Wisconsin

On the heels of my last post on 2012, here is PPP's latest poll, which has the President down to 47/47 approval/disapproval in Wisconsin.

Obama's problems in Iowa/Wisconsin/Ohio are about the economy rather than culture. If there's a recovery, even a minor one, come 2012, he won't have trouble there. If unemployment is still at 10% (or more), serial liar Mitt Romney will be very well positioned to have a 325+ electoral vote victory.

Overcriminalization

Finally, finally, finally. Its time has come. Because politicians fear being labeled soft on crime, there can't be any change without the consent of the loony right that created this problem in the first place..

[Conservative, libertarian and business groups'] briefs and public statements are signs of an emerging consensus on the right that the criminal justice system is an aspect of big government that must be contained.

The development represents a sharp break with tough-on-crime policies associated with the Republican Party since the Nixon administration.

“It’s a remarkable phenomenon,” said Norman L. Reimer, executive director of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers. “The left and the right have bent to the point where they are now in agreement on many issues. In the area of criminal justice, the whole idea of less government, less intrusion, less regulation has taken hold.”

Less surprising: the root of the emerging conservative opposition may lie in the increasing prosecution of rich people:

Such so-called overcriminalization is at the heart of the conservative critique of crime policy. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce made the point in a recent friend-of-the-court brief about a federal law often used to prosecute corporate executives and politicians. The law, which makes it a crime for officials to defraud their employers of “honest services,” is, the brief said, both “unintelligible” and “used to target a staggeringly broad swath of behavior.”

Out magazine

Idiots.

Who knew the term had already been coined?

"Post music pop stars," per Entertainment Weekly's Ken Tucker, who ends his review of Adam Lambert's American Music Awards performance with this:

A day after the AMA broadcast, he’s all anyone wants to talk about, and his was the only performance worth considering in multiple ways. Conventional measures of “good” and “bad” went out the window for a few moments. Flouting convention: how rock & roll. Using TV instead of music as a way for a singer to maintain prominence: how pure pop.

The road to 2012: An early look at possible GOP nominees

Iowans know what they think of Sarah Palin: she's out to lunch. But Republicans are crazy about her.

The first public poll to test Palin’s favorabilty in the leadoff nominating state found 55 percent of Iowans hold an unfavorable opinion of Palin a little more than a year after the last election. Only 37 percent feel favorably about her.

And those feelings are intense: The percentage of Iowans who view Palin very unfavorably is more than twice as large as the percentage who view her very favorably.

But more than two-thirds of Republicans like what they see, making her a credible candidate for the 2012 caucuses should she decide to run for president, strategists say.

The real threat for Palin? Mike Huckabee, who, moreover, has lower unfavorables. Expect a whole lot sniping between the two camps in the next two years.

Sixty-eight percent of Iowa Republicans view Palin favorably. That’s close to the 70 percent who hold favorable views of former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, who won the 2008 caucuses, and it’s higher than the 66 percent who view former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich favorably. Palin’s number is also higher than that of former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, runner-up in the 2008 caucuses, who is viewed favorably by 58 percent of the state’s Republicans.

The big X factor still looks like Pawlenty, who is the governor of Minnesota, which is next door. Being from another neighbor, Illinois, we should remember, didn't hurt Obama a bit.

If Romney wins Iowa, he'll win New Hampshire, and the party will fall in line behind him, as Democrats did with Kerry in 2004.  And it could happen, particularly if unemployment remains high then, since the media always gives multimillionaires a pass on economic issues. Never mind that investment bankers and consultants similar to Romney were the cause of the 2008 crash in the first place.

But Romney can only win Iowa if Huckabee and Palin bloody each other in the worst way and Pawlenty is somehow perceived as not quite presidential enough. Evangelicals seem to control at least 40% of the caucus vote. Romney won't get a bit of it. He will have to battle Pawlenty for his share of the remaining 60%. Romney's relatively lower approval rating will make it that much tougher.

Palin doesn't have a prayer in New Hampshire. If Huckabee wins Iowa, she's out of the race, and, most likely, out of national politics forever.

If Romney doesn't win the caucus but defeats Pawlenty, he'll be seen as the top ranked sane candidate. New Hampshire, which shares media markets with the state Romney used to be governor of. Its Republicans are more obsessed about taxes than religion. He is already the frontrunner there; as long as he doesn't flame out or lose badly to Pawlenty, New Hampshire is his. The potential entry of Rudy "One Percent" Giuliani is hardly a threat.

