Playboy?

Fellow Swamp Stomper, Sister Toldjah

It never ceases to amaze me how some ‘modern’ women choose to ‘celebrate’ their femininity – by posing nude in the pages of Playboy magazine in desperate attempts to extend their 15 minutes of fame. The latest dingbat to bare all is Kyla Ebbert, the gal who was asked back in July by a Southwest Airlines flight attendant to ‘adjust’ her revealing attire – or leave the plane. What’s the title of the pictorial spread? “Legs in the Air.”

Oh my. How original (eye roll). Via AP:

DALLAS (AP) — A 23-year-old college student who was told by a Southwest Airlines employee that her outfit was too revealing to fly is wearing even less on Playboy’s Web site.

Kyla Ebbert appears in a series of pictures — some in lingerie, some nude — under the heading, “Legs in the Air.”

“They’re very tastefully done,” Ebbert told The Associated Press on Thursday. “I don’t see anything wrong with the female body.”

Well, I don’t either. But I have a big problem with women who degrade and cheapen themselves by putting it all out there for the world to see.

Playboy contacted Ebbert’s attorney to pitch the idea of posing. After “a little bit of talking” to convince her mother, Ebbert agreed. She said her boyfriend supported her decision, but “the most hesitant one was my dad.”

Gee, I can’t imagine why.

Seriously, what is wrong with people today? And why the hell would her boyfriend support her decision to do this?

Well, not to say too much on the point, but years ago, (Middle 80’s) I knew a couple from around here who were pretty much the same way… she did a centerfold for Playboy… and he supported her fully…. and in fact they arranged for a boob job before she went for her pics. Couldn’t fully understand that… I mean… this girl was a knockout before the boob job. Saw her in a bikini once.. enough to make one melt.
I never did understand it then, either. But you know, I have to say that if I hadn’t known who it was in the centerfold, after seeing it, I could have passed the girl I knew on the street and not known her. Two totally different looks. The amount of staging and makeup that goes on is amazing.

And no, I lost touch with them, over the years… I’ve no idea where they ended up, or if they’re still together, even. It wouldn’t shock me, either way that part came out.

But you know that couple spent literally years planning fr it… had made an interview with the folks in Chicago at least 8 months before her boob job…. and it was another 9 months before she went for her photo session…. and I have to say I smell a fish, here. I have to wonder if the situation ST cites wasn’t similarly planning on the centerfold long ago… and the airliner bit wasn’t a publicity stunt to raise interest.

The speculation that Wolf Blitser had suddenly grown a spline,  proved to be unfounded:

CNN debate moderator Wolf Blitzer did an ‘outstanding’ job in Vegas, a senior adviser to the Hillary campaign said early Friday. ‘He was outstanding, and did not gang up like Russert did in Philadelphia. He avoided the personal attacks, remained professional and ran the best debate so far. Voters were the big winners last night.’A rival campaign insider charges: ‘Wolf turned into a lamb. No follow-up question on Clinton’s huge flip on drivers licenses?’

From Drudge.

And we see Doctor Krauthammer, this morning;

When the Democratic presidential candidates pause from beating Hillary with a stick, they join in unison to pronounce the Democratic pieties, chief among which is that George Bush has left our alliances in ruins. As Clinton puts it, we have “alienated our friends,” must “rebuild our alliances” and “restore our standing in the world.” That’s mild. The others describe Bush as having a scorched-earth foreign policy that has left us reviled and isolated in the world.

…

France has a new president who is breaking not just with the anti-Americanism of the Chirac era but also with 50 years of Fifth Republic orthodoxy that defined French greatness as operating in counterpoise to America. Nicolas Sarkozy‘s trip last week to the United States was marked by a highly successful White House visit and a rousing speech to Congress in which he not only called America “the greatest nation in the world” (how many leaders of any country say that about another?) but also pledged solidarity with the United States on Afghanistan, Iran, Lebanon, the Middle East and nuclear nonproliferation. This just a few months after he sent his foreign minister to Iraq to signal an openness to cooperation and an end to Chirac’s reflexive obstructionism.

That’s France. In Germany, Gerhard Schroeder is long gone, voted out of office and into a cozy retirement as Putin’s concubine at Gazprom. His successor is the decidedly pro-American Angela Merkel, who concluded an unusually warm visit with Bush this week.

All this, beyond the ken of Democrats, is duly noted by new British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, who in an interview with Sky News on Sunday remarked on “the great change that is taking place,” namely “that France and Germany and the European Union are also moving more closely with America.”

Indeed, the situation has gotten SO chummy with old Europe and the US, that Brown is finding himself playing catch-up with Germany and France, in terms of trying to stay in the good graces of the US.

Much like the “Failed policy in Iraq” meme I remarked on this morning, this other meme offered by the left about how we’re now internationally isolated because of Bush White House Policy, simply does not mesh with the facts.  But as with the successes in Iraq, the foreign policy victories, are being ignored, because it doesn’t mesh with the image the left wants projected.

