CNN Enables Rudy Giuliani's Deceitful Excuse

Rudy & Judi 4-eva
Why do I watch morning TV? To see outrages like this I suppose. Rudy Giuliani has treated his kids like shit. He was happy to trot them out for photo ops when he was mayor of New York. Then he took up with Judith Nathan, even to the point of bringing her into Gracie Mansion where he lived with his wife Donna Hanover and his two kids. Donna Hanover had to ask for a restraining order to keep Rudy from parading his mistress in front of his kids. (The family court judge agreed with her and issued the restraining order against Nathan.) Finally he got his divorce and married his paramour Nathan. Then he pretty much ignored his kids. Didn't go to his son Andrew's high school graduation (the kid is now on the golf team at Duke), didn't go to his daughter's plays, just wasn't around very much. Busy being America's Mayor and pimping out his reputation on the lecture circuit for $100,000 a pop. Just a regular dad, out there ignoring his first family. He doesn't even list his children on his official campaign website.

Not surprisingly, the kids don't really have a very good relationship with 'ol Rudy. Andrew Giuliani was quoted saying as much in the papers this week.

CNN did a piece just now with the brain-dead O'Brien twins, Miles and Soledad, questioning Candy Crowley. Of course, they painted Bill Clinton as a liability -- such a good speaker that it's hard to be on the same stage with him. Candy Crowley said it was like the old saying about children and dogs, you just don't want to share the stage with them. (She had to throw the word dog in there. Four letters short of horndog, what the wingnuts really want to say.)

And for Giuliani? She reported that he described his problems with his son Andrew as "problems blended families have." Then they showed a clip of Rudy saying the problem is just the kind that blended families have. Then Candy Crowley said, well, we all know that college kids are not easy to deal with. So it looks like this is just a blended family problem. End of story.

Blended families? No mention of how shittily Rudy treated his family and his kids. Bill Clinton is a liability because he's so popular, but Rudy's treatment isn't a liability, because it's just a blended family issue.

A Republican lie makes it onto cable TV while the truth is tying its shoes on the blogs. You heard it here first.

Ouch

I saw this awesome photoshop at Ramblings of a Soccer Junky.

Good Reads

Heading into the studio to make platters today; here are some good reads out there today.

Brilliant at Breakfast: It's time to take health insurance out of the for-profit model

Yesterday's New York Times editorial gives Democrats a blueprint for moving forward to restore our constitutional democracy: The Must-Do List

Alicia Shepard, HuffPo: All Men, All the Time in News Business Are you surprised?

Welcome to Pottersville: Assclowns of the Week #61: “He’s a Wifebeater But I Love Him!” Edition Yes, they are all Republicans.

For full coverage of the U.S. Attorney purge scandal, make sure to read Talking Points Memo; head to Firedoglake for Scooter Libby trial updates.

Walter Reed Is The Direct Result of Republican Policy Choices

It will be important to keep the media on track on this story. I heard Jim Miklaszewski on Imus this morning claiming this is just how things get done by the military bureaucracy. Not so. This is not a story about government incompetence. As Paul Krugman points out today, improvements in the Veterans Administration during the Clinton years made the VA one of the best health care systems in the country. Government did that. Good, responsible government dedicated to using the power of the purse wisely. Democrats in charge. People who believe that government works.

The problem with Walter Reed and military medical care is not government incompetence. It's the Bush Administration's Republican attack upon government, in their effort to fulfill Grover Norquist's desire to shrink the federal government until it can be drowned in a bathtub. These are deliberate policy choices, not just incompetence. They have attacked good government from within. The functioning system at Walter Reed and at Veterans Administration facilities around the country has been attacked with the weapon of privatization. Why? Partly, so rich corporations like Halliburton can continue to rake in billions in profits. But it is also part of their insidious attack upon government, to make government look as bad as they always claim it is. They are trying to destroy our government from within. This isn't just incompetence. It's their policy. Starve the federal government, then claim government itself doesn't work and privatize everything.

They must be stopped.

WaPo: 'It Is Just Not Walter Reed'
Soldiers Share Troubling Stories Of Military Health Care Across U.S.

Paul Krugman, NYTimes: Valor and Squalor (TimesSelect wall; also here and here).

AirForceTimes: Soldiers at Walter Reed Building 18 moved

Steve Young, OpEdNews: Johnny Gets His Gun Again: Walter Reed Reveals Right's Bloody Secret

WaPo: Walter Reed Hearing to Put Spotlight on Kiley's Leadership

Political Affairs Magazine: Privatization Behind Disaster at Walter Reed Hospital

Frogs and Bees are the Canaries in our Coal Mine

Endangered
They're dying, and no one knows why. Global warming? Pollution? The cumulative effects of the 500 new chemicals which are introduced into our environment every year? Whatever the answer, it's bad news for the planet.

Marin County Coastal Post Online: The Frogs Are Dying

ATLANTA - Ponds and swamps are becoming eerily silent. The familiar melody of ribbits, croaks and chirps is disappearing as a mysterious killer fungus wipes out frog populations around the globe, a phenomenon likened to the extinction of dinosaurs.

Scientists from around the world are meeting Thursday and Friday in Atlanta to organize a worldwide effort to stem the deaths by asking zoos, aquariums and botanical gardens to take in threatened frogs until the fungus can be stopped.

The aim of the group called Amphibian Ark is to prevent the world's more than 6,000 species of frogs, salamanders and wormlike Sicilians from disappearing. Scientists estimate up to 170 species of frogs have become extinct in the past decade from the fungus and other causes, and an additional 1,900 species are threatened.

NYTimes (Feb. 27): Honeybees Vanish, Leaving Keepers in Peril

[B]ee losses are ranging from 30 to 60 percent on the West Coast, with some beekeepers on the East Coast and in Texas reporting losses of more than 70 percent; beekeepers consider a loss of up to 20 percent in the offseason to be normal.

NYTimes (Feb. 12): Mystery Disease Is Threat to Bee Colonies

A mysterious illness is killing tens of thousands of honeybee colonies across the country, threatening honey production, the livelihood of beekeepers and possibly crops that need bees for pollination.

Researchers are scrambling to find the cause of the ailment, called colony collapse disorder.

Reports of unusual colony deaths have come from at least 22 states. Some commercial beekeepers have reported losing more than 50 percent of their bees.

Bradenton (FL) Herald: Bees dropping from mystery illness

Little is known, he said, but this: Something seems to be breaking down the bees' immune systems.

Operation Photo Oops

Official caption from whitehouse.gov: President George W. Bush visits with residents in Americus, Ga., March 3, 2007. The President toured tornado-damaged areas in Alabama and Georgia. White House photo by Paul Morse

Potential, real captions:

How's this pose, Turdblossom?

I'm already bored

Bush grows bored with photo op, calls Condi, tells her she's been replaced with younger woman.

Bush calls Laura to tell her his latest fantasy

Calling all morons

You make the call

Can you hear me now?

Ya think this'll make 'em forget about Walter Reed?

I saw this picture on Huffpo: Reading The Pictures: The "Fly By" That Won't Die

That Must Be Some Coffee Can!

