Happy New Year!!

I hope everyone has a Happy New Year!

Law Abiding Citizen...

I watched the movie Law Abiding Citizen last night. I had seen bits and pieces of it before. It's a decent movie, if you haven't seen it, it's worth a watch. I have a criticism though, I really think that the Jamie Fox character should have gotten killed in the end.

I can understand where the Gerard Butler character was coming from. The system failed, much as our system fails in the real world. While a prosecutor may feel that cutting a deal with a murderer to convict another murderer is a victory, it isn't. The Jamie Fox character was more worried about his conviction record than in ensuring that justice was done, he was as guilty of the failure in the system as any of the other people involved. All of them were killed and the Jamie Fox character gets away, kind of a let down for me...

On the upside though, there was a little cutie in the movie. Her name is Leslie Bibb. She has been in other things, I'm not sure if I have seen any of them or not though. Here she is...

 

Boehner’s New House Rules Reflect Tea Party Principles

This is good stuff, but are politicians going to be able to live by the new rules? It seems I remember obama spouting all kinds of nonsense about transparency and posting things online and that all turned out to be bullshit. obama nad his gang of thugs have been the most sneaking, secretive bunch I have ever witnessed.

I hope for the sake of our Country that Boehner can do all the things he says. We need to feel comfortable again with those we elect. It has been a long time since I have been able to say I trust anyone in congress. I remain skeptical, but optimistic...

by Emily Miller - Human Events

Republican House leaders released a draft of new rules for the 112th Congress, which address many of the reforms advocated by the Tea Party.

The House Rules package shows a greater focus by congressional Republicans on transparency, deliberation, and cutting government spending.

“I expect the Tea Party movement will be excited when they see the new rules proposed by Republicans,” Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.), Chair of the House Tea Party Caucus, told Human Events. “We are forcing ourselves to cut spending, and it’s about time.”

The package includes a Constitutional authority rule, which the Tea Party strongly advocated and was in the GOP “Pledge to America”. The rule states that every bill must include a “statement citing as specifically as practicable the power or powers granted to Congress in the Constitution to enact” it.

New Speaker of the House John Boehner (R-Ohio) appointed a transition office to draft the House Rules package, which was distributed to GOP Members on Wednesday. The rules will be posted online later for the public to read.

The once and future Chairman of the House Rules Committee David Dreier (R-Calif.) authored the package. He will offer the rules to the full House for a vote on January 5, when the new Republican-controlled Congress convenes.

“The rules are focused on our goal to try and reduce the size, scope, and reach of government. It creates a climate which encourages spending cuts, rather than spending increases. It has greater transparency, disclosure, and accountability. It makes things easier to understand,” Dreier told Human Events.

Many of the new rules are directly from the Republicans’ “Pledge to America,” including the following provisions:

* Each bill will be posted online at least three calendar days before a vote to ensure the American people have the opportunity to read it.

* The budget process for long-term spending is reformed to prevent tricks that allow bills to show balance in the short-term but worsen the deficit later. Under current pay-go rules, a bill must be offset within one, five, and 10-year budget windows. The new rule makes all bills include budget projections for four more 10-year windows. If mandatory spending increases the deficit by $5 billion or more in any of the 10-year windows, the bill would be subject to a point of order.

* All bills that increase mandatory spending bills will be subject to a “cut-go” rule, which means the spending must be cut by an equal or great amount elsewhere. The rule also stipulates that tax increases cannot be used to pay for new mandatory spending.

“Allowing the American people to be heard through their elected representatives is the most important message that will come through. And there are a lot of rule changes that will make that possible,” said Dreier.

The House committees are the focus of much of the new rules. The Republicans reinstated a six-year term limit on committee chairmen, which was a 1994 reform from the “Contract with America” that the Democrats retracted in 2006.

In addition, a new rule states that delegates and resident commissioners (those not representing states) will not be able to vote in the committee of the whole.

