Client Number Nine is Afraid of Chuckles

Say what you will about Client Number Nine, a/k/a Eliot Spiter, b/k/a disgraced former governor of New York, he is not a brave man.   Maggie Haberman, New York Post:

Less than 18 months after he left Albany in a prostitution scandal, Spitzer has held informal discussions in recent weeks about the possibility of making a bid for state comptroller or the US Senate seat currently held by Kirsten Gillibrand, sources said.

Michelle seem to suggests that Silda just wants to get Eliot out of the house.   Ed Morrissey,  Hot Air, offers a reason why:

It’s not only hypocritical, it’s corrupt.  And worst of all, Spitzer dragged his wife onto the dais with him when he resigned instead of standing by himself and taking his medicine.  That takes a special kind of testicular inadequacy, one that should stick to him like a political tattoo

Moe Lane suggests Client Nine just does not like women:

As to his chances… well, he’s anti-Wall Street, a particularly annoying sort of moralist, and not very nice, which would be positive traits to progressive Democrats; he’s got a history of at-best questionable treatment of women, which would be… not really a deal-breaker for progressive Democrats, apparently; and progressive Democrats don’t like Gillibrand.  So Spitzer might actually have a shot.

While Senator Schumer likes to fancy him the smartest man in the room, like the late Senator Oldsmobile, Chuckie never passed a bar either.    If Spitzer had gonads half the size of his ego, he would take on Schumer and not Kristen Gillibrand.    But we all know bullies are essentially cowards.

Welcome one and all to the most intense nightly read anywhere on the ‘sphere… The BitsBlog Nightly Ramble

• THE GREEN TREE HAS RED ROOTS: That’s axiomatic anymore, and is clearly demonstrated in this American Power article.
• WHAT HAPPENS WHEN DEMOCRATS ENCOUNTER ACTUAL FREE SPEECH: Gateway Pundit explans. Interestingly, this is exactly the kind of thing Stalin used, further confirming the ‘green tree’ saying.
• SOME “NEXT RIGHT”: Henke wants the right to throw out the Birthers. Along with anyone else with principle, apparently.
  

  The Birthers are the Birchers of our time, and WorldNetDaily is their pamphlet.  The Right has mostly ignored these embarrassing people and organizations, but some people and organizations inexplicably choose to support WND through advertising and email list rental or other collaboration.

  Having argued with the man for a lot of years, this doesn’t even raise an eyebrow with me, anymore. What Henke’s been trying to do… for years now… even before the laughably named “Next Right” came along… is ignore principles so as to gain power for his own political vision.

  The Birthers are the Birchers of our time, and WorldNetDaily is their pamphlet.  The Right has mostly ignored these embarrassing people and organizations, but some people and organizations inexplicably choose to support WND through advertising and email list rental or other collaboration.  For instance, I have been told that F.I.R.E (The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education) – an otherwise respectable group that does important work – uses the WND email list.  They should stop.

  Remember, gang… Labeling people who bring up uncomfortable truths as ‘crazies’ is one of the older tricks in the book….and is straight from “Rules for Radicals”.

  • “Ridicule is man’s most potent weapon.”
  • “Pick the Target, Freeze It, Personalize It and Polarize It”.

  Now, look; Argue if you will that at this stage we might be more productive arguing on other topics. There’s a fair amount to commend that argument. But dismissing those demanding the truth as ‘crazy’ is hardly the way of someone of principle, particularly given how easy it would be for Obama to turn back such questions, and given the effort he’s put into avoiding answering the questions put him.

• TIME”S UP, CHARLIE: Byron York says time is just about up for Tax Cheat Charlie Rangel. Well, I won’t hold my breath on his seeing the jailtime he so richly deserves.   And the thing is, he’s hardly the only one among the Democrats. That’s key… if Rangel has to pay the price for his misdeeds, what of about half of the Obama Czars and cabinet members?
• OBAMA APPORVAL AT 45%: And the Band played on

My younger boy had an end of year trip to Niagara Falls, NY.  Donna brought the camera, and here’s some of what came from that. Drill each one to get the full size.

Welcome one and all to the most intense nightly read on the ‘sphere The BitsBlog Nightly Ramble.

