To Smear ACORN, Cap’n Ed Turns Allegations Into Fact
There’s an ongoing debate between Patterico and the BradBlog regarding the right’s broad and generalized attack on ACORN and the role of the O’Keefe/Giles surveilance tapes. Patterico is going to extreme lengths in an attempt to call liberal bloggers on the ACORN dispute liars, but then has the temerity to allow one of his cobloggers to link approvingly to a post by Ed Morrissey at Hot Air that transforms an unsubstantiated allegation made by a criminal defendant, who Morrissey accepts is a fraud, against two ACORN employees, into fact. Read more
Day 023/365 2.10.2010 – Can’t Touch This
Day 023/365 2.10.2010 – Can’t Touch This
Originally uploaded by goose3five
I was playing around with using my flash along with a rather long exposure (1.3 seconds) to get a ghosting effect with our new puppy Kira. I particularly like this one because you can tell she made about three distinct moves in a little over one second. Barry Sanders would be proud!
View my Project 365 set on a black background at Flickriver
Day 017/365 2.04.2010 – Stirrup
Day 017/365 2.04.2010 – Stirrup
Originally uploaded by goose3five
This is another look a the stirrup ladder on the previously pictured climbing wall. Everything in this image feels rugged, rough and masculine. I particularly like how the red stirrup pops.
View my entire Project 365 set on a black background at Flickriver .
Day 016/365 2.03.2010 – Pride
Originally uploaded by goose3five
No artsy photos today, just a dad and his pride.
Sorry I could not resist.
Gabrielle received her 1st Dan (Poom) certificate from the WTF today and I could not resist sharing. I am so proud. Since she is only 8 she will keep this belt but continue to test until she is 15 at which point we expect that, if she keeps it up, she will automatically be granted a 3rd degree black belt. Cool eh?
View my entire Project 365 set on a black background at Flickriver .
Is Missing Ammonium Nitrate a Threat to the 2010 Olympics?
I would not be surprised if you were unaware of this story. There has been next to no press about it since the 2 tons of ammonium nitrate, twice that used in the Oklahoma City bombing, showed up missing from a shipment bound for North Vancouver.
With less than a month until the world’s eyes are B.C., Mounties are still trying to account for missing ammonium nitrate.
Two tonnes of the chemical compound, which has been used in several terrorist bombings, was originally reported missing to the RCMP on Jan. 6.
Kinder Morgan, a pipeline and energy-storing company, had been transporting 6,000 bags of material from Alberta to North Vancouver when two bags could not be accounted for days before Christmas.
The discrepancy was discovered when the shipment was moved by a third-party trucking company to a facility.
Initially the missing material was chalked up to a clerical error but last night the RCMP released an odd video statement claiming that they could not verify this conclusion. [UPDATE: It is worth noting that the video statement below was delivered to a camera only but in a setting that makes it appear it was in front of a press conference. There were no reporters present to ask questions.]
I have two questions at this point.
1) Could this be a threat to the safety of the 2010 Olympics which are only a couple weeks away?
2) Why the hell is this story not all over the news?
I know the tragedy in Haiti is justifiably consuming every moment of air time but this should not preclude the media from keeping people safe. I live here in Vancouver with my family and we plan on attending several Olympic events but if the RCMP and others can’t give me a sense that they have things under control I am not sure whether I will be simply staying home.
At minimum I would expect some commentary from the blogosphere on memorandum.
Recent articles about this story:
1/17/2010
Police unable to confirm that missing explosive has been accounted for
1/18/2010
B.C. fertilizer unaccounted for in RCMP audit
B.C. RCMP probe case of missing chemicals that can be used as explosives
HCR: Count Me Out!
I have spent the last few days reading numerous blog posts on whether progressives should continue to support the Senate Bill on healthcare reform. These would include posts by Ezra Klein, Nate Silver and Kevin Drum on the pro-side and posts on Daily Kos and FireDogLake on the Con side.
I have come to the conclusion that I can no longer support the “reform” bill in the Senate as it is a gross give away to the insurance industry and does not come close to accomplishing all that we could and should accomplish at this critical point in time with large public support for real reform. I also think that the passage of this bill will be a political disaster for the Democrats.
I would add that having Gibbs & Axelrod call us “irrational” and “insane,” respectively, is not a way to win the support of those of us who have come to a reasoned conclusion that this bill is bad. In fact, it only works to diminish my respect for them and President Obama.
Is Facebook unethical, clueless or unlucky?
This post is a verbatim repost of Jason Calacanis’ email distribution. I am doing this because I find Facebook’s behavior in this matter repulsive and I am seriosly debating whether to cancel my account as a result. The bottom line here is that if you clicked through the recent terms pop up like I did, you will need to return to your privacy settings on Facebook, click to the new “search” section and uncheck the Public Search Results option which is now set, by default to “Allow search engines to access your publicly available info and any information visible to Everyone.”
Just in case you are saying “so what” let me point out that my wife tested out the results of this little stealth move by Facebook by searching Google for her name. The first thing that came up in Google’s search results – less than a day after she accepted the new terms – was a link to her entire friends list on Facebook!
The sordid details can be found below the fold.
Hezbollah = Desertbruise? Mutaa!
This gives new meaning to the worlds oldest profession.
Mohammad, a 40-year old Lebanese Shiite who lives in Hezbollah’s stronghold in Beirut’s southern suburbs, was holding forth on the virtues of resistance, loyalty, and sex. “You could create the most loyal army by providing political power, social services and fulfilling the desires of your men — namely, sexual ones,” he declared.
“And Hezbollah has been very successful in this regard,” Mohammad continued. It is hard to disagree. Hezbollah liberated South Lebanon from Israeli occupation, expanded the Shiite community’s political power within the country, and has provided social services, such as health care and education, to its constituency since the 1980s. Today, it is also working to fulfill the sexual needs of its supporters, though a practice known as mutaa marriage.
Mutaa is a form of “temporary marriage” only acceptable within Shiite communities, one that allows couples to have religiously sanctioned sex for a limited period of time, without any commitments, and without the obligatory involvement of religious figures. In conservative Muslim societies known for their strict sense of propriety, mutaa offers an escape clause. The contract is very simple. The woman says: “I marry myself to you for [a specific period of time] and for [a specified dowry]” and the man says: “I accept.” The period can range between one hour and a year, and is subject to renewal. A Muslim woman can only marry a Muslim man, but a Muslim man can temporarily marry a Muslim, Christian, or Jewish woman, as long as she is a divorcée or a widow. However, those interviewed for this article confirmed that Hezbollah-the “Party of God”-has allowed the practice to spread to virgins or girls who have never married before, as long as the permission of her guardian (father or paternal grandfather) is obtained.
The Dog and Pony Show That is Our Government
When your entire political system is based on finding “language” that disguises your actual intentions this is what you get.
While arguing why the Senate’s proposed “0.5 increase in the Medicare payroll tax on upper-income people: individuals earning more than $200,000, families earning more than $250,000″ is unlikely to pass, Frum explains a basic political truth:
As payroll taxes become more “progressive,” the programs they support become more blatantly redistributionist. And smart Democrats from FDR onward have always understood that the secret of popularity for a government program is to appear non-redistributive: everybody pays, everybody gets. Then you can say: It’s insurance, not welfare. With this measure, Medicare becomes more welfare-like and therefore more politically vulnerable.
Which is a start.
A .05% increase in the medicare tax to those earning more than $200,000 (or families earning above $250,000) is not redistribution, it is more like a needle in a haystack. Or a nickel in a pile of hundreds. By the barometer used by the supposed fiscal conservative set, any increase in taxes is tantamount to socialism and therefore leads down a slippery slope at the bottom which can be found Chairman Mao, Castro and Stalin sharpening their cutlery.
But that is not what makes me so ill about this post. What makes me sick is Sullivan’s “basic truth.” The fact is that if you are a Democrat, in order to fund any legislative program conventional wisdom dictates – read the wisdom doled out by the Republicans – that you find a way to hide that your are paying for it. If you can not, which is of course the case, then you are bound to fail unlike the “smart Democrats from FDR onward.”
What a load of bull. The secret of creating a popular government program is not scamming up a way to make the top 1% of the economic strata happy. It is making a program that works for the majority of Americans.
ACORN? Really?
Ok, I know I have been out of the loop for a while here but how did this one completely miss my radar? 52% of Republicans think ACORN stole the election for Barack Obama? That is either some serious mass delusion or highly effective propaganda.
The poll asked this question: “Do you think that Barack Obama legitimately won the Presidential election last year, or do you think that ACORN stole it for him?” The overall top-line is legitimately won 62%, ACORN stole it 26%.
Among Republicans, however, only 27% say Obama actually won the race, with 52% — an outright majority — saying that ACORN stole it, and 21% are undecided. Among McCain voters, the breakdown is 31%-49%-20%. By comparison, independents weigh in at 72%-18%-10%, and Democrats are 86%-9%-4%.
Now, the obvious comparison would be that many Democrats felt that George W. Bush didn’t legitimately win the 2000 election. But there are some clear differences.
First of all, Al Gore empirically won the national popular vote in 2000, and lost in a disputed recount process in Florida. By comparison, John McCain lost the national popular vote by a 53%-46% margin.
In order to believe that Obama wasn’t the true winner of the 2008 election, one would have to think that ACORN (and perhaps other groups) stuffed ballots to the tune of over 9.5 million votes, Obama’s national margin.
“Legal, yes; ethical, NO.”
Have you ever got hit with a $1.99 data charge on your Verizon bill for accidentally hitting a button that connects you to “Get It Now” or “Mobile Web?” This design “flaw” might be netting Verizon $300 million per year.
Apparently Palin Lied…
Thirty two times according to Andrew Sullivan.
Remember: we are not including contested stories that we cannot prove definitively one way or another or the usual spin that politicians use, or even hypocrisy or shading of facts. We are merely including things she has said or written that can be definitively proven as untrue, by incontestable evidence in the public record.
Go see the list for yourself. All I can say is I wish all public officials were forced under the same microscope Sully has Palin under.
Who Is Leading The Charge Against Health Care Reform
According to this AP piece there is at least one shadowy group that wishes to remain unknown.
One clue to the mystery group may lie in its goals: to oppose any government-run insurance option, the approach favored by President Barack Obama and most Democrats, and to support requiring all Americans to buy insurance.Those aims match two of the health insurance industry’s top priorities. Several industry officials disavowed any knowledge of the group and said they’re not behind it, including the trade group America’s Health Insurance Plans, Blue Cross-Blue Shield of North Carolina, and other large national and North Carolina insurers.
‘They want to stay in the background’
Presented evidence that the activities in Maine, Nevada and Louisiana involved employees of Moore & Van Allen, one of North Carolina’s larger law firms, the firm’s spokesman Matthew French acknowledged the connection and said the firm runs the health care group for clients. He declined to name them, but he referred to “member companies of AQAH,” the group’s acronym.“They want to stay in the background and off the front page,” said French. “They want the message to be the important thing.”
Moore & Van Allen has more than 300 attorneys and numbers financial, manufacturing, technology and health companies among its clients, although it won’t name them. It says they include “some of America’s foremost hospitals, multi-institutional health care systems, physician groups, specialty providers, lenders and insurers.”
French would not discuss the health group’s financing or provide much detail about its activities, saying it gives materials to like-minded organizations to distribute to their members.
The three states where the group’s activities have been noticed are focal points of the health care fight. Nevada is home to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, a Democrat who is putting together the Senate’s health overhaul bill. Louisiana and Maine are represented by two senators viewed as swing votes: Mary Landrieu, D-La., and Olympia Snowe, R-Maine.
French acknowledged the group is hoping its activities will build pressure on lawmakers.
“Obviously we want to educate to an end purpose. Otherwise we’re just kind of preaching to trees,” he said.
So the question remains, should a group with this much money and influence remain anonymous? I am not suggesting this is the case here, but if any group is allowed to hide their principles and their funding from public view what is to prevent nefarious foreign interests from participating in the U.S. political process?
The Japanese Reinvent the Mobile Home
Talk about a trailer park upgrade!
Designed by Toyo Ito & Associates, Architects
Google Search Box Fun
Michael Agger at Slate got the ball rolling by putting Google Suggest through it’s paces and trying to identify the most awkward Google suggestions. What he has uncovered is that there are some seriously messed up people out there. Seriously.
Yikes
Palin Contemplated Suing Sully
Then realized she would lose.
At one point, according to people familiar with the discussions, Ms. Palin considered pursuing a libel suit against at least one blogger, the Atlantic’s Andrew Sullivan. Ms. Palin decided against such a move because of the publicity it would bring.
Mr. Sullivan, in response, said asking “factually verifiable questions is obviously not libel.”
A spokeswoman for Ms. Palin didn’t respond to email requests seeking comment.
And so the pattern of refusing to be accountable on anything continues.
By the way, that is one hell of a stash Sully has going eh?
Which reminds me, I am two weeks into my crazy Movember stash and any and all donations are welcome!
Sunday Afternoon Distraction
I give you, “God’s Hands.”
ht to Gizmodo.
Donate to CFLF
Blogroll
Pennsylvania Blogs
The Liberal Media
Blogging Liberally
Advertising
Comments From Left Field is a member of...
Memeorandum
Archives
- 2010: J F M A M J J A S O N D
- 2009: J F M A M J J A S O N D
- 2008: J F M A M J J A S O N D
- 2007: J F M A M J J A S O N D
- 2006: J F M A M J J A S O N D
- 2005: J F M A M J J A S O N D
- 2004: J F M A M J J A S O N D
- 2003: J F M A M J J A S O N D
Blog Stuff
