Meet The New (Improved) Boss

Remember all the screeching and wailing before the last election? Remember "Culture of corruption?" Remember all the hyperventilation about how Rethuglican Bushitler zombies were only looking after the big, evil corporations while the happy, fuzzy, lovable Democrats were only out for the people? Remember the pledges to run the cleanest government in all of recorded history, ever? Ah, the good, old days.

So why is it that the Democrats are squeezing enormous sums of cold, hard cash out of corporations and lobbiests - outraising the Republicans they replaced? 

Campaign finance experts say that special interests have been contributing mostly to Republicans over the last 12 years of GOP rule on Capitol Hill.  Now they are having to making quick friends with Democratic leaders.

"Lobbyists and interest groups need to make a connection right away, and one of the ways to do that is through a PAC contribution," says Kent Cooper, co-founder of PoliticalMoneyLine.

In the past three months, the new committee chairmen have raised $2.4 million in campaign contributions from PACs, the committees created by lobbyists and special interest groups to make contributions and influence elections.

"Committee chairmen act as the gatekeepers exercising control of whether legislation moves or is at a road block, deciding what is to be considered when," says Sheila Krumholz, executive director for the Center for Responsive Politics. "If you've developed a cordial relationship with them over time and have given them contributions, it certainly goes to your benefit."

The chairman to receive the most PAC money was Rep. Charles  Rangel of New York, the chairman of the powerful House Ways and Means Committee, who reported raising $486,669 from PACs, compared to $7,500 during the same period two years ago. Rangel's PAC donors compromised more than half the money he raised and represent a broad array of industries including health care, finance, transportation, agriculture, technology, retailers and organized labor.

Krumholz says that Rangel and his colleagues are in the position to be key money makers for the party. "More money generally flows to members on high profile committees, like Ways and Means, because they exercise control over earmarks and specific legislative agendas for essentially all areas of industry," says Krumholz. (Emphasis added)

The emperor hath not a stitch of clothing. Nor a single speck of moral high ground. 

Father Of The Year

You know, I frankly wish Alec Baldwin had carried out his much publicized threat to move to Canada. Because then maybe we wouldn't have to see quite as much of his parenting skills . I came across a reference to this on Yahoo News, but that article was, I think, somewhat sanitized.

An enraged Alec Baldwin unleashed a volcanic tirade of threats and insults on his 11-year-old daughter, Ireland, calling her a "thoughtless little pig," and bashing her mother Kim Basinger — and TMZ has obtained the whole thing unfiltered and raw. And we've learned, a family law judge was so alarmed after hearing the tape, she has temporarily barred Baldwin from having any contact with his child.

After Ireland failed to answer her father's scheduled morning phone call from New York on April 11, Alec went berserk on her voice mail, saying "Once again, I have made an ass of myself trying to get to a phone," adding, "you have insulted me for the last time."

Switching his train of thought, Baldwin then exercised his incredible parenting skills and took a shot at his ex-wife, declaring, "I don't give a damn that you're 12-years-old or 11-years-old, or a child, or that your mother is a thoughtless pain in the ass who doesn't care about what you do." The irate Baldwin went on to say, "You've made me feel like s**t" and threatened to "straighten your ass out."

"This crap you pull on me with this goddamn phone situation that you would never dream of doing to your mother," screamed Baldwin, "and you do it to me constantly over and over again."

Before hanging up, Baldwin warned the child, "You better be ready Friday the 20th to meet with me." That's tomorrow.

Lovely man. I don't really think Canada wants him, though.  Nor do we. Remember this little incident the next time old Alec wants to grab media attention. This is a prime spokesman for the left. Makes you proud, doesn't it?

About That Hyperventilation

I predicted (like that took any great gift) that there would be much hyperventilation over the decision by the US Supreme Court to uphold the ban on "partial birth" abortions. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the pompous, hysterical pontificators at the New York Times :

It severely eroded the constitutional respect and protection accorded to women and the personal decisions they make about pregnancy and childbirth. The justices went so far as to eviscerate the crucial requirement, which dates to the 1973 ruling in Roe v. Wade, that all abortion regulations must have an exception to protect a woman’s health.

As far as we know, Mr. Kennedy and his four colleagues responsible for this atrocious result are not doctors. Yet these five male justices felt free to override the weight of medical evidence presented during the several trials that preceded the Supreme Court showdown. Instead, they ratified the politically based and dangerously dubious Congressional claim that criminalizing the intact dilation and extraction method of abortion in the second trimester of pregnancy — the so-called partial-birth method — would never pose a significant health risk to a woman. In fact, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists has found the procedure to be medically necessary in certain cases.

As far as we know, there ain't nary a doctor on the New York Times editorial board, either. Which does not stop them one whit from coming down four-square for a barbarous procedure  that is nothing but infanticide with a fancy title. So there you have it, prediction fulfilled - not hard to guess that one, was it? But the sheer, flamboyant, pompous idiocy  of the fools who would scold others for not being doctors when they are not either is simply breathtaking. This is the "chickenhawk" meme taken to its illogical extreme. They have actually succeeded in making themselves look even more ridiculous than they already did. A truly monumental tour de force of hubris.

Who Needs A Dead Vote?

Hey, here in the US we have the legendary dead vote. Voters who, despite having died, mysteriously show up to cast their ballots on election day. Reputedly, Chicago is the capitol of this activity. They also have dead people parking, but that's another discussion. Australia, meanwhile, has been having a real problem with dead drivers. The zombies are taking cars out for a high-speed spin down under on a regular basis. But there is an even bigger, better trend in the world today! Bringing dead criminals to court on fresh charges!

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia - A Malaysian judge scolded government prosecutors for filing a corruption charge against a policeman who died two years ago, a news report said Thursday.

Sessions Court Judge Noradidah Ahmad, who was presiding over a bribery case, was surprised Wednesday when she noticed court documents stating that one of two policemen accused in the case had died after a stroke in 2005, the New Straits Times newspaper reported.

"We do not have to include a dead man in the charge. Dead people cannot testify," Noradidah was quoted as saying by the newspaper. "It's 2007 now, surely the prosecution had time to amend the charge. It is not as if he died yesterday."

Apparently, they didn't want to rush things. After all, he might go for a drive or something.

Is The Public Finally Getting Sick Of The Media?

I have not watched broadcast network television news for a very long time, personally. I grew disgusted with them years ago - I can't remember when, exactly I stopped watching. For a while I watched Fox News, but I rarely have time for that these days, either. So I really don't pay a lot of attention to any television news. But it appears they may have finally jumped the shark with the American public. There is a major-push back against the wall-to-wall airing of the video that the monster who went on a rampage at Virginia Tech sent to NBC. And at least one grieving couple who will have to bury their daughter has had enough. They are calling the media out on this.

BLACKSBURG, Va. - Peter Read wants you to make a choice.

He asks that you turn away from the face of the deranged gunman glaring at the camera. Gaze instead at the face of a bright and bubbly brunette who smiled even when she was unhappy, a face always in the middle of a crowd.

It is the face of Mary Karen Read, the daughter he will now see only in scrapbooks.

Hers is just one of 32 promising lives cut short at Virginia Tech — the life of a musician, an aspiring schoolteacher, a doting big sister to five siblings. A 19-year-old freshman who had just filed her first tax return and learned, the day before she died, how to make a pumpkin pie.

When you think of the massacre that befell this quiet college town, those are the memories Peter Read wants you to remember.

The coverage of the media, the endless discussion of tragedies like this, the relentless punditry for hour after hour after hour increases the likelihood that an attention-seeking copycat will emerge to get their 15 minutes of media fame. There are already reports of various acts in other states where someone has mentioned the events at Virginia Tech and have caused near-panic. And the public has made their disgust with the media quite plain to network executives by calling, writing and emailing asking the broadcasters to stop.

Enough, you schmucks. Fox News is the first network to show some decency and will no longer air any footage of the monster or his demented rants. NBC, despite "agonizing for hours" over whether to air and share the vile stuff, has only pledged to limit airing of it. It would have been better if you had decided not to , you fools. Stop giving free publicity to monsters and their monstrous actions. Enough of the mutually beneficial spiral of death. It's time to stop. Now.

UPDATE: The ever reliable Callimachus at Done With Mirrors nails this one.  (For the uninformed, Callimachus is employed at a real, live newspaper and has some credentials when addressing media issues.)

My newspaper, somewhat against my advice, ran one of the Cho photos this morning: The one with a gun in each hand, but not pointed at the viewer. Boy, did they hear it from readers. [Not as bad as the time they ran a photo on A1 of a large pregnant woman getting an ultrasound, though.] People hate those photos of Cho. Every time you see one, he wins again. He gets what he wanted. (Emphasis added)

I'm aware most of the backlash is against TV coverage (which is what people mean by "news" and "media" and even — heaven help us — "journalism" anymore) and I'm writing about newspapers. But the
ghoulishness and the cynicism and the sickening, cloying, palpably false grieving of it are transcendant.

Time to stop, schmucks. Now.

Irresponsible

Well, Harry Reid has informed the media that he believes the war in Iraq is lost. Specifically, he told that to the French press, apparently. So much for America speaking with one voice overseas. But we've already seen that in action, haven't we?

The war in Iraq "is lost" and a US troop surge is failing to bring peace to the country, the leader of the Democratic majority in the US Congress, Harry Reid, said Thursday.

"I believe … that this war is lost, and this surge is not accomplishing anything, as is shown by the extreme violence in Iraq this week," Reid told journalists.

Reid said he had delivered the same message to US President George W. Bush on Wednesday, when the US president met with senior lawmakers to discuss how to end a standoff over an emergency war funding bill.

"I know I was the odd guy out at the White House, but I told him at least what he needed to hear … I believe the war at this stage can only be won diplomatically, politically and economically."

Congress is seeking to tie funding for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan to a timetable to withdraw US troops from Iraq next year, but Bush has vowed to veto any such bill and no breakthrough was reported from the White House talks.

Nice try at having it both ways - the war is lost but it can be won. And good luck convincing the voters that the Democrats can be trusted with national security. At some point, I hope people look back and realize that the Reid-Pelosi regime was what scotched the Democrats for a long time. (I suspect it will be, let's see what history has to say about it.)

Singed Suicide Squirrel Snapped

The Canton Repository has managed to obtain photographic evidence of one of the members of the Animal Uprising™ suicide squirrel squad shortly after he set off a shower of sparks and shorted the system. (We dare you to say that five times fast).

An electrocuted squirrel (photo to right) sits singed and frozen atop a power pole Wednesday on the campus of Malone College outside Osborne Hall in Canton. Power was out at the Stark county Christian school as AEP trucks raced to locate the source of the electrical snafu.

Generally, they look worse than that*. The funniest part is the title of the picture file.

*At least the ones I have personally seen through the years have looked worse - usually much worse. The utility I used to work for did a "live line" safety show that featured a mock-up of a squirrel that they would move along the energized line with a hot stick until it shorted the system. The resulting flash was quite impressive at 4160 volts. They replaced the mock-up rather frequently, too. They tended to only last for a few shows, looking worse each time. I think that show probably saved a few lives. School kids who saw it didn't want to go over the fence into a substation.

Corzine Still Requires Ventilator

New Jersey governor Jon Corzine still requires the use of a ventilator to breath a full week after the accident that left him critically injured.

Corzine's condition cannot be upgraded to stable until the tube is removed. Dr. Steven Ross, head of trauma at Cooper University Hospital, said he hoped that would happen within days, not weeks.

The governor, who was visited Thursday by at least two of his three children, cannot speak because of the breathing tube but can nod his head.

Corzine was the only person seriously injured when the SUV he was riding in wrecked on April 12 north of Atlantic City.

The message here is to wear your seatbelt, especially if the vehicle you are in is rocketing down the highway doing 91 as Corzine's SUV was. Better yet, don't speed like that in an unstable vehicle like an SUV at all. But still wear the seatbelt.

Badgering The Residents

These are very definition of bad neighbors. They fight constantly - and very noisily, trash other people's yards and property and have howling sex orgies right outdoors at all hours. What's more, the authorities protect them and won't allow anyone to interfere with them. (No, they aren't Hollywood stars. In this case, anyway.) Badgers are lousy neighbors.

Numbering at least 40, they have damaged gardens in the suburb where they live. And worst of all, they are above the law.

The culprits are a colony of badgers, whose protected status means little can be done to stop their antics.

Residents in the Gleadless area ofSheffield are at their wits' end after seven years of havoc.

Richard Oldham, 43, of Kew Crescent, said the badgers first dug holes all over his lawn, then dug out the footings of decking costing £2,000, which later had to be demolished.

Next they dug a massive hole under the garden shed used by his two-year-old daughter Olivia as a playhouse.

And then his garden fence fell down because the badgers dug out the concrete posts.

He said: "My whole garden is undermined by their tunnels. I daren't let Olivia play out – if she doesn't fall down a hole, they are likely to attack her protecting their pups."

Mr Oldham contacted South Yorkshire Badger Group but was told he couldn't do anything to disturb the animals, which have pups at this time of year.

Once they have reared their pups he can apply for a licence from the Department for the Environment to install badger gates at his property.

Then, after several months monitoring the gates to ensure the badgers have all left his garden, he will be able to install permanent barriers.

All this will have to be done under the supervision of a Government-appointed consultant at a cost of several thousand pounds.

But Mr Oldham, who is disabled after a stroke, said he cannot afford the work.

Even if he could, the barriers don't work, according to 73-year-old John Cooper of nearby Smithfield Road.

We here at Blue Crab Boulevard know what the real goal is, of course. The badgers, as agents of the Animal Uprising™ are out to drive the humans out of their homes. Then the badgers will move in and watch television, a favorite pastime for badgers.

Order In The Court

"You, there. Stop that braying at once." In what is quite possibly a new low for American jurisprudence, a lawyer has called a donkey for the defense. No, the lawyer was calling names, nor was anyone calling the lawyer a donkey. The lawyer introduced the donkey as the first witness in a lawsuit in a Dallas courtroom.

DALLAS - The first witness in a lawsuit Wednesday between two neighbors was a real ass. Buddy the donkey walked to the bench and stared at the jury, the picture of a gentle, well-mannered creature and not the loud, aggressive animal he had been accused of being.

The donkey was at the center of a dispute between oilman John Cantrell and attorney Gregory Shamoun that began after Cantrell complained about a storage shed Shamoun was building in his backyard in Dallas.

He said Shamoun retaliated by bringing Buddy from his ranch in Midlothian and putting him in the backyard.

Cantrell complained of donkey noise and manure piles.

"They bray a lot any time day or night. You never know when they're going to cut loose," he testified.

Shamoun said Buddy was there to serve as a surrogate mother for a calf named Lucy that needed to be bottle-fed.

We could make some gratuitous jokes about not being able to tell the donkey apart from the lawyers or the litigants, but that would be cruel. The donkey deserves better.

Still More Pet Food Recalls

It seems that even more pet food is being subjected to recalls as still more melamine contamination is being discovered. This time it is one of the suppliers of products used by pet food manufacturers that is sounding the alarm.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Wilbur-Ellis Co. said on Thursday it was voluntarily recalling all lots of a rice protein concentrate its feed division had shipped to pet-food manufacturers.

Wilbur-Ellis said the recall was because of a risk that rice protein concentrate may have been contaminated by melamine, a chemical used to make plastics and fertilizers that can lead to illness or fatalities if consumed.

The announcement is the latest in a widening recall of dog and cat food products across the United States since mid-March. More than 100 brands of pet food have been recalled after reports of cases of pets developing kidney failure.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has received more than 14,000 reports of pet illnesses so far. Officials have confirmed just 16 deaths but believe the actual number could be higher.

Wilbur-Ellis' said it obtained rice protein from a single source in China and shipped it to five U.S. pet-food manufacturers, in Utah, New York, Kansas and two in Missouri.

The company said it had told the FDA on Sunday that a single bag in a recent shipment of rice protein concentrate from its Chinese supplier, Binzhou Futian Biology Technology Co. Ltd., had tested positive for melamine.

This is getting completely out of hand. I can see some import controls being put in place over this - pet owners are pretty protective of their animals. (Who will be the first pet food company to advertise "no ingredients from China" on its packaging?)

Taking Meetings

Fred Thompson met with about 50 Republican members of the House yesterday. Not a few of those who attended the meeting emerged voicing strong support for Thompson. It seems more and more likely that Thompson is going to throw his hat into the ring sometime soon. 

Former senator Fred D. Thompson (Tenn.) met yesterday with more than 50 Republican House members on Capitol Hill, fielding questions about his views on issues such as abortion and immigration and even his relationship with his first wife, but offering no new insight into whether he would join the field of Republican presidential candidates.

Many of the members said they left the meeting impressed with the "Law and Order" star and are eager to see him run, believing he would capture the excitement of some Republicans who are not content with the current field of candidates.

"I don't really have a lot to say," Thompson told a group of reporters assembled outside the meeting. "I wanted to come over and see some of my old friends and make some new friends, and tell them what was on my mind."

He then ignored dozens of shouted questions from reporters as he entered the back of an SUV and was whisked away by aides.

But the Republicans he visited were eager to rave about Thompson after the session. Several said they will support Thompson the moment he enters the campaign if he decides to run. "He's ready, and I want him to run," said Rep. Dan Burton (R-Ind.).

As I have said before, there should be a lot of nervous candidates in both parties right now. Thompson will be a very serious contender if the jumps in. And he will be very hard to beat if he gets the nomination. Oh, there will be enormous hyperventilation bordering on hysteria from the left because of Thompson's media exposure, but that will just make it more entertaining.

Knut Gets Death Threat

Officials at the Berlin zoo have notified police that they have received a faxed death threat against Kute Knut, the polar bear cub that animal "rights" activists want killed at once. The death threat was anonymous.

"We were contacted by the zoo about a (threatening) letter it had received," said a police spokeswoman, adding officers had investigated but they did not believe it was serious.

Top-selling Bild newspaper said the zoo had received a hand-written fax from a suspected animal hater with the words: "Knut is dead! Thursday midday."

It also said the zoo had trebled the number of minders to 15 responsible for the safety of media star Knut, who has been on newspaper front pages and news shows across Germany and around the world for weeks.

"Death threat, police protection for Knut!" Bild wrote in bold letters on page one above a picture of the sad-looking polar bear cub peering out from behind a tree branch.

Bild also published a picture of a security guard in civilian clothes guarding Knut from behind a rock.

Of course, Knut whacked the zoo's resident panda recently according to our informants (who were last seen in a drunk tank in one of the seedier areas of Berlin.) But we have it on good authority that the polar bear mafia took on a major enemy when they allowed Knut to off his rival for the affection of the public. The Panda syndicate is taking a hard line on the killing of one of their own.