Missing Grease Located

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by Smitty

The USNA Class of ’13 may have been a bit dismayed today to discover that, not unlike the American electorate, they got the obelisk without the grease.


Yay, Metrosexuals!

Your class is weak.

It would be a gross breach of protocol not to heap abuse upon these lesser beings for their shortcomings, as expressed by the lack of confidence in them by the USNA Superintendent. Maybe if they had had a Real Plebe Year, there would be less coddling at the climax.

Yet the question remains: where did all that lard go?

Now It Can Be Told

Busloads of police-escorted grease were rumored to have been delivered to the Sestak residence in time for the greased pig immitation on the talking head shows.
That grease arrived in time to lubricate arguably the most famous graduate of the Class of ’74, who was scheduled for an appearance on Press the Meat. The interrogation would be rough, the questions abstract, the meanings of the words imprecise, but, drag coefficient significantly lowered, Sestak was ready to wiggle like a worm in compost:

MR. GREGORY: Yes or no, straightforward question. Were you, were you offered a job, and what was the job?
REP. SESTAK: I was offered a job, and I answered that.
MR. GREGORY: You said no, you wouldn’t take the job. Was it the secretary of the Navy?
REP. SESTAK: Right. And I also said, “Look, I’m getting into this…
MR. GREGORY: Was it the secretary of the Navy job?
REP. SESTAK: Anything that go — goes beyond that is others — for others to talk about.

Big Journalism concludes:

This controversy has been one of the rare cases since the onset of the Obama presidency in which the mainstream media is trying to get to the bottom of the story. The problem though, is no one is asking Joe Sestak the real (and legitimate) “When Did You Stop Beating Your Wife?” question:

Congressman Sestak, if you are telling the truth about the job offer and not being forthcoming, you are covering up a possible crime. If you are not telling the truth, it is a different issue: you are lying to your constituents and to all Americans. Which is it Congressman, Pennsylvania voters need to know — are you lying, or are you covering up a crime?

Here is another variation on the theme. Before joining the other two dubious knobs in the Senate who’ve gone through the Herndon Ceremony, John McCain and James Webb, how about recalling the Honor Concept and speaking plainly, Mr. Sestak?

Are the notions of not lying, cheating or stealing among your core values, sir, or are they merely youthful notions, bereft of nuance?

Update: Clips, via American Glob

Update II: Via Insty, The Daily Caller reports that the Justice Department’s reaction is about like this:

Update III: Again via Insty, Uber Pig isn’t thrilled with Sestak, either. My personal suspicion is that Snarlin’ Arlen might be playing the Mailman card, IYKWIMAITYD. We’re all happy to see anything that discomfits Whitehouse Bob Gibbs, but it takes a goodly old supply of evil like Specter’s to drive this story past the Gerald Walpin Threshold.

Update Iv: Gateway Pundit has a Hannity clip saying that the Sestak scandal could be Eyjafjallajökull for the Administration’s flight plans.

Interior Department Employees Were Getting High and Surfing Porn on the Job

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Instead of, y’know, making sure we didn’t have an oil rig disaster:

Staff members at an agency that oversees offshore drilling accepted tickets to sports events, lunches and other gifts from oil and gas companies and used government computers to view pornography, according to an Interior Department report alleging a culture of cronyism between regulators and the industry.
In at least one case, an inspector for the Minerals Management Service admitted using crystal methamphetamine and said he might have been under the influence of the drug the next day at work, according to the report by the acting inspector general of the Interior Department.
The report cites a variety of violations of federal regulations and ethics rules at the agency’s Louisiana office. Previous inspector general investigations have focused on inappropriate behavior by the royalty-collection staff in the agency’s Denver office.

