Perturbations

Best Judges Money can buy

2010-10-29T10:44:27Z

Contributors to political contributions may have their own interests in mind when contributing to certain political campaigns, suggests this post on the Annapolis Capital Punishment blog. Paul Foer suggests that the "Citizens for the Election of Qualified Judges", chaired by Leonard Moodispaw, a major owner of KEWY Corp. in Hanover, donates money to Democratic candidates to further the chairman's financial interests. The half page ad in The Capital on Oct. 27 was negative toward Alison Asti, candidate for Circuit Court Judge in Anne Arundel County. Asti, a Republican, is challenging the incumbent judges for the seat. Read the blog post below.

"I always feel uncomfortable in the polling booth when voting for judges and I have written about this. Why I feel this way is really best left for a six-pack conversation, but is it any surprise that when it comes to donating to campaigns to elect judges that lawyers are among the biggest contributors? Just go the campaign databases for Maryland and see for yourself. Nor is it any surprise that signs for judges are sprouting up at law firms all over the county. But the half-page advertisement that appeared in The Capital on October 27 on behalf of sitting Judges Kiessling and Jarashow interested me.

Well, actually it was not exactly on behalf of the sitting judges as much as it was negative about Alison Asti, the Republican (although only recently) lawyer who is vying to become a judge by questioning her qualifications saying "she has never, not ever presented a case in court". From what I gather, this is accurate and it is material, but right now I am interested in who sponsored the ad, a group calling itself Citizens for the Election of Qualified Judges (CEQJ).

According to state records, CEQJ was created on October 21 and lists a Leonard Moodispaw and a Thomas Joseph Touhey as chairman and treasurer respectively. Moodispaw, a lawyer and former CEO of Essex Corporation, a cyber security and defense contractor, has donated many tens of thousands of dollars to candidates, and from what I have found online, they are exclusively Democrats. Essex was sold to Northrop Grumman for a reported $580 million.

Moodispaw is now CEO and a major owner of the KEYW Corporation, a cyber security firm based in Hanover. It also owns some subsidiary corporations in Annapolis Junction.

It is clear that this major donor to Democrats is taking a serious interest in seeing that Alison Asti does not get elected--which means that Jarashow and Kiessling will remain as judges. We must assume that he is doing this simply because he really, deeply believes that Asti is not as qualified as are the sitting judges."

Annapolis Capital Punishment Blog - The Best Judges Money Can Buy

Alison Asti runs for Circuit Court Judge

2010-10-27T19:44:57Z

Image via Wikipedia

"Judges Face Contest

Attorney General Doug Gansler tried this year to get the General Assembly to pass a constitutional amendment that would finally take Circuit Court judges out of contested elections.

Yet again, the effort that began in the '70s with Gov. Marvin Mandel failed to make any headway. It was Mandel who got the legislature and voters to allow the appellate judges to run in so-called "retention" elections, in which citizens vote "yes" or "no" against the judges appointed by the governor.

But for the Circuit Court -- the trial courts for the most serious criminal and civil cases -- any judge appointed by the governor has to run in the next election, with the possibility that some other lawyer can file for the job.

That's what Alison Asti did in June. The Pasadena attorney is the former executive director of the Maryland Stadium Authority (MSA) who was forced out when O'Malley appointees gained the upper hand. She's a long-time veteran of the Baltimore legal scene, a former president of the state bar association and now specializes in conflict resolution, arbitration and negotiations.

"I believe I'm the best choice of the candidates," Asti said. "I have a very different background," with the widest range of experience.

She never applied to be a judge through the judicial nominating process because "I think the system has become corrupted" by O'Malley and has "become very political." To illustrate her point, she produced a list of 68 judges appointed by O'Malley; 58 were Democrats, four were Republicans and six had no party affiliation.

"[So] I didn't think it made any sense to apply," Asti said. "The public election process is the only remaining check and balance on the system." "

http://www.bizmonthly.com/8_2010_focus/f_1.shtml

Alison Asti suggests randomized ballots

2010-10-27T19:06:35Z

An article in Maryland's "The Daily Record" discusses whether Alphabetical ballots are inherently unfair (which is interesting considering recent controversies where it is claimed that people have won elections because their name was higher up on the ballot).

The fact that ballot position is important "is common wisdom among political cognoscenti," and the authors, Editorial Advisory Board members Alison Asti and Laurel Albin (current candidates for public office), suggest that a randomized ballot is an idea that should be considered by the General Assembly.

