Nasty in New Jersey....

I have to say, other than the presidential, both state wide elections (Governor last year and Senator this year) I've seen are really nasty. Star-Ledger just broke that Kean campaign contacts a former Democratic powerbroker, who right now is a federal prisoner, to dig out possible dirt about Menendez.

A researcher working for Republican Tom Kean Jr.'s campaign became pen pals with a jailed Democratic political boss in an effort to dig up damaging information on Kean's opponent, U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez.

Former Hudson County Executive Robert Janiszewski, now serving time in a federal prison in Kentucky on corruption charges, offered political history and strategic advice to the Kean campaign in a chatty, friendly letter obtained by The Star-Ledger.

And this is what they got

One of those people mentioned by Janiszewski -- Oscar Sandoval, a Union City psychiatrist and former FBI informant who helped land Janiszewski in prison -- rocked the U.S. Senate campaign this week by disclosing a secret recording he had made of Menendez's closest adviser.

"So ... Sandoval ... what a trip," Janiszewski wrote. "My read is that Sandoval cannot be trusted because he likely has several agendas to satisfy -- all having to do with advantaging himself -- so, be careful + seek proof. If he has it, then full speed ahead."

So they found out some dirt which really hurts from someone even the source said he would not trust...... Gee.... I'm not defending Menendez, since I know nothing about him, but I have to say this tactics is really low.

NJ raises minimum wages

I do think it's a cool thing to do, especially with our high living costs.

Governor Jon S. Corzine today announced that New Jersey’s hourly minimum wage will increase by one dollar to $7.15 on October 1. The federal minimum wage rate remains at $5.15 an hour.

“We honor and value New Jersey’s working families,” said Governor Corzine this morning at a labor event in Atlantic City. “This increase in the minimum wage is an important step towards helping them afford a better quality of life, and we need to continue in this direction. It’s the right thing for our workers, our state and our economy.”

“All low-wage earners work hard to provide a roof over their family’s head, food on the table, and clothes for their children,” said Labor Commissioner David J. Socolow. “If they are working hard to achieve this, we owe them a fair wage.”

Nasty in Florida

UPDATE: Offering alcohol to minors are surely illegal.

--------

UPDATE: Now we know he asked kids out. It's a much more serious thing than just dirty talks. But the kid did know Foley was fishing around. Can someone tell me that is legal or not?

--------

UPDATE: Now they said Foley is a known sex predator. Don't know what exactly he did, but if he did ask kids out or harassed kids it's certainly troublesome. I really find myself at odd with the "liberal base," but, my question is, if all he did was having some consensual dirty talks with kids, is it really illegal (and that's what I see so far)? I'm not saying it's appropriate -- which is not -- but, I don't see it as a major problem either. BTW I do agree on going further on those cover-up allegations.

-------

UPDATE: Once again I have a second thought on this. After reading those messages on AIM, it seems to me that it's consensual, at least the boy didn't show any resistence in talking dirty. I do understand it's inappropriate for a member of Congress to have this kind of conversation with a minor, but to be honest, I don't see it as a major offense. If a minor girl has the right to choose to have an abortion, which I believe is held in Planned Parenthood or somewhere else, I don't see why a minor boy cannot choose to have some dirty talk with a Congressman. I do feel like it's an intrusion to people's bedrooms. I agree he should have chosen not to have those conversations, but I just don't see those conversations as something that bad that he should resign for them. Let's face it, those conversations are consensual and there is no conflict of interests. Maybe he did the same thing to another page and pissed that one off, which may be the case. Otherwise if he just approached a boy, got rejected and left him alone, and approached another and got accpted and had some fun talks, I really don't see what's that much a big deal.

--------

UPDATE: Now I agree he went too far, by refering to sexual organs and acts on AIM. I fully agree to raise some attacks at this point, but he's leaving anyway.