Excerpts from the official Inspector General’s report:

United States Department of the Interior
OFFICE OF INSPECTOR GENERAL
Washington, DC 20240
MAY 24 2010
Memorandum
MAY 24, 2010
To: Secretary Salazar
From: Mary L. Kendall
Acting Inspector General
Subject: Investigative Report -Island Operating Company, et. al.
With this memorandum, I am forwarding our investigative report entitled “Island Operating Company, et. al” which addresses a number of allegations that Minerals Management Service (MMS) employees at the Lake Charles District Office had accepted gifts from oil-and gas production companies.
At the outset, I want to note that all of the conduct chronicled in this report occurred prior to 2007 . . .
Unfortunately, given the events of April 20 of this year, this report had become anything but routine, and I feel compelled to release it now. We have, however, already received a preliminary response from MMS to this report.
Of greatest concern to me is the environment in which these inspectors operate ­particularly the ease with which they move between industry and government. While not included in our report, we discovered that the individuals involved in the fraternizing and gift exchange -both government and industry – have often known one another since childhood. Their relationships were formed well before they took their jobs with industry or government. . . .

APR 12. 2010
Memorandum To: S. Elizabeth Birnbaum
Director, Minerals Management Service
From: John E. Dupuy
Assistant Inspector General for Investigations
Subject: Report of Investigation -Island Operating Company et al. Case No. PI-GA-09-0102-I
. . . During our investigation, a number ofMMS employees at the Lake Charles District office admitted to attending sporting events prior to 2007 in which oil and gas production companies sponsored teams, as well as receiving lunches and accepting gifts. Through numerous interviews, we found a culture where the acceptance of gifts from oil and gas companies were widespread throughout that office . . ..
Two employees at the Lake Charles office also admitted to using illegal drugs during their employment at MMS. We found that many of the inspectors had e-mails that contained inappropriate humor and pornography on their government computers. . . .

Illegal Drug Use
In addition to providing information about the Peach Bowl trip, the confidential source claimed that an MMS inspector had used drugs, including crystal methamphetamine. The source claimed to have heard that this inspector might have used these drugs offshore on the platforms.
An MMS clerical employee told investigators that she began using cocaine and methamphetamine with an inspector when she started working at MMS approximately 2 years ago. According to the clerical employee, the inspector recently told her that he had not used crystal methamphetamine in the past 3 or 4 months. While the clerical employee said she had no knowledge of the inspector’s use of drugs while at work, she said that in the past, he had used crystal methamphetamine the night prior to coming to work at MMS. During his interview, the MMS inspector initially denied using crystal methamphetamine, but he later admitted to it. He claimed that the last time he used crystal methamphetamine was the weekend of the 2009 Super Bowl, in February. He explained that he had never possessed or used crystal methamphetamine while at work but admitted that he might have been under the influence of the drug at work after using it the day before.

Inappropriate Use of Government E-Mail
The confidential source also informed us that some of the MMS Lake Charles inspectors had pornography or other improper materials saved on their MMS computers.
Federal and department regulations prohibit the use of government office equipment for activities that are illegal, inappropriate, or offensive to coworkers or the public. This includes the use of e-mail to either send or receive sexually explicit or discriminatory material, gambling, or communications that ridicule others on the basis of race, creed, religion, color, gender, disability, age, national origin, or sexual orientation.
We reviewed the e-mail accounts of MMS employees at the Lake Charles and New Orleans offices from 2005 to 2009. We found numerous instances of pornography and other inappropriate material on the e-mail accounts of 13 employees, six of whom have resigned. We specifically discovered 314 instances where the seven remaining employees received or forwarded pornographic images and links to Internet websites containing pornographic videos to other federal employees and individuals outside of the office using their government e-mail accounts.

Your tax dollars at work! More at the New York Times (via Memeorandum).