Bottom line: Huckabee has a built-in advantage for Iowa. Palin will have to damage him badly to change that, and it's hard to see how she doesn't damage herself in the process. As a relative unknown,  Pawlenty is the biggest X-factor. Romney has the advantage in New Hampshire. If Huckabee wins Iowa, he may well have the advantage in South Carolina.

At that point, we will see a battle royale in the next few contests: the two former governors absolutely detest each other. If it comes down to these two after South Carolina, we will see a colossal proxy battle between the corporate and evangelical elements of the GOP. Main Street evangelicals versus Wall Street um... non-evangelicals. It will be amazing.

The one (semi) announced candidate on the horizon who can bridge the gap, at least on paper, is Pawlenty. His farm state credentials can win him Iowa. He doesn't look nutty enough to put off New Hampshire voters (particularly its independents, who won't be voting in a one-candidate Democratic primary). Right now, the Minnesota governor looks like the only candidate who can unite both wings of the party. It's hardly surprising that the Swiftboat folks and other George W. Bush's advisers have flocked to the campaign of this relatively unknown: they know he can pull this off.

Finally, and again on paper, Pawlenty is the biggest threat to Barack Obama in a general election: not because Pawlenty can win his home state, but because he could make Iowa and Wisconsin competitive if Obama's at 50% approval.

A Romney-led presidential ticket keeps Virginia, North Carolina, and Florida competitive and, most likely, keep Iowa and Wisconsin in Democratic hands. But it's tough to see a road to an Obama re-election without Iowa and Wisconsin.

If Pawlenty proves to be an able campaigner, 2012 may turn out to be less vicious Republican contest than we hope, and a much more dangerous general.

Purity test

The RNC has proposed one for its 2010 congressional candidates. It requires the standard opposition to gays and immigrants, and the government funding of abortion. But interestingly, it does not require opposition to abortion itself. I wonder if pro-life organizations will read it carefully enough to notice.

Microsoft will pay Murdoch

To make Murdoch's news sites irrelevant by removing them from Google News and putting them instead on Microsoft's little used Bing.

Anything that reduces the reach of News Corp. is great news for the civilized world.

The amazing leopard seal

Tweeted earlier, but this story is remarkable enough to deserve its own post.



Another account by the photographer Paul Nicklen at National Geographic.

And some background from Nicklen's website:

I was very fortunate to grow up on Baffin Island, Nunavut, Canada where we were one of the few non-Inuit families living in a small settlement of 140 Inuit. The Inuit taught me how to survive in the Arctic, read the weather and, most of all, they taught me patience. As a kid, without television, radio, and computer games, my friends and I would spend all of our waking hours in the hills watching wildlife, weather and the light play shadow games across the landscape. At that young age, the seed to become a nature photographer was deeply planted.

In my fourth and final year of studying marine biology at the University of Victoria, I was having a very hard time preparing for my genetics final. The night before the exam, I had a huge revelation. Instead of studying, I wrote feverishly on scrap paper, outlining my career as a nature photographer, right down to the tiniest detail: species, locations, goals, dreams, travels and the list goes on. As expected, I failed the exam miserably but passed the course. But best of all, I had a blueprint for a career filled with passion and hard work. It is kind of eerie how much of what I wrote that night has come true.

Crack ain't whack

Whitney Houston didn't have a decent hit single until a whole decade into her chart-topping career: the post-Bobby, post-crack "Shoop." Big pipes do not a soul singer make. If they did, Bettye Lavette wouldn't be our country's greatest living concert performer. So tonight's appearance at the AMA's was actually pretty decent, particularly considering the horrific, American Idol finale level composition that is "I Didn't Know My Own Strength." Good for her. She should enjoy this manufactured comeback moment and thank the crack that made it possible.

Coakley way ahead

Her 20 point lead is less surprising than...

She is the candidate the likely voters see as the most qualified, best able to understand the problems of people like them, most desirable to have a beer with, and most likely to win.

I can't think of anyone who'd want to have a beer with Madame Javert. Between her cash reserves and name recognition it's hard to see how anyone can catch up. Sad. If only Massachusetts had a Bernie Sanders who'd run against both parties as an independent.

