Coleman-Franken update @ 1 PM ET on Dec.15

A Google search with the entry “Coleman Franken” turned up the following UPI report as “the latest news” @ 1 PM ET today - - -

Both candidates in Minnesota's protracted U.S. Senate race have pledged to reduce the number of ballot challenges headed to the board overseeing the results.

Incumbent Republican Norm Coleman said he would have no more than 1,000 challenges and Democrat Al Franken promised to pare his total 500, the St. Paul Pioneer Press reported Monday. The campaigns together lodged more than 6,000 challenges as part of a statewide hand-count undertaken after the Nov. 4 election.

The state canvassing board is scheduled to convene Tuesday and has given itself until Friday to decide all challenges.

The board criticized both campaigns for the number of challenges they made. Franken spokesman Andy Barr said in a release Sunday that the pledge to reduce the number of challenges shows "we are taking to heart the good advice of the canvassing board and the best interests of Minnesotans who want to see this process move forward efficiently."

The Coleman campaign complained of a lack of uniform standards in the recount process.

"We continue to have concerns," Coleman campaign attorney Fritz Knaak said.

"Nonetheless, we are committed to a process that is efficient and reasonable."
The standards for accepting or rejecting ballots are presented in state law, the Pioneer Press said. In addition, Secretary of State Mark Ritchie gave local officials a 3,200-word set of instructions.

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Comments:

Secretary Mark Richie was elected with strong support from ACORN and George Soros.

Scott Johnson at Powerline is concerned political considerations are influencing Richie’s judgement.

Johnson also suspects there’s back-channel communication between the Franken camp and Ritchie’s office. He explains in “Minnesota’s recount goes south.”

Bush meets the troops - YouTube video

The press stories I've read this morning about President Bush's trip to Iraq (AP and AFP) have stressed how unpopular he is and all but praised the Arab journalist who threw shoes at him.

Neither story mentioned how our troops in Iraq received the President, but you can see and hear that for yourselves in this 2 minute YouTube video.

The sound track when Bush is speaking is poor, but the roar that greets him and the visuals throughout are so tremendous they must dishearten many in the press.

Pundit: “Softly, softly oust Mugabe”

Some Western and African leaders have reacted to the horrors in Zimbabwe by condemning that country’s wretched dictator President Robert Mugabe and his henchman. Some of the leaders are now urging military intervention to remove Mugabe.

In today’s Guardian Jonathan Steele argues nothing will come of the condemnations.

As for military intervention, he says it could fail for a variety of reasons and leave Zimbabwe in a worse state than at present.

If you agree with Steele, you’re left with the questions of what to do to get rid of Mugabe and his henchman and how to bring measure of desperately need safety, health care and economic stability to the people of Zimbabwe.

Here’s what Steele recommends - - -

... The power-sharing deal that Mugabe and the opposition leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, struck in September after mediation by [South Africa's Thabo] Mbeki and the Southern African Development Community (SADC) is still the best solution, precisely because it offers a transition through peace.

Mugabe is haggling over the distribution of ministries between his party and Tsvangirai's, refusing to abandon all control of the police. But he has not repudiated the pact. He would rather provoke Tsvangirai into doing so - a trap which the opposition leader must avoid at all costs.

Threatening Mugabe and his army and police commanders with criminal proceedings at The Hague … is only likely to entrench them further. This summer's indictment of Sudan's president has complicated the already difficult search for peace in Darfur.

A similar move would have no better effect in Zimbabwe.

The opposite tactic would be to offer Mugabe and his friends a soft landing. Distasteful though it is, allowing Mugabe a quiet departure and judicial immunity is more likely to persuade him to go than a cascade of threats.

The Southern African Development Community's mediation proposals make no mention of prosecution, so the offer may be interpreted as being on the table by default. It would be better to write it in explicitly.

That is the lesson from the collapse of virtually every dictatorship over the past 30 years. Whether it was the Shah of Iran or Nicaragua's strongman Anastasio Somoza or Ferdinand Marcos of the Philippines or, as recently as this year, Pervez Musharraf in Pakistan, the lever which got these discredited men to relinquish their grip was not the threat of a jail cell, let alone invasion. It was a guarantee of retirement in safety.

Zimbabwe should follow this model. In the case of Mugabe's cronies, offers of jobs in the new coalition government may also help to split them from their current boss. The power-sharing pact provides a mechanism, which is why it is still Zimbabwe's best hope.