• READ OBAMA”S LIPS: It seems Barry may have to break his “No New Taxes” pledge. Now, I wonder what his supporters would do if a Republican tried to do that. Oh, wait… it’s already been done. We’ve got the reax on record.
• THE EULOGY: Between David and myself, we’ve pretty much plucked this chicken. But I can’t let the Eulogy Obama gave the other day go by without a comment. Clearly, the thing was borderline Wellstone, and given my comments of the other day, I’m not shicked by this at all. Who ism in fact? But you’d think the White House would have eliminated such nonsense.. I guess it’s true, they really can’t help themselves. American Power comments.

• THEY SEEM WORRIED: As well they should be. Harry Ried has one of his thugs following TEA PARTY EXPRESS around.
• THE DEMS AND THE TRIAL LAWYERS: Mark Tapscott looks at the relationship.
• THROW EM ALL OUT: Rasmussen is reporting on the results of a poll that doesn’t bode well for the Democrats, and the RINOs, either:
  

  If they could vote to keep or replace the entire Congress, just 25% of voters nationwide would keep the current batch of legislators.A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 57% would vote to replace the entire Congress and start all over again. Eighteen percent (18%) are not sure how they would vote.

  Now the report suggests that hasn’t changed much since last October. But there’s an interesting point withn the numbers… and one the pollsters themselves don’t make much mention of:

  here has been a bit of a partisan shift since last fall. With Democrats controlling both chambers of Congress, it’s not surprising to find that the number of Democrats who would vote to keep the entire Congress has grown from 25% last fall to 43% today. In fact, a modest plurality of Democrats would now vote to keep the legislators. Last fall, a plurality of Democrats were ready to throw them all out.

  And there lies the key to understanding these numbers in the overall.

Long time readers to this blog will know that I often spend afternoons and evenings trackside, awaiting a train to photograph.  But while I’m waiting, I often shoot the surroundings, weather, sky, birds, animals, even cars, if they’re interesting. I suppose it’s a tribute to the 10,000 monkeys theory that such random and impulsive shots end up being the best of what I do for a given day.  In the days of film, and the cost thereof,  most of these shots would never exist, because  one tends to be a laot more careful about hitting that button. But when all a shot csts you is battery power, you tend to be a little more carefree about it.. and the results are often striking.

Here’s a few such shots, shot and selected at random.

Right Wing News polled 74 conservative bloggers on the health care bills winding their way through Congress.

You can see the results here.

Here are a couple of sample Q&A’s from the poll:

2) If the health care bills moving through Congress are passed, do you believe it would lead to Americans being denied potentially life saving operations to save money?

Yes: 72 (97.3%)
No: 2 (2.7%)

7) Would you be willing to support health care reform that primarily emphasized market based reforms like allowing insurance to be sold across state lines, Health care savings accounts, tort reform, tax breaks for health care given to individuals instead of companies, etc?

Yes: 74 (100%)
No: 0 (0%)

Pretty overwhelming, really. And the fact is, it’s reflective of the population at large to a greater degree than anyone among the Democrats (Which naturally includes the mainstream media) is willing to say.

I will be a guest on “The Beanwalker Live!” this Tuesday at 3:00 PM Central Time.  This is an internet only radio station, which you can find at http://macsworldlive.com. If you miss it, there will be a podcast of it available afterward.

How much to you want to bet that this what Eric really wants to be driving?  From Ben Dobbin, the Associated Press:

(AP Photo/David Duprey)

AVON, N.Y. — After an hour of shunting rail cars aside, a 1964-vintage locomotive operated by Tim “Brown Dog” Carney nudges six hopper-loads down an embankment into a pasta factory. It’s a routine delivery: 540 tons of semolina flour milled in St. Louis from durum wheat grown in North Dakota.

The Livonia, Avon & Lakeville Railroad, a scrappy private firm with 30 employees and $4.5 million in sales, owns just 27 miles of track in a pocket of rural western New York. But it offers bulk freight shippers like Parma, Italy-based Barilla Group customized access to America’s 140,000-mile rail network

Hat tip photo: (AP Photo/David Duprey)

Notice the economics are classic Adam Smith and Milton Friedman.    The government philosophy which inspired the LA&L was classic Gipper,  Ronald Reagan, deregulation, and not Barack Obama taxpayer subsidies and state control.   South Dakota wheat, milled in St. Louis and made into pasta in Avon, New York.   All done by greedy businessmen and not centralized state planners.

