Dirty Harry Reid, Dumber Than a Brick

Now I will not say that Dirty Harry Reid is the worst Senate Majority Leader ever.   I will say that Dirty Harry is about two pounds of sand short of a brick.   On Meet the Depressed,  Dirty Harry called George W. {Forty-Three) Bush”[T]he worst president we’ve ever had.”   Well that’s Dirty Harry’s opinion, and he is entitled to it.  However this the evidence Dirty Harry cited, CNN:

Reid pointed to Bush’s failed plan to privatize the Social Security program and also said Bush “has done his very best to destroy Medicare” in order support his assessment of Bush’s presidency

Color me impressed, not.   Then if Dirty Harry is going to present one name and two reasons, I give mine.    The name Lyndon B. Johnson and his two wars, the War in Vietnam and the War on Poverty.  Johnson lost both.   I rest my case and await Dirty Harry’s apology.

Then Dirty Harry is too busy picking fights with Rod Blagojevich and losing, to forward an apology.

Charlie Savage in the New York Times, who apparently has suddenly found it’s investigative chops again, now that the danger of Democrats losing power in the recent election has passed….

The Carousel Center In Syracuse

WASHINGTON — An upstate New York developer donated $100,000 to former President Bill Clinton‘s foundation in November 2004, around the same time that Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton helped secure millions of dollars in federal assistance for the businessman’s mall project.

Mrs. Clinton helped enact legislation allowing the developer, Robert J. Congel, to use tax-exempt bonds to help finance the construction of the Destiny USA entertainment and shopping complex, an expansion of the Carousel Center in Syracuse.

Mrs. Clinton also helped secure a provision in a highway bill that set aside $5 million for Destiny USA roadway construction.

The bill with the tax-free bonds provision became law in October 2004, weeks before the donation, and the highway bill with the set-aside became law in August 2005, about nine months after the donation.

The carousel mall is around 90 miles down the road from us here at Casa de Bit.  There most certainly was an increased amount of construction going on in that neighborhood back in 2004.  An awful lot of urban renewal style DEstruction, as well.

In looking at the history of political donations from Mr. Congel, there does not appear to be an ideological leaning toward Democrats.

Certainly, among them, this donation to Clinton’s foundation would seem to be the most outstanding of them, in terms of amounts if nothing else.  More interestingly however is the $4,600.00 donation to  Clinton directly from “Destiny USA ” which appears to be one that the New York Times didn’t report on.

Of course both the developer and Hillary Clinton’s people deny any wrongdoing, and of course they also denied connection between the two events.  After all, who is going to admit to a crime?

But look closely at the link above, and you’ll notice that Congel was a regular contributor to the Bush campaign, contributed $2,000.00 to Fred Thompson’s campaign, and so on.  This is not someone who regularly donates to Democrats.  So, I suppose it’s just a matter of coincidences that a couple of weeks after donating a large sum of money to the Clinton library that Senator Clinton arranges for a new year mark for Mr. Congel’s corporation.  Right?

(edit:(Bit) typo patrol)

BBCT to inbounds from Q&O, Right Wing News Sister Toldjah, and Memeorandum

Addendum: I note now that Bill Richardson has withdrawn his name from the nomination to be secretary of Commerce because of questions about his business dealings.

With Hillary Clinton now being looked at, for the above, I’m forced to ask… Wouldn’t it be far easier to get people all the way through a vetting process before nominating them?

In doing my morning rounds this morning I notice that there’s an awful lot of traffic on Michelle’s place this morning with regards to Habitat for Humanity.  An example:

The battle has been brewing for some time. A quick Google search shows that the New York Times covered the story in June 2007:

Seven years later, Ms. Zeigler is one of more than 50 Fairway Oaks homeowners who have problems with their houses and say they fear that the blitz construction was shoddy and that their land, adjacent to two former town dumps, is unstable or contaminated.

“My pride is gone,” Ms. Zeigler said, pointing to cracks in her house’s ceiling and its concrete slab foundation. “I’ve got a 25-year mortgage, and I’ve got stuff that needs to be addressed or I’m just paying my mortgage in vain, because I won’t have a house in 25 years because it will be falling apart.”