Force is the wrong answer.

Steele's entire column's here.


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Folks, I don't know enough about the situation in Zimbabwe and its surrounding region to say much about what Steele proposes except that he lays out his case carefully and seems himself to be informed.

I'd like to hear what others of you think.

Krugman's Car Calumny

That’s what Jonathan Adler titles his post today at NRO.

It follows in full. Then I ask a question below the star line.

On ABC's "This Week" this morning, Paul Krugman repeats the left talking point that Senator Bob Corker led the opposition to the auto bailout because he's the "Senator from Nissan." Nissan has two plants in Tennessee, Krugman noted. Left unsaid is that General Motors — the company leading the push for a bailout — has a plant in Tennessee too. [Also unsaid during the discussion was that, with ten Republicans on-side, Senate Democrats had the votes to push the GM bailout through.] (emphasis added)

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Given that Krugman took $50 thousand from Enron during its glory days for what turned out to be a one-day "consultanship," and didn't disclose he'd done that when he wrote an article recommending Enron, why is he often so quick to question other people’s motives?

Glenn Reynolds notes AP’s Obama change

An AP story today begins:

“President-elect Barack Obama, relatively young and inexperienced, is facing a rapidly growing list of monumental challenges as he prepares to take the reins of a nation in turmoil.”

Instapundit’s Glenn Reynolds comments:

He’s young and inexperienced? Now they tell me. I thought he was fresh and dynamic!

During the recent campaign the story’s reporter, Liz Sidoti, was one of the most “rah-rah” of then Sen. Obama's MSM cheerleaders.

Sidoti’s story today is headlined: "Obama faces heady challenges, and they're growing."

Local media mum as Duke’s endowment drops $1 billion

Last evening I posted Despite Duke endowment's $1B hit, Steel & Brodhead "very, very" positive. It includes a link to yesterday’s Triangle Business Journal story headed:

Duke endowment suffers $1B hit

Doesn’t that sound like a story media in the Duke/Durham area would pick on?

But I could find nothing about Duke’s huge endowment loss in today’s print editions of the Durham Herald Sun or the Raleigh News & Observer.

I also visited the Web sites of WTVD and WRAL. Nothing about the endowment loss at either site.

I read trough the list of news stories at both stations through Dec. 6, the day before Duke’s trustees began their most recent quarterly meetings. No headline suggested a story reporting the $1B loss.

I also found nothing concerning the loss when I searched the H-S and N&O achieves.

If I’ve missed something, please let me know.

The hit Duke’s endowment’s taken is an enormously important story not only for Duke and Durham, but for our entire Triangle region.

Hat tip: Ed in NY who called my attention to the TBJ story.

Sen. Chris Dodd should resign

Graham Crowe in a letter to Johntown, Pa’s Tribune-Democrat explains why - - -

Sen. Christopher Dodd, chairman of the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs, suggested on CBS’ “Face the Nation” that Rick Wagoner, the chief executive of GM, “has to move on.”

Where does Dodd get the temerity to make such a proposition in light of his own incompetence and scandal? Dodd is in charge of the committee that could have kept us from entering the current credit crisis. He’s the same man who is in charge of regulating Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and is No. 1 on their list of donations.

When Congress approved $25 billion to bail out Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, Dodd denied rumors these firms were in financial crisis. He called the firms “fundamentally strong,” said they were “in good shape” and to “suggest they are in major trouble is not accurate.”

Dodd also received preferential loans from Countrywide Mortgage Bank, and then said he wasn’t aware that he was getting a “special” deal. How is that possible?

The bottom line is that Dodd received special treatment from a company that he was in charge of regulating and to this day he has refused to release details of those transactions. If Dodd has done no wrong, then why not release the documents and dispel the accusations?

Just when you think you’ve seen the height of hypocrisy, leave it up to a politician to take it to the next level.

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Comments:

Well said, Graham Crowe.

Dodd’s resignation is the best service he can render the American people.

Dems and their MSM flack keep talking about “reassuring markets.”

Dodd’s resignation would be cheered by people who want to operate sound businesses free of government “special interest” interference and by people who want to invest in such business.

And we could all hope Dodd’s resignation would set an example for Reps. Frank and Rangel and others like them.

One of the biggest problems we’re facing trying to work through this mess is many of the same people who helped create it are the ones working on “solutions.”

