Gridlock News

Tomorrow could be a turning point in the Michael Vick saga.  One of his codefendants is preparing to enter a plea deal and will likely turn on Michael Vick.  Many people suspect that the co-defendant will testify against Vick and implicate him in a way that confirms indictment.  That's all speculation based on the fact that the modus operandi for the federal government is to turn a low level person against a high level person.  It's kind of like fishing for catfish with minnows.

In this case the counter phishing for his Michael Vick.  I do want to see justice carried out in this situation, however this is one of those deals where nothing will ever be right once things are wrapped up here.  The dogs will still be dead and many people will be harmed as a result of what happened on that property in Virginia.  There really isn't anything that can be done to make the situation right.

The only hope that we have is that we can avoid this type of situation in the future, and that is part of the reason why I have been working on the campaign at SackVick.net.  The thing is, the lesson has to be taught and learned right away while it's still fresh in the public eye.  It won't do any good for people to look back on this situation years from now and try and learn a lesson from it.  The opportunity will be long gone at that time.

This is not one of those lessons were you can take a picture of it and run it through a digital frame slideshow and have a regular reminder of why it's bad for dogfighting to be allowed to take place.  This is one of those lessons that has to be learned in a way that penetrates through very deeply and usurps the culture that would typically allow it or encourage it.  It's not just a culture shock it's a culture rewrite.

There is an entire culture, even though its fractional a subculture that believes it's okay for people to raise dogs for fighting.  This concept is not new and goes back hundreds if not thousands of years.  Society has learned to reduce and start to eliminate this type of thing but we still have a long way to go.  So as I look for justice I don't just look for Michael Vick to walk to the legal process and spent a couple years in jail or on probation.  Now I'm looking for a bigger example of Vick and all of the companies and organizations that supported him and encouraged him in his bad boy behavior.

I find Michael Vick responsible and I find all of the organizations behind Michael Vick equally responsible.  There was a lot of money riding on this thing and the Falcons and the NFL and even Nike could've done a little bit more due diligence to find out what Michael Vick was really doing in his private life.  He was set to earn several hundred million dollars, I believe 130 million from the NFL and almost an equal amount from other sponsors.  Someone go spend $50,000 to hire a private investigator to figure out what was going on and do something to stop it much much earlier.

Vice president Cheney apparently had no difficulties with his driver upgrade this weekend, when he got a recharged set of batteries for his pacemaker.

On a personal level I wish the vice president a speedy and healthy recovery.  As I see it the faster he recovers, faster he might come to his senses and resign.  The faster he resigns, faster President Bush might consider following suit.  I would say the taxpayers and the Congress a lot of time and money and having to go and impeach both of them.  Maybe on their way out the door they can take Alberto Gonzales with them.

In a way I feel like if they would just go, maybe we could all just called awash in forgive their mistakes as long as they promise to do no further harm by remaining in government.

That's a pipe dream however and were very likely to see special counsel and will probably have to be appointed by the courts to investigate each one of them in reverse order from what I've just named.  It sure be nice to have them out of office though.  I'd much rather see them sitting on a group of bar stools having a cold one while the nation recovers instead of having them continue on making things worse.

 It has been a long time coming, but it looks like the Pat Tillman case might be coming to a close.  Pat Tillman left a career in the NFL to volunteer for the Army and served in the special forces in Afghanistan.  As is all too common in war, Pat Tillman was killed by friendly fire.

Unfortunately, his death was tragic, however his death also marked one of the early examples of the lies and corruption that slowly began to become public.  This was one of the first instances where the Bush administration began to demonstrate both its incompetence and its corruption.

Pat Tillman's death by friendly fire was covered up and that was almost as much of a tragedy as his death.  Seven military officers will receive career ending administrative actions as a result of a cover-up.  For those officers that have not already retired, they will have to leave the military.  The highest-ranking officer involved was a lieutenant general.  He will likely lose his three stars and be demoted even though he was already retired. 

Essentially his pension will be cut from the payment rate at a three-star general would receive down to the payment rate that a kernel would receive.  Apparently that's about $1000 per month, or for a person that's likely to live 30 years, that is worth about $360,000.  So he will not be broke and he will not serve any jail time in a military jail, but he may have to do a little work to make ends meet, possibly investing a little money in a Virginia bed and breakfast serving up omelets to cronies from the Pentagon on holiday in the rolling Virginia hills.

