WASHINGTON (AP) – Consumers brushed off rising gasoline prices and slumping home sales to storm the malls in May, pushing retail sales up by the largest amount in 16 months.The Commerce Department reported that retail sales surged by 1.4 percent last month, compared to April, double the increase that analysts had been expecting. Retail sales had fallen by 0.1 percent in April.
The May strength was widespread with auto dealers, department stores, specialty clothing stores and hardware stores enjoying an especially good month.
Sales would have been strong even without last month’s big jump in gasoline prices, which saw prices top $3.20 per gallon. Excluding sales at gasoline stations, overall retail sales would still have been up 1.2 percent.
Meanwhile, the Federal Reserve reported Wednesday that the economy headed into the summer with strong momentum, bolstered by consumer spending and a rebound in manufacturing.
…
The strong showing for retail sales caught analysts by surprise. They had been forecasting a more moderate rebound of 0.7 percent.
Have you noticed they keep under-estimating the economy? I blame the Bush tax cuts. The suppose it economic experts, still haven’t figured out, the total effect of such tax cuts on the economy. But the results, are undeniable.
Captain Ed asks what we ought to be calling ‘earmarks”.
How about we call them “Corruption”?
Tags: BitsBlog, Corruption, Democrats, other blogs/bloggers
No, Hoss…
Your inability to figure me out, is perhaps the best indication of your inability as regards independent thought. You show occasional flashes of brilliance, in your writing, and in your responses, but in the overall you are disappointing, because of your dogged insistence on using the usual Liberal mantra to prop you up.
Try actually using that ugly mess on top of your neck once in awhile, instead.
Tags: BitsBlog, other blogs/bloggers
Ummmm… Yeah… apparently so.
Of course it should be pointed out, that simply because you read other sites, and link them, it doesn’t necessarily mean you’re going to be getting links back. I’ve been finding that out lately.
As regards your comments about Mr. Bush, the actions of late, don’t surprise me at all. I always knew that he had it in him. Thing is, that still placed him head and shoulders above anyone that the Democrats were offering, and about 90% of what the Republicans have been offering of late, as well.
Here’s the thing; When you can’t move forward, ala Ronald Reagan, the best you can hope for is a holding action. In reality, that’s the best we could have hoped for a from Mr. Bush. Within that context, he hasn’t done all that badly, particularly given the curves thrown him by al-Qaida.
All of which, to my mind, is one of the reasons that Fred Thompson has been gathering so much steam lately. He has all the appearances of someone who can actually move the situation forward. We’ll see.
Tags: BitsBlog, other blogs/bloggers
(Original post date 2/1/03)
It’s been amusing and educational, since last November’s elections, watching the Democrats squirm.
For example, Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschele (feels really good to say that) Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschele lately is rather like watching a mouse in a trap. Grisly, to say the very least. Flailing around helplessly, the mouse will start frothing at the mouth attacking anything and everything… even shadows. So it was with Old Tommy Boy who started frothing at the mouth, attacking everything to his right…which these days includes just about everything.
Apparently here is a man who knows he’s never going any higher in his political life, he will never attain any more power,, and so all bets are off. Everything and everyone got his blame. Of course the fact that the media he blames for his loss is biased so far to the left that the claims of press neutrality in reporting are something of a national joke. That point aside, he also tried to tell us all how it was those who oppose him that had been projecting a tenor that has led to increased threats on those of the left. He claimed threats have increased against him and his family….
Well, let’s break out for a minute; Since the post 9/11 anthrax attacks, during which MANY Americans are sent envelopes containing white powder, Dashiele has been under Secret Service Protection. Do you think for a minute that in that situation, added threats wouldn’t have eventually made the news? Put simply, the man’s a bald faced liar. That said, let’s continue.
Dasheile went on to blame talk show hosts… “Rush Limbaugh and all of the Rush Limbaugh wannabes” for an “increasingly negative tone in politics. ” He said, to an astonished room full or Reporters:
“What happens when Rush Limbaugh attacks those of us in public life is that people aren’t satisfied just to listen, They want to act because they get emotionally invested. And so, you know, the threats to those of us in public life go up dramatically, on our families and on us, in a way that’s very disconcerting.”
Well, let’s examine this. I mean, let’s examine some recent events some recent quotes in then news, some recent usenet quotes, and see where the attacks designed to increase threats are from and whom they are directed at. Let’s see where the unfounded hysteria is really coming from. Let’s look behind the Leftist claims to the real source.
