We've all been there.  A project is supposed to be done and turned in to the boss and for what ever reason you just can't turn it in.  Maybe you blew the project off to go drinking.  Maybe you just need a little more time to finish the project to your satisfaction.  What ever the reason you need to weasel yourself a little time.  Blaming the dog is perhaps a little archaic, now we complain about the network going down or a virus deleting all our hard work.  So what did the FBI tell the GAO when it came looking for information on the $78,700,000 the FBI requested for a data mining operation that might violate our privacy?  Take the red pill and jump to find out.

ABC News reports that due to the high cost of fuel the price of shipping a container of goods from China to the US has almost tripled causing some companies are moving their factories from China back to the US.

Jobs Coming Home?
You can watch the video but it's in a flash window so I don't think I can directly link to it.  If you go to this link ABC's flash player will pop up.  Then click on World News, then World News Reports, then on the video titled "Made in America."

Yesterday Al Franken's senate campaign announced that the candidate for Paul Wellstone's old senate seat owed around $70,000 in taxes and penalties to 17 different states.  The state GOP immediately accused him of trying to avoid paying taxes.  The truth, of course, may bare little resemblance to the GOP spin.

Broadband access to the internet is yet another sector of American infrastructure that has languished due to short sighted Republican economic policies.  According to a report from Educause, an association comprised of IT managers from over 2,000 universities, access to the internet in the United States is both slow and expensive when compared to the rest of the developed world.  These IT managers believe that we need to have at least 100 megabit service to every household in the country if we are to be competitive in the global economy.

&#160 The ultimate nerd blog Slashdot posted an article(PDF) soon to be published in IEEE, a very influential association that promotes the advancement of technology, about the security risks inherent to FISA and PAA.  Namely that by engineering a system with minimal outside oversight from the judicial branch or congress, which supporters say will greatly enhance our ability to track and neutralize terrorists, we are in fact opening ourselves up to massive privacy breaches by our own government and potentially making it easier for terrorists or foreign intelligence agencies to spy on Americans and/or monitor our governments own counterintelligence operations.

The fourth quarter fund raising number from the senate race in Minnesota were released today.  They show Al Franken once again beat the emptiest of empty suits Norm Coleman $1.9M to $1.7M.  Franken reports $3.1M cash on hand while Coleman reports $6M cash on hand.  With Minnesota swinging back to the deepest of blues these numbers can't be good news for the Coleman campaign.  No numbers were reported from either Ciresi or Nelson-Pallmeyer.

Do you need more proof that cutting taxes doesn't lead to an exploding economy and surpluses as far as the eye can see?  Then look no further than the State of Hockey.  Minnesota was told a year ago that we were looking at a $2.2B surplus thanks to the tax cuts that our governor enacted when he was leader of the republicans in the Minnesota house.  His heaping dose of tax cuts for the wealthy and accounting gimmicks that amounted to wishful thinking were supposed to bring in so much money that he has been trying to get the now Democratically controlled Minnesota Congress to cut taxes even further.  Unfortunately reality, which the Democrats here have been warning about for the last year, has finally come to pass and we have been told that the $2.2B surplus is now a $373M deficit.

The sex trafficking industry of Minnesota won an unprecedented victory over law and order today when United States Attorney Rachel Paulose resigned her office in order to take a Justice Department position in Washington DC.  Paulose had been the USA for Minnesota for eight turbulent months marked by the resignations of the managers who directly worked for her over her autocratic management style and an ongoing investigation by the Justice Department over allegations that she used racial slurs against a black employee.  In an interview this weekend by a friendly rightwing blogger, former USA Paulose claimed that she was being targeted for removal from her office by nefarious elements inside the Minnesota USA office who oppose her prosecution of sex traffickers.

Rachel Paulose is the United States Attorney for the state of Minnesota.  As  you undoubtedly know her short reign has been marked by a number of scandals.  Her swearing in ceremony oddly resembled a coronation.  A number of career attorneys demoted themselves because of her dictatorial management style.  She may have obtained her job by being a loyal bushie rather than being qualified for the job of USA.  Last but not least an ongoing investigation by the Justice Department into allegations that she mishandled classified information, retaliated against a whistle blower, and used racial slurs in reference to a black employee.  She has not talked about these allegations until now.  In a hard hitting interview by the a blogger for powerline Scott Johnson, a long time friend of Paulose, she defends herself against the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune.

I know what you're thinking.  Finally a republican coming out of the closet, so to speak, and admitting what we've been saying for years: republican ideology can't win without republicans resorting to lying.  I'm sure like myself you normally would find honesty from a republican refreshing.  Sadly the truthiness of the republican message comes at the expense of the children of the Robbinsdale school district.  Oh, and since this involves a Ron Paul supporter the truthiness also has racist undertones.