Abramoff 101

Those who are new to the Abramoff scandals and would like an overview of the players may want to listen to Terry Gross's interview of NYT investigative reporter Philip Shenon, which was broadcast on today's Fresh Air. It's an excellent primer that highlights many of the major crimes as well as Abramoff's history, even though it doesn't advance the story. Gross took the time to inform herself about all of Abramoff's schemes and make them understandable to listeners, and I sensed some extra enthusiasm when she got to the bits involving Grover Norquist.

For more advanced students of Abramoffology, Jane Hamsher at firedoglake is the logical choice for breaking news and in-depth analysis. I too am optimistically hopeful that we learn Senator Cornyn has unclean hands in his past dealings Abramoff and little Ralphie Reed.

The War On Christmas Presents An Opportunity For Real Journalism

Here's a real opportunity for a real journalist. According some tool at The Corner, ethically challenged Rabbi Daniel Lapin is holding a press conference at the National Press Club tomorrow afternoon:

My good friend Don Feder's group, Jews Against Anti-Christian Defamation, will be holding a press conference on the topic, "Jews For It's OK to Say 'Merry Christmas' " at 1:30 PM tomorrow at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C.

Don will be joined by the inimitable Jackie Mason (via telephone), Michael Horowitz of the Hudson Institute and Rabbi Daniel Lapin of Toward Tradition.

Pedestrians near ACLU offices should beware of falling objects during that time.

Perhaps a courageous journalist could attend and ask Rabbi Lapin whether it's OK to manufacture phony religious credentials to deceive people:

"I hate to ask you for your help with something so silly but I've been nominated for membership in the Cosmos Club, which is a very distinguished club in Washington, DC, comprised of Nobel Prize winners, etc.," [Jack] Abramoff wrote. "Problem for me is that most prospective members have received awards and I have received none. I was wondering if you thought it possible that I could put that I have received an award from Toward Tradition with a sufficiently academic title, perhaps something like Scholar of Talmudic Studies?"

..."Indeed, it would be even better if it were possible that I received these in years past, if you know what I mean."

The rabbi, conservative radio host Daniel Lapin, gave his blessing. "I just need to know what needs to be produced," he wrote. "Letters? Plaques?"

Or perhaps she or he could ask Lapin if it's OK to call Native Americans "monkeys" and "troglodytes."

Or if the Rabbi is a member of "Jews For It's OK to Whack A Rival Casino Owner."

Or, perhaps, what the Baby Jesus thinks of gambling money and influence peddling:

Rudy's wife, Lisa, was also drawn into Abramoff's orbit. She was paid fees by Toward Tradition, the Seattle-based Orthodox Jewish foundation that often allies with the Christian right on social issues. The foundation is headed by longtime Abramoff friend Rabbi Daniel Lapin and the lobbyist served as chairman of the board.

Toward Tradition was issued a $25,000 check dated Aug. 24, 2000, by eLottery. A copy of the check was obtained by The Post. Daum, the former eLottery official, said he could not remember the check but said all funds Abramoff directed him to spend were intended to defeat the Internet gambling bill.

Lapin said in an interview that he could not remember a check from eLottery but that the company could have made donations to his foundation. He said that any such donation would have been separate from his foundation's hiring of Liberty Consulting, a political firm founded and operated by Lisa Rudy.

It would seem that if anyone has reason to fear a beatdown from a supernatural being with traditional values, it's Rabbi Lapin.

Ugly. Butt Ugly.

Limey bigot John Derbyshire comments upon the difference between the sexes:

NO FAIR [John Derbyshire]

A Reader, on the cosmic unfairness I noted in today's column: "Mr. Derbyshire --- I always liked this apt description of the unfair advantage men have over women when it comes to aging: As a man ages he starts looking like Sean Connery. As a woman ages she starts looking like, well, Sean Connery."

Yes, this John Derbyshire.

Depends Media Comes Out Of The Closet

If you thought that Depends Media was going to be anything other than a dishonest right-wing circle jerk, click here and admit that you've been dumbfucked by a neocon dumbfuck cabal.

The Depends crowd is leaking all over itself in response to a fantasy that Harry Reid "disclosed confidential information" to a Nevada teevee station that Osama bin Laden was killed in the Pakistan earthquake.

The circle jerk was started in motion by John "Thumb" Fund, who is quoted on an RNC website. Fund refers to unnamed "intelligence analysts" (Larry Franklin? Fund's therapists? Who knows?), but never claims -- or presents any evidence -- that Reid disclosed confidential or classified information.

But dimwits must speculate, so the Depends "staff in Barcelona" -- I forget who that schmuck is -- complied links to all the wingnut bloggers who are rubbing their thighs together at the thought Reid disclosed "top secret" information.

Of course, none of the bloggers has any evidence of Reid's supposed security breach, but that won't stop them from wagging their imaginary weenies in front of all the neighbors. They're incapable of not doing it.

Even more pathetic, Fund and some of the bloggers speculate that authorities unknown are keeping Osama's demise on the QT as some sort of cunning trap. You see, we had no idea where bin Laden was when he was alive, but we somehow found out he was killed without his compatriots -- those who did know where he was -- finding out! One can only imagine the size of the brain tumor which causes such derangement.

Update (12/1): Howie the Putz characterizes The Thumb's column as "John Fund spanks Harry Reid," but then admits that Fund's smear by insinuation is bullshit because the Bush Administration would promptly announce Osama's demise. Apparently the Putz thinks pulling bogus claims out of one's ass constitutes a "spanking."

And the rightwing circle jerk and subliterate hackery continue.

Abramoff's Apostles

We're still trying, in our usual half-assed manner, to nail down the Abramoff Twelve.

An October article on the O.C. Weekly's website refers to "the Abramoff 6," although not in the context of potential indictments:

Rohrabacher has so stridently defended Abramoff that good-government blogger Ellen Miller has included Dana as one of The Abramoff 6. Other teammates are Reps. DeLay, Bob Ney (R-Ohio), Conrad Burns (R-Montana), Dave Vitter (R-Louisiana) and Tom Feeney (R-Florida).

The O.C. Weekly also reports that Rohrabacher's longtime pal, Abramoff, used Rohrabacher as a reference when he was seeking funding to buy SunCruz Casinos. When asked about the reference, Rohrabacher reportedly stated that Abramoff was "a very honest man."

For a Republican.

Access Hollywood

Meanwhile, today's NYT refers to Rohrabacher's ties to one of a fictional endangered species, the Hollywood Republican. Rohrabacher accepted 23,000 USD and a contract from movie producer Joseph Medawar for a script Rohrabacher wrote. Medawar also was developing a Bush-friendly television series about the Department of Homeland Security, and he quite publicly touted Rohrabacher as providing him with access to the DHS, the White House and the California State House. Medawar's now been indicted for fraud in connection with the project.

Rohrabacher now is understandably distancing himself from his Hollywood sugar daddy. Rohrabacher claims that "Whether [Medawar] is a flamboyant incompetent or he's a con man will be determined by the jury." But who will make that determination about Rohrabacher?

Roger el-Simon is promising that Osama's Pajamas will stop sucking within three weeks.

Of course, Roger also promised that Larry Franklin was a victim of political persecution.

This can only mean one thing: Osama's Pajamas will plead guilty to espionage within a year.

The War On Christmas: Painless Denny's Tree Edition

A setback in the War on Christmas. Corpulent gym coach Denny Hastert, looking to divert attention from the debacle in Iraq, the destruction of the American economy and the corruption of his master, Tom the Bug Chaser DeLay, has renamed the Congressional Holiday Tree a "Christmas" tree.

We shall not retreat. I'm taking up a collection of $199 in unmarked bills to convince Denny Boy to change his mind once again. Once I purchase the branding rights, the spruce will be known as the "Miserable Failure Bush."

A Feulner and His Money

I have no idea whether Bruce Bartlett was speaking of The Heritage Foundation's Edwin Feulner when he blasted "so-called think tanks [that] have also abused their tax-exempt status to pursue political agendas and personal profits for their executives."

More importantly, I have no idea whether Clownhall.com, a Heritage spin-off, thought Bartlett was thinking of Feulner when it failed to publish Bartlett's column containing that blast. Still, Clownhall does look a little defensive by declining to publish that particular column.

I do recall this article in the Washington Post about Feulner:

For years, the Heritage Foundation sharply criticized the autocratic rule of former Malaysian prime minister Mahathir Mohamad, denouncing his anti-Semitism, his jailing of political opponents and his "anti-free market currency controls."

Then, late in the summer of 2001, the conservative nonprofit Washington think tank began to change its assessment: Heritage financed an Aug. 30-Sept. 4, 2001, trip to Malaysia for three House members and their spouses. Heritage put on briefings for the congressional delegation titled "Malaysia: Standing Up for Democracy" and "U.S. and Malaysia: Ways to Cooperate in Order to Influence Peace and Stability in Southeast Asia."