This paragraph leaped out at me from an article in today's Boston Globe:

DiCenso pleaded not guilty yesterday to a host of drug and weapons charges in Chelsea District Court. Police said the raid at his house on Thursday netted 1.5 kilograms of cocaine, enough for 53 single-ounce sales, stashed in a can filled with coffee grounds, two machine guns, three handguns, and a thick wad of cash.

Must have been one of those industrial size cans. Machine gun sized. Ah, the lost art of punctuation.

Panda Pile

Panda cubs born in 2006 play at the China Wolong Giant Panda Research Center, southwest China's Sichuan province, in this November 7, 2006 file photo. The Center, where 11 residential giant pandas gave birth to 18 cubs from July to September 2006, is soliciting names from the public for all 18 cubs, local media reported on January 24, 2007. CHINA OUT REUTERS/China Daily (CHINA)

Sports News Updates

TOTALLY UNRELATED PHOTO: Jan Christensen's "Relative Value" on display at the MGM Gallery in Oslo. The painting featuring 16,311 dollars (12,400 euros) of banknotes glued to a canvas proved too tempting to thieves, who made off with it at the weekend.(AFP/Scapix/File)

Here are some updates on some wildly disparate sports stories we've followed here:

Jen Harris settled her case against Penn State and their lesbian-hating coach Rene the Weenie Portland. Terms were not disclosed, although Harris's lawyer said in a separate statement that Penn State would be taking steps to "further protect all students who have experienced discriminatory treatment". Read opinions on the settlement here, here, and here. As a veteran of many sexual harassment claims, I'm sure Penn State had dug up enough dirt on Harris that she didn't want to go to trial and be embarrassed. Even though Rene Portland probably knew none of it when she kicked Harris off the team for being a lesbian, courts have routinely allowed defendants to embarrass victims of sexual harassment in this situation. I hope the kid got a bucketload of money.

Ranger dancer Courtney Prince won a victory in her sexual harassment lawsuit against the New York Rangers. She will be given all paperwork generated by the Rangers in their internal investigation of her claims, and their investigation of five other claims, including the claim by Anucha Browne Sanders .

Liverpool's Welsh firebrand Craig Bellamy tells the truth about him teeing off against John Arne-Riise before their ChampionsLeague clash with Barcelona last week. Yup, he threatened his teammate with a golf club. Idiota.

Despite more and more national attention to his case, Genarlow Wilson still rots in jail in Georgia. The Georgia state senate has voted the bill that would allow his case to be reviewed out of the Senate Judiciary Committee, but they are on a two week recess.

"Paid For By Al Sharpton's Family"

Darth Cheney traveled in style to and from Pakistan this week. The name of the C-17 military transport in which he traveled is "The Spirit of Strom Thurmond."

Given this week's news that Thurmond's family owned members of Sharpton's family, shouldn't the plane be re-christened, "Paid For By Al Sharpton's Family". Or at least have that added as a coda to the name?

Run, Ricky, Run

Mike Richter is attending Yale University with an undergraduate major in ethics, politics and economics.
Brad Barket/Getty Images

More news on the possible Richter run for Congress. I have to say, Richter is one of the most competitive people I've ever met. I'd love to see him battling it out in a Congressional race.

SwingStateProject: CT-04: Richter Scale Rising (note, I believe they are using the wicked awesome pic of Mike I dug up!)

AP via MSNBC: Ex-Rangers goalie Richter to run for Congress?
'Hockey background could actually be an attraction to some voters here'

Richter worked last year for U.S. Rep. John Hall, a Democrat and former musician who upset six-term incumbent Republican Sue Kelly in upstate New York. Richter helped Hall, who opposed the Iraq war, win over police officers, fire fighters and other constituents who might not have otherwise voted for him, said Tom Staudter, Hall's spokesman.

"He was hugely popular," Staudter said, describing Richter as bright and friendly. "He'll be great."

In a sign of his status, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani named his dog "Goalie" after Richter.

Richter said Wednesday that he did not want to discuss his positions on the war and other issues because he hasn't decided whether to run. He would not comment on the likelihood that he would challenge Shays, noting that he must consider the needs of his wife and three young sons.

Richter, who does not live in the district, is attending Yale University with an undergraduate major in ethics, politics and economics. State law allows legal Connecticut residents to run for federal office in districts even if they do not live there.

The 4th Congressional District has 120,000 Democrats, 102,000 Republicans and 148,000 unaffiliated voters and includes the nation's wealthiest towns as well as Bridgeport, a largely impoverished city that is the largest in Connecticut.

Wikipedia: Mike Richter

"Heckuva Job" Kiley Promoted

Only in Bushworld. Lt. General Kevin Kiley, who allowed an injured soldier to sleep in his own urine -- after a Congressman's wife went to his office to tell him about it -- has been promoted to be top administrator of Walter Reed Army Medical Center.

Kevin, you're doin' a heckuva job. Heh heh heh.

The Role of Captain Renault Will Be Played by Walter Reed Commander Lt. Gen. Kevin C. Kiley

Captain Renault, memorably played by Claude Rains in Casablanca, says during a gambling raid: "I'm shocked, shocked to find that gambling is going on in here!" Lt. Gen. Kiley has gone on all the TV shows this week claiming not only that he did not know about the problems unearthed by the Washington Post investigation, but that they did not exist or were being exaggerated by the media. Here are your winnings, sir.

WaPo: Hospital Officials Knew of Neglect
Complaints About Walter Reed Were Voiced for Years

Top officials at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, including the Army's surgeon general, have heard complaints about outpatient neglect from family members, veterans groups and members of Congress for more than three years.

A procession of Pentagon and Walter Reed officials expressed surprise last week about the living conditions and bureaucratic nightmares faced by wounded soldiers staying at the D.C. medical facility. But as far back as 2003, the commander of Walter Reed, Lt. Gen. Kevin C. Kiley, who is now the Army's top medical officer, was told that soldiers who were wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan were languishing and lost on the grounds, according to interviews.

[]

Kiley lives across the street from Building 18. From his quarters, he can see the scrappy building and busy traffic the soldiers must cross to get to the 113-acre post. At a news conference last week, Kiley, who declined several requests for interviews for this article, said that the problems of Building 18 "weren't serious and there weren't a lot of them." He also said they were not "emblematic of a process of Walter Reed that has abandoned soldiers and their families."

But according to interviews, Kiley, his successive commanders at Walter Reed and various top noncommissioned officers in charge of soldiers' lives have heard a stream of complaints about outpatient treatment over the past several years. The complaints have surfaced at town hall meetings for staff and soldiers, at commanders' "sensing sessions" in which soldiers or officers are encouraged to speak freely, and in several inspector general's reports detailing building conditions, safety issues and other matters.

Bushco to Wounded Troops: Shut Up and Salute

MSNBC: One Way to Stop the Bad News at Walter Reed (quoting the Army Times)

DoD Cracks Down on Walter Reed Media Coverage

Soldiers at Walter Reed Army Medical Center’s Medical Hold Unit say they have been told they will wake up at 6 a.m. every morning and have their rooms ready for inspection at 7 a.m., and that they must not speak to the media.

“Some soldiers believe this is a form of punishment for the trouble soldiers caused by talking to the media,” one Medical Hold Unit soldier said, speaking on the condition of anonymity.

Soldiers say their sergeant major gathered troops at 6 p.m. Monday to tell them they must follow their chain of command when asking for help with their medical evaluation paperwork, or when they spot mold, mice or other problems in their quarters.

