SEAN OXENDINE: No, really. Hillary has a decent shot.

In an annual pork barrel spending report by the Citizens Against Government Waste, Republican Congressman Randy Kuhl is criticized for special interest spending at Elmira College.

What is funnier is his insistence that the public at large will get much benefit from this Pork Sandwich. Yes, he does think we really all are that dumb.

A Government Watchdog Group Says Yes

I vote for this to be the stupidest headline of the year.

Government employees wasting money? Another LOL.

Spitzer Involved in Prostitution Ring

03/10/08
Last Update: 8:27 pm

NEW YORK (AP) - The New York Times is reporting that Gov. Eliot Spitzer has told senior advisers that he had been involved in a prostitution ring.

Spitzer is scheduled to make an announcement this afternoon. Spitzer officials wouldn’t immediately comment on the story.

The 48-year-old Spitzer is married and has three daughters. Details about the prostitution ring were not immediately clear.

But last week, federal prosecutors in Manhattan filed conspiracy charges against four people accusing them of running a prostitution ring that charged wealthy clients in Europe and the U.S. thousands of dollars for prostitutes.

The Web site of the Emperors Club VIP displays photographs of the prostitutes’ bodies, with their faces hidden, along with hourly rates depending on whether the prostitutes were rated with one diamond, the lowest ranking, or seven diamonds, the highest.

Prosecutors say the most highly ranked prostitutes cost…

Schumer: Halt ‘Self-Congratulatory’ Mailer

Sen. Charles Schumer is calling on the IRS to halt the mailing of about 130 million letters to U.S. households that tell them they will be eligible to get federal rebate checks. The feds estimate the cost of the mailing at about $41.8 million.

“There are countless better uses for $42 million than a self-congratulatory mailer that gives the president credit for an idea that wasn’t even his,” New York’s Democratic senior senator said.

“Instead of wasting taxpayer money, the IRS should spend its time and effort getting the checks out, and focusing on the seniors and veterans who are wrongly at risk of missing out.”

Schumer said the money could instead fund hiring more IRS employees to improve tax collections that would increase federal revenue.

The Associated Press article on the issue follows below

That Didn’t Take Long

Rebate Letters to Cost $42 Million

By…

Burin announces restructuring of City Hall operations, new deputy
02/28/2008

City Manager John Burin announced a series of organizational changes that will continue to improve and streamline City Hall operations, including naming a new deputy city manager who is a member of a new generation of city government leaders.

The changes come as long-time Director of Community Development, Cheryl Box, prepares to retire, the outsourcing of tax collection through a recent shared service with Chemung County has streamlined the Chamberlain’s office, and expanding citywide economic development responsibilities has increased the workload for the City Manager, Burin said Thursday.

“I’m realigning our personnel to not only provide adequate service delivery, but also to look to the future and place many of our young professionals in decision-making positions,” he said.

Burin will re-establish the position of Deputy City Manager for Operations, and appoint Kimberlee Balok Middaugh to the role. Middaugh previously served as the City’s personnel director…

From Newsmax.com

The Real Barack Obama

Thursday, February 21, 2008 10:06 AM

By: Ronald Kessler

Michelle Obama’s comment that, for the first time in her adult life, she feels proud of America helps crystallize who Barack Obama is.

To be sure, the wife of a candidate is perfectly free to have views that are distinct from her husband’s. But on a matter that is so fundamental to one’s being as love of country, it is difficult to imagine that Michelle Obama would publicly twice make such a statement suggesting disdain for America unless she felt it comported with her husband’s views.

Equally important, her statement aligns perfectly with the hate-America views of the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, Barack Obama’s minister, friend, and sounding board for more than two decades. On the Sunday following 9/11, Wright characterized the terrorist attacks as a consequence of violent American policies. Four years later, Wright…

HILLARY CRIES IN CONNECTICUT: I may be wrong, but I think the crying bit works, at most, once per election.

UPDATE: “Well, it worked once, didn’t it? And once again, the subject that brought tears to her eyes wasn’t poverty, health care, or even national defense but Hillary herself.”

FRED THOMPSON: “My guess is, we’ll be missing him dreadfully by spring.” Some people already are. I certainly would have liked him to provide adult supervision in last night’s debate. And don’t miss the concluding paragraphs, which are, alas, dead-on.

Tonight approximately 70-85 area residents gathered in the Auditorium of Southside High School to hear the final draft of the Chemung River Master Plan.

Given by the primary architects of the plan, a Mr. Haas and another individual whose name I unfortunately didn’t catch, the presentation included lectures, many computer enhanced and composed pictures, actual photographs, posters and slides as well as hand out materials. Although audience participation was sparse, overall the meeting was informative and optimistic.
It appears that the final draft of the Chemung River improvement master plan is for the seasonal use of the Chemung River as it flows from the western most Horseheads line all the way downriver past Elmira to the City of Chemung. There was also some mention that upriver Steuben County and Corning have expressed an interest in improving that part of the Chemung River as well.

Overall, the plans include areas for ‘rough’ camping;…