Nice to see that the same folks who brought you the Harold Ford, Jr. Mandingo ads are being used to beat up on a guy's wife. I guess articulating that Obama is a stealth Muslim, a socialist, an Al Qaeda Manchurian Candidate, or just the Antichrist is getting too hard for the GOP, so when the going gets tough just use the Mindless Minions of Mental Midgets called the TN GOP to do the work. They are cheap and it comes naturally to them.

Will our conservative posters repudiate this ad or will they just call it "politics" or spend a couple of hours dissembling along the "Democrats do it too" or "That's not what the ad says" narratives? I hold out no hope.

Governor of New York, Eliot Spitzer announced this afternoon that he had engaged a prostitute. Speculation is he will resign.

Three quick observations:

• This is payback for the Wall Street Crusader stuff. He's also gone after NY State Senate Leader Joseph Bruno, who is extremely powerful. Bruno is a Sith lord of dirty politics
• He may have violated the Mann Act as the prostitute is thought to have come to DC to visit him from New York. This is considered "white" slavery, though it probably will be a charge that the leaders of the prostitution ring will face, not the johns.
• He's a Hillary supporter. Will she repudiate him?

Another thought: I think he has to go as this is a executive position. GOP creeps* like David Vitter can ease along in these cases because of the limited scope of their office. The State of NY is different from some Louisiana congressional district.

*Spitzer is a creep too. The look on his wife's face should tell every jerk who cheats what pain stepping out on your wife causes.

Despite being born over 450 years after the signing of the treaty between King John II of Portugal and Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain, Clinton cited her vast experience in land deals and bloodline connections to a here-to-fore unknown Spanish explorer, Manuel De La Salchicha, who discovered Coney Island. She cited her key role in brokering the Treaty of Tordesillas as an example of this experience.

The Treaty of Tordesillas fixed problems between the Spanish and Portuguese over how the New World would be divided between them. In the Western Hemisphere, a line of demarcation was drawn that gave a majority of holdings in to the Spanish, who ceded claims to India. The Portuguese gained the easternmost part of South America, which later was expanded as the colony of Brazil. The disputes arose from unclear demarcations in a papal bull handed down by Alexander VI. The treaty was amended several times in to the 16th Century.

A press release from the Clinton camp offered this connection to the Treaty of Tordesillas as further proof of Hillary Clinton's foreign policy experience. "Hillary has consistently shown that despite all logic, she is the better foreign policy expert in this campaign. Tied to her pivotal role in brokering the Northern Irish peace, she thinks that the American people will see her claims of experience as unassailable."

An advisor to Barack Obama was quick to respond. "To claim an intellectual heritage bound to the horror of colonialism is monstrous," said Gomi Slabha, professor of gender and post-colonial discourses at Middlebury College. Professor Slabha was immediately sacked. Obama released a statement distancing himself from Slabha. "I find that we do not need to tell the truth at this point of the campaign and I repudiate such behavior."

A Jersey City, NJ based company gave its penny stocks to Bill Clinton as payment for services in 2004. What was a $0.66 a share stock in a private company was sold by Bill Clinton for $3.50 a share in 2006 and given to his foundation. The company in question is owned by convicted money launderer and the Chinese government. While not directly tied to Hillary, this is the one of the types of financial dealings that have shown up on the Clintons' tax returns in the past. What's on there now? It's a valid question.

Harold Ickes. Always two there are. No more, no less. A master, and an apprentice.

American Conservatives claim credit. By giving Castro menacing looks for 35 years, the American Conservative movement has brought down this evil dictatorship using the time-honored tactic of old age. Once again, a historical moment occurs under the steady hand of George W. Bush, who "Can't wait to see Dean Martin again in Havana like Daddy used to." Democrats reacted with horror as their ideal state has started to collapse to be replaced with big box retailers and market-based health care.

Winston Churchill said that Russian politics are akin to watching dogs fight under a carpet. This interview makes me wish that American politics were waged under that same carpet. Rush Limbaugh once said that Katie Couric was the Eva Braun of the American Left. I have always wondered what the hell that meant. It's bad enough to go Godwin, but to mix metaphors and violate Godwin's law at the same time demonstrates that the guy isn't so sharp. Anyhow, it is impossible to come up with some slap-down analogy for Couric at this late date. It speaks for itself.

First part of the interview:

First of all, you have to go to a school or a community center. Two places I don't like.

Warning: Not safe for work.

Hell, it's McCain....

A new survey out of Britain sets the mid-point of the estimate of post-invasion deaths in Iraq at just over 1 million. That's a one followed by six zeros. The methodology was similar to a previous study that came up with a wider possible range of deaths. This one confirms that one, shifts the range up and has a lot less error. That was all worth it, wasn't it?