The Fairway Oaks owners took their complaints to Jacksonville Area Legal Aid, and of 56 who answered a survey for Legal Aid, 41 reported cracked concrete slabs, 22 had cracked walls and 48 said their houses were infested with insects or rodents, presumably because of the cracks. Others reported mold or mildew, nails popping out of plasterboard and other problems. The Habitat for Humanity local affiliate, HabiJax, maintains that the land at Fairway Oaks is stable and that most problems there are housekeeping issues, not structural. City inspectors this month examined six houses and found no violations. But in a vulnerable population, the perceptions have a life of their own. A project built with sweat equity and good will has had unintended consequences, and costs.

All Jimmy Carter-bashing and schadenfreude aside, do the residents have a bona fide case or are these professional moochers trying to pin blame on others for their own lack of personal responsibility?

Probably a bit of both. A few of the houses seem to have been clearly uninhabitable. In 2005, the cracks in one foundation reportedly “became so severe that the house had to be lifted and settled on piers. Engineers hired by HabiJax found six feet of debris buried under the soil,” reports the NYT.

But was the entire project tainted?

Note this paragraph in the same NYT article:

In the early 1990s the land held a blighted public housing complex, built on land that had been used, in isolated pockets, as a dump. After complaints by residents, the Environmental Protection Agency tested the soil for contamination. The E.P.A. concluded that the land was safe but noted that two buildings had been demolished because of soil settling, possibly caused by debris decomposing under the soil. A later soil test found elevated levels of arsenic, but the Florida Department of Health determined there was no significant health risk.

Ronnie A. Ferguson, president of the Jacksonville Housing Authority, said the two buildings had been damaged by water runoff, not because of soil instability associated with buried debris.

I’ve watched enough of these “environmental justice” activists to know that they coach their clients to complain about vague ailments (“mysterious skin rashes”) that have no relation in reality to the environmental conditions they claim are the cause. These professional grievance-mongers have blocked countless private redevelopment and remediation projects — and milked tens of millions in settlements — based on bogus scientific and medical claims.

So, we appear to be stuck somewhere between “There’s no such thing as a free lunch”, and “No good deed will go unpunished.  ”

It occurs to me, that if the legal crowd, who is so firmly in the pocket of the Democrats, are  going to do that kind of nonsense against Habitat for Humanity which let’s face it, is also in that same pocket, what are they going to do when the government comes along and tries to play charity, as directed by Democrats?  The answer, of course, is pretty much the same thing.  As Michelle says:

In the end, I can’t say I feel too much sympathy for Jimmy Carter and his Hollywood partners. The Left has stoked both eco-zealotry and the entitlement culture with impunity. Perhaps they’ll feel a little less inclined to feed those beasts after getting bitten squarely in the ass.

Now, I tend to doubt that as an outcome.  That would mean actually learning the lesson being taught  by reality.  Carter and company… the left in general…  have always succeeded in avoiding that outcome… being affected by reality,  over the years.  I have no reason to believe that they’re going to be changing.

It should be said that at least part of this is the entitlement mentality.  As someone who has seen the kind of blight brought about by “public housing” I can tell you that that’s at least half the issue here.  That said, as far as I’m concerned the entitlement crowd, and the enviro-whackjob crowd, jolly well deserve each other.

The pity is, that the poor actually get caught in the middle.

One lesson that all that does not appear to be taught to any of the people going into these Habitat for Humanity homes is that there is no such thing as a maintenance free home.  As an example, since we’re talking about Florida here; mildew isn’t exactly an unheard of thing, even absent any problems with the construction. Same thing with roaches.  Sorry about that, but my guess is that they probably came in with the furniture they brought from wherever they were living previously.  Or clothing, or whatever.  I’ve moved enough people to know. And Mildew? You’ve got to fight it where it shows up. That’s simply part of owning a home.

Then, too, there’s the issue of housekeeping.  There again, there is no such thing as a maintenance free home.  You leave food out, roaches mice and God knows what are going to show up, particularly in places like Florida where bugs have a tendency to thrive.  I mean, come on now, do the whiners really expect us to believe that the HFH folks trucked in roaches for each new house they built?  Granted, that I’d tend to think little of such projects, but on the other hand , there’s a difference between stupid and willfully evil people.  Habitat people can be one or the other, it’s doubtful they are both.

This point about maintenance  seems to me of the same type of nonsense as the supposed credit crunch, though.

