John Edwards, Meet Carla Babb

Need less to say, I have been been a supporter of John Edwards.    However I had not considered Edwards to be ful fledged moron.  However can else can you call a canidate who goes up against a post-gradulate student reporter and loses.    See the video report that has  Edwards’ campaign seeing red, here.

Tom Maguire, Just One Minute, asks:

“Does the John Edwards campaign have a death wish?” 

Don Surber thinks the wish has already been granted:

This would be devastating news if he had a snowball’s chance in hell

More, Memeorandum.

Aside to Bit, see if Carla wants to blog.

I only heard part of this, today, while scanning across KYW/1060… it doesn’t come in up here very well in the daytime.

WorldNetDaily:

Outraged citizens crashed the e-mail system of the Philadelphia mayor’s office after the city accused the local Boy Scouts chapter of discriminating against homosexuals and forced the organization to pay $200,000 rent for its city-owned headquarters.

About 150,000 Boy Scout-related e-mails were removed from the city’s e-mail system, reported the Bulletin newspaper of Philadelphia. 

“We were deluged,” said Terry Phillis, chief information officer for Mayor John Street. “We pulled the messages off so they wouldn’t take the system down. It had to be done to protect system integrity.”

As WND reported, Philadelphia’s city council voted to renege on a 1928 ordinance allowing the Cradle of Liberty Council to have its headquarters in a building on a parcel of public land “in perpetuity” for $1 a year.

I’ve seen that become needful in other server overload situations.  One wonders, though if even after this reaction, the city fathers will react accodingly.

And once again, we find ourselves in a situation where the government is over-rding the culture they were supposed to protect and nurture.

COALITION FORCES DISRUPT FOREIGN TERRORIST NETWORKS; ONE KILLED, NINE DETAINED

Posted: 27 Oct 2007 05:33 AM CDT

COALITION FORCES DISRUPT FOREIGN TERRORIST NETWORKS; ONE KILLED, NINE DETAINED

TAMIMI, JIBOURI TRIBES UPHOLD RECONCILIATION IN DIYALA

Posted: 27 Oct 2007 05:29 AM CDT

TAMIMI, JIBOURI TRIBES UPHOLD RECONCILIATION IN DIYALA

SEVERAL INSURGENTS KILLED IN FAILED TALIBAN AMBUSH IN HELMAND PROVINCE

Posted: 27 Oct 2007 05:14 AM CDT

SEVERAL INSURGENTS KILLED IN FAILED TALIBAN AMBUSH IN HELMAND PROVINCE

Heh….

WASHINGTON -AP- Dutch lawmakers who recently visited the Guantanamo Bay military prison said they were offended by a testy exchange in Washington with a senior congressional Democrat.

The lawmakers said that Rep. Tom Lantos, D-Calif., chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, told them that “Europe was not as outraged by Auschwitz as by Guantanamo Bay.”

Lantos, a Holocaust survivor, was responding to arguments that the United States should shut down the prison, located on a U.S. naval base in Cuba, the lawmakers said. Mariko Peters, a member of the Dutch Green Party, who began the exchange with Lantos, said she took notes of the remarks.

…

“It was a diplomatically strange situation,” Peters said. “The mere suggestion that the United States could be compared with Nazi Germany is so flawed.”

Hey, Tom; When even the Red Greens don’t buy the “Bush is Hitler” subtext, maybe it’s time for you to drop it, huh?

If there’s anyone in talk radio that has a lower credibility than Err America, it’s Alex Jones.

So, when we find Captain Ed asking the question..

Why is Ron Paul’s campaign paying Alex Jones?

… it just clicks.

The question of what Ron Paul represents has burned through the blogosphere this week, followed shortly afterwards by a revelation about an apparently unsolicited donation from a white supremacist. Today brings a much more revealing look at the Paul campaign, as Hot Air and MVRWC have discovered a payment from Team Paul to Alex Jones — the 9/11 Truther leader — for $1300 in “services”.  Allahpundit notes:

Assuming it’s the same Alex Jones, which seems a safe bet, pray tell what might that payment have been for? The likeliest explanation is that it’s some sort of service fee, either Jones doing something on behalf of the campaign or allowing the campaign to do something using his property. Either way, I’m mighty curious to know what special service might have been provided such that Paul’s people couldn’t have gone elsewhere and gotten the same deal from someone who isn’t a degenerate conspiracy theorist.