Hat tip: Instapundit

Pelosi's stimulus' true color

Under the headline - Pelosi sees bigger, greener stimulus - Politico reports - - -

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) has increased the size of the economic stimulus package she will support when Congress reconvenes next month, saying it will need to be $500 billion to $600 billion.

That’s up from the $400 billion to $500 billion that House Democrats had been expecting. ...

The rest of the story’s here.

Comments:

“Greener stimulus” package?

The package will be financed by debt.

In truth it’s a “red ink” package that adds to the debt of a government trying to work its way out of a crisis brought on in large part by massive debt.

A more accurate headline for the story - Pelosi seekss more deficit financing to fight debt crisis.

Despite Duke endowment's $1B hit, Steel & Brodhead "very, very" positive

James Gallagher reporting Dec. 12 in Triangle Business Journal - - -

Duke University’s endowment, which funds about 15 percent of the university’s annual operating budget, has lost $1.1 billion since June 30 and now stands at $5 billion.

School officials are tight-lipped about the status of the endowment, but a source familiar with the university’s investment returns says the endowment portfolio is down by about 19 percent from the fiscal year ended June 30, when it stood at $6.1 billion.

Those losses are in line with what other universities have reported to the National Association of College and University Business Officers. Ken Redd, NACUBO’s director of research and policy analysis, says endowments generally have lost 20 percent to 25 percent of their value this year.

Of Duke’s $1.93 billion annual operating budget, about $300 million, or 15 percent, was supplied by endowment returns in 2007-2008.

Tuition payments provided 14 percent of the operating budget, according to Duke’s annual report, with the university’s remaining revenue coming from grants and contracts, donations and other enterprises and investments.

In general, private universities fund between 15 percent and 20 percent of their operations from their endowments. Public universities, by contrast, rely more on state funding than endowments for their operations, says Redd.

Though its losses have been severe, Duke doesn’t feel they will severely crimp its operation. The university averages its endowment funding contributions over three years to smooth out any major ups or downs in investment performance.

Other private universities battling similar losses, including Harvard, Dartmouth and Brown, have cut their budgets or imposed hiring or wage freezes. So far, Duke has not taken such action.

“We’re obviously being very prudent and careful with our expenses,” says Michael Schoenfeld, Duke’s vice president for public affairs. “We’re going to be taking a very close look at our expenses and other expenditures to preserve our focus on students and faculty.”

Duke has been looking to unload about $100 million worth of private equity investments, which sources say is a small portion of the endowment’s private equity investment.

Harvard University, which is facing even greater endowment losses, also has been trying to sell some of its private equity stakes.

The Cambridge, Mass., university is trying to unload about $1.5 billion worth of private equity investments as its endowment has lost more than $8 billion since June 30, when it stood at $36.9 billion.

Harvard President Dawn Gilpin Faust wrote in a letter to deans this month that the endowment had fallen by 22 percent over the past four months and was likely to be down 30 percent before the end of the year.

Harvard’s endowment provides as much as 40 percent of the university’s annual operating budget.

Schoenfeld says Duke will detail its endowment’s performance when it releases its annual financial report after the fiscal year ends in June. Still, NACUBO is preparing a survey of its members to gauge exactly how much impact the market has had on university endowments.

Besides the university endowment, Duke also operates the Duke University Health System endowment, which at last report stood at $1.4 billion.
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Last Monday, four days before publication of Gallagher's TBJ story, Chelsea Allison, editor of The Chronicle, Duke’s student newspaper, reported on Duke’s BOT’s just completed meetings and BOT chair Bob Steel and president Dick Brodhead’s praise of the "very, very good day-to-day controls" they say they've used to manage the University - - -

As other universities announce cuts for budgets impacted by the economic crisis, Duke's Board of Trustees spent the weekend culling information about-rather than passing resolutions on-the underlying structures that have kept its finances relatively secure.

"There is a fact that we are in a very challenging financial time for everyone," Chair Robert Steel, Trinity '73, said in an interview with The Chronicle Saturday.

"The good news is that Duke has been very prudently and conservatively managed from a financial perspective for quite awhile. No. 2, we also have very, very good day-to-day controls. And the combination of having been managed prudently and having good controls puts us in a position of having to work through the current challenges as well as one can."

Although officials have said they anticipate that more students may seek financial aid, this need will be cushioned by the 2005 Financial Aid Initiative, which has reached its overall $300 million goal.