There's a New Bard in Town

Steve Gilliard's NewsBlog: LowerManhattanite: "Political Masturbation Theatre Presents: William Shakespeare's 'Obamo'"

This is just the opening. Go quickly, and read the whole, forsooth!

(Curtain rises on a smoke-filled, oak-lined study. In it stands OBAMO, a noble Moorish/Amfrerican, newly chosen to the Senate and HILLAMONA, a proud, steely blonde of noble lineage, also to the Senate selected. They are at opposite ends of the room—brooding in smoldering silence. The tension between them could be cut with a plastic spoon/fork hybrid {“spork”}. Hillamona wheels on Obamo suddenly with fire dancing in her eyes)

HILLAMONA: (Flushed and holding her throat as if just choked) Varlet! You sought to steal the air from my lungs—my campaign’s very lungs!

OBAMO; You drape your anger ‘pon a hook in the wrong man’s castle. T’was not I, Hillamona—your quarrel lay with King David of the Western Hills. Yet you assail me.

HILLAMONA: He mouths words as thy proxy, Obamo—deny it not, for you know it to be true.

OBAMO: He is his own man. I do not control him.

Best wishes to Steve Gilliard who is in the hospital facing open heart surgery. F*** the f****** Yankees (Steve's rallying cry) and get well soon.

If We Lived in Iraq

Welcome to Pottersville: Imagine

Cities like New York, Los Angeles and Dallas have only 4 hours of electricity a day while a provisional puppet government is set up seemingly with the sole mission of enriching the occupying nation’s private industry. Cheap and unqualified labor is smuggled in from the Philippines and elsewhere while Americans are starving in the streets.

37.5 million Americans are now on a food subsistence program. Think of 37,500,000 of our citizens on food stamps. 750 Americans are killed violently each day from wartime activities, with 255,000 more injured every year. This doesn’t include a dramatic spike in deaths from “natural causes” related to the effects of war, such as cholera from open sewers in American streets, cancer from depleted uranium shells from a previous war. And, of course, the non-fatal casualties can only be tabulated by hospitals counting actual admissions. The problem with this is that there aren’t enough hospitals to go around so many injuries go untreated.

Americans are forced to flee at the rate of 15,000,000 a year. We’re streaming into Canada, Mexico, even Cuba, whoever will take us. Give us your poor huddled masses? That was a quaint notion once in America but now no one wants us, least of all the brobdingnagian superpower that’s primarily responsible for our peoples’ mass displacement.

The New York Times and Washington Post’s offices are bombed and approximately 150 of our journalists are targeted for death every year.

Click the link and read the whole thing.

In The Richest Country In The World

There is no such thing as compassionate conservatism. Consider:

A little boy in Maryland died this weekend after an infection from a rotted tooth spread to his brain. His mother couldn't afford the $80 to have it pulled, and they couldn't find a dentist to take their Medicaid; then they lost their Medicaid coverage.

And that occurred under Bush's previous budget; his next budget would throw 6,000 kids in New Hampshire alone off the Medicaid program (but we must keep those tax cuts for millionaires.)

A young couple lose their jobs in Northern Virginia, and within months they are homeless.

Under the misadministration of George W. Bush, the numbers of people living in severe poverty (defined as an individual with an income of less than roughly $5,000 per year, or a family with an income of less than $10,000 per year) have grown by 25% to 16,000,000 people (16 million).

More Mike Richter Rumors

He's wicked smart, high name recognition, and would do well with the demographic that Democrats sometimes have a hard time with, the blue collar male. You can't get much more blue collar than a hockey fan. Hey, I can say that, I'm a hockey fan.

SwingStateProject: CT-04: More Richter Rumblings

According to the Yale Daily News, CT State Democratic Party Chairwoman Nancy DiNardo has confirmed earlier rumors that former New York Rangers superstar Mike Richter is considering a run against frequently embattled Republican Rep. Chris Shays in Connecticut's 4th district.

Hamm, Foudy Elected to Soccer Hall of Fame; Fawcett Inexplicably Falls Short (Updated)

As in this picture, Hamm, Foudy & Fawcett should be going in to the Hall together
Hall of Fame Magazine: Mia Hamm, Julie Foudy Elected To National Soccer Hall Of Fame
First Ever Women-Only Induction Class

Four idiots didn't even vote for Mia Hamm. Jeez. That means 23 drooling morons didn't vote for Julie Foudy, the woman who captained the team to World Cup and Olympic gold glory (no US man in the Hall can claim either). And 46 knuckle-dragging ignoramuses didn't vote for Joy Fawcett, the best defender in the history of the US national team. Sheesh.

The top ten on the 2007 Hall of Fame Players' Ballot were:

Mia Hamm 137 Votes 97.16%
Julie Foudy 118 83.69%
Joy Fawcett 95 67.38%
Marco Etcheverry 82 58.16%
Thomas Dooley 73 51.77%
Joe-Max Moore 73 48.23%
Carlos Valderrama 68 48.23%
Peter Vermes 44 31.21%
Peter Nowak 40 28.37%
Mauricio Cienfuegos 35 24.82%

Joy Fawcett is the most-capped defender in the history of US soccer (male or female) with 239 appearances in the national team shirt; she scored 27 goals, which puts her at #13 on the US women's all-time list. If she were a man her 27 goals would put her #3 on the US men's all-time scoring list.

On the men's side, Cobi Jones leads all players with 164 appearances; Fawcett has 75 more AND SHE HAD THREE CHILDREN DURING HER CAREER, which certainly lowered her appearance total. Jeff Agoos leads defenders in caps with 134; he scored 4 goals. Marcelo Balboa comes after Agoos on the all-time men's list with 128 appearances and 13 goals. And here's the fact that proves my point. Marcelo Balboa, 128/13, was elected to the Soccer Hall of Fame on the first ballot.

Joy Fawcett isn't a first-ballot Hall of Famer with 239 appearances and 27 goals? A man gets in on the first ballot with less than half the goals? With almost half the appearances? And the woman who has twice as many is excluded? Sexism rules the Hall voters, clearly.

Hey, even ESPN (which hates soccer) agrees with me:

Andrea Canales, ESPN: Fawcett's exclusion a mistake

Although Fawcett usually maintained a low profile, her importance to the U.S. team during her playing days was obvious in one startling statistic -- she played every minute of every U.S. match in the last three World Cups and the last three Olympics.

Although in many ways Fawcett was an anchor to the squad, she also pulled off a regular disappearing act, leaving the squad regularly to have children. At a time when many female players put off having a family, fearful that the return to top form would be too difficult given the time off and the physical transformation involved, Fawcett gave birth to three girls, Katelyn Rose, Carli Jean and Madilyn Rae.

After each child, she fought her way back into the lineup by regaining her fitness through tough training, even when it meant her babies logged numerous miles in racing strollers.

If not for the time off involved with her pregnancies and recovery, Fawcett would no doubt be higher on the list of all-time caps for the U.S. women's team. As it is, she sits in fourth place with 239, behind only Kristine Lilly, Mia Hamm and Julie Foudy.

Fawcett also remains one of the squad's most accomplished two-way players, a defender with great ball control who could contribute to the attack. Her 27 goals and 23 assists in her career attest to her productivity at putting the ball in the net for her team rather than just keeping the ball out against opponents.

ESPN: Hamm and Foudy to be inducted into Hall of Fame

Orange County Register: Foudy named to soccer hall of fame

Monsters & Critics (uk): Hamm, Foudy voted into National Soccer Hall of Fame

Update: More articles

WaPo: Hamm and Foudy Have A Hall Pass Waiting

NYTimes: For Two Pioneers, Journey Ends at the Hall of Fame

LATimes: Hamm, Foudy join select group
Former stars of U.S. women's national team will be inducted Aug. 26

Point - Counterpoint

Not smart cookies
Laura Bush on CNN with Larry King last night:

Many parts of Iraq are stable now. But, uh, of course, what we see on television is the one bombing a day that discourages everyone.

Dick Cheney in Pakistan today:

A suicide bomber attacked the entrance to the main U.S. military base in Afghanistan on Tuesday during a visit by Vice President Dick Cheney, killing up to 23 people and wounding 20. The Taliban claimed responsibility and said Cheney, who was unharmed, was the target.

Discouraging, indeed.

A Final Tribute to DJ

I was talking to my brother last night and we agreed that no one should ever be judged or remembered solely for the worst 10 minutes of their life. (I bet some nasty image of yourself just flashed through your head as you read that sentence.) So we'll remember DJ lumbering down the court, throwing those blind passes to Larry, and smiling his loopy smile. Putting the hurt on the Boston Strangler, Andrew Toney. In Magic Johnson's face. Laughing at Danny Ainge. Larry stole the ball, but DJ ran half the court to lay it in. RIP

Bob Ryan, Boston Globe (a few days late in my estimation): There was nobody like DJ

J.A. Adande, LATimes: Dennis Johnson played to win
The height of athletic achievement is to be at your best when it matters most, and he did.

Portsmouth Herald: D.J. was everybody's Celtic

NBA.com: Johnson Remembered at Memorial Service

Daily Breeze: Commentary: Johnson's coaches recall his rags-to-riches story
Harbor's White and Pepperdine's Colson were fond of their instinctive former pupil -- one of the best NBA players not in the Hall of Fame.

Hartford Courant: NBA: D.J. Had Winning Touch

Peter (The Lesser) Vecsey, NYPost:
CLUELESS IN SEATTLE
SHAME ON SONICS FOR NOT RETIRING D.J.'S NUMBER

Blackathlete.net: Johnson Grew Into A Man Few Anticipated

Just For Laughs

Monty Python - Philosophers' World Cup

Another gift from Who Ate All The Pies?

Has Ronaldhino Gone to Seed? You Make the Call

Indisputable evidence that Ronaldinho is following in the footsteps of Ronaldo. (First pic taken in November 2003, the second after Liverpool's 2-1 win last Wednesday.) He must have put on at least a stone of fat in that time. Is this what happens when you believe your own hype? [Who Ate All The Pies]

Is Ronaldhino the new Fat Ronny? Was his poor performance in the World Cup and recently with Barcelona due to his lack of fitness? You make the call. Photo via Who Ate All The Pies.

Wouldn't It Be Great If Al Sharpton Inherited Strom Thurmond's Estate?

Over the weekend I read that the New York Daily News hired genealogists to look into Al Sharpton's family history, and through that he learned that his family had been owned by Strom Thurmond's family.

Today's news is just as interesting:

WaPo: Sharpton wants DNA test

Wouldn't it be awesome if Al Sharpton is the heir to Strom Thurmond? OK, it's almost impossible, they're probably just fourth cousins once removed, but isn't it fun to imagine ol' Strom's reaction to that one? Tee hee.

Libby Juror Exposed to Outside Information

Yesterday the world's most incompetent ombudsperson, Deborah Howell of the Washington Post, defended the Post for publishing Republican mouthpiece Victoria Toensing's partisan article attacking the prosecution of Scooter Libby. The article also attacked prosecutor Pat Fitzgerald personally and was accompanied by a graphic with a mugshot-like picture of Fitzgerald. Readers and media critics were understandably upset that the slanted article was planted in the middle of the trial. In her column Howell addressed this complaint from a reader:

Chris Webster was among dozens who complained: "Publishing her partisan version of history and parsed interpretation of the law the weekend before jury deliberations could be considered jury tampering."

with this answer:

This wasn't tampering. The judge has instructed jurors to stay away from news reports.

Today's news from the Scooter Libby trial:

Libby juror exposed to outside information.

Deborah Howell is once again proved the fool. And the Washington Post may have allowed the wingnuts to influence this trial. Shame, shame. No wonder firedoglake has dubbed her "Lil' Debbie".

UPDATE: The juror was dismissed; the jury will continue to deliberate, with 11 jurors.

Run, Mike, Run

I'm in for $100 if Mike Richter runs for this seat.

SwingStateProject: CT-04: Chris Shays vs... Mike Richter?

Well, ain't this intriguing. According to Nathan Gonzales of the Rothenberg Political Report, Connecticut Democrats are weighing the possibility of running former NHL superstar Mike Richter against the last Republican House member left standing in New England: the battle-hardened Chris Shays.

Dennis Johnson. Flawed Human

Until his too early death this week, I had forgotten about the incident where DJ was charged with assaulting his wife. And I couldn't find anything about it on the 'net, except for the fact that seemingly the family had stayed together. Globe columnist Derrick Jackson lays out what happened.

Boston Globe, DERRICK Z. JACKSON
He kept coming to the game

Johnson, who died suddenly Thursday of a heart attack at 52, had a basketball intelligence that seemed destined for a head coaching job. By most accounts, he took himself off the fast track by being arrested for grabbing his wife’s throat, threatening her with a knife and threatening one of his sons in their Orlando home in 1997.

Johnson was also much talked about as a candidate for the Basketball Hall of Fame. ‘‘If someone is a convicted felon,’’ Hall of Fame president Joe O’Brien said at the time, ‘‘we would eliminate them from consideration.’’

We never heard much about this from his wife, Donna. She did not file charges. But one must figure she was strong in the face of Johnson’s fury. The police report said she told him, ‘‘What are you going to do, kill me? Go ahead.’’

Johnson apparently tried to kill the beast within himself. In the following years, he pleaded to anyone who would listen that he went to counseling and repeatedly apologized to his wife and family. He told the Los Angeles Times that he ‘‘needed to correct myself.’’ He understood how to correct the cost to himself professionally. He got on basketball’s version of the warehouse forklift. He died a minor-league coach.

Johnson told the Globe’s Bob Ryan in 2000, ‘‘People say, ‘Why didn’t she leave you?’ It wasn’t that simple. You’ve got to look at it this way: 22 years invested in a marriage vs. 10 very bad minutes. I knew the next year was going to be bad, and I knew it would be at least that long before I worked again, but I decided I’d have to face the music. I did my counseling. And I never hid ... I tried my best to repair the damage I did.’’

That still leaves Johnson — like most human beings — short of sainthood. But it sounds better than politicians who say they take responsibility without showing how they did. It’s a lot better than O.J. Simpson, who tried to peddle the book ‘‘If I Did It’’ about the murder of his ex-wife, for which he was acquitted, and has paid only a fraction of a $33.5 million civil judgment to his ex-wife’s family.

