The repository of one hard-boiled egg from the south suburbs of Milwaukee, Wisconsin (and the occassional guest-blogger). The ramblings within may or may not offend, shock and awe you, but they are what I (or my guest-bloggers) think.
That’s right. After almost a month of delay, WordPress 2.7 is out. There are some nice improvements, both on the back end and the front end.
The biggest item on the front-end is threaded comments. To reply to a specific comment, just hit “Reply” just below the comment. I’ve enabled it all the way out to the maximum 10 levels of commenting.
This YouTube video is my insta-reaction to Paul Ryan joining the Democratic caucus in bailing out the Big Thr…er, UAW to the tune of $14 billion (warning, gratutious use of fuck-bombs involved). I especially like the stretch between 1:25 and 1:33 when Butch Coolidge goes ballistic.
Revisions/extensions (9:00 pm 12/10/2008) – I should’ve checked to see if was embeddible before trying to embed it. Sorry about that.
This one goes out to Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich (D)…
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=psTUiQzNoxw[/youtube]
Since you’re probably done with the first song, it’s time for another from the Blago iPod (uncensored, of course)…
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aNaKWXqXkhw[/youtube]
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jYi381lJoeQ&eurl=http://silentespeaks.com/?p=3313[/youtube]
Saw this interesting articleabout the Chicago Tribune’s cooperation with FBI regarding the reporting of the Blagojevich investigation. According to the Tribune, the FBI requested and on numerous occasions the Tribune complied with not reporting all of the information the Tribune had uncovered.
To say that this is unusual is a bit of an understatement. Even the Tribune says:
“It’s very important for news organizations to remain independent from law enforcement. Independence is the key to journalistic integrity. When you enter into agreements or partnerships, you find your independence compromised,” said Kelly McBride, media ethicist at the Poynter Institute in St. Petersburg, Fla. “If we are too cozy with law enforcement, we will have no credibility when we question law enforcement, in the eyes of the public.”
Fiztgerald was equally impressed by the unique support from the Tribune:
We thought we’d never have the opportunity to install the bug or place the telephone tap and we made an urgent request for the Tribune not to publish that story,” Fitzgerald said. “That is a very rare thing for us to do and it’s an even rarer thing for a newspaper to grant.
When you think about Press involvement with government secrets you don’t tend to think of it in a supportive, positive relationship (Think NY Times). Do you think the Tribune’s unusual support was for a unique sense of morality or patriotism? Or, perhaps, do you think it could be because of this:
Count Two
Sections 666(a)(1)(B) and 2.
Beginning no later than November 2008 to the present, in Cook County, in the Northern District of Illinois, defendants ROD R. BLAGOJEVICH and JOHN HARRIS, being agents of the State of Illinois, a State government which during a one-year period, beginning January 1, 2008 and continuing to the present, received federal benefits in excess of $10,000, corruptly solicited and demanded a thing of value, namely, the firing of certain Chicago Tribune editorial members responsible for widely-circulated editorials critical of ROD R. BLAGOJEVICH, intending to be influenced and rewarded in connection with business and transactions of the State of Illinois involving a thing of value of $5,000 or more, namely, the provision of millions of dollars in financial assistance by the State of Illinois, including through the Illinois Finance Authority, an agency of the State of Illinois, to the Tribune Company involving the Wrigley Field baseball stadium; in violation of Title 18, United States Code,
I used to manage the media relations area for a company I worked for. It was a constant struggle to keep from storming down to one of the newspapers whenever I saw a negative story about my company or industry. Fortunately, I never did. Early on in my role I was given sage advice,
“Don’t start fights with people who buy ink by the barrel!”
I’m guessing that’s advice that Blagojevich never received!
Most news agencies are reporting that an agreement has been reached between the Democrat Congressional leaders and the White House, to provide the $15 billion in Federal funding, bail out, bridge loan….pick your favorite euphemism. The agreement calls for the creation of a Car Czar who will
have powers to shape a restructuring of the companies, withholding further loans if progress toward a turnaround stalled.
While Nancy Pelosi may want to see House Republicans sign on to the bail out just to provide the appearance of her greater bipartisanship, there’s no doubt that the Democrats will pass the bill now that they don’t have to worry about the implications of impending elections.
On the Senate side, the outcome of a vote on the package is far from certain. There are reports of dissatisfaction within the Senate Republican ranks. The question will be whether, while they still have 49 seats, the Republicans can hold together 41 votes and keep the bill from a vote.
In just a few weeks Barack Obama will be sworn in as President. Despite what some are calling “centrist” cabinet selections, there is no doubt that Obama’s views are far to the left of the American public. Couple him with Nancy Pelosi and her faux bipartisanship in the House and you are 2/3rds of the way to passing nearly any legislation that Obama or Pelosi may dream up. The only place where Republicans have a chance to influence policy for the next two years will be in the Senate.
In January the Republicans will be pared down to 42 or possibly 41 Senate seats. Included in that number will be Senators Snowe, Collins, Specter and of course the ever enigmatic McCain. It has been much debated whether the Republicans will be able to hold together to create any amount of resistance to the Democrat agenda.
61% of Americans are unwilling to provide a bail out for the auto industry. That coupled with Republicans now lip syncing that they want to be the party of smaller government (again), seems like the perfect opportunity, while we still have the 49 vote training wheels on, to see if we can hold the caucus together and flex some minority muscle. If they can, well, maybe there is some hope. If they can’t, buckle up, it’s going to be a long couple of years.
I think you can consider the Senate vote on the auto bill a trial run for what we will see at least until 2010.
Alright, I heard when US Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald said that the criminal complaint against Blagojevich didn’t involve President-elect Obama.
I’ve now read the entire complaint and in 17 separate phone calls or conversations, the complaint documents Blagojevich and others discussing how to extract something for Blagojevich in return for his selection of the President-elect’s preferred person to replace him in the Senate.
That leaves me thinking that either Blagojevich and those around him are the most delusional people on the face on the earth or they were receiving feedback along the way. At this point I’m not suggesting that Obama was involved but if Blagojevich was getting feedback, someone was giving it to him. I think this investigation has the potential to make the Scooter LIbby situation look like first year law school stuff.
This could be fun.
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