Heritage's new, pro-Malaysian outlook emerged at the same time a Hong Kong consulting firm co-founded by Edwin J. Feulner, Heritage's president, began representing Malaysian business interests. The for-profit firm, called Belle Haven Consultants, retains Feulner's wife, Linda Feulner, as a "senior adviser." And Belle Haven's chief operating officer, Ken Sheffer, is the former head of Heritage's Asia office and is still on Heritage's payroll as a $75,000-a-year consultant.

Hmm... Sound familiar?

Leo The Lyinblogger

Mort "the Tort" Zuckerman, editor-in-chief of U.S. News & World Report, has taken a lot of grief for suggesting recently that bloggers "repeat[] and report[] without fact checking."

But he's undoubtedly right in one case.

I give you the Leo Blog.

According to Ad Age, U.S. News has demoted professional P.C. victim John Leo from columnist to blogger. So Leo's slanders, like those against Army Chaplain James Yee and other Muslims serving in the American military, will now be blogged instead of printed on shiny paper. And Leo's off to a wingnutty start, whineblogging about purportedly unflattering photos of Bill Buckley and Ann Coulter. He even repeats, without fact checking, the bogus claim that that "X" over Dick Fucking Cheney's snarling puss on CNN was an act of deliberate "tampering."

Perhaps Morty consigned Leo to blogging as a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Lost

There's a Bruce Bartlett column dated November 29 that's already appeared on a couple of wingnut sites. (No link, you can find it at Human Events (humaneventsonline.com), among other places.) The most important passage is this:

"Sadly, it has been my observation that other so-called think tanks have also abused their tax-exempt status to pursue political agendas and personal profits for their executives."

Bartlett and his piece are not on Clownhall.com's front page list of Columnists or its Columnist sidebar, although the site regularly publishes Bartlett's column.

Discuss.

Another Santorum Bites Dog story from Reuters, in the New York Times.

The Vatican must tire of saying, "No, no we really are desiccated old bigots. We've never pretended otherwise. How many times must we reaffirm this before you listen?"

Meet Your Liberal Media: Jack Off Edition

I just saw Anderson Cooper demonstrate, without embarassment, his ignorance of the correct pronounciation of Jack Abramoff's name. It was evident Cooper knows nothing about the Abramoff story or Abramoff's co-conspirators in Congress and the Bush Administration.

Anyone who thinks CNN is a liberal network is willfully ignorant.

Update (11/29): From the transcript:

And remember, Jack Abramoff? The lobbyist at the center of an investigation into bribery, corruption and perhaps even more - is it Abramoff? What is it? Abramoff. There you go. I'll get it right by tomorrow.

As Bill Bennett shoves another blueberry pie down his gob and looks for an excuse not to wash his fingers, his allies in the Iraqi government are busy modifying other body parts.

The New York Times reports:

Hundreds of accounts of killings and abductions have emerged in recent weeks, most of them brought forward by Sunni civilians, who claim that their relatives have been taken away by Iraqi men in uniform without warrant or explanation.

Some Sunni men have been found dead in ditches and fields, with bullet holes in their temples, acid burns on their skin, and holes in their bodies apparently made by electric drills. Many have simply vanished.

Some of the young men have turned up alive in prison. In a secret bunker discovered earlier this month in an Interior Ministry building in Baghdad, American and Iraqi officials acknowledged that some of the mostly Sunni inmates appeared to have been tortured.

I think Iraqis are bit more worried about bullets in their skulls than where (else) an obese gambling addict sticks his finger.

Update (11/29): The L.A. Times also takes a piss on Bennett's parade -- assuming, for the sake of metaphor, that Bennett doesn't enjoy such things.

U.S. officials have long been concerned about extrajudicial killings in Iraq, but until recently they have refrained from calling violent elements within the police force "death squads" — a loaded term that conjures up the U.S.-backed paramilitaries that killed thousands of civilians during the Latin American civil wars of the 1970s and 1980s.

But U.S. military advisors in Iraq say the term is apt, and the Interior Ministry's inspector general concurs that extrajudicial killings are being carried out by ministry forces.

Probably makes Bill mist up and think of St. Ronnie.

A Not So Cunning Plan

San Diego Congressman Randall Cunningham shows us how the Republican Party works:

SAN DIEGO -- Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham pleaded guilty Monday morning to conspiring to take bribes in exchange for using his influence to help a defense contractor get business.

He also pleaded guilty to one count of income tax evasion.

U.S. District [Court Judge] Larry A. Burns scheduled Cunninghman's sentencing for Feb. 27.

Cunningham, an eight-term Republican congressman, had been under scrutiny for months for his ties to defense contractors and their officials.

Federal officials launched investigations after The San Diego Union-Tribune and Copley News Service reported in June that a defense contractor who won tens of millions of dollars in Pentagon contracts had taken a $700,000 loss after purchasing Cunningham's Del Mar house.

The War On Christmas: The Inter-Faith Alliance Brigade

I'd like to give a shout out to New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg for helping me persecute Christians during the holidays.

While some try to smear the mayor as Christian-tolerant, I've found this first-hand report of Mayor Bloomberg's persecution of Catholics:

On the first Sunday after Thanksgiving 2005 I visited Manhattan to go to Mass at St. Patrick's Cathedral and to see the displays in the front windows of two famous Fifth Avenue department stores, Lord & Taylor and Sax [sic] Fifth Avenue.

The windows were artistically decorated, but certainly not for Christmas, which celebrates the birth of Jesus Christ, not children's fairy tales or general concepts.

...It was the same at Sax, where the windows focused on concepts like unity, harmony and beauty. Nothing about Christmas.

...

Manhattan is where Michael Bloomberg, New York City's recently reelected Mayor resides. He bans creches, but not menorrahs [sic] (or holiday trees) from New York City's public schools. (He's Jewish, not Christian.)

Horace Saks and Andrew Gimbel would be very proud of you, Mayor. The ADL too, and those Jews who persecuted Mel Gibson.

(You thought we'd stop with Mel Gibson? You're next, John. And then Henry, and Charlie, and Bob, and Debbie, and Hoot, and Henrik! You're all goin' down.)

I'm even cutting Mayor Bloomberg slack for allowing St. Patrick's to remain open. It makes them easier to hunt down, ya know.

(Link found via TBogg)

Grand Old Police Blotter: The Twelve Days of Fitzmas Edition

The Democrats retake Congress. Gitmo is cleared out to make room for all the convicted Congressional Republicans. Joseph "Short Joey DiGs" DiGenova becomes the wealthiest criminal defense lawyer in the District of Columbia without winning a single acquittal.

That's how 2006 is shaping up:

U.S. News has learned that the conduct of at least a dozen representatives and senators is now being scrutinized by a small army of federal prosecutors and FBI agents. According to sources familiar with the inquiry, a federal task force, which includes investigators from the Interior Department -- which has authority to regulate Indian reservations -- is examining the relationships between lawmakers and Scanlon and Abramoff. A key question is whether the lawmakers took official actions after receiving campaign contributions, free trips, or other gifts from the lobbyists, the sources say.

Ney, of course, and I've seen references to John Dolittle and Conrad Burns. But who else?

Osama's Pajamas

Osama's Pajamas takes a bold and brave stand: It will only link to bigots and racists who meet with its approval.

Very principled.

LGF Watch identifies the color of those pajamas.

Meanwhile, Osama's Pajamas demonstrates that its style is as impressive as its substance: "it's a fasicinating [sic] perv; but a technorati search for the band's name reveals a truly disturbing number of blogs singing the bands [sic] praises--extremely off key."

And this paragraph is incomprehensible:

Quoting a firewalled article in the New York Post, Gawker muses that this will be "a test for new Time Inc. EIC John Huey." And a test for mainstream and online media in general. There's plenty of hate speech to be found across the wild and wooly blogosphere, which is a publishing medium [sic], not a publication; but mainstream media needs to answer to a different set of rules, and here's why, according to the Global Ethics Institute's Ethics Newsline, in a soothsaying story from 2000 called "Can Journalism Ethics Survive the Time-Warner Merger?": "In this age, information is understood to be power. That's new. Prior ages thought power lay in land, or armies, or political ascendancy. They didn't see that those things produced power because they created the means to obtain and control information. Today we understand that raw fact: Information and power are one."

Well, that explains it.

This combination of delusional thinking and ineptitude can't be maintained indefinitely. Enjoy it while it lasts.

Mother Cour-Midge

Glenn Greenwald reports on a Smear Boat Veteran and his non-Oedipal fixation on Norm Podhoretz's baby mama.

Coming next: A tribute to "Uncle" Rummy.