Hours earlier, ABC News had read excerpts of instant messages provided by former male pages who said the congressman, under the AOL Instant Messenger screen name Maf54, made repeated references to sexual organs and acts.

--------

In some sense it's good to know it's not patented for Jersey, but I personally really think it's nothing but nasty. I first saw this

In the series of e-mails, obtained by ABC News, between the page and Rep. Foley (R-FL), Foley asks the page how old he is, what he wants for his birthday and requests a photo of him.

The concerned page alerted congressional staffers to the e-mails. In one e-mail, the page writes to a staffer, "Maybe it is just me being paranoid, but seriously. This freaked me out."

and in one email

"I just email will...hes such a nice guy....acts much older than his age....and hes in very great shape...."

I was like, what? What's the problem? Then, just minutes ago, I saw another post

The Co-Chair of the US House Missing and Exploited Children Caucus cannot be someone even under the appearance of possibly being a potential child sex offender (soliciting a minor is a crime). No one is saying Foley is a child sex offender, but his email exchange has raised understandable concerns in some minds. It's time to get to the bottom of this, for the sake of our children. It's time to waterboard GOP Rep. Mark Foley.

Finally the story will end this way

Rep. Mark Foley, R-Fla., submitted a letter of resignation from Congress on Friday in the wake of questions about e-mails he wrote a former male page, according to a congressional official.

Florida Republicans could replace Foley on the ballot.

As a previous victim, I do fully understand that emails can be huge harassments. And seems the boy who received those mails did feel this way.

According to the CREW posting, the boy e-mailed a colleague in Alexander's office about Foley's e-mails, saying, "This freaked me out." On the request for a photo, the boy repeated the word "sick" 13 times.

The problem here is the way this thing be treated. First, by reading those emails, I can only draw the conclusion that Foley may be gay and he may be interested in young boys. So here comes my question, what's the problem with that? If he didn't further harass the boy, and stopped when he realized the boy doesn't have any interest in him, what's really the probem? I mean, if you're interested in someone, then you try to approach the person, then you realize there is no chance at all and then give up, what's the problem? I do think it's a huge thing if he kept harassing the boy, sending all kinds of emails regardless the boy's negative responses, but so far it just doesn't look that way. Seems to me he's punished for being gay, and the ironic thing here is I first saw this on a blog owned by an openly gay guy. The only problem here I can see is soliciting minors, but just don't quite see it if someone just said "he's in good shape."

Almost everyone around me knows I'm for a Democratic majority, but I really don't like to win it by revealing opponents' personal life.

Al-Qaida in Iraq: 4,000 foreign fighters killed

The new leader of al-Qaida in Iraq purportedly said Thursday in an audio message posted online that more than 4,000 foreign militants have been killed in Iraq since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003 — the first apparent acknowledgment from the insurgents about their losses.

To my all honesty, I really dont know why they're doing it. They said

It was unclear why al-Masri would advertise the loss of the group’s foreign fighters, but martyrdom is revered among Islamic fundamentalists, and could be used as a recruiting tool. The Arabic word he used, “muhajer,” indicated he was speaking about foreigners who joined the insurgency in Iraq, not coalition troops.

I don't want to speculate too much, but the declassified part of NIE just said Iraq war is fueling anger against America. No implication here.

GOP to have Convention at Twin Cities

I'm not sure how much it really means other than Democrats cannot have it there.

The four-day event will be held at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minn., a concert venue and the home of the National Hockey League's Minnesota Wild.

By picking the Twin Cities for 2008, the GOP will ensure plenty of news converge in media markets in Minnesota, Wisconsin and Iowa — all battleground states in the 2004 election and ones expected to be competitive in the next presidential race.

The Democrats, who last met in Boston, will announce a decision later this fall. A spokesman said 11 sites expressed interest in having the party's convention, but only four completed the proposals. New Orleans later withdrew its bid, leaving Denver, New York City and Minneapolis-St. Paul.

Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak has said that because of timing and logistics, the Twin Cities can't host both conventions. The two conventions are scheduled for consecutive weeks.