Think;  What we have here is a number of people that are ill prepared for home ownership. Putting people in the homes that haven’t the foggiest idea about home maintenance, and who are so busy trying to scratch out a living at their meager job that they don’t have the ability or time to maintain their new places, particularly homes that are going to require more maintenance than usual, as these Habitat for Humanity homes often do, strikes me as singularly stupid.

It amounts to, in the end, nothing more than feel-goodism.
And we certainly know where that leads.  Pretty much, where everything  else Jimmy Carter gets his mitts on, leads. Leftie disaster. Habitat for Humanity is no exception to that rule.

Been there, done that.   Danica Patrick pulled over for speeding, Seatttle Times:

Patrick, 26, was pulled over by Scottsdale police Dec. 9 in her hometown while driving a 2007 Mercedes. A year ago, she was ticketed for driving 57 mph in a 40 mph zone in Scottsdale and was ordered to attend traffic school.

I’ve done sixty in Scottdale.   Believe it was posted forty-five.   Was while back.   Looked  back at my six and saw the Scottsdale PD.    Followed to the city limits and then turned around.   Had mee dead to rights.

Who knew?   Former NBA star Todd MacCulloch now a professional pin ball player, Seattle Times:

It also did not take her husband long to realize there was something of a competitive pinball circuit, with international tournaments and world rankings. And though his basketball career was over, he was soon creating a new one as a pinball player, no matter how little revenue such a pursuit might generate. His career earnings over four years have totaled about $700. His world ranking is 130th, but some of the country’s top pinball players say the number is deceiving since many players build up points by playing the same tournaments every weekend. Since MacCulloch has been playing about six tournaments a year, a top 60 or 70 might be more realistic. He might even be able to make as much as $1,000 a year.

I suppose the professional pin ball circuit is just fine if you have a day job or an NBA contract.   Used to pretty good at  the sit down  version of Pacman.   Should I have turned pro?

Take is as a compliment lady, Daily Mail(UK):

A 40-year-old mother was stunned when Tesco staff refused to let her buy beer – insisting she was too young.

Do the east pond chicks fill out faster?.  Mrs. Hamilton looks good, but have a hard time accepting that she looks eighteen.

Aren’t jokes supposed to be funny, Chicago Tribune:

The governor was arrested by the FBI and faces impeachment proceedings, his appointee to a U.S. Senate seat is in limbo and the state treasury is in shambles—a combination that has turned Illinois into a national punch line.

But who’s laughing around here?

If this is joke, why isn’t Dirty Harry laughing?

Over at Right Wing News, Gina Cobb  quotes a spokesman from Hamas:

“We love death as much as you love life” is an ancient Islamic boast.

And a deeply evil one.

It makes you wonder how exactly Islamists distinguish themselves in their own minds from followers of the devil himself.

If someone deliberately set out to fill the world with the purest evil he could find, wouldn’t the effort prominently feature minions who take delight in bringing about the deaths of innocent men, women and children — including their own?  Wouldn’t some of the proudest moments of these soldiers of hell include incidents like “Beslan” and “9/11” and “Mumbai” and “Nicholas Berg” and “heads found in fruit boxes all over Baghdad” and “suicide bomb detonated in pizza parlor” and “Lockerbie,” just to name a few of the many?

Representatives of the religion of peace

They want that much to die?  It seems to me we should be about accommodating these people.

Of course, there will be those who will be horrified by my comment.  They will tell us that we should be negotiating and trying to keep the peace.  Gina addresses that one:

But where do you even begin, with a culture that firmly believes that a day spent slaughtering innocents is a good day’s work?

The answer, dear reader, is not in negotiation.

The hoax of Anthropogenic Global Warming is  being exposed, even in normally leftarded sources, Harold Ambler, Puffington Post:

To be told, as I have been, by Mr. Gore, again and again, that carbon dioxide is a grave threat to humankind is not just annoying, by the way, although it is that! To re-tool our economies in an effort to suppress carbon dioxide and its imaginary effect on climate, when other, graver problems exist is, simply put, wrong. Particulate pollution, such as that causing the Asian brown cloud, is a real problem. Two billion people on Earth living without electricity, in darkened huts and hovels polluted by charcoal smoke, is a real problem.

I am far from convinced that Post is sold that AGW is a hoax, but they do seem worried enough to hedge their bets.

