Bruno's Prosecutors Go Soft While Appeal Is On Hold

They fought hard. They proved their case. At the end of a long trial, Joseph Bruno was found guilty of being a corrupt politician and everyone knew it.

However there was a small problem.

Former Senator Bruno was convicted under the federal "Honest Services" law. That means he was found guilty of not disclosing what he did and not for the actual corrupt practices. The intricacy of it all led the judge to allow Bruno to go free while the law itself is being reviewed by the Supreme Court. And now even the attorneys that helped convict the elderly pol are easing off on ensuring he does the time he deserves.

From The Daily Politics:

Federal prosecutors say ex-Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno can stay out of jail while he presses his appeal.

Prosecutors, in a one-sentence letter to Judge Gary Sharpe yesterday, said they would not oppose Bruno's request to remain free while he argues his appeal.[...]

Prosecutors Elizabeth Coombe and William Pericak did not mention the Supreme Court decision in their letter to Sharpe yesterday.

With the mindset of the current Supreme Court leaning towards moneyed interests and against average (see: not wealthy) citizens, the Court will most likely rule in favor of Joe Bruno and swipe the law from the books.

Prosecutors might just be showing signs that their case could ultimately be lost and are giving up on their job to make Bruno pay for his crimes. Unfortunately, at Bruno's advanced age and his image in certain circles of doing great good as an elected official, the man will probably never see the inside of a jail cell.

"Please Remove Your Shoes" Uncovers T.S.A. Theater

Anyone with the ability to fire a few neurons in their head can see the farce of the T.S.A. Taking off shoes, wanding old ladies and as of recent looking at people through their clothes are all tactics utilized by glorified security agents. Now we finally have a film to expose what is going on at the agency and where the lapses are. Check this out and remember it when you fly and are forced to foolishly take your shoes off under the guise of safety.

Dems Say "Good Riddance" To Pedro Espada

Pedro Espada may still have a few months until election day, but his departure from the New York Democratic Party is just around the corner. Sources have let on that the corrupted Senator has made enough enemies within the party to be officially ousted and left to his own devices. Mr. Espada has had a mottled political career from the get go and he hasn't done much to change that image.

Needless to say, the heave-ho couldn't have come soon enough:

A top state party official, in an unprecedented move, has prepared a letter to Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz, the Bronx Democratic chairman, calling on him to formally begin the ouster effort.

The letter, expected to be delivered tomorrow, was written with the approval of Charlie King, the state party's executive director and a top political aide to Attorney General and Democratic gubernatorial hopeful Andrew Cuomo, who has accused Espada in a civil suit of "looting" $14 million from his Soundview health-care clinic.[...]

"Through his repeated public statements and bad conduct, Sen. Espada has shown he is not 'in sympathy' with our party's fundamental principles," says the letter, a copy of which was obtained by The Post.

Espada is certainly the top offender within the party that is worthy of such a letter. A few others could use it as well, but I'm impressed that the state Dems are cutting the cord with at least one bad apple. The man is clearly anything but a Democrat and only a self-interested politician that cares nothing about the people that he is charged to represent.

The election effort that ousts him from power will be far more rewarding come election day (this presumably pushes his d-day back to the General Election and not the Primary). If you want to help ensure this important political change, check out my personally endorsed candidate, Desiree Hunter.

U.N. Says Dump The Dollar, Replace It With Something Global

For decades now, the world financial system has relied on the strength of the U.S. dollar to trade a wide variety of commodities. Everything from pork bellies to oil futures rested on the American currency. Now after nearly forty years of economic decline on the world stage, the U.N. is finally giving a hard look at moving towards a world currency that could provide more stability than the dollar.

From RawStory:

"The dollar has proved not to be a stable store of value, which is a requisite for a stable reserve currency," the U.N. World Economic and Social Survey 2010 said.

The report says that developing countries have been hit by the U.S. dollar's loss of value in recent years.

"Motivated in part by needs for self-insurance against volatility in commodity markets and capital flows, many developing countries accumulated vast amounts of such (U.S. dollar) reserves during the 2000s," it said.

Now this development is not being taken lightly. Opposition quickly formed to say that markets will decide whether or not a reserve currency should replace the dollar's dominant position. However leading economic gurus such as Nobel Laureate Joseph Stiglitz are advocating for a new way, as many developing countries have suffered from the current situation.

Whether or not this news will lead to substantive change, it is indicative of a growing consensus that the dollar is not working on a macro level. Gulf states have already begun looking at alternatives and the developing world could very much turn if the I.M.F. were to utilize a reserve unit of currency.

Only time will tell, but the way the U.S. is holding itself economically (both domestically and internationally) a new way may not be too far off.

Paterson: Take Your Negotiations And Shove Em!

Governor Paterson doesn't want to hear it from the Legislature. The time to negotiate is over and anything that he doesn't like will be, and has been getting the official veto stamp.