Olympia Snowe

If she voted for the Finance Committee bill, why didn't she vote for cloture?

This year's Kennedy Center honorees

Interesting:

Mel Brooks
Dave Brubeck
Grace Bumbry
Robert De Niro
Bruce Springsteen

A cloture vote to permit debate

It's kind of sad that 40 senators can vote against simple debate on a major national issue without media scrutiny. Isn't that was the Senate is supposed to do? Debate weighty issues?

Carrie Prejean’s brother

Family values alert!

Teabäggern im Hinterland

Are furious at Sarah Palin for leaving them in the cold and taking their cash... just like Big Government.

Puerto Rican authorities fail to invoke hate crime statute

It is time for the Attorney General's office to "assist" the Puerto Rican government, which is once again proving that it only shares American values when there's $5 billion in bailout money involved. The island, furthermore, has a history of violence against gays, exacerbated by the political activism of evangelical church groups.

Reps. José Serrano and Nydia Velázquez understand this history well and are backing the federal government's use of recently enacted hate crimes legislation in this case. Sign the petition urging Eric Holder to have the FBI investigate.

Authoritarianism in Puerto Rico is tied to the statehood party, which has extensive ties to the evangelical world and the police. The party claims to be tough on crime. But Puerto Rican statehooders cannot have it both ways. If they want to be part of the United States, they have to embrace American constitutional and legal norms. If Puerto Rico wants to enforce laws like a foreign country, it should become one. Being an American citizen means more than loving American government bailouts.

Kumbaya, gay teabaggers!

Log Cabin Republicans are ecstatic. The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee passed a bill that would extend benefits to same-sex partners of federal workers.

The funny thing, self-involved and rich gay teabaggers, is that it passed without the vote of a single Republican... not even the pretty, closeted one. The legendary Howie Klein explains.

Oprah: I'm not profit-sharing with the Man no more

The Man proceeds to go broke.

The holier than thou media mogul, maker of two presidents (and let's pray, not a third) will own her personal cable channel. She'll be picking out all the programming. That might sound insufferable to you and me, but there won't be a cable operator in the country who doesn't carry it. Lifetime might as well just fold up its tent and go home.

Meghan McCain

On evangelical Carrie Prejean's porn tapes:

If you’re a Republican, is it better to be in favor of gay marriage or to make a sex tape? That is the question. At least that’s the question that comes to mind after the reaction to the news that anti-gay marriage champion Carrie Prejean made a sex tape. [...]

Frankly, I am sick of all the hypocrisy when it comes to sex and politics in this country—and that goes for all politicians, not just Republicans. Carrie Prejean claims making that tape was “the biggest mistake” of her life—it’s the same one that many other girls have made—but it has since come out that she may have made seven other sex tapes and posed for 30 nude photos. [...]

I find it even more disturbing that as long as you oppose gay marriage, filming yourself having sex is taken more lightly. Does anyone else see the hypocrisy in this kind of thinking? And hypocrisy is something the Republican Party can’t afford to have right now as the GOP struggles to find its identity.

The problem I have with my fellow Republicans is why gay marriage is the trump card in any situation. It seems that as long as you are against gay marriage, any scandal in your life can be overlooked or overcome. When you are in favor of it, however—and I have been very vocal about my support—that position defines you.

Sometimes I wonder if I were against marriage equality, whether it would make it easier for some Republicans to accept my place within this party. I have to constantly remind people of my pro-life, pro-small government stance because the only view that seems to matter is the fact that I believe my gay friends should have the same right to one of our founding ideals—that all men are created equal with certain inalienable rights. I think if Republicans truly believe in keeping government out of our lives—that should include not dictating who one can marry.

Remembering the unpopularity of our greatest president

He was always a tepid abolitionist, you know.

Less than two months later, in the midterm election of 1862, Northerners handed down their judgment on the Emancipator. It was a condemnation, a thumping Republican defeat — what the New York Times called "a vote of want of confidence" in Abraham Lincoln. The middle states that had swept the Railsplitter into the presidency in 1860 — Illinois, Indiana, New York, Ohio and Pennsylvania — had now deserted him. All of them sent new Democratic majorities to Congress. To them was added New Jersey, which was a Republican donnybrook. In all, the number of Democrats in the House almost doubled, from 44 to 75, cutting the Republican majority from 70 percent to 55 percent. Heartsick at the Republicans' ruin, Alexander McClure of Pennsylvania wrote, "I could not conceive it possible for Lincoln to successfully administer the government and prosecute the war with the six most important loyal States declaring against him at the polls."