Hat tip:  Noel Sheppard, News Busters.

It should be no secret that I am not exactly a member of the
Dirty Harry Reid Fan Club, gee is anybody?    However Dirty Harry does seem to generate some consensus across the political aisle.

The lefttard who I love to quote, Jane Hamsher, Fire Dog Lake, expresses  her doubts about how smart Dirty Harry is:

That Harry Reid is one smart cookie, ain’t he? Well, that remains to be seen. Because the push to seat Al Franken provisionally this Tuesday could now be problematic:

[…]

The Republicans have been planning to block Franken for some time, and Reid should have factored that in when he drew up his Burris game plan. Until Reid announced he’d refuse to seat Burris because he didn’t have a certificate, the Dems had an argument that the Senate Republicans were just playing politics.

Now they’re stuck trying to explain the double standard for Franken and Burris.

Harry Reid — played by Blago, played by Cornyn

From the right, Moe Lane, Red State,  simply does not have any doubts:

Or else it tells you that Reid is simply too stupid to be let out in public without a keeper, given that everybody else in the sidereal universe was already aware that Blagojevich was a notoriously corrupt suckweasel. Amazing what getting arrested will do to your circle of friends, isn’t it?

As for me, I go with Moe.  And you?

I can’t help but wonder, in passing what the agreed upon price for the Senate seat finally was? How much money had to pass between them to get Blago to name Burris?

Before you start tuning up your defenses, saying that we have no evidence of any of that happening, we do have the record of Blagojevich, whose every action was apparently determined by how much money was paid.

Then you have the apparently orchestrated defense of Burris by the black panther leader Bobby Rush, who somehow managed to get himself into Congress.  Both he and Burroughs seven playing the race card since this story broke.  Granted, that it’s knee jerk anymore anyway, but even at that, I’ve never seen it more perfectly played.

One gets the feeling that there’s an awful lot down there once we manage to find somebody willing to actually dig for it.

Perhaps the most interesting part about all of this is is that there isn’t a Republican to blame it all on.

Good lord, Billy;

I may be speaking out of turn here, and I may be a little under informed about the depth of that conversation over there, but I’m going to sound off anyway.

I didn’t say anything over there, mostly because it is a scene I’m not comfortable getting involved with…  (I tend to avoid registrations at all opportunities, anyway)… and I have to tell you frankly that Hendrix was never really my bag either.  I was always more toward the pop into the spectrum, then, and largely, since, though with my forays into blues and jazz in the last 25 years or so I do understand what his internal music line was doing, if you take my meaning… what was going on in his head, as it were.

That said, I always admired the man’s technical ability.  I do note somebody in that thread saying he was a technician who was able to make the sounds that were in his head.  Or, words to that effect, anyway.

While the commetor  then proceeded to make jackass of himself, that particular line caught my eye.  Mostly, because of a conversation that you and I had a while ago.  Think back a little bit, when you got that blue guitar from your friend I think, (Number 67?)

You and I got into a conversation in which I told you I envied you that ability because I don’t have it myself.  I can play the notes, without screwing them up to badly, generally, but I can’t play the music.Remember?

The difference between the two is something that some people never learn, and I suspect Olivia to be one of these, based on my short perusal.  You’ll recall, I used the word envy with you in that context.  It’s a word I don’t often use.  Certainly not in the first person.

Hendrix, to my mind, came at it from the other end… he may not have had the ability to play the notes, (At least in approved of ways) but he could make the music.You see?

I have often thought that one of the reasons that his music came out in the spectacularly fresh a way that it did was because he wasn’t tangled up in the formalities of the thing.  Being unrestricted so, in combination with as mechanical talent, perhaps gave him opportunity to explore the music in ways few others could.  Indeed, I think it could be fairly said that he succeeded in making some new notes in the process.  Is that Genius?

Whether not Hendrix was a genius, this seems to me beside the point.  He may very well have been. Personally, I think he probably was in the area of what he did with that guitar. Sadly, other areas of his life were not so pristine, else he would likely still be with us.   Frankly though, genius  seems to me a matter of context…. which  seems to me a word significantly lacking in that conversation.  (Chuckle) Context certainly seems to be a concept that has gotten right by Olivia at least, as well as a few others there.

