Movie Bleg

I’m looking for a copy of the 1950 version of Cyrano DeBergerac with Jose Ferrer in the lead role. VHS is fine. Personal project of mine. Feedback, if you’ve got it, and are willing to talk.

Chief UN nuclear watchdog Mohamed ElBaradei is mad,  from AFP:

Mohamed ElBaradei accuses Jewish state of ‘taking the law into its own hands’, says ‘if countries have information that another country is working on a nuclear-related program, they should come to us’

Charlies Johnson, Little Green Footballs, tags ElBaradei:

Because the UN is the “eyes and ears of the international community.” We’re not supposed to notice that those eyes are willfully blind, and those ears willfully deaf.

I think ElBaradei mad not so much as Israel took action, but that that he, ElBaradei, got shown up as the fool that he is.

From the Daily Mail this morning, comes word we’ve heard before… and those pushing for the government to take over our healthcare system have disregarded:

 Record numbers of Britons are travelling abroad for medical treatment to escape the NHS – with 70,000 patients expected to fly out this year.

And by the end of the decade 200,000 “health tourists” will fly as far as Malaysa and South Africa for major surgery to avoid long waiting lists and the rising threat of superbugs, according to a new report.

The first survey of Britons opting for treatment overseas shows that fears of hospital infections and frustration of often waiting months for operations are fuelling the increasing trend.

Patients needing major heart surgery, hip operations and cataracts are using the internet to book operations to be carried out thousands of miles away.

India is the most popular destination for surgery, followed by Hungary, Turkey, Germany, Malaysia, Poland and Spain. But dozens more countries are attracting health tourists.

The instinctive reaction of course, is “India?” 

Yep. India. 

I said, India. 

But this would seem to be a rather important clue on just how bad it’s gotten, and how bad it’s going to be here should we follow the same course.

One thing that would get better, though, (it’s not all bad) is the traffic just west of me here at the Canadian border, caused by ‘health tourism’ trying escape the government healthcare system in Canada… to get to the ‘states. We’ll save money on the expansion of the Peace Bridge…

I wish someone would have the stones to ask Hillary Clinton.. or anyone pushing government healthcare,  about such matters.

An interesting set of conditions leads to some interesting mail to catch up on, this morning.

Last night, I took a healthy swipe at Glenn Greenwald. (I know… it’s a target that’s all too easy, but someone hadda do it.)

So this morning, comes a defender, who says I got the IP part right, but missed a clue:

(OK… this oughta be fun…)

One thing that someone else noted is that Greenwald lists the originating IP address as 10.70.20.16. They are correct that 10.70.20.16 is a private IP address. Anyone can claim to be 10.70.20.16, just like anyone can claim to be 192.168.1.1. However, that is missing a key piece of evidence. I’ll trim the header for the relevant information.

Received: from rich.salon.com (rich.salon.com [206.80.4.124]) by mailer.salon.com (8.13.6/8.13.6)
Received: from 02exbhizn02.iraq.centcom.mil (02exbhizn02.iraq.centcom.mil [214.13.200.111]) by rich.salon.com (8.12.11/8.12.11)
Received: from INTZEXEBHIZN01.iraq.centcom.mil ([10.70.20.11]) by 02exbhizn02.iraq.centcom.mil with Microsoft SMTPSVC(6.0.3790.3959);
Sun, 28 Oct 2007 14:15:05 +0300Received: from INTZEXEVSIZN02.iraq.centcom.mil ([10.70.20.16]) by INTZEXEBHIZN01.iraq.centcom.mil with Microsoft SMTPSVC(6.0.3790.3959);

The key piece is the 214.13.200.111.  That is a public address.  You can use nslookup to verify it.  Heck, you can look up who owns the 214 address chunk. Here is a hint:

214/8 Mar 98 US-DOD

The email got routed through a US-DOD server, that is not something that one can just do.

Well, bucko, there’s where you’re wrong… and it’s you that’s missed the clue. Look again:

02exbhizn02.iraq.centcom.mil with Microsoft SMTPSVC(6.0.3790.3959)

(How shall I count the ways?  )

You would need to compromise the server to forward the email.

Ummmmm…. Yeahhhhhh…. Tell me… Did you happen to note this is an Microsoft Exchange server?  My hacker friends tell me that getting by a hastily set up Exchange server isn’t all that hard, particularly for a professional sock puppet and his buddies. Beyond that, hacking up a header isn’t at all hard, either.