Simmons Quits in Connecticut

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Bad news for a good guy:

Rob Simmons ended his campaign for the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate today, comparing a run against Linda McMahon’s money to the futility of Pickett’s Charge during the Civil War.
“As somebody interested in military history, it was a foolish waste of people and resources, with a tremendously demoralizing outcome,” said Simmons, a retired Army officer and Vietnam veteran.
Simmons . . . will leave his name on the Republican primary ballot, leaving no doubt that an endorsement of McMahon will not be forthcoming. . . .
McMahon, who had contributed $16 million to her campaign by May 1, is on pace to break all campaign spending records in the state by the Fourth of July. She says she has budgeted $50 million of her personal fortune in an effort to become the first Connecticut Republican to win a Senate race since Lowell P. Weicker Jr. in 1982.
Simmons, who won 46 percent of the delegate vote Friday night at the Republican State Convention, said today he had every right to wage a primary.
“Speaking for myself and my family, however, we understand the mathematical reality of competing against an opponent with unlimited financial resources,” Simmons said. . . . “This is not an easy decision. This is not a happy decision. But I believe it is the right decision.”

Make no mistake about my sympathies: Simmons would have been the better match-up against the fake-hero Blumenthal. And McMahon’s self-funding strategy isn’t exactly going to help the GOP shake the “party of the rich” label. Nevertheless, once the primary is over, Simmons and McMahon really ought to mend the breach for the fall campaign. One more “R” in the Senate has got to be worth something.

(Note to commenters: No fair using this argument in favor of supporting John McCain. That son of a bitch has got to go.)

VIDEO: FL-20 Republican Debate; Taxes, Herpes and Debbie Wasserman-Schultz

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Javier Manjarres at the Shark Tank got video of this weekend’s debate, but first let me give you some background: 

Florida’s 20th District (parts of Broward and Miami-Dade counties, including Fort Lauderdale) has been controlled by Democrats since the district was created following the 1990 Census. In 2004, Rep. Debbie Wasserman-Schultz was elected with 70 percent of the vote. One of the most strident liberals in Congress, she ran unopposed for re-election in 2006, and won 77 percent in 2008.

Wasserman-Schultz actually over-performs the district’s Cook Partisan Voting Index (D+13), which suggests that a strong candidate and a strong campaign could help rebuild the GOP in affluent South Florida. (This is very important for improving Republican identification, which helps GOP candidates in statewide races — including presidential elections.)

So while Wasserman-Schultz may be in a “live boy, dead girl” situation in terms of her re-election chances, it’s important that Republicans get a strong candidate in FL-20. The good news is that there are three choices in the GOP primary: restauranteur Karen Harrington; businesswoman Donnna Milo; and real-estate developer Robert Lowry.

With that introduction, then — and with thanks to Javier at the Shark Tank — here are video highlights of the debate:

Here is Robert Lowry comparing taxes to herpes:

Conservatives might laugh at that sound-bite, but some Republican officials in Florida are worried that Lowry’s blunt-spoken habits might be a liability in the general election. Here’s Karen Harrington comparing Arizona’s new immigration law to homeowners exercising Second Amendment rights in defense of their homes:

Strong stuff, eh? And here is Donna Milo comparing the U.S. situation to troops being caught in the “kill zone” of an L-shaped ambush:

Very impressive, don’t you think? Well, brace yourself, buckaroo:

Donna Milo — a Cuban-American, conservative Republican, transgender woman running for Congress — says she doesn’t like labels.
“I’m an American. I make my way on the basis of ability. My triumphs are based on my abilities, not on a label or a crutch,” said Milo, a Miami Planning Advisory Board member running to replace U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz of Weston, one of the House’s most liberal Democrats. . . .
Javier Manjarres, a Fort Lauderdale-based blogger, Miami-Dade editor of RedCounty.com and founder of the Conservative Republican Alliance, said that when he first heard a transgender woman was running as a Republican against Wasserman Schultz, “I thought it was a joke.”
Then he met Milo.
“I was very impressed with her,” Manjarres said. “She’s the best-rounded candidate in that race by far. Absolutely. She can hold her own with most politicos. It shouldn’t make a difference if she’s gay, straight or transgender.”

