Friday Night News Dump: South Carolina Lt. Gov. Resigns In Disgrace Over Criminal Charges

It's the latest installment of the Friday Night News Dump. This is where bad news goes to lie under the radar. In this instance, we've got Republican, Lt. Gov. Ken Ard of South Carolina, resigning in disgrace over criminal charges of spending campaign funds on personal expenses and fabricating donations.

He entered guilty pleas shortly after resigning this afternoon.

Apparently as part of a plea deal, Mr. Ard appeared before Judge G. Thomas Cooper of Circuit Court in Columbia, S.C., and pleaded guilty to all seven misdemeanor charges lodged against him. Judge Cooper then sentenced him to five years of probation, a $5,000 fine and 300 hours of community service. He could have faced up to $35,000 in fines and seven years in prison.

The indictment, announced by the state attorney general, Alan Wilson, charged Mr. Ard with what Mr. Wilson said was an effort to create “the false appearance of a groundswell of political support” by reporting $162,500 in “fictitious or bogus campaign contributions.” He also spent campaign donations on personal items, including iPads, clothes, football tickets and family vacations, the indictment said.

This also qualifies as a name that party situation since Ard's party affiliation isn't discussed until deep into the article.

South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley issued a statement saying that Ard and his family are "good people" but the fact is that Ard has been under investigation for some time and that this was probably as good a deal as he could get.

And once again South Carolina politics is embroiled in scandal - prior to Haley, Gov. Mark Sanford got into trouble and admitted violating campaign spending laws and was censured by state legislators after confessing to an extramarital affair with a woman in Argentina (aka, hiking the Appalachian).

LED Bulb That Won Government Contest To Go On Sale

"LED Bulb That Won Government Contest To Go On Sale" is how headlines should read, but the Washington Post and right wingers are instead claiming that this is a government subsidy - emphasis on the subsidy - and that the LED bulbs are more expensive than those that are currently on the market.

Nothing quite like mixing apples and oranges.

First a bit of background. Legislation enacted during the Bush Administration called for the phasing out of incandescent bulbs, starting with the 100 watt and moving down to lower wattage bulbs in the course of a couple of years.

The whole idea was to improve energy efficiency in lighting and to reduce dependency on foreign energy sources. It's a wholly laudable idea and a CFL equivalent to a 100 watt bulb uses a fraction of the energy with the same light output (in lumens). LED bulbs offer the promise of a comparable savings over CFLs, with less concern over releases of mercury that are used in CFL (and even on that point, rules now restrict and limit mercury within the bulbs). LED bulbs would also last significantly longer than CFL and wouldn't suffer from the problems that many CFL bulbs do in terms of time to warm up to full temperature, change in light color as the bulbs age, etc.

However, LED bulbs cost more - a lot more - than CFL bulbs, but the costs are expected to drop as production increases and economies of scale take hold.

To help spur domestic manufacturing of LEDs, which are sophisticated pieces of electronics, the federal government came up with a contest - $10 million to the winning design.

The L Prize was meant to ease this transition by enticing manufacturers to create affordable bulbs to replace the most common type, the traditional 60-watt.

A Philips spokesman declined to talk in detail about the bulb or its price because the product has yet to be formally launched. It is expected to hit stores within weeks and is available online. But the spokesman said the L Prize bulb costs more because, as the contest required, it is even more energy-efficient, running on 10 watts instead of 12.5 watts. It is also brighter, renders colors better and lasts longer.

Still, the contest set price goals. According to the L Prize guidelines, manufacturers were “strong­ly encouraged to offer products at prices that prove cost-effective and attractive to buyers, and therefore more successful in the market.” The target retail price, including rebates from utilities, was to be $22 in the first year, $15 in the second year and $8 in the third year.

Energy Department officials defended the award, saying that they expect the cost of the L Prize bulbs to drop over time. “The L Prize competition played a critical role in driving manufacturing and engineering innovations in the U.S. lighting industry and helping to make the next generation of energy-saving LED lighting options more affordable for con­sumers,” said department spokes­woman Niketa Kumar.

This is a contest along the lines of the X Prize to develop private reusable spacecraft. It's meant to spur development in an area, and it allows for multiple manufacturers to consider ways to improve manufacturing and development.

So, even if the company that won the prize doesn't succeed in its business goals - other companies that participated in the contest might do well because of insights gained as a result of that participation.