At some point, however, these successes are going to be recognized… if not by the press, then by the people. Such a recognition already happening may well explain why there is such perceived split between the pols and the press…. and the people.

The question which remains is, will this recognition play into voting choices come a year from now?

BBCT: Memeorandum

Update: (Bit)

Soccer Dad comments:

I’m sure that the surge helps America’s standing with international relations, but I don’t buy that it’s the cause of America’s newfound friends.

I don’t, either. Not directly, at least.  But contrary to the usual arguments, I think it can fairly be said that Iraq, either pre-surge or post-surge, was not the reason for the Anti-Americanism of Chirac, and Schroeder. It merely provided an excuse that their left flanks would buy into. By the same token, with Iraq being won, it’s a lot harder to argue against the US, too… our success per se’ in Iraq isn’t the root cause of France and Germany re-discovering their old friend, America.

I want to examine at some length, this weekend… for one thing because I’m just now going over the Sarkozy speech to the joint session, the other day.  But I’d like you to consider something; How is it that Sarkozy and Merkle got elected? Clearly, the people in those countries had enough of the left there… including, one presumes, the anti-Americanism.

Gaius at Blue Crab gets it right when he says:

The resurgence of a belligerent Russia and an increasingly powerful China are part and parcel to the strengthening ties with allies. This is not a new thing. Part of the reason nations felt they could display some anti-Americanism was because there were few external threats. Now Russia, China and a soon-to-be nuclear armed Iran are changing the realpolitik once again.

I don’t know as I’d leave the terms of the description quite so stark. THe connection is not quite so direct as that.  Certainly, the resurgence of the Bear feeds into the new positioning.  But would they be snuggling up with us again, if the US were not considered trustworthy?

Here’s the point I’m making, here… Had we withdrawn, as the left here in the States has been demanding we do, had we surrendered Iraq to AlQueida, as the Democrats are feverishly working toward, would the French and the Germans considered us to be a worthwhile partner?  I think not. They rightly would have withheld their trust… our position in the world would have been as greatly diminished as they tried to tell us it was, pre-surge.  But because we stayed to see it through, even though it looks like we’re going to be there a while, at great cost ot treasure and lives, France and Germany now look to us as a stalwart ally. Seeing that resolve again, like they had not in the Clinton years, they found themselves reminded.. as Sarkozy says:

The men and women of my generation heard their grandparents talk about how in 1917, America saved France at a time when it had reached the final limits of its strength, which it had exhausted in the most absurd and bloodiest of wars.

The men and women of my generation heard their parents talk about how in 1944, America returned to free Europe from the horrifying tyranny that threatened to enslave it.

Fathers took their sons to see the vast cemeteries where, under thousands of white crosses so far from home, thousands of young American soldiers lay who had fallen not to defend their own freedom but the freedom of all others, not to defend their own families, their own homeland, but to defend humanity as a whole.

Fathers took their sons to the beaches where the young men of America had so heroically landed. They read them the admirable letters of farewell that those 20-year-old soldiers had written to their families before the battle to tell them: “We don’t consider ourselves heroes. We want this war to be over. But however much dread we may feel, you can count on us.” Before they landed, Eisenhower told them: “The eyes of the world are upon you. The hopes and prayers of liberty-loving people everywhere march with you.”

When they thought America had shrunk from that perspective, we were of less worth to them as an ally. Seeing our current actions in Iraq and elsewhere, they now see us as worthwhile, again. That’s the way our staying in Iraq and working it through to success, brought our old freinds closer, again. That’s how those two situations are connected.

CLIO-MI (AP)- A police officer checking on a truck that got stuck in the mud at a city park was startled to find a 13-year-old boy behind the wheel. The boy’s father, who was sitting in the passenger seat, told police he had had too much to drink and let his son drive. The boy had been drinking, too, police said.”(The boy) even said he didn’t want to drive because he was too drunk,” McLellan told The Flint Journal for a story published Thursday.

Open containers of beer and liquor were found in the vehicle, said Clio Police Chief James McLellan.

Ya know… there are some things I won’t even bother to comment on. This is one.

I didn’t see much of the debate last night, and very little of the reax this morning, so far. There’s a lot of it on Memeorandum… I’ve just not had time to look.

However, it doesn’t take a mystic to say that one phrase that was heard over and over again, is “this administrations failed Iraq policy’. Democrats use the phrase like some kind of tack on, as if it was the equivalent of “You know what I mean?” I mean after a while, it becomes simply meaningless.

And perhaps it is. We’ve been hearing good news from Iraq, on what great strides are being made, leaking past the MSM for several months now. Certainly, the press is lothe to report good news from anywhere, particularly Iraq.. the only way you’ll hear anything from that part of the world anymore is if something goes very bad and can be made worse with a few well-chosen words and a few staged pictures. But the good news keeps showing up… usually by peple routing around the MSM… and it’s to the point where you wonder why someone in the MSM doesn’t ask the question of these Democrats.. “Given the huge progress made, by what measure do you consider the Iraq Policy a failure?” while demanding an actual answer.

