Breakfast Scramble

National Pi Day, Miami County Weekend:

It looks cool, grown-up, amazing and sophisticated. Unless you don’t like math.

But if you love it, ? seems like one of the greatest developments of its time. What could be better than the ultimate irra-tional number, a true rebel?

A mathematical constant, pi is roughly estimated to be 3.14.

That’s the short version.

Pi is all about circles. It’s part of the area and circumference formulas. The circumference of a circle – expressed formulaically as ? times the diameter – is three times the diameter plus the diameter times the decimal places of pi.

No Just desserts:

ROCHESTER, N.Y. (AP) – She claims to be an heiress to the Jell-O fortune, but New York’s highest court has denied her what she considers her just deserts.

But she was pro-life,  13-WHAM:

9Rochester, N.Y.) – She’s one of Rochester’s most famous citizens, and Thursday, the woman who was ahead of her time, was celebrated.

Mrs. Pelosi vacations, FSM:

Unfortunately, the House – led by Supergrandma Nancy Pelosi – was not up to the challenge. Pelosi, in her infinite wisdom, decided to call a 12-day vacation for her minions without bothering to vote on the FISA Amendments Act passed by the Senate just two days earlier. And two days after the House adjourned, the PAA expired.

The Audacity of Pork, Leon H Wolf, Red State:

It appears that Barack Obama, allegedly decent guy and agent of “change” in Washington, requested an earmark in 2006 for $1 million taxpayer dollars for the hospital where his wife works. Said hospital, by the way, gave Michelle Obama a huge raise (nearly $200,000, more than doubling her salary) in 2005 after Barack got elected to the United States Senate. Now, I know that there are lots of ways to talk about transactions like this involving public officials – quid pro quo, etc., but I prefer to call a crook a crook and just say that we’re dealing with good, old fashioned, public corruption here.

Rather than being a agent of change, Barack Obama is just another corrupt Washington politician.

How to become a millionaire, Ace:

“Kirsten’s” Song Has Been Downloaded 1 Million Times at 98 Cents a Pop; Could Be a Millionaire By Week’s End

Interesting.

 RUSH: This is the fallout from the Spitzer stuff. Los Angeles Times today, columnist Patty Kelly: “Legalize Prostitution.” Yeah, now, wait. That’s just the headline. Listen to this. This is near the end of the peace. “Saying that all sex workers are victims and all clients are demons is the easy way out. Perhaps it’s time to face this fact like adults (or at least like Mexico) — with a little less moralizing and a good deal more honesty. As for Spitzer, if he had walked into the Galactic Zone,” which is a whorehouse down in Mexico that this babe writes about, “my questions would have been these: Was he respectful? Was he safe? Did he pay well? If the answer to all three was yes, then, well, I voted for him once, and I’d vote for him again.”

Interesting how the leftist press is suddenly making libertine noises… only after one of their own gets caught with his pants down… after years of procecuting such people. What we’re seeing, folks is the left understanding that the on;y thing they can do to explain their heros demise without coming away with egg encrusted faces, is to blame the law… that it’s the law Spitzer made a political career on, makes no difference. Sacrafice of this tool is a lower price than would be actually blaming Spitzer for his behavior.

And that’s exactly what’s going on, here. This is not, as we’ll doubtless be told, a latent libertarian streak coming forward under stress.  This is leftist pragmatism, in all it’s glory.

McGehee:

 I’ve mentioned here a time or two some names whose inclusion on a Republican presidential ticket might attract yours truly to consider voting for it, despite John “Never Met a Media Representative Whose [censored] I Didn’t Want to Kiss” McCain being on it.

He goes on to make other points, but this first para got me thinking… whose addition to a ticket would sway many conservatives? McGehee offers a few, as does the person he quotes.  But I have to say the whole issue of who in the VP slot could sway conservative voters…. the base… is a question I don’t think I’ve very seriously considered before.  By how much, I suppsoe depends on the role McCain sees such a person taking on… the VP’s role is fairly well undefined… note the differences between Hubert Humphrey and Dick Cheney, as example.  Given we don’t know how that would work in any future administration, we must assume the VP would take an active, role, though.