Many frauds and cover ups followed Pat Tillman's death.  They occurred as we ramped up to go to war in Iraq and as we rescued soldiers in Iraq and has our country spied on its own citizens without search warrants.  It occurred while our government secretly captured people and tortured them around the world and while our soldiers, contractors, and inspires tortured captives in Iraq.

In a way, America lost its innocence when Pat Tillman died.  We were just too blind to know it at the time.

ABC News: EXCLUSIVE: Army to Punish Seven Officers for Mishandling Pat Tillman Case

Alberto Gonzales and the George Bush White House are rapidly drawing the rest of the country into a massive showdown with the U.S. Congress.  At stake, is the Constitution.

His recent appearance in Congress as he provided testimony once again displayed a number of contradictions that seem to be headed on a collision course towards a special investigator and perjury charges for Gonzales.  In addition to a number of people that work for Gonzales, the FBI director and the former attorney general have both contradicted Gonzales' previous testimony.

The Democratic like Congress is out for blood as they do not see an opportunity yet to impeach George Bush nor Dick Cheney.  Attorney General Gonzales seems to be the safe and easy target due to all the mistakes and enemies that he has made.  The political bandwagon seems to be preparing to take a trip to the theater and theater seating will be limited for the prosecution of the nation's highest Attorney.

FBI Chief Seems to Contradict Gonzales - News Desk (usnews.com)

As President Bush prepares to become sedated (don't blink you might not be able to tell a difference) VP Cheney will be 'temporarily' ceded control over the presidency.  That is sure to make many people a little nervous over the next few days.

For people that do not like the Bush Administration the thought of an official Cheney administration is the stuff of horror movies.  So if you are hiding out some where on vacation in a nice little vacation home Orlando don't be surprised if you come back to reality to find a new world order in place. 

Cheney always said that he did not want to be President, but he's not exactly the type of person that has a great track record at being honest and forthright.

Tokyo Electric Power Company stated two cracks opened in a reactor at their Kashiwazaki-Kariwa power plant in the city of Niigata.  The cracks leaked radioactive water into the Sea of Japan.

The leak included about 350 gallons of radioactive water according to very early reports.  The country of Japan was in the midst of the final stages of a 3 day typhoon when it was hit by to successive 6.8 earthquakes.  

Niigata has an important shipping port and sits at approximately the same latitude as San Francisco.  The city is urban progressive and ships many products around Asia and the world including advanced electronics, auto accessories, automobiles, and more.

Niigata has suffered from severe earthquakes in the past and has successfully recovered many times.

Bloomberg.com: Worldwide

Fox News is reporting that a man was shot and killed in the Governor's office in Colorado.  The man was allegedly attempting to kill, possibly shoot, the Governor of Colorado today.  The gun man was shot and killed.

The gunman stated, "I'm here to take over city government."  With other comments about being an emperor.

A state patrolman reportedly shot the ranting man.

No reports of this event are currently being mentioned on the internet or on any other News Channels.

Governor Bill Ritter had made news recently when he signed a declaration of support in favor of an Annual Pridefest event.  Governor Bill Ritter was just sworn in back in January 2007.

The man may have been in the wrong building.  He made claims about taking over the city government.  The State Building is across the street from the building that holds the Mayor of Denver's office.

Many news agencies around the United States received letters from a group calling themself(ves) A.Q.U.S.A.  Some websites are speculating that this might stand for Al Qaeda USA.  The letters went all over the country, but were delivered from The Bronx.

Goldman Sachs was reportedly told that the letters were not serious according to Reuters. (US bank Goldman says threats not thought credible | Bonds News | Reuters.com )

The letter threatened that hundreds would die and that they had people on the 'inside'. 

Can Goldman Sachs be Trusted to Report a Threat Credibly?

The thing is that Goldman Sachs has a conflict of interest in a situation like this. (Although it is rather morbid.)  If the threat is credible and they report it, then investors will face more risk investing with Goldman Sachs or in their products.  That is likely to get priced into the market.

If they gamble on nothing happening and say every thing is just fine, then they may not loose money.  Now, I'd like to believe that Goldman Sachs puts their people and the safety of their people above financial considerations, but the reality is that they are in the business of putting financial considerations before all else.  After all, they are not a socially responsible financial investment company. 

According to one defense against terrorism school of thought, Goldman Sachs would actually be doing the right thing if the down played the threat and 'went about their business as if everything were normal' because they 'didn't want the terrorists to win.'  This is one of the reasons why its important to have an independent news media to help cut through the spin and report the facts without the bias thrown into the mix.