Yeah, I know… fat chance that they’ll ever do that, right?

Some other things I noted: Edwards is already playing like an also-ran. Kucinich is still a nutball.. no shock there. The big loser last night, though, was Dodd. Can someone please explain to me why he’s even running? Biden didn’t see too bad off, but regardless how that plays out, he’s going nowhere with the voters. I mean, preparation and being on the ball in the debate may well play if those watching are basing their response of actual facts, instead of emotion. But do you recall the Democrats counseling their people to go for the emotional?

No… None of this is going to matter in the end… and every one of the people on that stage last night knows it, in their heart of hearts… except for Hillary Clinton, who has none.

Speaking of which:

The usual Hillary Clinton apologists (Armbinder, for one… did you see that bit of nonsense he put up yesterday?) will no doubt be telling us how there’ll be no more talk about her losing momentum to the rest of them… the bleeding has been stopped. I am reminded by such people of Erik The Viking… “We’re NOT sinking”… “Everyone stay calm! This is not happening!”

Look; No matter how much the Clinton camp changes strategies one thing I can guarantee is that she will not actually change her spots. Past that, it’s all how the campaign sells it to the voters.

Yes, there’s a good deal of emotion involved, since that’s what the Democrats are going for, by stated design. Thing is, there’s only so much you can overcome with salesmanship. No matter how Madison Avenue deals with it, the Yugo has far too much in the way of history to be sold as a reliable car… and certainly attempts to sell it as a sports model aren’t going to fly, either.

So while hard core leftist Democrats will likely go for Hillary Clinton… those who are not turned off by the fact that she was at least smart enough to support our actions in Iraq initially, she’s got far too much baggage to be supported by anyone BUT the hard core.

And that’s just within the party. Electability factors wlll come into play soon enough. Nobody on that stage… including Kucinich, has the negatives Hillary has managed to rack up. I mean, even the kids know it.

Meanwhile, anyone know any good drowning songs?

Several folks, including Billy Beck, and a pile more at Memeorandum, have noted thet Barry Bonds was indicted in that BALCO thing. Chicoer.com:

SAN FRANCISCO—Barry Bonds, baseball’s home run king, was indicted for perjury and obstruction of justice Thursday and could face prison instead of the Hall of Fame for telling a federal grand jury he did not knowingly use performance-enhancing drugs.The indictment, culminating a four-year investigation into steroid use by elite athletes, charged Bonds with four counts of perjury and one of obstruction of justice. If convicted, he could be sentenced to a maximum of 30 years in prison.

The guy’s guilty as sin, but he’ll never see a day of jailtime.  Meanwhile, MLB will ignore this mess, and will sink further into the sewer.

Billy in particular was on point last August when he labeled the whole thing despicable.

It’s as I said back in March; baseball will never recover its full glory so long as people like him are involved with the game. MLB finds itself in what can only be described as an untenable situation. They can’t ignore that the numbers being broken, and yet they can’t be acknowledging that Aarons’ numbers are being broken by a syringe, not by talent. That said, I have no sympathy for them; this is a problem of their own making. Thing is, I wonder if they understand just what the situation is costing them, both in terms of dollars, and in terms of fans. Young fans, particularly, which, after all, are the future of the game.

Here’s a guy who even without the drugs, is approximately as popular as the parking spot next to the honey dumper. About half of this is anger over what he’s done to the game, and the other half is his personality, or lack thereof.

Even with personality issues aside, what can be said about the validity of the record that will stand after he succeeds in getting past Hank Aaron? The only reason he’s managed to get as far as he has, is because of his chemistry set.

And I’m willing to bet, that he considers this kind of talk persecution of him. I’m even willing to bet that there are those who will read this, who will consider my comments racist. (Ignoring, of course, that Hank Aaron is Black too. )
Here it is, gang; Baseball heroes, are such because they manage to outperform everyone else, while still following the rules.  Bonds simply doesn’t qualify.

Think, now; Do you know of two sober people on the face of the planet who think Bonds actually followed the rules to get himself this far? I don’t.

And the thing is MLB knew about this all along… they HAD to. But because of the quick money involved, they say nothing, by claiming they have to wait for the government to take action.  (And I wonder if this is a point Billy’s picked up on) They’re using government as a shield, here, or they were. I think I could get a whole column out of that.

I suppose and expect we’ll see MLB stepping up and making lots of surprised and angry noises about all of this. But we both know they knew about Bonds, and did nothing. The issue now is what the fans will do. The ones hat are left, that is.

You’ll recall last night I commented on the drooling idiot, Kos and how Newsweek had lowered themselves into hiring the guy, saying, “That’s OK… Newsweek didn’t have any credibility left, anyway.  No loss.”… Well, perhaps… just perhaps… I under-estimated Newsweek. The WaPo is saying today:

Less than three months after leaving the Bush White House, Karl Rove is becoming a member of a community not all that popular with administration officials: the media.

Newsweek has signed the president’s former deputy chief of staff as a commentator who will turn out several columns on the 2008 campaign through inauguration day. The move is not likely to prove popular among liberals who believe the mainstream media have been too soft on the Bush administration.

Hmmm.

For the first time in his life, Kos is going to be faced with someone who will take the time to spank him. He’s always been protected in that Blog of his, surrounded by yes men. It’s all down to how Newsweek implements this thing, but if they do it right, it’ll be worthwhile.  I dunno about you, but I don’t put Kos at above the first grade level, so I doubt he’ll be able to fight a level fight with Rove.

I’ll put my anti-Newsweek jets back on “simmer” for a while. We’ll see.

BTW… One gets the idea that Kos jumped the gun a bit in releasing his hiring notice, which explains the late day release of Rove being hired.

BBCT: Memeorandum

Update: I see Michelle is convinced the whole thing will be a yawner.

The fact that they both accepted the invitation shows they share a need for mainstream approbation and a common belief that writing for a circulation-losing, influence-dwindling publication is worth their time.
I predict they’ll write preemptively safe, toned-down pieces to match expectations of MSM respectability-and they’ll save any truly newsworthy, interesting insights for their own home bases (dKos for Kos, conservative talk radio/Fox/etc. for Rove).

Mmmmmmmmm…I dunno, Michelle.

First, Kos has never been the one to tone ANYTHING down, even the cretins who occupy that site of his seldom if ever get slapped.  Secondly, Kos is too wrapped up in Liberal Shrill to let more than the first round go by without trying to out- “loud” Rove.

And Rove, for his part I bet  likes the money, and  finds the idea of verbally slapping Kos around to be an amusing past-time, particularly if it helps keep the Democrats out of the White House.

Well, now….. Just a few hours before Hillary Clinton is to face both the press and her opponents for the Democratic Nomination, ABC news is asking some interesting questions, which will doubtless play heavy tonight:

Three recipients of controversial 11th-hour pardons issued by former President Bill Clinton in January 2001 have donated thousands of dollars to the presidential campaign of his wife, Democratic front-runner Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., according to campaign finance records examined by ABC News, in what some good government groups said created an appearance of impropriety.

“It’s not illegal,” Melanie Sloan, executive director of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, told ABC News. “But, of course, it’s inappropriate and she should return the money. It does raise the appearance that this is payback.

“Appearance”? More like “confirmation”.

“One can only hope that she wasn’t yet aware of who made the donations,” said Sloan.

Just like she wasn’t aware that her people were planting questions. Mrs Clinton certainly has a lot of gaps in her understanding of her own campaign, if we’re to take her word on the matter. This strikes me as a problem of her management style at least, if not hiding criminal behavior. Ad yes, selling pardons for future political and monetary situations is a crime, as many reminded us at the time those pardons were first signed off on.

Blue Crab Boulevard says:

The campaign has a point, of course. With the amount of cash in play, $5,300 is not even noise on the system. It speaks more to the judgment of the people who made the donations than it does to the campaign. Yet those people obviously felt that they owed something to the Clintons, did they not? It just adds another odor to the overall scent of corruption that seems to hang around the Clintons.

I’m not so sure we can excuse this because of the small amount. If I’m actually looking for a name of someone I don’t want to take money from, it’s easy enough to red-tag it, in today’s computerized society.

As an example, it took me exactly 10 seconds to come up with names she might want to avoid taking donations from… these are the people Bill Clinton signed pardons for:

Commutations

1. Benjamin Berger
2. Ronald Henderson Blackley
3. Bert Wayne Bolan
4. Gloria Libia Camargo
5. Charles F. Campbell
6. David Ronald Chandler – federal death row inmate[1].
7. Lau Ching Chin
8. Donald R. Clark
9. Loreta De-Ann Coffman
10. Derrick Curry
11. Velinda Desalus
12. Jacob Elbaum
13. Linda Sue Evans
14. Loretta Sharon Fish
15. Antoinette M. Frink
16. David Goldstein
17. Gerard A. Greenfield
18. Jodie E. Israel
19. Kimberly Johnson
20. Billy Thornton Langston Jr.
21. Belinda Lynn Lumpkin
22. Peter MacDonald – President of the Navajo Nation
23. Kellie Ann Mann
24. Peter Ninemire
25. Hugh Ricardo Padmore
26. Arnold Paul Prosperi
27. Melvin J. Reynolds – Democratic Congressman from Illinois – bank fraud and obstruction of justice
28. Pedro Miguel Riveiro
29. Dorothy Rivers – lead official in Jesse Jackson‘s Rainbow/PUSH Coalition, plead guilty to theft of 1.2 million dollars in federal grant money
30. Susan Rosenberg
31. Kalmen Stern
32. Cory Stringfellow
33. Carlos Anibal Vignali – convicted of cocaine trafficking
34. Thomas Wilson Waddell III
35. Harvey Weinig
36. Kim Allen Willis
37. Kimba Smith
38. Antonio Camacho Negron – FALN militant

