[	Tags	|	hiram monserrate, hiram the slasher, jose peralta, monserrate, new york politics, new york senate, peralta	]
[	mood	|	chipper	]

Hiram Monserrate, who was expelled from the State Senate after being convicted of assaulting his companion, was handily defeated on Tuesday by José R. Peralta in a special election in Queens for Mr. Monserrate’s former seat.

[	Tags	|	catskills, fargo, infrastructure, las vegas, reservoirs, water	]
[	mood	|	wet	]

NYC Environmental Protection Commissioner Cas Holloway today released the following update on watershed snowpack levels in the water supply system

"DEP continues to monitor the potential impacts of the quantity of water in the snowpack in the Catskill/Delaware watersheds and take appropriate measures. As a result of historic snowstorms at the end of February, the quantity of water in the snowpack quickly outpaced its historical average. On March 3 we announced initiatives we were enacting to monitor and manage the water stored above our reservoirs in the snowpack, including the release of the maximum amount of water allowed under the Flexible Flow Management Plan, which is intended to provide a more adaptive means for managing the Cannonsville, Pepacton, and Neversink reservoirs. We continue to do that. We are also continuing to operate siphons at Gilboa Dam at Schoharie Reservoir, which releases approximately 200 million gallons of water a day into Schoharie Creek.

Now, with a combination of heavy rain and warmer temperatures forecast for the weekend, DEP has taken more steps to minimize any potential negative impacts on the surrounding community and on the quality of New York City’s water.”

[	Tags	|	toyota	]
[	mood	|	okay	]

Feb. 3 (Bloomberg) --Owners of vehicles that Toyota Motor Corp. has recalled for accelerator pedal defects should "stop driving" them and bring them to a Toyota dealer for repair, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said.

"We need to fix the problem so people don’t have to worry about disengaging the engine or slamming the brakes on or put it in neutral," LaHood said today at a House Appropriations panel hearing in response to questions from a lawmaker.

[	Tags	|	conservatives, gop, wingnuts	]
[	Current Location	|	Not Kentucky	]
[	mood	|	cold	]

Mr. Sparkman, 51, was found strangled with a rope around his neck near a rural cemetery in September with the word “fed” scrawled on his chest. His death set off a state and federal investigation, which determined that he had committed suicide.

The records show that the friend, Lowell Adams, told investigators that Mr. Sparkman, a federal employee, wanted his suicide to look like a murder.

Mr. Adams said that Mr. Sparkman told him that he had even practiced self-asphyxiation and had been able to cause himself to black out.

Mr. Sparkman’s body was found Sept. 12 near Hoskins Cemetery in a heavily wooded area of the Daniel Boone National Forest. Investigators said Mr. Sparkman’s wrists had been bound so loosely that he could have done the taping himself. He was touching the ground almost to his knees. To have survived, “all Mr. Sparkman had to do at any time was stand up,” said Capt. Lisa Rudzinski of the Kentucky State Police.

Mr. Adams told the authorities that Mr. Sparkman had paid him to travel with him in the remote areas when he canvassed door to door for the census.

“In reality, Bill spoke with me several times about killing himself and, on the Saturday before his death, he told me he was going to kill himself on the next Wednesday,” Mr. Adams said in a written statement.

Mr. Adams said Mr. Sparkman, who once had lymphoma, preferred to kill himself rather than to die from cancer.

“Bill said he had chosen a place to kill himself ‘in the woods’ in Clay County and he intended to hang himself,” Mr. Adams said. “He said he intended to tie his hands behind his back so it would appear that someone else did it.”

An autopsy found that Mr. Sparkman was not under the influence of any drugs or alcohol at the time of his death. It also found that he did not have cancer.

Mr. Sparkman had taken out two accidental life insurance policies totaling $600,000 that would not pay in case of suicide, the authorities said.

[	Tags	|	douchbaggery, fort hood, jason rodriquez, joe lieberman, nidal hasan, orlando, snark, terrorism	]
[	Current Location	|	Orlando, FL	]
[	mood	|	nauseated	]

It's — first, this was a terrible tragedy. Second, it's too early — it's premature to reach conclusions about what motivated Rodriguez. But it's clear that he was, one, under personal stress and, two, if the reports that we're receiving of various statements he made, acts he took, are valid, he had turned to Catholic extremism.

And therefore, if that is true, the murder of this person and injuring of 5 others was a terrorist act and, in fact, it was the most destructive terrorist act to be committed on American soil since 9/11.

But I want to say very quickly we don't know enough to say now, but there are very, very strong warning signs here that Mr. Rodriguez had become a Catholic extremist and, therefore, that this was a terrorist act.