In California, for example, the order in which candidates are listed is selected at random for each election and the order is different across election districts in statewide races. Several other states have adopted various methods for randomizing and/or rotating the order in which candidates are listed on the election ballot.

Editorial Advisory Board members Alison Asti and Laurel Albin, who are candidates for public office, are on leave for the duration of their respective campaigns.

http://electls.blogs.wm.edu/2010/10/22/weekly-wrap-up-32/

Alison Asti is a candidate for Circuit Court Judge in Anne Arundel County, Maryland

Alison Asti as General Counsel of Maryland Stadium Authority

2010-10-27T18:45:44Z

In an industry where few women dare to tread, Alison L. Asti has made a lasting footprint in professional sports in Maryland. As General Counsel and Executive Director of the Maryland Stadium Authority, Alison helped keep the Orioles in Baltimore with the beautiful Camden Yards and assisted in bringing the NFL back to Baltimore.

She spent 17 years at the Maryland Stadium Authority, first as General Counsel and then was appointed as Executive Director in 2004. During her service there, she participated in the lobbying, financing, design and construction of over $1 billion in projects throughout the state.

Her footprint can be seen in projects such as Comcast Center, Unitas Stadium, Ripken Stadium, Oriole Park at Camden Yards, M & T Bank Stadium, the Baltimore and Ocean City convention centers, and the Hippodrome Theatre.

Alison Asti good choice for Circuit Court Judge

2010-10-26T20:17:24Z

As an attorney and former President of the MD Bar Association Alison Asti posseses great intellegence, integrity and wisdom. It is my heartfelt belief that she will make an excellent Circuit Court Judge for the citizens of Anne Arundel County and the state of Maryland. I believe this as one who observed her approach and relied on her legal judgement during my time as a member and Chairman of the MD Stadium Authority.

At MSA she dealt with very complicated and knotty legal matters including numerous litigations that required a clear understanding of the law. Whether it was trademark law, suing the City or going toe to toe with Mr. Angelos and the Orioles in complex and sophisticated arbitration matters, Ms. Asti was always on top of her game. Her broad legal background of both a private and public practice, combined with her outstanding attributes as a person make her a tremendous choice for Circuit Court Judge.

See original comment on Eye on Annapolis - Alison Asti for Circuit Court Judge

Alison Asti for Circuit Court Judge - Anne Arundel County Maryland

2010-10-24T01:55:03Z

Alison Asti says:

I am Alison Asti and I am a candidate for Circuit Court Judge in Anne Arundel County. I am running for Judge because I believe that I have the best qualifications and that the integrity of the independence of the judiciary must be protected. An independent judiciary is the cornerstone of the Constitution and key to the separation of powers established by our founding fathers.

Alison Asti for Circuit Court Judge, Anne Arundel County, Maryland

Late Show Video - Live On Letterman - MGMT In Concert - CBS.com

2010-05-13T01:42:29Z

Image by Getty Images via Daylife

http://www.cbs.com/late_night/liveonletterman/mgmt/video/

MGMT one hour live show May 11 on Live on Letterman at Ed Sullivan Theater in NYC.

Health Care Reform

2009-08-19T00:24:57Z

Health Care Reform ABC news

"Nobody will benefit from dropping the public option except for health insurance companies," said Blumenthal. "The fact that the public option is now on the chopping block is not a reflection of public opinion -- it is a reflection of the power of health insurance lobbyists."

2009 Haass Commencement Remarks - Oberlin College

2009-06-10T17:13:36Z

http://new.oberlin.edu/events-activities/commencement/haass-speech-2009remarks.dot for full transcript of his Commencement Address

"I was about to follow up with other questions when Condi cut me off. "You can save your breath, Richard. The president has already made up his mind on Iraq." The way she said it made clear that he had decided to go to war. This was eight months before the March 2003 start of the conflict. I was taken aback by the blunt substance and tone of her answer. Policy had gone much further than I had realized--and feared. I did not argue at that moment, for several reasons. As in previous conversations when I had voiced my views on Iraq, Condi's response made it clear that any more conversation at that point would be a waste of time. It is always important to pick your moments to make an unwelcome case, and this did not appear to be a promising one. I figured as well that there would be additional opportunities to argue my stance, if not with Condi, then with others in a position to make a difference."