Pardons

1. Verla Jean Allen (1990 false statements to an agency of the United States)
2. Nicholas M. Altiere (1983 importation of cocaine)
3. Bernice Ruth Altschul (1992 money laundering conspiracy)
4. Joe Anderson Jr. (1988 income tax evasion)
5. William Sterling Anderson (1987 defraudment of a financial institution, false statements to a financial institution, wire fraud)
6. Mansour Azizkhani (1984 false statements in bank loan applications)
7. Cleveland Victor Babin Jr. (1987 using the U.S. mail service to defraud)
8. Chris Harmon Bagley (1989 conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute cocaine)
9. Scott Lynn Bane (Unlawful distribution of marijuana)
10. Thomas Cleveland Barber (Issuing worthless checks)
11. Peggy Ann Bargon (Violation of the Lacey Act, violation of the Bald Eagle Protection Act)
12. David Roscoe Blampied (possess with intent to distribute cocaine)
13. William Arthur Borders Jr. (Conspiracy to corruptly solicit and accept money in return for influencing the official acts of a federal district court judge (Alcee L. Hastings), and to defraud the United States in connection with the performance of lawful government functions; corruptly influencing, obstructing, impeding and endeavoring to influence, obstruct and impede the due administration of justice, and aiding and abetting therein; traveling interstate with intent to commit bribery)
14. Arthur David Borel (Odometer Rollback)
15. Douglas Charles Borel (Odometer Rollback)
16. George Thomas Brabham (Making a false statement or report to a federally insured bank)
17. Almon Glenn Braswell (1983 mail fraud and perjury)
18. Leonard Browder (Illegal dispensing of controlled substance and Medicaid fraud)
19. David Steven Brown (Securities fraud and mail fraud)
20. Delores Caroylene Burleson, aka Delores Cox Burleson (Possession of Marijuana)
21. John H. Bustamante (wire fraud)
22. Mary Louise Campbell
23. Eloida Candelaria
24. Dennis Sobrevinas Capili
25. Donna Denise Chambers
26. Douglas Eugene Chapman
27. Ronald Keith Chapman
28. Francisco Larois Chavez
29. Henry Cisneros (former HUD Secretary)
30. Roger Clinton, Jr. (half-brother of President Bill Clinton)
31. Stuart Harris Cohn
32. David Marc Cooper
33. Ernest Harley Cox Jr.
34. John F. Cross Jr.
35. Reickey Lee Cunningham
36. Richard Anthony De Labio
37. John Deutch (former Director of Central Intelligence Agency)
38. Richard Douglas
39. Edward Reynolds Downe
40. Marvin Dean Dudley
41. Larry Lee Duncan
42. Robert Clinton Fain
43. Marcos Arcenio Fernandez
44. Alvarez Ferrouillet
45. Henry O. Flipper – guilty of “conduct unbecoming an officer” (1882)
46. William Dennis Fugazy
47. Lloyd Reid George
48. Louis Goldstein
49. Rubye Lee Gordon
50. Pincus Green
51. Robert Ivey Hamner
52. Samuel Price Handley
53. Woodie Randolph Handley
54. Jay Houston Harmon
55. Rick Hendrick
56. John Hummingson
57. David S. Herdlinger
58. Debi Rae Huckleberry
59. Warren C. Hultgren Jr.
60. Donald Ray James
61. Stanley Pruet Jobe
62. Ruben H. Johnson
63. Linda Jones
64. James Howard Lake
65. June Louise Lewis
66. Salim Bonnor Lewis
67. John Leighton Lodwick
68. Hildebrando Lopez
69. Jose Julio Luaces
70. James Timothy Maness
71. James Lowell Manning, (1982, aiding and assisting in the preparation of a false corporate income tax return)
72. John Robert Martin
73. Frank Ayala Martinez
74. Silvia Leticia Beltran Martinez
75. John Francis McCormick
76. Susan H. McDougal
77. Howard Mechanic
78. Brook K. Mitchell Sr.
79. Samuel Loring Morison
80. Charles Wilfred Morgan III
81. Richard Anthony Nazzaro
82. Charlene Ann Nosenko
83. Vernon Raymond Obermeier
84. Miguelina Ogalde
85. David C. Owen
86. Robert W. Palmer
87. Kelli Anne Perhosky
88. Richard H. Pezzopane
89. Orville Rex Phillips
90. Vinson Stewart Poling Jr.
91. Norman Lyle Prouse
92. Willie H.H. Pruitt Jr.^[3]
93. Danny Martin Pursley Sr.
94. Charles D. Ravenel
95. William Clyde Ray
96. Alfredo Luna Regalado
97. Ildefonso Reynes Ricafort
98. Marc Rich
99. Howard Winfield Riddle
100. Richard Wilson Riley Jr.
101. Samuel Lee Robbins
102. Joel Gonzales Rodriguez
103. Michael James Rogers
104. Anna Louise Ross
105. Dan Rostenkowski – Former Democratic Congressman convicted in the Congressional Post Office Scandal
106. Gerald Glen Rust
107. Jerri Ann Rust
108. Bettye June Rutherford
109. Gregory Lee Sands
110. Adolph Schwimmer
111. Albert A. Seretti Jr.
112. Patricia Campbell Hearst Shaw
113. Dennis Joseph Smith
114. Gerald Owen Smith
115. Stephen A. Smith
116. Jimmie Lee Speake
117. Charles Bernard Stewart
118. Marlena Francisca Stewart-Rollins
119. Fife Symington III – former Arizona governor
120. Richard Lee Tannehill
121. Nicholas C. Tenaglia
122. Gary Allen Thomas
123. Larry Weldon Todd
124. Olga C. Trevino
125. Ignatious Vamvouklis
126. Patricia A. Van De Weerd
127. Christopher V. Wade
128. Bill Wayne Warmath
129. Jack Kenneth Watson
130. Donna Lynn Webb
131. Donald William Wells
132. Robert H. Wendt
133. Jack L. Williams
134. Kavin Arthur Williams
135. Robert Michael Williams
136. Jimmie Lee Wilson
137. Thelma Louise Wingate
138. Mitchell Couey Wood
139. Warren Stannard Wood
140. Dewey Worthey
141. Rick Allen Yale
142. Joseph A. Yasak
143. William Stanley Yingling
144. Phillip David Young
145. Keith Sanders
146. Darren Muci
147. John Scott (not a full pardon)

