

AP IMPACT: Dodd, Conrad told deals were sweetened
If Dodd is reelected, this country is hopeless.
I Can’t Drive 65! | NBC Washington
A trooper, trying to meet a quota, abusing authority.
You’re (Probably) a Federal Criminal - FOXNews.com
Keep reading to see how the Feds finally nailed him.
Via the San Francisco Chronicle:
Welcome to Tiburon. Click. Your presence has been noted.
The posh and picturesque town that juts into San Francisco Bay is poised to do something unprecedented: use cameras to record the license plate number of every vehicle that crosses city limits.
Some residents describe the plan as a commonsense way to thwart thieves, most of whom come from out of town. Others see an electronic border gate and worry that the project will only reinforce Tiburon’s image of exclusivity and snootiness.
“I personally don’t see too much harm in it, because I have nothing to hide,” commodities broker Paul Lambert, 64, said after a trip to Boardwalk Market in downtown Tiburon on a recent afternoon.
“Yet,” he said, “it still has the taint of Big Brother.” […]
License plate readers have exploded in popularity in recent years, but Tiburon would be one of the first to mount them at fixed locations - and perhaps the very first to record every car coming or going. […]
The ACLU exhibits common sense, at least:
Nicole Ozer, who directs policy on technology for the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California, isn’t as supportive. She called the cameras a “needle in a haystack” approach that may waste money, invade privacy and invite unfair profiling.
“To be under investigation simply because you entered or left Tiburon at a certain time is incredibly intrusive,” Ozer said. “Innocent people should be able to go about their daily lives without being tracked and monitored.”
Corruption in Vernon, California:
Vernon is run by two families: the Malburgs and the Malkenhorsts, neither of which agreed to be interviewed. The bespectacled Leonis C. Malburg, 77, whose grandfather founded Vernon in 1905, has been mayor for 33 years. Bruce Malkenhorst, 71, was for 32 years the city administrator as well as clerk, finance director, treasurer, redevelopment agency secretary and chief executive of the utility Vernon Light & Power. The city was reportedly paying him $600,000 a year, more than twice what L.A.’s mayor earns, until he resigned all posts unexpectedly and without public announcement in 2005. By most accounts Malkenhorst still pulls the strings. His appointed successor is his 42-year-old son, Bruce Jr.
Theirs is a benign dictatorship. Who would run against them? Outsiders hoping to move into town are denied housing permits and Vernon’s 32 houses and apartments are owned by the city and leased to its employees for as little as $150 per month. In 1980 Malkenhorst Sr. evicted a former cop from his Vernonowned house after he ran against Malkenhorst’s favored candidates. Last year the state Superior Court forced Malkenhorst Jr. to move ahead with an election he had derailed on the grounds that the three challengers had moved in illegally. Once the votes were counted, the incumbents won anyway—in a landslide.
Bruce Malkenhorst now receives a $499,674 annual pension.
These things actually happen. (h/t CNJ)