Grand Old Police Blotter: That'sa Greedy Greaseball Edition

But since it first went on the air in 1999, "The Sopranos" has had a complicated relationship with the Garden State. While many residents feel a sense of pride in the series, others, especially politicians, have complained that it plays to ugly stereotypes about Italians as thuggish criminals.

In 2000, James W. Treffinger, who was then the Essex County executive, banned the series from shooting there, saying it “stereotypes an ethnic group.” (Mr. Treffinger was later sentenced to 13 months in prison after being convicted of corruption.)

Who is Don Treffinger?

Mr. Treffinger, once a leading Republican politician in the state, was convicted on corruption charges growing out of his efforts to use his county post to propel himself to higher office.

But, wait, there's more!

James W. Treffinger, left, the former Essex County executive, his former campaign committee and a campaign staff member have agreed to pay $171,000 to settle an investigation by the Federal Election Commission, the commission announced yesterday. In May 2003, Mr. Treffinger pleaded guilty to corruption charges in Federal District Court on an unrelated matter. The election commission said Mr. Treffinger improperly used campaign funds to pay his legal fees. After negotiations with the commission, Mr. Treffinger, the staff member and the committee admitted accepting excessive contributions, the commission said.

Sounds like S.O.P. in the G.O.P. Wasn't Fredo DeLay doing something similar?

With the Republican Party it's not a stereotype, it's a platform.

Jonah and The Wail

Leave it to the Doughy Pantload to blame his failings on a little girl. After Tim Noah of Slate picked up on Goldberg's years of delays in publishing his first romance, Liberal Fascism: The Summer of My German Soldier, Goldberg posted this snippy retort:

But I will say this. He has absolutely no idea what he's talking about, which he basically admits. His assertion that the book's delayed for marketing reasons would be a flat-out lie if it weren't flat-out conjecture. As my wife, various friends and colleagues and sundry others can attest, the book is delayed because it's not done yet. The reasons for that have to do with any number of things (revisions, work distractions, my father's death, the birth of my child, etc etc) and, as far as I'm aware, marketing isn't even on the top ten. Noah, who hasn't read it, is invested in a theory and simply imagines facts to substantiate his usual sneering schtick.

After admitting that the book has been delayed because his earlier drafts were unpublishable dreck (requiring "revisions"), Goldberg uses his own child to excuse his dilatory ways. Only problem is, the blameless offspring was born months before Goldberg announced his intention to write the book. So the birth can't account for the years of delay identified by Goldberg's tormentors.

Of course, Goldberg also promised back in 2003 that "It'll be a big book." It's now a slim 272 pages, although for National Review Online readers, a book of stamps is a weighty tome.

In his response to Noah, Goldberg also simpers that his book "isn't what the Amazon description says." But the description of the book's contents on Amazon came verbatim from the publisher -- and is credited as such on other sites. So Goldberg's calling his own publisher a liar. I guess calling a Pantload publication "[i]mpeccably researched and persuasively argued" was too much even for Jonah's shovel to carry.

By the way, isn't knowingly using a false description of a product to sell merchandise, uh, what's the word I'm looking for ... oh, yeah ... fraud?

Look, I don't care if Goldberg or his ghost ever finish the book. The point is that Goldberg and his publisher represented the book would be out in 2005 and 2006 and etc., and solicited the advanced sale of copies based on those representations. If Goldberg lacks the competence or capacity to fulfill promises he made voluntarily, then he shouldn't bitch when people point out those facts.

Pull The Plug

I defy even Senator Doctor Frist to view this video and find evidence of brain activity.

And it also seems the proprietor of that site has the same problem with the concept of exclusivity as the Depends Media crowd.