Isn’t it funny how the conspiracy minded left loses it’s imagination in situations like this?

Further, let’s consider motivation:

What possible motivation would a drooling band of leftists, ones so desperate to get something / anything on our military and the current President, and one in particular who has a history of faking network activity, want to put up a story like this if it wasn’t true?

Gee. Maybe you oughta give up the forensic stuff.

I note others blogging on the subject:

A Second Hand Conjecture

Blue Crab Boulivard

Yeterday, I chided John Edwards for being a shyster lawyer,  trying to play physician and not respecting the Constitution of the United States.     That ought to enough fuel for the fire, but Edwards keeps throwing more logs on to the fire.   Here Edwards’ latest.   Lauren R.  Dorgan, Concord Monitor:

John Edwards says if he’s elected president, he’ll institute a New Deal-like suite of programs to fight poverty and stem growing wealth disparity. To do it, he said, he’ll ask many Americans to make sacrifices, like paying higher taxes.

Now we find out that Edwards doesn’t know history either.   Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal was a monumental failure.    Roosevelt’s presided over the longest depression in our nation’s history.   It was World War Two,  and not the New Deal whch got us out of the depression.

As for poverty, in this nation it essentially does not exist.  Poverty is such a trivial problem that no government statistics exist on it.

Edwards wants sacrifice, that we pay more taxes, to fight a problem that does not exist with programs that do not work.

Hat tip:  Pejman Yousefzadeh, Red State.

Jon Roth at GOP Bloggers hits this one square on:

 Nothing gets a Democrat angrier (not even the incineration of nearly 3,000 civilians on American soil) than having his judgment on national security questioned. The knee-jerk response is to howl about how dissent is critical to American life (unless you don’t buy into the global warming hoax, because on global warming there is no allowable dissent) and to rail against questioning their patriotism.

…

So, who are the patriots and who are the traitors? The Democrats are doing everything they can to prevent America from winning; they are doing everything they can to ensure America loses and that our enemies, al Qaeda and Iran, emerge victorious. General Petraeus has served in uniform his entire adult life and he and his troops are dedicating their lives to fight our enemies. The only interests that are served by leaving Iraq as a failed state are those of the Islamists.

And, the sort term power grab of the Democrats, of course.  Go and RTWT.

Michelle notes a Fox News report that says a career army officer, and small business owner has decided to challenge Jack “Cold Blood” Murtha…

JOHNSTOWN, Pa. —(FOX)- A career Army member left the service two years short of retirement to move here and try his hand at politics by challenging longtime Democratic U.S. Rep. John Murtha.First-time candidate William T. Russell, 45, a Republican, acknowledged that taking on a popular, 18-term congressman in the 2008 election will be “an uphill battle.”

“But it’s one that must be fought,” Russell told the Tribune-Democrat in Johnstown.

Russell plans to formally announce his candidacy within weeks. Murtha has declined comment on the challenge.

Heh…  Hoping the whole thing just goes away, doubtless. I suspect thefeeling at Murtha headquarters is that Russel will have an easier target than did Irey.

Oh… speaking of Murtha, and of Haditha… as Russel doubtless will be, Michelle in a separate article, links  Defend our Marines.

Buried in the mountain of exhibits attached to the once secret Haditha, Iraq murder inquiry prepared by US Army Maj. Gen. Eldon A. Bargewell is an obscure Marine Corps intelligence summary (see pdf) that says the deadly encounter was an intentional propaganda ploy planned and paid for by Al Qaeda foreign fighters.

Veteran military defense attorney Gary Meyers said he never understood why the Naval Criminal Investigative Service special agents leading the Haditha criminal investigation didn’t “examine the linkage” between Al Qaeda, the local insurgency and the events at Haditha. Meyers was an attorney on the defense team that successfully defended Justin Sharratt, a Marine infantryman accused of multiple murders at Haditha.

As I said back at the beginning of the month on this… SITYS.

It is amazing to me how often Glenn Greenwald can trip over his own tounge and still be convinced he’s smarter than everyone else. This one’s going to require some background.

As Bruce McQuain noted the other day, the left is all atwitter about how the right end of the sphere is getting better access, supposedly, to the military. Bruce basically destroyed that argument.

So, in spite of being shown that there is no favoritism here on the part of the Military, in this regard, we see Glenn Greenwald screaming bloody murder about it.