More people accusing Sen. Allen using racial slur

Why didn't they have Facebook or some kind before, then we can go on to check their wall messages ......

Larry J. Sabato, one of Virginia's most-quoted political science professors and a classmate of Allen's in the early 1970s, said in a televised interview Monday that Allen used the epithet.

Sabato's assertion came on the heels of accusations by Dr. Ken Shelton, a radiologist who was a tight end and wide receiver for the University of Virginia in the early 1970s when Allen was quarterback. He said Allen not only used the n-word frequently but also once stuffed a severed deer head into a black family's mailbox.

Allen's campaign released statements from four other ex-teammates defending the senator and rejecting Shelton's claims.

Former President Clinton in Fox interview

Gee, I have to say this is the President. I would guess he planned about all this, and for a purpose I don't know what, but I have to say it takes some gut to say it out loud on TV.

"That's the difference in me and some, including all of the right-wingers who are attacking me now," Clinton said in the interview. "They ridiculed me for trying. They had eight months to try, they did not try."

Clinton accused host Chris Wallace of a "conservative hit job" and asked: "I want to know how many people in the Bush administration you asked, 'Why didn't you do anything about the Cole?' I want to know how many people you asked, 'Why did you fire Dick Clarke?'"

Clinton said he "worked hard" to try to kill bin Laden.

"We contracted with people to kill him. I got closer to killing him than anybody's gotten since," he said.

He told Wallace, "And you got that little smirk on your face and you think you're so clever, but I had responsibility for trying to protect this country. I tried and I failed to get bin Laden. I regret it, but I did try and I did everything I thought I responsibly could."

And he said this, which I sort of heard it in his Class Day speech.

On NBC's "Meet the Press," also taped Friday and aired Sunday, Clinton told interviewer Tim Russert that the biggest problem confronting the world today is "the illusion that our differences matter more than our common humanity."

"That's what's driving the terrorism," he said. "It's not just that there's an unresolved Arab-Israeli conflict. Osama Bin Laden and Dr. al-Zawahiri can convince young Sunni Arab men, who have — and some women — who have despairing conditions in their lives, that they get a one-way ticket to heaven in a hurry if they kill a lot of innocent people who don't share their reality."

Venezuela foreign minister detained at an NYC airport

Oh, because he's said a terrorist. Be honest I'm not surprised at all. Since Sen. Kennedy is on no-flight list, why not the foreign minister from the country whose president just slammed the US President? It's already very kind that President Chavez wasn't detained.

President Hugo Chavez said his foreign minister was detained by U.S. authorities at a New York airport Saturday for more than hour as he tried to return to the South American country.

Chavez told Venezuela's state TV broadcaster that U.S. officials alleged that Foreign Minister Nicolas Maduro had links to a failed coup that Chavez led in Venezuela in 1992.

Maduro told Venezuela private TV station Globovision separately that U.S. authorities said a code on his airplane ticket identified him as "almost a terrorist."

Sen. Frist will filibuster

Wait, you sure his title is still the Majority Leader? Oh, right, he's going to filibuster a Republican bill, to ensure everything goes in pace with White House. So you still believe they say GOP is a highly inclusive party? (You know I'm talking about Tom Kean Jr..)

Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist signaled yesterday that he and other White House allies will filibuster a bill dealing with the interrogation and prosecution of detainees if they cannot persuade a rival group of Republicans to rewrite key provisions opposed by President Bush.

Mayor of my hometown meet mayors of major cities at gay events

Why do I have to read this in American news outlet?

Ma, who is not gay, said that the search for LGBT civil rights in the Taiwanese capital brought him and the city closer to other world capitals.

"Two years ago, I went to the Love Parade in Berlin. The mayor there, Klaus Wowereit is gay. He wasn't going to see me, but I got to talk to him for 10 minutes at the parade. Also, this year in San Francisco, I met mayor Gavin Newsom. We talked about gay issues and municipal Wi-Fi."

