Despite promises from Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) that Sen. Arlen Specter (Pa.) would retain his seniority after switching parties, Specter will be put at the end of the seniority line on all his committees but one under a resolution approved on the floor late Tuesday. Under the modified organizing resolution, Specter will not keep his committee seniority on any of the five committees that he serves on and will be the junior Democrat on all but one — the chamber’s Special Committee on Aging. On that committee, he will be next to last in seniority.
Texas schoolteacher possibly first American to die of swine flu.
This week should have been a joyous time for Judy Trunnell, a 33-year-old schoolteacher who had just given birth to a healthy baby girl. But the friends and relatives whose cars lined the quiet street in front of her home in a quiet subdivision Tuesday instead were mourning her, the first American with swine flu to die. “We’re grieving now,” said a woman with tear-streaked eyes who declined to give her name. In Maryland, her cousin told WMAR-TV in Baltimore that Trunnell had died after spending two weeks in the hospital. She slipped into a coma, and her baby was delivered by Cesarean section, Mario Zamora said.
KFC fans, how about a freebie? Good through May 19th!
Note, the offer is for their new grilled chicken not the greasy fried stuff.
“The Oprah Winfrey Show. Kentucky Grilled Chicken 2 piece meal coupon! Coupon available for printing from 9am CDT 5/5/09 to 9:59pm CDT 5/6/09. Coupon is redeemable at participating KFC® locations in the U.S. from 5/5/09 to 5/19/09, excluding 5/10/09.
Ohio face transplant woman comes forward to speak about her ordeal.
When Connie Culp heard a little kid call her a monster because of the shotgun blast that left her face horribly disfigured, she pulled out her driver’s license to show the child what she used to look like. Years later, as the nation’s first face transplant recipient, she’s stepped forward to show the rest of the world what she looks like now. Her expressions are still a bit wooden, but she can talk, smile, smell and taste her food again.
Afghanistan’s only known pig has been locked in a room, away from visitors to Kabul zoo where it normally grazes beside deer and goats, because people are worried it could infect them with the virus popularly known as swine flu. The pig is a curiosity in Muslim Afghanistan, where pork and pig products are illegal because they are considered irreligious, and has been in quarantine since Sunday after visitors expressed alarm it could spread the new flu strain.
More than 20% of American homeowners owe more on their mortgage debt than they can sell their homes for, according to an industry report released Wednesday. The real estate Web site Zillow.com reported that 21.8% of all U.S. homes, representing more than 20 million residences, were in a “negative equity” or “underwater” position after prices dropped more than 14% nationally in the year ended March 31.
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Bank of America Corp has been deemed to need as much as $34 billion in additional capital, according to the results of a government stress test, a source familiar with the results told Reuters late on Tuesday. Bank of America spokesman Scott Silvestri declined comment. A possible $34 billion capital shortfall is certain to increase pressure on CEO Kenneth Lewis, who was last week ousted by shareholders as chairman of the biggest U.S. bank.
Own stock in GM? Well it’s pretty much worthless now after this latest news.
General Motors Corp on Tuesday detailed plans to all but wipe out the holdings of remaining shareholders by issuing up to 60 billion new shares in a bid to pay off debt to the U.S. government, bondholders and the United Auto Workers union. The unusual plan, which was detailed in a filing with U.S. securities regulators, would only need the approval of the U.S. Treasury to proceed since the U.S. government would be the majority shareholder of a new GM, the company said. The flood of new stock issuance that could be unleashed has been widely expected by analysts who have long warned that GM’s shares could be worthless whether the company restructures out of court or in bankruptcy.
American jets have bombed two villages in western Afghanistan during a battle with the Taleban, killing at least 30 men, women and children. No exact casualty toll can be confirmed after the incident in Farah province, but the provincial governor and police chief estimate the civilian deaths at over 100. Workers for the international Red Cross, who reached the scene yesterday afternoon, reported seeing dozens of bodies in each of the two locations they visited. “There were bodies, there were graves, and there were people burying bodies when we were there,” said Jessica Barry, a Red Cross spokesman.
Parents, wanting to name their son ‘Q’ take their battle to the Swedish Supreme Court.
Sweden’s “Regeringsratten” will be asked if current legislation permits the use of a single letter as a first name. The parents, from Are in Northern Sweden have denied that their son is named after Q, the James Bond character famous for his spy gadgets. They argue that Q answers to the name that he was given at birth. “He is quite simply Q with half of the inhabitants of the Are area. There are stranger names in the valley,” the couple claimed in their appeal.
Chrysler LLC said Wednesday it is offering up to $6,000 worth of incentives on its 2009 vehicles as it races to emerge from bankruptcy protection and counter a prolonged U.S. sales slump. The automaker filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy last week and is working to allay consumer anxieties about buying its cars given uncertainty over its future. Chrysler is trying to complete a sale to Italian automaker Fiat Group SpA and hopes to emerge from bankruptcy in 30 to 60 days. All of its factories have since been idled. Chrysler said the incentives, which begin on Wednesday, are aimed at reducing the bottom-line price of the car. They include $4,000 cash, $1,000 for current Chrysler vehicle owners, and up to $1,000 for financing through a participating credit union.
Are you too a proud member of the Party of “Know?”
Are we the party of ‘NO’? Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, Dianne Feinstein, et al, have gone on record to call the Republican Party ‘The Party of No’. Why? Because we say NO to socialism? NO to racism? NO to weak foreign policy footing, kowtowing to despotic world leaders? Because we say NO to socialized medicine? NO to fomenting class-warfare, NO to raising taxes on the affluent? NO to killing babies in the womb, NO to redefining traditional marriage? NO to calling returning veterans extremist nut-jobs to be placed on a watch-list? NO to thinking we can spend and tax our way back to prosperity by saddling our grandkids with a Mt. Everest sized debt? Okay…maybe they’re right; maybe we are the party of NO. But I’d like to offer a slight amendment to that moniker (thanks, Dr. Kloor): We are the Party of ‘Know‘.
Reporting from New Orleans — Belinda Jenkins was picking up her diabetes medication Tuesday afternoon, and worrying about being away from the trailer she has lived in since Hurricane Katrina trashed her house. Jenkins, a disabled 53-year-old, is afraid the Federal Emergency Management Agency is scheming to take the flimsy box away. So she keeps a handwritten note taped to the door, asking officials to at least call her cellphone so she can come back and get her stuff. “Thank you,” the note reads. “Have a bless day.”
Quote of the day. (Specifically for the liberals)
If you had your life to live over again, do it overseas.
-Henny Youngman