This goes much closer to the heart of Paul’s direction. While anyone can contribute to a political campaign, the choice of where the money goes is directly and completely relevant to an analysis of the candidate. If Paul chooses to help fund a 9/11 Truther, voters can reasonably conclude that Paul has sympathy for the paranoid conspiracy theorists.

Exactly so. And let’s face it, Ron Paul has shown us every possible indication that he’s a grade A screwball.  Payments to Alex Jones would seem to be the icing on the cake.

More: Memeorandum

Yes, E-Mailers, I did in fact see the Military Times story linked over at Memeorandum.

And no, I didn’t jump all over it, because frankly I’m just so (beep) tired of having to re-hash this stuff over and over.  Guess I’m going to have to, though…

The Story:

Flag-folding recitations by Memorial Honor Detail volunteers are now banned at the nation’s 125 veterans graveyards because of a complaint about the ceremony at Riverside National Cemetery.

During thousands of military burials, the volunteers have folded the American flag 13 times and recited the significance of every fold to survivors.

The first fold represents life, the second a belief in eternal life, and so on.

Michelle does a pretty fair job with explaining what is being objected to, though…

Here’s the banned recital:

These meanings, not part of the U.S. Flag Code, have been ascribed to the 13 folds of American flags at veterans burial services:

1. Symbol of life.

2. Symbol of our belief in the eternal life.

3. In honor and remembrance of the veteran departing our ranks who gave a portion of life for the defense of our country to attain a peace throughout the world.

4. Represents our weaker nature, for as American citizens trusting in God, it is to Him we turn in times of peace as well as in times of war for His divine guidance.

5. A tribute to our country, for in the words of Stephen Decatur, “Our country, in dealing with other countries, may she always be right; but it is still our country, right or wrong.”

6. Represents where our hearts lie. It is with our heart that we pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

7. A tribute to our armed forces.

8. A tribute to the one who entered in to the valley of the shadow of death, that we might see the light of day, and to honor mother, for whom it flies on Mother’s Day.

9. A tribute to womanhood.

10. A tribute to father.

11. In the eyes of a Hebrew citizen, represents the lower portion of the seal of King David and King Solomon, and glorifies, in their eyes, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

12. In the eyes of a Christian citizen, represents an emblem of eternity and glorifies, in their eyes, God the Father, the Son, and Holy Ghost.

13. When the flag is completely folded, the stars are uppermost, reminding us of our national motto, “In God We Trust.”

STACLU notes: “All it takes is one whiner.”

Cao’s Blog calls it a slap in the face.

They are both correct, of course.  What I find it particularly annoying use the phrase “it’s not government approved”.

Here again, we come to governmental intrusion into the culture…. the governmental over-riding of the culture… the culture it was supposed to be protecting and defending. When we succumb to government intrusion like this, we are sacrificing our culture to the government.  And for what?  So the government can be considered “inclusive”?  When we stop being what we are, for the government, we have sacrificed everything.  There’s nothing left of us.

Bloggers:

I’m once again taking names for possible display link trading.

Here’s the deal: I put a display ad for your blog on BitsBlog, in the right column, you place a similar ad for BitsBlog on yours, in a similar placement.

(An example of a display ad is the one for STOP THE ACLU which I’ve run here for a while, now) Size of ad in each case: 180*135 or so. That’s the size of that ad, particularly.

I have room for three such ads in our current layout, (Since one of the current ads will be replaced, soon) so I’ll be taking three such names.

If you need help making up a display block for the purpose, I can help you there.

Drop me feedback if you’re interested.

Anyone doubting that the BBC is best described as a large collection of liberals, need look no further than face book, says the Daily Mail:

  The BBC has frequently been accused of having a liberal bias.

But now the corporation’s own staff appear to have confirmed this by revealing their political views on the networking website Facebook.