When the Emancipation Proclamation went into effect on January 1, 1863, Lincoln was pilloried again in the Northern press, and desertions by disgusted soldiers climbed into the thousands. Seeing no slaves freed, even abolitionists were soured by the Proclamation's impotence. As the cold, hard rains of winter announced the approach of the third year of the war's unimaginable sorrow, Lincoln was isolated and alone. Congressman A. G. Riddle of Ohio wrote that, in late February, the "criticism, reflection, reproach, and condemnation" of Lincoln in Congress was so complete that there were only two men in the House who defended him: Isaac Arnold of Illinois and Riddle himself. Author and lawyer Richard Henry Dana, after a visit to Washington in February 1863, reported to Charles Francis Adams:

"As to the politics of Washington, the most striking thing is the absence of personal loyalty to the President. It does not exist. He has no admirers, no enthusiastic supporters, none to bet on his head. If a Republican convention were to be held to-morrow, he would not get the vote of a State." [...]

After Sherman's capture of Atlanta, a New York Republican had predicted, "No man was ever elected to an important office who will get so many unwilling and indifferent votes as L[incoln]. The cause takes the man along." Even after his reelection, plenty of Republicans were skeptical of Lincoln's contribution to the victory. According to Ohio Rep. Lewis D. Campbell, "Nothing but the undying attachment of our people to the Union has saved us from terrible disaster. Mr. Lincoln's popularity had nothing to do with it." Rep. Henry Winter Davis insisted that people had voted for Lincoln only "to keep out worse people — keeping their hands on the pit of the stomach the while!" He called Lincoln's reelection "the subordination of disgust to the necessities of a crisis." Of the seven presidential elections he had participated in, said Rep. George Julian, "I remember none in which the element of personal enthusiasm had a smaller share."

And now hatred of Lincoln developed a new, deadlier character, as dissenting Northerners and ground-under-heel Southerners woke to the awful dawn of four more years of Lincoln's "abuses." This short period culminated in Lincoln's assassination on April 14, 1865. It was only with his death that Lincoln's popularity soared. Lincoln was slain on Good Friday, and pastors who had for four years criticized Lincoln from their pulpits rewrote their Easter Sunday sermons to remember him as an American Moses who brought his people out of slavery but was not allowed to cross over into the Promised Land. Secretary of War Stanton arranged a funeral procession for Lincoln's body on a continental scale, with the slain president now a Republican martyr to freedom, traversing in reverse his train journey from Springfield to the nation's capital four years earlier. Seeing Lincoln's body in his casket, with soldiers in blue standing guard, hundreds of thousands of Northerners forgot their earlier distrust and took away instead an indelible sentimental image of patriotic sacrifice, one that cemented the dominance of the Republican Party for the rest of their lives and their children's.

I see the future

1. The Employment Non-Discrimination Act, the most sweeping civil rights legislation in American history since 1965, will be passed by Congress and signed by President Barack Obama by the end of 2010.

2. The president will not make any pronouncements regarding gay marriage.

3. Gay rights groups will still hate the President at the end of 2010.

The American Taliban

Today Sarah Palin told Sean Hannity that the Fort Hood shooter should have been profiled. Surely law and order Republicans would agree that the same should be done to groups in their party's base who are openly advocating for the assassination of the President of the United States. The time is long past to throw the book at them.

Your arms too short to box with G-d

A saying proven wrong at least this once: Israeli Russian rabbinical student Yuri Foreman becomes the super welterweight champion of the world.

Congressman José Serrano

Calls on the federal government to "assist" Puerto Rican law enforcement in the murder of Jorge Steven López Mercado. The island's reputation for homophobia, evidently, extends far beyond its own borders.

The Facebook group demanding that Puerto Rico follow federal hate crime provisions in this sordid case is here.

Police investigator shames a whole island

Puerto Rico needs to decide whether it shares American values or whether it does so only when it's holding its hand out for $5 billion in stimulus money.