Newsom sent a congratulatory statement that was read at the flag raising marking the official start of pride celebrations in Taipei.

I honestly think it's an interesting strategy for politicians to know people.

Taiwan makes another international news

Last time it was about gay right, which event actually hasn't happened yet, and now it's the nasty Taiwanese politics. Taiwanese media has been talking about the international coverage for a while, but this is the first true international coverage I've seen. In fact it was on the Yahoo frontpage.

At least 300,000 Taiwanese protesters thronged the streets of Taipei to vent their anger at President Chen Shui-bian, stepping up the pressure on the embattled leader to resign.

"This is a victory of the Taiwanese people ... the people power will topple the corrupted leader," veteran pro-democracy activist and protest organizer Shih Ming-teh told the crowd after kneeling to show thanks for their support Friday.

What? I know it has been something fashionable for politicians to kneel down in front of the people, but not him. Now it's not only fashionable. It's epidemic now.

"The Taiwanese people have declared to the world that we have the power to wipe out corruption, to defend democracy, human rights, peace and justice ... Long Live the People," said an emotional Shih at the end of the march.

It may make me sound like against the whole movement, which I'm not, but what is it to do with human rights? The only constitution right I can think of is the freedom of expression, but honestly I don't think it's even among the main purposes at all.

Is it time for us to have paper trails for electronic voting mechine?

Since it is said that virus can "steal" the votes in an unnoticed way. Even worse, the virus can spread from mechine to mechine.

Researchers at Princeton University said today that they have proven a popular electronic voting machine can be rigged to steal votes - in ways that are virtually undectable - in less than a minute.

What's more, they said, the virus could be passed from machine to machine through the course of normal procedures - and leave virtually no clues that anything was amiss.

The corresponding company surely don't feel the problem though

But a Diebold spokesman said Princeton had examined voting software that is 3 to 4 years old. Systems in use today deploy encryption, passwords and digitally signed certificates, in addition to random tests by poll-workers, designed to minimize risks of tampering.

"It's interesting they didn't go through a peer review," said Mark Radke, director of marketing for Diebold in Allen, Texas. "It's interesting timing of the release of the study. The fact that they did not communicate with Diebold before releasing the study also is interesting."

Well, I don't actually see the academic value to publish this in a journal or some. But this is not how they counter-argue the way they made it public.

Felten, famed for cracking a copyright protection scheme on a challenge from the music industry in 2000, said he felt the voting machine results were too important to wait for publication in a peer-reviewed journal. He wanted public officials to have enough time to take action before November's elections, he said.

I respect that.

American Airlines to pull ads from ABC

That honestly doesn't impress me at all. Someone made and broadcasted a show which defames your company, and it takes this long for you to figure out you can pull ads? Yeah, maybe.

American Airlines is prepared to pull its advertising from ABC in order to protest its portrayal in the network's recently aired movie The Path to 9/11, according to a source. The carrier also said it is considering legal action against the network.

American officials declined comment on the possible withdrawal of ads, and ABC representatives could not immediately be reached for comment on any facet of the situation.

The airline spends $25 million annually on broadcast TV ads; it could not immediately determined how much is spent on ABC, but according to one source, "It's extensive."

In case you don't know what's between AA and ABC,

The film in both its first and second parts appears to suggest that chief hijacker Mohammed Atta was flagged as a security risk at Boston's Logan Airport by American Airlines personnel. According to the 9/11 Commission Report, that incident occurred earlier that morning, in Maine, and the airline was U.S. Airways.

Credit line

American said it would have no further comment beyond the statement at this time. But earlier in the day, it had sent a letter to those who had contacted the company with the same complaint, inspired by liberal blogger John Aravosis of Americablog.

Harvard to drop early admission

I personally like the idea of early admission, but on the ground they lay out I am for this change, at least their purpose is positive. Do I wish Princeton to follow? I'm not that sure. I sort of believe the negative fators are not insurmountable. But it looks like Princeton is the only school likely to follow so far.