Now that you’ve had your Ace Ventura moment — “Einhorn is a Republican!” — it’s time to ask whether conservatives agree with Javier.

Given the choice between Ms. Milo and Debbie Wasserman-Schultz . . . Well, put it this way: Like most candidates nowadays, Donna Milo accepts online contributions —  kind of like what we bloggers call a “tip jar.” So the question is, would you hit her tip jar?

IYKWIMAITYD. NTTAWWT.

Not News: Economy Still Sucks

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A commenter on an American Spectator post earlier today made a weird statement:

The economy, boosted by falling energy prices, a weak Euro, and record low interest rates and tons of liquidity is finally showing signs of life.

Excuse me, but “record low interest rates and tons of liquidity” isn’t good news. The Fed is pumping currency in a desperate effort to revive a comatose economy. This policy is inflationary, but prices are still flat because the economy is so weak — with the official unemployment rate at 9.9 percent and 23 percent of mortgages “underwater”  — that even five straight quarters of  a near-zero Fed rate isn’t enough to jump-start consumer demand. And the Fed can only pursue this policy because the U.S. government is on a phenomenal spree of deficit spending.

Are “falling energy prices” good news? No, just a side-effect of the weak economy, which means lower demand for oil. And the “weak Euro” is also bad news, because it will hurt U.S. exports to Europe.

After a one-day upward bounce Friday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 126 points Monday, closing at 10,066. Here’s Business Week:

U.S. stocks fell, dragging the Dow Jones Industrial Average to its lowest level in three months, as the seizure of a Spanish bank and rising borrowing costs spurred concern Europe’s debt crisis will halt the global recovery.

And here’s The Washington Post:

“If what happened in Greece were to happen in a large country, it could fundamentally mark our times,” Angelos Pangratis, head of the European Union delegation to the United States, said Friday after a panel discussion on the crisis in Greece sponsored by the Greater Washington Board of Trade. . . .
The most vulnerable European countries — Greece, Spain, Portugal and Ireland — may represent only about 4 percent of world economic activity, but “the debt crisis and its ripple effects are bad news for all corners of the world,” said Cornell University economist Eswar Prasad.
The risk of a worst-case scenario is still considered remote. . . .

However “remote” the risk may be, we ought to remember that in 2006 almost no one expected the collapse of the U.S. housing market which hit freefall in 2008. And even if the “worst-case scenario” doesn’t happen, how bad would the “kinda bad scenario” have to be, in order to kick us into another three or four years of recession?

The economy sucks, and it’s likely to start sucking even worse — possibly much worse — before the year is over.

UPDATE 9:10 a.m. ET Tuesday: As a commenter points out, European markets dropped more than 3% overnight, and Dow futures are down about 2% before the opening bell. It’s likely the DJIA will close below 10,000 today.

What Would Happen If The Supreme Court Upheld A Meaningful Interpretation Amendment X?

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by Smitty

Megan McArdle asks the negative question: what if SCOTUS strikes down ObamaCare?

I like the more positive assertion in the post title. “Judicial restraint” for the last century has seen the SCOTUS asleep at the switch, while Federal over-reach has led to government run amok. Certainly, a few generations have benefited, but the prospect of debt slaver facing us all is scant comfort.

McArdle writes:

But what if the whole thing goes? I don’t see a way forward for anything that current progressives think of as health care reform;
it basically precludes the Netherlands model, and possibly most of the other European models, though I have to think more about the latter before I’m sure. But there’s a strong possibility that any ruling that eliminated the individual mandate would make anything but single payer or a national health service illegal. Ironically, a conservative court might push health policy to the left.
Or maybe a better way to put it is that it would polarize the choices: incremental tweaks, or single payer. (I assume, perhaps incorrectly, that our legislators would not pursue the folly of guaranteed issue and community rating without a mandate). Where would it go?
Not, I think, in the direction of single payer. The bill would be staggering. Yes, yes, I know you want to raise taxes to pay for it, but the price tag would still give American voters sticker shock. You’d never get it through the Senate unless the composition of that august body radically changed.
My hope is that in this unlikely event, it would open the way for something more like what I’ve proposed: catastrophic income insurance for everyone (i.e., the government will cover health care costs above some fairly high percentage of your income), with less support for first-dollar coverage.