If American values aren't for the island, maybe it's time to declare independence... or have independence declared for Puerto Rico. Even Cuba and the Dominican Republican may soon be moving ahead of it on human rights:

Last Friday (Nov. 13), Jorge Steven López Mercado, an openly-gay 19 year old, was found murdered in a wooded area of the town of Cayey in Puerto Rico. Steven's body was decapitated, dismembered, and burned. The local police investigator went on the Spanish-language channel Univisión and said about Steven:

"Este tipo de personas cuando se meten a esto y salen a la calle saben que esto les puede pasar."

I speak Spanish fluently, so let me give you a rough translation:"

Someone like that, who does those kind of things, and goes out in public, knows full well that this might happen to him."

Excuse me?

We have no way of yet knowing conclusively whether or not this horrible murder was motivated by anti-gay bias. But when the local police investigator says that a teenager should have expected to be decapitated for being gay, clearly we are not going to find out the facts unless impartial law enforcement gets involved.

This case is a perfect example of why federal hate crimes law exists. To enable the federal government (the FBI under the Department of Justice) to investigate local crimes for violations of federal civil rights laws, especially when local law enforcement refuses to do its job.

Sign this petition requesting the Attorney General to do what Puerto Rican government seems unable to do: respect the laws of the United States of America.

Chapel Hill

Has a gay mayor, Mark Kleinschmidt. In a great interview with Pam Spaulding over at the Advocate, he defends North Carolina... and distinguishes it from its neighbors to the South.

Q: One of things I find very interesting, as a North Carolina blogger, and I'm sure you receive this as a North Carolina politician, is that many people are confused about the political identity of our state. What do you say to people when they talk about how N.C. is racist, bigoted, the state of Jesse Helms ...

A: When people mention our racist past and present and Jesse Helms, I ask them where is it that they live that's so different? Where is this Eden that you live in that is absent of all racism or any blowhards that are stoking the fires of racial tension? We just had the misfortune of having a very loud, high-profile senator who just took it upon himself to be the person who threw coal onto the fire every day. To think we're the only place in the country that suffers from vestiges of Jim Crow and slavery is really shortsighted. All that does is give those people something to pat themselves on the back about.

I talk about how North Carolina is different than what a lot of people believe is true about the South. I don't defend Georgia, Mississippi, and Alabama and South Carolina, but we aren't any of those places. We never have been. As the South moved into the '50s, '60s, and civil rights issues began to dominate the American culture, North Carolina was one of the leading states in helping move it forward. We had leaders that had already come of age with progressive values helping to move the state, like Frank Porter Graham, Terry Sanford. And none of them did everything that we would have liked them to have done, but we made enormous progress in ways the states outside of the South only wish they could have made. While they further segregated themselves, our state has taken up the difficult challenge of true integration. And I think we are constantly self-acknowledging that we have not always been successful; it's a continuous process — and this is a state that gives birth to that kind of politics, and we should be proud of it. People need to reevaluate what they think of North Carolina. It's not a surprise to me that North Carolina had the first openly gay elected official [in the South — Joe Herzenberg, elected to the Chapel Hill town council in 1987]. Other states don't share that with Chapel Hill. There are very few places like this.

Although I have received negative feedback from other parts of the state, it's been rare. And over time, it's kind of strange, I've actually become a part of the institution of politics in North Carolina. I have a role ... it's a role I was invited into at least by some parts of the institution, particularly the Democratic Party. So I try to give feedback to these people to have them think about where it is they are from that is so different and that how we are not what they think we are.

The rest of the interview is pretty good, too. Take a look.

Word of the day

Credenza.

Originally in Italian the name meant "belief". This was because in the 16th century the act of "credenza" was the tasting of food and drinks by a servant for a lord or for another important person (like popes and cardinals). By tasting it they made sure the food was not poisoned. The name passed then to the room where the act took place, then to the furniture.

Today is National Call In Day for Equality

Call your member of Congress. Passing the Employment Non-Discrimination Act is way more important, and achievable than state-level referenda on gay marriage. And make sure to tell them not to weaken the bill through amendments to section 4g.

A prediction

Precious will not win Best Picture. I'll be surprised if it wins any other major award.

Washington Times update

The sordid story continues.

Washington Times editorial page editor Richard Miniter is filing a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission against the paper today, alleging discrimination based on age, disability, and religion -- being forced to attend a Unification Church mass wedding -- and he will ask the government to enjoin the Times' assets, his lawyer tells TPM.