ADDENDUM: (Eric)

Indeed. I know the line well.  I know their history.

Let’s illustrate David’s point, here, by virtue of a para from the company website:

Faced with the Erie Lackawanna’s abandonment of the Livonia-Lakeville spur, the Livonia community pulls together to “save the railroad” under the leadership of local bank president Chester Haak and other interested citizens. Following a spirited fundraising campaign, the new Livonia, Avon and Lakeville Railroad Corporation (incorporated on May 15) buys the Livonia-Lakeville Spur from EL for $13,000, or $1,000 a mile

Like the man said.. nothing governmental about it.  Indeed, the govermentw as a problem, not the solution. Note the very next line, (emph is mine):

After threading federal paperwork, the LA&L restarts freight service in 1965 with freight carloadings of fewer than 50 for the year.

LA&L#38, circa 1966 at Livonia, NY

It’s amazing what happens when government gets the hell out of the way.

I have memories of riding that line, years ago, when they owned #38, a 2-8-2 steamer, and were running it as an excursion service. I still have a photo of that train running over US 15, just south of where 15 now intersects with I-390 at exit 9.

That power was eventually moved to the Knox Kane and Kinzua railroad where it served until the high bridge down there blew over in a tornado a couple years ago, after which (March of 2008) some yahoo set fire to the barn all their power was stored in. Totaled all that steam power, all those cars being restored, all that history. True, you can’t melt steam engines, but the metal was too brittle over that to be used. (You can see pics of the resulting mess here.. a sad sight)

The 425 you see pictured here is an ALCO 425 Centrury class, one of 91 sold by American Locomotive Company between 1964 and 1966. Most of them were sold to the Pennsy. This one was originally built for the old New Haven railroad where it bore the number 2557.   ALCO closed the  Schenectady NY plant a couple years after this one left the barn. LAL is a rarity, because they’re an all ALCO line... their entire roster of motive power is ALCO built, and 425, being built in 1964 is the newest of the whole lot.  It’s very rare indeed to see ALCO power being still used in revenue service at all, much less it being the featured… and sole… type of power on a railroad.

And they make it not only work, but look good.

Question, if an man has his dick chopped off, starts wearing dresses and gives himself a girl’s name, what sex is he?   From the Associated Press:

WEST LINN, Ore. — For 20 years, Nicholas Kintz has taught math at West Linn High School. When students return to the classroom this fall, the longtime teacher says they’ll be introduced to Nicole Kintz.

Kintz says she has lived as a woman at home for the past three years but doesn’t want to live that double life anymore. She tells KATU she began notifying the district last year.

In a letter explaining the situation to staff earlier this month, Principal Lou Bailey said the state changed the wording around discrimination a year and a half ago to address gender identity. He wrote that officials “believe we have a teachable moment.”

Evidently,  biology is no longer taught in Oregon.   News flash to the West Linn school district,  Nicholas Kintz was born a male, and he will die a male.   In the real world, sex is immutable.

Welcome one and all to the most intense nightly read on the ‘sphere The BitsBlog Nightly Ramble.

This is the “Remember that white stuff” edition

• OBAMA SUPPORTER BILL RICHARDSON GETS A PASS: Perhaps more correctly, a “get out of jail free” card. Anyone who thinks this isn’t a political choice,  raise your hand.
• 25,000 TEXT MESSAGES? Hell, my two can whip that many off in about 15 minutes.  And they’re sending them all where? And how do they know they’ll have gotten there?  By the angry howls from the beings there, who don’t have unlimited texting on their call plans, I guess. Personally I’d be interested in knowing what kind of government funding is being used to send text messages into space…
• CHARLIE RANGLE: STOOL SAMPLE. It strikes me as being emblematic that the Democrats have an incurable tax-cheating pantload, designing new taxes to take money from you to pay for government giveaways.. taxes he himself doesn’t pay.
• ARROGANCE? WELL, YES. NY Daily News columnist Adrea Tantaros suggests  that President Obama’s arrogance is killing his health care plan. Of course, what Andrea doesn’t say is that it helped create that monster, too. It all events out. Fortunately, most Americans have identified it as being destructive to America.
• THE CATCH 22 SUPERCOMPUTER: Boortz points up today that the weather supercomputer on the UK… the one making all these glorious predictions of our destruction because of global warming’….. is one of the UK’s worst polluters. You can’t make this stuff up.
• WHAT REALLY DOES TURN WOMEN ON? Maureen Rice at the Daily Mail has come up with as a sure hit counter strainer, examining that issue. Interestingly… most of this stuff is fairly common sensical…
  