Can’t these names be added to a filter so the people taking the money know they may not want to do that? Or perhaps they don’t care. It sounds to me like someone wasn’t watching, or was hoping given the relatively small amounts, nobody else would notice.

Of course this brings up a point… they DID notice, officially, and said something about it… they in this case being the press. She’s gotten a pass for so long, she likely expected it to occur here, as well. It didn’t, which means she’s going to have to do some serious dancing, tonight, on this point, as well as on the planted questions, and the drivers licenses for illegals and so on.

Gonna be a fun night, says I….

More, Memeorandum

Say what you will about Mrs. Clinton’s campaign, the MSM is no longer accepting her as inevitable.   CNN”s Wolf Blitzer asks a good question of Mrs. Clinton.   Bill Sammon: 

 “If she can’t handle the heat during a Democratic contest, wait until the Republicans really start going after her,” he told TV Newser. “If she’s the nominee.”

Has Mrs. Cinton become too shill for even the Clinton News Network, or is Blitzer merely feigning that he hasn’t been nuetered?   I,  for one, think it is false bravado on Blitzer’s part.   He simply isn’t man enough to stand-up to Mrs. Clinton.

I do think Blitzer is right that Mrs. Clinton’s campaign is openly exposing her glass jaw.    How many times can her busband, B.J., rush into rescue Mrs. Clinton before the voters question for which Clinton they are voting?

Hat Tip:  Drudge.

 Sarah el Deeb,  Associated Press

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip – Gaza’s Hamas rulers issued an edict Wednesday banning journalists from working in the coastal strip unless they submit to sweeping press restrictions, and it said it would soon impose new restraints on public gatherings.  

The moves, which follow the arrests of hundreds of opposition activists, appeared to be part of an intensifying clampdown after the Islamic militant group was confronted with a mass demonstration called by the rival Fatah movement that led to violence.

Expect silence from Keith Olbermann.

I’ve had some time to consider the Spitzer “I don’t have a plan anymore” speech of yesterday One thing I noted Spitzer’s “poor me” act, wherein he, in dropping the “drivers licenses for illegals” monster he’s been pushing, complains that what brought him to the point of withdrawing the proposal, was “hyper partisan politics”. (Of COURSE it’s not Spitzer himself at fault… would you expect a Democrat to take the blame for his own actions?)

Echoes of “It’s all a right wing conspiracy” seemed to follow on it’s wings, giving those who would listen clues as to who the move was supposed to be supporting. (And that’s a clue, as to what’s really driving all of this, but we’ll get to that)

Hyper-partisanship?

Well, let’s see, here, … is this the hyper partisan politics that had Spitzer telling a Republican member of the State Senate that “I am a f—ing steamroller and I’ll roll over you or anybody else”? ( and lest we forget, wasn’t this the same person who complained bitterly about Vice President Dick Cheney making a similar comment on the floor of the US senate?)

Or is this the hyper-partisanship that the New York Observer described as being the reason the business of New York State wasn’t getting done?  A government which the Albany Times Union described as being in paralysis?

Well, let’s clear this up. Polling data suggests that ~75% of the country thinks benefiting illegals the way Spitzer suggested, and was attempting to implement, was a very bad idea.  Seems to me, that the claim of hyper partisanship dies somewhere at around 60%, and by the time you make it to 75% you’re talking a pretty fair majority of people, cutting across party lines as few other items have in the last 20 years.  I’ve got to hand it to Spitzer… he seems to have united Americans in a way few others have done… the fact that they’re united against him not withstanding.