The development adds to an already daunting mess of problems at the newspaper, whose top executives were fired last week, and whose executive editor resigned.

Best comments:

• Miniter needs to understand that this is the market at work. He shouldn't rely on the government to solve all his problems.

• It's too funny, these conservatives suddenly discovering that the Washington Times is owned by a religious cult leader. I guess when they were cashing Moon's checks, it was all good, but now that the whole sordid mess is coming apart at the seams...

• lololol... oh man. where to begin -- esp considering the eeoc has been one of those agencies these assholes have demagogued forever...

and, i also just have to note last week's shitcanning of the publisher when he was walked to his car and his cellphone and computer confiscated by moonie security goons. i bet those boyz never ever expected to be treated like so much disposable help. lololol.

Here's an interesting about the Messiah: he's best friends with George H.W. Bush. Bush even shilled for Unification Church media properties in Buenos Aires and Uruguay.

“I want to salute Reverend Moon who is the founder of the Washington Times and of the new paper here,” said Bush, who was reported by the Washington
Post to have been paid $100,000 for his Buenos Aires appearance.

“A lot of my friends in South America don’t know about the Washington Times but it is an independent voice,” said Bush. ”The editors of the Washington Times tell me that never once has the man with the vision interfered with the running of the paper, a paper that in my view brings sanity to Washington DC.”

“I am convinced that Tiempos del Mundo is going to do the same thing,” said Bush, who managed to avoid being photographed with the 76-year-old South Korean evangelist during his whole stay in Buenos Aires.

W's brother Neil has done the same for Moon in the Philippines.

John Gorenfeld, author of King of America, notes:

As regular readers of this blog know, attending to these groups is a Bush family tradition. Barbara and George H.W. Bush have long attended Moon’s lucrative and stately peace festivities, which stress the Reverend’s mastery of family values as God’s path to world peace. It’s unclear whether wayward son Neil, who romped with prostitutes in Asia, has any special expertise in this area.

The Newsweek cover

Sarah Palin was OK with it before:

Meacham's remarks comes as a rash of conservative commentators and Palin defenders have attacked Newsweek for running its cover picture of a pig-tailed former Alaska Governor, legs glistening, wearing short running shorts and holding two Blackberries. The image previously appeared on the cover of Runners World, which means that Palin had, at one point, been fine with its publication. But on Monday evening, she took to her Facebook page to denounce the magazine's editorial decision.

Click here for the original Runners World spread.

Carrie gets advice

From a fellow porn star.

Dethroned and derobed Miss USA, Carrie Prejean, is getting some unsolicited advice from actress and former Playboy model, Shauna Sand – Cash in on your sex tapes before it is too late!

Porn purveyors Vivid Entertainment are desperate to get Carrie Prejean's sex tapes to the public, desperate enough to think Carrie will sign off on it, something Carrie's rep says she will never do. (Incidentally, Carrie believes that since she preforms solo in all the eight tapes they cannot be technically labeled as sex tapes.)

Sand's advice maybe unsolicited but it is based on personal experience. (Her own sex tape leaked and ended up being officially released by Vivid. Indeed, Vivid used Sand as a reference in their offer to Prejean's rep!)

The advice, delivered in a missive to the beleaguered 22-year-old, with a profound proclivity to shoot herself in the foot, not unlike the woman she so admires, Sarah Palin, is to take Vivid's offer and make her millions, rather than fight the inevitable leak of the tapes.

An excerpt from the letter:

I went to the meeting full of rage. During the meeting, however, I realized that I could actually take control of the situation. Instead of spending thousands of dollars in legal fees for a lawsuit that could take months or even years to be resolved, I could actually turn things around.

I told Steven that I wanted to eliminate any compensation to the third party since it was my movie that I not only starred in, but also directed and added the music to. I also told him that I wanted to be involved in the marketing of the movie as I really cared about it.
I’m really glad I made that decision. I’m proud of my body and of the passion that I felt during the making of the movie which became “Shauna Sand Exposed.”

Why don’t you consider taking control yourself and handle this situation on your own terms so that you are in the driver’s seat. It all starts with a telephone call to Steven to find out what your options are. I’d be happy to talk to you one-on-one about how I did it.

Carrie Prejean, alas, not a criminal

Reader omen points us to news that the evangelical porn star and former Miss California USA was not underage when she made her eight tapes.

