CRAZY EDDIE'S NEW WEB BLOG

THE SPACE SHUTTLE RETURNS SAFELY BUT FACES AN UNCERTAIN FUTURE

The space shuttle touched down safely after a 14 day flight, but problems with foam striking the shuttle during liftoff, problems with the tile spacers and a problem with a thermal blanket may keep the shuttle grounded of quite some time. If NASA can�t get its act together we might not see a shuttle in space for quite a long time. Read more at MSNBC

I AM GIVING MY SITE A SMALL FACELIFT

Please be patient while I give my site a small facelift. I am getting rid of most of my political pages and just plan on posting anything associated with politics on the blog. I am going to try and have more on the Blog besides politics. I am considering starting a new website to deal with politics only.

I am on eBay

I have been keeping my self busy selling Harley Davidson stuff on eBay. I tell you what; the guy who thought up eBay sure changed the way people shop. eBay originally started with people selling use stuff and has evolved into one of the best ways to find anything (usually at a good price).

I use eBay to make a few bucks to support my Harley habit. I am not ready to quit my job yet, but I am having fun. If you get a chance stop by my auctions and see what I have for sale.

I AM BACK

Hey the election is over and seems I have been kind of avoiding politics for awhile. I guess the disappointment of the election results have dampened my spirits a bit. Well here in Virginia, we are getting ready for a governors election this fall. The state currently has a Democratic Governor and Lieutenant Governor; hopefully with a little work we can keep the Governor�s Mansion in Democratic hands.

I WILL DO A BETTER JOB

Well I haven�t been paying much attention to my Blog and I apologize. I have been spending a lot of time selling things on eBay. Yea I guess I doing so good that I work two jobs and need to sell on eBay to make ends meet. I will do a better job adding entries in the future.

Another great year for some

The superrich actually got richer. As most of us struggled to make ends meet and Americans are loosing their lives in a war which was waged on false pretenses, most of Bush�s buddies had a very good year. And why not? Their taxes have been slashed and your children have been left to pick up the bill. I guess the Superrich are looking forward to another four more good years. I just hope we can survive four more years. (Source MSNBC)

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

I WOULD LIKE TO TAKE THIS TIME TO WISH MY FAMILY, FRIENDS AND ANYONE WHO READS THIS A VERY HAPPY AND PROSPEROUS NEW YEAR.

The changing face of poverty

Fear and hunger walk hand in hand with poverty, and last year 12.6 million American households -- 11.2 percent of all American homes -- were afraid they might not be able to put enough food on the table, according to the Census Bureau. That's up more than 1.6 million households from the year 2000.

How are these families coping? They eat less varied meals, visit shelters and get food assistance from food banks and emergency kitchens. Of these families, 3.9 million said that one or more members of the family actually went hungry last year -- an 18.2 percent increase from 2000.

A recent report by the outplacement firm Challenger Gray and Christmas found that many food banks are in "crisis mode." In Ohio, for example, the Ohio Food Bank has seen the number of people requiring assistance jump 17 to 20 percent this year, "with a significant increase in the number of working poor."

Millions of working Americans are struggling to find adequate food, health care and housing for their families. Unable to earn a living wage, many have resorted to food banks and community centers for help. But according to the Challenger report, many of those institutions say that making the increased demand even worse is the fact that "donations and government funding are at all-time lows."

Thanks - W (read more)

Democrat Gregoire Wins Wash. Governor Race

Democrat Christine Gregoire has won the Washington governor's race by 130 votes over Republican Dino Rossi, according to final recount results from King County.

King County was the last county to report in the statewide hand recount, the third count of ballots in the governor's election. The election results have not been certified and probably will be challenged in court.

Merry Christmas

I hope everyone has a blessed Christmas and a Happy New Year.

U.S. cuts aid to food charities

In one of the first signs of the effects of the tightening U.S. budget, in the past two months the Bush administration has reduced its contributions to global food aid programs aimed at helping millions of people climb out of poverty.

With the federal budget deficit expanding and President George W. Bush promising to reduce spending, the administration has told representatives of several charities that it is unable to honor some promises.

Groups have been told they will have money for food only in emergencies like that in Darfur, in western Sudan.

The cuts to charities, estimated by some charities at up to $100 million, come at a time when the number of hungry in the world is rising for the first time in years and all food programs are being stretched. More

Lawyers to challenge election in Ohio

Columbus- A trio of activist lawyers armed with mysteriously wrong exit polls and hundreds of voter horror stories announced plans Friday to contest Ohio's presidential election as soon as the vote is official.

Their challenge could lead to widespread reconsideration of dozens of alleged election irregularities around the state - from reported computerized voting glitches to provisional-ballot mishaps to unusual incidents involving voter rolls, poll workers and machine technicians.

Read the whole story

Republicans Vote to Protect DeLay

House Republicans voted Wednesday to abandon an 11-year-old party rule that required a member of their leadership to step aside temporarily if indicted. The New York Times reported that, "Meeting behind closed doors, the lawmakers agreed that a party steering committee would review any indictments handed up against the majority leader, Representative Tom DeLay of Texas, or any other members of the leadership team or committee chairmen, to determine if giving up a post was warranted."

Meanwhile DeLay's former spokesman Michael Scanlon was pleading the Fifth before a congressional committee investigating claims that his lobbying firm had bilked Indian tribes of tens of millions of dollars. Wednesday's hearing focused on the $4.2 million the Tigua tribe in Texas paid Scanlon to help it win back a license to operate a casino. Senators heard testimony that "Scanlon and his business partner had been working the same year with former Christian Coalition head Ralph Reed to lobby the Texas legislature to close the Tigua's casino in El Paso." The committee heard that Scanlon's lobbying partner Jack Abramoff referred to his tribal clients as "morons," "monkeys" and "stupid idiots." Abramoff boasted of his friendship with President Bush, Karl Rove and members of the House leadership.
Source - Air America

UC Berkeley Study Questions Florida E-Vote Count

A research team at UC Berkeley will report that irregularities
associated with electronic voting machines may have awarded
130,000 - 260,000 or more excess votes to President George W. Bush in
Florida in the 2004 presidential election. The study shows an unexplained
discrepancy between votes for President Bush in counties where electronic
voting machines were used versus counties using traditional voting
methods. Discrepancies this large or larger rarely arise by chance -- the
probability is less than 0.1 percent. The research team, led by Professor
Michael Hout, will formally disclose results of the study at the press
conference. Source

New CIA director allegedly was told to get rid of those disloyal to Bush

WASHINGTON - The White House has ordered the new CIA director, Porter Goss, to purge the agency of officers thought to have been disloyal to President Bush or of leaking damaging information to the media about the conduct of the war in Iraq and the hunt for Osama bin Laden, according to knowledgeable sources.

"The agency is being purged on instructions from the White House," said a former senior CIA official who maintains close ties to the agency and to the White House. "Goss was given instructions ... to get rid of those soft leakers and liberal Democrats. The CIA is looked on by the White House as a hotbed of liberals and people who have been obstructing the president's agenda." Read More