President Richard Brodhead and Steel said there has been no discussion of tuition changes; last March, the Trustees approved a tuition increase of 5 percent. Actual budgeting across the University will come in January.

The agenda for this meeting was more than a year in the making, meant to deeply analyze financial modes for the University, health system, DUMAC and strategic planning and fundraising.

"As it turned out, that was a really good thing to be doing at this meeting," Brodhead said. "We just want to make sure that we match our resources with our mission and aspiration in the right way going forward."

Brodhead and Steel did not disclose specific numbers, noting that Duke has had to be adaptive but relies less on its nearly $8 billion endowment than some peers.

DUMAC's most recent quarterly report for fiscal year 2008 showed the endowment had increased by 6.2 percent-still a much more conservative gain than typical-but Executive Vice President Tallman Trask told The Chronicle in October that he expected much of that had been lost in the ensuing economic crisis.

Other streams of revenue for the University include tuition, gifts and grants.

"In some ways, it's a good thing to be the richest of the poor kids, or the poorest of the rich kids," Michael Schoenfeld, vice president for government affairs and public relations, said in an interview Thursday.

Steel added that University management is not a contest, but a matter of the individual execution of a University's priorities.

Brodhead and Steel noted that current projects may be completed at a different pace or in a different order, depending on how each is funded or on the current economic outlook.
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Folks, just so you’re all sure I’m not making any of this up, Gallagher’s TBJ story’s here and Allison’s TC story’s here.

I’ll be posting again soon on both stories.

Tonight I just want to get the stories to you, and encourage you to pass them on to others.

But I can't help adding this: The last time Steel and Brodhead sounded so positive they were misleading us all about their disgraceful response in Duke University's name to the lies of Crystal Mangum and Mike Nifong.

The Churchill Series - Dec. 12, 2008

A short post today I hope starts your weekend with a smile.

In 1950 then Sgt.(later Inspector) Edmund Marray of Scotland Yard was assigned as Churchill’s principal bodyguard. Murray remained in that position for the rest of Churchill’s life and, like just about everyone who worked with him, grew to like and admire Churchill.

In 1992, in remarks before the International Churchill Society, Murray told the following story:

On one occasion, apparently in the Cabinet Room, [Ministers] were discussing the defence of the Empire — yes, we once had one — and the question of the protection of the Virgin Islands arose. One of the Ministers present asked, "Where the hell are the Virgin Islands?" A very sharp remark came from the PM: "A bloomin’ long way from the Isle of Man, I hope!"

I wish you all a good weekend and am keeping those of you in the Notheast hit by the storm and without power in my thoughts.

John
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Inspector Murray’s remarks are hosted here at the Churchill Centre’s site.

Obama’s New America

Don’t be fooled by President-elect Barack Obama’s “centrist” cabinet appointments. He’s a man of the Left and means to head America in that direction.

That’s the essence of what Charles Krauthammer’s says today. Here’s his column’s close, followed by my comments.

… Obama was quite serious when he said he was going to change the world. And now he has a national crisis, a personal mandate, a pliant Congress, a desperate public -- and, at his disposal, the greatest pot of money in galactic history. (I include here the extrasolar planets.)

It begins with a near $1 trillion stimulus package. This is where Obama will show himself ideologically.

It is his one great opportunity to plant the seeds for everything he cares about: a new green economy, universal health care, a labor resurgence, government as benevolent private-sector "partner."

The first hint came yesterday, when Obama claimed, "If we want to overcome our economic challenges, we must also finally address our health care challenge" -- the perfect non sequitur that gives carte blanche to whatever health-care reform and spending the Obama team dreams up.

It is the community organizer's ultimate dream.

Ironically, when the economy tanked in mid-September, it was assumed that both presidential candidates could simply forget about their domestic agendas because with $700 billion drained by financial system rescues, not a penny would be left to spend on anything else.

On the contrary. With the country clamoring for action and with all psychological barriers to government intervention obliterated (by the conservative party, no less), the stage is set for a young, ambitious, supremely confident president -- who sees himself as a world-historical figure before even having been sworn in -- to begin a restructuring of the American economy and the forging of a new relationship between government and people.

Don't be fooled by Bob Gates staying on. Obama didn't get elected to manage Afghanistan. He intends to transform America. And he has the money, the mandate and the moxie to go for it.

Krauthammer’s entire column’s here.

