Harry Potter Live Blogging

Eh, I'm going to bed.

Spoiler Follows (Scroll over to read)

Over the summer, Harry reads Richard Dawkins' The God Delusion, and rejects the supernatural. During the term, Harry learns that Ron Weasley has scored with Hermonie. Twenty years later, Harry, a loud alcoholic, swears out an affidavit accusing Ron, a Lib Dem M.P., of obstruction of justice. Thirty years later, he demands that the U.K. bomb Iran, based on a speech to the U.N. General Assembly given by a talking hat.

Hey, it's the best I can do. I haven't read the books. And it's past midnight. You're lucky I could do the Scroll Over to Read thing.

Frummage

Lord Conrad Black's dogsbody, David Frum, is back from his tour of Old Europe and ready to speak truth to power:

Prosecutors convicted my friend and former employer on four of 13 counts. They lost on their accusations of "racketeering" and on their claims of a scheme of a vast fraud involving tens of millions of dollars. They won on charges involving smaller transactions worth a total of some $3.5 million, plus one count of obstruction justice [sic]. The obstruction charge was based on videotape of Black removing boxes of papers from his Toronto office after he lost entry to those offices. Prosecutors had not yet served Black with notice to leave the papers - and nobody has ever suggested that anything in them related to this trial - but the grainy security camera footage sure looked bad.

These convictions represent bad news for Conrad Black, obviously, but something less than a resounding victory for the prosecution. Now comes sentencing and appeal.

And notice something: although the prosecution lost on 9 counts, they are asking that Conrad Black be sentenced as if they had won.

[Long-ass quote from The Star which doesn't remotely suggest that prosecutors are asking that Connie be sentenced for any count on which he wasn't convicted. The article points out that Black faces up to 35 years on the four counts he was convicted of, and the United States is only seeking 30.]

Same thing as was done to Scooter Libby: win on one thing - then demand that the judge act as if you had won on everything. Here's my question: If (as seems more than possible) Black defeats the remaining fraud counts on appeal, will a US judge really contemplate sending him to prison to punish him for removing from his office personal papers of no ultimate relevance to a criminal case?

I realize Frum is just a dumb Canuck, but even he should understand that fraud and obstruction of justice aren't "one thing." Likewise, Scooter Libby was convicted of three different things: two counts of perjury, one count of obstruction of justice in a grand jury investigation and one count of making false statements to federal investigators.

Frum also seems to believe that the judge will be sentencing Connie after his appeal is concluded, and thus will be contemplating a sentence based solely on the obstruction verdict. Doesn't work that way, Davey. (Frum's reasoning also suggests that he believes Black's conviction for obstruction will stand.)

Also amusing is Frum's apparent belief that Black's not such a bad guy because he only defrauded Hollinger shareholders of $3.5 million instead of "tens of millions" of dollars. By Frum's reasoning, a murderer should go free if the state fails to prove he's a serial killer.

We are entering in a new era, one in which conservatives consistently cry that the American justice system is biased against wealthy, well-connected white men who can actually afford a level playing field against the power of the state. In reality, the playing field isn't even level, given Bush Justice's illegal efforts to give the rich and Republican the home court advatage.

I think that Yang needs a strategy to take Yahoo into the distributed web and away from the old-media model or he will fail. It's not about convincing people to come to Yahoo. It's about finding the ways to take Yahoo to the people. In other words, the question isn't whether I Yahoo. The question is whether Yahoo Jarvises.

Yes, Jerry Yang will never amount to anything unless he listens to Jeff Jarvis. (He's already bleeding money.)

Of course, Jarvis doesn't have any idea of how to take anything to the people, or else he'd be doing that with daylife. Or, as it's known by most people, "What?"

Citizen Journalism At Its Finest

Julia at Sisyphus Shrugged covers the Great Manhattan Steampipe Rupture of 07.

New Yorkers' pores have never been more open than they are at this moment.

Shite Said Fred, Part II

Remember the heady days of July 16, 2008, when wingnuts were hoping and praying Fred Thompson wasn't just a lobbyist whore, but was really and truly ONE OF THEM? Here's some particularly humorous prose from that bygone era from one wordy Pollyanna:

The National Family Planning and Reproductive Health Association claimed that Thompson had lobbied the White House on its behalf in 1991. Thompson denied the charge, and John Sununu, who was White House chief of staff at the time, backed up Thompson.

Only time will tell which side eventually turns out to be perceived as being truthful by the electorate. But regardless of the truth of the allegation, its presence is remarkable at this stage of the race.

Memory does not produce a similar case where an interest group tied to one of the major political parties sought so overtly to influence the debate and outcome of the other parties' nomination fight, especially before a candidate even formally announced.

