Random Thought of the Day

If you are the Iranian national soccer team, you have to be pretty sure that you and your whole family will have your feet cut off when you return to Iran. Iran lost 3-1 to Mexico. For the victory, the Mexican soccer team won an all expense paid trip to the United States. They all now work at a Chipotle in NW Washington, D.C.

Playing Dirty = Youngstown Politics

From today's Youngstown News and Views: Anthony Cafaro says he has serious doubts about the wisdom of buying the old Southside Hospital. He says his company has been studying the possibility of buying the facility for some time, and says if his company can’t make money there, neither can the county. He also countered that he has made repeated offers to the county to upgrade the McGuffey Road facility that now houses Job and Family Services. In June, 2004 he offered to do $1.5 million in improvements, which would raise the rent from the current $4.61 per square foot to $6.86 per square foot.

Cafaro says he is willing to work with the county to keep JFS at the East Side site. He says the County would spend more than one-half million per year in utility payments, need an upgrade of $2.97 million and asbestos remediation that is expected to cost $1.3 million. Cafaro says the move by Commissioner Traficanti is not motivated by the wise use of county funds, but by, “petty jealousies and small-minded political vengeance.” This comment was in response to an accusation by Traficanti that Cafaro “owns” fellow Commissioner John McNally (the brightest and only Irish commissioner).

Grade: F

“It’s hard to keep being reminded of how crazy and dangerous so many people around the world think our country has become.” -Jim Wallis, commenting on a recent trip to Australia in Sojourners, June 2006.

“Of the many remaining threats to national security, the greatest is nuclear material still unsecured in Russia and other places outside the United States, the chairman and vice chairman of the 9/11 Commission told a House panel Tuesday...Finding and securing radioactive material outside the United States is at the top of a list of commission recommendations that still have not been addressed, they said. Six months ago, the commission gave failing grades to efforts to counteract terrorism since the panel issued its findings last December.”
- From CongressDailyAM this morning