Comments:

So the government that created the postal system, bought $600.00 toilet seats, put in place in the 1930s “temporary” farm price supports, and renamed “high risk” mortgages “subprime” and then guaranteed taxpayers would by off those mortgages when many of them predictably went belly up, will now manage your health care.

What’s more if you can’t pay for your health care, Obama will make sure you get it for free.

You’re an illegal immigrant?

You get it free, too. Why shouldn't you?

Cuba will have nothing on this New America Obama's planning to create with lots of help from members of both our major political parties.

Lon. Times: Democracy challenges the EU

An editorial in today’s Times of London points out: The EU has many challenges, chief among them understanding democracy.

The editorial continues - - -

Brian Cowen, the Taoiseach [Gaelic title for Ireland’s PM], has told his fellow European leaders that he does not intend to take “no” for an answer from Ireland's voters.

Instead he has committed himself, a second time, to seeking ratification of the Lisbon treaty that they rejected by 53.4 per cent to 46.6 per cent six months ago.

Mr Cowen could have disgraced himself more thoroughly by ignoring Ireland's first referendum on the Lisbon treaty altogether. But his decision to heed European blandishments rather than his own citizens' ballots still shows, as the leader of the Irish “no” campaign has said, contempt for the democratic process.

It is also a grave and unnecessary indictment of the EU's current priorities, which in more outward-looking eras have unquestionably been a force for good. If a second Irish referendum on the Lisbon treaty does take place, it deserves to be resoundingly rejected once again….

The rest of the editorial’s here.

Following on the same “page” as the LT editorial is R. Mason of London’s “editorial” - - -

The treaty makes EU law superior to national laws, creates an army, police force, empowers it to deal with third countries, run industrial, agricultural, policy, etc. Everything a state should do except have a government chosen by its citizens.

A little further down the thread Jan from Sussex, UK reminds UK voters - - -

At least Ireland got a vote. We were promised one, but our inept and cowardly PM doesn't keep his promises.

Comments:

I visit the UK about twice a year and EU countries almost as often.

Most Brits I talk to are very dissatisfied with PM Gordon Brown’s Labour government.

A phase I hear over and over: “Labour’s lost the country.”

It comes not just from Conservatives and Liberals, but Laborites as well.

As for the EU, if I had to sum up in one word what I hear about it from citizens of EU countries I’d say, “disappointment.”

An uncritical or mildly enthusiastic EU supporter is a “rare bird.”

The Churchill Series - Dec. 11, 2008

(One of a series of weekday posts about the life of Winston S. Churchill.)

It’s April, 1941.

There’s no Eastern front. Germany won’t attack Russia for another three months. France collapsed in June, 1940. The United States won’t enter the war until attacked by Japan on Dec. 7, 1941.

If you bought German government bonds that April, you’d get a very low interest rate. That was "the price" paid by serious investors who wanted to collect their principal at maturity.

British government bonds? Sure, you got a very high interest rate but the "smart people" in Wall Street would tell you you were buying in on "the losing side."

Still, Britain, the Commonwealth, and Empire fought on wherever they could.

On the home island, the fight involved a mostly defensive battle against German bombing raids. The Royal Air Force destroyed many attacking bombers but others got through and did their worst.

Bristol was hard hit during a nighttime raid that April.

The following morning, Churchill and Clementine left London for Bristol to view the damage and comfort victims. A small party accompanied them. It included an American, Averell Harriman, then in England as a representative of President Roosevelt.

Everyone was moved by the damage they witnessed and the "pluck" of the survivors.

That evening, Harriman arranged to make a large, anonymous donation to a relief fund for the bombing victims.

Clementine learned of his gesture. She sent him the following letter:

Tuesday, April the 15th. 1941

My dear Mr. Harriman:

I am sending your generous present to the Lord Mayor of Bristol & although I shall respect your wish that it shall be anonymous, I shall tell him how moved the giver was by the sufferings and bearing of the people of Bristol.

I feel it is the fervent hope and prayer of many of us that all this pain and grief, some of which we have perhaps deserved by our blindness and negligence, may bring our two countries permanently together & that they may grow to understand each other.

Anyhow, whatever happens we do not feel alone any more.

Yours very sincerely,

Clementine S. Churchill

We often forget that in Freedom's great struggle,there were two Churchills who used the English language to touch, sustain, and inspire.
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Lady Churchill's letter was included in a Library of Congress exhibit: Churchill and the Great Republic. A transcript of the letter may be viewed here.

