Arkansas state treasurer resigns amid charges she took cash payments from broker

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — Arkansas’ state treasurer resigned Tuesday after being accused of accepting at least $36,000 cash in exchange for steering business to an investment broker, bowing to bipartisan calls to step down or face removal from office. ..

“Federal prosecutors allege Shoffner accepted $12,000 a year from a broker who would sometimes deliver cash in a pie box, with the pie included. They said the broker is cooperating with investigators.

“An FBI affidavit filed in federal court alleges that a bond broker — unidentified in court documents — would roll up cash in $6,000 increments and have it delivered to Shoffner’s office every six months. At least two of the payments were delivered in a pie box with a pie. The broker “recognized his/her bond business with the state grew because of the payments,” the affidavit said.”

Ms. Shoffner’s story might not be so noteworthy, until you recall the case of disgraced U.S. Rep. William Jefferson (D-LA), currently serving a 13-year sentence for corruption , bribery and malfeasance in office, a record sentence for a Congressman (to date). As the U.S. Attorney’s exhibit below demonstrates, on of Jefferson’s favorite hiding places for his ill gotten gains was IN HIS FREEZER!, yes, but significantly in a box of Pillsbury’s Frozen Pie Crusts. The FBI found ninety thousand cold ones there, to be exact.

Photo Credit: The Federal Bureau of Investigation

Coincidence? I think not! Does this eerie similarity reveal some commonality among those who would feed at the public trough like a contestant in a July 4th pie-eating contest? Can their psyche only be sated with the ultimate comfort food?

Aunt Bea (D-NC), Spiritual Matriarch of the Democratic Party (H/T @lunaticrex)

Dem Congressional hopefuls share fundraising ideas at a candidates’ forum.

Soon to replace the rooster & the donkey as the party symbol.

Mrs. Smith could not be reached for comment.

On second thought, maybe it’s not the pie, but the dough.

Cross-posted at RedState.com.

The good news: free colonoscopies for everybody! The bad news: they’re part of the new airport screening protocol.

Here’s one that didn’t make the cut:

6. Someone once said: “The nine most dangerous words are ‘I’m from the government and I’m here to help.’” Do you know who said it, and do you think it’s humorous?

Cross-posted at RedState.com.

In the past few years, there have been shows about Louisiana alligator trappers, exterminators, sheriffs, prisoners, brides, shrimpers, nutria hunters, mixed martial arts fighters, garbage collectors, “bad girls,” overnight millionaires, run-of-the-mill rednecks and pawnshop owners (about whom there are multiple shows). There are more shows on the way, prompting the question of whether there actually are any interesting people left in Louisiana. …

The tax credits are certainly a big part of why the state seems to attract so many shows, people in the industry said, and there is quite a bit of simply following what has already worked. But there is also general agreement that Louisiana is just more interesting than other places, with an ideal mix of Deep South exotica and regular folk accessibility. And Louisianans like to talk.

“It’s like a two-dog race between Louisiana and Alaska,” said Brent Montgomery, the owner of Leftfield Pictures, which produces “Cajun Pawn Stars,” “Swamp’d!” and many other shows. “When you’re in Louisiana,” he said, “it’s like every single person there is employed by the state to tell you how great the state is.”

As you may recall, Kennedy is an attorney, activist and Senior Staff Luddite with the Natural Resources Defense Council. He also serves as president of RiverKeeper, an anti-fracking activist group that has benevolently saved New York State from the ravages of shale gas jobs and prosperity.

In his stream-of-semi-consciousness screed, Kennedy blames Republicans, conservatives, Climate skeptics and religious fundamentalists for a lack of progress on the Left’s environmental agenda. But he reserves a special place in hell for “Big Oil” (although it doesn’t really know who Big Oil is). It’s all a conspiracy, you see: Big Oil are the puppetmasters standing between us and the Green Future Kennedy envisions.

Filled with quasi-religious zeal, Kennedy apparently dispensed with the laborious process of fact-checking, editing and proofreading before clicking “Publish”. The results are nothing short of comical.

Early on, the careful reader stumbles over an apparent neologism in the second sentence of the post (uncorrected as of this writing, over 24 hours after publication):

In doing so the Republican senators broke their earlier promisadditione to move McCarthy’s nomination if she answered an unprecedented 1079 written questions, a quest she completed.

A “promisadditione”? Is it a typo, or a new flavor of gelato?

Kennedy takes on Senator David Vitter (R-LA):

Vitter is an unabashed mouthpiece for the petroleum industry and record breaking receptacle for petrodollars having received $1.2 million in oil company largesse during his public service career.

Compare and contrast Vitter’s campaign funding records with those of Mary Landrieu (D-LA). Not much difference.

Also, as Wikipedia notes: “In 2005 Kennedy was criticized for hypocrisy, because he receives royalty payments for participation in two family-owned oil drilling companies, and also for using private jets while lecturing about the perils of global warming.”  I wonder if Kennedy’s political contributions qualify as petrodollars?

Kennedy’s writing style brings to mind a bar mitzvah boy using his new thesaurus, as the florid prose trudges off the page. Forget about Hydraulic Fracturing. Let’s ban Syntax Fracturing!

With cash gushers of oily money cascading down their open gullets, the Republican leadership’s mercenary devotion to Big Oil shouldn’t shock us. However, the boldness of the party’s most recent assault on the public interest might cause us to ponder how GOP’s honchos’ knee jerk slavishness to petroleum interest has infected its rank and file. …

Those studies illustrate the extent to which the right wing has become the ideological sock puppet of Big Oil and the GOP’s army of right wing Christian fundamentalists oil industry foot soldiers. … Craven hatred of all things environmental has made the labels “clean,” “green” or “efficient” pariah among GOP acolytes. …

Anointing rapacious behavior with religious gloss is an old strategy for both right wing conservatives and the extraction industry.

[Emphasis added. Sic^³.]

Fact-checking, anyone? Not for Robert, as he takes on “Big Oil”, sort of:

In reality, there is nothing patriotic, moral or religious about Big Oil. A storied history of perfidy and greed has distinguished these companies among the most treasonous and piratical of all American business enterprises. Halliburton’s decision to relocate to the Cayman Islands after fattening itself on $9 billion worth of inherently crooked no-bid, cost-plus contracts during the Iraq War is only one of many examples of their shaky loyalty to our country.

Cool story, except for the facts. Halliburton is not “Big Oil”, it is a big oil service company. Halliburton never relocated to the Cayman Islands: HAL is an American corporation, co-headquartered in good old Houston, Texas and in Dubai, where it maintains an executive office to oversee its extensive operations in the Eastern Hemisphere. And according to the Wikipedia link, Halliburton broke ties with its logistics/engineering arm, KBR, in 2007, apparently tired of hearing the Left’s grousing about KBR’s Iraqi contracts.

Back to Big Oil:

Before it vaulted onto the bandwagon of patriotism, Texaco flew not “Old Glory” but the “Jolly Roger” over its Houston headquarters, proudly adopting the pirate flag as the emblem of a pirate industry.

Firing up The Google, I was able to find just this relevant reference:

In 1913, Joseph “Buckskin Joe” Cullinan flew the pirate’s flag of a skull and crossbones over the Petroleum Building in Houston to protest the decision to move his company’s headquarters to New York. Cullinan’s company, which he founded in 1902, was the Texas Co., now known as Texaco Inc.

1913? That’s one hundred years ago! Sainted Kennedy grandpappy Joe Sr. had yet to smuggle his first case of hooch in 1913, and his admiration for the Third Reich would not be in full flower for a generation.

Texaco was acquired by Chevron in 2000.

Our oil jones has us funding both sides of the war against terror!

[Not going there.]

With low cost disruptive technologies like cheap, fast and efficient electric vehicles [Where? - Ed.], and solar and wind technologies poised to displace Big Oil [How? - Ed.], the [oil] industry is using its hold on the Republican Party to permanently embed itself in our economy while subverting science, American democracy, free market capitalism and our sacred belief in an ethical God.

“Last refuge of a scoundrel.”