In response to this, someone decided to shake ol Glenn up just a bit, by sending him a letter, or so Greenwald claims…

The issues of accuracy, context, and proper characterization is something that perhaps you could do a little research and would assume you are aware of as a trained lawyer.

I do enjoy reading your diatribes as they provide comic relief here in Iraq. The amount of pure fiction is incredible. Since a great deal of this post is just opinion and everyone is entitled to their opinions, I will not address those even though they are shall we say — based on few if any facts. That does surprise me with your training as a lawyer, but we will leave those jokes to another day. . . .

You are either too lazy to do the research on the topics to gain the facts, or you are providing purposeful misinformation — much like a propagandist. . . .

Sorry to burst your bubble, but a little actual research on your part would have shown that [Cheney P.R. aide Steve Schmidt] is actually not here, but that would contradict your conspiracy theory. . . . .

I am curious as to when you think the media relations or operations changed here in Iraq. I in fact do know exactly the day and time that it changed and want to see if you are even in the same ballpark as reality. . . .

For the third matter concerning the Beauchamp investigation and the documents that were leaked — it is very unfortunate that they were — but the documents are not secret or classified. So, there is your third major error in fact. Good thing you are not a journalist. . . .

As for working in secret with only certain media is laughable. The wide swatch of media engagements is by far the most diverse it could be. But you might not think it that way since we chose not to do an interview with you. You are not a journalist nor do you have any journalistic ethical standards as we found out from the last time I engaged with you.

As we quickly found out, you published our email conversation without asking, without permission — just another case in point to illustrate your lack of standards and ethics. You may recall that a 30-minute interview was conducted with the program that you claim to be a contributor. So instead of doing the interview with you, we went with the real talent, Alan Colmes. . . .

I invite you to come see for yourself and go anywhere in Iraq you want, go see what our forces are doing, go see what the other coalition forces are doing, go hang out with the reporters outside the International Zone since that is where they live and work and see for yourself what ground truth is so that you can be better informed. But that would take something you probably don’t have.

Steve

Steven A. Boylan

Colonel, US Army

Public Affairs Officer

OK, with that as a background, we can now have a little fun. Says Greenwald, in a huff:

Everyone can decide for themselves if that sounds more like an apolitical, professional military officer or an overwrought right-wing blogger throwing around all sorts of angry, politically charged invective.

Not that you’re an overwrought far-left-wing blogger throwing around all sorts of angry, politically charged invective, huh, Glenn? (Aside… ya know were I gettin’ spanked that hard, I dunno as I’d be bragging about it like Greenwald is, here.)

As usual, of course Greenwald only has half the facts, if that.We’ll leave all the guesswork and just pure nonsense by the side of the road, because as we go on here, it will become clear that Greenwald is either falling for a scam, or is behind behind this scam himself… with some serious help, of course… Trouble is, he’s so far off on his facts, and clearly so bad with the technology…

UPDATE: For obvious reasons, several commenters have questioned the authenticity of the e-mail. The email address from which it was sent is the same (iraq.centcom.mil) email address as Col. Boylan used to send his prior emails (not knowing if that address is public or private, I didn’t include it in the full e-mail I published in order to prevent him from receiving a deluge of emails).  Additionally, all of the adornments (titles and pre-programmed signature lines and the like) and formatting are identical. Most convincingly (to me), Col. Boylan has, as I noticed during my prior email exchange with him, a — how shall we say? — idiosyncratic grammatical style that is quite recognizable though difficult to replicate, and the e-mail I received this morning — from start to finish — is written in exactly that style. I don’t see any reason at all to doubt its authenticity.

OK, we’ll wait 30 seconds.

UPDATE II: If you are well-versed in analyzing IP addresses, email headers and the like, please email me ([email protected]).

Yes, I thought so. He really doesn’t know what he’s on about, and despite his bravado, has no proof of what he’s saying. So, like agood little liberal, he continues to dig a bigger hole for himself:

UPDATE III: The following email exchange has now ensued with Col. Boylan:

GG to Col. Boylan:

Col. Boylan – Could you just confirm that this email [email forwarded] is authentic, written by and sent from you?  Thanks –

Glenn Greenwald

Col. Boylan to GG:

Glenn, Interesting email and no. Why do you ask?

Steven

GG to Col. Boylan:

Only because it comes from your email address, is written in your name, and bears all of the same distinguishing features as the last emails you sent to me: [email protected]

Did you really not notice that?