I’ll be giving some thought to day to this. But perhaps you’d like to comment on who you’d like to see in the slot?

The media does not treat Barack Obama as if were a radical.   Yet people close to Obama, like his wife and his pastor, sure sound like angry hot headed radicals, Brian Ross and Rehab El-Buri, ABC News:

Sen. Barack Obama’s pastor says blacks should not sing “God Bless America” but “God damn America.”

Is Obama’s Pastor a Liability?The Rev. Jeremiah Wright, Obama’s pastor for the last 20 years at the Trinity United Church of Christ on Chicago’s south side, has a long history of what even Obama’s campaign aides concede is “inflammatory rhetoric,” including the assertion that the United States brought on the 9/11 attacks with its own “terrorism.”

Repudiate has been a popular word with both the Obama and Clinton campaigns of recent.   Time for the Obama campaign to repudiate  Jeremiah Wright,

•  The racist card and the sexist card. Is Geraldine Ferraro a racist? Eh, likely not. But it is of note that the charge is coming fast and furious against her from Obama’s supporters, isn’t it?I mean, look…You knew the race card was gonna get played, and you knew who by. But is Ferraro’s comment off base?Think on it now; Postulate a white Candidate with Obama’s stated list of qualifications, in either party. Would such a person be a front running in the race now, were they not a person of color? Which is not to say that Hillary Clinton is not similar in her being under-qualified for the position she now has, much less the one she seeks. She’s in the position she’s in because of the gender factor. And yes, because she’s merely a proxy for her erstwhile husband…. a point which the feminst left is lothe to admit even to itself.  In the end, what we have here is two intractable forces, looking for any excuse they can to take offense at the other. Welcome to the Democratic party of today. It’s like I said elsewhere recently; Identity politics is of course, by its very nature, racist, sexist, etc. The real fun comes from watching its adherents try to avoid that basic fact. Certainly, identity politics is at the center of what the Democrat party is all about. Oh… they do have to have a certain mindset… they’d not be interested in Shelby Steele, or Condi Rice. I guess they’re just racist, huh? Or maybe this is simply a way to keep your opponant on the defensive?
• Why this undue fascination with the identity of Gov.Eliot Spitzer’s Rent-A-Wench? I mean, after all, the evidence would seem to suggest she’s one of literally hundreds. Are these others going to be exposed, as well? This aspect could take deacdes to cover!
• Oh, good, just what we needed. Jack “Doctor Death” Kevorkian has decided to run for Congress, says the Jawas. Just the thing to spice things up in Washington.
• Did you notice the arrests in the UNC killing, the other day? Did you notice what the press wasn’t calling the suspects? Hint; Hillary Clinton supporters got in trouble for mentioning this factor the other day.
• And you think you can’t get in the bathroom? Yikes!
• More Cubans voting with their feet.  Can’t understand it; Cuba’s a paradise, right?
• Scenes we’d like to see:

• 

Passed along by a reader. I’m sure this one’s been making the rounds. I’m equally sure the leftsts will claim it’s been ‘debunked’, but it hasn’t. This stuff is going to come up, no matter who the Democrats nominate. Forewarned is forearmed.

You’re welcome.

I saw on the news up here in Canada where Hillary Clinton introduced her new health care plan. Something similar to what we have in Canada. I also heard that Michael Moore was raving about the health care up here in Canada in his latest movie. As your friend and someone who lives with the Canada health care plan I thought I would give you some facts about this great medical plan that we have in Canada .

First of all:

1) The health care plan in Canada is not free. We pay a premium every month of $96. for Shirley and I to be covered. Sounds great eh. What they don’t tell you is how much we pay in taxes to keep the health care system afloat. I am personally in the 55% tax bracket. Yes 55% of my earnings go to taxes. A large portion of that and I am not sure of the exact amount goes directly to health care our #1 expense.