Think how unusual it would be if, for instance, a conservative group opposed to immigration reform that would allow any legalization of those here illegally claimed that Sen. Barack Obama, before he was in the Senate, had been active in anti-Hispanic activities.

Time's up!

Billing records show that former Senator Fred Thompson spent nearly 20 hours working as a lobbyist on behalf of a group seeking to ease restrictive federal rules on abortion counseling in the 1990s, even though he recently said he did not recall doing any work for the organization.

According to records from Arent Fox, the law firm based in Washington where Mr. Thompson worked part-time from 1991 to 1994, he charged the organization, the National Family Planning and Reproductive Health Association, about $5,000 for work he did in 1991 and 1992. The records show that Mr. Thompson, a probable Republican candidate for president in 2008, spent much of that time in telephone conferences with the president of the group, and on three occasions he reported lobbying administration officials on its behalf.

Mr. Thompson's work for the family planning agency has become an issue because he is positioning himself as a faithful conservative who is opposed to abortion.

Earlier this month, Mr. Thompson disputed accounts by the group’s former president and others, saying through a spokesman that he had "no recollection" of doing anything to aid the group's efforts to overturn a rule banning federally financed clinics from dispensing information about abortion to pregnant women. At most, said Mr. Thompson's spokesman, Mark Corallo, he "may have been consulted by one of the firm's partners who represented this group."

In an order to restore his fictitious credibility, Thompson called the Kerning Keystone Kops at Powerline to prove the billing records were bogus.

Oh, wait. No he didn't. Fred appeared on Powerline to assert attorney-client privilege concerning conversations with the abortion rights client he couldn't recall representing. Memory does not produce a similar case where an undelcared presidential candidate was so dependent on shitty bloggers to explain away his rank dishonesty.

By the way, Fred's going rate to sell out his most cherished principles was $250.00 per hour (cheap!) in the early to mid 90s. Given inflation, Fred's current reputation for veracity and the sorts of bloggers he hangs out with, it's now selling at twenty.

Update: Geez, Captain Ed's been hung out to dry by his Powertool pals. He definitely didn't get the talking points from the 'Tools, was spun by his "source," and he's now got blastocyst all over his face. I almost feel sorry for him.

Update 2: Shorter Captain Ed's Update: "Lobbying for the baby-killers is okay if you do it for a friend and don't make a living off of it." ESCEU: "I'll swallow anything for a bit of access."

A Senator recieves a Standing O from his colleagues:

Senator David Vitter, the Louisiana Republican who admitted that his phone number was in the records of a business identified as an escort service, returned to Washington and apologized to fellow Republican colleagues at their closed-door lunch. Their applause was heard outside the room. And as he arrived on the Senate floor, several Republicans extended their hands.

It doesn't take much to get a better reception than Bush, does it?

Datelie NBC

Over four days in November, 24 men were arrested at a two-story home in one of Murphy's newer neighborhoods after allegedly arranging to meet boys or girls there.

...

Then, last month, Collin County District Attorney John Roach dropped all charges. He said that in 16 of the cases, he had no jurisdiction, since neither the suspects nor the decoys were in the county during the online chats.

As for the rest of the cases, he said neither police nor NBC could guarantee the chat logs were authentic and complete.

As details of the suicide [of one target] emerged, Murphy's mayor, City Council and most of its residents learned that potential molesters were being lured to their city. Many were furious.

"They can chase predators all they want, but they shouldn't do it in a populated area with children, two blocks from an elementary school, " said Lisa Watson, 33, who lives down the road from the sting house.

It's a fair assumption that Hansen and NBC couldn't guarantee the authenticity of any of the transcripts, but D.A. Roach didn't even look into that issue for the allegations where no jurisdiction existed. But Hansen failed to tell his fans jurisdiction was not the only problem with his home videos. Which isn't surprising since the series was always more about voyeurism (call it Srangers with Candy Camera) than the protection of children.

Fans the of freak show needn't worry, however. Hansen has brought his women with little girl voices to New Jersey for more creepy fun, and MSNBC has enough outtakes, bloopers and practical jokes to keep the thigh-rubbing public drooling for years to come.

The Potty Pablum of Podhoretz

John Podhoretz warns us about a very serious threat and tells us what we can do to protect ourselves.

The Papistry of the Peabrained

That's nothing. Pope John Paul II was a thespian.

He used to assault people with his pink staff.

Puppetry of The Penises

Lord Convict Black has fallen on hard times. He no longer afford to David Frum and Mark Steyn and has to act as his own puppet:

Other chief executives have found their sock puppetry coming back to haunt them. At the criminal fraud trial of Hollinger International's chief executive, Conrad M. Black, prosecutors introduced evidence that the former press baron had once proposed joining a Yahoo Finance chat room to blame short sellers for his company's stock performance.