As a parting note, Wikipedia documents that this is only the latest episode in Kennedy’s history of tinfoil-hat-ism:

An outspoken opponent of vaccination, in June 2005 Kennedy authored an article in Rolling Stone and Salon.com alleging a government conspiracy to cover up connections between the vaccine preservative thimerosal and childhood autism. The article contained a number of factual errors, leading Salon.com to issue five corrections and ultimately to retract the article completely on January 16, 2011. The retraction was motivated by accumulating evidence of errors and scientific fraud underlying the vaccine-autism claim. Previous to this retraction, sometime in 2010, Rolling Stone had also deleted Kennedy’s article from their archives without explanation. As of January 2011, the original, uncorrected, version of the article was still posted on Kennedy’s website, including his factual errors which Salon had corrected.

[Article link here.]

I love the smell of a search engine in the morning.

Cross-posted at RedState.com.

Follow @VladimirRS

Dr. Malley has been touring the globe, speaking to governments about the ongoing alien invasion (which he believes will last until December 2015) and how to best confront the aliens.  “We have to behave in a proper way when dealing with the Gootans.  If not, we are doomed,”  Malley said.

Also:

“[Alien balls in Mexico] are from Planet Zeeba and represent ‘offerings of peace’,” said Dr. John Malley of the U.N. Panel on Extraterrestrials.  ”The Zeebans have come here to help humans save Earth and these golden balls will help us in ways we do not know yet.”

More from Dr. John Malley of the U.N. Panel on Extraterrestrials:

A doctor has discovered the body of a tiny, 6-inch alien in Chile. …

Extraterrestrial experts are wondering, once again, why our government is hiding the truth about tiny aliens.  Dr. John Malley, from the U.N. Panel on Extraterrestrials told WWN, “Tiny aliens from Planet Zeeba have been on our planet for at least two years.  And they have come here to help us save our planet.  We do not understand why the United States – and China and Russia – refuse to acknowledge their existence.”

Dr. John Malley, the head of the U.N. Panel on Global Cooling:

“This is catastrophic for the planet,” said Dr. John Malley, the head of the U.N. Panel on Global Cooling.   “The United Nations is issuing an alert to all the countries on the planet.  The planet could very well freeze over entirely by 2100.”

Scientists predict that most major cities that are on the coast, will be frozen over in the next thirty years.  ”There’s nothing we can do to stop it. The sun is just not as powerful as it used to be,” said Dr. Malley.

Sgt. John Malley of the Santa Fe (NM) Police Dept:

“Colinas started attacking people and making sure that they had their cavity filled and that they understood the importance of good hygiene,” said Sgt. John Malley.  ”He’s sort of a Robin Hood of dentists.  He takes bad teeth and makes them good.  Unfortunately, he’s also attacking people and operating on their teeth without their permission.”

Dr. John Malley, authority on Kim Kardashian’s exploding butt:

LAS VEGAS -   Tragedy struck Kim Kardashian last night on a private flight from New Jersey to Las Vegas.  Her left butt cheek exploded. …

Doctors advise all women with butt implants to speak with their plastic surgeon before boarding another plane.  “You don’t want to be in that mile-high club,”  Dr. John Malley said.

H/T Nelson Spradlin (a/k/a John Malley, ACE Engineer).

As part of President Obama’s all-of-the-above energy strategy to continue to expand domestic energy production, … Interior will offer more than 21 million acres offshore Texas for oil and gas exploration and development in a lease sale that will include all available unleased areas in the Western Gulf of Mexico Planning Area. …

Domestic oil and gas production has grown each year President Obama has been in office, with domestic oil production currently higher than any time in two decades; natural gas production at its highest level ever; and renewable electricity generation from wind, solar, and geothermal sources having doubled. Combined with recent declines in oil consumption, foreign oil imports now account for less than 40 percent of the oil consumed in America – the lowest level since 1988.

Post hoc ergo propter hoc. All of the statements are factually true, but I defy anyone to establish any causation. And the “21 million acres … [including] all available unleased areas” have all been offered for sale before — at least 30 times!

Remember when President Obama said this?

…(T)he natural gas boom has led to cleaner power and greater energy independence. That’s why my Administration will keep cutting red tape and speeding up new oil and gas permits.

That was in the 2013 State of the Union address.

On April 9, the House Natural Resources Committee held a hearing to look into the growing disparity between production on Federal lands vs. state jurisdiction.