NASA "not cooperating" with Obama transition

Robert Block at OrlandoSentinal.com - - -

NASA administrator Mike Griffin is not cooperating with President-elect Barack Obama’s transition team, is obstructing its efforts to get information and has told its leader that she is “not qualified” to judge his rocket program, the Orlando Sentinel has learned.

In a heated 40-minute conversation last week with Lori Garver, a former NASA associate administrator who heads the space transition team, a red-faced Griffin demanded to speak directly to Obama, according to witnesses.

In addition, Griffin is scripting NASA employees and civilian contractors on what they can tell the transition team and has warned aerospace executives not to criticize the agency’s moon program, sources said.

Griffin’s resistance is part of a no-holds-barred effort to preserve the Constellation program, the delayed and over-budget moon rocket that is his signature project.

Chris Shank, NASA’s Chief of Strategic Communications, denied that Griffin is trying to keep information from the team, or that he is seeking a meeting with Obama. He also insisted that Griffin never argued with Garver.

“We are working extremely well with the transition team,” he said. ...

The rest of Block's story's here.

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Comments:

It sure doesn't sound like "We are working extremely well with the transition team," does it?

BTW - Have you noticed that the NY Times, which was late and downplayed the Ayers-Obama connections, is forced to play catch-up on recent major stories embarrassing to Obama coming our of Illinois, D.C,, and now, NASA?

Belgium police report Al Qaeda plot? Questions

From Skynews - - -

Police in Belgium have arrested 14 suspected al Qaeda members, including one who is believed to have been about to commit a suicide attack.

The arrests were made during 16 raids in Brussels, as European Union leaders gathered for a summit there, and one in Liege.

"We don't know where the suicide attack was to take place," federal prosecutor Johan Delmulle said.

"It could have been an operation in Pakistan or Afghanistan, but it can't be ruled out that Belgium or Europe could have been the target."

One of the suspects had "received the green light to carry out an operation from which he was not expected to come back," Mr Delmulle quoted investigators as saying.

The man "had said goodbye to his loved ones, because he wanted to enter paradise with a clear conscience", he added.

"This information, linked to the fact that a European summit is getting under way at this moment in Brussels, left us no choice but to take action today."

The inquiry is described as "the most important" anti-terrorism operation in Belgium.
It is linked to a Belgian Islamist group involved in training as well as fighting on the Pakistan-Afghan border, the federal prosecutor's office said.

The year-long investigation "probably prevented plans for an attack from being carried out in Brussels," last year, it added.

There has been no change to security arrangements for the summit, an EU spokesman said.

Comments:

There’s been “no change to security arrangements for the summit?”

Who believes that?

Sky News doesn’t say anything further about its report “the federal prosecutor’s office” said a “ year-long investigation ‘probably prevented plans for an attack from being carried out in Brussels,” last year.

My questions, which I’m sure many of you are asking yourselves: What are the details of the ‘probably prevented” attack last year?

Will Belguim authorities say more about whether “probably prevent[ing]” an Al Qaeda attack last year did or did not tip off AQ that Belguim authorities were on to them?

You'd think it would, wouldn't you?

There’s a lot to learn about this story.

Here’s the link to the Sky News story in case it updates at the same URL, but I pasted in this post the entire story there now.

At the NYT, more “Name That Party”

The NYT’s latest round of “Name That Party” is headlined: “Illinois First Lady Faces Scrutiny”

It begins:

In the six years since she became first lady of Illinois, Patricia Blagojevich, now 43, has not played a highly public role in her husband’s administration.

“She has kept a very low profile as first lady,” said Paul Green, a political science professor at Roosevelt University. “She literally could walk down Michigan Avenue and if she didn’t have security, 9 out of 10 people would not know who she was.”

So the extent of her involvement in the brash telephone conversations that resulted in charges of corruption against her husband, Gov. Rod R. Blagojevich, on Tuesday came as a surprise to many....

The Times makes no mention of anyone’s political party affiliation until the 8th paragraph of its 21-paragraph story:

Ms. Blagojevich has a deep-rooted political pedigree as the daughter of Richard Mell, the longtime Chicago alderman and a leader in Cook County Democratic politics, who is considered to have been instrumental in getting Mr. Blagojevich in politics.