See, there’s the thing ; better, by what measure?    By what metric are we to judge the matter?  That we can teach kids Rachmaninoff and how he did things, but understanding, much less teaching kids how Hendrix did things is nigh on impossible?

As an example, Olivia seems to think rather highly of Rachmaninoff, and justifiably so, I think.  I suspect the same in her mind applies to all of the various great classical composers Liszt, Bach,  Mozart, Tchaikovsky. Were these geniuses?  Perhaps in their context they were.

Certainly a direct comparison between they and Jimi Hendrix is difficult at best to do.  If those are the kind of names that she holds up as genius, one can easily understand why she has difficulty fitting Jimi Hendrix into that box.  But I wonder if her qualification list for “genius” would include the Benny Goodman or a Glen Miller? Who could deny they had some genius about them?

I would suggest to you that while you would have to teach a kid Rachmaninoff for him to understand, there isn’t a teenage boy on the planet today who would not understand at least some of what Hendrix was doing back in the day, without being taught a thing.  Is that her measure of genius, that as opposed to understanding coming naturally, it has to be taught to be even remotely understood?  Seems rather backward to me. The great inventors were and are consider geniuses… they certainly understood and operated in areas that nobody taught THEM….

You see, I’m trying to find the edges of her logic, here because I am suspicious that what we’re dealing with here is a matter of taste getting mixed in with her measurements of genius in one person or another. Further, I am suspicious that her taste is driven by what she understands.

That sounds like an insult; It’s really not. Keep in mind, the context of where I’m coming from, when I say that.  Look at the very top of this post.  I said I was very much into the pop into the spectrum at the time that Hendrix was out.  If at the time you’d have asked me if he was a genius I’d have said “Hell NO”. There’s a reason for that.  I didn’t have a bloody clue what the guy was about.

Of course, these days, I have a better idea of what the blues is about.  We’ve had other guitarists working in the same neighborhood.  Stevie Ray for example.  Bob Cray. Clapton. With my exposure to those people, I these days understand what Hendrix was doing much better than I did back in the day. One gets the decided in fresh and upon reading her comments that she hasn’t progressed quite so far in the directions I have,  in her musical journeys.

At the bottom end, here, what we’re dealing with is someone who is totally out of her element.

I would suggest further that given that situation, any discussion she might offer on the topic of objectivism is suspect at the off.  If you don’t understand context, and you damn sure don’t understand being objective.   Odd, how she managed to slaughter that topic in the same thread.

I think what annoys me about that situation most of all, what set me off on this,  is that on a larger level, she’s trying to apply her subjective viewpoint on music , as an objective (and unarguable) fact.  I, on the other hand, have always regarded music as one of the most subjective things we can expose ourselves to.  I suspect you’ll agree to that statement at least, if nothing else.

(Shrug) For some reason, I have this image in my head, which may never have actually happened, of  Tipper Gore interviewing Frank Zappa.

In looking back at probably could have said this better, and at least shorter, but, as you say, onward.

Those who believe the so-called Anthropogenic Global Warming are insane.    This suggestion is that as pollution in the form of carbon dioxide is warming the world, we must pollute the World in order to save it,  Independent(UK):

The plan would involve highly controversial proposals to lower global temperatures artificially through daringly ambitious schemes that either reduce sunlight levels by man-made means or take CO2 out of the air. This “geoengineering” approach – including schemes such as fertilising the oceans with iron to stimulate algal blooms – would have been dismissed as a distraction a few years ago but is now being seen by the majority of scientists we surveyed as a viable emergency backup plan that could save the planet from the worst effects of climate change, at least until deep cuts are made in CO2 emissions.

Pollute the oceans in name of saving the World.   Sure!   These dweebs have not noticed, but global temperature is going down. Anthropogenic Global Warming is not the threat.  This loons who purport to be scientists are.   Spare us.

Welcome one and all to the most intense nightly read anywhere on the sphere: Bit’sBlog’s Nightly Ramble.

Still rather a slow news day, but let’s see what we can drum up, here.

• I see YetAnotherJohn has gotten himself an honorable mention at OTB’s Caption Contest.
• Speaking of OTB, James has his new daughter home.  These are exciting times, for you and your lady, James. Immerse yourself in them, and make no apologies for doing so.
• Glenn:
  

  LARRY TRIBE SAYS the Senate doesn’t have to seat Burris.