The charge of “Hyper-partisanship” is amusing, though, because it looks from here like a classic case of projection. Think; Why was this started in the first place? Because for one thing, the Democrats wanted to use the issue to hammer George W Bush over. And Spitzer willingly signed onto that idea. So, in a way Spitzer is correct; it IS hyper-partisanship that started this whole thing.  Spitzer’s own.  Like I say… projection.

Further proof? Well, that’s easy. Ask Joe Bruno who’s been acting in a partisan matter… but be careful, the state police here may want to have a word with you, if you cause Spitzer too much political trouble.

Oh, and there’s Hillary Clinton, too.

Oh, yes… Hillary… the elephant in the Spitzer living room. Did Democrats think nobody noticed that Hillary Clinton is due to appear in a debate tonight, and this issue that she fell on her face on, was hanging out like an open sore?  Can’t you just hear the phone lines burning between Albany and wherever Hillary Clinton’s handlers are holed up, these days? Oh, trust me… phone calls were made, and directions given, to drop this plan so she’d not have to face questions about it (from a press she’s already warned. ) And Spitzer, like the good little Democrat tool that he is, did as he was told.  (Take that phase any way you want to) Now that Spitzer has, like a good little minion, done as he was told, Clinton, predictably, has now come out against such ideas… the sixth different position she’s held on the topic in as many weeks.  She’s clearly in trouble, and knows it. One wonders if the fix isn’t worse than the problem, however. As Fellow Swamp Stomper Blue Crab Boulevard says:

So she was against it before she was for it while still being against it in a positive sort of way. Or something.

Captain Ed Agrees, saying in part:

People laughed at John Kerry for saying, “I was for the $87 billion before I was against it.” He looks like the Rock of Gibraltar next to Hillary Clinton.

This is a manifestation of the old Clinton trick of falling into the front ranks of whatever lynch mob is happening at the moment, and making out like it’s a parade, and they’re leading it. Only the American people aren’t buying it, anymore. Michelle Malkin gets into this aspect a bit deeper:

Spitzer plus Hillary plus open-borders plus campaign season equals comedy gold

That aside, let’s remember also what this Spitzer proposal was really was all about… the real centerpiece… gaining votes for Democrats from illegals, via what everyone, including the Governor, knows is a poorly enforced “Motor Voter” program, by which, in combo with the driver’s licenses proposed, would mean illegals voting, in large numbers. And whom do you suppose such illegals would be voting FOR? The answer’s easy to find.. just look at which party has been trying to cripple efforts to make sure only citizens vote? Think the Democrats would be pushing so hard for such programs if the Democrats were not going to benefit at the Ballot Box? Trust me… where power is concerned, altruism is not a quality Democrats have.

Finally, there’s Andrew Cuomo, the Attorney General in the Spitzer Administration, and son of the former Governor, Mario Cuomo, who the press has tagged as a Spitzer Loyalist.  One thing you learn, however, by living here, is that the tag “AG” means “Aspiring Governor”.  That breath Spitzer is feeling on the back of his neck just now is that of Andrew Cuomo.  Cuomo for his part is being silent about all of this, particularly on the Joe Bruno affair, apparently giving his boss enough room to hang himself. Easier to ascend to the throne of the vampire state, that way, one presumes.

Of course, this dog eat dog process means the work of the people isn’t getting done… and as the Albany Times Union said last August…

The trouble is, the people’s business at the moment is Troopergate and establishing the integrity of the governing administration. As annoying and partisan as it is, Republican senators have every right, and even obligation, to raise as many questions as they can. That’s what checks and balances in government are all about.

Senate Majority Leader Joe Bruno is trying desperately to keep this issue well fanned, and that’s politics. But who gave Joe Bruno that opportunity? Eliot Spitzer. Who will be responsible for the Senate remaining Republican because of the checks and balances lesson that will come out of Troopergate? Eliot Spitzer.

But far more important, who is responsible for state government being at a standstill? Eliot Spitzer.

Spitzer partisans can dismiss Bruno’s circus as much as they want, but there’s only one governor to set the agenda for all of government and at the moment he’s making like Rip Van Winkle.

The T-U wasn’t alone in the charge… papers… and talk shows from across the state have been saying the same thing, from both sides of the political isle. Interesting, how Spitzer responded to that call, not with the implementation of the grand ideas he promised but with his now trademark arrogance, pushing a scheme that even before he started it, was doomed for lack of support, even among Democrats.

And Spitzer? Blue Crab says:

Meanwhile, Eliot Spitzer, in his drive to try to reach the center of the earth, has managed to top (bottom?) even today’s tic tacs tax news! Yes, he is releasing an onslaught of extremely hard core criminals onto the streets of New York. My gosh, He’s about to make Michael Dukakis look presidential!