Winter Solstice Books

The year's end signals the time for self-serving Year in Review/Holiday book lists which feature the publisher's promotion of its own/employees' books. This year, 5 of the 61 nonfiction titles on the NYT's "Most Notable Books" list are written by curent or former Times staffers. Who knew the Times' staff was so friggin' literary? (The Greenhouse and Eichenwald books actually might be worth reading.)

And, of course, National Review Online's holiday list has more plugs in it than John Derbyshire's toy chest.

I don't have my own book to plug this year (Grand Old Police Blotter: The Encyclopedia, Vol. 1 comes out in time for Father's Day, 2006), but I'd be happy to plug any tomes written by my readers. Just let me know in comments or via e-mail.

If you don't have your own book to flog, feel free to recommend a title you enjoyed or would like to find under the Festivus Fir.

Another week, another appearance of Glenn Reynolds' pinched puss on Reliable Sources.

Howie, cut out the middleman and just hold up Chinless Ken Mehlman's press releases to the camera.

The War On Christmas: Oy, Tannenbaum Edition

As we all know, an upside down cross is the symbol of Satan.*

Accordingly, my work to destroy Christmas has taken another great leap forward.

Meanwhile, Matthew Staver, president of one of the last fundamentalist outrage groups not exposed as a front for laundering money for Jack Abramoff, offers the following analogy:

Christmas Tree is to holiday tree as menorah is to _____________.

Answer here.

But Staver's not merely a moron, he's a litigious moron who threatened to sue the City of Boston if they called a tree a "holiday tree." Only Staver can name a tree.

We await Mr. Staver's suits against Congress and Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund. The proceedings will resemble Miracle on 34th Street, except that Staver, acting as his own attorney, will lose the case and be committed because of his manical tendencies.

*Warning: link plays cheesy electronic music; do not click on it unless you're Peggy Noonan.

You Don't See That Every Day

Headline on latimes.com website:

Lottery Winner Found Dead In Geodesic Dome

As Cuyahoga Falls, So Falls Cuyahoga Falls

The Washington Post highlights the decline and fall of the Ohio G.O.P., where Convict-Governor Bob Taft seeks to be the last scumbag standing:

If the Democrats get traction on the scandal issue in Ohio, it likely will be because of the dealings of Noe, an entrepreneur who parlayed his political ties into the chairmanships of the Ohio Turnpike Commission and the Ohio Board of Regents.

In Toledo, he chaired the Lucas County Republican Party, as did his wife, Bernadette, and contributed generously to GOP candidates at all levels. He was so anxious to honor his pledge to the Bush-Cheney campaign, prosecutors said Oct. 27 in issuing a three-count indictment, that he funneled money through friends, including local elected officials.

Noe was later named one of 19 Ohio "Pioneers," those who had raised at least $100,000 for the president's successful reelection. There is no evidence that Bush-Cheney officials knew of the alleged laundering operation, investigators said. A total of $6,000 contributed directly by the Noes to the presidential campaign and the Republican National Committee has been donated to charity, said RNC spokesman Aaron McLear.

So what about the other ninety-four thousand?

Naivete Scene

Vaughn Ververs on the wingnutosphere:

"A good many bloggers had no problems theorizing about the intentions, motivations and connections of Joel Hinrichs in the days after he blew himself up outside of a University of Oklahoma football game. But they have been strangely silent since FBI documents relating to the incident were made public last week. The young man was clearly troubled and had a dangerous fondness for explosives, but the evidence doesn't appear to go beyond that.

"It may seem anti-climactic given all the talk about a possible connection between Hinrichs and terrorism, but those who engaged in that discussion should acknowledge this. After all, isn't it just that accountability they demand of the MSM?"

You've got a lot to learn, Vaughn.

The War On Christmas: First Strike

I am pleased to report that the first mission of the War on Christmas has been a complete success.

Several weeks ago, I led a ragtag, unarmed band of radical Islamojihadofascists, atheistofascists and Hebrewiofascists in a daring nighttime assault upon the main printing facility of the United States Postal Service in Baltimore, Maryland. After penetrating the highly-guarded compound, we broke into the USPS computer system and digitally replaced the visage of the Christ child on this year's Xmas stamp with the equally iconic countenance of a midget with five o'clock shadow chomping on a stogie. As a consequence, the Postal Service was forced to scrap its entire 2005 run of religious holiday stamps.

I'm equally pleased to report several feebleminded casualties of the first strike, including Darleen Rube, purported law professor Ann Althouse, and Spotty the Wonder Teen. Perhaps these chuckleheads are worried that their White Christmases will be a bit too swarthy if they're forced to use a Hanukkuah or Kwanzaa stamp to post their holiday hatemail. Or maybe they're just morons.

The battle continues. We'll plant that Winter Solstice flag in John Gibson's flabby ass or die trying.

Flashback

21 19 years ago today:

Washington, Nov. 25--President Reagan said today that he had not been in full control of his Administration's Iran policy, and the White House said that as a consequence up to $30 million intended to pay for American arms had been secretly diverted to rebel forces in Nicaragua.

At the same time, the President announced that two men he held responsible--Vice Adm. John M. Poindexter, the national security adviser, and Lieut. Col. Oliver L. North, a member of the admiral's staff -- had left their posts.

...

"The President knew nothing about it until I reported it to him," Mr. Meese told reporters in the packed White House press room. "I alerted him yesterday morning."

...

Mr. Reagan devoted less than four minutes this morning to his surprise disclosure, and he left Mr. Meese to take the questions.

Mr. Reagan, following his statement, refused to answer questions. He seemed tense, almost angry. Asked if anyone else in the Administration would be dismissed, he curtly replied: "No one was let go. They choose to go."

And no lessons were learned.

Update: Corrected, per comments.

A Programming Note

This blog won't be publishing new content tomorrow.




What, you think the War On Christmas plans itself?




I will return on Friday, to kick off Buy Nothing Month. Man, I hate crowds.

World O'Crap has the latest on Peggy Noonan, father-botherer.

Fuck all this. None of you are worth living with. You can all kiss my ass.

That's the message found on Joel Hinrichs' computer after he blew himself up one beautiful Saturday in Norman, Oklahoma. Not exactly "Allahu Akbar," now is it, children?

Among other highlights of the FBI's investigation:

According to the FBI, OU student Lawrence R. Kincheloe III told agents Hinrichs liked explosives, frequently experimented with building and detonating explosive devices and once showed off a detonator.

Kincheloe and Hinrichs were members of the Triangle Fraternity, an organization of engineers, architects and scientists

"Kincheloe told the agents that Hinrichs would drive out to remote areas to try to detonate bombs, but that he never accompanied Hinrichs," the FBI reported. "Kincheloe stated Hinrichs did show him the remains of some ... devices he detonated, which Kincheloe described as pieces of plastic soda bottles."

Not exactly the acts of a wily sleeper Jihadoislamofascist, eh?

But ... but ... but ... he was carrying a crescent wrench when he blew himself up! Don't you see? A crescent wrench! You blind, ignorant fools!

The real victim in all this is Hinrichs' roomate, who was made Exhibit A in the wingnut bloggers' guilt-by-association case of Hinrichs-as-Jihadi:

OU student Fazal Cheema told agents that Hinrichs had responded to his Internet advertisement for a roommate, and said the two didn't socialize.

Cheema said Hinrichs was quiet and kept to himself and that he wasn't aware of Hinrichs' interest in bombs.

I wouldn't hold your breach waiting for an apology or a retraction from the online haters brigade, Mr. Cheema. Don't hold it against the sane.

Meet Jonah Goldberg's Art Directors

The freckled twins from Bakersfield, Calif., call nonwhites "muds" and play a video game called "Ethnic Cleansing." They wear tartan plaid skirts and Hitler smiley face shorts - and croon songs that glorify the Third Reich.

Now that's what I call Hipublican!

Update: As Tom Hilton notes in a comment, Matt Yglesias spotted the moronic convergence of Goldberg and the bigot preteens over a month ago. (And Tom's got a spot-on parody of Goldberg's research techniques in a comment to Matt's post.)

Steele Pelted Radials

The Moonie Times, making shit up once again:

Of the two newspapers that have most frequently discussed the event, the Sun's reporting has been largely circumspect, typically reporting the incident as a claim made by Republicans. The Washington Times, by contrast, has more freely propagated the most incendiary version of the incident, repeatedly reporting as a given fact that Steele was "pelted" by cookies at the debate.

"This is why we as journalists have such a hard time getting the public to trust us and [getting] people to talk to us," says WTOP investigative reporter Mark Segraves, who last week broadcast a story harshly critical of Times reporter S.A. Miller's articles on the subject.

Miller was at the debate in 2002 but acknowledges he didn't see any Oreos. In neither of his two stories about Steele being "pelted" with Oreos does Miller cite his sources. "I heard it that night," the tells City Paper. "I can’t remember where I heard it. It was repeated by people on the Ehrlich campaign." Miller defends his reporting on the grounds that he has "no reason to doubt that it happened. It fits right in with everything else I know happened that night."

