Lupe Lasano’s Dirty Gossip Burger

HARTFORD, Conn., Nov. 11 (UPI) –

Connecticut Gov. M. Jodi Rell has announced she will not seek re-election in 2010 to the post she has held since 2004.

Rell, a breast cancer survivor, said health concerns were not her reason for stepping down, the Hartford (Conn.) Courant reported Tuesday.

My health is fine. My husband’s health is fine, Rell said, referring to her husband’s recovery from esophageal cancer.

Rell gave no reason for her move. A Republican, Rell served as lieutenant governor for 10 after serving 10 years in the state legislature, and has enjoyed the highest popularity ratings in the state’s history, the newspaper said.

Working together, we steadied our state, and passed landmark ethics reform and campaign finance reform legislation, she said.

Lt. Gov. Michael Fedele said Rell told him she will support him if he runs in 2010 regardless of any other Republican candidates who may come forward.

Democratic hopefuls for the office …

See the full post at Conn. Gov. Rell says she won\’t run again

WASHINGTON, Nov. 10 (UPI) –

The White House said Monday a report that President Barack Obama has decided to send a large number of troops to Afghanistan is absolutely false.

Citing a source described as a senior official, CBS News reported Monday the president has decided to send four combat brigades and thousands of support troops to Afghanistan and to keep a large force there for the long term. The report said Obama intends to agree to most, if not all, of a request by Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the top U.S. and NATO commander in Afghanistan, for 40,000 new troops.

White House National Security Adviser Jim Jones said the president has not decided on a strategy, and hasn’t even received final options to be considered, the New York Daily News reported.

Reports that President Obama has made a decision about Afghanistan are absolutely false, Jones said. He has not received final options for his consideration, he has not reviewed those options with his national …

See the full post at White House: Obama Afghan strategy not set

WASHINGTON, Nov. 8 (UPI) –

The U.S. House Saturday night narrowly passed a sweeping overhaul of the healthcare system that backers say would provide coverage to almost all Americans.

The measure passed 220-215 about 11:15 p.m. after a day of intense lobbying, including a visit to the U.S. Capitol by President Barack Obama, who has made healthcare reform his top priority.

For generations, the American people have called for affordable, quality healthcare for their families, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California said on the House floor before the vote. Today, the call will be answered.

The first major reform of the U.S. healthcare system in four decades would provide insurance to 36 million more Americans, so 96 percent of the nation’s population would be covered, supporters said. The plan, which would cost more than $1 trillion over a decade, would add a government-run health insurance option and provide subsidies for poor people to buy insurance.

Th…

See the full post at House approves sweeping healthcare reform

DETROIT, Nov. 4 (UPI) –

Former Detroit Pistons star Dave Bing, who became mayor of Detroit in a special election last year, won a four-year term Tuesday.

With all votes counted, Bing led with 58 percent to 42 percent for the runner-up, Tom Barrow, the Detroit Free Press reported.

Bing heads a city battered by long-term economic decline — first the movement of auto plants out of the city and the decline of the U.S. auto industry and, more recently, the national recession. The mayor’s office became vacant when Kwame Kilpatrick resigned after pleading guilty to perjury.

Thank you, Detroit, Bing said Tuesday night. Thank you for the chance to finish the job that was started several months ago. Together we can now put Detroit back on the right path.

Bing, who worked in a bank during the off-season while he was with the Pistons, founded Bing Steel in 1980, opening with four employees. He built it into a conglomerate, the Bing Group, which is still headquarte…

See the full post at Mayor Bing wins 4-year term in Detroit

WASHINGTON, Nov. 4 (UPI) –

The Republican Party, after a clobbering in 2008 at all levels, won off-year governor’s races Tuesday in New Jersey and Virginia.

But a Democrat, Bill Owens, won a special election in a heavily Republican upstate New York congressional district that had been held by the GOP for generations. Doug Hoffman, running as a conservative, forced Republican candidate Dede Scozzafava out of the race with help from nationally known conservative figures but conceded to Owens.

This one was worth the fight, Hoffman said. And it’s only one fight in the battle, and we have to keep fighting.

In New Jersey, Gov. Jon Corzine conceded the election to former U.S. Attorney Chris Christie, who picked up about half the vote to 45 percent for Corzine and 5 percent for Chris Daggett, a former Republican environmental official running as an independent.