Witnesses Hail State Energy Policies, Discuss how Federal Red Tape Blocks Much-Needed Energy Production

Note that the permitting time on Federal Lands has doubled since 2005, which makes the President’s promise to “keep cutting red tape” ring hollow.

Here’s what the witnesses had to say:

Utah’s Lieutenant Governor Gregory S. Bell noted that “State and federal APD permits require similar regulatory and engineering reviews, so it is hard to understand why a federal permit should take four times as long to be issued. Utah has shown it is willing to proactively address looming issues, and that its agencies and leaders are competent to craft and execute state-specific policies and regulations to ensure continued environmental health. The status quo of federal overreach is simply unacceptable.”

Jerry E. Patterson, Texas Land Commissioner in the Texas General Land Office, confirmed to the Committee that federal regulations are hindering new energy production. “The States lead the way in leasing, permitting, drilling and most important, the production of oil and gas. This administration should look to the states and follow their lead if we are to become energy independent. Sadly, federal policies hamper the development of vitally needed energy.”

Richard Simmers, Chief of the Division of Oil and Gas Resources Management for the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, testified that the best way to regulate oil and natural gas is at the state level. “… I unequivocally believe the regulation of an industry like oil and gas exploration should be administered at the most effective, efficient and economical level, which based on our regulations and highly trained staff, would be at the state level.”

Note that these are the words of regulators and public servants, not industry whores like me.

The cost of these permitting delays is incalculable. In a business where time is literally money, an unwieldy permitting process demands attention, and takes planners’ time away from safety, technology or other concerns. Federal permitting requirements have spawned legions of consultant firms whose sole function is compliance with a myriad of requirements from DOI, EPA and other government agencies. Further, permitting delays rob operating companies of flexibility, one of the few advantages that small firms have over larger ones.

Cross posted at RedState.com.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/22/business/energy-environment/europes-carbon-market-is-sputtering-as-prices-dive.html

… Europe’s carbon market, a pioneering effort to use markets to regulate greenhouse gases, is having a hard time staying upright. This year has been stomach-churning for the people who make their living in the arcane world of trading emissions permits. The most recent volatility comes on top of years of uncertainty during which prices have fluctuated from $40 to nearly zero for the right to emit one ton of carbon dioxide.

More important, though, than lost jobs and diminished payouts for traders and bankers, the penny ante price of carbon credits means the market is not doing its job: pushing polluters to reduce carbon emissions, which most climate scientists believe contribute to global warming.

The market for these credits, officially called European Union Allowances, or E.U.A.’s, has been both unstable and under sharp downward pressure this year because of a huge oversupply and a stream of bad political and economic news. On April 16, for instance, after the European Parliament voted down the proposed reduction in the number of credits, prices dropped about 50 percent, to 2.63 euros from nearly 5, in 10 minutes.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2013/04/22/earth-days-good-news-column/2101327/

Moreover, our focus on solar and electric cars diverts us from the world’s most deadly environmental problems. In wealthy countries, most environmental indicators are getting better. We have cleaner air and cleaner water, and we suffer fewer environmental risks. But air and water pollution kill 6 million people each year and harm billions worldwide. …

Poor countries should have the same opportunity to develop — so they, too, can have clean drinking water and switch to cleaner energy sources, instead of using dung and twigs for fuel. …

Earth Day also presents an opportunity to recognize our own environmental achievements. In spite of decades of political wrangling, which failed to produce a meaningful global climate policy, it was ultimately the shale gas revolution that curtailed U.S. carbon dioxide emissions.

Fracking has caused a dramatic transition to natural gas, a fuel that emits 45% less carbon dioxide than burning coal. Data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration showed that in 2012, carbon dioxide emissions was 12% lower than the peak in 2007. The shift from coal to natural gas is alone responsible for a reduction of between 8%-9% of the entire U.S. CO2 emissions. In fact, it amounts to twice the reduction that the rest of the world has achieved over the past 20 years. …

This Earth Day, we need a dose of realism about real environmental challenges — such as the air and water pollution that make life so miserable for billions — and the real opportunities that exist for environmental innovation, to make our planet a better place.

Bjørn Lomborg, author of The Skeptical Environmentalist and Cool It, is president of the Copenhagen Consensus Center.