Kudos to Gadi Dechter for chronicling the lies and the lying Republicans -- and Moonies -- who repeat them.

Update (11/23): And kudos to S.A. Miller for disclosing the Moonies' standard for publishing smears: subjective plausibility. Because no one but a right-wing lunatic would think Ehrlich's story is plausible.

S.A. is the new J.F.

(Also, changed the headline.)

This Just In

Drudge sees eggs over Dick Cheney's face; is hospitalized following autoerotic asphyxiation attempt.

Free Advice

In the spirit of cooperation and friendship, I offer the following constructive suggestions to improve the content of "OSM.org":

Larry Franklin's Prison Diaries.

An investment advice column.

Corrections of Our Corrections of Our Corrections.

An SM advice column.

John Podhoretz's Shoeblog.

The return of Larry King's column.

Weekly launch parties, with liveblogging.

Whatever Happened To? reports on the members of the Editorial Board.

Trust Us. We're Fighting A War On Terror

Think the minions of Johnny Asscrack and Abu Gonzales are on the same team as truth and beauty?

How about now?

Once trumpeted as one of the Justice Department's significant triumphs against terrorism, the case targeting the so-called "Detroit sleeper cell" began less than a week after the attack on the World Trade Center. It was only after a jury convicted two men of supporting terrorism that the flimsiness of the government's case became clear.

As hidden evidence spilled out and the Justice Department abandoned the effort, federal investigators began to wonder whether the true conspiracy in the case was perpetrated by the prosecution.

Now a federal grand jury in Detroit is investigating whether the lead prosecutor, Richard Convertino, or anyone else should be indicted for unfairly tipping the scales.

It is a highly unusual case. No charges have been brought and many details remain secret, but information in public documents and testimony in U.S. District Court in Detroit suggest an effort by federal prosecutors and important witnesses to mislead defense lawyers and deceive the jury. U.S. District Judge Gerald E. Rosen said the government acted "outside the Constitution."

Rosen and Justice Department investigators concluded last year that the prosecution stuck doggedly to its theory in defiance of plausible explanations and advice from other U.S. government officials. Records suggest prosecutors withheld evidence that cast doubt on their conclusions, even when ordered by superiors to deliver documents to the defense.

Yes, I know Convertino was fired by the DoJ and is now suing for wrongful termination. The question is why the DoJ let Convertino act as he did for as long as he did. And why Bush Justice wants to grab unlimited powers while precluding any oversight of prosecution other than its own.

Smarter Republicans, Please

It must be hard when your best defense is that you're a moron and that defense proves you're also a liar:

Several Republicans who were on the House floor said afterward that Ms. Schmidt did not appear to know she was referring to a much-decorated veteran.

"The poor lady didn't know Jack Murtha was a Marine - she really just ran into a hornet's nest," said Representative Jack Kingston of Georgia.

Representative David Dreier of California said, "Very clearly, she did not know that Jack Murtha was a Marine."

The only problem is that Schmidt did know Murtha was a Marine, as evidenced by her statement comparing "cowards" to "Marines." If she didn't know Murtha was a Marine, why would she make the comparison?

Tbe article also suggests that her Republican constitutents don't think she's nutty enough. Ohio must be a fun place to live.

Mein Gott!

Meet a man overqualified for a job in the Bush Administration:

One CIA-led unit investigated Curveball himself. The leader was "Jerry," a veteran CIA bio-weapons analyst who had championed Curveball's case at the CIA weapons center. They found Curveball's personnel file in an Iraqi government storeroom. It was devastating.

Curveball was last in his engineering class, not first, as he had claimed. He was a low-level trainee engineer, not a project chief or site manager, as the CIA had insisted.

Most important, records showed Curveball had been fired in 1995, at the very time he said he had begun working on bio-warfare trucks. A former CIA official said Curveball also apparently was jailed for a sex crime and then drove a Baghdad taxi.

...

Jerry tracked down Curveball's Sunni Muslim parents in a middle-class Baghdad neighborhood.

"Our guy was very polite," Kay recalled. "He said, 'We understand your son doesn't like Americans.' His mother looked shocked. She said, 'No, no! He loves Americans.' And she took him into [her son's] bedroom and it was filled with posters of American rock stars. It was like any other teenage room. She said one of his goals was to go to America."

NSA? DoD? Press Secretary?

The opportunities are endless.

Blowhard Christian Soldiers

Here's Jean Schmidt's friend, Ohio Representative Danny Bubp, waxing eloquent about the importance of the Occupation of Iraq:

"Isn't it hard to believe that we are a nation at war? Whether I'm in my office in West Union or in Columbus, it is hard to tell we are at war."

Yes, whether Danny's on the telephone, smearing a war veteran, or simply sitting on the can, thinking great thoughts; whether he's looking out for Ohio's tobacco farmers or trying to impose his religious beliefs on you, it's hard for Danny to tell that the United States is at war.

It's also hard for him to tell that there are non-Christians in his Congressional District. But it's probably safer for those folks that way.

I'd guess Ralph Reed's making many trips to the bathroom this weekend, knowing that Michael Scanlon's cooperating with the feds:

Scanlon may also be knowledgeable about Abramoff's direction of tribal funds to several charitable foundations and advocacy groups and tax-exempt organizations, including one run by anti-tax crusader Grover Norquist. E-mail shows that Scanlon was intimately familiar with some of the financial dealings of anti-gambling activist Ralph Reed, former executive director of the Christian Coalition.

Reed, a Republican candidate for lieutenant governor in Georgia, has acknowledged receiving $4 million in dealings with Abramoff to whip up anti-casino campaigns in the South, but has maintained he did not know the funds came from the gaming proceeds of tribes that wanted to scuttle competition.

E-mails and other documents obtained by The Washington Post, and some released by the Indian Affairs Committee, show that Reed was routinely paid with tribal funds that were sent to Scanlon's firm, then routed to an Abramoff company called KayGold, and then sent to one of Reed's Atlanta-based political consulting firms.

Watch for updates on Ralph's Blog.

Cowards Cut and Run

Ms. Schmidt: Yesterday I stood at Arlington National Cemetery attending the funeral of a young marine in my district. He believed in what we were doing is the right thing and had the courage to lay his life on the line to do it. A few minutes ago I received a call from Colonel Danny Bop, Ohio Representative from the 88th district in the House of Representatives. He asked me to send Congress a message: Stay the course. He also asked me to send Congressman Murtha a message, that cowards cut and run, Marines never do. Danny and the rest of America and the world want the assurance from this body -- that we will see this through.

The Speaker Pro Tempore: The house will be in order. The house will be in order. The house will be in order. The house will be in order. The house will be in order. The gentlelady will suspend. And the clerk will report her words. All members will suspend. The gentleman from Arkansas has demanded that the gentlelady's words be taken down. The clerk will report the gentlelady's words.

The Speaker Pro Tempore: The house will be in order. Members pleas[e] take seats. The gentlelady from Ohio.

Ms. Schmidt: Mr. Speaker, my remarks were not directed at any member of the House and I did not intend to suggest that they applied to any member. Most especially the distinguished gentleman from Pennsylvania. I therefore ask for unanimous consent that my words be withdrawn.

Cut, and run, and lie.

(Link)

Neokarn Evil 9

Calling all bloggers! On Monday, November 21, Instapundit Glenn Reynolds will be ringmaster for a blog carnival, hosted right here on OSM.

Someone should tell OSM that circuses have ringmasters; carnivals have inbred hillbillies with outstanding warrants and missing fingers. They're called carnies. Or perfessers.

But Where's Dennis Prager?

Everything you need to know about "Judeo-Christian Values," in one paragraph:

Rabbi Daniel Lapin's nonprofit, founded with Abramoff and film critic/radio talker Michael Medved, promotes faith-based conservative politics in tandem with the religious right. Through Abramoff's considerable GOP connections, Lapin has brokered alliances with congressional and Bush administration officials as well. They include tax-reform guru Grover Norquist and consultant Ralph Reed, both of whom have been subpoenaed to appear before Sen. John McCain's Senate Indian Affairs committee, which is looking into the extraordinary lobbying fees Abramoff charged tribes and casinos, work performed mostly after leaving Preston Gates. A radio host on KTTH-AM (770), Lapin is co-chair of the American Alliance of Jews and Christians, whose board includes Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson. Lapin is involved in other religious/political alliances that worked to get George W. Bush elected and re-elected. Last year, Newsweek reported, "When fundraising began for Bush's re-election effort, Rabbi Daniel Lapin . . . urged friends and colleagues to steer campaign checks to Bush via Abramoff." President Bush recently reappointed Lapin to the U.S. Commission for the Preservation of America's Heritage Abroad, which helps preserve cemeteries, monuments, and historic buildings in Eastern and Central Europe. Donors to his charity, according to IRS tax filings, comprise the cream of the religious right, such as Lenore Broughton, the Carthage Foundation, and the Scaife Family Foundation. They have helped Lapin raise, on average, about $500,000 a year, based on filings from 1997 through 2003 -- money he uses to "educate the public through conventions, seminars, public speaking, and class studies on Judeo Christian values," he told the IRS. His religious beliefs include opposition to homosexuality. He speaks at the Eastside church of fellow KTTH talk-show host, the Rev. Ken Hutcherson, who recently waged an anti-gay-rights battle with Microsoft. But Daniel Lapin supports school vouchers, which could aid the cause of school prayer by boosting private institutions. Having splintered off into a minority movement from historically liberal Jews, Lapin has said he intends to make "my priority rolling back the epidemic of secularism that was unleashed on this country."

