More fun local politics from Detroit - the city that brought you Kwame Kilpatrick. A city where, if you don't live there, the antics of the City Council would be sheer entertainment.

Now Monica Conyers, wife of Congressman John Conyers, and President Pro Tem of the Council, has not responded to a plea deal offered for leniency in a possible federal indictment in a five year bribery felony charge. The irony would be especially rich, as her husband is chair of the House Judiciary Committee, which oversees the FBI and US Attorney's Office, which is doing the investigation.

This woman is a piece of work.  Here's some background on the wonderful Ms. Conyers. The arrogance is unbelievable.

Nevada Sen. John Ensign, an emerging Republican leader who has been mentioned as a possible 2012 presidential candidate, apologized Tuesday for an extramarital affair with a former staff member but indicated that he had no plans to resign.

"It's absolutely the worst thing I have ever done in my life," he said at a televised news conference. "If there was ever anything that I could take back in my life, this would be it."

A grim-faced Ensign, 51, did not identify the woman he was involved with from December 2007 to August 2008, although he described her and her husband as close friends who had worked for him.

"That closeness put me into situations during a very difficult time in my marriage, which led to my inappropriate behavior," he said. "We caused deep pain to both families, and for that I am sorry."

SNIP

The senator also could be vulnerable to charges of hypocrisy. He belongs to Promise Keepers, a Christian group whose members pledge, among other things, to abide by biblical principles to build strong marriages.

As a candidate for the Senate, Ensign demanded that President Clinton resign after having an affair with a White House intern. He also voted to impeach Clinton.

Years later, Ensign strongly suggested that Sen. Larry Craig resign in the wake of his arrest in a 2007 airport bathroom sex sting in Minneapolis. The Idaho Republican pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor.

Executives of three of the nation's largest health insurers told federal lawmakers in Washington on Tuesday that they would continue canceling medical coverage for some sick policyholders, despite withering criticism from Republican and Democratic members of Congress who decried the practice as unfair and abusive.

The hearing on the controversial action known as rescission, which has left thousands of Americans burdened with costly medical bills despite paying insurance premiums, began a day after President Obama outlined his proposals for revamping the nation's healthcare system.

Those who think that HMO's don't go out of their way to avoid paying claims should take note of this...

An investigation by the House Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations showed that health insurers WellPoint Inc., UnitedHealth Group and Assurant Inc. canceled the coverage of more than 20,000 people, allowing the companies to avoid paying more than $300 million in medical claims over a five-year period.

"The White House has failed to follow the proper procedure in notifying Congress as to the removal of the Inspector General for the Corporation for National and Community Service," McCaskill said. "The legislation which was passed last year requires that the president give a reason for the removal."

McCaskill, a key Obama ally, said that the president's stated reason for the termination, "Loss of confidence' is not a sufficient reason."

Part of the problem: radio is no longer the center of the audio conversation. It's moved to downloads and the latest mobile device. Distracted, radio listeners have begun tuning in for shorter stretches.

Per week, "the average amount of time spent listening to the radio is down significantly, dropping 5 percent from 19 hours and 32 minutes in 2007 to 18 hours and 30 minutes in 2008," according to MediaPost, which tied the decline to the growing popularity of MP3 players and iPods, "as well as non-radio audio delivered via the Internet."

Analysts do predict the industry will hit bottom in 2010. But some doubt things will improve dramatically.

I shan't weep for the lose of sterile programming like Clear Channel subjects us to here.  Hopefully, the door will open to more locally controlled stations--and if fact, my dial is now tuned to a new independent, local station.

Both said the same thing.  They left this site because of PPJ, who apparently only stalks people here.

I don't have a dog in that fight, so I'm just sayin'.

it includes raising capital requirements for banks, more regulation of hedge funds and derivatives, and gives shareholders more power over executive bonuses.

It also creates a Consumer Financial Protection Agency to regulate mortgages, credit cards, and savings products.

Not surprising:

Dear BTD:

Did any blogger ask President Clinton for his thoughts on DADT?  

I'd really like to get his two cents on how the issue should be confronted and perhaps most importantly, given his history, when it should be confronted.

If no one asked, that's okay.  Even the best people get nervous and forget in such situations.  

Still, I found his remarks on health care and the Senate legislative process really interesting, and I wonder what his thoughts are on this issue.  

It was a positive meeting.  But the last time held a blogger meeting was nearly 3 years ago.

Since he waited so long to do this again, it begs the question why now?

I mean he could have easily included a blogger conference as part of his yearly press availability for the Clinton Global Initiative conferences.  But he didn't.

I wonder if it had anything to do with the Virgina Gubernatorial primary.   Over at MYDD, Jerome has a big post on he brought down TerryMc.    

Most of the politicians say the American people are smart yet many operate within the notion Americans have a short memory and are stupid. Like an article I came across by Politics & Media , Michael Wolff, founder of Newser claims Americans are morons.

http://www.splicetoday.com/politics-and-media/people-are-morons-an-interview-with-michael-wolff

Sometime I tent to agree with him. Anyway check it out he has the view that print is dead. For me, it all reduces down to a simple theory. Most Americans now realize how the printed media has been biased in the news and reporting. The real reason they are going out of business or the "majority" going out of business is likely Republican owned rant machines.

As far as Obama keeping his pledges one has to think it will take some time to dig into the secrets and understand who is to be trusted. For me, and agree with what is obvious is Obama is learning about the mix of the system he is in and likely needs more space to figure things out.

Obviously Obama has a lot of crap flying at him, however, intelligent as he is, I consider that Obama will use the immediate resources in talent and personal advice needed to tool around this mess and try to do whats good for the majority.  

Face it from the time after the civil war those southerners have been a rhetoric of no so why will they seem to change now after sacking the treasury likely creating a huge obstacle in the background that is not reported. But we should know the Democrats present some of the same.

As Noam Chomsky writes about Americans fooling around in other countries affairs "If the Nuremberg laws were applied, then every post-war American president would have been hanged", "thats pretty tough stuff" and maybe true and that would be Turing a page in history for sure. Yes, there are those who will challenge that.

http://www.chomsky.info/talks/1990----.htm

A crowd of 15 protesters upset with the late night comic held signs and occasionally shouted as they stood across the street from Letterman's studio.

But they were often hidden from view by the more than 35 members of the media there to cover the protest.