  UPDATE: Jane Hamsher: “Harry Reid, Punk’d By Blago Over Burris, Rejects The Rule Of Law.”

  ANOTHER UPDATE: “So at at time when there isn’t a single black person in the U.S. Senate, a black man arrives at the doorway and means to go forward to take what he believes is his rightful seat… Great imagery, Democrats!”…

  And then there’s Doctor Krauthammer, who said the other night on Fox:

  A side effect of this story is that there’s no way for the press to either neglect or suppress the fact that the governor at the heart of this corruption is a Democrat. When the story exploded — there’s a tendency in the media if it’s a Republican who’s got a scandal, it’s in line one. You learn about that.

  Republican Senator Larry Craig, as if the word “Republican” the Christian name is a “give-me,” it appears all the time. But if it’s a Democrat, it drops out.

  In fact, when that Blago exploded, CNN and AP didn’t even mention he was a Democrat. Now the leader of the Democrats in the Senate and Democratic caucus are going to deny a Democratic appointee a space in the senate. It has Democrat all over it.

  If you add that to the troubles of the chairman of the House Ways and Means, Charlie Rangel, Chris Dodd, who has got issues with sweetheart deals with the mortgage lenders, and Governor Spitzer, and others — the old story of a culture of corruption, which the press has always attributed as a Republican issue is now shifting.

  And the Blagojevich story, which remains alive day after day, has become a Democrat story, and that’s really hurting them.

  (Shake of the head) I wonder if it’s occurred to anyone how much simpler it would be, were Democrats were actually to at least make some kind of effort to make sure the people they put up for election, are people of honor? Given the longish list of corruption among Democrats of late, it seems they’re having some problems with that concept, just now. I wonder, also, if barring that effort, the voters would be smart enough to avoid electing Democrats, until such time as they get that little genetic flaw taken care of …  I submit to you that the voters coming to that conclusion was exactly the fear that caused democrats to hide all of this corruption under their proverbial runs until such time as the election, and the danger of their losing power had past.

• Oh.. and that includes Blago, of course but Obama as well. Remember the name Norman Hsu? Apparently they’re trying to figure out Obama’s involvement with the guy. This one will go large, trust me.
• The military times is reporting that a poll they took may be an issue for The Chosen One… the troops are wary of him. (Gee… no kidding?).
• I dunno… given the mess Cuba is, I don’t think I’d be celebrating. I’d be rioting.

It would be an embarrassment for the Democratic party, which suddenly seems to know nothing but since November 4. But for Republicans, the possibility of Franken, Caroline, and Burris all making it into the Senate is like hitting the trifecta — incompetence, nepotism, and corruption, respectively, will be the buzzwords for our new Democratic Senate

Micheal Goldfarb, Weekly Standard.

And yes, if the sole purpose of your site is to sell something, (not limited to various prescription drugs at fabulously low prices, or car insurance or website hosting, or the latest brand of condoms, or the latest African bank failure to make me millions, whatever) and not to provide actual content, this means you… You’re not welcome in my trackbacks.

You don’t have to have actual eyesight to see that Caroline Kennedy Schlossberg is woefully unfit to serve as a United States Senator, but apparently working eyes help.  We all know that New York governor David Paterson is legally blind.  Now it appears that he about to confirm my suspicion that is legally stupid as well:

NEW YORK (CBS) – New York Gov. David Paterson says the search is ongoing, but two people close to him tell The Associated Press they believe Caroline Kennedy will be appointed to replace Hillary Clinton in the U.S. Senate

Mrs. Schlossberg’s sole qualification appears to be she supported BO, Barack Obama.   It does not inspire confidence that Mrs. Schlossberg will stand up to defend New York State from BO’s proposed Raw Deal.

(Edit:Bit, typo patrol)

Apparently due to some weird filtering I had going on in my inbox, there’s been an awful lot of traffic coming in from John Hawkins over at Right Wing News, that I’ve been missing. Mostly, what I’ve been missing is invitations to one poll or another.  I must say, I’m a little annoyed by having found this little cache of outdated material, because I’m usually up for anything John’s got running. 

Clearly, this is my fault and I’ll work on getting those filters running correctly today.  In the meanwhile, by way of apology I’ll offer the following; He’s got an awful lot going on in terms of year and stuff that’s worth your perusal.  Start at the top and keep scrolling.