Blue Crab Boulevard

For the awesome power of Republicans will smite the very heavens. No, really. Ask Bill Clinton. He actually told people in a speech that Republicans cause hurricanes.

As Tropical Storm Alberto threatened to strengthen into the ninth hurricane in 22 months to affect Florida, former President Clinton predicted Monday that Republican environmental policies will lead to more severe storms.

"It is now generally recognized that while Al Gore and I were ridiculed, we were right about global warming," Clinton said at a fundraiser for the Florida Democratic Party. "It's a serious problem. It's going to lead to more hurricanes."

Me, I plan on buying up some land in Illinois to build beach front starter mansions on when the seas finally get there.

Come on, Bill. Tone it down. If you were so right, why didn't you actually, you know, do something while you were in office?

Allah's secret agent appears to have survived the Koz Kidz festival with both arms intact, despite my advice to chew an arm off and run for it. He's made of some stern material, he is. But because he stayed the course, he has been able to produce a post mortem which is very valuable.

There was a significant contingent of red-state liberals, isolated on suburban cul-de-sacs among happy crowds of BUSHBOT SHEEPLE who just can’t see the truth because they lack the special smart-liberal Rowdy Roddy Piper Sunglasses. I can’t see them returning home and delivering, say, Omaha for the Democrats. The only thing Kos can do, possibly, is help someone win a primary. But then, for the general election, that candidate has the albatross of a Netroots endorsement around his neck.

And an albatross it is. Imagine an entire organization made of thousands of Ann Coulters—without the wit or poise, but with twice the potential to say something embarrassing. Even if the endorsement is secured, a month down the road they’ll inevitably break into the media saying Zarqawi isn’t really dead, or wearing tinfoil hats (”but we meant it ironically!”), or wondering how to react when told our energy policy helps Chavez, or some such blunder. And then all the folks voting in the general election will hear how this bunch has endorsed their local candidate. Is a Kos endorsement worth that kind of risk? (Hint: 0 for 20.)

Why would politicians seek such an organization’s endorsement? Because they need to raise money outside their state, or because they have nothing left to lose. I think the Kos Kiss of Death meme is starting to work its way around the mainstream politicians, and it will soon be only the very secure Democrats (Boxer, Reid) who will risk direct involvement. I doubt Kos groupies will remain major players after the primaries—except perhaps as a Sister Souljah target to rebel against.

When the defeats keep rolling in, will the organization stick together? I doubt it. It depends on how well they handle disappointment, and although this is a cheap shot, they’re still together after a lot of disappointment. Their members may score some more journalistic scoops, which will keep them in the mainstream media. And a lot of these folks aren’t in it for the victory but because they simply enjoy this kind of thing, and I certainly understand that. But leftist web journalism and camaraderie can be found elsewhere.

Read the whole thing, it's short and on point. There is a problem with evangelical movements. What happens when the passion runs out?

UPDATE: And a hint of a problem.

UPDATE: The Salon piece by John Dickerson is especially worth the read. A cautionary tale on beieving your own hype.

Today, my continuing mission to visit one member of the fighting 101st each day led me over to Red Hot Cuppa Politics. Frau Budgie has a disturbing post up about some Marines who are being investigated for an alleged crime - not Haditha. They are also being held in irons. Is the political situation getting that far out of hand?  

My son told me about this problem some time ago. All the armor that politicians have insisted the military needs to install on Humvees have made the vehicles prone to rollover accidents.

DAYTON, Ohio, June 11 — Thousands of pounds of armor added to military Humvees in Iraq have made the vehicles more likely to roll over and kill or injure soldiers, a newspaper reported.

"I believe the up-armoring has caused more deaths than it has saved," Scott Badenoch, a former Delphi Corp. vehicle dynamics expert, told the Dayton Daily News for its Sunday editions.

Congress and the Army have spent tens of millions of dollars on armor for the Humvee fleet in Iraq, the newspaper said.

That armor — much of it installed on the M1114 Humvee built at the Armor Holdings Inc. plant north of Cincinnati — has shielded soldiers from harm.

But serious accidents involving the M1114 have increased, and accidents are much more likely to be rollovers than those involving other Humvee models, the newspaper reported.

I know the troops appreciate the armor when an IED goes off. I also know it's just plain dangerous changing the center of gravity on a vehicle by an enormous amount - which is what the additional armor does. So what's the answer? Redesign of the vehicles is a good start. By the way, my son says some of the changes already made have helped some with the rollover problem. The media is a bit behind the reality on this.

