The Values Party: Yet Another Gay Republican Outed
OK OK, I know, BFD. Like this has never happened before.
But wait. Dig how this became public.
1. OK. A Washington State Republican Representative from the suburbs named Richard Curtis goes to Spokane for a conference. Away from home, he decides to whoop it up by going to a porn shop dressed in “women’s clothing, red stockings and a black sequined lingerie top before engaging in a sex act at the store.”
Alison Bodine Update: Barred From Canada For Two Years
@$%#@!!11 pale @ A Creative Revolution brings the bad news:
The Immigration and Refugee board says [Alison Bodine] “lied” or misrepresented herself when entering Canada, way back on September 10.
Some Leadership
In what is quickly shaping up to be the single most significant moment of the night, Hillary Clinton got hammered from both sides by Chris Dodd and Barack Obama on her waffling answer in regards to whether she supported Eliot Spitzer’s push to allow illegal immigrants to be awarded driver’s licenses.
After being embroiled in the battle between the two senators and the moderators, Hillary Clinton succeeded in only one thing, not actually answering the question. I suppose one could make some sort of argument about how tough and principled she was last night and this morning, kinda like Taylor Marsh does, but even that’s been thrown out the window now.
Wacky Wednesday: Halloween Fun!
Hey guys! I’m going to take this opportunity to apologize for being a little scarce lately, my schedule got uprooted for a few days, and then I got hit straight between the ideas with my favorite two holidays in the same week: Halloween, and my birthday!
So, in honor of one of my favorite days of the year, let’s have a little fun.
Democratic Debate Final Analysis: All In The Spin
We liveblogged the event, and for a running commentary you can go ahead and check that out here. So without further ado, let’s take a look at what happened.
The Friday Blackout: A National Boycott for Justice
Don’t buy anything Friday. NOTHING.
Warren Ballentine, a lawyer and talk show host syndicated to predominantly black radio stations, is calling for a national economic boycott this Friday as a way of protesting the injustices that have become an everyday feature of BushAmerica.
Ballentine has enlisted help from other radio personalities, including Michael Baisden and the Rev. Al Sharpton, whose shows also air on WAMJ.
He said the one-day boycott is designed to call attention to a series of national concerns, ranging from displays of nooses to wrongly jailed youth to the U.S. mortgage crisis.
“I’m a lawyer and I’m seeing a lot of people across the board suffer from the mortgage crisis,” he said. “I’m asking all Americans to participate, not just blacks. I’m asking people ? if you can ? don’t spend any money.”
People have been saying over and over, “But what can we do about any of this?” Well, you can do this. For ONE DAY, just don’t buy anything. Hit the bastards in the wallet - the only place any of these clowns ever feel pain. If, for ONE DAY, sales plummet in response to a call for a Justice Boycott, it will send a message they won’t dare ignore.
Come on, kids. For ONE LOUSY DAY, keep your money in your pocket. Flex the only muscle you’ve got left that still works and scare the bejeebus out of them.
It’s the least you can do for justice - and democracy.
You Need Experience to Write for the Washington Post? Nah
Speaking of our vaunted media and its penchant for incompetent columnists, Pennsylvania blogger and Bush bete noir eRobin of Fact-esque caught the WaPo hiring a new economics columnist who doesn’t know anything about economics.
David Brooks Should Be Behind a Firewall, Not a Paywall
Like most of us, I suppose, I was frustrated when the NYT put its major columnists behind a paywall but there was a bennie I hadn’t counted on: I couldn’t be tempted to read David Brooks or Tom Friedman, thus raising my blood pressure to new heights. Alas, the paywall is gone, the Terrible Two are available again, and - like somebody with a toothache who can’t resist sticking a tongue in the hole to make it quiver and sting - today I finally gave in to the urge and read (well, skip-read, really) a David Brooks column. I noticed one thing immediately: he hasn’t improved in the past year.