When his chief of investor relations declined to post the message because of securities rules, Mr. Black wrote in an e-mail message, "don't be so strait-laced ... Get our story out." Prosecutors alleged that Mr. Black then posted the message himself, using the name "nspector."

Mr. Black was found guilty Friday of mail fraud and obstruction of justice, and he faces a maximum of 35 years in prison.

The article includes reference to Lee "Sprezzatura" Siegel but sadly omits mention of the Queen of All Sock Puppets, Mary Rosh.

Update: The article facilitates a meeting of two of America's most respected bloggers. Get a room, you two.

Our Man In Cabana

The Wedding Singer, March 2007:

Imagine a family of four living on $20,000 a year. The United States could do with a new immersion in egalitarianism. This is still said to be an animating idea of contemporary liberalism. But it's not at all clear to me how much this idea really does animate liberalism's high priests and priestesses, especially those from Hollywood.

The Wedding Singer, July 2007:

I've been staying at the Beverly Hills Hotel for the last few days, a truly elegant hotel with staff that is attentive (without being stiff), tasteful and capacious rooms, an atmosphere very much old Hollywood and other accoutrements, big and small, that assure you that the establishment is not owned by Ian Schrager. When I arrived in my room, I found a bottle of splendid champagne. Who was it from?

Now imagine a family of four living on $20,000 staying at The Beverly Hills Hotel. Or, more likely, attending to Marty without being stiff.

I don't believe that a wealthy pol or pundit can't be a sincere or effective advocate for economic fairness and justice. But, of course, citing egalitarianism to bash ideological foes doesn't make you a sincere advocate for economic justice in the first place. (Although I'm sure the working poor just adore Marty's catty digs at Ian Schrager.)

By the way, I don't for a minute think Marty's flaunting his wealth or angling for a discount on his room rate with his recent post. His approach is much more subtle than that.

There Is Nothing New Under The Moon

Of course, Lord Conrad Black isn't the first foreign publishing magnate to do hard time for fraud. Connie has some quite large prison sneakers to fill.

WASHINGTON [(May 14, 1984)] -- The Supreme Court yesterday refused to review the tax-fraud conviction of the Rev. Sun Myung Moon, the Unification Church leader who faces 18 months' imprisonment beginning June 18 and a $25,000 fine.

The court, without dissent, rejected Moon's appeal despite an extraordinary high-powered campaign to convince the justices that the sentence raised fundamental questions of religious freedom.

...

The case, which stemmed from Moon's failure to pay taxes on the interest earned on more than $1.7 million, involved a "massive" and systematic effort to defraud the government and obstruct justice, including the manufacturing and backdating of documents, the government told the court.

Moon founded the Unification Church in Korea 30 years ago as a Christian revivalist religion and now claims a worldwide membership of 3 million, a US membership 30,000 and substantial business interests worth millions of dollars.

Moon and an associate, Takeru Kamiyama, were convicted by a jury in July 1982 of intentionally failing to pay taxes on the interest earned from more than $1.7 million in personal fraud.

Perhaps the Reverend Moon can give Connie some tips on how the keep his nose clean in stir.

Sundays In Hell

On today's Reliable Putzes with Howard Kurtz, fraudster Conrad Black's conviction recieved about 20 seconds worth of coverage, less time than the non-media story about Miss New Jersey's psuedo-sleazy photos.

Based on searches of Google and the washingtonpost.com, it appears that the Putz never covered the Conrad Black trial in the Washington Post, except for one mention at the end of an online column in March, when he reported on how Lady Black called a newspaper reporter covering the trial a a slut.

I'm not surprised by these facts. I'm just posting this for easy reference next time the Putz fakes outrage about the media's failure to cover substantive news in favor of celebrities and t-and-a.

Meanwhile over at the La Brea Tar Pits of punditry, also known as Meet the Press, Tim Russert had another one of his geriatric white man circle jerks, complete with a 10 minute plug of Bob Novak's latest lie-all book, The Prince of Darkness. Fellow fossil Al Hunt was happy to pimp Novak's tome, and Tim gave Novak the opportunity to repeat his lies about the Plame outing (again without mentioning his own role). Bob Shrum and Mike Murphy apparently wandered away from their caretakers and were allowed to occupy the set until someone came to retrieve them.

If it's covered with liver spots, it's Meet the Press.

Update: I rest my case:

MR. RUSSERT: Yeah. But he got to know you on, got to know you on the campaign trail. You talked about politics, sports. Then you went to a dinner party in 1981, both got drunk and had a knock-down, drag-out battle about tax policy.

MR. HUNT: Yeah.

MR. RUSSERT: You know, where I come from, we argue about women, football.

MR. HUNT: Yeah.

MR. RUSSERT: Tax policy?