Oh, I'm sorry. Did I say eight? I'm sorry, she made 20, one for every year of her life up to that point.

Carrie Prejean has every reason to lie, by claiming that she was only 17-years-old when she shot the video, the evangelical vixen can write off her skanky behavior as a youthful indiscretion. Not to mention that Web sites will be afraid to post a sex video of an underage girl.

They won't be afraid now:

Carrie Prejean's ex-boyfriend -- the guy to whom she sent the XXX solo video -- tells TMZ Carrie and company called him last week and tried getting him to "lie" and say she was 17 when she shot the video.

During an audio interview with TMZ, the man -- who asked us not to reveal his identity -- says Carrie sent him the video when they were involved with each other in 2007. He says Carrie sent him numerous explicit videos and insists the one in question was shot when she was 20.

We have verified this is indeed the guy to whom Carrie sent her solo video -- which ultimately torpedoed her settlement with Miss California USA.

"Fundamentalism encourages the creation of sexual cripples"

Indeed. The Classically Liberal blog simply owns this story.

Carrie Prejean for President!

Why not? She's against gay marriage and understands the issues as well as Sarah Palin.

That's not me being sarcastic. It's the actual opinion of a sitting Republican congressman from Utah.

[Carrie] has the ability to draw crowds and if she has a strong message to go with that, who knows what she can do? She has star power which can open doors.

We’ve all made mistakes when we were 17. [The sex tape] is going to be an impediment, but people are excited about her convictions and her beliefs.

I'll be excited when she actually is convicted.

What's bringing people to JUSIPER right now?

Well, among those coming here through keyword search:

1. Carrie Prejean porn (22% of all search engine visits)

2. Carrie Prejean porno (13%)

3. carrie prejean (4%)

5. levi centerfold (2%)

Number 19, "porn Carrie Prejean" was tied with "goerge pataki president." And number 37, "carrie prejean porn quote" was tied with "barry white blogspot" and "cake boss marathon."

Only big Jersey cakes and sweet, sweet music have a chance against porn. And porn will beat out politics, every time.

The Washington Times

Reverend Moon's Washington outpost doesn't just come out against race-mixing. Today it makes a point of attacking the President's mother.

It's no fault of the president that he has no natural instinct or blood impulse for what the America of "the 57 states" is about. He was sired by a Kenyan father, born to a mother attracted to men of the Third World and reared by grandparents in Hawaii, a paradise far from the American mainstream.

Confirmed

As we all expected, the American Republican Catholic Church hierarchy is leaning on Democratic congressmen on abortion. But will they do the same to Republicans on their other concerns?

But the bishops are the first to admit they are far closer to the speaker than to the Senate on the major issues of subsidies for the poor and treatment of immigrants — two flash points for Pelosi’s left. And the big question for House Democrats now is whether they will see some of the same muscle that was applied to them on abortion.

Quick answer: never. Because the white Republican hierarchy of the Catholic Church only pays lip service to its fastest growing segment immigrants and the poor. Tiaras, Serengeti sunglasses, and this lovely red cardinalitial wedding train, after all. cost good money.

Cardinal Franc "American Nuns Are Evil" Rodé. Photos via the National Catholic Register.

Rich Catholics want two things: a tax cut and the Church's confirmation of their salvation and the superiority of their lifestyle. By reducing itself to an obsession with other people's sex lives, Rome has truly become a beacon to those with plenty: a Church that presents no spiritual challenge. You won't hear much about Matthew 19:24 in the white Catholic churches that matter in America: "It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God."

No, Matthew 26:11 is the unsaid mantra today: "The poor you will always have with you." America's all white, Republican church hierarchy is doing its level best to make sure of that.

Amen.

The Seinfeld reunion

I'll avoid any spoilers and just say that Curb Your Enthusiasm goes there.

Carrie Prejean update!

Not one, not two, not even three. No, she made eight sex tapes. Michael Musto is right:

​It seems that every few weeks, a new scandal from bible thumping hypocrite Carrie Prejean comes to the public's attention, and the deposed beauty-queen-turned-professional-victim declares, "That was the biggest mistake of my life" blah blah fucking blah.

But what she really means is "That was the biggest mistake of my life that y'all have found out about so far!" [...]

This may be the first tiara wearer in history whose platform was morality and whose talent was, basically, porn.