You really have to hand it to the Democrats… when they stick us with lemons, they do the job right.  It takes this kind of situation to make the prospect of a Governor Bloomberg look appealing, even to the staunchest Democrat, as the polls and their motions, are now starting to suggest.

Oh… and trust me here, dear reader.. this plan of Democrats to get illegals into the voting booth is not going away… the Democrats have far to much to gain by it, for it to simply vanish because Spitzer is makes noises like he’s given up the idea.
Much more discussion at Memeorandum

INDIRECT FIRE ATTACKS DECREASE IN IRAQ

Posted: 14 Nov 2007 09:06 AM CST

INDIRECT FIRE ATTACKS DECREASE IN IRAQ

SOLDIER FOUND NOT GUILTY OF MURDER

Posted: 14 Nov 2007 09:01 AM CST

SOLDIER FOUND NOT GUILTY OF MURDER

NINE IRANIAN DETAINEES RELEASED

Posted: 14 Nov 2007 07:19 AM CST

NINE IRANIAN DETAINEES RELEASED

SHEIK WORKING FOR RECONCILIATION IN DIYALA KILLED IN EXPLOSION

Posted: 14 Nov 2007 07:17 AM CST

SHEIK WORKING FOR RECONCILIATION IN DIYALA KILLED IN EXPLOSION

David Hill… who has really got to consider a non de plume, if he’s going to continue working at The Hill, says:

While Texan Ron Paul’s stock is soaring nationally, there is trouble on the home front. In September, Paul finished third in a straw poll of 1,300 Texas Republican activists who had been delegates to recent Republican conventions.

The congressman corralled just 17 percent of the votes cast, trailing California’s Duncan Hunter with 41 percent.

This outcome says Texas Republicans aren’t terribly concerned about viability. Otherwise, one of the national front-runners like Rudy Giuliani or Mitt Romney would have beaten these long-shots. But if they were willing to “waste” their votes on Hunter, why didn’t most back a fellow Texan? The truth is that Ron Paul, the angry prophet, has little honor in his own land. He’s about to lose his congressional seat.

The mistake Hill is figuring that Ron Paul has any stock at all, nationally, other than his small band of admittedly loud supporters, in the Cindy Sheehan wing of the Democrat party.

Here’s the problem; Hill apparently is assuming that because the polls the mainstream press bothers to report on show Paul doing well, it’s a fact.  Well, he IS doing fairly well, for a whack-job. 14% is nothing to sneeze at. Then again, when you’ve got a press willing to hawk your virtues all day, and particularly when the Democrats are fielding such duds, you’ve got publicity that Paris Hilton can’t buy.

Bottom line, here: Ron Paul is The Ross Perot of the cycle…. with less money. That Paul is getting less support back home should be a sign to the rest of the country that what the press has been feeding us is pure plant food.

It’s entirely possible that Paul will be wreaking havoc in early-primary states across the country just as his base in Texas implodes. What kind of impact would that have on his presidential candidacy? It would be like a NASA astronaut aboard the International Space Station hearing that his home back in Texas burned down and firefighters discovered a meth lab in the smoldering embers. The trip home would, at once, be both devastating and embarrassing.

No less to his supporters… at east the lones who aren’t full-goose-bozo leftist.  THey will consider it a job well done.

Think, now…. is it possible that the reason Ron Paul gets such support from the Sheehans of the world is because they’d like nothing better than to split the right?

More, Memeorandum

The other day,, Bit complained about the lack of honest coverage of Mrs. Clinton.  Well, the theme that we have been pounding for months is starting to resonate in the media.

To that end, Bit’s plea for help gets answered from an interesting source, Camille Paglia. Salon:

What compulsive micromanagement, ultimately emanating from Hillary herself, has come back to haunt her in her dismaying inability to field complex unscripted questions in a public forum. The presidential sweepstakes are too harsh an arena for tenderfoot novices. Hillary’s much-vaunted “experience” has evidently not extended to the dynamic give-and-take of authentic debate. The mild challenges she has faced would be pitiful indeed by British standards, which favor a caustic style of witty put-downs that draw applause and gales of laughter in the House of Commons. Women had better toughen up if they aspire to be commander in chief.

It bears repeating the only thing that Mrs. Clinton has never managed anything except bimbo eruptiions, and judging by John Hawkins’ interview with Kathleen Willey, I have questions about Mrs. Clinton’s competence there as well.

The good news for Paglia, she is immune from any Clinton stooge charge of bimbo.

Hat Tip: Drudge.

John Dickerson wins our “Snark of the Day Award” with this gem:

Now we know, though, that it was Clinton’s staff that gave Gallo-Chasanoff that question to ask. Which makes the senator’s answer amusing. “It’s usually young people who ask me about global warming,” she said. Perhaps it’s usually young people because in the binder where a staffer showed Galo-Chasanoff the question for her to ask, it was under the category marked “college student.”

Couldn’t be, right?