Day: May 20, 2010

“My science was very good…My position at LSU was in jeopardy.”

Coastal researcher Ivor van Heerden testified Wednesday that LSU officials destroyed his reputation after he blamed the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for the levee failures that allowed Hurricane Katrina to flood New Orleans in 2005.

“My science was very good,” van Heerden told U.S. District Judge James J. Brady during questioning by attorney Jill Craft. “My position at LSU was in jeopardy.”

Van Heerden is asking Brady for an injunction that would prohibit LSU from allowing his contract to expire on Friday.

The hearing in April was for a Temporary Restraining Order that would prevent LSU from terminating van Heerden’s contract.  SLABBED reported on the outcome of that hearing in the post, SLABBED follows “Levees.org’s EXCLUSIVE Interview with Ivor van Heerden on recent federal judge’s decision” with case documents telling the whole story – Shame on you LSU! In a comment to that post, Sydney explained more about the process:

i would posit that for purposes of the injunction, van heerden would need to establish that he would be prejudiced should LSU be allowed to exercise its plenary power to renew or not renew contracts of employment–not to have LSU explain why they “fired” him. However, even if he loses the injunction, he will still have his day in court if his original petition proceeds where he bear the burden to prove LSU’s actions were retailitory etc. if so, then it becomes a matter of damages.

So, the current hearing is part two of a three-part process and the issue to be decided at this point is whether the court will issue an Injunction that  requires LSU to continue van Heerden’s contract as the case moves forward.  For that to happen, van Heerden must prove he would be prejudiced if his contact was terminated: Continue reading “”

Glenn Beck battles Nazi Tourettes from the Boiler Room. And now a word from our

Folks, Glenn Beck is rapidly becoming the gift that keeps on giving as he and his sponsors are subjected to the scrutiny that accompanies his paranoid delusions that modern days nazis are coming to get him. You got to give the man his due though as he has amassed an impressive audience of marks for his sponsors to prey upon in this case gold coin manufacturer Goldline International, Inc.

I’ve made no secret that I’m an old stock market basher from way far back (though my pumping skills are also generally well thought of) and if there is one thing a basher hates is a boiler room pumper and it appears ol’ Glenn is cut from that cloth. I’m not going into the political pissing match going on between Glenn and a gentleman that is rapidly becoming one of my favorite US Representatives (behind Gene of course) in New York Congressman Anthony Weiner because politics has nothing to do with this post beyond ol’ Glenn being scrutinized on the same level he subjects the peace corps so lets begin with Yahoo Finance’s AP story on Glenn and his bestest sponsor:

A New York congressman says a California gold-dealing company that advertises heavily on conservative talk shows is overcharging its customers and preying on their fears about inflation.

Democratic Rep. Anthony Weiner released a report Tuesday saying that Goldline International Inc. “rips off consumers, uses misleading and possibly illegal sales tactics, and deliberately manipulates public fears of an impending government takeover.”

The calculations are straight forward and I’ll admit to being a tad jealous for not thinking of running this calc myself as we continue: Continue reading “Glenn Beck battles Nazi Tourettes from the Boiler Room. And now a word from our”

Jim Brown on the government trying to save us from ourselves

Thursday, May 20th, 2010
Baton Rouge, Louisiana

IS THE GOVERNMENT TRYING TO

SAVE US FROM OURSELVES?

George Orwell’s novel 1984 paints a disturbing and chilling scenario where one can be accused of a crime, arrested and prosecuted merely for thoughts in the mind.

“The thought police would get him just the same. He had committed… the essential crime that contained all others in itself. Thought crime they called it… sooner or later they were bound to get you.”

The Orwell scenario comes to mind when digesting this week’s ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court that upholds a federal law allowing indefinite civil commitment of federal prisoners who have completed their sentences, but are deemed “sexually dangerous.” The mere thought that you might commit a crime.

Now if you think the only dissenters expressing concerns over such a draconian ruling were bleeding heart liberals, add to that number the likes of Rush Limbaugh, and the two most conservative members of the court, Justices Scalia and Thomas. The majority of the court cited that Continue reading “Jim Brown on the government trying to save us from ourselves”

Jefferson Parish News Miscellany: Ethics and self serving idiots dominate the headlines

While I was circling back through the Times Picayune’s coverage of Team Theriot dropping their lawsuit against the blogosphere I ran across an update of an update on Rich Rainey’s original report on team Theriot dropping the lawsuit against the Blogosphere. I’m linking that expanded report today as I’m no longer leaving aside the fact that every time John Young opens his mouth a turd falls out as he evidently suffers from a bad case of bullshitites. Rich nails it:

Young said Tuesday he was unaware Alessandra had filed the lawsuit until reading news media reports about it. He supported its dismissal.

“I think that’s the correct and proper thing to do,” Young said.

But other council members have said they learned about the suit in an executive session before it was filed and understood it to be part of a parish investigation of one or more employees….

Is John sleeping on tower or does the gang need to spend more time getting their lies straight?

Next up is ethics in Parish government. Ok, stop laughing long enough to visit with this recent story also by Rich Rainey on the new ethics panel over at Yenni: Continue reading “Jefferson Parish News Miscellany: Ethics and self serving idiots dominate the headlines”