UPDATE: Others: Ranting Profs and Sundries Shack.

UPDATE: Very insightful comment from Blackhawk that really needs to be read.

Jason Leopold, in a desperate attempt to see if any will still read anything he writes after the last debacle over the "any second now they're gonna frog march Rove" incident, has published another piece over at Truthout. Entitled "Sealed vs, Sealed" it engages in completely baseless speculation about an indictment handed up by the grand jury that Fitzgerald, among others, has been using. No real conclusions drawn, merely the kind of, "it could be about something, but maybe not", school of "journalism".

How do we know it's baseless? Simple. Our crack investigative journalism team from Magic 8-ball Private Investigations and Storage, Inc. has been on the case. (Yes, the photography market has been a bit slow lately, so the boys are branching out). They have uncovered the shocking truth of the sealed indictment. Leopold has it exactly wrong here, it is not "Sealed vs. Sealed". That is a typo. This photograph proves it is actually about a disputed piece of prime sunbathing real estate:

The sealed Document is actually Seal vs. Seal. Blue Crab Boulevard. Always first with the bestest news. Truth. Out!

UPDATE: Mark In Mexico has discovered the indictment under seal!

The Democrats are just not getting the traction they think they should have. Representative Jim Moran, a Democrat out of Northern Virginia made this statement:

Moran, D-8th, told those attending the Arlington County Democratic Committee's annual Jefferson-Jackson Day dinner on June 9 that while he in theory might oppose the fiscal irresponsibility of “earmarks” - funneling money to projects in a member of Congress's district - he understands the value they have to constituents.

“When I become chairman [of a House appropriations subcommittee], I'm going to earmark the shit out of it,” Moran buoyantly told a crowd of 450 attending the event.

Colorful language and campaign hyperbole aside, Moran has a lot to gain if Democrats topple the GOP's 12-year control of the House. His relative seniority of eight terms would make him a powerful member of any Democratic majority.

Now I have a bunch of drive-by commenters dropping by one of my earlier posts that Daou Report linked. They are firmly convinced the "culture of corruption" meme is a real winner. They really should pay attention to how the public looks at all politicians when one comes out and says things like this.

The "culture of corruption" looks an awful lot like "meet the new boss, same as the old boss" to the average voter.

The quarterback for the Pittsburgh Steelers, Ben Roethlisberger, has been injured in a motorcycle accident. Reports indicate he was not wearing a helmet at the time of the crash.

Roethlisberger was in serious but stable condition, said Dr. Larry Jones, chief of trauma at Mercy Hospital.

"He was talking to me before he left for the operating room," Jones said before the operation. "He's coherent. He's making sense. He knows what happened. He knows where he is. From that standpoint, he's very stable."

One Steelers source told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette that Roethlisberger was in surgery for a broken jaw, an injury that can take approximately seven weeks to heal. The Steelers season starts in 12 weeks.

The 24-year-old Roethlisberger likes to ride without a helmet, a habit that once prompted coach Bill Cowher to lecture him on the dangers.

I've known several people who were spared very serious injuries by wearing helmets while riding motorcycles. I also known one person who was wearing a helmet but died anyway (But she did not die from head injuries, rather from other internal injuries). Do yourself a favor, wear a helmet. There are some risks that are just not worth taking.

Our best wishes go out to Roethlisberger.

UPDATE: Pittsburgh Trib media is reporting the following list of injuries:

Roethlisberger lost most of his teeth, fractured his left sinus cavity bone, suffered a nine-inch laceration to the back of his head and a broken jaw, and injured both of his knees when he hit the ground, police said.

I wouldn't count on him for this season, I think.

UPDATE: The surgery is reported to have lasted seven hours, but doctors are calling it a success.

We first posted about Ms. Alice Alyse all the way back in March, which is positively geological time in blog years. She's suing a theater group because she says they fired her over her breast size. Today she has an really long write-up in the Washington Post in which she actually comes off very sympathetically.

Alyse claims that her generous breast size got her fired from the cast of "Movin' Out," the Broadway show choreographed by Twyla Tharp to songs by Billy Joel. Alyse was an ensemble dancer in the national tour until her bra size "naturally increased" from a C cup to a D, according to her lawsuit against the production company. The growth spurt happened while she was on leave last year with an injured big toe; the 29-year-old says she neither gained weight nor got implants. When she returned to the show, she needed new bras sewn into her costumes, and for this, she alleges in her 42-page complaint, she was sexually harassed, verbally abused and wrongfully dismissed.

Let's leave aside, for the moment, questions about what other factors might have been behind Alyse's dismissal (which we can't really answer, because the show's management won't tell us its side) and whether a woman can continue to develop well past puberty. Musical theater is an entertainment outlet that routinely depicts women as sexpots, curvy dimwits and window dressing — so if you believe Alyse's account, the hypocrisy is evident. Allegedly getting fired for the prudish-sounding sin of busting out of one's costume is even more surprising given that Tharp's all-dance spectacular bumps and grinds from start to finish. With Joel's rock-and-roll framing a Vietnam-era loss-of-innocence tale, the show rides on an orgy of go-go.

Read it all, it's rather longish, but really quite interesting as lawsuit stories go. The best line in the whole article comes from Alyse's mother, though:

Asked to sum up her own feelings about her body, Alyse is speechless. "Umm," she says, looking uncertain. Klayman has momentarily left the table; she glances at his empty seat as if willing him to materialize and help her out. She says nothing.

"I'll answer for her," says her mother. "She hasn't come to realize yet that she has a great body. . . . She hasn't realized yet: To hell with everybody."

Again, as noted back in March, she appears to be nicely built, but not overwhelmingly so. Judge for yourself.

UPDATE: James Joyner notes Blue Crab Boulevard's monumental investigative skill. Others blogging: Ann Althouse, Tinkerty Tonk.

UPDATE: James Joyner may think we are crack journalists here in the Crabitat, but Mark in Mexico brings cracked to a whole new level! I think it's a Google record.

Take your pick on what to file this one under. A man who unsuccessfully tried to rob an auto parts store at gunpoint is suing the store and the employees who foiled the robbery. Dana Buckman entered the store waving the pistol around. Two employees decided to resist and beat him with a metal pipe, took his gun away then held him at gunpoint. Buckman managed to escape anyway and was caught a week later. He has been convicted of the robbery attempt and sentenced to 18 years i prison.

Now Buckman's lawyer, one Phillip Hurwitz, has filed suit against the store and the employees saying that the two followed Buckman out of the store and continued to beat him.

Dana Buckman, 46, walked into an auto shop brandishing a semiautomatic pistol last summer, only to have it turned on him by two AutoZone employees, police said. The men beat Buckman with a metal pipe and held him with his own gun.

Buckman escaped and was arrested a week later.

He pleaded guilty to first-degree robbery and was sentenced to 18 years in prison as a repeat violent felon.

Buckman claims the men chased him out of the store and continued to beat him. He is suing the auto shop and the men for the injuries he suffered and for emotional distress.

Ah, the emotional distress of not being allowed to complete your robbery? Or the distress in finding that the gun didn't make you manly enough to keep from getting thumped soundly?

Not a streaker? Answer: when she's wearing a bikini. A 25-year old woman from New Zealand, Lisa Lewis, ran onto the field during the last few moments of a rugby game. She was clad only in a bikini. She was also promptly arrested and hauled away to face charges. Now she is auctioning the bikini she wore to raise money to pay her court costs.

"As a result my bikini is up for sale to assist in paying for my court fines and costs. Come on people help me out," Lewis wrote on the Trade Me website (http://www.trademe.co.nz/Sports/Other/auction-59664487.htm).

Now, we here at Blue Crab Boulevard have absolutely nothing whatsoever against women who want to wear bikinis onto playing fields. Well, so long as they aren't women who shouldn't be wearing bikinis, if you catch our drift. But Ms. Lewis looked pretty good in her photo that accompanies the linked story. Her explanation of why she did what she did is that she had made a list of things that she wanted to do before she died. Streaking a rugby game was on that list.

Lewis wrote on the website she had decided to run on to the field because it was on a list she of tasks she had made to achieve before she died.

However, she did not recommend it to anyone else.

"Even though this was a lifetime goal of mine to streak on a rugby field, and obviously fulfilled that dream, I do not recommend running on a rugby field in the middle of a game again - as the consequences are severe," she wrote.

We hate to be the ones to break this to her, but she still hasn't streaked a rugby game. Perhaps the bikini sale will produce enough money to cover a second court date for doing it properly? Hint, hint. We'll keep our eyes on Ms. Lewis. Just for all our reader's sakes, of course.