China to Germany by rail.

Link...

I once shared a couchette on a train from Budapest to Venice with a woman who was making her way to Barcelona to catch a steamship to New York. No. It wasn't 1936. It was 2003. She had started in New York 8 weeks earlier and took Amtrak to Emeryville, CA, then took a local train to San Francisco. She got a passenger berth on a container ship to Vladivostok in Eastern Russia (you can do that and, incongruously, it ain't cheap). She boarded a west bound train headed to Moscow via the Trans-Siberian Express. I have no idea how long that takes. She had taken the cure for a couple of days at a spa in Budapest after pulling in from Moscow. She was in her late 70s and I have to say that was the damn coolest trip. No planes. Just lots of time to read and look out the window.

There is only one way to describe Bush's trip to the Middle East: Shambolic. Embarrassing is too nice a word and inept doesn't capture the horrifyingly bad performance to which we were subjected this past week. Wow.

Three major points of rank stupidity stick out:

Only in America, err, South Carolina, err, Myrtle Beach.

Link...

It makes me wonder. If you were to immortalize GOP candidates in Pigeon Forge, what raw material would you use? Feathers plucked from Lee Greenwood's pet Super Eagles?

H/T to captainkona in the comments.

If they dare to come out in the open field and defend the gold standard as a good thing, we shall fight them to the uttermost, having behind us the producing masses of the nation and the world. Having behind us the commercial interests and the laboring interests and all the toiling masses, we shall answer their demands for a gold standard by saying to them, you shall not press down upon the brow of labor this crown of thorns. You shall not crucify mankind upon a cross of gold. -- William Jennings Bryan

Barack Obama was the main attraction up the street at Saint Peter's College today. I planned on attending but it conflicted with pre-arranged activities for the kids and, frankly, I'd rather assent to my daughters' wishes and potential hissy fits than listen to a stump speech. Oh, I am sure that Obama can deliver a humdinger, but I'd really rather not. So, I decided to take another approach in getting a feel for the crowd and what was going on. This AM I had a series of meetings on some research work I am doing and a meeting with my co-teacher (I'm a "mentor" grad instructor now) in Manhattan. I came back at 130PM on the PATH train to Journal Square with the throng headed from the City to Not-The-City to hear him speak. Here's what I found out/discovered about the folks who want to hear what Obama has to say or are, in some cases, hard on the side of the man from Illinois.

RedState is your usual GOP presser repeat site with the odd racist post tossed in. So they are in the can financially and have had to pass the hat. No problems there. It happens all the time and if you like a site you should advertise on them or pony up when they ask. Now read this and try not to laugh too hard. That's right. They used Scoop and since the developer seems to be a Libruhl, it's costing them money somehow, because of the developers' political bent. Good grief. So they switched to Drupal. Well, that tears it and proves that RedState is unAmerican(tm). Drupal is a Dutch program. Can you believe it's from Holland?*

Classic. Allegedly, the woman is a Romney staffer. Something tells me the Knox County sign thieves would never go out into 3 feet of snow.

You will learn exactly 94% of what any given investment guru knows about markets by watching this video. H/T to The Largest Minority.

Here's my prognostication:

Dems in order:

Obama
Clinton
Edwards
Richardson
The Field

GOP in order:

Romney
Huckabee
McCain
Giuliani
Thompson
The Field

I emphasize Richardson as I think he is going to show up as a lot of caucus goers second pick and that will put his candidacy at a crossroads. Do you continue after telling your caucused voters to throw their second round votes to Obama? Or do you cut bait and go for Veep under Obama or Secretary of State? Could voters go for an African-American/Hispanic ticket? On the issues, especially wedge issues like gun rights, Richardson is strong (his foreign policy expertise alone should put him as front runner if the media actually cared about stuff like that).

My emphasis on McCain, Giuliani and Thompson in the eminently more interesting and scarier GOP race goes this way. McCain comes in third and he is then in great position to pull into first with a big win in New Hampshire (where he as been strong before). Giuliani will stay in the race in fourth, hoping for the "crackdown/authoritarian"-type GOP voter elsewhere. Thompson will quit the race if he doesn't get third. He won't get third as Iowans seem to know a terrible candidate and an outright phony when they see one.

Between, first and second in either party caucus, it is probably too close to call. Romney will take Huckabee because of the organization he has. Huckabee will see a flood of money after Iowa. Obama will squeak by Clinton, who will go into the later primaries a little smarter, but had better not go negative. It isn't as inevitable as it seems, it seems.

OK. I am the last person who would cop to paranoia, but I had to do a head check after reading this from Cal Thomas.

"This election should be more about competence and less about ideology, or even faith. It shouldn't matter where — or if — a candidate goes to church, but whether he (or she) can run the country well, according to the principles in which the voter believes. And, if those principles include a person of faith, so much the better. God can be the ultimate check and balance on earthly power."

Tell me I am crazy, please, but did Cal Thomas just say that he was willing to suffer a non-evangelical as President in order to get competence? [spit take] And just who would that be? If there is one thing that old Cal likes and that's some application of state power. Il Duce fits the bill: non-evangelical and seen as "competent." Now, that competence is generally attributed to Giuliani by folks who Tivo the History Channel, but I think Cal just asked his fellow travelers to give Giuliani a look.

Is a warning an order? Is an order a warning? That's the spin on the warning to to preserve the CIA interrogation tapes. Do not eat yellow snow. Is that an order or a warning? Stop signs. Orders or warnings? Do not castrate rare gorillas? Order or warning?

So where's this lil booga sleeping?

Richard Land, a prominent evangelical and head of the Southern Baptist Conference's Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission says that a Giuliani candidacy will force a schism. His personal belief is that he could not vote his conscience with a ballot cast for Il Duce. Forget his masculinist rhetoric and think about the idea that a 1/3 of the GOP is poised to bail.

Would Huckabee be the salve that soothes? Could Giuliani put such a coalition together? [sarcasm]Nothing that cynical could ever happen.[/sarcasm]

This has made the rounds and deserves a notice. While a blog host can allow or disallow any speech they want on their site, the quashing of Ron Paul supporters at Red State is probably the perfect representation of how the Right eats its own. I can't tell you how funny this all is. THERE CAN BE NO CRITICISM OF THE ONE TRUE PARTY! Paul, who is criticizing Bush from the Right, is polling remarkably well and his appeal is broad-based ranging from Big 'L' libertarians/Republicans-who-want-to-get-high to, unfortunately, horror shows like Stormfront. He's big with the Shoot Cans Crowd too (a former poster* is now actively promoting the GOP iconoclast).

George Carlin was the first "blue" comedian I every heard. It was on one of his first HBO specials and my dad let me watch, telling me that "You'll laugh at the dirty stuff, but pay attention to what he is really saying." Here he is with Olbermann (who gets not enough credit for being funny, smart and a thorn in Power's side).

Best funny line: “Don’t these professional Christians have something to do during the day? I mean, isn’t there - didn’t Jesus leave instructions on how to plan your day with something constructive?”

Best sobering line: The cellphones making pancakes leading to distraction leading to Power doing what it wants.

Plumpy'nut is a peanut-based emergency anti-malnutrition food that NGOs such as Doctors Without Borders are deploying in some of the most hunger stricken places in the world. Sunday's 60 Minutes had a piece on this food's impact. I first learned about it while doing work on AIDS in Africa and infant nutrition for The Francis Xavier Bagnoud Center.

Argentines are selling their votes on EBay for their upcoming elections. I love it. While I know it is illegal here, I'd like to know how much you think your vote is worth. People are already selling your vote via campaign information and the like. How much would you take for your vote? Mine is worth $58000.

The Times has an article about the new navigation medallions being installed outside subway stations to hoots of derision from native NYers.

Link...

Why on earth are these needed? Here's how you navigate in NY (Manhattan): When you come out of the subway look at the avenue traffic. If the avenue is an even numbered one (or Madison) the traffic is headed uptown, always. If you face in the direction of traffic then your left is east and your right is west. The opposite applies on odd numbered avenues and Lexington Avenue. Park Ave goes both ways, just look to the Met Life Building. That's uptown if you are south of the Park. Broadway is tricky because it runs diagonally, but downtown. The same rule applies, but be careful where it intersects with other avenues. Capiche?

In the Village, Lower Manhattan or Brooklyn, you where there is no grid or none visible to the untrained eye, you can do this neat thing called "Asking for directions." "Hey, boss, where's the Brooklyn Museum from here?" Contrary to popular belief people will not shoot you for asking directions. In Queens or The Bronx, YMMV.

Wow. Newsweek reports that Blackwater mercenaries forced US troops to lie face down at gun point in the street after a Humvee versus Blackwater SUV accident in the Green Zone. So they slaughter civilians and humiliate soldiers? Nice, war you are running there, Mr. Cheney. Nice war.

Since all the 'nutters love their US History, guess what: We have our Hessians . How can you deny that we are the Empire? Huh?

Well, she's done gone and done it now.

Link...

That's it for you, Anne. Don't let the door knob whack ya where the good Lord cracked ya.

What's next? Blood libel?