekend.
The current financial turmoil provides the biggest test yet to Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, who took the helm last year.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/F/FED_LIQUIDITY?SITE=SCAIK&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT



Federal deficit down to $157.3 billion
By JEANNINE AVERSA
AP Economics Writer
Buy AP Photo Reprints
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The federal deficit so far this budget year is running sharply lower, driven by record revenues pouring into government coffers.
The Treasury Department reported on Friday that the government produced a deficit of $157.3 billion for the budget year that began last Oct. 1. That's a substantial improvement from the red ink figure of $239.6 billion produced for the corresponding 10-month period last year.
The lower year-to-date deficit was the result of a record of $2.12 trillion in revenues. Spending, however, was higher - $2.27 trillion, which also marked an all-time high.
The White House predicts that the deficit this year drop to $205 billion.
But the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office predicts the government will produce even less red ink this year. It recently said the deficit will be "toward the lower end" of a $150 billion to $200 billion range.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/F/FEDERAL_BUDGET?SITE=SCAIK&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT



U.S. NATIONAL DEBT CLOCK
The Outstanding Public Debt as of 11 Aug 2007 at 04:21:44 PM GMT is:
$8,972,404,837,212.26
The estimated population of the United States is 302,678,061
so each citizen's share of this debt is $29,643.39.
The National Debt has continued to increase an average of
$1.47 billion per day since September 29, 2006!

http://www.brillig.com/debt_clock/



Venture Capital Investment Volume in Q2 2007 at Highest Level Since 2001
More Deals, Fewer Dollars Indicate Measured Strategies
Venture capitalists invested $7.1 billion in 977 deals in the second quarter of 2007 -- the highest level of deals reported in a quarter since Q3 2001 -- according to the MoneyTree Report by PricewaterhouseCoopers and the National Venture Capital Association based on data by Thomson Financial. The quarterly strength in the number of deals was driven by companies in the Seed and Early stages of development, which increased by 31 percent from the prior quarter.
"The data implies good news all around for the venture capital industry which has been extremely active in doing what we do best -- building companies from the ground up," said Mark Heesen, president of the National Venture Capital Association. "Not only does the increase in Seed and Early stage deals demonstrate the number of young, promising opportunities available, but the diversity of investment strongly suggests that the prospects for innovation are all around us. The industry is not relying on one particular sector for deals. Even better, dollars invested are holding steady or even declining, suggesting that venture capitalists are being very measured about how much money they invest per company."

http://www.americanventuremagazine.com/news.php?id=3282



Worldwide contagion proves Bernanke
11 Aug, 2007, 0134 hrs IST, AGENCIES
NEW YORK: Federal Reserve chairman Ben S Bernanke was wrong. So were US treasury secretary Henry Paulson and Merrill Lynch CEO Stanley O’Neal. The subprime mortgage industry’s problems were contained, they all said. It turns out that the turmoil was contagious. The $2-trillion market for mortgages not backed by government-sponsored agencies is at a standstill.
That’s just the beginning. Other types of mortgages are suffering. So are firms and banks that package the debt for investors. The ripples were felt in Europe and Asia, where central banks offered cash to banks amid a credit crunch. And some corporations, from countertop makers to railroads, are blaming the mortgage meltdown and housing slump for earnings shortfalls.
Even a mobile-phone company, Dallas-based MetroPCS Communications, says it’s feeling the pinch from customers facing foreclosure. And experts like William Ford, former president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, say the chance of a recession is growing.

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/News/International__Business/Worldwide_contagion_proves_Bernanke/articleshow/2272971.cms



