Entries from November 2, 2008 - November 8, 2008
Because Charles Manson Isn't Available
Saturday, November 8, 2008 at 18:39Wash Post Admits it's Election Coverage Was Unbalanced
Sorry, MSM. It's a little to late for CYA, and mea culpa's are not going to save your industry from it's loss of credibility.
Exit question: Will the MSM continue on its downward spiral or will it attempt to balance out coverage in order to bring back people seeking unbiased news?
machiavelli
Your Life Is About To Get Really Horrible
This Isn't Going to End Well For Her
The director of the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services has been put on paid leave.
Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland placed the director of the Department of Job and Family Services on paid leave today for possibly using a state computer and e-mail account for political fund-raising.
E-mails obtained today by The Dispatch show that Helen Jones-Kelley's e-mail account was used to assist the presidential campaign of Democrat Barack Obama in raising money.
Strickland asked Inspector General Thomas P. Charles to investigate the "unconfirmed" matter and named Jan Allen, secretary of the governor's cabinet, as acting agency director.
The state e-mails show Jones-Kelley provided the Obama campaign with the names of 17 potential Dayton-area contributors ahead of the candidate's July 11 appearance there.
On July 8, the director offered to write a $2,500 check to the campaign to join Obama at his appearance, volunteered to contact would-be contributors and offered to help arrange an event for Michelle Obama, the candidate's wife.
At least one of the potential donors identified by Jones-Kelley contributed $9,600 to Obama for America and the Obama Victory Fund on July 31, according to Federal Election Commission records. Jones-Kelley also gave $2,500.
The e-mails that led to Jones-Kelley's suspension came to light in response to a public-records request by The Dispatch, said Keith Dailey, Strickland's press secretary. The newspaper requested the records Oct. 26, before Obama was elected president Tuesday.
The inspector general already was investigating if job and family services computers were used illegally to obtain confidential information on "Joe the Plumber," a Toledo-area man popularized by Republican John McCain.
If the governor is taking this kind of action before the investigation is complete, I'd say she's pretty much toast.
Hey Mr. President-elect! It's Over! You won!
Apparently the new Office of the President-elect is behind the curve a bit, and is still out there campaigning against John McCain. On Obama's ever-so-self-important website, Michelle Malkin found this tidbit:
Why not toss in a few campaign slogans bashing Bush? No reason to stop all the fun so soon.
Encouraging Action in Case of Bullying Teacher
In regard to the disgusting case of the Obama fanatic "teacher"seen bullying children in the classroom [see http://www.blrag.com/blog/2008/11/7/scene-from-an-obama-re-education-center.html], the Superintendent of Schools has promised appropriate action. He sounds quite serious, and it makes me hopeful that the cretin in question will be severely disciplined.
Here is Superintendent Bill Harris:
Obama's Lack of Grace and Class - Insults Nancy Reagan
How old is Obama? 15?
Is this the classless behavior we have to look forward to?
Just pathetic.
What's next from the phony-baloney Office of the President-elect? Toilet-papering the Reagan ranchhouse?
Byrd Resigning from Appropriations Chairmanship
From Reuters, via Forbes:
United States - WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Sen. Robert Byrd Friday announced that he will step down from his chairmanship of the powerful Senate Appropriations Committee to be replaced by Sen. Daniel Inouye of Hawaii.
"I believe that it is time for a new day at the top of the Senate Appropriations Committee. I will step away from the chairmanship ... effective Jan. 6, 2009," said Byrd, a 90-year-old Democrat from West Virginia.
Over the past year, Byrd has had health problems and some Senate Democrats worried he would not be able to withstand the rigors of chairing the committee that helps decide the country's spending priorities.
Byrd said he will continue serving in the Senate, however.
Interesting. I can't call this much of a sea change, since Inouye is one of the bigger pork-barrel spenders in the Senate. He also bucked his party by issuing a statement of support for Ted Stevens (R-AK) after Stevens' recent conviction on ethics charges. Nonetheless, he's a tough cookie (Medal of Honor winner, in fact); it will be interesting to see what happens in Appropriations with a new chairman.
Injecting Facts About Minnesota's Senate Recount
Since we're already hearing the "ACORN, MoveOn, fraud Fraud FRAUD!" caterwauling where the Minnesota Senate election is concerned, I thought I might actually dig up some facts about the sources of differing vote totals - and why there are "new" ballots yet to be counted once the recount begins. Instead of inventing boatloads of innuendo, I'll give you sources local to Minnesota.
From the Star-Tribune, we learn:
Why the shifts? It’s because county auditors are finding minor errors as they’re proofing their unofficial numbers before shipping them to St. Paul, said John Aiken, spokesman for Secretary Mark Ritchie.
“The counties are trying to be as accurate and transparent as possible. You’ll see fluctuations here and there,” Aiken said.
KARE-TV tells us:
As many as 6,000 votes which didn't count in Tuesday's election for US Senator in Minnesota could count in the upcoming recount.