  Women with high levels of testosterone are much more likely to be ambitious and assertive and to choose traditionally male careers in business and finance. They’re also likely to want more sex (low levels of testosterone have been shown to produce the opposite effect).

  ‘Eureka!’ shout the biologists. This shows that female desire, like male, is rooted in body chemistry.

  Simplistic rubbish, respond the psychotherapists.

  They believe that female desire is made up of physical, emotional, social and relationship factors. If you have poor body image, an uptight family background, bad early sexual experiences or a partner who is insensitive, lazy or just not that nice, then your sex drive very likely would take a nose-dive.

  Well, look, it’s been a few years since I was dating, but I can tel you that’s true. All of it, and all at once. And trust me on this; The factors listed can and usually do, have an additive…(Or subtractive) effect. Add to those, issues of self-worth, (not just body image issues) and you’ve covered, pretty much, DC to Light. Go RTWT.

The use of the death of Ted Kennedy in support of the Democrats and their socialist-style takeover of our healthcare system has been widely noted and decried. It’s crass, at least. Cynical, as well. But it shows us just how desperate the Democrats are to push this monster through and onto the financial shoulders of the American people. The historical pattern is what shows us this.

Few have noted, you see, that this level of cynical crassness this exploitation of the dead, is nothing new to the Democrats.  Do you remember the bald-faced political push at the Paul Wellstone “Funeral”? Well, let me give you a little background. Wellstone was a US Senator from Minnesota, who was in the home stretch of his re-election campaign. A leftist’s dream, Wellstone voted twice against allowing the US to move against Saddam Hussein… not once, but twice, in 1991 and then again in 2002. He was a kind of person though with a personal magnetism that affected those on both sides of the isle in the Senate. He counted Trent Lott, Jesse Helms and Jesse Ventura friends. Anyway, at nearly the end of his last campaign, he died in a plane crash.

So, his supporters, decided to put together a huge memorial service. All the news media were there. And yes, it moved from funeral service to Democrat party pep rally. Reports surfaced that day or such non-Democrat party mourners being booed for merely showing up, much less speaking at the funeral.

Now, oddly, (Or perhaps not so oddly) there’s no footage of this event available on You Tube that I can find… save one, and that one is wrapped in spin by Leftist AL Franken. I guess so long as the event is couched in leftie political spin, it’s OK and YouTube can run it. Otherwise, not so much. Reports from the scene, though suggested that the thing totally morphed into a campaign rally. It was clear the Democrats were desperate at the time, fighting with everything they had, including emotionalism based on a death of one of their own, to win congressional seats. To that effort, the Democrats were completely shameless it it’s partisanship, even to the point of Rick Kahn, who I understand was an associate of Wellstone, urging Republicans to give up their election fight and let Mondale win in the spirit of ‘bipartisanship’. (Thus using a call for bipartisanship as a tool for what can only be labeled the promotion of pure partisanship.) It was at this point, to my memory, that Vin Weber, then an adviser to Coleman, along with most of the reminder of the Republicans, walked out. He was quoted by the Strib as angrily saying:

“What a complete, total, absolute sham”

For so it was. So bad was it that in the postmortem of the election, even the liberal Time Magazine was forced to ask “Did the memorial service for Paul Wellstone cost Democrats the election? “, and conclude:

A backlash against the politically charged service almost certainly helped Norm Coleman beat Walter Mondale for Wellstone’s Minnesota Senate seat. And a private poll by Bill Clinton’s former pollster, Mark Penn, suggests the service backfired on Democrats nationally as well.