“When you don’t vote, you let another church explode. When you don’t vote, you allow another cross to burn. When you don’t vote, you let another assault wound a brother or sister. When you don’t vote, you let the Republicans continue to cut school lunches and Head Start.”
Oh, yeah. Nothing inflammatory there, huh? Nothing hysterical, there. Nothing designed to project “a tenor that has led to increased threats on those” who aren’t leftist, eh?
Or how about this campaign ad?
“On June 7, 1998 in Texas my father was killed. He was beaten, chained, and then dragged 3 miles to his death, all because he was black. So when Governor George W. Bush refused to support hate-crime legislation, it was like my father was killed all over again. Call Governor George W. Bush and tell him to support hate-crime legislation. We won’t be dragged away from our future.”
Oh, yeah. Nothing inflammatory there, huh? Nothing hysterical, there. Nothing designed to project “a tenor that has led to increased threats on those” who aren’t leftist, eh?
Oh, yeah. It’s a real ad, Here’s the link:
And, it isn’t like the Democrats didn’t know and approve of what they’ve been doing….
Check the following exchange:
ABC‘s George Stephanopoulos: “Well, if it’s wrong to play politics with national security, why not call off the scare tactics with Social Security?”
Gephardt: “I think that’s over the line when you get—get into national security. Social Security, the economy, jobs are always legitimate political issues and important substantive issues. “
George Stephanopoulos:”You don’t think the DNC should take [the ad] down?”
Gephardt: “I don’t.”
——(ABC’s “This Week,” October 6, 2002)
The comment about national security is of interest, too. When the Democrats started playing politics with our national security, Gephardt at least had the good sense to cut bait.
Liberal Pols are not the only ones cranking up the hysteria in politics. Remember Harry Belafonte taking to the radiowaves to slam Secretary of State Colin Powell as a sellout to the black race? Belafonte, a guest on San Diego’s 760 KFMB, told host Ted Leitner that Powell was like a plantation slave who moves into the slave owner’s house and only says what his master wants him to say.
“In the days of slavery, there were those slaves who lived on the plantation and were those slaves that lived in the house. You got the privilege of living in the house if you served the master… exactly the way the master intended to have you serve him.
“Colin Powell’s committed to come into the house of the master. When Colin Powell dares to suggest something other than what the master wants to hear, he will be turned back out to pasture.”
For close to twenty minutes, Belafonte ripped the entire Bush administration, including an attack on Attorney General John Ashcroft.
“There’s something wrong with men who think the way Ashcroft does and who manipulate the justice system the way he does.”
Belafonte likened Ashcroft’s tactics to the McCarthy era:
“Families were destroyed, neighbors spied on neighbors. Now we find Ashcroft cutting in under the guise of catching terrorists, suspending liberties and rights. To deny those rights, to any citizen, to any people, is to cast a great shame on us and lead us back to another dark period.”
Oh, yeah. Nothing inflammatory there, huh? Nothing hysterical, there. Nothing designed to project “a tenor that has led to increased threats on those” who aren’t leftist, eh?
Or, we can look at Nina Totenburg:
“If there is justice, he will get AIDS, or his grandchilderen will”—-(referring to Jesse Helms)
Oh, yeah. Nothing inflammatory there, huh? Nothing hysterical, there. Nothing designed to project “a tenor that has led to increased threats on those” who aren’t leftist, eh?
How about Margaret Carlson?
Linda “Tripp lost membership in the family of man” and “can safely be cast as a villain—the Mark Fuhrman of the Starr investigation,”
Oh, yeah. Nothing inflammatory there, huh? Nothing hysterical, there. Nothing designed to pproject “a tenor that has led to increased threats on those” who aren’t leftist, eh?
OK, this is all somewhat older stuff. More current you say:… Fine. How about November ’02, in this most recent election;
Candidate debate has unfriendly end
11/24/02
By Bill Walsh
Staff writer/The Times-PicayuneBATON ROUGE —An already-bitter U.S. Senate campaign got personal Saturday afternoon at the conclusion of a taped debate between Democrat Sen. Mary Landrieu and Republican state Elections Commissioner Suzanne Haik Terrell.
After a tense 30-minute segment finished taping at WDSU‘s studios in New Orleans, the two candidates were preparing to leave. According to witnesses, Landrieu looked over her shoulder and told Terrell, “This is your last campaign.”