A critique on WAMC public radio by Samuel Clayborne said Mr. Haas should have resigned or leaked info to the papers instead of 'doing his job' once he knew there were no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq and the war had been pre-planned.

Smithfield pollutes N. Carolina

2009-04-29T02:19:55Z

This article in Rolling Stone was written in 2006

America's top pork producer churns out a sea of waste that has destroyed rivers, killed millions of fish and generated one of the largest fines in EPA history. Welcome to the dark side of the other white meat.

Photo by doveimaging.com

Swine flu & Avian flu

2009-04-29T00:03:27Z

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-kirby/swine-flu-outbreak----nat_b_191408.html

This article explains how avian flu virus could have combined with the swine flu virus as birds landed in the lagoons of pig waste.

Swine flu & Smithfield Foods

2009-04-28T23:11:22Z

Swine Flu: Smithfield Foods' statement vs. the ugly truth

"However, Smithfield's statement fails to mention that countless residents of La Gloria were routinely and relentlessly exposed to airborne droplets of pig feces and decayed tissue for an undetermined number of years, thanks to toxic and sick-making clouds blowing outward from Granja Carrol's so-called "oxidation ponds"--or pig sewage lagoons. And that they have long complained of respiratory illnesses, well before their children started dying in March.

Nor does the company's statement explain that contracting the H1N1 influenza virus does NOT necessarily require that one "have contact with hogs"; in fact, the flu virus is spread via tiny droplets of infected matter--feces, body fluids--that reach the mucous membranes and lungs when someone touches a contaminated surface before rubbing his eyes, for example, or when he unwittingly inhales airborne, virus-containing waste droplets floating around his town, courtesy of a nearby pig or poultry CAFO."

Pictures of conditions at the Smithfield Foods plant are on this website; they are also on the news website EnlaceVeracruz212 from 2006.

Image above of a rotting pig carcass floating in the oxidation pond/pig-waste lagoon.

Smithfield Foods Implicated; From the latest edition of Mexico City's La Jornada (translated for you by LitBrit): excerpt follows:

"When reading about and reporting on swine flu--a virus--it's important to bear a couple of things in mind.

First, this swine flu virus contains elements of avian, human, and swine influenza. According to the CDC's partner website PandemicFlu.gov, avian (bird) flu is transmitted thus (emphasis mine):

Infected birds shed influenza virus in their saliva, nasal secretions, and feces. Susceptible birds become infected when they have contact with contaminated excretions or with surfaces that are contaminated with excretions or secretions. Wild bird avian influenza viruses of low pathogenicity mix with avian viruses in domesticated birds and become highly pathogenic in poultry. Domestic poultry may become infected with avian influenza virus through direct contact with infected waterfowl or other infected poultry or through contact with surfaces (such as dirt or cages) or materials (such as feces or feed) that have been contaminated with droppings that harbor the low-pathogenicity virus.

In other words, low pathogenic avian influenza, which naturally occurs in wild birds, can spread to domestic birds; the relatively mildly-pathogenic flu can become "highly pathogenic" when domestic poultry come in contact with infected birds--or with feed or feces that has been contaminated by the droppings of wild birds. And from there, other animals can contract the virus. For example, during the last major flu outbreak, the H5N1 avian flu virus also infected cats in Europe."

Second, the aforementioned CAFO--Granjas Carrol, subsidiary of Smithfield Foods--is essentially an enormous, concentrated hog farm, and while hog farms are not what anyone would call the cleanest places in the world, one would expect the massive doses of antibiotics CAFO's routinely administer to confined livestock would keep infections at bay, right?

In a word, NO.

Influenza is a virus, not a bacteria, and antibiotics treat, and prevent the spread of, bacterial infections--this is likely why the drugged-up pigs didn't get sick all that time, meanwhile the unprotected residents of nearby La Gloria constantly complained of respiratory infections, most likely bacterial--at first. At some point in the recent past, however, a new mutation of the flu virus, the triple-whammy H1N1 bird-pig-human combo bug, found its way to the infamous clouds of pig waste and flies drifting across--and spreading outward from--the "oxidation ponds" about which Granjas Carrol/Smithfield released only partial information, and about which they are still remaining (mostly) quiet. Even as people have begun dying of those infections in what are, quite frankly, alarming numbers.

Finally, a question: what of the connection between avian flu and this new swine flu, with its human, avian, and swine DNA--is there one?

He [Mexico's Chairman of the Committee on the Environment, Marco Antonio Núñez López] was referring to another CAFO, this one containing poultry, called Granjas de Bachoco, located near the state capital of Xalapa. He said there was an epidemic of avian flu among the chickens being raised there, but that this was being kept quiet so as not to interfere with exports. Influenza-infected chickens raise the risk of cross-infection to pigs in the same area, scientists say.

Garrison Keillor on election

2009-01-28T18:48:13Z

"We are being admired by Swedes! We don't have to pretend we're Canadians. We elected Barack Obama!

By Garrison Keillor

Nov. 12, 2008 | Be happy, dear hearts, and allow yourselves a few more weeks of quiet exultation. It isn't gloating, it's satisfaction at a job well done. He was a superb candidate, serious, professorial but with a flashing grin and a buoyancy that comes from working out in the gym every morning. He spoke in a genuine voice, not senatorial at all. He relished campaigning. He accepted adulation gracefully. He brandished his sword against his opponents without mocking or belittling them. He was elegant, unaffected, utterly American, and now (Wow) suddenly America is cool. Chicago is cool. Chicago!!!

We threw the dice and we won the jackpot and elected a black guy with a Harvard degree, the middle name Hussein and a sense of humor -- he said, "I've got relatives who look like Bernie Mac, and I've got relatives who look like Margaret Thatcher." The French junior minister for human rights said, "On this morning, we all want to be American so we can take a bite of this dream unfolding before our eyes." When was the last time you heard someone from France say they wanted to be American and take a bite of something of ours? Ponder that for a moment.

The world expects us to elect pompous yahoos and instead we have us a 47-year-old prince from the prairie who cheerfully ran the race, and when his opponents threw sand at him, he just smiled back. He'll be the first president in history to look really good making a jump shot. He loves his classy wife and his sweet little daughters. He looks good in the kitchen. He can cook Indian or Chinese but for his girls he will do mac and cheese. At the same time, he knows pop music, American lit and constitutional law. I just can't imagine anybody cooler. Look at a photo of the latest pooh-bah conference -- the hausfrau Merkel, the big glum Scotsman, that goofball Berlusconi, Putin with his B-movie bad-boy scowl, and Sarkozy, who looks like a district manager for Avis -- you put Barack in that bunch and he will shine.

It feels good to be cool and all of us can share in that, even sour old right-wingers and embittered blottoheads. Next time you fly to Heathrow and hand your passport to the man with the badge, he's going to see "United States of America" and look up and grin. Even if you worship in the church of Fox, everyone you meet overseas is going to ask you about Obama and you may as well say you voted for him because, my friends, he is your line of credit over there. No need anymore to try to look Canadian.

And the coolest thing about him is the fact that back in the early '90s, given a book contract after the hoo-ha about his becoming the First Black Editor of the Harvard Law Review (FBEHLR), instead of writing the basic exploitation book he could've written, he put his head down and worked hard for a few years and wrote a good book, an honest one, which, since his rise in politics, has earned the Obamas enough to buy a very nice house and put money in the bank. A successful American entrepreneur.

The last American president to write a book all by his lonesome self, I believe, was Theodore Roosevelt, who, on graduation from Harvard, wrote "The Naval War of 1812," and in my humble opinion, Obama's is the better book for the general reader, but you be the judge.

Our hero who galloped to victory has inherited a gigantic mess. The country is sunk in debt. The Treasury announced it must borrow $550 billion to get the government through the fourth quarter, more than the entire deficit for 2008, so he will have to raise taxes and not only on bankers and lumber barons. His promise never to raise the retirement age is not a good idea. Whatever he promised the Iowa farmers about subsidizing ethanol is best forgotten at this point. We may not be getting our National Health Service cards anytime soon. And so on and so on.

So enjoy the afterglow of the election a while longer. We all walk taller this fall. People in Copenhagen and Stockholm are sending congratulatory e-mails -- imagine! We are being admired by Danes and Swedes! And Chicago becomes the First City. Step aside, San Francisco. Shut up, New York. The Midwest is cool now. The mind reels. Have a good day.

(Garrison Keillor is the author of a new Lake Wobegon novel, "Liberty,"
published by Viking.)"

This is a quote from the article

sunset over black dirt

2009-01-10T21:28:43Z

Photoshop greyscale

2008-12-12T18:17:21Z

This video shows how to control color correction when changing photos from color to greyscale.

CreativeTechs.com/tipsblog