The Daily Drift

The Daily Drift

Today's horoscope says:
Inspiration comes in many forms today, so try to keep your mind open -- and get rid of any (and all) expectations you may have for this day.
There's nothing to worry about right now, so if you've been eyeing this date on your calendar with some trepidation, there's no reason to continue.
Your feelings of anxiety are not helping you avoid danger or stress.
In fact, they may be holding you back.
Run into life without hesitation, and you'll escape the extra stress.

Some of our readers today have been in:

Perth, Western Australia, Australia

Montreal, Quebec, Canada

Wellington, Wellington, New Zealand

Berlin, Berlin, Germany

Rome, Lazo, Italy

Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany

Sao Paulo, Sao Paulo, Brazil

Bergen, Op Zoom, Noord-Brabant, Netherlands

Adelaide, South Australia, Australia

Paris, Ile-De-France, France

Hamilton, Ontario, Canada

Copenhagen, Kobenhavn, Denmark

Sittard, Limburg, Netherlands

Leverkusen, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany

Accra, Greater Accra, Ghana

Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

Kuala Lumpur, Wilayah Persekutuan, Malaysia

Brisbane, Queensland, Australia

Athens, Attiki, Greece

Madrid, Madrid, Spain

Caracas, Distrito Federal, Venezuela

Colombo, Colombo, Sri Lanka

as well as Bulgaria, Israel, Finland, Austria, Norway, Georgia, Mexico, Peru, Kuwait, Serbia, Bangladesh, Latvia, Greece, Scotland, Hong Kong, Denmark, Wales, Iran, Singapore, Poland, Taiwan, Sweden, Afghanistan, Belgium, Tibet, Croatia, Pakistan, Romania, Paraguay, Sudan, Vietnam, Argentina, Cambodia, Egypt, France, Estonia, Puerto Rico, Qatar, Brazil, New Zealand, United Arab Emirates, Slovenia, China, Iraq, Ecuador, Nigeria, Colombia, Chile, Honduras, Paupa New Guinea, Moldova, Venezuela, Germany, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, Ireland, New Zealand, Czech Republic, Vietnam, Norway, Finland and in cities across the United States such as Bessemer, Kailua, Lockport, Burlington and more.

Today is:

Today is Tuesday, January 4, the 4th day of 2011.

There are 361 days left in the year.

Today In History January 4

Today's unusual holiday or celebration is: 

Tom Thumb Day

Trivia Day

and

World Hypnotism Day.

Don't forget to visit our sister blog!

Non Sequitur

Anonymous brings down Tunisian government websites

It will be interesting to see if hackers will pursue other closed governments as well.
Openness is a good thing.

Aljazeera:

Online activists have attacked and at least momentarily disabled several Tunisian government websites in the latest act of protest against the country's embattled leadership.

As of Monday afternoon, local time, at least eight websites had been affected, including those for the president, prime minister, ministry of industry, ministry of foreign affairs, and the stock exchange.

The attack, which began on Sunday night, coincided with a national strike, planned to take place on Monday, that organizers said would be the biggest popular event of its size since Zine El Abidine Ben Ali assumed the presidency.

US partnering with Japan to remove Sea Shepherd tax exempt status

Are you kidding me?

The US government is claiming that Sea Shepherd's tactics are dangerous yet the Japanese whaling fleets who slaughter weak whale populations is somehow fine? You really have to wonder about the fights this administration likes to take on. Whether it's this or the Michael Vick story, there's a complete lack of common sense. Americans really aren't in favor of the brutal Japanese whale hunts so move on. Besides, haven't we see enough caving to last a lifetime?

Japanese and American officials discussed taking action to weaken a prominent anti-whaling group, with Tokyo insisting that Sea Shepherd's confrontations on the high seas actually hurt efforts to reduce whaling, U.S. diplomatic cables show.

The U.S. representative to the International Whaling Commission, Monica Medina, discussed revoking the U.S.-based conservation group's tax exempt status during a meeting with senior officials from the Fisheries Agency of Japan in November 2009, according to the documents released by WikiLeaks on Monday.

Sea Shepherd Conservation Society's yearly protest campaigns — which chase Japan's whaling fleet in boats trying to disrupt the hunt by fouling fishing lines and throwing rancid butter at whalers — have drawn high-profile donors and volunteers, and spawned the popular Animal Planet series "Whale Wars." In Japan, the harassment is seen by some as foreign interference in national affairs, making politicians wary of getting involved.

Tainted water dumped in rivers

Tainted water gets dumped into rivers

One state is allowing a nasty byproduct of natural gas production to be released into waterways.  

Link to drinking water 

Also: 

• What is frack water?  
• Toxic waste in Texas
• Oil prices at 26-month high

The Greatest Con Artists Of The Wild West

In the Wild West, it seemed that for every prospector or pioneer out to make it richer, there was a con artist that followed. From diamond fraud to miracle elixirs, these tricksters found easy pickings in the fertile ground of the Ol' West. Here are a few of the greatest con artists from that era.

