The Other McCain

"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up." — Arthur Koestler

Republican Media Slut Tells All

Posted on | June 28, 2011 | 28 Comments

When I was covering the 2006 GOP primary campaign for Georgia lieutenant governor, I was dumbfounded by the decision of Ralph Reed to hire Lisa Baron as his press secretary. Baron had a notoriously bad reputation among Republican operatives, and why Reed would hire her — in a state where social conservatives dominated the GOP primary — was a mystery that no one ever satisfactorily explained.

So it was perhaps not too surprising when an audio excerpt of Baron’s new tell-all book was released by Vanity Fair and, as Betsy Rothstein writes, Baron describes “giving former President Bush Press Secretary Ari Fleischer a blow job.”

If nothing else, this helps explain how so many incompetent nitwits get hired to do media for Republican campaigns.

UPDATE: Welcome, AOSHQ Morons!


Category: Republicans, Scandal, Sex

VIDEO: Violent Riots Break Out in Athens as Greek Parliament Faces Key Debt Vote

Posted on | June 28, 2011 | 6 Comments

Here is raw video of today’s riots in Athens:

Greece has no alternative to passing the austerity plan if it wishes to prevent default on its debt, Reuters reports:

Anti-austerity protests turned violent in Athens on Tuesday as the European Union warned Greek lawmakers the country faces immediate default unless they back an unpopular economic plan this week.
Hooded youths throwing stones and wielding sticks set fire to garbage bins and a telecoms truck outside parliament and riot police fired teargas to disperse them. Trade unions began a 48-hour strike against the EU/IMF-imposed measures. . . .
The EU’s top economic official, Olli Rehn, stressed that any further assistance for the debt-crippled nation hinged on parliament adopting a raft of spending cuts, tax rises and privatisations in crucial votes on Wednesday and Thursday.
“The only way to avoid immediate default is for parliament to endorse the revised economic programme … They must be approved if the next tranche of financial assistance is to be released,” he said in a statement.
“To those who speculate about other options, let me say this clearly: there is no Plan B to avoid default,” Rehn said, dismissing widespread reports that Brussels was working on a fallback plan to keep Greece afloat.

There is no evidence Americans are paying much attention to the critical situation in Greece, but — “unexpectedly”!  — U.S. consumer confidence has hit a seven-month low.

PREVIOUSLY:


Category: Economics, Europe, Greece

Did Obama’s Campaign Manager Help Spin Repeal of ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’?

Posted on | June 28, 2011 | 9 Comments

A friend tipped me to a news story by Fresno’s KMJ-AM:

Survey Skewed To Repeal Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell

Based on a 30-page report prepared by the Pentagon inspector general, the story points out that President Obama’s 2012 campaign director (and former White House deputy chief of staff) Jim Messina was identified as one of five administration officials at a key Nov. 9 meeting where they were briefed on a confidential task force study on the DADT policy. Contents of the study were apparently leaked to the Washington Post the next day. As I report at The American Spectator:

The Pentagon inspector general’s report concluded that “the source carefully disclosed specific survey data [to reporters] to support a pro-repeal agenda,” and added: “We consider it likely that primary source disclosed content from the draft [CRWG] Report prior to its release to gain momentum in support of a legislative change during the ‘lame duck’ session of Congress following the November 2, 2010, elections.”
Congress, still under Democrat control during the lame-duck session, approved the repeal legislation which Obama signed into law Dec. 22. The Pentagon IG’s report on the leak, prepared in April, was recently obtained by the Center for Military Readiness (CMR), which opposed repeal of the DADT policy that had been implemented by President Clinton in 1993.
The IG report shows that the Pentagon study “was a publicly-funded, pre-scripted production put on just for show,” Elaine Donnelly of the CMR said in a statement, adding: “The purpose of the contrived CRWG process was to neutralize military opposition to repeal of the law by manufacturing an illusion of support. The administration misused military personnel, resources, and facilities to help President Obama to deliver on political promises to gay activists at the expense of unknowing troops who became props in the pro-repeal campaign.”
Frank Gaffney of the conservative Center for Security Policy, called the inspector general’s report a “smoking gun” explaining how Democrats pushed through DADT repeal during the lame-duck session “with scarcely any hearings and extremely limited opportunity for debate.” . . .