Good luck with that.

Grand Old Police Blotter: F'ing Gold Edition

This bastard can squeal all he wants, but he better do some time too:

Former public relations executive Michael Scanlon was charged yesterday with conspiring with former lobbyist Jack Abramoff to bribe government officials, including a congressman, and bilk millions of dollars from Indian tribes.

The government officials were not named in a court document filed by federal prosecutors in the District. But the document's description of legislative favors allegedly provided by a person identified as "Representative #1" matches the actions of Rep. Robert W. Ney (R-Ohio), chairman of the House Administration Committee.

...

Scanlon, 35, is charged with one count of conspiracy. He has agreed to cooperate with prosecutors, said sources familiar with the investigation who spoke on the condition of anonymity. Such cooperation from a pivotal figure in the Abramoff case is a major advance in the 18-month federal investigation into alleged bribery and corruption involving the lobbyist, members of Congress and executive branch agencies.

In the court documents, prosecutors said Scanlon, once a press aide to former House majority leader Tom DeLay (R-Tex.), worked with Abramoff in a scheme in which the lobbyist would direct tribes to hire Scanlon's public relations firm without telling them Scanlon had agreed to kick back half of the profits to Abramoff.

Abramoff is going to be one sorry motherf'er.

Two sources involved in the case, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said prosecutors have e-mails in which Abramoff and Scanlon discussed making contributions to the National Republican Congressional Committee that Ney could take credit for as an inducement to getting him to place comments in the Congressional Record.

In March 2002, Ney agreed to back legislative language that would benefit the Tigua tribe of El Paso, an Abramoff and Scanlon client. The lobbyists wanted Ney's help to reopen the Tigua casino, which the state of Texas had shut down.

"Just met with Ney!!! We're f'ing gold!!!! He's going to do Tigua," Abramoff told Scanlon in a March 20, 2002, e-mail made public by Senate investigators.

And you're going to do life, Jack.

(And does your pal Mikey Medved know you use language like that?)

Call me a class warrior, but I always enjoy it when a rich Republican prick goes to prison.

Scanlon worked until 2000 for DeLay, who stepped down from his leadership post in September after being charged with violating campaign finance laws in Texas. When Scanlon left Capitol Hill to join forces with Abramoff, he was still paying off student loans. Soon he was buying millions of dollars in real estate and traveling by helicopter and corporate jet.

The bigger they are, the harder they fall.

And let's hope Scanlon brings the Toxic Texan down with him.

Update: More here.

You can't slip anything past old John McCain:

"Abramoff's requests were often paired with discussions of contributions for Federici's group. On April 3, 2003, Abramoff sent her an 'urgent alert' about an Interior policy change. 'Any way to see if this is something coming from the top?' he asked. Federici responded: 'I will definitely see what i can find out. I hate to bug you, but is there any news about a possible contribution....'

"McCain questioned whether the exchange was a quid pro quo."

Different subject: Is it only Republicans who don't have a clue about e-mail, or just older folks in general? Or it is sheer arrogance?

Arrested Degenerate

Speaking of right-wing lowlifes and prison (see post below), the Austrian government has arrested Holocaust denier David Irving, based on a sixteen-year old arrest warrant.

The writer David Irving was arrested in Austria last week, according to a statement on his Web site. Although he has not yet been charged, he is suspected of the crime of Holocaust denial.

Mr. Irving, who has written several dozen books about Germany and the Nazis, and who has said Hitler was not responsible for the Nazi campaign to massacre Europe's Jews, was arrested in Hartberg, in the southern province of Styria, Reuters reported.

Government officials told the news agency that Mr. Irving had been wanted since 1989, when a warrant was issued for his arrest in connection with speeches he had made in Vienna and in Leoben, in southern Austria. But they said they had not decided whether it was appropriate to charge him so many years after the fact. If he is tried and found guilty, he could be sentenced to up to 20 years in prison, officials told Reuters.

I've got mixed feelings about this. I don't think laws criminalizing speech should exist, but Irving makes it hard to stand on one's principles. Maybe Austria could charge him with illegal entry into the country and dodge the speech issue.

After further thought: Arresting him for illegal immigration isn't a satisfactory solution if he's barred from the country either because of the original speech or for avoiding arrest based on that speech.

Grand Old Police Blotter: Black Letter Law Edition

There must be a lot of weeping and wailing at David Frum's house today. Frumpy's sugar daddy is facing serious prison time.

At Hollinger, the owner of the Chicago Sun-Times and other papers, Black and a cadre of other company officials were legally obliged "to safeguard the shareholders," U.S. Atty. Patrick Fitzgerald said at a press conference.

But instead, he continued, they "made it their job to steal and conceal."

What happened at Hollinger represents the "grossest" type of abuse by corporate officials, Fitzgerald said.

Black's transgressions extended far beyond the media concern's offices, prosecutors say. The indictment claims Black ripped off the company's stockholders by using Hollinger's corporate jet to take a personal vacation to Bora Bora in Polynesia. And it says he "fraudulently" billed Hollinger for his wife's birthday party at a high-priced New York restaurant by calling it a business-related expense.

The alleged frauds "were blatant and pervasive," said Robert Grant, head of the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Chicago office. "They extended from back rooms to the board room, and from Park Avenue to the South Pacific."

Black is charged with eight counts of fraud, each carrying a maximum sentence of five years in prison. From the House of Lords to the big house. Maybe Lord Archer can give him tips on how to make friends in the slammer.

Why write for free?

Oh, man!

I am out of here.

The Death of Legal Reasoning

The Washington Post finds an attorney who thinks Woody Deadpecker's testimony helps Scooter:

"I think it's a considerable boost to the defendant's case," said John Moustakas, a former federal prosecutor who has no role in the case. "It casts doubt about whether Fitzgerald knew everything as he charged someone with very serious offenses."

Except that has nothing to do with whether Libby lied under oath.

Other legal experts agreed.

At least they weren't stupid enough to allow the Post to use their names.

Or quote them.

Or mention them ever again.

Moustakas said Woodward also has considerable credibility because he has been granted "unprecedented access" to the inner workings of the Bush White House. "When Woodward says this information was disclosed to me in a nonchalant and casual way -- not as if it was classified -- it helps corroborate Libby's account about himself and about the administration," Moustakas said.

Does this guy know anything about the case? Woody doesn't claim Scooter is his source, so it doesn't matter whether Woody's leaker had bulging veins in his forehead or was meditating when he blabbed to Woody. That testimony's about as helpful to Irv Gotti as it is to Irv Libby.

John Moustakas must be Victoria Toensing's drag king name.

More Conflicts of Interest Than A Howie Kurtz Convention

Various other bloggers you've already read, including Jane at firedoglake, have said most everything I've wanted to say about Woody Deadpecker. Woody's journalistic crime was not withholding information, but misleading people by withholding that information while repeatedly speaking on Traitorgate and defending the Administration.

Let the severance negotiations begin.

Let A Hundred Thousand Dollars Bloom

The New York Times reports on a domestic Chalabi. One of many:

In what is expected to be the first of a series of criminal charges against officials and contractors overseeing the rebuilding of Iraq, an American has been charged with paying hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes and kickbacks to American occupation authorities and their spouses to obtain construction contracts, according to a complaint unsealed late yesterday.

The man, Philip H. Bloom, who controlled three companies that did work in Iraq in the multibillion-dollar reconstruction effort, was charged with conspiracy, wire fraud, conspiracy to launder money and interstate transportation of stolen property, all in connection with obtaining up to $3.5 million in reportedly fraudulent contracts.

The complaint, unsealed in the Federal District Court of the District of Columbia, also cites two unnamed co-conspirators who worked in the Coalition Provisional Authority, the American administration that governed Iraq when the contracts were awarded in early 2004. These were the officials who, with their spouses, allegedly received the payments.