Still, it's going to be hard for a domestic manufacturer to move ahead against competition from LEDs manufactured in places like China or India, where manufacturing costs are far lower.

It's meant to spur interest and development in alternative lighting to fuel-hog incandescents and on that point, it's going to save consumers quite a bit of energy costs over the long run.

GM Throws $400 Million At Peugeot With No End-Game

This story should get wider coverage. General Motors, which is still trying to shed its legacy costs and has shown some strength in the current fiscal year, made the decision to invest in flagging French automaker Peugeot to the tune of $400 million.

There's absolutely no reason that GM should have made the move. It doesn't help GM in the slightest and adversely affects GM's bottom line. Peugeot has crummy credit ratings from the ratings companies, and there is no upside.

Yet, American taxpayers now have exposure to the ailing French company. Why?

Peugeot can undoubtedly use the cash. Last year, Peugeot’s auto making division lost $123 million. And on March 1 – just a day after the deal with GM was announced – Moody’s downgraded Peugeot’s credit rating to junk status with a negative outlook, citing “severe deterioration” of its finances.

In other words, General Motors essentially just dumped more than $400 million of taxpayer assets on junk bonds.

GM has said the deal is designed to give GM access to Peugeot’s expertise in small car and hybrid vehicle technology and ultimately allow both GM and Peugeot to save money by pooling their resources. But auto industry analysts find the deal mystifying.

An analysis by auto industry consultants IHS said it is “somewhat baffling that GM is willing to get involved in an alliance that it frankly does not need for size or complexity, while still avoiding any public plan to rationalise its European production, cut costs, or deal with labour rates.”

The deal will allow the Peugeot family to reduce its share of the family business. The family, which Forbes estimated to be worth more than $2 billion, still owns about 30 percent of the company. The Peugeots declined the opportunity to buy a piece of GM.

GM’s European operations have not enjoyed the same kind of rebound as its US operations. In fact, GM’s European operations, primarily the carmaker Opel, lost more than $700 million last year.

GM doesn't benefit nearly as much as their spinmeisters would love people to believe. GM has economies of scale that Peugeot doesn't have, and it would take years for GM to incorporate any Peugeot technologies into GM branded cars. Meanwhile, GM's European division is suffering from huge losses (offset by the rebounding American car market), and the money would have been better put to use investing in the company or setting aside a rainy day fund in case the markets go south again.

To say that the decision was baffling is an understatement. It makes no sense. This exposes the company to tons of downside risk, and little rationalization of existing GM assets in Europe. It's $400-$450 million that could be used to help shore up the Opel division and freshen/update models that are in need.

Cracks Appear In Syrian Government as Deputy Oil Minister Defects Over Ongoing Brutality

Overnight, the deputy oil minister produced a YouTube clip announcing his intentions to defect in protest over Bashar al-Assad's ongoing brutalization of the Syrian people in his attempt to crush the rebellion against his regime.

The man, Abdo Husameddine, cited the government’s “brutal” crackdown against protesters in explaining his decision to defect, and he urged other officials to follow suit.

“I join the revolution of this dignified people,” he declared in the video, which was filmed in an unidentified location.

“I have been in government for 33 years. I did not want to end my career serving the crimes of this regime. I have preferred to do what is right although I know that this regime will burn my house and persecute my family,” he said.

The man described himself in the video as “an assistant to the minister of oil and mineral resources.” The Web site of the Syrian Oil Ministry identifies a man called Abdo Husameddine as an assistant oil minister.

The regime has yet to confirm the actions.



He would be the highest ranking official to defect to date, and could signal others to defect as well. Defecting officials helped strengthen international resolve in dealing with Mumar Khadafi - showing that the opposition was coalescing into an internationally recognizable group worthy of support. If sufficient numbers of high ranking officials defect, that could potentially happen for Syria as well.

However, I think it would take more than just a deputy oil minister or other mid-ranking officials to sway international opinion. It would take the defection of high ranking military officials - and I just don't see that happening. The Syrian military and security apparatus is dominated by loyalists and their self-interest lies in supporting the regime.

All the while, Assad's security forces continue their murderous attacks against the Syrian people. Another eight were killed in fighting, while reports of torture at Syrian military hospitals continue to increase. Those reports include accounts of the torture of children among those detained by the regime in the ongoing crackdown.