So now, we see the same pattern, today, in the Democrat – run Congress, where the Democrats are running almost exactly the same play as they did back in 2002. Apparently, they don’t recall how dearly it cost them last time. Else, they’re so desperate to push this power grab of a ‘healthcare’ bill through that they don’t care, since it’s the only play they have left in their hand.

Or, maybe… just maybe… this kind of political crassness is simply part of what it means to be a Democrat, anymore.

=-=-

As I go to press with this, I note Doug Douglass over at American Power Blog:

The Politico‘s got a piece up, “Conservatives Warn of ‘Wellstone Effect’.” But what’s interesting is the pushback against the meme. Leftists are outraged that right-wingers would take issue with their crass exploitation of Edward Kennedy’s death, so they’ve gone on the offensive to smear conservatives.

Well, I guess that was to be expected. The fact was, and remains that the Democrats can’t help themselves on this stuff.

The chickdom reaction to the passing off Senator Oldsmobile has not been all Nina Burleigh.  First, Eric rambled on the reax of Virginia Postrel:

HE WASN”T AS WELL THOUGHT OF BECAUSE HE SURVIVED: That’s Virginia Postrel, talking about Ted Kennedy. It’s an interesting insight. What might have been is always an easier sell than reality.  And face it, what after all is all this memorializing about Camelot other than bleaching about what might have been?

Then a not so unexpected take by the conservative Darleen Click, Protein Wisdom:

And the cynical laudatory scribblings from the Leftcult’s Vagina Warrior apparatchiks are stomach turning since Teddy was infamous for considering the female half of the nation as nothing more than a box of kleenex in service of his penis’ needs. And, no, being nice to John McCain’s son doesn’t ameliorate Mary Jo’s death.

Darleen is brutal on Kennedy, but her treatment is not without a certain justification.    Then Darleen is a conservative.   On the other claw, Susan Estrich is certainly  not onservative, and is former Kennedy staffer to boot, via Newsbusters:

I’ve been to the bridge at Chappaquiddick. He was flawed. He knew that. The world knew that. Whether you forgive him or not doesn’t matter anymore.

…People made fun of him when he became a senator. He gave them ammunition. Both of his brothers died. He was responsible for the death of Mary Jo Kopechne, and then he failed to alert authorities and take responsibility.

Estrich is an interesting one.   I’ve used her for sport enough, and will again,  but she can write, when she gets out of her cow mentality.    Yes chicks are digging the late Senator Oldmobile,  as using a shovel to throw dirt on him.

Welcome, one and all to the mist intense nightly read anywhere on the sphere… The BitsBlog Nightly Ramble

• Obama: Last of the Kennedy Brothers? Well, let’s hope so. On the other hand, maybe not Consider the words of Limbaugh on the point yesterday:
  

  RUSH:Some people did not believe me when I said Chris Matthews said today that Barack Obama is the last Kennedy brother.  Okay, let’s go to the audio sound bites.  On the Today Show the co-host Ann Curry talking to Chris Matthews, who’s the last of the Marx Brothers.  You had Harpo, Zeppo, Groucho, Gummo, Chico and now Chrisso.  And they’re talking about Kennedy and President Obama.

  MATTHEWS: He wanted to be his brother’s brother, and then he turned that torch over last year to Barack Obama. And the great thing about the Kennedy’s is they always grew as a family. They tended to get better as they got older. This family got better. The Kennedy commitment to civil rights was almost accidental. It began because of history, ’63 and Martin Luther King’s march. By Bobby it became passion, by Teddy it became real, and then Teddy turns it over to the first African American and says, “You got the ball.” Amazing history, Barack is now the last brother.

  RUSH:

  

  Rush Limbaugh

  There you have it, Barack Obama is now the last brother.  Barack Obama, the last Kennedy brother.