In a nation where nearly a quarter of women, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, experience violence from an intimate partner sometime in their lives, it is important if Johnson really did turn his 10 bad minutes into nearly 10 more years of a healthier marriage before his death. He hasn’t made the Hall of Fame. But NBA commissioner David Stern on Thursday hailed Johnson as ‘‘a man of extraordinary character.’’

Only Donna Johnson knows for sure. If she agrees with Stern, it is because her husband kept coming to the game.

Another Reason I Wish I Was In New York Today

Wildlife Conservation Society

Biologists filmed José the beaver in the Bronx.


NYTimes: After 200 Years, a Beaver Is Back in New York City

A crudely fashioned lodge perched along the snow-covered banks of the Bronx River — no more than a mound of twigs and mud strewn together in the shadow of the Bronx Zoo — sits steps away from an empty parking lot and a busy intersection.

Scientists say that the discovery of this cone-shaped dwelling signifies something remarkable: For the first time in two centuries, the North American beaver, forced out of town by agricultural development and overeager fur traders, has returned to New York City.

The discovery of a beaver setting up camp in the Bronx is a testament to both the animal’s versatility and to an increasingly healthy Bronx River.

A few years ago the river was a dumping ground for abandoned cars and rubber tires, but it has been brought back to life recently through a big cleanup effort.

I Wish I Was In New York Today

So I could see this spectacle.

Telegraph (uk) Blog: I'm George Bush - please kick me

Beginning this afternoon in New York, the British performance artist Mark McGowan will crawl on his hands and knees for 72 hours dressed as George W Bush. He’ll be wearing a sign on his bottom that says: KICK MY ASS.

It’s obviously an extremely important cultural moment and I’m sure that museums and galleries will be lining up to install McGowan permanently somewhere in New York.

The artist will be on all-fours for 72 hours and will circumnavigate Manhattan covering 36 miles. He’ll wear knee pads and a cushion inside his trousers for protection.

Members of the public are encouraged to take part in the performance by actually kicking his posterior.

McGowan has said that he’s “offering the people of America, New York and visitors a service…a kind of therapeutic engagement. Hopefully people will be able to come and kick me (the President, George Bush) as hard as they like, and gain some comfort in the fact that they can say I kicked George in the ass. On a more serious note this is a protest against George Bush and his policies and I am expecting injuries, I just hope not too severe.”

All Time Great Washington Post Headline Juxtapositions

Darth Cheney and Smirky McChimp, immortalized together on the front page of the Washington Post online right now. I wish I knew how to do screencaps, but at least I can cut and paste.

More Headlines
• Cheney Criticizes China's Arms Buildup
• Chimps Seen Making Weapons for Hunting

Tributes to DJ

Apparently Bob Ryan and Dan Shaughnessy, who made their reputations covering the 1980s Celtics, couldn't be bothered. No respect.

Things I learned (or had forgotten) about DJ: Red traded him for Rick Robey. (Which means we Celtics fans lost the great thrill of hearing Bob Cousy announce, 'Wick Wobey with the webound!' We still had Wobewt Pawwish with the webound, though.) He had those Groucho Marx eyebrows. When he wasn't running, he walked like an old man. His arms were freakishly long. He was a cut up. His coaching career was curtailed after he was charged with assaulting his wife in 1997. He, his wife, and their three kids first names all started with 'D'. (Dennis, Donna, Dwayne, Daniel and Denise.) He wasn't recruited by any college, and spent the year after high school driving a forklift. His first professional basketball coach was Bill Russell in Seattle.

Jackie MacMullan, Boston Globe: He always rose to the occasion

ESPN, Bill Simmons, The Sports Guy, Page 2: DJ should have made Springfield while still alive

East Valley (AZ) Tribune: Ex-Sun Dennis Johnson dies

Seattle Times: Biography | All about D.J. Bio

NYTimes: Dennis Johnson, 52, N.B.A. Defensive Wizard, Dies

Seattle Times: Goodbye, D.J., a favorite when Sonics were champs

Hartford Courant: Career Was No Layup
Dennis Johnson Dies; Bird's `Best' Teammate

LATimes: Dennis Johnson, 52; former NBA star played on 3 championship teams

SI.com: One cool customer
D.J.'s toughness, gamesmanship made him special

Metrowest News: Lenny Megliola: Farewell to a true C's great

SouthCoastToday.com: Celtics lose another great
D.J., coaching in NBDL, collapses after practice, dies at age 52

CapeCodTimes: Remembering DJ

RIP Dennis Johnson: The Best Player Larry Bird Ever Played With

Celtics 1985-86 championship starters (from left) Larry Bird, Johnson, and Kevin McHale at the Boston Garden.
(Globe File Photo)

Like all basketball fans, I was shocked to hear of Dennis Johnson's untimely death today. I was peripherally aware of Dennis Johnson when the Celtics acquired him in 1983. He had been the NBA Finals MVP in 1979, but I was a new college graduate that year and I don't even think I owned a TV that June. Plus he played in the west, so he only played the east coast teams twice a year. I knew DJ as a tenacious defender, a player who was always on the NBA all-defensive team. He was recognizable with all those freckles.

The Celtics had won the NBA championship in 1981, but Tiny Archibald retired at the end of 1983 season. Danny Ainge and Gerald Henderson were no Tiny Archibald, so Red (Auerbach, also recently RIP) went out and pulled another rabbit out of the hat. DJ arrived in Boston with a mixed reputation. He had been traded twice in three years, and Seattle had traded him the year after he was MVP of the NBA Finals, which was weird in itself, and it was rumored he was a problem in the lockerroom. (David Halberstam painted an unflattering portrait of DJ in Breaks of The Game, the best book ever on basketball, as well.) That's the context in which Larry Bird started talking about DJ as the best teammate he'd ever had. He was telling Celtics fans, this guy is your guy.

And if DJ was Larry's guy, he was our guy. And he played like Bird. They shared that hypercompetitiveness and confidence. If Larry wasn't taking the final shot in a game, you wanted it to be DJ. He could have shot 1 for 12 in the game, but if he took a shot with the game on the line he made it. He wanted to take that final shot. He loved to win, and he hated to lose, and he took the game into his hands in those situations. You had to love a player like that.

DJ had a very distinctive style. He always played low to the ground, and when he went for the ball he went in underhanded. He would put a body on a guy when he did it, but unlike everyone else going in and slapping at the ball overhand, DJ hardly ever got called for fouls no matter how much contact there was.

It's a sad day for Celtics fans, and for basketball fans everywhere. Even those who hated DJ respected him. Thanks for the memories, DJ. We'll never forget you.

NBA.com: Dennis Johnson Career Statistics

Randy Hill, FoxSports: DJ overcame obstacles time and time again

WaPo: Former NBA Star Dennis Johnson Dies

Dennis Johnson Through the Years: Boston Globe Photo Gallery

Yahoo Slide Show: Dennis Johnson

YouTube: The Play Johnny Most: "Now there's a steal by Bird. Underneath to DJ, he lays it in. Right at one second left. What a play by Bird! Bird stole the inbounding pass. Laid it off to DJ, DJ, laid it up and in. And Boston has a one point lead with one second left! Oh, my, this place is going crazy!"