Read the whole thing.

Category: Barack Obama, Election 2012, Gays, Military

Other People’s Children

Posted on | June 28, 2011 | 36 Comments

One of the easiest things in the world to do is to tell other people how to raise their children. This is especially easy if you have no children of your own.

Looking for blog-fodder at Google News, I saw an interesting headline under the “Spotlight” feature:

How to Talk to Little Girls
I went to a dinner party at a friend’s home last weekend, and met her five-year-old daughter for the first time.
Little Maya was all curly brown hair, doe-like dark eyes, and adorable in her shiny pink nightgown. I wanted to squeal, “Maya, you’re so cute! Look at you! Turn around and model that pretty ruffled gown, you gorgeous thing!”
But I didn’t. I squelched myself. As I always bite my tongue when I meet little girls, restraining myself from my first impulse, which is to tell them how darn cute/ pretty/ beautiful/ well-dressed/ well-manicured/ well-coiffed they are. . . .

The author then goes on to claim — without any actual evidence — that praising girls for being pretty somehow undermines their other qualities. You can read the whole thing.

Whenever I read something completely crazy like that, my first impulse is to ask, “Who’s writing this crap?” And so I checked the author’s bio:

Lisa Bloom, author of Think: Straight Talk for Women to Stay Smart in a Dumbed Down World, is an award-winning journalist, legal analyst, trial attorney, and the daughter of renowned women’s rights attorney, Gloria Allred. . . .

Oh. 

Whatever Bloom’s qualifications, she’s not a mom, and shouldn’t be telling other people how to raise their children.

Category: Family

LIVE AT FIVE – 06.28.11

Posted on | June 28, 2011 | 8 Comments

TOP NEWS
Feds Hope Bulger Family Feeling Charitable Towards Whitey

Undated FBI photo of James "Whitey" Bulger

Feds hitting up powerful relatives of accused murderer to keep taxpayers from footing his defense tab
Related: Whitey Sings For the G-Men


Brown, Democrats Reach Budget Deal Without Taxes, Republicans
GOP State Senator Bob Huff: “That’s nearly $11 billion in new revenue that the Democrats assume will magically appear.”

Hague Court Issues War Crimes Warrant For Qadhafi
Son Saif, chief of intelligence also named



POLITICS
Michele Bachmann Makes It Official

Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-MN

Support in New Hampshire running high since bravura debate performance

White House: “Significant ” Deal On Debt Possible

Prosecution, Defense Face Off In Katrina Police Brutality Case


US Expands Human Trafficking Blacklist

Waiting For Rick Perry: Nevada Presidential Candidate Debate Postponed

Supremes Strike Down Arizona Campaign Finance Law; Similar Laws In Connecticut, Maine

Code Pink Democrat Lynn Woolsey To Retire In 2012



THE ECONOMY, STUPID
Gold, Silver Higher As Commodities Rebound
Sarkozy Strikes Deal With French Banks To Restructure Greek Debt
New Rules On Assets Help Bank Stocks
Nike 4Q Net Up 14% As Sales Surge In PRC, North America
Tokyo Stocks Close Lower As Weaker Euro, Greece Vote, Tankan Eyed
Regulator Says ETFs Hold Hidden Risks For Investors
Microsoft Launches Rival To Google Apps
Supremes Strike Down California Ban On Violent Video Games
Bus-Sized Asteroid Barely Misses Earth
As Mozilla Disses Enterprise IT, Google Steps Into The Breach With Chrome



