Here's good news!

EU pays £1m to train Italian TV showgirls at 'school for bimbos':

A "school for soubrettes" that teaches young Italian women the not-so-subtle skills needed to become television game show hostesses and showgirls has opened near Naples backed by generous European Union funding.

The programme at the First Tel School has prompted a political storm over the EU's willingness to put £1 million into what critics say is a "course for bimbos".

There has been no shortage of interest from potential pupils, however, given that Italy's television networks are awash with programmes featuring scantily clad female assistants. About 1,200 women - and a handful of young men - applied for the 97 places on the eight-month course when it was advertised in the summer.

Under the terms of the EU grant, students must be at least 18, unemployed, and come from the Campania region - renowned throughout Italy for the beauty of its women. They will be taught diction, show presenting, make-up, singing, dancing, acting, and the history of cinema and theatre.

Dino Giordano, one of the school's founders, said it was aimed at equipping students for a wider career than that pursued by mere bimbos. "They are being thrown in the deep end but it will give them a head start in show business," he said last week. Some pupils, though, seem to have less ambitious objectives. "I want to be famous, rich and marry a footballer," declared Simona Toto, a diminuitive blonde.

I guess I'm just a lowbrow Yank that can't appreciate the intricacies of Euro culture and government support of the "arts".

All quiet on the Malibu front

There's been no word from Babs Streisand since Gray Davis got the boot. Maybe she's out hanging wash on the line? Hmm, I don't see a clothesline in the aerial photo!

Vote Democrat because they are better than the rest of us

Jonah Goldberg at The Corner:

I GUESS "HISPANIC" IS SPANISH FOR "POOR"

From the Hotline:

Making An Ass-umption? In answering a question from Spanish-speaking Ernestina Escobar, who was introduced as "someone in our audience who has experienced the American dream." Dean responded: "You would have prescription benefits if you moved to Vermont, because a third of all our people, especially at your income level, are eligible for prescription benefits without help from the federal government." She never mentioned her financial situation.

Imagine if a white, preppy Park Avenue Republican had made this gaffe?

Maybe Howard Dean will offer her a chocolate bar and a ride in his big car too?

Elevating Effects of Higher Education Alert!

(Via Gweilo Diaries) From Professor To Pornographer:

DAVIS, Calif. (Wireless Flash) -- Can porno movies change the world? One university professor thinks so.

Dr. Darrell Y. Hamamoto of the Asian American Studies Program at the University of California at Davis has just filmed what he believes is the first X-rated video with an all Asian-American cast.

Well there's a breakthrough for diversity!

The clip, titled "Skin On Skin," hasn't secured a distributor yet, but the professor says it's ground-breaking in its use of an Asian-American man as the male partner.

Hamamoto believes Asian men have been emasculated by American culture and this video is just what self-conscious Asian guys need to put the lead back into their pencils.

Time for a pity party! But don't tell the local feminists, Darrell!

And has the University complained?

In his words, "If anything, I'm helping the University because I could be a lightning rod for attacks against our civil liberties."

Sounds more like flypaper for stupidity.

The Daily Hijinks

Cross-dressing Wiccan official sparks Christian mission probe. We don't see too many of those around here, but the story is set in W. Virginia, a center of cosmopolitan life:

A Christian mission serving homeless people since 1939 is under investigation for discrimination because its walls are adorned with crosses and other religious imagery.

The probe was prompted by a city fair-housing investigator, who also happens to be a cross-dressing Wiccan openly contemptuous of mainstream religions, the Charleston, W. Va., Daily Mail reported.

Most religious shelters, including this one, do not require attendance at services and haven't for some time. But that's never good enough for the diverse. But wait, there's more:

Last year, the Charleston paper said, the mission provided a place to sleep for thousands of people and served more than 82,000 meals. It also provides spiritual guidance and holds daily worship services.

The commission voted last month to scrutinize the mission's policies, which include barring drugs and alcohol and not allowing unmarried couples to sleep in the same room.

As opposed to what, exactly?

And there's good news from just across the border - Mexican army deserters wage war for border city:

NUEVO LAREDO, Mexico — Members of an elite Mexican army unit have deserted and formed a drug gang, using their military training to launch a violent battle for control of this border city, says Mexico's top anti-drug prosecutor.

The war for Nuevo Laredo, right across the border from Laredo, Texas, is unlike other recent drug conflicts — it's a turf war involving most of Mexico's major cartels in broad alliances, it has the Mexican army fighting an organized unit of former comrades, and it has cost American lives.

Well if things get too hot, they can always move to California!

Which reminds me of Mark Steyn's latest:

I am not a resident of California, but, if I were, I would have voted for Arnold. Wait a minute, what am I on about? You don't need to be a resident to vote. If you're a British tourist on holiday in Mexico, all you have to do is make it across the border and, under one of Gray Davis's desperate last-minute pre-election ethnic panders, he'll give you one of his free driver's licences for illegal immigrants, no questions asked, with which piece of identification you'll be able to bluff your way into the voting booth.

It's easy Mark. Just yell "I'm being disenfranchised!" The Democrat poll "watcher" will handle the rest.

Bashar Assad: The evil moron who's running Syria. 'Nuff said.

Global Warming Litigation Heating Up:

Just-terminated California Gov. Gray Davis announced last weekend that the state will sue the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency over global warming. Nine other states and several eco-activist groups, including the Sierra Club and Greenpeace, are expected to join the lawsuit.

Gray Davis? The name sounds familiar, but I can't place the face.

Smile and put on a happy face!

The Washington Prowler says there's some grumbling in the ranks about DNC Chairman Terry "I got rich as a political fundraiser" McAuliffe:

Gov. Gray Davis may not have been the biggest loser in the California recall. Some Democratic National Committee members are calling for DNC chairman Terry McAuliffe to explain his odd behavior in the days leading up to Tuesday's election debacle.

McAuliffe appeared on cable news channels and gave print interviews citing DNC internal polling data that showed the recall election too close to call. He also claimed that he had numbers indicating Democrats would emerge unscathed from the election. He also claimed that even if Arnold Schwarzenegger did win, he'd do so with fewer votes than Davis would receive from voters opposed to his recall in the first place. In fact, Schwarzenegger outpaced Davis by more than 100,000 votes.

"I don't know where the hell McAuliffe got his info, but he was treating it like sacred writ, and it was just trash," says a California Democratic Party official in Los Angeles. "I know he likes to blow a lot of sunshine up peoples' behinds, but this was just embarrassing for us."

Politicos always whistle past the graveyard - that doesn't seem too egregious.

"We're getting tired of his shtick," says a DNC donor in New York. "He's been telling us how we're doing great in raising money for the convention in Boston, but there are more than a few of us who don't believe it. On the ground, we're hearing that we aren't raising much of anything to pay for the convention."

Now that could be embarrassing. Maybe they could have it in the street and prove their caring natures by inviting the homeless to party down?

More in the article about Howie Dean's nervousness about releasing the records of his stint as governor in Vermont and the troubles in Weasley Clark's campaign organization - it seems they kicked out all the "Draft Clark" types in favor of Clinton political hacks and spinners. You can get a load of the angst over at the old Draft Clark web sites like this:

By the time you read these words, the bell will be tolling for Wesley Clark's candidacy. It will be clear across the country that the campaign of Wesley Clark is nothing more than the Gore campaign with a better candidate - this will mean that activists, the people who can create a field organization that can win Iowa and New Hampshire, will know that this campaign is nothing more than a media creation.

I wondered how long it would take before they noticed the emperor had no pants.

Nothing to see here - move along!

Charles Krauthammer weighs in on David Kay's report on Iraq's WMD programs:

He found infrastructure, but as yet no finished product.

As yet, mind you. "We are not yet at the point where we can say definitively either that such weapons stocks do not exist or that they existed before the war and our only task is to find where they have gone," Kay testified last week.

This is fact, not fudging. How do we know? Because Hussein's practice was to store his chemical weapons unmarked amid his conventional munitions, and we have just begun to understand the staggering scale of Hussein's stocks of conventional munitions. Hussein left behind 130 known ammunition caches, many of which are more than twice the size of Manhattan. Imagine looking through "600,000 tons of artillery shells, rockets, aviation bombs and other ordnance" -- rows and rows stretched over an area the size of even one Manhattan -- looking for barrels of unmarked chemical weapons.

And there are 130 of these depots. Kay's team has so far inspected only 10. The question of whether Hussein actually retained finished product is still open.

But the question of whether he was still in the WMD business is no longer open. "We have discovered dozens of WMD-related program activities," Kay testified, "and significant amounts of equipment that Iraq concealed from the United Nations during the inspections that began in late 2002" -- concealed, that is, from the hapless Hans Blix.

"Twice the size of Manhattan." Howard Dean couldn't find his butt with a street map in Manhattan.

Hey, how come I didn't hear about this on the evening news?

What's next? Anatomy measurements?

(Via Dean Esmay) Bjorn Staerk has all the details on the income tax returns of everyone in Norway. No, he's not a super hacker. It's the way they do things over there. But not for long as it appears that they are coming to their senses. Or sort of - you still will be able to get printouts at the tax office.

Today's hoot!

And while I was reading Greg Pierce's column mentioned in the previous post:

Foggy Bottom fever

The State Department has lodged a vehement complaint with television evangelist Pat Robertson, accusing him of suggesting that the department should be blown up, but it was not clear yesterday whether the gang at Foggy Bottom had picked the right target.

Agence France-Presse reports that State Department spokesman Richard Boucher was livid yesterday about what the wire service said were comments by Mr. Robertson "suggesting that its Foggy Bottom headquarters should be destroyed with nuclear weapons."

However, a transcript indicated that the host of the nationally broadcast "700 Club" was quoting or perhaps loosely paraphrasing guest Joel Mowbray, author of "Dangerous Diplomacy: How the State Department Threatens American Security."

Attempts by this column to reach a spokeswoman for the "700 Club" were unsuccessful yesterday.

"I read your book," Mr. Robertson said to Mr. Mowbray, according to a transcript of the interview posted on his Christian Broadcasting Network's Web site, www.cbn.com.

"When you get through, you say, 'If I could just get a nuclear device inside Foggy Bottom, I think that's the answer,' " he said.

"I mean, you get through this, and you say, 'We've got to blow that thing up.' I mean, is it as bad as you say?" Mr. Robertson asked.

Mr. Mowbray responded: "It is."

Mr. Boucher called the remarks, which he attributed to Mr. Robertson, "despicable" and a senior department official said a protest had been made "at the highest level."

It was not clear what "the highest level" might mean in reference to a preacher.

It would be even funnier if the State Department weren't so screwed up.

Ruh Oh!

From Greg Pierce's Inside Politics column in the Washington Times it looks like bad news in NH for Weasley:

Former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean maintains a double-digit lead over rival Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts in a New Hampshire poll of likely voters in the state's Democratic presidential primary.

The poll by American Research Group of Manchester, N.H., showed Mr. Dean leading Mr. Kerry, 29 percent to 19 percent. The remaining candidates, including newcomer Wesley Clark, were in the single digits, and 29 percent remained undecided.

Mr. Dean also held a 10-point lead over Mr. Kerry in the group's September poll.

Rep. Richard A. Gephardt of Missouri and Sen. Joe Lieberman of Connecticut each received 6 percent support, Mr. Clark 5 percent and Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina 3 percent. Carol Moseley Braun and Rep. Dennis J. Kucinich of Ohio were at 1 percent and the Rev. Al Sharpton zero percent.

What happened to the Clark boom?

Whoa! Good bud, man!

Democrats Spin Out of Control: Their reading of the California recall leaves Republicans hooting:

To hear Democrats tell it, the voters who overwhelmingly chose to recall California Gov. Gray Davis on Tuesday were sending a strong and unmistakable warning — to George W. Bush.

In California, Washington, and across the country Wednesday, Democrats struggled to portray the recall of Davis as the result of voter anger against the president, and not as a repudiation of a particularly unpopular Democratic governor.

"I think the message from California is a message to President Bush: Stop your reckless economic policies," said House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi.

"It's clearly not good news for George Bush," Democratic National Committee chairman Terry McAuliffe said Tuesday night. "I'm telling you, the message across this country is that [people] have had it with George Bush's economic plans...George Bush should be very nervous."

"The voters in California directed their frustration with the country's direction on their incumbent governor," added Democratic presidential frontrunner Howard Dean. "Come next November, the anger might be directed at a different incumbent — in the White House."

Hmm, interesting variation on "It's all George Bush's fault." Now he's responsible for an asshat like Gray Davis being recalled.

But wait, that's not the story I remember!

The post-election Democratic interpretation of the recall stands in stark contrast to the pre-election Democratic interpretation of the recall. Just a few days ago, Democrats portrayed the recall as part of a right-wing plan to seize power in California and elsewhere around the nation.

In his speech to the state on August 19, Davis described the recall as a "right-wing power grab." That characterization was echoed by former president Bill Clinton and other high-profile Democrats who visited the state to campaign on Davis's behalf.

Now, however, what was once a "right wing power grab" has become a stern warning for President Bush.

Well, we could combine the spin. How about it was a reckless message of a right wing anger grab? Somehow that doesn't trip off the tongue.

But here's an interesting note from the editors of the Long Beach Telegram - Voters' real target: Legislators: Beware, because Gray Davis wasn't the only miscreant:

Democratic Senate President Pro Tem John Burton's assessment of California's recall election was that an unlucky Gray Davis just happened to get caught in the wrong place at the wrong time. Not our fault, in other words.

Assuming he believes what he says, it is astonishing that even a Sacramento politician could so completely have his head on backward. The Legislature was in fact the main target of voters, more so even than the isolated, distrusted and now dismissed Gov. Davis.

As abysmally low were the governor's poll ratings, the Legislature's were worse. At one point, Davis' approval ratings dropped to 20 percent, or about where Richard Nixon ranked at the time of his resignation during the Watergate scandals. Just below Davis were members of the Legislature.

Ain't that the pits!

Everyone gangs up on the new kid!

Dem-Debate Rivals Blast Away at Flip-Flop Clark. But Weasley has an answer:

Struggling to get above the fray, Clark insisted: "I'm not going to attack a fellow Democrat."

Lieberman retorted: "Welcome to the Democratic presidential campaign. Look - none of us are above questioning."

Next, a steel cage match!

Big Hair Alert!

A woman's big hairdo led a tiger to attack Siegfried and Roy performer Roy Horn during a show in Las Vegas last Friday, says the casino mogul who helped make the duo stars.

Who knew? Certainly not her.

Let's be politically correct even if it kills us

FBI: Jews need not apply for Arabic linguist jobs:

Despite a shortage of Arabic translators, the FBI turned down applications for linguist jobs from nearly 100 Arabic-speaking Jews in New York following the World Trade Center attacks, WorldNetDaily has learned.

The FBI's New York office in October 2001 asked a local charity that works with Arab Jews to submit applications for the linguist jobs, which are crucial to anti-terrorism investigations.

But not one of the more than 90 applicants was hired, even though some had helped translate Arabic for Israeli radio and TV news stations and the Israeli army before coming to America, the charity's director says.

Now why would that be?

Another source familiar with the interviewing process says the FBI was concerned that many of the applicants were ''too close to Israel,'' and might lack the objectivity to accurately translate the Arabic recordings and writings of Muslim terrorist suspects under investigation. Indeed, some worked for the Israeli military.

Well, I'm certainly glad the government hired some objective translators instead.

Many of the translators that both the FBI and military have hired are Arab Muslims. The Army is investigating two Muslim linguists for possible spying at the U.S. military base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where captured members of al-Qaida and the Taliban are being held and interrogated.

The major security breach at Gitmo comes on the heels of the FBI's own investigation of some of its Muslim agents.

Gamal Abdel-Hafiz, an immigrant Muslim, twice refused on religious grounds to tape-record Muslim terrorist suspects, hindering investigations of a bin Laden family-financed bank in New Jersey and Florida professor Sami Al-Arian, recently indicted for his ties to the Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorist group.

A fellow FBI agent, Robert Wright, said Abdel-Hafiz finally explained to him that ''a Muslim does not record another Muslim,'' after first claiming he feared for his life. Other agents said he contacted Arab subjects under investigation without disclosing the contacts to the agents running the cases.

Despite his divided loyalties, the FBI subsequently promoted Abdel-Hafiz by assigning him to the U.S. Embassy in Saudi Arabia, a critical post for intelligence-gathering. Three-fourths of the Sept. 11 hijackers were Saudis.

After Wright and another agent blew the whistle in the media, however, Adel-Hafiz was put on administrative leave.

Then there's the case of Jan Dickerson, a Turkish translator hired by the FBI last November.

In screening her for a clearance, the FBI missed her ties to a Turkish organization under investigation by the FBI's own counter-intelligence unit, according to another whistle-blower. The bureau even let her translate the tapes of conversations with a Turkish intelligence officer stationed in Washington who was the target of the probe.

Sibel Edmonds, a co-worker who reviewed Dickerson's translations, said Dickerson left out information crucial to the investigation, such as discussion of methods to obtain U.S. military and intelligence secrets. She had marked it as ''not important to be translated.'' Dickerson recently left the FBI and now lives overseas.

Nothing to see here, move along!

It's the first internet campaign! But Mayor Daley would be proud.

(Via LGF) You know the mantra, selfless young idealists spreading the good word. Only it's not quite what it seems:

Dean has done other things to maximize his online fundraising punch, like reinvesting money into expanding donor lists and paying “bloggers” or professional Internet surfers to keep the enthusiasm up on his website.

Actually, Mayor Daley's boys would only give derelicts a pack of smokes for a vote. This is more like shills in a pump and dump stock scam planting rumors in internet chat rooms. Naughty, naughty!

Hmmm! Blogging for bucks? And professional internet surfing?

Hold on a sec there, hoss! I just want to let everyone know that I have come to my senses (politically speaking that is) and am now supporting Howie for President!

More Democrat Angst!

Tough Choice: Jesse Jackson Jr. or Sex Offender

Voters on the South Side of Chicago will face an agonizing decision in next year's primary election: re-elect Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. or bring back his predecessor, Democrat sex offender Mel Reynolds.

Reynolds lost his congressional seat in 1995 after he was convicted of sexual misconduct, child pornography, obstruction of justice relating to an affair he had with a minor, bank fraud and lying about misuse of campaign money.

He spent five years in the slammer until Bill Clinton, urged by "spiritual adviser" Jesse Jackson Sr. as well as Jesse Jr., pardoned him.

I guess Mel wants to say thanks!

"He's still listed on the state and city Web sites for sex offenders," the Chicago Sun-Times pointed out today.

"Well, so what?" Reynolds shot back. "And what would you like me to do about that? That is a requirement of the law. What is that going to do to me? How does that affect my life?"

People make sure you aren't alone with their kids?

And what of his criminal record? Ian Stirton, a spokesman for the Federal Election Commission, told the Sun-Times, "I don't think it would be particularly [something] you would want to emphasize in your campaign literature."

No kidding! Er, let me rephrase that.

There's a more detailed treatment here which points out that Jesse also gave Mel a job after Bubba let him out of the slammer. Which puts it in the realm of Urban Legends and leads to Snopes:

Claim: An ex-congressman who had sex with a subordinate won clemency from a president who had sex with a subordinate, then was hired by a clergyman who had sex with a subordinate.

Status: True

It's hard to keep up with all this without a scorecard!

The Angstfest Continues

John Hawkins has the details in The Democratic Underground Freaks Out Over Arnold's Win. Woohoo, it's powerful tinfoil beanie action! And as John observes:

Keep in mind that all of this weirdness and angst is over a loss by the most incompetent governor in America to a left-leaning actor running as a Republican. Amazing...

But fun!

Bwahahaha!

It turns out that the Democrat National Committee now has a blog called Kicking Ass. My understandable worry from the name was that they were abusing themselves, but a quick perusal revealed that the denizens were mostly having an angstfest today over California. Favorite theory: the Vast Right Wing Conspiracy^TM thwarted democracy once again. But not to worry, they have protection via a custom tin foil beanie.

UPDATE: If the commenter userids can be believed, Scott Ott dropped by and gave them a dose of Scrappleface - Gray Davis Announces Presidential Bid.

Ain't we got fun!




(Hat tip: FR Poster dennisw)

For those that collect "Red/Blue Divide" maps, the CA Secretary of State has a red/green map of the recall vote percentage by counties. Aside from Los Angeles County which barely opposed the recall with 51% "No", the Gray Davis supporters seemed to be clustered in the counties around San Francisco. Unsurprisingly, San Francisco County won the Kool Aid Drinkers prize with 80% "No" although Marin (68%) and Alameda (70%) were trying.

But now starts the hard part:

"It's going to take more than a broom to clean things up in Sacramento," -- Democratic Assembly Speaker Herb Wesson.

Herb ought to know, since he helped create some of the biggest steaming piles.

And in point of fact, there's only so much a well intentioned governor can do when the rest of the state government is controlled by barking moonbats. The Curmudgeon summarizes things succinctly in his own inimitable style.

Last minute hijinks

Arnold Steinberg has a wrap up of last minute election news at NRO including exit polling and the effect of "absentees". Most troublesome line:

Bustamante's ubiquitous TV spots still rely on a very strong visual: He removes his glasses.

I guess you have to see it?

And several California Freepers report bogus automated phone calls, a tape of which was replayed on a local radio show:

I was wondering if anyone had gotten this deceptive robo-call. Armstrong & Getty played it a couple of times this morning. It's by a woman who says (paraphrased - unsure phrases in square brackets):

"As a Republican woman voter, I favor family values. But Arnold Schwarzenegger's [behavior makes it impossible for me to support him], and Tom McClintock can't win. So, vote no on the recall, and let's wait for a REAL Republican in 2006. And also, vote yes on 53 and no on 54. This message brought to you by the Council of Concerned Women (slightly softer voice) Voters."

This is the Democratic platform. There is no such organization as the Council of Concerned Women Voters. She said the word "voters" more softly, and if you weren't listening very carefully, you might think this was the actual conservative women's group Concerned Women for America.

Sounds like the pond scum are desperate.

You can't make this stuff up!

Kucinich Woos Hip Hoppers -- 'Yo, I Love This Fool'. Good description.

And then there's Helping Hand:

Bill Clinton helped Alan Colmes on his upcoming book, "Red, White, and Liberal" (ReganBooks), after Colmes sent him the chapter titled "Bill Clinton, Our Greatest President."

Sick sacks are in the seat back pocket.

Colmes' book also features chapters entitled "Jesus Was a Liberal" and "Conservatives Are Downright Mean."

Hmm, sounds damn erudite.

All the usual asshats

Lee over at Right Thinking:

You know, I've seen dirty tricks in politics before, but this is quite possibly the sneakiest, lowest, most gross distortion for political gain that I have ever come across.

Hey, what would you expect? It's the bottom dwellers at MoveOn. One more reason to give ole No Wiener a call.

It's those time zone thingies, I guess

Tim Blair, because he is in Australia, already knows who won the California recall election.

Today's Hoot!

Patrick Kennedy's Brain on Guns:

The Rhode Island Rep. scolded Howard Dean for his position on the second amendment:

"This is a personal issue with me, and I'm very disturbed at the fact that people are not paying attention to Dr. Dean's record" on guns, said Kennedy, nephew of President John F. Kennedy and his brother Robert, both of whom were assassinated by guns.

Who knew that Lee Harvey and Sirhan-Sirhan were both inanimate objects?

Documenting the Slime King

The LA Weekly is not exactly a pro-Republican newspaper, but their reporter, Bill Bradley, has been all over the "October surprise" orchestrated by Slime King Davis and his flying monkeys at the LA Times. I mentioned his article "Connecting the dots" previously. Now there is The Davis Touch:

The Times maintains that none of the women came forward at the behest of Schwarzenegger’s opponents. That claim, however, is looking increasingly dubious. One of the three women in the story says she came forward at the urging of Jodie Evans, described by the Times as a peace activist and "co-founder of the women’s peace group Code Pink." At best, this is an incomplete, misleading description.

Here’s what the newspaper should have said about Evans. She is actually a former close colleague of Gov. Gray Davis, a longtime Democratic operative and a friend of noted Democratic hit man Bob Mulholland. Evans is also the ex-wife of Westside financier Max Palevsky, the man who gave Gray Davis his first job in politics as the fund-raiser in Tom Bradley’s 1973 mayoral campaign.
...
As most Californians know by now, Davis is the champion of negative campaigning and has nearly perfected the strategy of last-minute allegations breaking in the final days of the campaign.

It's all one big happy family! It's also nice to know that the Code Pink Saddamites are an auxiliary of the Democrat party.

And then there's The Times Leaks on Arnold:

Senior Democratic strategists knew the particulars of last Thursday’s L.A. Times exposé on Arnold Schwarzenegger well in advance of the story’s publication, the Weekly has learned from well-informed sources. This knowledge came not only in advance of publication but also before anyone outside a close circle at the Times knew of the story’s timing and particulars.
...
I had been very impressed with the alacrity with which Davis and the Democrats seized on the Times story and swiftly pivoted into all-out attack mode. A flurry of press statements and highly coordinated events and advertising involving politicians across the state and in Washington, D.C., ensued. It was remarkably efficient. But if you know what is coming in the news flow and when it is coming, it is much easier to design the close of your campaign.

I'm shocked, I tell ya!

But there's some good news in New Sheriff in Town?

Meanwhile, Davis is making preparations for his defeat, calling for an extraordinary session of his seldom-convened Cabinet for the afternoon after the election and making plans for the shredding of documents.

Full CYA mode alert!

Keeping up with Kim Dynasty news

Kim Jong-Il's Wife in Critical Condition:

The wife of North Korean leader Kim Jong-il suffered head injuries in a car accident last month and is in critical condition, a Japanese daily reported Tuesday.

Over at Free Republic where a poster speaks Korean, the story is that her driver drove off before she was fully in the car. Can you say "revised career path"?

The Sankei Shimbun quoted a "Korean Peninsula source" for its report about 50-year-old Ko Yong-hi, but had no other details.

The paper, known for its tough stance toward North Korea, said Pyongyang had recently been trying to raise Ko's profile, leading to speculation that one of her two sons may be picked as Kim's successor.

Kim has had other wives, and children with them.

Little is known about Ko other than that she was born in Japan to ethnic Koreans and moved to North Korea in the early 1960s.

She is said to have been a member of a dancing and singing troupe in Pyongyang.

Hmm, sounds like one of the "Pleasure Group".

Media reports in Japan have said Ko has recently been referred to as "the beloved mother," lending weight to reports that one of her two sons is in line to succeed Kim.

North Korea watchers have said the favored son appears to be Swiss-educated Kim Jong-chul, who is in his early 20s.

Another of Kim's sons by a different wife had been seen as heir apparent, but his chances are thought to have waned after he was caught trying to sneak into Japan more than two years ago using a fake Dominican Republic passport

Media reports said Kim Jong-nam had been planning to visit Tokyo's Disneyland.

Ain't royalty grand?

Call (718) 832-6459 and ask for Asshat

They'll know who you mean.

"Children are our future" ... and it's damn scary!

The Mankato Free Press relates the tale of last Saturday night's riot.

“The scariest part of the whole thing was that no one seemed to care,” Medcalf said. “Students weren’t scared, they weren’t angry, they weren’t upset. They just did it to do it.”

Boothe said many students thought that because they outnumbered police, they could do whatever they wanted.
...
MSU student Laura Kleckner said she saw students roasting marshmallows over the burning car. The owner of the car hadn’t been identified by police Sunday. [ed. note: The owner was not in the car during the marshmallow roast.]

“It was so exciting, everyone was cheering,” Kleckner said. “I might have been cheering, too. But it is kind of sad that there were people getting hurt.”

“Yeah, but it was still really exciting,” said senior Christy Nelson. “We can say that we survived the riots of 2003.”

Hmm, Laura and Christy clearly have limited career opportunities in rocket science. But they're trumped by this next goof:

MSU junior John Peterson was walking through the crowd at about 1 a.m. when he got hit in the face with a fence post. The large wooden post scraped his face, causing him to bleed. Still, Peterson stayed to watch the riot until after 3 a.m.

“I don’t know, I just had to watch,” Peterson said.

Indeed.

They really are weasels!

Convicted cop killer Mumia is now an honorary citizen of Paris:

The city of Paris made an honorary citizen of celebrated US death row inmate and black activist Mumia Abu-Jamal, sentenced to die for the 1981 murder of a white Philadelphia policeman.

It is the first time Paris has bestowed the honor since Pablo Picasso was made honorary citizen in 1971, Socialist mayor of Paris Bertrand Delanoe told an audience of 200 people, taking the occasion to attack the "barbarity" of the death penalty.
...
In attacking the "barbarity called the death penalty," the mayor said "as long as there is a place on this planet where one can be killed in the name of the community, we haven't finished our work."

Raising his fist in a sign of solidarity, Delanoe then shouted "Mumia is a Parisian!" as the crowd of mostly-leftist activists cheered and applauded.

Who knew? But I'm not surprised.

And look who else showed up - Angela Davis!

Black activist Angela Davis, a former member of the Black Panthers and the Communist Party, hailed the "profound sense of humanity" of Abu-Jamal, attacking American "unilateralism" and racist attacks against immigrants.

The movement to free Abu-Jamal "takes on a new sense in face of American unilateralism, the aggression against the Iraqi people and the racist attacks against immigrants which can only further gnaw away at the vestiges of democracy in the United States," Davis, a professor at the University of California in Santa Cruz, said.

Still singing that same old tune.

But the best part is at the end:

French school children are required to study the case as part of their education.

Check out the photo of Bertie and Angie. Clip and save in case you ever need an emetic.

A quick laugh before someone tells her!

Babs says Vote No on Recall:

Regardless of what you think about Grey Davis ...

The rest is in her best dumb but earnest high school girl style.

Cubs winners after 95 years

There's bad news ....

Patrol car hit by flying outhouse

A state trooper has survived The Attack of the Flying Toilet.

It sounds like a really bad science-fiction movie from the 1950s, but an airborne outhouse wreaked havoc on a State Patrol car on I-90 near La Crosse on Sunday night, the patrol reported Friday.

Trooper Rich Vanko wasn't hurt, said his supervisor, Sgt. Bruce Holsclaw.
...
Vanko had stopped to help a stranded motorist change a flat tire and was standing at the side of the road when a truck passed by and "all of a sudden, something hit his car," Holsclaw said.

At first, Vanko thought the truck had struck the patrol car, Holsclaw said. But it soon became apparent that the truck was carrying a shipment of portable toilets, and that one had fallen off.

The toilet shattered the flashing lights atop Vanko's patrol car and dented a fender, causing more than $1,000 in damage, Holsclaw said. Then the toilet bounced back into the highway, where it was hit by another truck and smashed to pieces.

and there's good news

Vanko was also lucky that the toilet was empty at the time, Holsclaw noted.

Trouble in Eurotopia Alert!

Spain and Poland block new EU deal. But now they are hearing their master's voice:

Spain and Poland want to retain a system that gives them nearly equal weight with larger countries including France and Britain. Their demand, at a summit of 28 present and future EU members in Rome, came despite hints that countries blocking progress on the constitution might suffer when it came to handing out EU funds.

And speaking of the Euroweenies, I haven't mentioned much about the recent Eurostat and Committee of the Regions scandals, but if you think unelected bureaucrats feathering their plush nests, you've got the idea. And in related news, we were relieved to hear that Euro MP's are finally getting adequate remuneration:

With business-class air fares paid and an all-day limousine service on tap, Euro MPs had only to pay for the taxi home after dining out in Brussels’ vaunted restaurants. Now they have eliminated even that small cost.

Blithely ignoring charges of “moral corruption”, MEPs have voted to give themselves an allowance of up to €50 (£34) a week to cover the cost of getting back to their Brussels pads after the free limousine service ends at 10pm.

I guess you have to pay big bucks for superstars.

No worries about a rocket scientist shortage!

(Via The Corner) Jonathan Foreman on Sex, Lies & Hidden Agendas:

One of the comic ironies of the recall campaign is the way everyone decries the "media circus" while doing their best to create one.

And that while doing so they can be less than honest about their real agenda.

You could see this at yesterday's "Arnold is a Rapist" press conference.

It wasn't actually called that, but at times it felt like it should have been, even though the two organizations behind it - Codepink Women for Peace and MoveOn.Org - seem more concerned with stopping a Republican takeover of California than Arnold Schwarzenegger's alleged predilection for unwanted sexual advances.

MoveOn doesn't always want to "just move on"? Who knew?

One of the Pinkies 'splains it:

... the most honest thing I heard came from film producer and Codepink activist Patricia Foulkrod.

She admitted that Bill Clinton's sexual peccadilloes were as inexcusable as Arnold's.

"The difference is that Clinton was so brilliant," she said.

"If Arnold was a brilliant pol and had this thing about inappropriate behavior, we'd figure a way of getting around it. I think it's to our detriment to go on too much about the groping. But it's our way in. This is really about the GOP trying to take California in 2004 and our trying to stop it."

Has Patty been sucking down the Kool Aid or what?