ESPN Page 2: Ex-hoopsters who should be in Hall

2. Dennis Johnson (23 letters)
I hate the Celtics. I drove in Boston once and one rotary was enough to make me eternally despise all things New England. All things, that is, except Dennis Johnson. While Kevin McHale mugged people down low, Larry Bird practiced his career-long imitation of Rick Barry, and Danny Ainge played basketball as well as any other Blue Jay, Dennis Johnson played defense.

The Hall's lack of Dennis Johnson ranks as one more example of non-white Boston athletes screwed by their sports. Rather than whining about Phil Jackson, Red Auerbach should join Page 2 and recognize that Dennis Johnson belongs in the Hall.
Greg Allison
Las Cruces, N.M.

If I may quote Basketball Jesus, "The best player I ever played with was Dennis Johnson." -- Larry Bird. 'Nuff said.

Get DJ in the Hall.
Shane Papatolicas
San Francisco

Why Does Rafa Want David Villa?

Watch this video and you'll see why.

David Villa free kick v. Inter Milan in yesterday's 2-2 tie.

Bellamy Tees Off

Liverpool's Craig Bellamy, center, celebrates scoring a goal against Barcelona by pretending to swing a golf club in the Champions League first knockout round, first-leg soccer match at the Camp Nou Stadium, Barcelona, Spain, Wednesday Feb. 21, 2007. The gesture appears to be a reference to claims that Bellamy allegedly hit team mate John Arne Riise in the legs with a golf club in a fracas while Liverpool was in Portugal at a training camp preparing for a Champions League match against defending champion FC Barcelona. Bellamy now faces a fine of 80,000 pounds (US$155,000; 118,000) and an uncertain future with the 18-time English league champions, who were recently taken over by a pair of American businessmen. At right is Liverpool's Steven Gerrard. (AP Photo/Peter Byrne/PA)
BBC: Barcelona 1-2 Liverpool

What a game, what a game. Can the defending title holders recover from giving up two away goals? Unfortunately for me I had to watch it time-delayed on ESPN Classic, with Seamus Malin and some other ill-informed boob sitting in the booth in Bristol, Connecticut mailing it in. They didn't even give the line-ups, and maybe that's why it took the morons a full half to figure out that Liverpool newboy Arbeloa was playing left back, not right back (the Stevie Finnan position). And how could they say nothing when Bellamy did the golf swing celebration. How could you not mention the Bellamy-Riise bust-up at that moment? How could you not be aware of it? ESPN, bringing you the very worst in soccer announcers consistently. I guess I should be thankful that I didn't have to listen to Dave O'Baseball. And Liverpool with another improbable win. Can't win in the Premier League, can't lose in Europe. Go figure.

Telegraph: Bellamy tees up Liverpool success (hey, that headline was my idea!)

Telegraph: Bellamy swings it as Barcelona are stunned

Independent (uk): Barcelona 1 Liverpool 2: Bellamy and Riise get in the swing for Liverpool

Richard Williams, Guardian SportBlog: Bellamy rewards the pragmatism of Benítez and stuns Camp Nou
Craig Bellamy repaid Rafa Benítez's faith in him by silencing his critics at the Camp Nou.

Times (uk): Bellamy and Riise swing into action for Liverpool

Guardian: Player Ratings

How can Pepe Reina get an '8' when he waved harmlessly at THREE balls in the box in the final 10 minutes?

Bellamy's coming after me with a driver! Heeeeeellllp!

Mutliple Choice Mittwit

Mitt Romney's position on abortion
Go check out the video of Mitt Romney's gubernatorial debate with Democrat Shannon O'Brien from 2002, posted by BlueMassGroup. Shannon O'Brien is right on when she says "He's not pro-choice. He's not pro-life. He's multiple choice."

I've transcribed some of the portions of the video that will make the anti-choicers heads explode:

"I will preserve and protect a woman's right to choose."

"I am not going to change our pro-choice laws in Massachusetts in any way."

"My position has been the same throughout my political career, and it goes back to the days of 1970. There was a woman who was running for political office, U.S. Senate, she took a very bold and courageous stand in 1970, and that was in a conservative state. That was that a woman should have the right to make her own choice as to whether or not to have an abortion. Her name was Lenore Romney. She was my mom. Even though she lost, she established a record of courage in that regard. She had very strong personal beliefs about what decision she would make for herself and her family if offered to make that choice, but she also made it clear that she thought a woman should have her own right to choose, and believed in the separation of church and state. I have held that view consistently."

"I do not take the position of a pro-life candidate."

Is Lenore Romney rolling over in her grave yet?

Update: The corporate media takes notice: Ruth Marcus, WaPo: Mitt Romney's Extreme Makeover

From there, Romney proceeded to expound one of the odder positions I've heard in years of listening to politicians talk about a subject most would prefer to avoid: "I can tell you what my position is, and it's in a very narrowly defined sphere, as candidate for governor and as governor of Massachusetts," he said. "What I said to people was that I personally did not favor abortion, that I am personally pro-life. However, as governor I would not change the laws of the commonwealth relating to abortion.

"Now I don't try and put a bow around that and say what does that mean you are -- does that mean you're pro-life or pro-choice, because that whole package -- meaning I'm personally pro-life but I won't change the laws, you could describe that as -- well, I don't think you can describe it in one hyphenated word."

Got it? I didn't, and I asked, "Do you support making abortion illegal? I'm not talking about what you would do as governor of Massachusetts."

Romney: "But that's the furthest I'm going to take you right now. I'm governor of Massachusetts, and I'm telling you exactly what I will do as governor of Massachusetts, but I'm not going to tell you what I'd do as mayor of Boston or a congressman or any of those positions."

I reprint so much of Romney's answer (you can read or listen to the full exchange online) because its baroque circumlocutions seemed to say so much about him. It was hard to know what Romney actually thought about abortion rights other than that this was a political minefield it was best to avoid stepping into for as long as possible.

You Go, Pre-Title IX Girls

Stephen Mally for The New York Times

Marlene Carver, 57, leading the pregame warm-ups for the Robins Late Bloomers last Wednesday.
NYTimes: Grannies Are Flexing Their Muscles, Gently

I don't have any nostalgia for six-a-side basketball or being forced to play in zones on the court. When I was in grade school we played that crazy game & I was always a defender, never a shooter, so I hated it; I never got to handle the ball! I love this article about the Granny Basketball League for that picture of those happy athletes finally getting their shot. If I had been born in 1953 instead of 1957, I would never have gotten to play high school sports. (Title IX became law in 1972.) If my sister had been born in 1957 rather than 1961, she wouldn't have gone to college on a basketball scholarship or played professionally. (Scholarships for women were first awarded by the AIAW in 1977.) I'm glad these women finally got a chance to play.

To the theme music from “The Sting,” members of the Cedar Rapids Sizzlers and the Robins Late Bloomers — two of the eight teams in the Granny Basketball League in Iowa, for women 50 and older — took the court. Dressed in white blouses, black bloomers and horizontally striped socks, the women lined up as they would have if their game had been played here in the 1920s.

[]

The games involve teams of six players. Two players from each side must remain in each of the three distinct sections of the court. Running and tight guarding are forbidden, and players can dribble only twice per possession.

Six-on-six basketball was an Iowa staple for girls for most of the 20th century, and it remained a source of pride long after the rest of the nation had adopted the five-on-five game.

Only the Granny Basketball League’s oldest participants saw or played the three-court game. Iowa switched to two courts in 1935, according to Troy Dannen, executive director of the Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union. Six-on-six games were played exclusively from the late 1800s through 1984, when the style was challenged in court by three girls who argued that it damaged their chances for college scholarships.

To settle the suit, the state agreed to sanction five-on-five and six-on-six competition, with schools choosing which to play. The athletic union’s board voted in 1993 to end six-player teams. At the time, Dannen said, roughly 140 of the state’s 396 schools were still playing it.

But many in Iowa remain nostalgic for the old style and for the dynamic scorers it produced, like Denise Long and Molly Bolin. Long was the first woman drafted by an N.B.A. team; the San Francisco Warriors selected her in 1969, but the selection was disallowed because high school players could not be drafted. Bolin, who was nicknamed Machine Gun, starred in the Women’s Professional Basketball League, which existed from 1978 to 1981.

The state tournament at the Veterans Memorial Auditorium in Des Moines was the ultimate event for Iowa schoolgirls, and the championship game frequently sold out. Those memories play into the Granny Basketball League’s popularity.

“I’m 63,” said Linda Toerper, McPherson’s sister, who plays for the Sizzlers. “But I’m really 16.”

[]

The game also offers a second chance to women who never played in high school. Irene Reinking, a 69-year-old from Cedar Rapids who has 14 grandchildren, stopped playing after eighth grade. “My dad didn’t think practicing basketball was the most important thing in the world,” she said. “So I stayed on the farm.”

Sen. Tim Johnson Update

Good news again -- Senator Johnson has been discharged from the hospital into a rehabilitation facility.

WaPo: JOHNSON UPDATE

More than two months after suffering a brain hemorrhage, Sen. Tim Johnson (D-S.D.) has left a Washington hospital and entered a private rehabilitation facility, his office said yesterday.

NYTimes: Sen. Johnson Moved to Private Rehab Facility

NYTimes Caucus Blog: Johnson Leaves Hospital

Billionaires for Bush

Estate tax statistics from an article by Matt Taibbi of Rolling Stone (on the net on Alternet) on how Bush's budget compares to the estate tax cuts he wants to make permanent. (hat tip to Digby of Hullabaloo)

If the Estate Tax were to be repealed completely, the estimated savings to just one family -- the Walton family, the heirs to the Wal-Mart fortune -- would be about $32.7 billion dollars over the next ten years.

The proposed reductions to Medicaid over the same time frame? $28 billion.

Or how about this: if the Estate Tax goes, the heirs to the Mars candy corporation -- some of the world's evilest scumbags, incidentally, routinely ripped by human rights organizations for trafficking in child labor to work cocoa farms in places like Cote D'Ivoire -- if the estate tax goes, those assholes will receive about $11.7 billion in tax breaks. That's more than three times the amount Bush wants to cut from the VA budget ($3.4 billion) over the same time period.

Some other notable estimate estate tax breaks, versus corresponding cuts:

* Cox family (Cox cable TV) receives $9.7 billion tax break while education would get $1.5 billion in cuts

* Nordstrom family (Nordstrom dept. stores) receives $826.5 million tax break while Community Service Block Grants would be eliminated, a $630 million cut

* Ernest Gallo family (shitty wines) receives a $468.4 million cut while LIHEAP (heating oil to poor) would get a $420 million cut

And so on and so on. Sanders additionally pointed out that the family of former Exxon/Mobil CEO Lee Raymond, who received a $400 million retirement package, would receive about $164 million in tax breaks.

Compare that to the Commodity Supplemental Food Program, which Bush proposes be completely eliminated, at a savings of $108 million over ten years. The program sent one bag of groceries per month to 480,000 seniors, mothers and newborn children.

And think about how much money the government would have to spend on veteran's benefits if we weren't giving the heirs of Sam Walton billions of dollars.

Georgia State Senator Blocks Bill That Would Free Genarlow Wilson

For extra credit, readers, guess the race of GOP Senate President Pro Tempore Eric Johnson (R-District 1). He is the politician who blocked consideration of the bill which would free Genarlow Wilson and hundreds of others convicted of statutory rape and given mandatory 10-year sentences for consensual sex. Answer (& picture) below.

Karen Russell, HuffPo: GOP Rep. Blocks Bill To Free Genarlow Wilson

Yesterday GOP lawmaker Eric Johnson wrote an op-ed criticizing the bill after he originally supported the bill:

Usually, society complains about sentences that are perceived as too soft. Granted, this sentence was harsh. But it was MANDATORY under the law. Life comes with accountability for our decisions. Genarlow Wilson could have selected different friends to hang with. He could have joined millions of law-abiding teens all over the country enjoying New Years' Eve without alcohol, drugs and sex. He could have left the hotel when "the fun" started. He didn't. He made a choice. Now his life has changed forever. That is sad. I hope other young men and girls will learn from this tragedy and avoid his errors.

Johnson admits the sentence his harsh and tragic, yet he remains willing to throw this young man's life away. As Johnson himself says, "life comes with accountability for our decisions". I say we hold Johnson accountable for his decision to continue this injustice. The Georgia legislature and its flip-flopping leader Johnson must be held accountable for this tragedy. The bill should be placed back on the agenda and Georgians should have the chance to correct this gross miscarriage of justice.

NYTimes: Bill to Aid Georgian Convicted of Sex Crime Stalls in Assembly

ATLANTA, Feb. 19 — The second piece of legislation introduced with the intent of helping Genarlow Wilson, a former honor student and star athlete who is serving a 10-year prison sentence for having oral sex with a 15-year-old classmate, may be in trouble in the Georgia General Assembly.

Senator Emanuel D. Jones, a Democrat, sponsored the legislation, which would make it possible for judges to reconsider the cases of hundreds of young adults, including Mr. Wilson, who are serving long mandatory minimum sentences in prison for having consensual sex with teenage minors. Mr. Jones said the bill was mysteriously left off the agenda of the Senate Judiciary Committee last week.

And on Monday, the Senate’s leader, Eric Johnson, publicly denounced the bill and said that although Mr. Wilson, now 20, was serving a harsh sentence, he deserved no leniency.

Genarlow Wilson Online Petition



Question Answer: Georgia State Senate Leadership

Unsurprisingly, he's white.

Kirsten Gillibrand in NYTimes

Nathaniel Brooks for The New York Times

An Albany International Airport worker greeted his new congresswoman, Kirsten Gillibrand, with her mother, Polly Rutnik, and her son, Theo, 3.
Frenetic Start in Congress for One Democrat, Class of ’06

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. — When Kirsten Gillibrand was elected to Congress this past November in a tide of Democratic victories, she soon learned that her campaigning was not over.

This political novice found herself in a precarious position: a Democrat trying to represent an overwhelmingly Republican district extending into the state’s North Country, a onetime Manhattan lawyer in a place of factory and mill workers, dairy farmers and retired military veterans.

Now, even as the congratulatory letters continue to trickle in, she often looks like a candidate who is still on the run. Ms. Gillibrand, 40, spends virtually every free moment scurrying back from Washington to her district to attend town hall gatherings, meet-and-greets at local malls and — yes, already — a fund-raiser.

That frenetic pace reflects her uncomfortable reality: that her victory last fall, like the success of Democrats nationwide, may have been an aberration that could be undone with a swing in the mood of the electorate or by formidable opposition.

Politically, the first term is typically when House incumbents are most at risk of defeat. And Kirsten Gillibrand is among the most vulnerable of this group. Even her closest advisers acknowledged during last year’s campaign that her odds of winning were slim, given that she was facing a four-term Republican incumbent in a district where Republicans outnumbered Democrats by roughly 80,000.

Gillibrand was criticized in a recent post on firedoglake for her middle of the road positions and constant fundraising; I don't think people understand just how conservative and Republican her district is. Having grown up there, I do.

More from the NYTimes article on the district:

The passion the war arouses in her district was illustrated at that meeting. A constituent rushed up to her and loudly warned her not to support any of the resolutions that Democrats were considering to express disapproval of Mr. Bush’s proposed troop buildup in Iraq.

Pointing directly at Ms. Gillibrand, the man, Dave Browner, told her that many lives were at stake. “You’re in the big leagues now,” he said, his voice rising. “Any resolution will put our troops in danger.”

Then, as he turned and began storming off, Ms. Gillibrand did something that seemed to disarm him: she gently held him by the arm and thanked him for his thoughts. But ultimately, she did not commit to a position.

(As it turned out, on Feb. 16 she voted for a nonbinding resolution denouncing the president’s plan but including two simple clauses expressing support for the troops.)

Roots in the District

Such passions typify the 20th Congressional District, a bedrock Republican area that encompasses dairy farms, stretches of Adirondack State Park and the northern counties of exurban New York City, including Columbia and upper Dutchess, areas that have increasingly drawn New York commuters and second-home buyers.

I'm not sure if this is good news or not for Gillibrand (I no longer trust the Grey Lady after they withheld information about Bush Administration lawbreaking before the 2004 election, and then there's Judy Miller and the Clinton attacks of the 1990s) but the Times says this article is part of continuing series:

The Freshman
Settling In
This is the first article in a series that will chronicle Kirsten Gillibrand’s first year in Congress.

Wildlife Spotted

This bobcat was photographed by a woman in her backyard in Barre, Mass., west and north of Worcester. (Worcester Telegram)

Try Not To Think About This While You're Going Through Airport Security

BoingBoing: TSA site pwned by identity thieves

The TSA's website was hacked by identity thieves who used the "Click here if you're on a no-fly list" to harvest personal information. Lots of sites get pwned by hackers. Most of those sites aren't run by entities who claim that they're keeping the skies safe by taking away our toothpaste. Is it any wonder that an organization that thinks flip-flops are made safer by passing through the X-ray machine is incapable of managing to secure its own servers?

Supporting The Troops, Republican Style

Smile for the photo op, soldier!
whitehouse.gov caption: President George W. Bush and Mrs. Laura Bush talk with Sgt. Patrick Hagood of Anderson, S.C., Wednesday, Oct. 5, 2005, during their visit to Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington D.C. White House photo by Paul Morse
WaPo: THE OTHER WALTER REED
The Hotel Aftermath
Inside Mologne House, the Survivors of War Wrestle With Military Bureaucracy and Personal Demons

Returning veterans who have served in the army of AWOL McFlightsuit and five-deferments-I-had-other-priorities Darth Cheney are treated like shit by the underfunded Veterans Administration. But aren't you glad millionaires are getting all those great tax cuts!

This may be the worst story in the article; this poor double amputee was left off the guest list for a White House ceremony because his missing legs would show. Sick.

Perks and stardom do not come to every amputee. Sgt. David Thomas, a gunner with the Tennessee National Guard, spent his first three months at Walter Reed with no decent clothes; medics in Samarra had cut off his uniform. Heavily drugged, missing one leg and suffering from traumatic brain injury, David, 42, was finally told by a physical therapist to go to the Red Cross office, where he was given a T-shirt and sweat pants. He was awarded a Purple Heart but had no underwear.

David tangled with Walter Reed's image machine when he wanted to attend a ceremony for a fellow amputee, a Mexican national who was being granted U.S. citizenship by President Bush. A case worker quizzed him about what he would wear. It was summer, so David said shorts. The case manager said the media would be there and shorts were not advisable because the amputees would be seated in the front row.

" 'Are you telling me that I can't go to the ceremony 'cause I'm an amputee?' " David recalled asking. "She said, 'No, I'm saying you need to wear pants.' "

David told the case worker, "I'm not ashamed of what I did, and y'all shouldn't be neither." When the guest list came out for the ceremony, his name was not on it.

Here's the link for the first part of the story from Sunday's WaPo.

Has Anyone Told John McCain?

I don't think Tom Brady has been practicing abstinence, do you?

Boston Globe: Tom Brady's former girlfriend pregnant
Actress identifies Patriots QB as father

Boston Herald: Daddy oh! Bridget’s pregnant, but Tom has no plans to marry ex-galpal

Support the Troops is Just a Catchphrase in Bushworld

Hey, man, we're just here for the photo op.
WhiteHouse.gov caption: President George W. Bush and Mrs. Laura Bush talk with Sgt. Patrick Hagood of Anderson, S.C., Wednesday, Oct. 5, 2005, during their visit to Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington D.C. White House photo by Paul Morse
Here's your compassionate conservatism. Walter Reed Army Medical Center is a frightening labrynth where soldiers and their families are left to cope basically on their own, a direct result of the starvation diet veteran's programs have been on via Bush's tax cutting war budgets. Plus, Chimpy McFlightsuit would rather scatter $10 billion dollars to a bunch of lowlife leeches like Halliburton than fund care for the soldiers he sends off to fight his war. Shame. Maybe Bush's handlers could send him into Building 18 so it will get cleaned up for the photo-op?

WaPo: Soldiers Face Neglect, Frustration At Army's Top Medical Facility

Behind the door of Army Spec. Jeremy Duncan's room, part of the wall is torn and hangs in the air, weighted down with black mold. When the wounded combat engineer stands in his shower and looks up, he can see the bathtub on the floor above through a rotted hole. The entire building, constructed between the world wars, often smells like greasy carry-out. Signs of neglect are everywhere: mouse droppings, belly-up cockroaches, stained carpets, cheap mattresses.

This is the world of Building 18, not the kind of place where Duncan expected to recover when he was evacuated to Walter Reed Army Medical Center from Iraq last February with a broken neck and a shredded left ear, nearly dead from blood loss. But the old lodge, just outside the gates of the hospital and five miles up the road from the White House, has housed hundreds of maimed soldiers recuperating from injuries suffered in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

[]

While the hospital is a place of scrubbed-down order and daily miracles, with medical advances saving more soldiers than ever, the outpatients in the Other Walter Reed encounter a messy bureaucratic battlefield nearly as chaotic as the real battlefields they faced overseas.

On the worst days, soldiers say they feel like they are living a chapter of "Catch-22." The wounded manage other wounded. Soldiers dealing with psychological disorders of their own have been put in charge of others at risk of suicide.

Disengaged clerks, unqualified platoon sergeants and overworked case managers fumble with simple needs: feeding soldiers' families who are close to poverty, replacing a uniform ripped off by medics in the desert sand or helping a brain-damaged soldier remember his next appointment.