SPORTS
Dodgers File For Bankruptcy

Soon-to-be-former Dodgers owner Frank McCourt

McCourt blames Selig for bankruptcy, citing commissioner’s refusal to approve Fox TV deal

Wolfpack Hoops Legend Lorenzo Charles Dies In Auto Crash



Cocks Win Game 1 Of College World Series On Two Errors In 11th Inning

Twins Pitchers Lit Up For 25 Hits In 15-0 Rout By Dodgers

Freeman Spoils Bedard’s Gem, Leads Braves To Win Over M’s

Ludwick Hits 2-Run Dinger, Padres Beat Royals 3-2

Leyland’s Ejection Sparks Tigers To Victory Against Blue Jays

Hulsizer Drops Bid To Buy NHL’s Phoenix Coyotes

Angels Edge Nats 4-3 In 10 Innings



FAMOUS FOR BEING FAMOUS
Charlie Sheen Inks Deal For New Sitcom

Gains sitcom, loses goddess

Signs with Lionsgate; bidding war underway for broadcast rights

Anne Hathaway’s New World: The Harper’s Bazaar Interview

Wills & Kate Feel The Love At Wimbledon

Ben Affleck Picks Himself For “Argo” Lead



For Thalia & Tommy Mottola, It’s A Boy!

Blow-Up: An Oral History Of Michael Bay

Chris Brown & Rihanna In BET Awards Screwup

Elaine Stewart, Glamorous Star Of “Brigadoon”, Dies At 81



FOREIGNERS
Syria Uprising Opens Door: Opposition Meets Openly In Damascus
IDF Has Intel That Gaza Flotilla Activists Plan To Kill Israeli Boarders
PRC Premier Arrives In Germany
Think Tank: South China Sea Disputes Could Trigger Asian War
FAO’s New Chief Defends Biofuels
Moscow Military Court Sentences Renegade Intel Officer Poteyev To 25 Years In Absentia For Treason; Exposed Sleeper Agents In US Including Anna Chapman



BLOGS & STUFF
Troglopundit: Are You Sure She Had The Wrong John Wayne?
Jim Geraghty: The Political Use Of The White House “Just Got More Interesting”
PJ Tatler: Brilliant, Steely President Weighs In On Debt Talk
AmSpecBlog: Marriage Realities, Political And Cultural
NRO Corner: NYT Clarifies The Stakes In The Gay Marriage Debate
Legal Insurrection: Wisconsin Will Be Losing A Supreme Court Justice, We Just Don’t Know Which One Yet
Weasel Zippers: Sweet! Texas Votes To Defund Planned Parenthood
Lonely Conservative: North Korea “A Nation Of Starving, Impoverished Serfs”
Israel Matzav: Who Is Trying To Kill Whom?
Jed Babbin: Pinch Happened


— compiled by Wombat-socho

Category: Live at Five

Arrest of British LulzSec Hacker Renews Questions About Barrett Brown’s Activity

Posted on | June 27, 2011 | 12 Comments

The arrest of a 19-year-old British hacker in connection with criminal “denial of service” attacks by the group known as “LulzSec” has raised new questions about the activities of Barrett Brown, the former self-appointed spokesman for the “Anonymous” hacker collective. The New York Times reports:

LONDON — As suspects go, Ryan Cleary did not look dangerous: a pale 19-year-old who looked five years younger, wearing a white skateboarding T-shirt and track pants, standing nervously in a courtroom here on Thursday.
But charges by the British police link Mr. Cleary to a hacking group called Lulz Security, or LulzSec, which has been on an Internet crime spree in recent weeks, attacking Web sites and computer networks including those of the United States Senate, the Central Intelligence Agency and Sony. . . .
Though it is not clear how much notoriety he deserves, Mr. Cleary’s arrest has made him a focus of the public fascination with a wave of computer hacking cases, carried out by amorphous online collectives.
The police say Mr. Cleary is guilty of illegally using a computer to perform denial of service attacks — bombarding Web sites with so many automated messages that they shut down. . . .
LulzSec, experts say, is a splinter group from Anonymous, another online hacking collective. Anonymous is best known for its attacks last year in support of WikiLeaks, led by Julian Assange. The group went after the Web sites of companies like MasterCard and PayPal, which had refused to process donations to WikiLeaks after it disclosed confidential diplomatic cables.
Earlier this year, said Barrett Brown, a former Anonymous activist, “some of the most prominent leaders and hackers broke off and are now LulzSec.”