2) I would not classify what we have as health care plan, it is more like a health diagnosis system. You can get into to see a doctor quick enough so he can tell you ‘yes indeed you are sick or you need an operation’ but now the challenge becomes getting treated or operated on. We have waiting lists out the ying yang some as much as 2 years down the road.

3) Rather than fix what is wrong with you the usual tactic in Canada is to prescribe drugs. Have a pain here is a drug to take not what is causing the pain and why. No time for checking you out because it is more important to move as many patients thru as possible each hour for Government re-imbursement

4) Many Canadians do not have a family Doctor.

5) Don’t require emergency treatment as you may wait for hours in the emergency room waiting for treatment.

6) Shirley’s dad cut his hand on a power saw a few weeks back and it required that his hand be put in a splint – to our surprise we had to pay $125. for a splint because it is not covered under health care plus we have to pay $60. for each visit for him to check it out each week.

7) Shirley’s cousin was diagnosed with a heart blockage. Put on a waiting list . Died before he could get treatment.

8) Government allots so many operations per year. When that is done no more operations, unless you go to your local newspaper and plead your case and embarrass the government then money suddenly appears.

9) The Government takes great pride in telling us how much more they are increasing the funding for health care but waiting lists never get shorter. Government just keeps throwing money at the problem but it never goes away. But they are good at finding new ways to tax us, but they don’t call it a tax anymore it is now a user fee.

10) A friend needs an operation for a blockage in her leg but because she is a smoker they will not do it. Despite paying into the health care system all these years. My friend is 65 years old. Now there is talk that maybe we should not treat fat and obese people either because they are a drain on the health care system. Let me see now, what we want in Canada is a health care system for healthy people only. That should reduce our health care costs.

11) Forget getting a second opinion, what you see is what you get.

12) I can spend what money I have left after taxes on booze, cigarettes, junk food and anything else that could kill me but I am not allowed by law to spend my money on getting an operation I need because that would be jumping the queue. I must wait my turn except if I am a hockey player or athlete then I can get looked at right away. Go figger. Where else in the world can you spend money to kill yourself but not allowed to spend money to get healthy.

13) Oh did I mention that immigrants are covered automatically at tax payer expense having never contributed a dollar to the system and pay no premiums.

14) Oh yeah, we now give free needles to drug users to try and keep them healthy. Wouldn’t want a sickly druggie breaking into your house and stealing your things. But people with diabetes who pay into the health care system have to pay for their needles because it is not covered but the health care system.

I send this out not looking for sympathy but as the election looms in the states you will be hearing more and more about universal health care down there and the advocates will be pointing to Canada . I just want to make sure that you hear the truth about health care up here and have some food for thought and informed questions to ask when broached with this subject.

Step wisely and don’t make the same mistakes we have.

Impossible Dream, Independent(UK)

Well she is a blond,  Ireland On-Line:

Patricia Arquette questioned how open-minded she was when her transgender brother Alexis first announced he was going to become a womanP

Patrica, he is still your brother,  Sex is immutable.   Thought youd’d like to know.

Real Alpha Males, Ann Coulter, WND:

It’s absurd to talk about “alpha males” and political power – an alpha male does not bring his family shame and disaster. Who was more alpha than Ronald Reagan? Think he ever had a “whore problem”? This is more like a dog who wee-wees on your leg.

Eliot Spitzer, Coulter:

He’s the Ivy League version of Paris Hilton.

Geraldine Ferraro out:

(CNN) – Geraldine Ferraro has stepped down from her role as a member of Hillary Clinton’s finance committee.

In a letter to Clinton obtained by CNN’s Suzanne Malveaux – who spoke with the former vice presidential candidate shortly after she sent it to Clinton – Ferraro said she is stepping down so, “I can speak for myself and you can continue to speak for yourself about what is at stake in this campaign.”