Col. Boylan to GG:

Well, since they were on the web, not surprising. If you do a search on the web, you will also see that I have been a victim of identity theft of late in Vermont and at least two other places trying to rent property and that person identified themselves as me and thankfully the State Police were able to get in touch with me about it while I am sitting here in Baghdad.

GG to Col. Boylan:

Well isn’t it of great concern to you that someone is able to send out emails using your military email address? Do you plan to look into that? And you labelled the email I recieved “interesting.” What does that mean? Do you agree with its content, have any comments about it?

I’ll post more as I receive it.

UPDATE IV: After a crash course in tracing email headers and IP addresses and the like, the following appears to be the tracking information for the original email I received this morning from the email Col. Boylan is claiming is fake:

Return-Path: Received: from 02exbhizn02.iraq.centcom.mil

(02exbhizn02.iraq.centcom.mil [214.13.200.111]) by rich.salon.com (8.12.11/8.12.11) with ESMTP id l9SBFSff004148 for ;

Sun, 28 Oct 2007 04:15:36 -0700

Received: from INTZEXEBHIZN01.iraq.centcom.mil ([10.70.20.11]) by 02exbhizn02.iraq.centcom.mil with Microsoft SMTPSVC(6.0.3790.3959);

Sun, 28 Oct 2007 14:15:05 +0300 Received: from INTZEXEVSIZN02.iraq.centcom.mil ([10.70.20.16]) by INTZEXEBHIZN01.iraq.centcom.mil with Microsoft SMTPSVC(6.0.3790.3959);

Sun, 28 Oct 2007 14:15:05 +0300

From: “Boylan, Steven COL MNF-I CMD GRP CG PAO”

To: ([email protected])

X-OriginalArrivalTime: 28 Oct 2007 11:15:05.0804 (UTC) FILETIME=[CAF430C0:01C81953]

The IP address — 10.70.20.11 — does not appear to be recognizable from various IP locator programs.

Well, Glenn, ol sod, whoever gave you that crash course oughta give you your money back.

10.*.*.* is a PRIVATE network. It’s called a Class A network, and is often used by private industry. Such addresses live behind a POP and a router.  You clearly did no research whatever on the matter, or your first stop would have been Wikipedia, wherein we find:

private network is a network that uses RFC 1918 IP address space. Computers may be allocated addresses from this address space when it is necessary for them to communicate with other computing devices on an internal network (non-Internet).

Private networks are becoming quite common in office local area network (LAN) designs, as many organizations do not see a need for globally unique IP addresses for every computer, printer and other device that the organizations use. Another reason for the extensive use of private IP addresses is the shortage of publicly registered IP addresses. IPv6 was created to alleviate this shortage, but is yet to be in widespread use.

Routers on the Internet are (normally) configured to discard any traffic using private IP addresses. This isolation gives private networks a basic form of security as it is not usually possible for the outside world to establish a connection directly to a machine using these addresses. As connections cannot be made between different private networks via the internet, different organizations can use the same private address range without risking address conflicts (communications accidentally reaching third party which is using the same IP address).

If a device on a private network needs to communicate with other networks it is necessary for a “mediating gateway” to ensure that the outside network is presented with an address that is “real” (or publicly reachable) so that routers allow the communication. Typically this gateway will be a network address translation (NAT) device or a proxy server.

This can cause problems, however, when organizations try to connect networks that both use private address spaces. There is the potential for clashes and routing problems if both networks use the same IP addresses for their private networks, or rely on NAT to connect them through the Internet.

The current private internet addresses are:

In short, there are likely a million different networks operating in the same address range as the one you think is coming from Iraq. Good luck proving it came from there… or for that matter proving it didn’t.  I myself operate several such networks, and another few in the 192.*.*.* range.

Further, Glenn if you knew thing one about the computer, the keyboard of which you drool into daily, you’d know about open mail ports, and their hacking uses. I mean, these are all facts that could have been found by you with about 30 seconds worth of investigation. You didn’t bother.  Apparently, you just followed your jerking knee, instead.

And Glenn? As for..

(Franklin Foer noted “a months-long pattern by which the Army has leaked information and misinformation to conservative bloggers while failing to help us with simple requests for documents”).

You have got to be kidding me. Foer was frozen because he couldn’t respond without transcripts of a conversation he was party to originally? Give it a rest, this stuff ain’t selling.