Bush's Legacy Stagnant Pay and the Lowest Rate of Job Creation in the Last 40 Years
Posted July 26, 2007 12:47 PM (EST)
There are two underlying fundamentals of this economy that have questionable strength. The first is overall job growth which has been the weakest of the last 40 years. This has led to stagnant wages for the duration of this expansion.
As the numbers below illustrate, job growth for this expansion is the weakest of the last 40years.
For these numbers, I used total nonfarm jobs from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The dates are the dates of the official business cycles from the National Bureau of Economic Research
2/61 - 12/69
Beginning number of jobs: 65,588,000
Ending number of jobs: 78,740,000
Total Jobs Created: 13,152,000
Compound rate of establishment job growth: 2.09%
11/70 - 11/73
Beginning number of jobs: 78,650,000
Ending number of jobs: 86,320,000
Total Jobs Created: 7,670,000
Compound rate of establishment job growth: 3.15%
3/75 - 1/80
Beginning number of jobs: 85,187,000
Ending number of jobs: 99,879,000
Total Jobs Created: 14,692,000
Compound rate of establishment job growth: 3.35%
11/82 - 7/90
Beginning number of jobs: 99,112,000
Ending number of jobs: 118,810,000
Total Jobs Created: 19,698,000
Compound rate of establishment job growth: 2.39%
3/91 - 3/01
Beginning number of jobs: 117,652,000
Ending number of jobs: 137,783,000
Total Jobs Created: 20,131,000
Compound rate of establishment job growth: 1.59%%
11/01 - ?
Beginning number of jobs: 136,238,000
Ending number of jobs: 146,140,000
Total Jobs Created: 9,902,000
Compound rate of establishment job growth: 1.26%
But there are further problems with Bush's employment numbers. The BLS uses a model called the "birth/death" model to account for new businesses that aren't counted in the survey This means the most recent job reports -- those over the last 6-9 months -- are probably too high:
The BLS surveys about 160,000 businesses in its sample model. There is an unavoidable lag between an establishment opening for business and its appearing on the sample frame and being available for sampling. Because new firm "births" generate a significant portion of employment growth each month, non-sampling methods must be used to estimate this growth. To make up for this, they add or subtract a certain number of jobs, called the birth/death (of new businesses) ratio. ......
Remember the jobless recovery of the first Bush term and the constant criticism about the poor economy? Why was the economy doing so well and yet job creation was so poor? It turns out that a great deal of the explanation is that the BLS underestimated the number of new jobs being created by small business in the early years of the recovery, rather badly.
Likewise, the BLS data will overestimate jobs when the economy is slowing down.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/hale-stewart/bushs-legacy-stagnant-pa_b_57969.html



Bush: No Bailout for Pinched Homeowners
By JEANNINE AVERSA
The Associated Press
Thursday, August 9, 2007; 5:39 PM
WASHINGTON -- President Bush said Thursday concern should be shown those who've lost their homes but it's not the federal government's job to bail them out.
"Obviously anybody who loses their home is somebody with whom we must show an enormous empathy," Bush said. Asked whether he would champion a government bailout, Bush responded: "If you mean direct grants to homeowners, the answer would be `No, I don't support that.'"

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/08/09/AR2007080900962.html



Fox is Having a Hard Time Getting Its Spin Together Over the Subprime Crisis
Reported by Melanie - August 10, 2007 - 50 comments
Today (August 10, 2007), in response to the subprime and credit crunch crisis, the Federal Reserve "bought over $35 billion in morgage-backed securities," (as CNBC put it), making it the "largest liquidity injection" since immediately following the 9/11 attacks. This huge bailout of the banking, mortgage, and credit industries is no small thing. It indicates that the Fed is extremely concerned about what is going on in the economy. There is talk that much is still unknown about how deep this problem goes and "some say" that the worst of it may not come until as late as this time next year.
But if you listened to Fox's "premiere business news" program today, you wouldn't know which way was up, whether there was a bailout or not, or whether this is even anything to worry about.

http://www.newshounds.us/2007/08/10/fox_is_having_a_hard_time_getting_its_spin_together_over_the_subprime_crisis.php



Dodd Calls for Subprime Mortgage Law to Boost `Accountability'
By Heidi Przybyla and Alison Vekshin
Aug. 10 (Bloomberg) -- Senate Banking Committee Chairman Chris Dodd said he is drawing up legislation to strengthen subprime mortgage lending standards amid a credit crunch that has shaken financial markets around the world.
``Clearly, the brokers need to be regulated,'' Dodd, a Connecticut Democrat, said during an interview on ``Political Capital with Al Hunt,'' scheduled to air this weekend on Bloomberg Television. Lending standards need ``some accountability here so that people have some sense of a person's ability to pay.''

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601070&sid=aHnmtsMRz0U0&refer=home