"This is the first case, but it won't be the last," said Jim Mitchell, a spokesman for the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction, an independent office. Mr. Mitchell said as many as a dozen related cases had been referred to the Justice Department for possible prosecution.

Ah, the spoils of a Republican war.

$3.5 million ... you don't suppose?

The complaint says that in order to obtain lucrative reconstruction contracts, Mr. Bloom paid at least $200,000 a month to an unspecified number of coalition authority officials, including the two co-conspirators and their spouses.

If it's good enough for the Dukester, it's good enough for Bloom.

The description sounds a lot like this guy:

Bloom's instinct for business is running as strong as ever, and in 2003 GBG's considerable experience and talent were brought to bear in the Middle East, bringing the company to its current incarnation of GBG Logistics SRL, Bloom and his staff, a compact distillation of talent and energy which surpasses companies many times their size, are at the center of the Iraq Reconstruction effort, providing the utmost performance in brokering, contracting, creating and developing projects for the cream of the crop. Clients include direct contracts with the US Government and several of its Prime Contractors, the Coalitional Provisional Authority and subsequent Iraqi provisional government, and innumerable domestic vendors and service organizations throughout Iraq, Turkey, and other Middle East regions.

Of course, I can't say whether it's the same guy. We shall see.

Variations On A Theme

Here, in no particular order, are some stories that I don't have time to write about at this very moment:

Document Says Oil Chiefs Met With Cheney Task Force

Torture Alleged at Ministry Site Outside Baghdad

Broadcast Chief Violated Laws, Inquiry Says

Woodward Was Told Of Plame More Than Two Years Ago

Tide Turning in GOP Senators' War View

9-11 Changed Their Lives Forever

Here's the full list of contributors to Open Contempt Media.

Impressive? I'll say.

You won't find a larger collection of uninteresting wingnut blowhards outside of any wingnut's blogroll.

Sadly, Hugh Hewitt and the Ambiguously PowerLine Trio, who were supposedly present at the moment of conception, didn't make the cut. So there is some minimal quality control in place.

The key to the site's success will be its timeliness.

And let's give it up for the editing chair, Glenn Reynolds. Glenn assures us that he's often in control of his major motor functions: "There's a lot of stuff I tend more or less by design not to blog." You're a natural, Glenn.

Corrupt Bush crony Bernie Kerik makes the headlines again.

This guy's name should come up every time Rudy Guiliani appears on television until Rudy declares he'll never again run for, or accept a nomination to, public office.

RUI

Slate asks a bunch of famous people ... well, mostly journalists and comedy writers who aren't particularly famous ... to choose the most influential book they read in college.

The sad thing is, I can't think of one. I can remember a large number of books I enjoyed read, and some I read but didn't much enjoy, but none that really had a great influence on my life. And, really, I'm not particularly sad about this either.

Prague Crock

Eric Alterman makes the point I was going to make in response today's lead New York Times editorial, but I hate to waste a good pun.

The Times opined:

"The Bush administration was also alone in making the absurd claim that Iraq was in league with Al Qaeda and somehow connected to the 9/11 terrorist attacks. That was based on two false tales. One was the supposed trip to Prague by Mohamed Atta, a report that was disputed before the war and came from an unreliable drunk. The other was that Iraq trained Qaeda members in the use of chemical and biological weapons. Before the war, the Defense Intelligence Agency concluded that this was a deliberate fabrication by an informer."

Alone. Just the Bush Administration and one other source. The New York Times editorial page.

Let's reminisce:

EDITORIAL DESK | November 12, 2001, Monday

Essay; Prague Connection

By WILLIAM SAFIRE (NYT) Op-Ed 785 words
Late Edition - Final , Section A , Page 19 , Column 5

ABSTRACT - William Safire Op-Ed column discusses 'undisputed fact' connecting Iraq's Pres Saddam Hussein to September 11 terrorist attacks (M)

and

EDITORIAL DESK | March 18, 2002, Monday

Protecting Saddam

By WILLIAM SAFIRE (NYT) Op-Ed 737 words
Late Edition - Final , Section A , Page 25 , Column 5

ABSTRACT - William Safire Op-Ed column says disinformation technique is being used to wipe out fact of meeting between Mohamed Atta, leading Al Qaeda hijacker, and Ahmed al-Ani, Iraqi consul, five months before Sept 11 attacks in US; says Russia, certain European officials and Arab potentates downplay evidence, hoping to erase Saddam Hussein's clandestine support of international terrorism; says they do not want United States to have reason to liberate Iraqi people, and they see great profit in doing oil business with Hussein and collecting tens of bilions in debts; says meanwhile, Iraqi scientists are racing to build nuclear and biological weapons that would blackmail into impotence any power daring to unseat Hussein (M)

and

EDITORIAL DESK | May 9, 2002, Thursday

Mr. Atta Goes to Prague

By WILLIAM SAFIRE (NYT) Op-Ed 751 words
Late Edition - Final , Section A , Page 39 , Column 1

ABSTRACT - William Safire Op-Ed column questions efforts by CIA and Justice Department to cast doubt on report that Mohamed Atta, leader of Sept 11 terrorists, met Ahmed al-Ani, Pres Saddam Hussein's espionage chief, in Iraqi Embassy in Prague in April 2001; says if there was a meeting, it would demand immediate US military response (M)

(Sorry, the budget can't accomodate more elaborate flashbacks.)

We all know Safire's full of shit, Gail, but isn't calling him an unreliable drunk a bit harsh?

The real issue is why the Times' editorial page repeatedly published a claim it knew to be absurd.

And you can't begin to rehabilitate yourself unless you acknowledge your errors.

Brilliant!

You've got to hand it to them. It can't be easy to find rich suckers who can be bamboozled into buying this:

In the beginning, however, they will be somewhat dependent on that same mainstream media. The site will have links to the top news headlines of the day, as reported by the AP and other establishment news sources.

Here's the difference: alongside each news headline, Pajamas Media will link related blog posts that their editors consider to be the most interesting or insightful out there. And as the story evolves, so will the blog links. Pajamas Media's coverage and commentary will be worldwide and around-the-clock. They already have blogger editors lined up in Europe and Australia.

Corn, you get the 3 a.m. shift. Hall, 4 a.m. Cooper, get Mr. Johnson another drink.

Pajamas Media will also distinguish itself from the mainstream folks, according to Simon, with "a new method of fact-checking."

An internal instant-messaging system will link their correspondents all over the world. If there are any doubts about a report's veracity, they can call on the expertise of their editors instantly.

These editors thus far include California-based freelance journalist Jill Stewart, Tennessee-based Glenn Reynolds of the ur-blog Instapundit, and Aussie columnist Tim Blair.

aznh8tr: gr8 catch on those MD ecoterrorists, Glenn.

tncrkr: tx. yr OUIslamofascist expose is g2g.

More than that, however, Johnson and Simon consider the entire blogosphere their fact-checkers. This is a sacred tenet among many bloggers. If a blogger makes a mistake, readers will call him on it right away, either via comment or email. And the blogger is honor-bound to corect it immediately and clearly.

Stop it. You're killing me.

Johnson and Simon claim that, like most bloggers, they will not hesitate to own up to errors.

Like that whole "Lawrence Franklin is being railroaded thing."

Johnson and Simon insist that ideology will not play a role in their quest to locate the best blog posts. Both are former liberal Democrats who turned to the right after 9/11. They've made a deliberate effort to include all angles on their board of editors. For example, "you've got David Corn on one side, and Michael Barone on the other," Simon said. "And in the middle Tammy Bruce."

That's hot.

Can (another) neocon Memeorandum which relies upon the accuracy and integrity of Charles Johnson and Michael Leeden be successful? Sorry to break it to you, you deep-pocketed chumps, but Roger el-Simon doesn't give a fuck. He'll "worry later on as to whether we succeed."

Update: S.Z. at World O'Crap tells us all about Tammy in the middle.

Fully Blown

"All you have in the blogosphere is your credibility," she said. "You don't want to blow that."

Oops, too late. Bigot says:

Accordingly, I am retracting my claim that Herzig-Yoshinaga "surreptitiously shared confidential documents with" Irons. I have made a note of this on the errata page of my book. Moreover, I am directing Regnery to excise the words "surreptitiously" and "confidential" from future editions of the book.

In addition, I retract the following statements which appeared on my blog:

August 24, 2004:

Contrary to [University of North Carolina law professor Eric] Muller's assertion that the papers shared were "publicly available documents sitting in publicly available files at archives open to the public," the article makes clear that Irons did not obtain permission to receive the papers he acquired from Herzig-Yoshinaga.

August 25, 2004:

As I noted, these records, however, had not been cleared for public use, and Iron's request to copy them had been explicitly denied. By the way, this was not the only time Irons engaged in these sort of shenanigans.

I apologize to Irons and Herzig-Yoshinaga for the errors.