Christie was the first Republican to win statewide in New Jersey since Christie Whitman was re-electe…

See the full post at Republicans sweep Va., win in N.J.

STAMFORD, Conn., Oct. 24 (UPI) –

President Obama headed to Connecticut Friday to raise money for U.S. Sen. Chris Dodd’s bid to win a sixth term next year.

Obama arrived in the state soon after news that the House Ethics Committee had decided to issue subpoenas to continue an investigation of Dodd, The Hill reported. The Senate ethics panel had found no serious wrongdoing in Dodd’s dealings with Countrywide Financial.

The president spoke at a $1,000-a-plate dinner in Stamford. The money raised was to be divided between Dodd’s campaign, the Connecticut Democratic Party and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee.

Obama praised Dodd for backing of banking and credit card reforms and said the senator has played a pivotal role in healthcare overhaul.

Chris knows how to get things done in Washington: That’s why he’s currently leading the fight on not one, but on two of the most important issues that we face today…. Chris isn’t just dealing with healthcare refor…

See the full post at Obama stumps for Dodd at fundraiser

BOSTON, Oct. 14 (UPI) –

Federal prosecutors announced extortion charges have been added to the federal indictment against former Massachusetts House Speaker Salvatore DiMasi.

The charges contained in a superseding indictment handed up Tuesday allege DiMasi was given a cut of the profits of Genesis Management, a real estate firm that managed state office buildings, because he supposedly was able to help Genesis obtain the contracts.

The Boston Globe said the new charges, which were added to earlier fraud charges stemming from an alleged payoff from a software company, added a new wrinkle to the prosecution of the once-powerful politician.

It advances additional theories, DiMasi’s lawyer, Thomas Kiley, said. We will plead not guilty to them and prove our innocence in the court.

DiMasi, a Democrat, resigned as speaker and from his House seat in January. He was indicted in June on federal charges including conspiracy to defraud the federal government, mail …

See the full post at New charges against Mass. pol DiMasi

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark., Oct. 13 (UPI) –

Psychologists cannot be party to torture and there should be no pre- or post-Sept. 11, 2001, ethics, two U.S. psychologists said.

Psychology professor Jeffrey Lohr and colleague David Tolin, both of the University of Arkansas, documented the history and criticisms of the ethics policy of the American Psychological Association. The researchers examined the evidence of any alleged role of psychologists in creating, teaching and implementing torture practices.

They found psychologists did more than just develop and train others in enhanced interrogation methods. Investigative reports and recently declassified documents show that psychologists have been directly involved in administering such interrogation, including waterboarding, Lohr and Tolin said.

Before the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, the American Psychological Association required psychologists to adhere to an ethics code and, should a law be at odds with the code,…

See the full post at Psychologists: Ethics transcend politics

AUSTIN, Texas, Sept. 30 (UPI) –

Texas Gov. Rick Perry’s campaign is paying volunteers to sign up other activists and get voters to the polls, the Dallas Morning News reported Tuesday.

The program has been named the Perry Home Headquarters, the newspaper said, and appears to be modeled on Amway and similar sales operations where salespeople are also paid for recruiting.

Perry, a Republican who became governor in 2000 when George W. Bush was elected president, is seeking a third full term. He faces a stiff primary challenge from U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison.

It’s ripe for abuse, said Jason Stanford, a Democratic consultant who served as campaign manager for former U.S. Rep. Chris Bell, Perry’s 2006 opponent. It’s the Anglo ACORN. A dishonest Perry supporter could create a huge scam.

Volunteers played a huge part in Bush’s presidential campaign and in President Obama’s run last year. But their rewards were generally intangible — a chance to shake han…

See the full post at Report: Gov. Perry paying volunteers

ALBANY, N.Y., Sept. 20 (UPI) –

President Obama has asked New York Gov. David Paterson to drop his candidacy in next year’s election, sources tell The New York Times.

The newspaper cited administration officials and a Democratic operative who said the request was made through U.S. Rep. Gregory Meeks, a Democrat who represents New York City.

Paterson, who was lieutenant governor when Gov. Eliot Spitzer resigned amid a prostitution scandal, is New York’s first black governor and one of two in the United States.

The officials said Democratic leaders, including the president, are worried that Paterson, unpopular with New York voters, might hurt Democrats running for Congress and the state legislature if he heads the ticket. They fear that if former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani heads the Republican ticket that might energize the GOP.

See the full post at Obama reportedly asks Paterson not to run