The new rules restore to the committees their bill-writing power, while enforcing higher transparency standards. The committees must:

* Both webcast and make available online their hearings and markups.

* Markups, which are meetings in which bills are rewritten, must have three days’ notice, the text of the legislation must be posted online 24 hours in advance, and the votes released within 48 hours.

* Online “truth in testimony” information must be made available, so any conflicts of interest with hearing witnesses are made public.

* Members’ attendance records will be posted for each hearing and markup within 24 hours.

Also, the Republicans made changes in the names of the committees. The Committee on Education and Labor will again be referred to as the Committee on Education and the Workforce. The Committee on Standards and Official Conduct will simply be the Committee on Ethics. The Committee on Science and Technology will be the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology.

Boehner included in the package that the entire U.S. Constitution will be read aloud on the floor of the House of Representatives on his first full legislative day as Speaker of the House on January 6.

The Constitution read aloud in Congress? There’s a new sheriff in town, and his name is John Boehner.

Richardson Declines to Pardon Outlaw Billy the Kid

Let's just forget for a minute that Billy the Kid was a thug, a killer and a criminal, aren't there more important issues facing our Country and States right now? That a governor spent any time on this at all is a disservice to the citizens of the State. Has anyone put a price tag on what this experiment cost the people of New Mexico?

It's also interesting that more than half of the people who responded to the website voted to pardon Billy the Kid. It's funny how when hollywood puts a spin on something it's like rewriting history. Suddenly a hardened criminal becomes witty, charming and the story somehow romantic. I'm sure the people who were killed by this guy didn't find him witty or charming and you can bet that most people didn't find life in the old west romantic.

bill richardson is leaving the governors office in about two and a half hours and will wind up with a job in the obama administration. If it were me, I would want to go out having accomplished something significant for the people of my State. Contemplating a pardon for a criminal from 130 years ago wouldn't even be on the radar...

From FoxNews

Billy the Kid is still an outlaw.

New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson announced Friday he would not grant a posthumous pardon to the infamous Old West bad guy, after drawing international attention by entertaining a petition on Billy the Kid's behalf during his final days in office. Richardson's term ends at midnight.

The pardon request had centered on whether Billy the Kid, who was shot to death in 1881 after escaping jail where he awaited hanging in the killing of a sheriff, had been promised a pardon from New Mexico's territorial governor, Lew Wallace, in return for testimony in killings he had witnessed. The proposed pardon covered the 1878 killing of Lincoln County Sheriff William Brady.

But the descendants of Wallace and Sheriff Pat Garrett, who fatally shot the fugitive in 1881, had expressed outrage over the proposal.

Granddaughter Pauline Garrett Tillinghast told Fox News minutes before the decision was announced Friday that a pardon would tarnish her grandfather's legacy. Though the pardon might have been narrowly tailored, she expressed concern that the public perception would be that he was "pardoned for everything."

"It's ridiculous to pardon a murderer," she said. "Hollywood has turned him into some sort of a folk hero."

Pat Garrett's grandson J.P. Garrett and Wallace's great-grandson William Wallace also publicly opposed the proposal after Richardson set up a website in mid-December to hear from the public.

Richardson said Friday on ABC's "Good Morning America" that he decided against a pardon "because of a lack of conclusiveness and the historical ambiguity as to why Gov. Wallace reneged on his promise."

According to legend, Billy the Kid killed 21 people, one for each year of his life. The New Mexico Tourism Department puts the total closer to nine.

The historical record on the pardon is ambiguous, and Richardson staff members told him in August there are no written documents "pertaining in any way" to a pardon in the papers of the territorial governor, who served in office from 1878 to 1881.

The governor's website was established after Albuquerque attorney Randi McGinn submitted a formal petition for a pardon.

Richardson's office received 809 e-mails and letters in the survey that ended Sunday, with 430 favoring a pardon and 379 opposed. Comments came from all over the world.