Those PJ Media investors might want to get fully-executed indemnity agreements and a huge-ass liability policy before they publish Malkin.

Star Parker revels in her own ignorance once again. She writes:

November has been a banner month so far in California for assaulting the traditional family. Last Tuesday, California voters rejected Proposition 73, which would have required parental notification before allowing a minor to receive an abortion. The week before, California's wacko 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that parents do not have "exclusive" right in their children's sex education.

So California assaulted the "family" by doing nothing and leaving things the way they were. How deviant of us.

And, as any idiot knows, the Ninth Circuit is not a California court, but a federal court with multi-state jurisdiction. And the Ninth Circuit's ruling had nothing to do with California law.

But Parker's written an entire paragraph without characterizing African-Americans as victims of liberals. Not even a mention of the "Democrat plantation!" She's really slipping.

Wait, here it is:

Aside from the angst that comes from watching the long-term implosion of a society, I have immediate concerns that California's assault on the traditional family is simultaneously an assault on blacks and the poor.

Of course you do, Star.

Government subsidization and protection of irresponsible behavior has gotten blacks into the social black hole in which they now find themselves. Black kids are not suffering because they need more rights. They are suffering because they are not learning, from an early age, about responsibilities and consequences.

If you make abortions cheap enough, everyone will want one.

Parker displays equal ignorance, or dishonesty, regarding the Ninth Circuit's ruling. Parker writes:

Parents sued claiming that the school had intruded on their fundamental right to "control the upbringing of their children" regarding matters of values and sex. [Para.] No, said the court. Parents have no "exclusive" right here. The school is their partner in raising their children. According to the court's Justice [sic] Reinhardt, parents have no right "to prevent a public school from providing its students with whatever information it wishes to provide, sexual or otherwise, when and as the school determines that it is appropriate to do so."

Wrong, wrong, wrong.

The court only addressed whether the parents had a federal constitutional right to dictate school policy according to their individual whims. (Read the opinion, Fields vs. Palmdale, 11/2/05, here. Warning: .pdf file.) The court specifically did not address any state law rights or claims because, in the absence of a valid federal claim, federal jurisdiction was lacking.

It would seem Parker knows that she's misrepresenting the Court's holding, since she omits the word "constitutional" which immediately precedes the language she quotes. (Of course, honesty then would require her to identify the federal constitutional right she would create for the occasion.) On the other hand, Parker could just be unnaturally stupid. It's a close call.

So What?

David Safavian's attorney is making the argument that it's unfair for the Feds to prosecute her client because Safavian's crimes were uncovered in the course of investigation of Tom DeLay's best pal, Jack Abramoff.

To recap Safavian's crimes:

Safavian was given clearance to go on the trip to Scotland after telling GSA's ethics officer that Abramoff "has no business before GSA," according to the indictment in the case. On that trip Abramoff spent over $130,000 for nine people.

Around that time, Abramoff repeatedly contacted Safavian about the possibility of leasing the Old Post Office in downtown Washington for his clients and the possibility of acquiring or leasing part of 600 acres in Silver Spring, Md., managed by GSA.

The judge isn't buying Safavian's argument:

[Safavian lawyer] Van Gelder argued that the FBI devised a plan to secure Safavian's cooperation in the grand jury probe of Abramoff, congressmen and executive branch employees.

Investigators gave Safavian 24 hours to cooperate with the probe or face arrest and also placed him under surveillance, Van Gelder said, drawing little sympathy from U.S. District Judge Paul Friedman.

"Unless you can meet the very high threshold for selective or discriminatory prosecution, then so what?" replied Friedman, who made no immediate decision on the document requests.

I'd bet the judge has made his decision; he just hasn't announced it yet.

If Safavian was smart, he'd rat out Jack Abramoff in exchange for leniency. (And ask for witness protection, just to remain on the alive side.) But, quite obviously, he's not very smart.

Scenes From An Abortion

Like Atrios, we are eagerly awaiting the launch of the Pajamas Media Service on November 16, 2005. An editorial board dominated by National Review hacks and other neocon apologists for treason editing the cream of the crap from 15-hit-a-day subliterate Cheeto-inhaling Keyboarders.

Now that's a recipe for suck-cess.

Via Norbizness, we see that Suzanne Fields has again outsourced her column to brain-damaged monkeys:

"The Sexual Revolution, abetted by the Pill and feminism, brought rage to sex; men and women remained opposites while attracting each other. They learned to overcome hostilities to take advantage of new possibilities."

You don't often see such incoherence outside of a psychiatric ward, or the pages of the Moonie Times.

Anonymous Liars

Eric Engberg has a great piece about confidential sources who lie. He cites the example of convicted criminal and current government employee Elliott Abrams, who lied to him about the operations of Lt. Crmnl. Oliver North back in the day. I wouldn't be surprised if Abrams continues to be a valued source for the reliable hacks in the Washington press corps, along with the various other indicted and as-yet-unindicted liars in the Bush Admnistration.

Of course, Mr. Engberg assumes an ethical press corps (or, at least one interested in returning to ethical standards). But when you've got reporters who conspire to deliberately mislead readers -- as in describing an Administration official a "former Hill staffer" -- it's not a case of politicians using the media, it's a case of the media abusing its readers. (How could a reporter accurately identify Abrams today: "An Administration official formerly convicted of lying to Congress"?) And if certain outlets adopted the laudable standards that Mr. Engberg proposes, the liars would still have plenty of outlets to which they could peddle their lies. Still, refusing to quote liars anonymously is a small first step toward actually exposing the Administration's lies.

Who says Josh Marshall doesn't have a sense of humor:

"Mickey and Andrew were both well-established and highly-respected journalists before they ever got involved with blogging."

(link)

Dance, Monkey, Dance

Who said fundies don't approve of dancing? Ralph Reed calls the tune and John Cornyn pirrouettes:

In the Nov. 30, 2001, e-mail, Reed told Abramoff that 50 pastors led by Ed Young, of Second Baptist Church in Houston, would meet with Cornyn to urge him to shut down the Alabama-Coushatta tribe's casino near Livingston. He said Young would back up the request in writing.

"We have also choreographed Cornyn's response. The AG will state that the law is clear, talk about how much he wants to avoid repetition of El Paso (where the Tigua casino was) and pledge to take swift action to enforce the law," Reed wrote. "He will also personally hand Ed Young a letter that commits him to take action in Livingston."

Cornyn denied being Reed's dancing monkey, while picking fleas from his coat and eating them.

Reed's spokesperson, meanwhile, calls her boss a lying sack:

"No one should take credit for state Attorney General John Cornyn's actions and the faith community's support," Reed's spokeswoman Lisa Baron said. "Ralph Reed never has and never will."

(Link via Talking Points Memo)

On The Media

Kudos to Bob Garfield for asking tough questions of Judith Fucking Miller on today's On The Media. (Listen here, if you like.)

Garfield asked questions no one else has asked, including one calling bullsh-t on this lie I commented upon here. Miller's credibility has been so diminished she'll soon be reduced to ghostwriting blog posts for Michael Ledeen.

Delivered In A Jaguar

Roger's amazon.com Wish List.

Peak Blow

This is interesting. According to Cokie Kudlow bio at Depends Media, Kudlow's prime years as a cokehead coincided with his tenure as senior economics editor for National Review. That explains a lot about Cokie's (and NRO's) love of supply-side economics. Maybe Donnie Luskin should change his company's name to Trend Crackholytics LLC. Although the drug of choice at NRO these days is Metamucil.

Rejoice

Great news. The Rittenhouse Review by James Capozzola is back online with its literate, award-winning coverage of Philadelphia and the world. Welcome back, Jim.

Sentences Best Left Unfinished

From amazon.com (of course):

"Following in the tradition of John Howard Griffin (Black Like Me) and Barbara Ehrenreich (Nickel and Dimed), Norah Vincent..."

Judd Nelson has already optioned the film rights.

"With her buddies on the bowling league she enjoyed the rough and rewarding embrace of male camaraderie undetectable to an outsider. A stint in a high-octane sales job taught her the gut-wrenching pressures endured by men who would do anything to succeed."

Because women don't sell stuff, or work in high pressure jobs, or bowl.

She frequented sex clubs, dated women hungry for love but bitter about men, and infiltrated all-male communities as hermetically sealed as a men’s therapy group, and even a monastery."

And even the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies.

"Having gone where no woman (who wasn't an aspiring or actual transsexual) has gone for any significant length of time, let alone eighteen months, Norah Vincent's surprising account is an enthralling reading experience and a revelatory piece of anecdotally based gender analysis that is sure to spark fierce and fascinating conversation."

Could you try to use more adjectivally based pointless and redundant superlatives and modifier based qualifications in that sentence, Ms. and/or Mr. p.r. hack? Could you?

And God knows what actual and/or aspiring transsexuals think about gender doesn't really count.