Harvard announced plans Tuesday to drop its "early action" admissions round — and urged rivals to follow. Under early action, applicants get word by late fall if they've been accepted to a college, but can still apply elsewhere in the spring. Some other schools have "early decision," meaning accepted applicants cannot apply elsewhere.

Harvard said such early admissions programs have two harmful effects: they may hurt schools' diversity because poor and minority students are less likely to use them, and they create anxiety for the typically more affluent applicants who take advantage of them.

If other colleges don't follow Harvard, the school's dean of admissions William Fitzsimmons acknowledged it may soon abandon the experiment.

Harvard admits about 21 percent of early applicants, compared to about 7 percent in the later pool. It says that's largely because the earlier pool is academically stronger. Still, the early pool is far more likely to contain sophisticated applicants who have access to savvy college counselors and don't need financial aid.

"We have said previously it would be a challenge for an institution to make a policy change in isolation," said Cass Cliatt said, a spokeswoman at Princeton, which has early decision. "If we see our peers moving towards a policy of a single admissions date, we could be comfortable making a change."

FAA gave Comair a wrong map

It certainly doesn't fully explain the accident, since every airlines got the same wrong map, and there has been only one accident. But do I think it's related? I surely think so.

Airline spokeswoman Kate Marx said the airline had an old map at the time and that the alert was prompted because even the new diagram it received Friday, two weeks after the deadly crash, didn't reflect all the recent changes to the airport's taxiway.

Marx said the outdated information came from the federal government and was supplied to all airlines, not just Comair.

The National Aeronautical Charting Office, a branch of the Federal Aviation Administration, publishes the maps through vendors hired by the airline.

FAA spokeswoman Laura Brown said Tuesday that the maps aren't changed to reflect every airport construction project, and airlines are alerted to those changes through notices to flight crews.

There was a notice about the Lexington construction, Brown said.

It's just amazing to me that pilots are not supposed to follow what's provided by the federal government. Then why do we need them?

US Senate: Saddam saw al-Qaida as threat

So to the end why they sent troops to Iraq? Didn't someone say Iraq is a forefront to fight al-Qaida?

Released Friday, the report discloses for the first time an October 2005 CIA assessment that before the war, Saddam's government "did not have a relationship, harbor or turn a blind eye toward" al-Qaida operative Abu Musab al-Zarqawi or his associates.

"Saddam only expressed negative sentiments about bin Laden," Tariq Aziz, the Iraqi leader's top aide, told the FBI.

As recently as an Aug. 21 news conference, Bush said people should "imagine a world in which you had Saddam Hussein" with the capacity to make weapons of mass destruction and "who had relations with Zarqawi."

Oops

The major legislation on the floor in the House this week is....

Guess what? Not even gay marriage. It's horse eating.

The major legislation on the floor in the House this week is a bill that would ban trading in horses to be slaughtered for human consumption.

August reading report

101 impressions, from Google Adsense. Interestingly there were 43 on August 20, the day I posted Sen. Hagel's comment on the Republican party.

Gay right news in Taiwan

I feel like I read news from Taiwan once a while. This time the City I'm from will sponsor a major event.

For the very first time the Rainbow Flag will be raised in an official ceremony in Taiwan an indication that the island off mainland China is growing more tolerant of gays.

The flag will go up in front of Taipei City Hall on September 17, marking the start of "Queer Friendly Taipei" and in another first the city's Department of Civil Affairs is a major sponsor of the event.

Yeh Jie-sheng, the department's Deputy Chief said the city was sponsoring the event to stress its respect for minority groups and cultural diversity.

"Conservative and religious groups have been criticizing the event, and we welcome different opinions. We will invite these groups this year to discuss issues of gay rights together," he said during a press conference this week at Taipei City Hall.

How do I think about it? Of course it's a great thing!!