Jackie and Dunlop have moved, Red State Update:

Envromental Wacko energy policy, Don Surber:

That leaves only geothermal energy and hamster wheels.

And PeTA may complain about the latter.

Clinton loyalty, Jay Tea, Wizbang:

The Clintons, to the best of my knowledge, have NEVER made any kind of sacrifice “for the good of the party.” To them, loyalty is a one-way street

Clarice goes Iowahawk. Clarice Feldman, American Thinker:

I was running an errand on Capitol Hill when this letter flew out a window and landed at  my feet.

Hello my name is George Fox, John, Powerline..   Cute but what does she do for two thousand dolllars.

Bubba versus Client Nine,   I’d like to call the Clintons the term Bobby Byrd uses for white trash, but I don’t want to be Keith Olberman “Worst Person in the World.”    So I’ll settle for just plain white trash.    B.J. has alway been trash.   Mrs. Clinton became trash by marriage.    Putting lip stkk on a pg doesn’t make it a lady.    The Clintons have always had the benefit of low expectations.

In contrast Eliot Sptze was bred into class. lived among class, pretended to be class asd was thought to be class.   He will do well in Arkansas.

Conservative Reader makes several good points last night, along the lines of:

He said, it seems as time goes on, we are becoming more and more intolerant of bad behavior. Not that it should be okay to engage in illicit sexual activity, but there was a time when bad behavior on the part of politicians was treated with more of a “boys will be boys” kind of mentality. His question to me today was, “What’s changed since Bill Clinton?”, alluding to the fact that Clinton brazenly behaved very badly and suffered little consequence.

I doubt that’s the focus.

I do agree, that there are some changes since Clinton… at least to some degree. Here’s the key, though; Our collective willingness to put up with pols and their excesses has gone down rather dramatically since the 24 hour news cycle… and blogs with it… came to town. Crimes against us are harder to ignore when they’re we’re being reminded of them for days on end after they happen. Your friend is quite correct in that of itself what Spitzer did, would probably not have gotten noticed in let’s say 1968.  If you’ll recall, that’s the year, Teddy Kennedy took a left off the bridge.  think about it.  Can you imagine Teddy Kennedy surviving the onslaught of the 24-hour news cycle after the death of Mary Jo Kopechne?  I certainly can’t.

I think also that there is a movement… ehhh..  An undercurrent, if you will, which is more socially conservative.  Keep in mind that in the 60s it was all the rage to be anti-establishment.  Nowadays such people are the establishment.

It is that combo, I think which really sets us apart from the earlier times and situations your friend mentions.

There’;s this, too; I suspect and suppose that some of the anger Spitzer is feeling just now from the voters is a betrayal. Bill Clinton didn’t betray quite so many people. Look at all the history of his misdeeds that was laid out before he attained the White House. People knew when they elected him he was a slime-ball. Not so much Spitzer, whose spit and polish image fools a great many people it should not have.

I also think part of this anger is Democrats putting pressure on him to disappear, given the rather inconvenient timing of this revelation. As I said recently, the criminal aspect of this is going to come up in the news again just before the general election, in the form of a nifty little reminder of what Democrats considered a hero.

(Edit: Bit, replaced link)

How has Hillary, who rode her husband’s coattails to the top and who trashed every woman he seduced or assaulted, become such a feminist heroine 

Camille Paglia, Salon.

“I go forward with the belief as others have said that as human beings our greatest glory consists not in never falling but in rising every time we fall.”  

That’s former NY Govenor Eliot Spitzer, who apparently does not understand yet, that rising every time he fell was part of the problem. Well, that and having paid for help in that area.

(Queue Beatles, Revolution Number 9)

OK, for all that we’ve been busy chatting about how Spitzer came over at the Mayflower, there was , in fact, other stuff in my head, and on the wires, besides Spitzer, today. Here’s a few selections:

• Oil to $110/bbl. I’m telling you guys, the bubble’s about to burst, here.
• Did you see Geraldene Ferraro?
  