How about a national Come-to-Beavis meeting, where States reclaim responsibility for citizens, and citizens decide how European they want to be?

Breaking the ObamaCare yoke could trigger the chain-reaction replacement of the rest of the unsustainable entitlements, replacing them with, you know, honest systems founded upon sustainable revenue models.

Why is everyone looking at me like I’m off my meds?

Nikki Haley Is Now Nationally Famous for Not — Not — Having Sex With a Blogger

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Hell hath no fury like a blogger scorned:

State ethics filings available online indicate that Haley’s campaign for State Senate paid Will Folks’s company, Viewpolitik, a bit more than $1,100 in consulting fees for the months of January and February of that year, along with a reimbursement of $173.50. . . .
South Carolina Republicans said he’s paid by a number of Republican candidates, though often listed as a subcontractor because he is a controversial figure.

So maybe his motive for saying he got some action from the candidate was that he wasn’t getting any financial action this time around?

I’ve heard of consultants getting screwed by campaigns, but . . .

UPDATE: This is my second post on this story, but the first post was getting too long, and now the story’s developing rapidly. Ben Domenech was also on the story early and updates:

Columbia’s alternative paper reports that rumors originally surfaced over a year ago. That would square with what I’m told — it’d be around the time Folks got pushed off Haley’s payroll after some minor consultant work — but this is all still hearsay. Haley’s denial remains unequivocal.

UPDATE II:  Michael Brendan Dougherty says we’re underestimating the Will-Meister:

I happen to know that Will Folks is a bit of a ladies man. He is very funny, extremely capable, and a raconteur. From what I hear, Folks is rumored to have had “physical relationships” with nearly every female consultant in the state. His affair with Haley supposedly began after he had done some writing work for her.

Well, everybody knows Republican political consultants are notorious whores, but . . .

UPDATE III: The point of the headline, in case you don’t get it, is that it would be unusual if Haley did have sex with a blogger. As a rule, we bloggers spend all our time staring at our SiteMeters and begging Instapundit for linkage, so we don’t have much time for l’amour. 

Evidently the Will-Meister has found a way around that. Maybe they should get him to present a seminar at Right Online: “How to Run a Successful Blog and Also Get Jiggy With Every Female Consultant in the State.”

To analyze the scorned-consultant angle: The primary is June 8, and Folks isn’t getting paid by Haley this year. She just got endorsed by Sarah Palin, which means the money ought to be rolling in, so . . . Well, you do the math. Palin isn’t surprised:

Well, whaddya know? South Carolina’s conservative candidate, Nikki Haley, recently zipped to the front of the line in her state’s race for governor; and lo and behold, now accusations of an affair surface.

You betcha!

UPDATE IV: Add Dan Riehl to the list of bl0ggers that Nikki Haley never had sex with. You see how this could spiral out of control. Once word gets around that a chick dates bloggers . . .

UPDATE V: Ace of Spades also never had sex with Nikki Haley. However, Margaret Thatcher  . . .

UPDATE VI: Will Folks cites as his “smoking gun” (no pun intended) a report that the rumor was being pursued by a free weekly alternative tabloid in Columbia, S.C.

Full stop.

My head just exploded. You’re compelled to “admit” (brag, really) that you banged a politician because you were afraid one of those scrungy little weeklies with the transvestite-hooker ads in the back was going to write about a rumor?

Wait — this breaking news flash just in:

WILL FOLKS IS A CLUELESS DOUCHEBAG

EXPECT UPDATES . . .