The Times’ reference to Mell’s leadership role in Cook County Democratic politics is its only mention of the party affiliation of any of the story’s principals.

And how did you like the Anything for Obama NYT's describing the grossly vulgar and bribe-soliciting telephone conversations as "brash?"

That's like describing Al Capone as "adventurous."

The entire NYT story's here.

Hat tips: AC, BN

The Churchill Series - Dec. 10, 2008

(One of a series of weekday posts about the life of Winston S. Churchill.)

Most people know horses were an important part of Churchill's life. He rode pony's as a child; trained in horsemanship at Sandhurst; was commissioned as a cavalry officer; rode as a lancer in the famous charge at Omdurman; played polo into his fifties; and kept and bred horses at Chartwell and other properties.

But most people don't know that for many years Churchill owned a racing stable. And he wasn't one of those celebrity owners who preen and eye the cameras while putting their feet in - oops - the wrong places. As with everything else he cared about, Churchill the race horse owner was informed and "hands on."

Churchill's most successful horse was a grey, Colonist II. He bought him against the advice of many racing experts. Churchill thought he saw something - a special determination - in Colonist that would make the horse "a winner."

Colonist proved Churchill right. "This tough and indomitable grey horse has performed miracles," said one racing writer in 1950. "No horse in living memory has put up such a sequence of wins in good-class races in one season." Among the prestigious races Colonist won were The Winston Churchill Stakes and The Jockey Club Stakes.

As Colonist's racing days came to a close, his trainer reminded Churchill that Colonist would be very valuable as a stud horse. The trainer offered to arrange matters.

Churchill pondered a moment, then laughed and replied,

"To stud? And have it said that the Prime Minister of Great Britain is living on the immoral earnings of a horse?"

Churchill's official biographer, Martin Gilbert, does not say what ultimately happened to Colonist. We can wish the horse had a green old age.

____________________________________________________________________________
Martin Gilbert, Never Despair. (pgs. 488, 522, 524, 528, 563)

A question for Obama

It comes from National Review's White House correspondent in an NRO post - - -

It just so happens that The Office of the President-Elect, which should really be called the office of the president-elect, has today started a new feature on its website called "Open for Questions."

The Obama-Biden Transition wants to hear from you. Use our 'Open for Questions' tool to ask a question about a policy or issue that's important to you — then click the check mark or the "X" to tell us which questions you most want the Transition to answer.

My first question is a variation of the one Obama didn't answer from the Los Angeles Times: Is Obama aware of any communications in the last six weeks between Rod Blagojevich or anyone representing Rod Blagojevich and any of Obama's top aides?

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That's a fair question it seems it may be tough for the President-elect to answer.

Blagojevich: Beyond “business a usual"

For more than a year Tarheel Hawkeye has been commenting here on the pervasive corruption in Chicago and Illinois.

Here’s his latest - - -

I worked closely with local, county, state, and federal law enforcement agencies in Northern Illinois from 1968 to 1973. For Barack Obama to claim he never had close relations with Blagojevich doesn't pass the smell test.

In Cook County especially, you don't get into politics, get elected a state senator, get elected a U.S. senator, and get elected U.S. president unless you have CLOSE, CONTINUING, PERSONAL relations with the top tier of the Illinois Democrat Party.

And, believe me, nobody in the top echelons has any illusions about the corruption within the political structure in the Land of Lincoln.

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Thanks, TH. You were way ahead of the curve explaining why an Obama administration has the potential to bring a corrupt culture to D. C. worse than what’s already there.

Rick Moran grew up in Illinois where he still lives. He’s followed Chicago and Illinois politics for years. His American Thinker post today in response to Gov. Blagojevich’s “salesmanship” has the sharp commentary only someone who knows “the players well” and how “they play the game” can provide.

Moran begins - - -

Those of us who have followed Illinois politics for any length of time are tempted to give the Rod Blagojevich arrest and pending indictment a quick shrug, a knowing smile, and a cynical sigh of know-it-all arrogance. "We've seen this before in Illinois, nothing new here, just move along" is the condescending response to questions from out-of-staters that usually suffice when some Illinois politico is caught with his fingers in the taxpayer's cookie jar.

But the Blagojevich True Crime Drama is not criminality as usual in Illinois politics. The malfeasance of Governor Rod Blagojevich is so outrageous, so brazen, so breathtaking in its scope and character that even jaded journalistic hacks whose beat has been the statehouse for years are shocked.