  I suppose the argument can be made as Rush indicates later in that clip… that the endorsement of Obama would be seen as such a torch passing. The one point that Chris Matthews isn’t going to tell you, however, is precisely what I said yesterday; the amount of resistance being put up against the policies of the last Kennedy brother currently occupying the White House can be taken as nothing but a repudiation of the policies of the Liberal Lyin’, Ted Kennedy. Now, as Boortz points out today, the Democrats are trying to use the death of that fat drunk to promote their government run healthcare. Of course, with 16 billion mainstream press denizens writing glowing obituaries about the most widely known bridge player from Massachusetts , it’s an understandable ploy.  There’s only one problem; Reality.  The fact of the matter is that not only is Obamacare about as popular among the American voter as raw sewage in the dining room , but on a nationwide basis, and outside the far leftism of the Bay state,  Kennedy’s popularity isn’t much higher than that of the aforementioned sewage.  If anything, tacking Kennedy’s name on to the monstrosity that the Democrat party are pushing on us is probably going to lose them support faster than it gains it.

• HE WASN”T AS WELL THOUGHT OF BECAUSE HE SURVIVED: That’s Virginia Postrel, talking about Ted Kennedy. It’s an interesting insight. What might have been is always an easier sell than reality.  And face it, what after all is all this memorializing about Camelot other than bleaching about what might have been?
• LET THERE BE NO DOUBT… I say again, no doubt it all, about how the Democrats view “bipartisanship”.  the Democrats who dare show the least consideration outside the Demcocrat party line will be pounced on like this.
• HITTING YOU WHERE YOU LIVE: Really. Is there nothing this government won’t try to cut short? end if you ladies think you’re safe from this monster, think again.
• EVOLUTION: I came across, in traffic today, as someone who’s badly kept vehiclebore a sticker  something along these lines. (right)  After looking at what he was driving, and how he was driving it, and how he was interacting with the rest of the people on the road… I must observe…  it never ceases to amaze me the number of people who believe in evolution who have dismally failed in partaking of that process they believe in, in any significant way.  Enough said.

These are from a couple years ago.

They’re taken at Ashtabula, OH. on a chilly day. Long time readers will know I’ve always been a bit of a railfan, and that’s a trait I’ve passed on to my boys. (What boy isn’t fascinated with trains?) We made a trip over to northeastern OH for a treat for the boys… to a fairly heavily trafficked line there. While there, we managed to see a string of new BNSF power… a delivery from the nearby Erie PA plant of General Electric.

On looking at the 40 plus year old SD40 on the point of the train, we figured it was just another local, from a distance. Once it got closer, though, the ground started rumbling, as we saw a flash of orange behind the lead unit, and we knew this was something very special, indeed.

The 40 on the point in it’s better days generated around 3000 horsepower on it’s own. Each one of the dozen or so units behind it were running and were capable of generating 6000 or so horses, each. You can imagine the sound.

The boy in this last shot…(Wearing his mom’s coat for the moment) is my son Alex, who babbled about his good fortune all the way back to Rochester that day.  We had no idea this one was coming. The luck of the draw is an everyday part of railfanning.

• NO TED KENNEDY HEALTHCARE MEMORIAL: There is perhaps no better measurement of Ted Kennedy’s legacy than the lack of a government healthcare takeover. James Pethokoukis suggests:
  

  The pleas for politicos and pundits to refrain from politicizing the passing of Sen. Edward Kennedy are actually quite charming in their naivete. The so-called Last Lion of the U.S. Senate was not even dead half of a day when the politicking began. Proponents of Democratic efforts to reform overhaul America’s troubled healthcare system quickly began urging passage as a tribute to Kennedy’s lifelong efforts on the issue.

  The thing is, A look at the political landscape just now, including the problems just now with installing a government takeover of healthcare… shows clearly the lack of popularity of the policies espoused and promoted by Ted Kennedy. The rapidly rising opposition to the ever increasing role of government promoted by Kennedy and by Obama and the remainder of the Democrats is , I think, the best measurement of what the American people actually think of Mr. Kennedy and his left-leaning politics. Say what you will about his popularity in his home state of Massachusetts.  I view that as an indictment of the people of Massachusetts. That the voters there were stupid enough to send a socialist back to office eight times strikes me is the height of stupidity, particularly given the results. We are fortunate that the remainder of the country has as a rule not acted so regrettably.

• HONORABLE MENTION: at OTB’s Caption Contest
• OBAMA HITS NEW LOW: Again
• DID YOU HEAR ABOUT PATTERSON? Read the first article here.