Pathetic.

BBCT: Memeorandum

(See updates in Greenwald, again)

The Houston Chronicle:

WASHINGTON — Hoping to defy more expectations, Rep. Ron Paul is ratcheting up his maverick Republican presidential campaign by launching TV and radio commercials in early primary states and setting an ambitious $12 million fundraising goal.

For a candidate often relegated by pundits to second- or third-tier status, Paul’s ability to make a big entry into advertising wars is unusual.

Not really. It’s called “Desperation” and “Having nothing to lose”.

Addendum: (David L)

You can see Paul’s campaign video, here.  Color me underwelmed.  Paul both claims to be a straight shooter and then claims that being a physician gives him some magical ability to understand the healthcare issue.

Funny… I thought the issue with healthcare was not the treatment options but how to finance it.

Hat tip: Allah Pundit, Hot Air.

Addendum II:(Bit) Well, exactly…. and so much for his ‘libertarian’ creds… any he might have had just got washed away.  It seems to me rather obvious that he’s not arguing from libertarian principle if he argues not from the basics…. as in, by what right does the government take my money to pay for someone’ else’s healthcare needs… and instead argues it from the best way to impliment such theft.

An interesting discussion has popped up over that bombing of a nuclear target in Syria by Israel. One instance of this was at Hot Air:

Why did Israel hit the reactor now if they were comfortable enough with it for four years?  The likely answer lies in this WaPo report from a few days after the airstrike.  To borrow a phrase, strange things were afoot at the Circle K:

[A] prominent U.S. expert on the Middle East, who has interviewed Israeli participants in a mysterious raid over Syria last week, reported that the attack appears to have been linked to the arrival three days earlier of a ship carrying material from North Korea labeled as cement…

The expert said it is not clear what the ship was carrying, but the emerging consensus in Israel was that it delivered nuclear equipment. The ship arrived Sept. 3 in the Syrian port of Tartus; the attack occurred Sept. 6 under such strict operational security that the pilots flying air cover for the attack aircraft did not know details of the mission. The pilots who conducted the attack were briefed only after they were in the air, he said.

Sounds like, with the shell of the reactor already long in place, they were finally ready to take “the next step,” forced perhaps by the fact that North Korea had made a deal with the west to denuclearize and needed to unload some of its infrastructure.

And of course the WaPo tried to lay some scuzz on GWB:

The long genesis is likely to raise questions about whether the Bush administration overlooked a nascent atomic threat in Syria while planning and executing a war in Iraq, which was later found to have no active nuclear program.

So, in short, what happened here is the west didn’t strike until such time as the building actually represented a threat.  Isn’t that how it’s supposed to work, WaPo?

And by the way, this situation says much to the critics of John Bolton,as Atlas Shrugs explains:

“Of course, back in 2003, John Bolton raised the specter of Syria developing nukes, but was dismissed by some in the intelligence community.

Apparently, he was right all along. The progress of the site in late 2003 also raises new questions about a disagreement at the time between intelligence analysts and John R. Bolton, then the State Department’s top arms control official.”

It strikes me that what we’re really seeing, here is a collection of second-guessing on the part of the press… and the leftie blogs… neither of which would mind seeing the Republican President fail… and the country with it… being proven wrong. The leftie blogs are alternately scrambling to cover their original estimates of the situation, which are now being proven unquestionably incorrect… or are being silent as the grave about it all. The reaction of the press isn’t quite so advanced… they’re still trying to blame Bush based on their mis perceptions of events.  Neither is out of the norm for this situation.

But you know… you’d think eventually, the message would sink in that perhaps what we’ve been doing, really WAS the best approach, all along.

Oh, and one more thing, here:

We’re seeing occasional chatter about what happened to the wreckage of the place they bombed…  Well, I have a few ideas about that.

Look close again at the before and after shot we posted here a week or so ago:

If you zoom up on this thing a bit, you’ll note what looks to be a vehicle of some sort, parked in the middle of where the building used to be.  Note also, the freshly groomed appearance of the earth over the site.

Note, also, the road that appears to have been hastily built from the road in the lower right of the second shot, toward the installation. Further, note the increased depth of the wheel tracks in that lower right quadrant, indicating some seriously heavy construction equipment.  Finally, note that some of the areas below the installation are covered with fresh earth in the second photo. Makes sense that the one vehicle in the middle of the site is a grader, and that what is left of the building is buried.