Don't trust Google?

Don't use Google Chrome. Use Iron. It has all the speed of the Google browser without the invasion of privacy. Iron isn't available for the Mac, but it's likely the best browser for Windows.

“The thing is that people are complex"

Belle De Jour, author of Diary of a London Call Girl, reveals her true identity. And it's Doctor Belle, thank you very much. One day she may discover the cure for cancer. And she's certainly more qualified to be first lady of France than the present holder of the title.

Malcolm Gladwell

Slapped down. For a second time. The first one was definitive, though. Also, tomorrow is the beginning of the rest of your life.

We must, however, concede our grudging respect for winning "the 1500-meter Midget Boys title at the 1978 Ontario High School championships." He must have practiced, I dunno, like 10,000 hours.

The Secretary of State

Not as disciplined as we might think. A typically excellent piece by Michael Crowley. And it turns out that Congo wasn't a mistranslation, which is fine with me; it makes her answer that much more terrific.



It is true that the infamous incident (a postscript here) overshadowed her entire trip to Africa in terms of media attention, but I don't think it was a huge minus diplomatically.

Nor do I think it was such a bad thing for Hillary to tell Pakistanis the truth.

While there, Hillary admirably parried anti-American abuse in public forums, but the pressure pushed her into a comment that undercut her mission. During one meeting with several ornery Pakistani journalists, Clinton “appeared to get annoyed,” as one local paper wrote, and snapped that she found it “hard to believe that nobody in your government knows where [Al Qaeda leaders] are and couldn’t get them if they really wanted to.” After her rejoinder got a testy reception in the Pakistani media, Hillary “carefully scaled back her comments,” as the Associated Press wrote, insisting that she didn’t believe Pakistan harbors terrorists. Crowley says Clinton has no regrets. “To the extent that there is a change in approach to the world,” he says, “it involves a genuine dialogue, not just a delivery of polite diplomatic points.”

Indeed, immediate reaction in Pakistani media outlets was mixed; and many opionmakers appreciated the honesty. Her statement could hardly have come as a surprise to Pakistanis themselves. They are, after all, now the victims of terrorist movements of their own creation.

As for the rest of the piece, it's more or less on target, but most Democrats, even those who found her post-Wisconsin 2008 campaign utterly detestable, are just fine with her performance as SOS. And when she does make a gaffe, the President probably doesn't mind being the good cop.

"Goodbye, Lou Dobbs, and good riddance"

Roger Friedman of Showbiz411.com, a former employee of CNN and Fox News, delivers the slam:

So Lou Dobbs is gone from CNN. Goodbye, and good riddance. I freelanced on a show called “Biz Buzz” at CNNfn in the late 90s. Dobbs was abusive and totalitarian to everyone around him. When he left in 1999 for Space.com, no one cried. He was impossibly rude. When he left that time, no one cried.

More recently, Dobbs has lost his mind on CNN. He belongs squarely on Fox News or their little watched Business Network. His right wing opinions about immigration and just about everything else have helped him “jump the shark.” Like Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck and Michael Savage, Dobbs foments hate. He has no connection to objective journalism. CNN scarcely has viewers now. The remaining ones won’t miss him.

The negative vibe of right wing broadcasting and print is taking a big hit these days, and why not? This week a fired New York Post editor sued the paper for sexual harrassment and wrongful termination. She alleges in her lawsuit that the editors at the Post told her they were going to “get” President Barack Obama. I am certain she is correct in this. In mid-March, in the same building, Fox News editors were told the exact same thing. It was relayed to me at lunch right after it happened.

Windows XP was released in 2001

I don't doubt that Windows 7 is an improvement of some sort, but this is just appalling:

Windows 7 is here and it brought with it a huge list of improvements that should have many users wanting to upgrade if they haven't already – unless if you have a netbook.

Recent tests from Laptop Mag, Liliputing and jkOnTheRun all show that netbook users will get longer battery life while running Windows XP than Windows 7. This is slightly surprising given that Microsoft have boasted about all the work that's gone into power efficiency and how it's been improved over Vista. While Windows 7 may be better than Vista, it's not besting XP just yet.

Laptop's tests found that netbooks running Windows XP ran for 47 minutes longer than those with Windows 7. Numbers across tests show varying differences in battery life, but the consistent result is that XP is a better choice for those who need all the battery life one can get.