Bad Cops

Wisconsin cop gets a year in jail for running crack house

Ohio cop is transferred, as punishment for having sex in a city vehicle on city property

Another diabetic sues cops for beating, this time in Alabama

Utah police chief pleads guilty in poaching incident

Florida police officer is arrested after video shows him punching inmate

Indiana cop charged with touching informant inappropriately

Massachusetts police officer charged with assault, placed on paid leave

Assistant police chief in Indiana pleads guilty to battery charge

How facial signs can nail crooks

Using body language to spot a Madoff

Advisors who touch their faces or breathe irregularly may be scammers, say lie detector pros.  

What eyes reveal 

Also: 

• $8 mil swindle charge
• Rising 401(k) fraud  
• Seniors scamming seniors

The TSA

Some banks help keep mortgage holders out of default

Bank of America isn't one of them.

While the nation’s foreclosure crisis has focused blame on bad loan practices by some lenders, new research shows how some banks may have actually reduced the default risk of their homebuyers.

Full story

CEOs rewarded for wrong kind of growth

Growth is good, right?

Not always.
But compensation committees still tend to reward CEOs when their companies grow due to investments — even though that has been found to hurt long-term shareholder value …

Full story

The truth be told

Repugicans support anti-American terrorist organization

On foreign soil no less.

As Greenwald mentions at the bottom of his article, this may be a violation of US law.

Imagine if a group of leading American liberals met on foreign soil with -- and expressed vocal support for -- supporters of a terrorist group that had (a) a long history of hateful anti-American rhetoric, (b) an active role in both the takeover of a U.S. embassy and Saddam Hussein's brutal 1991 repression of Iraqi Shiites, (c) extensive financial and military support from Saddam, (d) multiple acts of violence aimed at civilians, and (e) years of being designated a "Terrorist organization" by the U.S. under Presidents of both parties, a designation which is ongoing? The ensuing uproar and orgies of denunciation would be deafening.

But on December 23, a group of leading conservatives -- including Rudy Giuliani and former Bush officials Michael Mukasey, Tom Ridge, and Fran Townsend -- did exactly that. In Paris, of all places, they appeared at a forum organized by supporters of the Mujaheddin-e Khalq (MEK) -- a group declared by the U.S. since 1997 to be "terrorist organization" -- and expressed wholesale support for that group. Worse -- on foreign soil -- they vehemently criticized their own country's opposition to these Terrorists and specifically "demanded that Obama instead take the [] group off the U.S. list of foreign terrorist organizations and incorporate it into efforts to overturn the mullah-led government in Tehran." In other words, they are calling on the U.S. to embrace this Saddam-supported, U.S.-hating Terrorist group and recruit them to help overthrow the government of Iran. To a foreign audience, Mukasey denounced his own country's opposition to these Terrorists as "nothing less than an embarrassment."

Wingnuts are stupid

In yet, another example of wingnut stupidity:
You remember their clamoring for a fence on the Mexican border to stop illegal immigration, right?
Some fencing was built at an average cost of $4million Dollars per mile.
How does it work ... well ...

The Danged Fence proves to be no barrier to a couple of girls.

Further proof of the stupidity of wingnuts

U.S. states may challenge 14th Amendment

At least 14 states support a bill denying citizenship to children born to illegal immigrants.  

Law's 'original intent' 

Also: 

• Immigration debate in 2011
• Parent faces deportation
• Mexico plans shake-up

Women Don't Have Constitutional Protection Against Discrimination

The equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution does not protect against discrimination on the basis of gender or sexual orientation, according to Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia.

 Full Story

And you wonder why wingnuts are viewed as idiots?
Because they are.
Case proven.

Reality and wingnuts - never the twain shall meet.

Reality and wingnuts - never the twain shall meet.

Bank of America pays $3 billion to settle on 12,000 mortgages

These are interesting numbers since everyone knows that between BofA and Countrywide (now owned by BofA) there were many more than 12,000 bad mortgages. As much as many are trying to put this mortgage scam problem in the past, this should confirm that there's much more remaining to be addressed. It's still hard to drill down to the culprits in this national (and international) scam because too many in Washington have too much skin in the game. The GOP is now the party of Wall Street after years of Democratic rule in that arena. The problem remains deeply embedded in the political system so it's difficult to imagine many tough questions being asked. Meanwhile we are likely to see more settlements and then hope that it will all magically disappear. Either that or that fewer and fewer questions will be asked as the public moves on to the next event.

Shares in Bank of America climbed 4 percent in pre-market trading. Investors were worried that the bank, like other large mortgage sellers, may have to buy back billions in mortgages it sold with faulty paperwork and other problems.

The bank made a $1.28 billion cash payment to Freddie Mac, as part of the agreement to end all claims related to mortgages sold by Countrywide, a mortgage company bought by Bank of America, through 2008.

The bank paid Fannie Mae $1.34 billion in a similar agreement that settles claims on 12,045 Countrywide loans.

Anti-gay bigots 'accidentally' strip health benefits from retired cops & firemen in El Paso

You'd think god would be better at writing legislation, wouldn't you?

Americans prefer tax increases for rich or defense cuts to balance the budget

You don't say?

Sixty-one percent of Americans polled would rather see taxes for the wealthy increased as a first step to tackling the deficit, the poll showed.

The next most popular way -- chosen by 20 percent -- was to cut defense spending.