A stunned Terrell replied, “She threatened me.”
Oh, yeah. Nothing inflamitory there, huh? Nothing hysterical, there. Nothing designed to project “a tenor that has led to increased threats on those” who aren’t leftist, eh?
How about Alec Baldwin? Is he still in the country? Remember his big day?
“I’m thinking to myself if we were in other countries, we would, all of us together, all of us together would go down to Washington and we would stone Henry Hyde to death! We would go to their homes, and we’d kill their wives and their children. We would kill their families”
Oh, yeah. Nothing inflammatory there, huh? Nothing hysterical, there. Nothing designed to project “a tenor that has led to increased threats on those” who aren’t leftist, eh?
Or, how about the steamy rethoric of Babs Striesand? Remember her memo to Democrat leaders? She continues to rant, even today.
“And there is a horde of extremist federal judicial nominees, deemed by the Democratically- controlled Senate as too conservative for confirmation, just waiting to get rushed through the nomination process. These judges are guaranteed to threaten our civil liberties, a woman’s right to choose, civil rights and environmental protection. And they will be around long after the president is gone.”
Oh, yeah. Nothing inflammatory there, huh? Nothing hysterical, there. Nothing designed to project “a tenor that has led to increased threats on those” who aren’t leftist, eh?
Really sad, that one. Such talent. Such a voice. Such an IDIOT.
There’s always Ed Asner…
“I feel that George Bush’s actions are desecrating the America that I grew up in and believed in. He is making us an imperialist government. He is choosing to replace heads of state and government he doesn’t like.”
Oh, yeah. Nothing inflammatory there, huh? Nothing hysterical, there. Nothing designed to pproject “a tenor that has led to increased threats on those” who aren’t leftist, eh? And as an aside, does that mean you DO like Saddam, Ed?
Or how about leftists on the street… literally. Check this from a recent USEnet posting.
“We all need to take a deep breath and think about being a Bush daughter and having that cross to bear. I’d go out and have a couple of drinks, too. – about President George W. Bush’s daughters being caught with alcohol as minors He’s embarrassing, he’s not my president. He will never be my president “
Oh, yeah. Nothing inflammatory there, huh? Nothing hysterical, there. Nothing designed to pproject “a tenor that has led to increased threats on those” who aren’t leftist, eh?
BET‘s Tavis Smiley on CNBC‘s Rivera Live:
“As far as I’m concerned, Bush in Texas is nothing more than a serial killer.”
Oh, yeah. Nothing inflammatory there, huh? Nothing hysterical, there. Nothing designed to pproject “a tenor that has led to increased threats on those” who aren’t leftist, eh?
How about Al Gore?
“They use colorblind the way duck hunters use their duck blind. They hide behind it and hope the ducks won’t figure out what they’re up to.” (On Good Morning America)
Oh, yeah. Nothing inflammatory there, huh? Nothing hysterical, there.
Nothing designed to project “a tenor that has led to increased threats on those” who aren’t leftist, eh?
OK, let’s dive back into history, as I happen to find these little gems… One from Hillary Clinton:
“For anybody willing to find it, and write about it, and explain it, is this vast right-wing conspiracy that has been conspiring against my husband since the day he announced for President. A few journalists have kind of caught on to it and explained it, but it has not yet been fully revealed to the American public.” —Jan 27, 1998 Today Show (NBC)
Oh, yeah. Nothing inflammatory there, huh? Nothing hysterical, there. Nothing designed to project “a tenor that has led to increased threats on those” who aren’t leftist, eh?
Or, from: http://www.therightwing.com/conspiracy/
“The Vast Right Wing Conspiracy has been outed by First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton. We can no longer lurk in the shadows. We must show ourselves to the world and reveal for all to see who we are. We have built this page to inform, educate, postulate, and to fight the lies. We have been maligned, slandered and misquoted. On this page you shall find THE TRUTH! Awaken to the knowledge. Arise to the dawn of a new age. Advance to the Promised Land, to the TRUTH!:
These idiots wouldn’t know truth if it jumped up and bit them. Oh, yeah. Nothing inflammatory there, huh? Nothing hysterical, there. Nothing designed to pproject “a tenor that has led to increased threats on those” who aren’t leftist, eh? Just so we know the one quote is no fluke, let’s go back and look for more at the same site.
President Bill Clinton was in fear of the Extremist Right Wing Cabal (The Cabal) of the Vast Right Wing Conspiracy. Bill Clinton did not hold more than two Cabinet meeting in 1998 because of his fear of the militant wing of the Conspiracy.
http://www.therightwing.com/conspiracy/cabal.html
He feared his own Cabinet?
Oh, yeah. Nothing inflammatory there, huh? Nothing hysterical, there. Nothing designed to project “a tenor that has led to increased threats on those” who aren’t leftist, eh?
George W. Bush is Becoming More Like Hitler Everyday
1) The republican party and Bush almost mirror the propaganda methods used by Hitler in old nazi germany. The republicans are calling this fight against terrorism a war, this is propaganda. It is not a war, congress has to declare war and they have not done that. It is propaganda to call a fight against terrorism a war. http://www.angelfire.com/journal2/oreilly-sucks/hitlerbush.htm
Oh, yeah. Nothing inflammatory there, huh? Nothing hysterical, there. Nothing designed to pproject “a tenor that has led to increased threats on those” who aren’t leftist, eh?
From Elsewhere on the web:
US actor Martin Sheen, who plays the US president in hit series The West Wing, has said he cannot bear politics and that George W Bush is a “moron”. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/1166696.stm
Oh, yeah. Nothing inflammatory there, huh? Nothing hysterical, there. Nothing designed to pproject “a tenor that has led to increased threats on those” who aren’t leftist, eh?
…the NAACP, which ran a multi-million dollar TV effort during the presidential race insinuating that George W. Bush hates black people and is in league with lynchers because he did not think extending a hate crimes law to include special protections for gays was a prudent idea. No Democrat has condemned this racial McCarthyism let alone the offensive outbursts of party extremists like Maxine Waters.
Oh, yeah. Nothing inflammatory there, huh? Nothing hysterical, there. Nothing designed to pproject “a tenor that has led to increased threats on those” who aren’t leftist, eh? Good thing Front Page caught that one and reported it as such instead of burying it.
Back to Usenet for one of the bigger idiots there:
“You Redcoat motherf—-ers are done. You’ve blown your cover, and gotdamn that’s some nasty s*** you got under those sheats! Does KKK stand for Kringe Kringe Kringe? Here not 60 years ago, American men lined up to run head first into Nazi tanks singing the star spangled banner, and now we’ve come to this? You see a wrapped head come around the corner and you clutch your purse (why do you have a purse?) like Satan himself is bearing down on you. You guys are cowards! Contortionists couldn’t bend over as far as you have for the Great Oligarchy Party! You know, if your grandpappy was upset with one of those knee-grows, he’d hop in the back of his truck and go shoot him! Now you’ve got to beg Ape Bushie Boy to throw out the miranda so you can beat the s*** out of suspects , mind you, only if the ACLU isn’t taping it. To call you pantywaist is an insult to drag queens; At least they’ve got nutz!Of note : My killfiles have been deleted, all of you cowardly little Repugnant b****s that are pissed off that I’ve been “ignoring” you can feel free to come get some of this.”
Oh, yeah. Nothing inflammatory there, huh? Nothing hysterical, there. Nothing designed to project “a tenor that has led to increased threats on those” who aren’t leftist, eh?
And another:
The whackos are all on the right nowadays. You’re the ones that want to genocide iraq and thereby inflame the arab world and thereby cause MORE terrorist attax on america. Just so you have cheap gas for your Tahoe.
Oh, yeah. Nothing inflammatory there, huh? Nothing hysterical, there. Nothing designed to project “a tenor that has led to increased threats on those” who aren’t leftist, eh?
The examples are easy to find there are millions, quite literally. All these quotes I’ve included in this 5 page commentary are easily verified, and prove beyond a shadow of any doubt:
It is the DEMOCRATS who are the real source of racism and hysteria, the real advocates of violence against political enemies.
It’ll be interesting to watch the cockroaches they are, run for cover when this light is placed on them.
Why, it’s June 14th, which is the birthday of the US Army.
Guess why the news will never even make mention of this?
Tags: BitsBlog
Brian, Iowa Voice, has a story of some Broward County, Florida politicians who when given a choice between their emergency broadcasts, i.e. hurricane information, being heard on the area’s broadcast leader, or some other weaker station, opted for the weaker station, so they would not have heard of the same station as Rush Limbaugh:
Can you imagine the outrage and the uproar if this were a Republican area and they refused to air hurricane information on a station that had Air America on it, simply because of the political differences? Yeah, it would be deafening…and rightfully so.
The dummycrats do not seem to realize that their emergency broadcasts would actuallly pre-empt Limbaugh. Then that is why they are lefttards.
H/T: Sister Toldjah.
Addendum: Bithead
Perhaps this story would be of greater value to omse of our readers to understand just what a difference in coverage between the two stations, we’re talking about.
WICO, the station they want to move the emergency messages to, runs 1000 watts days into a non-directional antenna. They’re restricted to a total of only 28 watts at night. Which, on the ‘gravewayd’ channel of 1320khz, means they can get perhaps a few blocks away from the transmitter before the signal is seriously degraded.
Meanwhile, WIOD, runs 5000 watts into a two-tower (only slightly directional) array, using the same radiation pattern both day and night. To give you an idea of how large a service area we’re dealing with, consider WBEN/930 in Buffalo, which runs similar power and directionality. They easily cover the city of Buffalo.
(The links on the station callsigns are actually links to the FCC’s database… examine the data for yourself.)
In short, WIOD’s coverage at it’s worst point, is far more effective than WICO’s coverage at it’s BEST point.
So, let’s say they have need in Broward to sound the alarm at night; Very very few people will be covered by the station that they want to move the emergency signals to. Many people would die as a direct result.
Well, look, we’ve already established that the left is willing to kill people off for the political purposes of saving a few miserable gallons of gasoline, via CAFE. What’s a few thousand more people when you can deal out political punishments to Rush Limbaugh?
Others Blogging this one: NewsBusters.org, Wizbang, Moonbattery, Macsmind, Iowa Voice, JammieWearingFool, The American Mind
John Hawkins over at Right Wing News, has posted a not very surprising “temperature check” for June:
1) Are you pleased that the Senate immigration bill did not pass?
Yes: 49 — 96%
No: 2 — 4%2) Do you think Mel Martinez has been an effective RNC chairman?
Yes: 2 — 4%
No: 48 — 96%..
6) How would you rate the relationship of the Republican Party with its conservative base right now?
Excellent or good? — %0
Fair? 8 — 17%
Terrible or poor? 40 — 83%
He also hosts the results of a poll of which republican presidential candidate is most likely to win the republican nomination. Fred Thompson wins it going away.
The other blogs participating:
Aaron’s CC, The Absurd Report, The Agitator, The American Princess, Argghhhh!, AtlanticBlog, Bad Example, Betsy’s Page, Bit’s Blog, BizzyBlog, Bluey Blog, Blogs of War, Brainster’s Blog, Conservative Grapevine, dcthornton.com, Eckernet, Election Projection, Cassy Fiano, Fraters Libertas, Gateway Pundit, GayPatriot, Gocinatlanta, GOPUSA Northeast (Hank), GOPUSA Northeast (Michael), GraniteGrok, Heretical Ideas, James Hudnall, IMAO, Inside Larry’s Head, Inoperable Terran, Iowa Voice, Keith Burgess-Jackson, Moonbattery, Moxie, Musings, Newsbeat1, The Nose On Your Face (Buckley), The Nose On Your Face (Potfry), Damian Penny, PoliPundit, Matt Sanchez, Don Singleton, Sister Toldjah, Slobokan’s Site Of Schtuff, Solomonia, Stark Truth, Stolen Thunder, Don Surber, Toys In The Attic, Viking Pundit, Vox Popoli, Wuzzadem
Tags: BitsBlog, Elections, other blogs/bloggers, Republicans
Fox News is reporting:
BAGHDAD —FOX- Suspected Al Qaeda insurgents on Wednesday destroyed the two minarets of the Askariya Shiite shrine in Samarra, authorities reported, in a repeat of a 2006 bombing that shattered its famous Golden Dome and unleashed a wave of retaliatory sectarian violence that still bloodies Iraq.
Police said the attack at about 9 a.m. involved explosives and brought down the two minarets, which had flanked the dome’s ruins. No casualties were reported.
AJ Strata notes the story and opines:
Police and special forces commandos have guarded the shrine since last year’s attack, and it was not immediately clear how the assailants were able to plant their explosives. The guards at the site were detained for questioning, Maliki said.
Well, I guess the case could be made it is better to martyr a mosque than a human being. But clearly the fact this attack did not shed human blood, but did get by a phalanyx of guards, shows it was meant to be a PR stunt more than anything else. My guess is most of Iraq is bloodlusted out and ready to find a peaceful way to govern their country. Extremist emotions cannot be sustained indefinitely in a large population. This time I doubt the gambit will work as well, if at all.
Well, there is that, but the tactics are well established; stir the Ant Hill.
This case also outlines some of the security problems being faced by the entire region. This does have all the earmarks of an inside job. And it has AJ notes, it was clearly done with the idea of Al Quieda’s image in mind. Or, more correctly, the initiation of sectarian violence.
It becomes, in the end, an issue of trust. Who to trust, and how is trust generated where everyone’s a liar, and loyalties tend to shift faster than the sands?
Still, AJ’s point is well taken… extremist emotions can’t be held up forever, particularly given the cost involved. The costs need to be weighed against the emotions, and I suspect the costs are going to win out here. Not much will come of this second attack. The outcome of these kind of attacks, over the months, has been starting to trend that way anyway; …..Both sects have been played for fools for far too long by AlQuieda to allow themslevs to be so played much longer. I think the tipping point away from AlQuieda has been reached. As anyone expert in the field of torture will tell you, you can only inflict so much pain, before it has less of an effect. Numbness sets in. And anger. We’ll see.
(I am taken with the comparison of this activity to torture, just now)
That lack of effect does not mean the end of the violence, per se’. Violence is the only thing AlQuieda knows, and the only thing that has worked for them thusfar. couple that with the idea that they are now desperate, (On their heels, as AJ puts it) and we’re bound to see a number of desperate acts, for a while. But I’m beginning to doubt that it will achieve the desired effect.
Tags: BitsBlog
Television executives are paid to be smart, or at least feign the appearance of same. CBS executive Leslie Moonves is not playing the part of a smart man. Moonves is now attempting to blame the audience, or better yet the lack of same, for his poor decision to pay Katie “The Perky One” Couric, some fifteen million dollars to read the news. Joshua Chaffin, Financial Times, reports:
Leslie Moonves, CBS chief executive, on Tuesday suggested that sexist attitudes were partly to blame for the faltering performance of Katie Couric, the news anchor he recruited to the network with a $15m annual pay package.
“I’m sort of surprised by the vitriol against her. The number of people who don’t want news from a woman was startling,” Mr Moonves said of the audience’s reaction to Ms Couric, who this month brought ratings for the CBS Evening News to a 20-year low.
Hint, Leslie the public who is not watching your tarted up and dumbed down evening news, is the essentially the same public that existed before you shelled out your company’s money to pay Couric to read the news.
Addendum: (Bit) ;
Back in the early to mid seventies, when faced with 21% inflation , double digit unemployment, gas lines around the block, and hostages being held in Iran, Jimmy Carter in his infinite wisdom spoke to the American people, and blamed his faltering performance on the American people themselves.
Fast forward to 2007. Along comes Les Moonves, who blames the sexist attitudes of the American people on the faltering performance of his “news” division.
if you look closely you may notice there’s a pattern developing here.
One might even say that we have a better understanding of why CBS news has been carrying the water of the Democrats going back to the days of Jimmy Carter, and before; A like mindset.
?
Tags: automotive, BitsBlog, Idiots, WHAT biased press?
Don Herbert, television’s “Mr Wizard” has died at age eighty-nine. Lynn Elder, AP Television reports:
LOS ANGELES — Don Herbert, who as television’s “Mr. Wizard” introduced generations of young viewers to the joys of science, died Tuesday. He was 89. Herbert, who had bone cancer, died at his suburban Bell Canyon home, said his son-in-law, Tom Nikosey.
There was good television.
Tags: BitsBlog, The bell tolls
Tags: BitsBlog
WRAL, Raleigh, reports on the Mike Nifong trial:
RALEIGH, N.C. — A Durham police investigator testified Tuesday afternoon that during an initial briefing with Mike Nifong that the district attorney brought up inconsistencies in the Duke lacrosse accuser’s story and made a comment “to the effect, ‘You know, we’re (expletive).'”
Reade Seligmann, Colin Finnerty, and David Evans could not be reached for comment.
Tags: BitsBlog, Race relations
* The Music: Three Dog Night’s 1972 album…”Seven Separate Fools”. (their 8th, if you count the early greatest hits collection Dunhill spit out trying to raise cash before folding)
Three Dog was mostly perceived as a singles band… makers of the then-almighty 45. And it was true enough… the band’s sounds rattled AM radios and Jukeboxes for years. This one, though, gives us a slightly deeper look at the talents of the band, having only two singles on it…. “Black and White” and “Pieces of April”. Interestingly, those two singles were the only places where producer Richard Polydor’s insistence on the doubling technique became annoyingly apparent. (Or is it simply bleed from the first-pass playback?) Favorite track: “Writing’s on the Wall”, which was a B-side, as I recall.
The Album went to #6, that year, and of course “Black and White” went to #1. One of the strangest radio mixes in the world, was coming out of that tune and mixing up The Doors’ “Riders on the Storm”.
The drug abuse in this band through the period is stuff of legend .. and if I recall rightly, both band members Jimmy Greenspoon and Chuck Negron wrote about that in their books. I can’t help but wonder what all that talent might have been able to accomplish, sans that issue.
The Album title itself was prophetic; When the band broke up in early ’77, the remaming members signed with Columbia, and called themselves SS Fools, like a ship.
They’re touring again, and turning out good shows… I’ve seen one of them. Wells and Hutton have pretty much taken over the vocal duties form Negron, who far as I know has never returned to the band.
Here’s their touring schedule.
They’re playing nearby in August. Maybe…..
OK, anyway….
* There is always very loud support for the United Nations, from the American left. Has it occurred to any of you, that perhaps the most important thing the United Nations has ever done was to set up the country of Israel? So it is that the leftists who support the United Nations do not support the only really important action it’s ever taken. Go figure. One wonders just what they’re supporting it for.
* So, let me understand this; Hillary Clinton has named a person to run her campaign committee who as a judge was impeached by a Democrat run House… including Nasty Pelosi, Rangle, Waxman, Hoyer, Dirty Dingel, Gephardt, Boxer, and Chuckles the Clown Schumer… That is…Alcee Hastings.
I suppose, that this is Hillary only seeing value in people who, like are husband, have been impeached. Perhaps she figures she needs somebody on staff who knows how to skirt the law and get away with it. Oops…. He didn’t get away with it, so perhaps that doesn’t work, either.
Mind you, the impeachment of Hastings had bipartisan support, (the guy was basically as dirty as the inside of a proverbial honey dumper) so it wasn’t strictly a Democrat move. Which means that this appointment is going to eliminate her from both sides. Way to go, Hillary.
PS: Hey, Alcee: You may want to suggest WIlliam Jefferson to some important post in Hillary’s campaign. I hear he needs a job.
* There is no such thing as an “illegal immigrant”. Either they are immigrants, who arrived here and live here legally, or they are illegals. The former, are entitled to everything that our society offers, provided that they are willing to become citizens, which by nature of the word, would include learning the language, and adopting the United States, culturally, as well as financially. The latter are entitled to nothing whatsoever.
* Noted a second place finish in the latest OTB caption contest Yes, when I think of Hillary, I think of good old number 2.
* Saint Andrew the incontinent unfurls his pen and shoves it into his own back:
“I have yet to see an iota of evidence that Thompson’s candidacy is any more than a manifestation of complete Republican panic and bankruptcy.”
Well, you see, Andrew, that is a function of your inability to see any value in someone who is actually, well, you know, conservative. Your lack of ability to deal with that variable, is as solid and indication is one needs as to your total uselessness to the situation. Now, go and change your armor.
* James Joyner notes that CNN is reporting it’s website is gathering more viewers than it’s TV channel. He gets into some rather nice looking charts, and an extended right up, all of which make the point. Two points that he doesn’t mention, however, are whether not the CNN web site is actually profitable. Last I knew it was not. Secondly while he is writing suggests that the media… in other words the Internet versus normal TV … is the issue, he doesn’t mention whether or not the same trends hold true with Fox news, whose TV signal has been besting CNN in viewers for years, now. As I told him in the comments, if the media were the issue the trends would be the same in both cases, and they aren’t last I saw. Perhaps the issue isn’t the medium, but rather, the content.
That point goes back to something I said earlier today, about the American people’s anger going up in direct proportion to how leftist the power structure is. CNN, has been leaning left for as long as they’ve been around, and that agreed to which they’ve been losing to Fox news, is in direct proportion to how that leftism is manifested on its airwaves. Which would also explain the lack of numbers over at MSNBC.
Tags: BitsBlog, Nightly Ramble