Meet Your Liberal Media: Fully Pantloaded Edition

The Los Angeles Times has dropped Robert Scheer's column, and has picked up a steaming pantload.

On the plus side, they're also dropping David Gelernter.

Town Without Titty

A community where the drivers from Little Ceasar's will be hung from the lampposts:

A May 2004 speech by Mr. Monaghan, given at a conference on business ethics, would seem to confirm this speculation. "We'll own all commercial real estate," Mr. Monaghan declared, describing his vision. "That means we will be able to control what goes on there. You won't be able to buy a Playboy or Hustler magazine in Ave Maria Town. We're going to control the cable television that comes in the area. There is not going to be any pornographic television in Ave Maria Town. If you go to the drug store and you want to buy the pill or the condoms or contraception, you won't be able to get that in Ave Maria Town."

And the drugstore one block over will reap record profits.

National Phundie Radio

There was a report on NPR this evening by Barbara Bradley Hagerty, which purported to document university "persecution" of lecturers attempting to pass off creationism as science. I didn't hear the whole thing, but the part I heard was incredibly one-sided, with Hagerty portraying creationists as victims of "humiliation" and harassment. I didn't hear one word about whether anything the lecturers taught was scientifically accurate. Maybe the rest of it was credible.

If anyone has a link to the piece, let me know. It's not this report.

Cliff "FDR Was President After WWII" May critiques his former employer in his Depends Media bio:

When Arthur Schulzburger was publisher, we didn't know very much about his opinions. Arthur Schulzburger Jr., we know his views. Abe Rosenthal was pretty good about keeping the paper within the 60 yard lines. I don't see that today.

May, a member of the Depends Media editorial board, also gives a shoutout to his close personal friend "Jean Kirkpatrick."

Cliffie is setting impossibly high standards for the rest of the Depends crowd to follow.

Shopchurl

Bigot/crank John Derbyshire, of the Long Island Derbyshires, posts the following:

I brought this up at the dinner table. Now, my wife sells jewelry over the counter at a large department store whose name is an anagram of "Tord and Laylor." She: "Huh! You don't know the half of it! I see the same people mooching around the store day after day. Not street people, well-dressed, middle-aged people. They spend hours in the store, just looking at stuff. Once in a while they buy something, though as often as not they return it a couple of days later. If you want to see people with no life, work in a department store."

One might wonder why Derbyshire would want the world to know his wife holds her employer's customers in contempt, especially after identifying said employer by name. I guess the employer's reputation for exceptionally friendly service is subject to certain exceptions.

If you must patronize "Tord & Laylor," don't let this woman patronize you.

Get Rich or WiFi Trying

Anybody from the San Francisco Bay Area/South Bay remember Michael Malone, the vest-wearing flatterer formerly known as "the Boswell of Silicon Valley"?

Michael has a bold prediction:

Five years from now, the blogosphere will have developed into a powerful economic engine that has all but driven newspapers into oblivion, has morphed (thanks to cell phone cameras) into a video medium that challenges television news, and has created a whole new group of major companies and media superstars. Billions of dollars will be made by those prescient enough to either get on board or invest in these companies. At this point, the industry will then undergo its first shakeout, with the loss of perhaps several million blogs -- though the overall industry will continue to grow at a steady pace.

Any prescient investors can contact me at the e-mail address above. Put either "Future Blogging Tycoon" or "Jealous Consumptive" in the subject line.

Kaus Gets Rumbled

Several Los Angeles bloggers have looked into Mickey Kaus's hackpocryphal tale of dark-skinned teens rumbling with ballbats -- and dirks and daggers and shivs and shanks -- on All Hallows' Eve. Reports are in from:

Independent Sources

L.A. Observed

8763 Wonderland

Martini Republic

In summary, no one knows what Kaus is blathering on about.

It's time for Kaus to expose the source who burned him, or lose all credibility.








Okay, I couldn't help myself.

Not All Of The Victories Are Electoral

The Chalabi Times era draws to a close:

The end of The New York Times' five-week standoff with reporter Judith Miller appears to be near. As of Nov. 8, the two sides were closing in on a severance agreement, according to sources familiar with the negotiation.

Miller's desperate bid for sympathy by claiming that Keller accused her of sleeping with Scooter won't work. That's about the only fuck-up Keller isn't guilty of.

Miller's right about one thing, though, the stain on the Times won't be removed by removing Miller alone.

"Every story I did was approved by an editor," Ms. Miller said, over coffee on the terrace outside of Black Cat Books in Sag Harbor on Nov. 5. Her black cockapoo, Hamlet, scampered under the table, sunshine glinting on his rhinestone collar. An orange sweater was draped over her shoulders, and she wore her preferred oversize tortoiseshell sunglasses. She had a Treo holstered at her right hip, and a dime-sized compass clipped to her watchband.

Must've been a moral compass.

Good thing she's got that Depends Media debacle to fall back on.

Ahnuld Annuled

The people have spoken.

It's a great day for California, and the end of the Predator's reign of error. Nice suicide, Governor.

The California Constitution was not defaced, despite the Z-list's best efforts.

A Republican midget is left to whine about a "reform" the people don't want.

And Howard the Putz is forced to pretend that California -- and negative coattails -- don't exist. Howie doesn't mention the results in the Golden State --for obvious reasons -- in reality that's what his entire column is about.

The Comstock Act

It involves Republicans trying to transport obscene smears across party lines.

Babbs Comstock has crawled out from under her rock once again:

WASHINGTON, Nov. 8 - I. Lewis Libby Jr., Vice President Dick Cheney's former chief of staff, is establishing a fund to help pay for his legal defense in the C.I.A. leak case, and associates of Mr. Libby have begun soliciting money from his friends and Republican donors, lawyers and people who have been contacted about the fund said on Tuesday.

Barbara Comstock, a Republican communications strategist who has been hired to work with Mr. Libby's defense team, has pulled together a list of potential contributors and has been in touch with some of them in the last week, providing an address in Washington for sending checks, the people said.

Babbs is also a paid apologist for the Toxic Texan Bugchaser, so she's got her obstruction of justice cut out for herself. Her attempts to smear Mr. Fitzgerald will no doubt fail as miserably as her attempts to smear Mr. Earle.

Breaking News In The Oil For Food Scandal

I have just come into possession of this damning e-mail from Kofi Annan. I'm sure the PowerTools will want to analyze it in depth:

I Dr. Kofi Annan, Secretary-General of the United Nations, would like to ask your partnership in reprofilling funds over $250m in excess, the funds would be coming via a string of selected banks in Europe and Asia.

The Funds in question were generated by me during the oil for food program in Iraq.

I have been getting scandals/ controversy in this regards, you can read more on the links below-

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2005/apr2005/anna-a05.shtml

http://www.canadafreepress.com/2003/main042803.htm

You would be paid 5% as your management fee. Please do not write back directly to me via my official email address. All further correspondence should be sent to my private mail box (kofiannan4un@o2.pl ). As soon as you indicate your interest I will give further details.

Remember to treat this mail and transaction as strictly confidential.

I will await your urgent correspondence via my private mail box-

Dr.Kofi Annan.

SECRETARY- GENERAL

kofiannan@un.org

www.un.org

Scandalous.

The Biggest Loser

Miserable Failure or The Predator?

Bush has the early lead, but Der Gropenfuhrer can still pull it out.

Update (10:55 p.m.): The L.A. Times has called 3 of The Predator's 4 propositions as losers. A clean sweep will give the title of The Biggest Loser to The Predator.

Did Koppel and the Putz Compare Toupees?

After yesterday's pointless puffer on MoDo, Howie the Putz is back again with a superficial exit interview with Ted Koppel.

Why not be a real media reporter, Howie, and write an article on Conrad Black?

Make a Republican hack whine.

Don't forget to vote.

p.s. I'm told that black and Latino gangbangers are congregating around Santa Monica polling stations, threatening diminutive Republicans until the polls close. You have been warned.

It's The Great Gangbang, Hairless Hack

This is amusing. Tedious press critic Mickey Kaus castigated the Los Angeles Times for failing to cover a Halloween night gang war that never happened.

Kaus breathlessly reported that "rival black and Hispanic outfits" fought it out with baseball bats and knives on the Brentwood border, culminating in the LAPD being "called to the scene in force." Kaus even assured readers that the gangstas were "teenagers," adding important factual detail to give his report an air of authenticity. Kaus was then forced to admit that no cops were called to the scene. He attempts to weasel out of his claim by stating that his source ran away from the scene due to fear for his safety, and he assures us that he believes something happened, he just can't prove it.

Kaus doesn't explain how the Los Angeles Times was supposed to cover the non-existent event. Maybe he thinks the paper's reporters should watch the video for Beat It and consume pumpkin-flavored schnapps until the story appears to them.