McGinn argued that Lew Wallace promised to pardon the Kid, also known as William Bonney or Henry McCarty.

She said the Kid kept his end of the bargain, but the territorial governor did not.

The Kid was a ranch hand and gunslinger in the bloody Lincoln County War, a feud between factions vying to dominate the dry goods business and cattle trading in southern New Mexico.

Richardson has said the Kid is part of New Mexico history and he's been interested in the case for years. He's also pointed to the "good publicity" the state received over the pardon.

J.P. Garrett of Albuquerque said there's no proof Gov. Wallace offered a pardon -- and may have tricked the Kid into testifying.

"The big picture is that Wallace obviously had no intent to pardon Billy -- even telling a reporter that fact in an interview on April 28, 1881," he wrote. "So there was no 'pardon promise' that Wallace broke. But I do think there was a pardon 'trick,' in that Wallace led Billy on to get his testimony."

He also said that when the Kid was awaiting trial in Brady's killing, "he wrote four letters for aid, but never used the word 'pardon."'

William Wallace of Westport, Conn., said his ancestor never promised a pardon and that pardoning the Kid "would declare Lew Wallace to have been a dishonorable liar."

Billy the Kid killed two deputies while escaping jail, but McGinn's request did not cover those deaths.

The Kid wrote Wallace in 1879, volunteering to testify if Wallace would annul pending charges against him, including a murder indictment in Brady's death.

A tantalizing part of the question is a clandestine meeting Wallace had with the Kid in Lincoln in March 1879. The Kid's letters leave no doubt he wanted Wallace to at least grant him immunity from prosecution.

Wallace, in arranging the meeting, responded: "I have authority to exempt you from prosecution if you will testify to what you say you know."

"It seems to me that when the government makes a deal with you, it should keep its promise," McGinn said after filing the request.

But when the Las Vegas, N.M., Gazette asked Wallace shortly before he left office about prospects he would spare the Kid's life, Wallace replied: "I can't see how a fellow like him should expect any clemency from me."

J.P. Garrett also contended Richardson should have designated an independent, impartial historian, and noted that Richardson appointed McGinn's husband to the state Supreme Court.

McGinn has "meager qualifications" and a possible conflict of interest, William Wallace said.

McGinn insisted her only tie to the administration was in volunteering to look into the issue, knowing Richardson's interest.

GOOD YEAR !!! FROM GNOCCA TIME.

Top Fashion Model Carolyn Murphy biography And Photo Gallery

Carolyn Murphy Info:

COUNTRY	American model
DATE OF BIRTH	August 11, 1973
PLACE OF BIRTH	Fort Walton Beach, Florida, USA
EYES	blue
HAIR	Brown
CHEST	86 cm
WAIST	61 cm
HIPS	86 cm
HEIGHT	176 cm
WEIGHT	58 kg

Carolyn Murphy biography:

Murphy was born in Fort Walton Beach, Florida, and grew up all through Northwest Florida, spending most of her babyhood in a trailer park there. At the age of 15, she was spotted by Mary Lou Nash, owner and operator of Mary Lou's Models, a modeling agency. Nash saw Murphy's probable and soon she was modeling in local ads and magazine throughout Florida and Alabama. After she graduate from Choctawhatchee Senior High School, Murphy moved to Milan to further her modeling career.

 

Campaigns:

7 for all Mankind, Angela Cummings, Anne Klein, Bergdorf Goodman, Calvin Klein, Calvin Klein 'Contradiction' fragrance, Celine, Cento X Cento, Cesare Paciotti, Chloe 'Innocence' perfume, Coach, D&G, DKNY, Dolce & Gabbana, Escada, Estee Lauder 'Pleasures', 'Beyond Paradise', 'Intense Pleasure', 'Beautiful', 'Youth Dew Amber Nude' and 'Pleasure Exotic' fragrances, Et Vous, Fendi, GAP, Gucci, Harry Winston, Istante, Jantzen, Lagerfeld, Laurel, MaxMara, Missoni, Prada, Richard Tyler, Tiffany & Co., Trussardi, Valentino, Versace, Versus, Zara

