And Now For Something Completely Stupid

post from Open Left - Front Page on 03 October 2007 03:57:09 AM. © Open Left - Front Page

Over at MyDD, Jonathan Singer has this gem from the Giuliani campaign:If these are the process[...]

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Ron Paul's grassroots problem

post from The Newshoggers on 03 October 2007 03:57:00 AM. © The Newshoggers

By Libby

Paul has the most enthusiastic supporters in the race. I can appreciate their energy and motivation and for the most part I've found them to be articulate and reasonable people. But word up, your man is being perceived as the kook candidate because of an overzealous fringe group and it's hurting his candidacy. Take for instance, what happened right here on Newshoggers yesterday, at Cernig's excellent post on Obama's nuke speech. This comment appeared almost instantaneously.

There is a very active discussion thread now taking place at [a website] "Would you vote for Ron Paul?" and NO RP bloggers are in it. PLEASE consider going over there to answer questions and spread the word. If you're not a member, registration is quick, easy and free. Once your in click Discussion top of front page then look for thread.

THANK YOU
Alan

This is spam Alan. It pisses me off and it leaves me feeling uninclined to post about Ron Paul at all.

I'm one of the few bloggers that has been willing to treat Ron Paul as a credible candidate but I often hesitate to post anything about him precisely because it seems to draw spammers and that element of impolite zealots spoiling for a fight. You do your candidate no favors with this approach.

So let's get this straight. The Newshoggers team has agreed that we will not endorse any candidate -- ever. Neither am I personally endorsing Ron Paul. I've been treating his run as legitimate because I think he has a message worth listening to and I believe he can be a factor in this race if he manages to stay in. But I have no vested interest in his success and if my posts attract irritating responses, I'll simply stop posting about him.

Ron Paul supporters, police yourselves. If you want your man to have a fighting chance, you need to marginalize those among you who are casting him in a bad light. This apparently small group reflects badly on all of you.

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http://cernigsnewshog.blogspot.com/2007/10/ron-pauls-grassroots-problem.html

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O.J. Loses Rolex to the Goldmans

post from TalkLeft on 03 October 2007 03:46:00 AM. © TalkLeft

A California Judge has ruled that O.J. Simpson must turn over whatever sports memorabilia he was trying to recover in Las Vegas as well as his Rolex watch to Fred Goldman.

According to O.J.'s lawyer, O.J. paid $150.00 for the watch, making it likely to be a fake rather than a real Rolex Submariner.

Translation: If it turns up on eBay, take a pass.

Minor point: No one's answered my question, what if the watch were real and he purchased it with his money from his pension fund which is exempt from the Goldman's judgment? Could he keep it then?

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TWO REPUBLICAN TOILET TRAWLERS, SHUNNED BY THEIR
ANTI-GAY PARTY, PREPARE FOR COURT BATTLES: BOB ALLEN AND LARRY CRAIG

post from DownWithTyranny! on 03 October 2007 03:42:00 AM. © DownWithTyranny!

ostracized, shunned, rejected by the GOP, Bob Allen & Larry Craig will soon look for new vistas-- a hair salon perhaps?
You remember Florida Rep. Bob Allen, right? He's the homophobic Republican zealot who was chairing John McCain's presidential campaign in the Sunshine state part time and cruising public toilets offering men crisp twenty dollar bills if they let him perform fellatio on them the rest of the time. He asked that his trial be postponed until November 5 so they could find more suburban white people for the jury pool-- feeling a little uncomfortable after having made some racist remarks about people of color after being apprehended and charged.

Yesterday's Orlando Sentinel reported that he's back in Tallahassee making believe everything is back to normal. It isn't

"I suspect it will be extremely difficult and uncomfortable for him during the special session," said Aubrey Jewett, a political science professor at the University of Central Florida. "The leadership has made it clear they want him gone."

...House Speaker Marco Rubio has said that as a member of the House, Allen "is entitled to come" to the 10-day session.

"He's got some issues he's trying to face. And we'll do what's best for the institution," Rubio said.

