If being committed O’Reilly advertisers wasn’t enough: Home Depot Rocked By Kickback Scandal

(CBS) In an exclusive, CBS News has learned of a corruption scandal involving The Home Depot.

In recent weeks, four Home Depot purchasing managers were fired at a meeting at an Atlanta hotel for their role in the scandal, reports CBS News chief investigative correspondent Armen Keteyian.

The managers were allegedly paid enormous sums — totaling millions of dollars — to insure that certain flooring products made their way onto the company’s shelves, which is among the most competitive retail real estate in the world.

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Putin warned about an arms race, and the Hedgemony missed the clues, again. Ellroon of Rants from the Rookery has the gory details about the arms sales. Iran with 250 fourth generation fighters is not a good thing. No one in the region needs any more weaponry. They are quite capable of killing each other with their hands and rocks.

Putin has learned to love money, but a 250 aircraft order doesn’t happen overnight. He has been sitting on this, and the Saudi arms deal gave him cover. Needless to say this will not promote peace in the region, nor get us out of Iraq.

The economy isn’t quite as rosy as they have been telling us.

Fallenmonk, reporting from the ever bustling metropolis of Indianapolis, tells all in Written on an EtchaSketch.

I was shocked to learn they had to adjust the GDP downward for 11 of the last 13 quarters, and they need to raise the debt limit again. I guess we’ll be waiting a little longer for the tax cuts to work their “voodoo” [not to be confused with the religion, unless Reagan is one of your saints].

“Borrow and Spend” – it doesn’t work, has never worked, can never work – so let’s try it one more time for the Gipper.

In his Saturday liar-side chat™, the Shrubbery complained that the surveillance law needs to keep up with technology. What he was probably looking for was cover for some of the illegal activities that the cheney-bots have been up to for years.

He apparently thought that Congress was going to rubber-stamp a law to help him, but what he got was a response from a veteran of political battles, John Conyers: Committee demanding details of NSA data-mining

In a Monday letter, Rep. John Conyers, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, asked Attorney General Alberto Gonzales to hand over “all opinions, memoranda and background materials, as well as any dissenting views, materials, and opinions” about the data-mining program.

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Early this morning L98 got its act together and became Tropical Storm Chantal in the Atlantic, east of the Carolinas. On its current track it will brush the Canadian maritime provinces later this week, but without significant strengthening.

L99, a wave that formed off of Africa, is headed this way and could be our first storm of significance.

New to the blogroll is Max Mayfield’s Hurricane Blog. Max is the former director of the National Hurricane Center and is now working for a South Florida television station.