Being a nuke installation, I don’t doubt that much of the installation was buried to begin with, as a natural protection against radiation.  Once the place was bombed, thereby, the simplest way to get it to the condition we see it in now, would be to simply bring in some dirt and bury the place, and grade the surface. Bingo… it was never there.

Granted, some speculation on my part, but it fits with what we see.

Hey John, if you don’t like advertisemnts for prescription drugts, don’t watch them.   Then lay off our Constitution.

Edwards may be a shyster of a lawyer, but he doezn’t seem to be much of a physician.   Holly Ramer, Associated Press;

CONCORD, N.H. – Democratic presidential hopeful John Edwards says prescription drug companies should have to wait two years to begin advertising their new products to consumers

Edwards on Sunday was outlining a plan to regulate what he views as a proliferation of misleading drug ads. In the decade since the government relaxed rules on advertising directly to consumers, spending on prescription drug ads has nearly quadrupled to more than $4 billion a year, he said in prepared remarks.

Edwards have a law degree, yet he seems think he knows more about prescribing drugs than does your physician.   We citizens have this thing called the First Amendment, which protects our right to communicate with our physicians as we alone see fit:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion,      or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of  speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to   assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of  grievances.

John, the responsibility of the office you seek, President, is to protect our constitutional rights, not trample them.

It is tragic and funny.  Jan Raath,  Times (UK):

When Nomatter Tagarira, a spirit medium, claimed that she could conjure refined diesel out of a rock by striking it with her staff, ministers in Robert Mugabe’s Government believed that they might have found the solution to Zimbabwe’s perennial fuel shortage.

After witnessing her apparently miraculous gift they gave her five billion Zimbabwean dollars in cash (worth £1.7 million at the start of the year but now worth one seven-hundredth of that) in return for the fuel. Ms Tagarira was also given a farm, said to have been seized from its white owner during Mr Mugabe’s lawless land grab, as well as food and services that included a round-the-clock armed guard on the rock in the district of Chinhoyi 60 miles (100km) from Harare, the capital.

So much economic stupidity.   Taking away a farm from a productive farmer, in nation short of food,  and then giving farm to a charlatan.     Would James Watson or Joe Biden care of offer any comments?

Hat tip:  Purple Avenger,  Ace of Spades.

COLUMBUS, Ohio, Oct. 27 —(New York Times) Senator Barack Obama says he will start confronting Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton more forcefully, declaring that she had not been candid in describing her views on critical issues, as he tries to address mounting alarm among supporters that his lack of assertiveness has allowed her to dominate the presidential race.

Does Obama really think invoking George Armstrong Custer will help his campaign?

OMG:

John Edwards says it hurts his mouth to eat Cap’n Crunch.

Not the cereal.

And there ya go, Harvey.

I can’t top that one.

The Carpetbagger must have thought they had something when they came up with this one.

The St. Petersburg Times reported this week that WellCare Health Plans, a Florida-based company that provides managed-care plans for millions of Medicare and Medicaid participants, has come under federal investigation. Indeed, the FBI raided WellCare’s headquarters Wednesday morning, along with the U.S. Attorney’s office, HHS investigators, and the Florida Attorney General’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit.

The Times article included a little tidbit towards the end of the piece.

WellCare was a slow-growing Florida company until 1992 when its owner, Dr. Kiran Patel, sold it to a New York investment group led by financier George Soros. The bankers hired Todd Farha, an aggressive Harvard MBA, to transform the company. Under his leadership, WellCare’s earnings have increased eight-fold and the company’s investors and executives like Farha have profited handsomely from appreciation in its stock.

Right wing blogs saw the reference to Soros and pounced. Conservatives hit the St. Petersburg Times comments section, with insights such as, “I hope they prosecute that worm GEORGE SORROS [sic] added, “Welcome to George Soros’s America?”

As it turns out, there are two big problems with the story. First, Soros sold off his interests in the company quite a while ago. Second, WellCare is actually run by Bush Pioneers and generous Republican donors.

Ummmm…..Wait just a minute.

Hold one.

We’re to understand that George Soros is innocent of wrongdoing because he’d supposedly… and quietly… divested himself of that firm?

So, how does that claim work as a shield for George Soros, and WellCare Health Plans, but not for Dick Cheney and Haliburton?

Does this mean we have CDS working at The Carpetbagger?

Funny how these double standards keep popping up.

More: Memeorandum