  Clinton campaign finance committee member, former vice presidential candidate, and former Rep. Geraldine Ferraro, D-NY, told the Daily Breeze of Torrance, Ca., that, “If Obama was a white man, he would not be in this position. And if he was a woman (of any color) he would not be in this position. He happens to be very lucky to be who he is. And the country is caught up in the concept.”

  Ummmm…. Hold up a tick, here. WHAT position? Since she’s a Clinton supporter, she’s talking about sexism against Hillary, as opposed to racism against Obama. We’re still in the primary, and so the position she’s describe is driven by DEMOCRATS. I’ll get into this at need, but I suspect the implications here are clear to you already. Like I said at Q&O yesterday,  identity politics is of course, by its very nature, racist, sexist, etc. The real fun comes from watching its adherents try to avoid that basic fact. And, yes, I’m just waiting for someone to call me a bigot for saynig that. You watch; it’ll happen.

• I see Obama getting a little testy:
  

  “They have been spending the last two or three weeks” arguing that he is not ready to be commander in chief, Obama said.”I don’t understand. If I am not ready, how is it that you think I should be such a great vice president?” Obama asked the crowd, which gave him a standing ovation during his defense. “I don’t understand.”

  Well, yes, there is that, isn’t there? Like I told you, both their egos are altogether too massive for such a team to ever work.

  Not.
  Gonna.
  Happen.

• In case you needed any proof that Ron Paul and his supoprters are living in a fantasy world, he’s served official notice; he’s still in the presidential hunt…. though in what alternate universe he doesn’t specify.
• By the way, did you notice the space shuttle lifted off night before last? As a kid who grew up in the early 60’s, watching lift-offs on blurry black and white sets as a part of my schooling, I’m amazed t how little interest space travel evokes, anymore.

Preface:  One, it is neither my intent to blog about Silda Spitzer, nor to pass judgment.   She only  serves as the vehicle of this discussion.   Two, I find it aggravating when discussing issues pertaining to women that some can not, or will not, distinguish between the concepts of contribute and blame.   I hold that a person can contribute to a problem while falling short of being blamed for it.   In the real world, people are seldom one hundred percent responsible for anything.   Three, I do not feel that Dr. Laura is blaming Silda Spitrer for her husband’s behavior.

So, what alternative path should, could,  Silda Spitzer have traveled?

From the left, Linda Hirshman, Slate, “The Silda Spitzer Lesson:  Don’t quit your day job.”

Wife again standing mutely at his side, Eliot Spitzer resigned from his office as governor of the state of New York. When Spitzer’s wife, Silda, called Hillary Clinton for advice on how to be a good first lady a few years ago, she probably didn’t realize how horribly relevant the connection would be. Now, another blond deer caught in the headlights standing by her man rotates endlessly on our TV screens while pundits like Dr. Laura debate whether she was good enough in bed and saner voices implore the public not to blame the victim.

Hat Tip:  Hot Air.

From the right, Dr. Laura Schlessinger, by Mike Celizic, MSNBC:

“When the wife does not focus in on the needs and the feelings, sexually, personally, to make him feel like a man, to make him feel like a success, to make him feel like her hero, he’s very susceptible to the charm of some other woman making him feel what he needs,” the popular psychologist and radio personality said.

Hat Tip:  John Hawkins, Conservative Grapevine.

Panic time, ‘rats.   A large population of sterile females will be bad for Planned Parenthood’s primary business, providing abortions.    Further, future democrats will suffer from a disparate impact,  via, Ed Morrissey, Hot Air, BBC(UK):

HPV, which can cause cancer, was found to be the most common STD
One in four teenage girls in the United States has a sexually-transmitted disease, a study has indicated.
The study, by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), found an even higher prevalence of STDs among black girls.

So make sure our schools keep handing out free condoms, promote promiscuity and disparage traditional moral values.    After all, who are we judge a culture which infects one quarter of our teenage girls,   I mean the culture of infection is no better or worse than the culture of not being infected.   Let us not judge.