In February, when Brown emerged as a public spokesman for Anonymous, I asked: “Is the FBI Watching Barrett Brown? (And If They’re Not Already, Shouldn’t They?)”

Brown recently claimed to have exposed a “Huge US-led spy operation on Arab world.” Brown’s knowledge of that alleged operation, dubbed “Romas/COIN,” is based on some 70,000 e-mails which hackers stole from a contractor, HBGary Federal.

Twitter messages sent last month by Brown appear to indicate he had advance knowledge of LulzSec’s hacking of the PBS Web site:

LulzSec, a hacker group, has claimed credit for cracking PBS’s website and leaking its login credentials after an episode of its Frontline show–titled “WikiSecrets”–that put a critical spotlight on WikiLeaks and the suspected source of its troves of classified documents, Bradley Manning.

If Brown is now involved in LulzSec, a group whose activities have led to criminal prosecution in England, there would obviously be even more law-enforcement scrutiny of Brown’s activities — especially if, as he claims, his use of stolen e-mails has exposed U.S. intelligence secrets.

Given Brown’s penchant for boastful self-dramatization, it’s hard to tell whether he is exaggerating his role in these criminal hacker conspiracies. But people communicating with Brown should be aware that their communications may be subject to surveillance by federal law enforcement agencies.

UPDATE: Lawyers for the arrested British hacker Ryan Cleary say their client “has cooperated with police and will continue to do so.”

UPDATE II: The Guardian examined logs of LulzSec’s chatroom.

Category: Barrett Brown

Happy Anniversary, ‘Recovery Summer’

Posted on | June 27, 2011 | 7 Comments

Category: Barack Obama, Economics, Video

BREAKING: Blagojevich Convicted

Posted on | June 27, 2011 | 29 Comments

Rod Blagojevich, the former Democratic governor of Illinois, has been convicted of several counts in his corruption and bribery trial in Chicago.

UPDATE: Blagojevich was found guilty on 17 counts, the Chicago Sun-Times reports.

UPDATE II: The Chicago Tribune reports:

Blogojevich showed no reaction as the jury found him guilty on 17 of 20 counts against him. . . .
Blagojevich was arrested in December 2008, after the FBI had wiretapped hundreds of his telephone calls at work and home. The Illinois Legislature impeached him a month later.

UPDATE III: Chris Bury of ABC News reports:

For seven days, Blagojevich took the stand in an attempt to counter hundreds of FBI wiretaps that, prosecutors argued, demonstrated his maneuvering to peddle the vacated Senate seat of the newly elected Barack Obama. In perhaps the most infamous recording, the then governor is heard saying, “I’ve got this thing and it’s f—— golden. And I, I’m just not giving it up for f—— nothing.”
Other wiretaps recorded Blagojevich musing aloud about possible senior jobs in the new administration he might get should he appoint Obama confidante Valerie Jarrett. “How about Health and Human Services, can I get that?” “How about U.N. Ambassador?”
Jurors also heard recordings that, prosecutors said, showed Blagojevich scheming to sell the Senate Seat to allies of U.S. Representative Jesse Jackson Jr. in exchange for more than $1 million in campaign contributions. Jackson has insisted he had no knowledge of any “unauthorized” efforts on his behalf.

UPDATE IV: Linked at The Lonely Conservative — thanks! — and there’s now a Memeorandum thread.

Category: Chicago, Corruption, Crime, Democrats, Illinois
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