A survey of BBC employees with profiles on the site showed that 11 times more of them class themselves as “liberal” than “conservative”.

Of course, this should be a shock to nobody.  Nor should anyone consider that this situation is limited to the BBC.  Personally, I’d be interested in seeing a similar study done on figures in the news business here in the states.

BBCT: Memeorandum 

Also blogging: protein wisdom, Virtual Scratchpad Ed Driscoll.com

There has long been discussion about why Congress is generally speaking not the best place to be leaving secretive information, particularly when democrats are in charge.  This is a primary aim sample of why, from TPM:

This summer the House Judiciary Committee launched an effort to collect tips from would-be whistleblowers in the Justice Department. The U.S. attorney firings scandal had shown that much was amiss in the Department, and with the danger of retaliation very real, the committee had set up a form on the committee’s website for people to blow the whistle privately about abuses there. Although the panel said it would not accept anonymous tips, it assured those who came forward that their identity would be held in the “strictest confidence.”

But in an email sent out today, the committee inadvertently sent the email addresses of all the would-be whistleblowers to everyone who had written in to the tipline. The committee email was sent to tipsters who had used the website form, including presumably whistleblowers themselves, and all of the recipients of the email were accidentally included in the “to:” field — instead of concealing those addresses with a so-called blind carbon copy or “bcc:”.

Only the email addresses were exposed; none of the names or other identifying information of the whistleblowers was revealed. The blunder, however, was noticed by a number of people who had used the website form and received today’s email. One disgruntled recipient replied to the entire list of whistleblowers angrily complaining about the snafu; two others forwarded the committee email to TPMmuckraker with similar complaints.

Compounding the mistake, the committee later sent out a second email attempting to recall the original email; it, too, included all recipients in the “to:” field, according to a recipient of the emails.

Even when the reasons behind such leaks are not malevolent… (and whether or not malevolence is involved is often hard to prove) …putting such information in the hands of Congress is invariably the best way to get it leaked. Whether it’s political gamesmanship, or simply technological stupidity, the effect is the same.

In this case, the damage is relatively limited, in that only involves the one whistle- blower.  As bad as that is, however, it pales in comparison to the kind of damage that we’ve seen caused in the war on terror.

At some point, also, the question must be raised about health care.  The government, wants to take over health care.  At least, the party currently in power in Congress does.  And, of course, we know about Hillary Clinton.  The trouble is, health care is an area where there is an awful lot of private information floating around.   I think about that, the next time the subject of Hillary care comes up.

Mrs. Pelosi has a plan    Charlies Rangel is working on the lergest tax incresae in history,  Alison Fitzgerald, Bloomberg:

Rangel yesterday offered a sweeping tax overhaul, which he dubbed “the mother of all reforms.” The proposal would raise taxes on higher-income families and some businesses, while cutting bills for the working poor and lowering the corporate rate. Republicans accused Rangel and his party of trying to raise taxes by more than $1 trillion.

Elsewhere on the Hil the ‘rats on planning on taking more vacation time for themselves.   David M Hersxenhorn, New York Times;

10 months into the session, with their legislative agenda often in gridlock with the Bush administration and a big election year looming, the Democrats are now planning a lighter schedule when the 110th Congress begins its second year in mid-January

House Majority Leader, Steny Hoyer:

“I do intend to have more time for members to work in their districts and to be close to their families.”

That is Mrs. Pelosi’s plan, more taxes on hard working Ameicans but more vacations for oongresscritters.   

Hat tip:  Memeorandun.

Interesting how this stuff keeps coming up. It’s almost like… she’s like… GUILTY or something.

WASHINGTON —Fox-  One gift that Hillary Clinton is unlikely to enjoy on her 60th birthday Friday is the premiere of “Hillary Uncensored,” a scathing documentary whose 13-minute trailer has been No. 1 on Google Video since Oct. 10, with more than 1.1 million views to date.

The film’s first full-length showing is scheduled for Friday night at Harvard University, followed by viewings at universities through the weekend and a wrap Tuesday at the Metropolitan Club in New York City.

Among the allegations summarized in the documentary:

— Bill and Hillary Clinton solicited cash from Peter F. Paul, an international lawyer and businessman, even after Hillary Clinton’s campaign manager told The Washington Post she would not take money from him;

— FBI agents and U.S. attorneys colluded with the Clintons to keep Paul, who was convicted of cocaine possession and fraud, tangled up in the criminal courts for years;

— The Clintons later made sure Paul was kept in a Brazilian prison for 25 months, including 58 days in a maximum security cellblock nicknamed the “Corridor of Death,” while the Justice Department waited to extradite him;

— Hillary Clinton still hasn’t filed reports to the FEC enumerating Paul’s excessive contributions to her 2000 Senate campaign.

Peter Paul has a long arrest record of course.

The link has links to the film’s trailer. Go check it out.

I rather doubt this needs any comment.

Forbes magazine is speculating that the BDS Times may be on the block. I was told a long time ago what the purpose of a newspaper is by Adam Kelly, who once was the only conservative columnist in West Virginia.

The purpose of a newspaper is to make money for its publisher.

For a while their, Pinch Sulzberger understood this. He was nicknamed Pinch because that’s what he did with pennies. Then I guess he attended too many cocktail parties or whatever they have in Upper Manhattan — gallery openings? — and decided to use his newspaper to educated us dummies in America.

So said Don Surber,  earlier today.

Don goes on to list some indications, listed in the Forbes magazine article.  Frankly, I wouldn’t surprise me at all.  Even liberals can only put up with so much monetary loss.  And if the place goes under, believe me, I will not shed a tear, or lose a moment’s sleep. Personally, I’d like to see it happen before the next election.

At that point, the Wall Street Journal.. owned by him whom liberals must not name, becomes the “paper of record”.

Can you imagine the left the reaction to that one?

So, Carl Levin is trying to cut the funding for the Iraq war.

Why?

He’s trying to get the President to “change course” in Iraq.

He knows, as do all Americans by now, that real progress is being made there.  And he still wants to change course?

To what? What does he want instead of the progress being made there?

Defeat for America.

Boortz notices the same story this morning, and says:

Bush is right … the Democrats can’t pass their appropriations bills .. they’re certainly not as important as insuring our defeat overseas. Weakening a Republican president is job number one.

And if America gets defeated on the world stage in the process, well, so much the better for Carl and the Democrats, eh?

Like what you see, America?

And so we see The New Republic finally awakening from its long silence on the Scott Beauchamp issue, to say absolutely nothing, other than it’s all the army’s fault.

Gee.  Big surprise.  It strikes me, that the real show of bad faith here, was, is currently, and shows no sign of ever being otherwise, squarely in the lap of The New Republic. That’s becoming increasingly obvious, even to some liberals.

The but you know, it strikes me that it would be an awful lot simpler for them to simply admit they were wrong, to hand us Franklin Foer’s swollen head on a platter, and be done with it.  Standing up and admitting that they booted this one, seems the easiest path out.  It’s about time they took it.

Certainly, there would be some credibility concerns, forever after such a move, but since when has the truth ever mattered to the readers of The New Republic?  The readers of The New Republic never wanted anything but leftist pap. They continued to buy that publication for the simple reason that they knew that that publication would tell them what they wanted to hear.  It was the fervent unblinking pursuit of leftist pap that got the publication into this situation in the first place.  Spreading the leftist mantra, is after all, how you earn respect in leftist circles. The leftists who read that publication are not going to disappear now, having found out that in pursuit of what leftists want to hear, they forgot their fact checking. It’s not like anybody else working in the same general neighborhood has a great deal better reputation .  And the readers don’t care anyway.

Meantime, the legal bills are going to be stacking up because of the way they screwed this one up.  And by the way, lest we forget, the damage to the leftist mantra, is also mounting, with every defense The New Republic throws up.  The centrists, after all, are watching, and there’s an election coming soon.

Better to say “To hell with the box, Monty, I’m going with what’s behind curtain number three….”

I wonder if they have the smarts.

Udpate: (Bit)

Ex-UrbanLeauge doesn’t think so.