Allen's fellow Republicans decided what was best for the institution would be to strip him of his committee chairmanship, shun him and banish him to a far corner of the House chamber where the freshmen Democrats sit. If Allen feels ostracized... that's the idea. And they have more unpleasantness in store for him in the hope of getting him to just go away. Florida's party of fake Christianity is doing there pretty much what Republican hypocrites in the U.S. Senate are threatening to do to Larry Craig if he doesn't resign and stop embarrassing them with his presence, reminding people how much hypocrisy is entailed in being a member of the GOP these days. But legal experts and rabid right extremists, ex-allies of Craig's, are now concluding that nothing is going to get Craig out of the Senate until his term expires, regardless of what Mitch McConnell and the GOP leadership wants.

His farcical appeals won't end until the fall of 2008 "thus the senator will be able to stay in office while claiming that he is simply waiting for the legal process to work itself out. This strategy will enable him to postpone a retirement decision until it will be too late to matter, even though he quite likely expects to lose at every step," writes right-wing kook Bryan Fischer of the Idaho Values Alliance, a hate group.

The last thing the senator wants is for a court to allow him to withdraw his appeal, since this would force him into the nightmare of an actual courtroom trial.

A trial would expose the "Tearoom Trade," as the widespread practice of gay sex in public bathrooms is called, and expose the senator's likely participation in it for all the nation to see.

The prosecution would explain in detail that the police were only in that particular restroom because it so frequently was the site of illicit homosexual encounters that families were insisting that something be done.

They would remind the nation that this particular restroom was posted on homosexual websites as an inviting location for seedy hookups.

Further, the prosecution would go into detail about the well-established protocol followed by those seeking anonymous homosexual encounters, and how the senator's own conduct followed that pattern in detail.

The arresting officer, a decorated officer with an impeccable reputation in law enforcement, would explain that the 40 arrests made over the summer were made because the suspects all followed this same protocol. This will make it virtually impossible to believe that the senator was not acting deliberately and with the specific purpose of soliciting anonymous sex.

The prosecution likely would point to research that indicates this particular protocol-- the foot-tapping, the foot-touching, the hand under the divider-- has been in use for decades by those looking for discreet ways to arrange restroom escapades.

The prosecution would likely go on to explain in disturbingly graphic detail the kind of sexual encounters which take place beneath these restroom dividers once two men agree to engage in anonymous sex.

This is way, way more information than the senator wants anybody to know. There is virtually no chance that he will take the risk of a public trial.

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http://downwithtyranny.blogspot.com/2007/10/two-republican-toilet-trawlers-shunne
d.html

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Blackwater Turkey Shoot

post from Current Events Watch on 03 October 2007 03:38:51 AM. © Current Events Watch

George Bush is no doubt having yet another Homer Simpson moment. D’OH, indeed! Now everyone[...]

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Judge Accused of Spanking Prisoners Resigns

post from TalkLeft on 03 October 2007 03:38:00 AM. © TalkLeft

Alabama Judge Herman Thomas, accused among other things of spanking prisoners has resigned.

The allegations:

Authorities are investigating allegations that now-suspended Mobile County Circuit Judge Herman Thomas periodically removed prisoners from Mobile County Metro Jail and spanked them in a room at the courthouse, according to courthouse sources involved in the inquiry.

Once inside the room, according to the sources, the judge would ask the young men to drop their pants and prepare to be spanked with what they described as a wooden or fraternity-like paddle.

The resignation may end his upcoming ethics trial, but an investigation by the District Attorney's office in Mobile continues.

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Tuesday Morning Open Thread

post from AMERICAblog: A great nation deserves the truth on 03 October 2007 03:33:00 AM. © AMERICAblog: A great nation deserves the truth

So, anything interesting going on?

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Guest: Don Reed

Comedian Don Reed (HBO, Comedy Central, NBC) talks about Vegas, movies and Jesse Jackson.

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http://theointment.com/?p=458

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Hitting Below the Belt

Step away from the shovel!

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http://allspinzone.com/wp/2007/10/03/hitting-below-the-belt/

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A few good links about John Edwards

Oh dear--it's getting close to midnight, and I haven't had time to write my weekly post in support of John Edwards. I spent too much time this weekend on the latest installment in my series on how the Iowa caucuses work. I was planning to write about my[...]

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