In the long history of official Illinois corruption, the Blagojevich schemes to personally enrich himself, enrich his cronies, and use the power of his office to further his nefarious designs are unprecedented.


If you read all 72 pages of the indictment, you just can't help being struck by the money-grubbing nature of the governor and his mania for money. He had schemes within schemes to extract cash from supporters, cronies, and companies who wished to do business with the state.

His "pay to play" program was particularly lucrative. This was a scheme where Blagojevich friend and campaign financier Antoin "Tony" Rezko pressured companies doing business with the state to contribute to the Blagojevich re-election campaign in exchange for lucrative state contracts.

Rezko was convicted of 18 counts of fraud in connection with the scheme and the governor's name was prominently mentioned during his trial. Others involved in this scheme include Stuart Levine, a GOP mover and shaker in the state.

At least you can say we here in Illinois are bi-partisan when it comes to corruption. …

Moran’s entire post’s here.

Why's the N&O's Blythe still covering the Duke/Durham frame-up story

Saturday I posted N&O again terms Nifong "fallen prosecutor."

The title tells you the problem. Nifong "fallen?" That's the adjective we most commonly use for our honored war dead and for police officers wounded or killed in the line of duty.

For Nifong "disbarred" and "disgraced" are much more accurate and appropriate adjectives.

The "fallen Nifong" story's reporter, Anne Blythe, shared with Samiha Khanna bylines on the N&O's March 24 and 25, 2006 stories which set off the Duke lacrosse witch hunt and the public part of the attempt to frame three transparently innocent Duke students for gang rape and other felonies.

A commenter responding to N&O again terms Nifong "fallen prosecutor asked why Blyths was still permitted to report on the Duke/Durham case.

That's a reasonable question.

The best answer I can give at this time is this: N&O reporters and editors talk publicly at least about how "proud" they are of the N&O's Duke lacrosse coverage beginning on March 24, 2006 and continuing through to this day.

The N&O acknowledges it made a few mistakes in the first few days of reporting the story, but it places blame for those mistakes squarely on the shoulders of the players, their parents, attorneys and others who "would not cooperate with us."

According to the N&O, after the first few days and once the players, parents, etc. started cooperating, the N&O's coverage was outstanding.

That's self-serving bosh as I've demonstrated many times on this blog.

But given the public position of the N&O regarding its Duke lacrosse coverage, why would it take Blythe off the story since she continues to promote the falsehoods and biases of what the N&O says it its "outstanding Duke lacrosse coverage."

Here's an example of Blythe's biased and false reporting from a July 26, 2007 post - - INNOCENT: N&O STILL CLAIMS "RACIAL SLURS." Blythe never responded to my offer to publish in full whatever response she cared to make to the false statements I noted in her story.

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The July 26, 2007 post begins - - -

"... these three individuals [David Evans, Collin Finnerty and Reade Seligmann,] are innocent of these charges."

North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper, Apr. 11, 2007
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I've just sent the following email to N&O Reporter Anne Blythe, one of two reporters bylined on the Raleigh News & Observer's deliberatly fraudulent March 25, 2006, "anonymous interview" story,

Dancer gives details of ordeal
A woman hired to dance for the Duke lacrosse team describes a night of racial slurs, growing fear and, finally, sexual violence.

That story reported "the victim's" claims that racial slurs were "barked" at her and the other danser before she was brutally beaten and gang-raped. The N&O also withheld from the story the critically important exculpatory news "the victim" said the second dancer had been sexually assaulted but didn't report it for fear of losing her job.

John
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Dear Reporter Blythe:

Your story today, "Nifong apologizes to lacrosse players," includes this:

Defense lawyers have said the players scattered in the wee hours of the morning after the team party because the second escort service dancer threatened to call police about racial slurs uttered by partygoers.

I'm not aware of the defense attorneys saying any such thing.

Can you show me where they did?

If you can't, will you correct your story?

I'll publish your response in full.

Also, you and the N&O claim you reported in your March 25 story only things "the victim" said that were in "a police report."

You've never ID'ed which police report you used. Your March 25 story reported "the victim" saying things that are in no police report made public so far.

Did you really restrict what you reported Crystal Mangum said to what was in a police report? Or did you not?

If you really did use a police report, make it available. I'll publish that in full. People want to see it.

Thank you for your attention to my queries.

Sincerely,

John in Carolina