 ?

NEW YORK -FOX-  New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer has resigned.

The news completes a rapid and stunning fall from power following unchallenged reports linking him to a high-priced prostitution ring.

“I am deeply sorry that I did not live up to what was expected of me,” Spitzer said speaking to reporters in Manhattan, adding that he has “begun to atone for my private failings” with his family.

The resignation is effective Monday, according to the report.

As much as I rejoice in seeing this thug getting pulled down by his own devices, I can’t help but thnk there’s something missing. Both sopmething we don’t know, and something he’d be paying a high price for if we did know. After all, as David points out this monring here, the guy is a thug and has been behaving like a thug …albeit an upwardly mobile thug…for many years, now.  Is this his only transgression? Clearly, not, even when measure by what’s already on record. What’s on record clearly indicates someone abusing the power given them . What has he been doing that we don’t know about?

As a logical extension to that question, though, comes another: Where the heck was the press when these abuses of power were occuring?  This would seem the most blatant of nexamples of the press running blocker for the Democrats, since Bill Clinton.

 One gets the feeling this one’s going to take over a year to settle down… and interestingly, it’s right in he midst of an election cycle. The consequences, I suspect, will be large.

Let us be blunt.   The problem with Eliot Spitzer is not that he is a whore mongering hypocrite, heck nobody is perfect.    The problem with Spiter is and has been that he s a thug.   Spiter was eesentially Bernhard Goetz with a  badge    White characters like Paul Kersey are popular with the public, they still criminals.

Since the day he assumed office as New York State Attorney General, Spiter has left behind a long string of innocent victims.    From Dick Grass, to Hank Greenburg, to Silda Spitzer,  Spitzer’s victims were Innocent, Wall Street Journal:

Instead, reporters felt obligated to run with whatever he handed them. Consider the report in the wake of a 2005 op-ed in this newspaper by John Whitehead. A respected Wall Street figure, Mr. Whitehead dared to criticize Mr. Spitzer for his unscrupulously zealous pursuit of Mr. Greenberg. Mr. Spitzer later threatened Mr. Whitehead, telling him in a phone call that “You will pay the price. This is only the beginning and you will pay dearly for what you have done.” Some months later, after more Spitzer excesses, Mr. Whitehead had the temerity to write another op-ed describing what Mr. Spitzer had said.

Spitzer’s MO was shun criminal prosecutions and instead file civil law suit and then seek a settlement.   Spizter had good reason to avoid the insides of a court room.    This cases were legally weak, WSJ:

The world is discovering why New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer has been so reluctant to take his business targets into an actual courtroom. A jury of regular men and women might be inclined to instruct him in securities law and the concept of criminal intent.

Mr. Spitzer received precisely such an education yesterday, when a jury found former Bank of America broker Theodore C. Sihpol not guilty on 29 counts, including several of grand larceny, related to after-hours mutual fund trading. The judge declared a mistrial on four other counts in which a single juror had held out for conviction. Mr. Spitzer must now decide whether to retry the case on those four counts. But given the magnitude of his repudiation, and the suffering his office has already imposed on Mr. Sihpol, a prosecutor with any sense of decency would throw in the towel.

I mean it is not like Spiter’s thuggery was some dark deeply held state secret.   Via Michelle Malkin, from the People’s Cube, April ’06:

State police descended on Wall Street early this morning in a major crackdown on money-grubbing capitalist reprobates, commonly known by their derogatory name, “Wall Street CEOs.” The massive dragnet, dubbed “Operation Corner Office,” was organized and coordinated by a legendary people’s New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer, whose dedication to class struggle has earned him respect and adoration of all the city’s 402,281 welfare recipients.

In a nation which values freedom, democracy and the rule of law, there is simply no place for thugs like Spizter.  Shame on the stooges and dupes in the meda wo  enabled, and cheered on Spitzer’s rule of thuggery.