Joe Mansky, director of elections for Ramsey County, says that in any election, as many as 2 in every 1,000 ballots are "spoiled," that is, someone makes a mistake like putting a checkmark in the circle instead of filling it in.
The machine rejects those ballots, and normally, they're never counted.
But in a recount, those ballots are reviewed, and if the election judge can determine what the voter intended, the vote could still count.
And in a race with almost 3,000,000 voters, that potentially means 6,000 uncounted votes.
How, exactly, will the recount be handled?
But in Minnesota, recounts are done by hand. That means carefully examining each and every ballot. The Secretary of State says election judges will do the work, watched closely by observers.
"Everybody would like to know how quickly this can be done, but our main concern is that it is done accurately and with transparency," says Secretary of State Mark Ritchie.
And at the heart of Minnesota's recount process is the state's voter intent law, which allows an election official to determine what a voter intended to do even if he filled out his ballot in a way the optical scanner couldn't read.
"We try not to disenfranchise voters who simply make technical mistakes marking the ballot," says Joe Mansky.
Joe demonstrates the recount process. Once the ballots are unsealed he says, "First thing we would do is pick up the ballot and determine how it is marked."
The proper way is to fill in the bubble. If you circle the name or put a checkmark in the bubble, the scanner can't read it.
"As long as the mark is made close enough to the candidate's name that we can determine the intent then under our law we will count those votes," says Mansky.
So, we have a manual recount, including ballots rejected by the scanners on Election Day, overseen by local election officials in each county and outside observers. There is also a "last resort" for any individual ballots upon which the county officials cannot agree:
Minnesota's Secretary of State Mark Ritchie says the small margin between Franken and Coleman will automatically trigger a recount based on state law after the state canvas board certifies yesterday's results on November 18th. Each county will count its own ballots. Any disputed ballots will go to the canvas board or the court for final say.
So, the Nasty Evil Secretary of State won't even see a ballot unless the local county officials (under observation from outsiders) fail to agree on the voter's intent one way or the other. That sounds like a pretty healthy dose of checks-and-balances to me.
Post-Election Friday Open
The election is finally behind us, and the weekend is before us, so it is time for another open thread. Have at it...
Coleman/Franken Recount - ACORN-backed Sec/State
Lovely. One of Obama's friends, another "community organizer," will be in charge of the Minnesota recount.
I can't possibly imagine anything going wrong here. I'm sure the mysterious Franken votes that keep turning up are quite legitimate. Nothing at all to be concerned about.
http://www.redstate.com/diaries/redstate/2008/nov/07/another-acorn-secretary-of-state-in-minnesota/
Redbeard
And more, this time on a specific case of suspected fraud:
http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2008/11/022024.php
Waiting for the other shoe to drop.
Poor Sarah
One can believe Palin is thoroughly unprepared for the Oval Office, yet still remain skeptical she’s quite as cosmically dim as these people are portraying her. I find the stories obviously unfair and obviously self-serving. (The irony being: even to the extent they might be true, what makes these sources think such stories wouldn’t reflect poorly on THEM?)
I also kind of share Tristero’s sentiments about this lady. Without minimizing how selecting her helped consolidate a narrative that led to McCain’s defeat, she was always kind of a sideshow. I’d be happy not to ever hear another word about her, but I suspect the chances for that are only maybe 50-50. Despite her very evident shortcomings, she’s a talented and ambitious demagogue.
Having said that, I remain squealingly excited about Operation Leper, an brilliant and exciting initiative I anticipate will pay great dividends.
Obama Safely Installed, Media Free to be Truthful
Predictable as the sunrise, here it comes. As soon as Obama was safely elected, the media began to feel free to tell at least someof the truth.
No need to ask why this sort of thing is popping up AFTER the election.
A couple of examples:
There is a slightly creepy cult of personality about all this.
It — it — it just makes me a little uneasy that he’s so singular. He’s clearly managing his own spectacle. He’s a deeply manipulative guy.
http://www.floppingaces.net/2008/11/06/newsweek-editors-obama-a-creepy-deeply-manipulative-creature/
Senior U.S. military officials will likely advise Barack Obama to adjust his campaign pledge to withdraw all U.S. combat troops from Iraq by mid-2010...
Pulling nearly all U.S. troops and equipment out of Iraq in 16 months is "physically impossible"...
...the security gains in Iraq would be put at risk if troops were withdrawn before the Iraqi security forces are in a position to protect their own communities and borders.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/time/20081107/us_time/willobamahavetoadjusthistimetableoniraq
Hat tip: Gateway Pundit
Redbeard
Funny/sad update: Oprah is now asking to interview - wait for it - Sarah Palin.
Schumer: Conservative Talk Radio = Pornography
The poster boy for thought control steps forward to make his case for the (un)Fairness Doctrine. Or try to. Fail to. Utterly fail to.
If nothing else, Chuck "Camera Boy" Schumer is good for a dark humor laugh.