Biden on Giuliani
Liveblogging The Democratic Debates
Well folks, we’re just minutes out, and it’s time to get this show on the road. I’m currently trying to get things set up on my end, so while I wait for the webcast to begin you can read the preview here.
Also, the way this works is simple. We do the liveblogging in the comments section, so you’ll have to go there and keep refreshing to get the latest updates. Further, you are free to contribute I just have some simple rules.
-Please be relatively polite.
-No spamming.
-Stay on topic. Quick forays like, “Hey how are ya?” are fine, but I don’t want to talk about what your kid is dressing up as for Halloween. That’s what email is for.
With that said, let’s watch some debates!
Democratic Debate Preview
In just a little over an hour, the Democratic candidates will line up for what seems to be at least the ninetieth debate, and while many people are suffering from debate fatigue, you know that’s impossible for me, and I’ll be right here, watching the fireworks, or if things go the other way, the total lack of fireworks.
You can join me for the event, as is always the case when I liveblog a debate, I do it in the comments section so that as long as people aren’t coming in to spam us, all are free to join in the commentary and debate.
So what to expect tonight, after the fold.
Why Obama Won’t Win
You may have noticed that though I am a Democrat, I tend to cover the Republican presidential contest quite a bit more than I cover my own party’s race. This is, of course, because I have a horse in the Democratic race, and therefore, it is difficult for me to report on that race with anything approaching objectivity.
Especially when I know my horse is very likely going to lose.
Due Process (And Sanity)? Stop Being So September 10th, d00d.
Via Stageleft - The Globe and Mail:
Canadian officials are taking the unprecedented step of asking a judge to install closed-circuit video cameras inside a terrorism suspect’s family home, arguing national security necessitates the scrutiny.
Blackwater Immunity Deal Typewritten on Guards’ Statements
ABC claims an exclusive in obtaining the text of the immunity deal “included at the beginning of the Blackwater guards’ sworn statements.”
Yet, the State Department has been claiming its Senior Officials in Washington were completely unaware of the deal. Huh? You mean to tell me that throughout this huge whirling controversy neither Condi nor any of her Senior Aides read the actual statements of the Blackwater guards involved in the incident. Bullshit!
CNN Punked Me on Blackwater-Immunity
Earlier, I posted on a CNN report that claimed a Senior State Department Official was now saying the Blackwater guards were not given an immunity deal.
CNN, without any acknowledgment of a revision, has now changed the story 180 degrees.
The Non-Political Side of a Politicized DOJ
When we think of the Gonzo/Rove politicization of the DOJ, we tend to think of prosecutions against Democratic pols like Don Siegelman and the firing of the USA’s who refused to go along with snake-pit prosecutions like Tim Griffin’s against non-existent “voter fraud” cases. But there’s another side to the DOJ politicization story that isn’t about what the Gonzo/Rove minions did but about what they didn’t do. Prosecute civil rights cases, for example. Gonzo/Rove turned the whole of the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division into a Religious Rights Division prosecuting cases that involved, say, schools that refused permission for overtly religious groups to meet on school grounds but ignoring cases involving racial profiling by the banking industry or racism in hiring practices. In Boston, the Globe reports today, the Bush-appointed USA, Michael Sullivan, has more or less given up prosecutions of corporate crime to go after small-time drug offenders.
Blackwater Immunity UPDATE: Anonymous Official Says No Immunity Offered
This story is getting stranger by the minute. CNN reports:
No immunity deal was offered to Blackwater USA guards for their statements regarding a shootout in Iraq last month that left 17 Iraqi civilians dead, a senior State Department official told CNN Tuesday.
The statement contradicts comments made Monday by a U.S. government official who said the guards were promised their statements would not be used against them in any prosecution resulting from the September 16 shootings in Baghdad.
Well actually, the AP story - the first I saw on the controversy - relied on “Three senior law enforcement officials.” Again, all anonymous.
More to follow, I’m sure.