Covers:

 

Vogue (France, US, Germany, UK, Italy, Australia, Greece, Japan, Mexico, Spain), Elle (France, UK, US, Germany, Greece, Italy, Portugal, Sweden), L'Officiel, Glamour, Sports Illustrated, Sports Illustrated Simsuit Edition, Marie Claire, Ragazza, GQ, Woman, Frank, i-D, Tatler, W, American Photo, Allure, Harper's Bazaar, Sel

Shows:

Byblos, Cerruti 1881, DKNY, John Galliano, Karl Lagerfeld, Sonia Rykiel, Trussardi, Yohji Yamamoto, Alessandro Dell 'Acqua, Alberta Ferretti,Bill Blass, Badgley Mischka, Carolina Herrera, Costume National, Chloe, Dolce & Gabbana, Daryl K, Eric Bergere, Ellen Tracy, Fendi, Gianni Versace, Genny, Gucci, Isaac Mizrahi, Iceberg, Jil Sander, Martine Sitbon, Missoni.

Carolyn Murphy photogallary:

Top Fashion Model Claudia Schiffer biography And Photo Gallery

Claudia Schiffer Info:

COUNTRY	German model
DATE OF BIRTH	August 25, 1970
PLACE OF BIRTH	Rheinberg, Germany
EYES	blue
HAIR	blonde
CHEST	95 cm
WAIST	62 cm
HIPS	92 cm
HEIGHT	180 cm
WEIGHT	58 kg

Claudia Schiffer biography:

After she was spotted as a potential model in a disco at the age of just seventeen, she completed her learning by her mother's wishes and then began to work as a model. She flew out to Paris for a trial photo shoot and soon after she appear in the cover of French ELLE after being well conventional in Paris. After several other magazine appearances she quickly achieved supermodel status when she was preferred by Karl Lagerfeld to become the new face of Chanel. Schiffer continuous to become a world-famous supermodel, becoming instantly recognizable with her blue eyes, blond hair and tall figure.

Campaigns:

Apriori, Byblos, Caro Cuore, Chanel, Chanel 'Cristalle' perfume, Chaumet perfume, Christ Jewellry, Citroen, Club Med, Coccapani, Cue Design, Ebel Watches, El Corte Ingles, Escada, Fanta, Ferragamo, GAP, Gianfranco Ferre, Gianni Versace Couture, Gottex, Guess?, Guess? Perfume, GV Jeans, Hennes & Mauritz, Iceberg, Il Marchese Coccapani, Istante, Jones New York, Joop!, Katharine Hamnett, Kerastase, Le Gi, L'Oreal, Mango, Marc Jacobs shoes, Melissa, Paule Ka, Peek & Cloppenburg, PennyBlack, Pepsi, Ralph Lauren, Revlon, River Island, Salvatore Ferragamo, Strenesse Gabriele Strehle, Swish Jeans, Umberto Ginocchietti, Valentino, Versace, Vichy, Victoria's Secret, XOXO

Covers:

 

Vogue, Elle, Cosmopolitan, Woman, Elle Top Model, GQ, Vanity Fair, i-D, Harpers Bazaar, Rolling Stone, Mademoiselle, Ocean Drive, Glamour, American Photo, W, Allure, Uomini, New Woman, Hola, Dolly, Architectural Digest, Detour, L'Espresso, Max

Shows:

 

Chanel, Gianni Versace, Chloe, Karl Lagerfeld, Valentino, Michael Kors, Ralph Lauren, RoccoBarocco, Thierry Mugler, Anna Sui, Badgley Mishka, Blamain, Joop!, Louis Vuitton, Yves Saint Laurent

Claudia Schiffer photogallary: