Tuesday News and Notes

Headlines and interesting stories from around the web:

Oil is now around $37 a barrel. Tim Blair gloats at the expense of Bill Moyers, which is alway funny.

Charles Johnson is tireless when it comes to uncovering fauxtography and faux videos. It's good to see him get some pub.

Mmmmm...Raccooooon. It must have been a slow news day at McClatchy.

Rest assured that neither Bill Clinton or Rod Blagojevich can get away with this defense.

Speaking of LGF; go now and vote for the Fiskie nominee that signify the Idiotarian of the Year. The MSM is in the lead but with the year they've had, it's kind of like rubbing salt in the wound so I went with Al Gore. He's had a bad year with the whole global warming thing looking more and more inane to a large swath of the nation but for all he's put us through, there's not enough salt in the Pacific Ocean to rub in his open sore.

Harry Reid Loses Again

Harry Reid is the Detroit Lions of politics. The dude somehow weaseled his way into the Senate leadership chair and has proven to be the most ineffective leader in decades. Now he gets outsmarted by a politically impotent, impeached, corrupt governor who for all intents and purposes shouldn't even still be in office

The Roland Burris saga is over, as Democratic Senate leaders have accepted his credentials, clearing the way for him to be sworn in as the junior senator from Illinois by the end of this week.

The decision ends an embarrassing chapter in Democratic politics and allows the Senate to move on after the Burris spectacle dominated the opening week of the 111th Congress

In a statement issued after a 45-minute meeting between Senate officials and Burris’ lawyers, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and Senate Majority Whip Richard J. Durbin (D-Ill.) said Burris is the senator-designate from Illinois now that the secretary of the Senate has approved his latest credentials.

Congratulations Senator Reid, you've now proven that even a complete imbecile can become a Senator if they play the shady game well. You've also once again proven that no matter how much of a moron one is, the Democrats will make him their leader.

The Obama Next Issue; Richardson Withdrawals Name

The One has not even been inaugurated and he has been enveloped in two major ethics issues. The Blago mess won't subside anytime soon but he managed to oust the source of the next one:

New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson has withdrawn his nomination to be President-elect Barack Obama's commerce secretary amid a grand jury investigation.

Obama's transition office said Sunday that Obama has accepted Richardson's withdrawal.

A federal grand jury is investigating how a California company that contributed to Richardson's political activities won a lucrative New Mexico state contract.

A person familiar with the proceedings has told The Associated Press that the grand jury is looking into possible "pay-to-play" dealings between CDR Financial Products and someone in a position to push the contract through with the state of New Mexico.

It's amusing that they say Obama "accepted Richardson's withdrawal" when it was most-likely Obama demanding his withdrawal.

Obama is trying to reach Clintonian levels of scandal even before he sets foot in the Oval Office and the way things are going, he'll go well above those levels.

So we now have another prominent Democrat under an ethics cloud and who was trusted by Obama enough to be offered a cabinet post. The Messiah seems to be one hell of a judge of character to put together this group of ethically challenged misfits.

Burris Once Sought Death Penalty for Innocent Man

What a nice guy Blago selected:

Illinois attorney general Roland Burris, embattled Gov. Rod Blagojevich's pick to replace Barack Obama in the Senate, is no stranger to controversy.

Public fury over the governor's alleged misconduct has masked the once lively debate over Burris' decision to continue to prosecute, despite the objections of one of his top prosecutors, the wrong man for a high-profile murder case.

While state attorney general in 1992, Burris aggressively sought the death penalty for Rolando Cruz, who twice was convicted of raping and murdering a 10-year-old girl in the Chicago suburb of Naperville. The crime took place in 1983.

But by 1992, another man had confessed to the crime, and Burris' own deputy attorney general was pleading with Burris to drop the case, then on appeal before the Illinois Supreme Court.

Raise your hand if you believe that The Politico would have even printed this if Burris was supported by Obama. If Obama wanted Burris, this story would have buried deeper than the John Edwards banging Rielle Hunter investigation.

Anyway, nice guys they have in Chicago politics, huh? Blagojevich could have selected someone without the baggage of this guy but Burris fit the profile he wanted: black, not supported by The One and a history of some unsavory doings. Blago wants a battle and this guy was a means to an end for him.

Blago Gives Dems the Finger

One thing you can always count on is this: whenever the Democrats win, they will instantly fall into disarray and get nothing done. Think Nancy Pelosi's Congress or Harry Reid's Senate.

The latest incident involves the Blagojevich Senate selection to replace Obama. Here we are, less than three weeks from the inauguration and all anyone is talking about is the Blago scandal and Illinois politics--well, that's the grownups who are actually covering politics, the "big media" (I.E. The Washington Post) are embarrassingly salivating (and that's the dudes) over Obama's pecs or printing clear Palestinian propaganda so they really don't count.

Blago selected a man who has has some success in elections, is a black man and seems to be qualified to succeed The One. He did this after Harry Reid and the Senate told him not to. Of course, no one cares what Harry Reid says so I didn't expect Blago to cede his authority to the shady man from Vegas. Instead, Blago not only selected Roland Burris but played the race card in the process:

Taking to the podium at the end of a bizarre, shambolic press conference in which Governor Rod Blagojevich sought to appoint Roland Burris to the US Senate, Congressman Bobby Rush dared white Democratic senators to block a black man from joining their ranks.

He urged people "not to hang or lynch the appointee as you try to castigate the appointer" and, after saying repeatedly that Burris would be the only African-American in the Senate, said that he believed no senator would want "to go on record to deny one African-American from being seated in the US Senate".

...As he left the room, Blagojevich echoed Rush, saying: "Feel free to castigate the appointer but don't lynch the appointee."

Live by the race card, die by the race card but I digress.

So now, Reid will have to either accept the legal nomination of Burris or fight a battle to keep Burris out--a nice racial skirmish that Dems have been loathe to nut up on before. Blago looked around and saw that he was quickly shunned by the party establishment so he decided to telling them to screw themselves and go about his duties. They want him gone and the bad press to end, he says "hell no" and the scandal continues. Blago is the best thing to happen to conservative commentators since the primaries.

As I said before, every time the Dems get ahead, they end up looking stupid. Obama wins, gays slur Blacks for their support of Prop 8. Obama wins, Rahm Emanuel gets caught up in the Blago scandal. Obama wins, liberals are pissed at his selection of Rick Warren to give the invocation and his choices for his cabinet. Obama wins, a Black man is about to be vilified by his own party and the racism charges are already flying.

It's awesome, isn't it?

Tuesday News and Notes

The second to last day of the year saw Rod Blagojevich give the finger to the Senate and other news. it's all below.

Sarah Palin selected as Most Desirable Celebrity Neighbor. Probably because she is like most of the neighbors you already have.

The 7 Biggest Political Blunders of the Year.

San Francisco "Progressives" not really all that progressive. It sounds as though they're a bit racist...how dare they in this year of hope and change.

Shocka! Bias at CNN.

Paris helps the Aussie economy.

The Top Ten News Stories of 2008

It's been a weird year to say the least. One in which history was made on several fronts while issues that were paramount twelve months ago have gone by the wayside.

Here's my list of top stories.

10. The Mumbai Terror Attacks
A small group of Islamic zealots attacked a train station, a Jewish center (where they tortured the Jews) and two hotels and held one of India's most important cities hostage for days. This incident showed once again how a small group of motivated Muslim terrorists can attain maximum news coverage and kill the maximum amount of people including women and children to attain their goals. The repercussions have yet to be completely felt as India and Pakistan are in a hostile mode still.

9. The Irrelevance of Environmentalism/Global Warming Hysteria
Last year at this time, the global warming alarmist's were looking as if they were going to win; they had a huge majority of people convinced that the Earth is getting warmer and it is either the fault of the human race as a whole or the US in particular. Then gasoline hit $4.00 per gallon and every one's sense of environmentalism was tossed to the side of the road. "Drill baby drill" became the rallying cry. Add to that the record low temps experienced in Southern California, Las Vegas and parts of Europe and the words of Al Gore seem to have lost much of their urgency. Global warming has been disproved to all except the worshippers at the altar of Gaia.

8. The Mortgage Meltdown
A recession was already in the offing but the financial crisis got infinitely deeper when many established firms were rocked by a sudden drop in housing prices and foreclosures. Government sponsored entities Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were shown to have been the main contributors along with inane government policies implemented by the likes of Barney Frank and Chris Dodd. Because of their policies, corporations that were big players for a hundred years suddenly ceased existing.

7. Obama Beats Hillary
He started in Iowa and gained traction before crossing the finish line on vapors. Fueled by enormous donations and former Clinton cronies who bailed on Hillary when they saw the wind blowing in Obama's direction, BHO delivered several knock-out blows. His campaign used the race card expertly and that card trumped the sexism card in the end. Amazingly, the media dropped the candidate they've been shilling for since 2004--Hillary--and instead used the same tactics against her that they've been using against Republicans for decades. The schadenfreude was awesome to say the least.

6. Government Bails Out Businesses
President Bush gave the finger to the free market system and bailed out Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, Banks and AIG. American auto manufacturers were also given assistance (except Ford) without even providing a clear plan to solvency and sustainability. We, the American taxpayer, became the owners of some of the biggest firms on the planet.

5. Natural Disasters
As in most years, nature will make us remember who's boss. Hurricanes in Texas, Cyclones in Myanmar and earthquakes in other areas such as China killed tens of thousands. While Hurricane Ike caused massive damage to the Texas Gulf Coast, the people of that area managed to pick themselves up and dust themselves off without free handouts from FEMA, concerts played for their benefit or any of the things that were afforded to those who suffered in the aftermath of Katrina.

4. The Downfall of Many (Democrat) Politicians
Rod Blagojevich, Charles Rangel, Wayne Bryant, Vincent Fumo, Chris Dodd, Eliot Spitzer...They all had bad years ethics-wise. The Blago scandal will play out well into 2009 and Obama and Rahm Emanuel will get drawn deeper into it due to the amateurish way they've dealt with their first scandal. It seemed like it was only Republicans getting indicted for corruption (and we had our share), but this year was the year of the Democrat perp walk. Look for more as we move into the new year.

3. Sarah Palin Enters the Political Landscape
Like a meteor or someone with more staying power? That's yet to be decided but Governor Palin electrified the conservative base and turned a landslide Obama victory into just a win. She energized crowds and was credited by Sen. Chambliss with putting him over the top in Georgia. No one has had to weather the withering negative media attention directed at her on issues not even related to politics: her daughters pregnancy, insane, formerly respected members of the media calling into question whether or not her child was actually her child, members of that same group of heathens questioning (and then cowardly deleting his post) whether her pre-natal care contributed to her son Trig's Down Syndrome and myriad other biased attacks. While Obama was not even vetted on the most basic issues, Palin was subjected to a media enema on a daily basis and smiled the entire time.

2. Obama Wins Presidential Election
America is not racist. Who knew? Well, many of us did but it took a man from Chicago's machine politics to prove it. BHO bested the Clintons and whooped an outwitted McCain in the general election while maintaining an above the fray approach thanks to a compliant media. Interestingly, once Obama won he realized that he would be insane to govern from the far-left like he promised the barking moonbats on the left and has nominated a fairly center-left cabinet. The liberals are still insane over this, a fact that makes me very happy.

1. The US Wins the War in Iraq
To the consternation of liberals (and the media) the world over, the American military turned around a certain loss into a rousing victory. The defeat that liberals wanted so badly was in their grasp and President Bush, John McCain and a General named Petraeus constructed a strategy that led to a coalition government with a mandate and the eradication of Baathism in Mesopotamia. Plus, it was the central fight in the greater War on terror and we made a serious statement to al-Qaeda. Our boys and girls did it with skill, brains and guts and should be commended. Note that this barely makes any of the top ten news stories of this year on any major news site. It only goes to prove the bias if you ask me; where else but in America circa 2008 can a nation win a war that was considered lost and it not be the top news story of that year?

Tuesday Evening News and Notes

Plenty of new posts below. Here's some other great stuff from around the net:

Blogs are influential. The NY Times even says so. I guess someone still reads that rag.

A must read about the declining city of Detroit. Matt Labash writes like I wish I could. Picture at right of modern day Detroit courtesy of this site.

Richard Cohen's panties are in a wad over Obama choosing Rick Warren to deliver the invocation at the inauguration.

A convenient document dump. Obama's in Hawaii, his internal report on the Blago disaster is released two days before Christmas and it shows that they have been lying. Emanuel had more than one discussion with Blago (perhaps multiple).

Sen. Chris Dodd, the man who had the responsibility of overseeing the banking industry and took advantage with sweetheart loans from Countrywide still refuses to discuss his shady dealings.

More good news for bloggers.

Savor the Schadenfreude: Jesse Jackson Jr. Claim Blago Shook Him Down

Jesse Jackson Jr, was a rat for the government against Blagojevich for quite awhile according to published reports. The fact that he would break the code of omerta in Chicago is stunning but not nearly as stunning as this:

In addition, two sources close to Jackson told CNN that, in 2002, Blagojevich -- then running for governor of Illinois -- solicited a $25,000 campaign donation from Jackson, which he did not get.

At the time, Jackson's wife, Sandi, was a candidate for the job of director of the state's Lottery Commission, a post she did not win, the sources said.

After Blagojevich took office, in early 2003, he told Jackson something to the effect of, "You see what $25,000 would have done?" the sources said.

In 2006, Jackson reported the incident, which he believed to have been an attempt at a shakedown, the sources said.

Um, Junior? Your old man made shaking down people an art form. He'd play the race card and promise to bring them bad press if they didn't play along with him--the ultimate shakedown.

I find it quite ironic that JJJ was on the shakee end and not the shaker.

Blagojevich/Obama Update

The very hot Kirsten Powers parrots me and says the Obama team has botched their first almost scandal and turned it into a real scandal.

Blago hires one hell of a lawyer and the impeachment process stalls. Bonus: He retains the power to select the next Senator. Nice job, Illinois legislature.

Karl Rove has some fun at the expense of Blago and Obama. Payback is most certainly a serious bitch.

Rahm Emanuel is on tape 21-times talking to Blago. Sweet.

Nancy Pelosi makes sure that Emanuel and Obama know who's in charge and it ain't them.

45% Believe Obama Involved in Blago Scandal

That isn't very reassuring for the incoming president. Americans are generally not stupid people and have seen more than enough scandal coming out of Chicago to know that winning elections there requires some shenanigans and a you scratch my back mentality. Hell, JFK had his election bought for him there.

Still, a man who was elected on a platform of hope and change isn't too respected if 45% believe he or someone in his staff was involved with Blago:

Forty five percent (45%) of U.S. voters say it is likely President-elect Obama or one of his top campaign aides was involved in the unfolding Blagojevich scandal in Illinois, including 23% who say it is Very Likely.

Just 11% say it is not at all likely, according to a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey taken Thursday and Friday nights.

Voters nationally are more skeptical than those in Illinois. Thirty-two percent (32%) of Illinois voters said in a survey late last week that there is no way Obama was involved in the Blagojevich case, while only 13% said it is Very Likely that the president-elect was involved, with another 13% saying it is Somewhat Likely.

This is a textbook example of how not to handle a scandal. This story should have been forgotten by now but Blagojevich isn't playing along and Obama is stammering with his answers or not answering at all. He looks guilty of something and ignoring it isn't going to make it disappear.

US Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald will play it straight and start talking about a reduced sentence for Rezko who's talking and once Blago realizes that he's not going to win and a jail term awaits, he'll start screeching too.

That's all fine and good with me.

Update: This is another example of how amateurish the Obama transition people are. They have completed their investigation, of course found no one did anything wrng but won't release it until next week. Another week for a scandal that could have been taken care of within a day or two. If this is how his administration is going to be, the GOP will gain back majority status in both the House and the Senate in 2010.

As an added bonus, Rahm Emanuel was cordial but still hasn't said squat to the press.

Saturday Afternoon News and Notes

Just sitting around watching unranked Temple beat #8 Tennessee. here's what happenin around the Net:


Frank J is Senate Candidate #5.

Expect Hugo Chavez to have some serious internal problems real soon.

Bush was no "unilateralist".

More problems for Big Labor. It hasn't been a good week for unions.

Chris Matthews is a joke as is most of MSNBC.

Drip, Drip, Drip; Emanuel Gaves Blago Senate List

It's been a long week for the President-elect with the Blago scandal breaking and his amateurish handling of it. Todays news on the scandal includes the fact that Emanuel gave Blago's people a list of what they considered "acceptable" Senate replacements:

Emanuel, who has long been close to both Blagojevich and Obama, has refused to respond to questions about any involvement he may have had with the Blagojevich camp over the Senate pick. A spokeswoman for Emanuel also declined to comment Friday.

One source confirmed that communications between Emanuel and the Blagojevich administration were captured on court-approved wiretaps.

Another source said that contact between the Obama camp and the governor's administration regarding the Senate seat began the Saturday before the Nov. 4 election, when Emanuel made a call to the cell phone of Harris. The conversation took place around the same time press reports surfaced about Emanuel being approached about taking the high-level White House post should Obama win.

Emanuel delivered a list of candidates who would be "acceptable" to Obama, the source said. On the list were Obama adviser Valerie Jarrett, Illinois Veterans Affairs director Tammy Duckworth, state Comptroller Dan Hynes and U.S. Rep. Jan Schakowsky of Chicago, the source said. All are Democrats.

Can any of those people now be considered to take the seat with these revelations? Of course they were not involved as far as we know but aren't they now tainted?

Second, let us hear what they have Emanuel on tape saying. I'm sure the transcript would make for entertaining reading with plenty of expletives and quid pro quos discussed.

Fitzgerald can let this thing linger until January 20th and beyond because the scandals are always worse when hot confronted directly. Rahm Emanuel has allowed this to stain the transition team and the President-elect by clamming up and avoiding answering questions and has given us a glimpse into just how secretive the new administration will be. It's evident that hope and change will mean duck and weave instead.

News and Notes For a Cold Friday Night

Blogging's been light because of the thousand and one other things going on.

Here's some snippets from todays news:

Jonah Goldberg:

For starters, the folks at the Chicago Tribune are Christmas Pony Happy because Blago tried to strong-arm the Trib’s owners to fire members of the editorial board. Instead, Trib editors will get to have a big tailgate party outside Blago’s cell window.

The automaker bailout plan is crashing without an airbag. The GOP is playing hardball. It's quite simple: make a car people like and we'll buy it, make junk that costs too much and we won't.

New Jersey is pissed that all the corruption focus is on Chicago. Of course we can't let those Midwest whiners take all the ink. Hey, Lautenberg got in illegally but this may be the one to finally tarnish him.

Blagojevich is a Democrat? Who knew?

Hugo Chavez is in a bad predicament. Oil is plummeting, his country is in disarray and he's starting to become even more despotic. It sure seems like a nice time for a coup sponsored by by Colombia who owe him one.

Bad Bush.

Rahm Emanuel Up To His Neck in Blago Scandal

And don't be surprised if he's not the most senior administration official to be exposed.

This Fox News Chicago report says that Emanuel spoke to Blagojevich "numerous times" about the open Senate seat, which has to lead one to suspect that Fitz has him on tape. What did he say and when did he say it?

If Emanuel is proven to have offered anything or even done anything shady, Obama will have to oust him and his first few months will be ugly. Let's hope Fitz gets him under oath and asks the tough questions.

This could easily lead to Obama as it's already up to his Chief of Staff. The media makes it a point to note that Obama had nothing to do with this as they are covering for the man like they always have (like Johnathan Alter on Imus this morning saying Obama was too smart and too honest to get caught up in the muck of Chicago politics) but if there's even an inkling he was involved, it'll be a rough start for The One.

Rezko Sings, Blago Stonewalls and Obama Sweats

It isn't going away soon. With Rezko talking and trying to save his skin, the entire political Democratic establishment in Chicago must be sweating bullets:

"Tony" Rezko's offer to provide authorities with evidence of others' wrongdoing is "not complete," and prosecutors are working to corroborate the claims he has made so far, the footnote said.

Rezko, a 53-year-old developer, was convicted in June of 16 criminal counts, including fraud, money laundering and abetting bribery. He is in custody awaiting sentencing.

Prosecutors depicted Rezko at trial as a fixer for Blagojevich and the man to see to secure a high-level appointment with the governor's administration. Rezko had been a longtime fundraiser for Blagojevich and other Illinois politicians, including Obama.

But Fitzgerald never mentioned anything about another scandal; the Obama/Rezko land deal where the Obama's made out like bandits thanks to the largess of Rezko. Should a special prosecutor be named, the probe will most-certainly expand to include that transaction.

As for Blagojevich, I would be very surprised if the guy didn't keep every single e-mail and maybe even tape calls and conversations. He plays hardball and he knows that every correspondence could be one that brings him power by holding it as a trump cards (or a get out of jail free card as it were. If he has any info that he's withholding, especially if it implicates Obama after The One has already gone on record as saying he was not involved, we would be looking at the biggest scandal since at least Lewinsky but since this involves subverting the electoral process, would be much worse.

Let's see how it plays out but one would be an utter fool to think that Obama has no skeletons in the Chicago political closet. He'd be very wise to start letting those dark secrets out while he has a bit of a honeymoon than letting them trickle out day-by-day.

Laugh of the Day: Left-Wing Rag Says Media Biased

Savor the schadenfreude my friends:

There's just no reason for reporting like this. Is Obama connected to Blagojevich's scandal? No, but the scandal is "threatening to dog him." Has Obama done anything wrong? No, but Republicans are going to "try to link him to the scandal."

Well, yes, of course they are. That's what political opponents do. We're supposed to have an independent, professional press that helps the public cut through the nonsense and explain why baseless attacks are wrong. Instead, we get an "analysis" piece like this one.

If we had an "independent, professional press" the country have known that Obama supported Blago, all about the Rezko scandal, Ayers, Rev. Wright and the myriad other seedy folks Obama has hung with over the years. But no, they chose to protect him and not properly vet him because they wanted him to win, plain and simple.

How ironic that the medias utter lack of professionalism and failure to live up to their collective responsibilities results in a scandal before Obama can even take office.

What a joke that this clown is down on the media for reporting a scandal where the governor of a state offered to sell a Senate seat to the highest bidder and had a previous relationship with the President-elect. Even they couldn't avoid the utter disrespect for the sanctity of everything America holds dear Blago just pissed on.

Welcome to our world, a world where we deal with this daily.

My heart pumps piss for The One.

More on Obama and Blagojevich

Too much damn fun for one blogger to have. The coronation is only weeks away and The One is forced to answer unseemly questions about corruption.

My favorite is this relic dug up by Jake Tapper:

On the Chicago TV show "Public Affairs with Jeff Berkowitz" on June 27, 2002, state Sen. Obama said, "Right now, my main focus is to make sure that we elect Rod Blagojevich as Governor, we..."

"You working hard for Rod?" interrupted Berkowitz.

"You betcha," said Obama.

"Hot Rod?" asked the host.

"That's exactly right," Obama said.

In 2004, then-Gov. Blagojevich enthusiastically endorsed Obama for the Senate seat after he won the nomination, and Obama endorsed Blagojevich for his 2006 re-election race in early 2005.

"You betcha"? Obama channeled Sarah Palin before she was even known? Does that mean that all those who busted on Palin for using such plain English will now apologize?

Doubtful, but I digress.

There's a thread in here where Obama will be tied and it will be revealed that he was in with all these dirtbags. Clinton's staff feared "bimbo eruptions", Obama's staff better sure as hell fear Blago eruptions because the dude is now tainted.

Order me up one serious special prosecutor, pronto.

The awesome awesomeness of this is too much. If the media had actually done their job and vetted BHO, they'd have found the connection or at least be able to report that there was none. Instead, they were too busy opining just how great this guy is. Now they'll have to report for the next month his involvement or non-involvement instead of feel-good stories about the inauguration.

Second piece of awesomeness, the libs aren't even trying to find a good side because they know...they just know.

Better yet: did Rahm Emanuel sell out the guv to protect The One? That would be Chicago politics on a grand scale. Is this why Blagojevich isn't stepping down so he can rub it right back in their faces?

Awesome.

This is a right-wing bloggers dream.

Update: Sean Hannity's punching bag soft-peddles it and says that Blagojevich is "being accused" of selling a US Senate seat. No Alan, he was indicted. Any idiot who made it past third grade can see from the transcripts that the governor was actively selling the seat to the highest bidder and clearly was shitting on what many Americans consider one of the greatest parts of our nation. Alan, of course, is covering for this scumbag.