UPDATE:
Well, it looks like I've got to eat my words above. Four generals have apparently defected from Assad's military forces and joined with the opposition, joining with three others who defected previously.

The men fled over the past three days to a camp for Syrian army deserters in southern Turkey, according to Lieutenant Khaled al-Hamoud, a spokesman for the Free Syrian Army (FSA). He told Reuters by telephone from Turkey the desertions bring to seven the number of brigadier generals who have defected.

The seven are the highest-ranking officers to abandon Assad, and the rank is the fifth highest in the Syrian armed forces. Mustafa Sheikh was the first brigadier general to announce his defection.

The tide seems to be turning against Assad if his previously loyal military leaders are bailing on him.

Super Tuesday Scorecard

I see that the media outlets are busy saying that Mitt Romney didn't score the knockout blow yesterday - even though he won 5 races and was the leader in two others. Rick Santorum won three (and close behind to Romney in Ohio), while Newt Gingrich could only manage to win his nominal home state of Georgia (though not in Virginia, where he currently lives because he couldn't be bothered to get sufficient petitions to get on the ballot in time).

Because of the way the GOP is apportioning votes in most of these states, a win matters, but if you come in 2d you can still pick up delegates. That's allowed Santorum to hang around as much as he has, but the numbers work against everyone but Romney at this point. Romney has racked up 2-3 times as many delegates as everyone else, and the ability to overcome that advantage is narrowing. While there are a bunch of winner-take-all primaries in April, the chances that Gingrich or Santorum could sweep those are slim and none - and slim left town.

Gingrich continues soldiering on claiming that he's going to stay in the race until the convention, but even he's got to know that he's toast. Even his win in Georgia comes with caveats - he might come away with less than half the delegates (because of the proportional delegation rules in effect). No chance at all. Santorum may think he's got a chance, but the statistics run against him as well.

He didn't do badly, but he didn't score enough points to claim any advantage over Romney going into upcoming primaries. It leaves Romney with the advantages of money and delegates pledged thus far. And that's more than sufficient to stay frontrunner and push towards the nomination.

The Pacification of Homs Continues With Reports of Torture and Abuse

The pacification of Homs may be nearing an end, but human rights groups are still being kept from the epicenter of the violence - the Baba Amr neighborhood. There are also reports that doctors at a military hospital where some of the victims of the attacks have been taken are being tortured by those same doctors.

The very graphic video, which the news channel said was filmed covertly, showed severely wounded men blindfolded and chained to hospital beds. A rubber whip and an electrical cable sit on a table in one room.

"I have seen detainees being tortured by electrocution, whipping, beating with batons, and by breaking their legs," the employee told a French photojournalist who reportedly smuggled the video outside of Syria, according to Channel 4.

The authenticity of the film could not be independently verified.

The hospital employee said he tried to stop "the shameful things" that were happening but was called a traitor.

He said the torture was carried out by civilian and military surgeons and other medical staff including nurses. It reportedly took place in the ambulance section, the prison ward, the X-ray department and the intensive care unit. The footage was filmed over the past three months, Channel 4 said.

The situation is dire throughout the country, as Assad's forces continue attacking locations where opposition groups are known to be - including Deraa (where the protests first took hold).

At least six people were killed on Tuesday, including a young girl, as Syrian forces launched a major assault on Herak, a town in the southern province of Daraa, a monitoring group said.

The girl was shot dead by a sniper and five soldiers were killed in clashes with the rebel Free Syrian Army (FSA), the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

"Large military forces, including tanks and armoured troop carriers, launched an assault on Herak," the Britain-based monitoring group added, citing residents.

And in Maaret al-Numan, a town in the northwestern province of Idlib, a 23-year-old man was shot dead by sniper fire, according to the Observatory. Security forces also killed two others in Idlib.

After fleeing the battered Baba Amr district in the flashpoint central city of Homs, the rebels regrouped in nearby Rastan, which the Observatory and activists said came under artillery fire on Sunday and Monday.

Rastan, bombed intermittently since February 5, is located on the motorway linking Damascus to northern Syria.

Qusayr, another town in Homs province that has fallen mainly under rebel control, was also targeted by heavy bombardment, according to Anas Abu Ali, an official with the FSA.

Assad's forces also attacked a bridge that refugees were using to flee towards Lebanon.

MIB 3 Trailer Released

One can only hope the third installment is better than the second movie.

The trailer does seem to hold out hope: