Year: 2011

Wisconsin Senate Seat Open for 2012 as Democrat Kohl Announces Retirement

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This is very bad news for Democrats:

U.S. Sen. Herb Kohl said he would not seek re-election next fall, believing it’s better to “leave a job a little too early than a little too late.”
Kohl, 76, said it is time to give someone else the opportunity to serve in the seat he has held since winning election in 1988. . . .
Dems had been confident Kohl would seek another term, particularly after he transferred $1 million of his own money into his campaign account at the end of 2010. But he said he came to the conclusion as he thought about it over the past few weeks.

(Hat-tip: Ann Althouse at Instapundit.) The odds against Harry Reid maintaining a Democrat majority in the Senate were already pretty long. “Democrats are defending 21 Senate seats next year, compared to 10 for Republicans,” explains Michael O’Brien at The Hill. A lot of first-term Democrats, elected in the GOP’s annus horriblis of 2006, are up for re-election in Republican-leaning “red” states.

Wisconsin is merely a purple state, despite major GOP gains in last year’s mid-terms, so Kohl had a good shot at re-election in 2012, keeping the seat under Democrat control. Now? Not so much:

Another Democrat has decided to retire from the Senate rather than face re-election, and this one will hurt. . . . Not only does [Kohl’s retirement] force Democrats to field a new candidate in Wisconsin, a state that turned Republican in 2010, it means that they lose someone with the potential to be a self-funder as well . . .

The fight earlier this year over Scott Walker’s government union bill “drained union coffers at a particularly tough moment in Wisconsin politics,” Ed Morrissey adds. The National Republican Senatorial Committee is chuckling over the latest woes of the Democrats’ 2012 effort, led by Sen. Patty Murray, who had only recently said there would be no more 2012 retirements.

Wisconsin’s Steve Eggleston has a run-down on the potential candidates to replace Kohl.

UPDATE: The seat just shifted from “Safe Democrat” to “Lean Democrat.” Also, gay activists are pushing lesbian Democratic Rep. Tammy Baldwin to run for Kohl’s seat, which would increase the likelihood of a bitterly contested Democrat primary. More at Memeorandum.

Celebrity Herpes or Hollywood Hoax?

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The amazing stuff you can learn by reading Wombat’s daily “Live at Five” headline round-up: A well-known “A-list” celebrity has reportedly been sued by a plaintiff who claims that the celebrity “swore he was STD free” prior to their hook-up in Las Vegas, which included unprotected sexual intercourse.

Now the plaintiff has herpes and is suing the star for $20 million, in a complaint that reads like a cheap novel:

JOHN DOE, an A-list celebrity of substantial fame intentionally wielded his influence, money and notoriety to attract his prey. In flaunting his power, fame and money, Defendant lured the unsuspecting Plaintiff into his sprawling Las Vegas Penthouse for an evening of prolonged sex and illicit drug use.

The plaintiff’s attorney says — wouldn’t you know it? — there’s a sex video of the couple’s Vegas tryst, and there is reportedly a $1 million offer for the video.

As tantalizing as that may seem, the really sleazy part is this: The lawsuit does not name the celebrity.

Nor does the complaint specify whether the plaintiff is male or female. So that, assuming the alleged “evening of prolonged sex and illicit drug use” actually took place, this lawsuit is nothing but straight-up blackmail: Fork over the cash, Mr. A-List Celebrity, or else we’ll name names.

And maybe also release the sex video.

There is, however, a very good reason to suspect that this is a hoax, a clue which the folks at TMZ apparenty failed to notice. Continue reading Celebrity Herpes or Hollywood Hoax? →

Obama Lies About Unemployment

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Just flat-out makes up “facts” during a town-hall meeting on the economy in D.C. hosted by CBS News:

“The reason the unemployment rate is still as high as it is, in part, is because there have been huge layoffs of government workers at the federal level, at the state level, at the local level . . . Teachers, police officers, firefighters, social workers– they have really taken it in the chin over the last several months. And so, what we’re trying to do is to see if we can stabilize the budget.”

Jim Geragthy fisks this absurd claim:

All figures come from the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics:
Recent peak of private-sector employment, June 2007: 116,603,000.
Total private-sector employment in the month Obama became president, January 2009: 109,084,000.
Recent low of private-sector employment, January 2010: 104,933,000.
Total private-sector employment, April 2011: 108,494,000

Private-sector employment is 8.1 million jobs below its 2007 peak, and 590,000 below where it was when Obama took office. Meanwhile, Geraghty provides BLS numbers on government employment:

June 2007: 22,176,000.
January 2009: 22,471,000.
January 2010: 22,376,000.
April 2011: 22,594,000

No “huge layoffs.” Obama just made that up. And it’s a lie.

Via Memeorandum, with further commentary by The Lonely Conservative, Sister Toldjah, Gateway Pundit and Bryan Preston at PJ Tatler.

Kiss and Tell at the Revolving Door

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When Joe Biden’s press secretary, former Time magazine reporter Jay Carney, was promoted to White House press secretary, Washington Post reporter Shailagh Murray was hired as Carney’s replacement. Now, New York magazine reports:

Murray was not the first journalist considered to handle Biden’s press. Both CBS News White House correspondent Chip Reid and Slate’s chief political correspondent John Dickerson were possible candidates before Murray was tapped. (Before he got into journalism, Reid served as an adviser to Biden on the Senate Judiciary Committee; before Slate, Dickerson worked alongside Carney at Time.) Both now say they turned the invitations down.

Really? Reporters are now publicly bragging about being offered government jobs they turned down?

LIVE AT FIVE – 05.13.11

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TOP NEWS
Pakistan Army Chief Alleged To Resist US Demands

Pakistani CinC, General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani - hunkering down

More proof that Pakistan isn’t a country with its own army, it’s an army with a country attached

Suicide Bombers Kill 70 Outside Pakistani Paramilitary Base
Recruits for Frontier Constabulary targeted

Levee Inspectors Hunt For Stealthy Leaks Along Mississippi
Inspectors keeping a wary eye out for seepage, barges, and idiots, not necessarily in that order

Tripoli Hit By Airstrikes Overnight (Video)
Also, leader of rebel coalition meets with British PM David Cameron



POLITICS
Ensign May Face Renewed DOJ Probe After Senate Report

Former Senator John Ensign

Violations of FEC regulations, lobbying laws alleged; no comment from DOJ or FEC, which had previously dropped probes

Romney Unrepentant

Early Iron Bowl For Tornado Relief?

House Approves Bill To Accelerate Offshore Drilling

States Move To End TSA Groping

White House Reveals Cybersecurity Plan

Obama Seeks Extension For FBI Director Mueller

Oil Executives Defend Tax Breaks

IRS Moves To Tax Gifts To Political Groups



THE ECONOMY, STUPID
Mississippi Flooding Threatens Louisiana Gas & Oil Production
Facebook-Google Rivalry Intensifies After Facebook’s PR Gaffe
Stocks Finish Higher As Commodities Rise On Weak Dollar
LimeWire Settles With Record Labels
Asian Stocks, Oil Decline On PRC Tightening
SEC’s Revolving Door To Wall Street Draws Fresh Scrutiny
Google Chromebooks Seek Enterprise Blessing
Microsoft, Phone Makers Join Amazon In Fight To Repeal Apple’s EU Patent On “App Store”



SPORTS
It’s Heat Versus Bulls In East Final, Starting Sunday

The Bulls' Luoi Deng drives past the Hawks' Al Horford in the first period

Bulls finish off Hawks 93-73, prepare to receive Heat

Sharks Avoid Choking, Finish Off Red Wings 3-2

Hosmer Homers Again As Royals Thump Yankees 11-5

Beltran Goes Yard Thrice To Lift Mets Over Rockies

Braves Rally To Beat Nationals In 10th, Avoid Sweep



FAMOUS FOR BEING FAMOUS
It’s Kutcher In For Sheen On “Two And A Half Men”

Not Charlie Sheen

“Sources” “confirm” deal; Kutcher neither confirms nor denies.

Matthew Perry Returning To Rehab

DiCaprio, Rafaeli Split

Lady Gaga’s Heels NSFW Or For “American Idol” Either, Apparently

Panettiere, Klitschko End Romance
Now free to sleep with people their own size

Marlee Matlin Paying $50K In Back Taxes

Celebrity Herpes Lawsuit Triggers Sex Tape Frenzy

NBC Rejects “Wonder Woman” Reboot

Mary Tyler Moore Set For Brain Surgery



FOREIGNERS
Death Camp Guard Demjanjuk Released After Being Found Guilty
Qatar Quits Gulf Plan For Yemen, Cites Delays
Muslim Brotherhood Leader Pursues Egypt’s Presidency
EU Moves To Scrap Schengen, Return To Border Controls
West Bengal’s Communist Government Behind In Polls, Likely To Fall
Indian PM Singh To Visit Afghanistan Amid Regional Uncertainty
Russia’s Medvedev Takes Aim At New Putin Movement



BLOGS & STUFF
Gateway Pundit: Osama Told Al-Qaeda Not To Bother Assassinating Joe Biden
Confederate Yankee: Professional Idiot Ron Paul Would Not Have Authorized Bin Laden Mission
NRO’s Critical Condition: Mitt Romney’s Illogical, Terrible Health-Care Address
Sister Toldjah: President Obama’s Big Government Philosophy Explained – By President Obama
AmSpecBlog: McCain Against “Interrogation Methods I Believe Are Torture”
Da Tech Guy: CBS & AP vs. Bloggers
Don Surber: Obamanomics

— compiled by Wombat-socho

CSI: Sonoma, California

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Supply your own punchline:

Blind man confused over ‘mystery enema’
Veteran police officers have been left dumfounded after a partially-sighted man claimed a woman entered his apartment, gave him an enema, and promptly left.
.The 53-year-old Californian man answered the door to a woman who claimed she was there to give him an enema.
As the man had recently undergone intestinal surgery, he assumed the visit was part of his rehabilitation and allowed the woman into his home to perform the procedure.
The woman took him into the bedroom, had him drop his trousers and lie face down on his bed, before performing the enema in less than two minutes.
A day later, the man began wondering about his experience and contacted the Sonoma Police Department to report the incident.
The investigating officer contacted the man’s doctor and was told that an enema had not been prescribed, ordered or approved.
Due to the condition of the man’s eyesight, he was unable to offer police a description of the mystery woman and she left no clues of her identity at the scene.
Sonoma police have now turned the case over to the domestic and sexual assault unit of the Sonoma Sheriff’s Office, who have yet to make sense of the incident.

(Via Allahpundit on Twitter.)

Another Bad Liberal Idea That Failed

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“Seven years of college down the drain. Might as well join the f–ing Peace Corps.”
— Joseph “Bluto” Blutarsky, upon learning he and the other members of Delta Tau Chi are being expelled from Faber College, in Animal House (1978)

The Peace Corps was created by President John F. Kennedy as a haven for draft-dodgers and also to provide a government job for his useless brother-in-law, Sargent Shriver, who was the agency’s first director. To give you an idea of what kind of losers got involved: Jimmy Carter’s mother was once a Peace Corps volunteer. It’s a complete waste of time and money, which explains why during the 2008 presidential campaign, Barack Obama promised to double the size of the Peace Corps.

It has since been learned that hundreds of women were raped during their Peace Corps service and yesterday on C-SPAN I watched the victims testify to the House Foreign Affairs Committee:

The women’s harrowing experiences in developing countries arose in different circumstances at different times. But the witnesses’ themes were the same: They said the Peace Corps did little to train its workers and volunteers in strategies to avoid or deal with violent attacks. And in the aftermath, they said, the message from top officials was clear: The victim was to blame.
“Apologies without action are useless,” said Carol Marie Clark of North Carolina, who accepted a posting in Nepal shortly after graduating from Wake Forest University in 1984, only to be told by her local program director that female volunteers would have to have sex with him to receive their living expenses. Three months later, he raped her and got her pregnant, she testified. . . .
Jessica Smochek joined the Peace Corps in 2004 as a volunteer in Bangladesh, where she was gang raped by local men after months of harassment, she testified. When she returned to Washington to debrief with Peace Corps staff about what happened to her, “Rather than feeling safe and supported, I felt belittled and blamed,” she said. The country director in Bangladesh told other volunteers about her rape and blamed Smochek for being out alone after 5 p.m., she said. . . .
From 2000 to 2009, more than 1,000 volunteers reported sexual assaults, including 221 rapes or attempted rapes, according to agency statistics.

In the immortal words of JFK: “Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what your country can do to your daughter.”

Rick at Wizbang wonders when “Slutwalk” will target the Peace Corps.

UPDATE: Former Peace Corps volunteer Wendy Lee gets violent urges when people question the efficacy of the program. From her blog “about” page:

After graduating from Saint Louis University in 2008, I abandoned Corporate America in search for a different kind of life – one without running water, but with the Internet. In that very different life, I found myself fostering culture exchange among Cameroonian, Chinese, French and the American people. Two incredible, and dare I pull the cliché – life changing – years later, I am pursuing graduate degree in Master of Public Administration. I have the fortune to study international development at the London School of Economics and Political Science, and will complete my degree in New York at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs, where I will focus on international finance policy.

Yeah, she “abandoned Corporate America in search for a different kind of life” before going to grad school at the LSE and Columbia. Beats working for a living, I suppose . . .