Yellow "investigative journalist" James O'Keefe is a tool. (You probably already knew that.) As Brad Blog has been saying for weeks, the ACORN tapes are pretty much bogus. For instance, O'Keefe wasn't dressed as a pimp during his much ballyhooed (and sometimes illegal) ACORN interviews. And he didn't even present himself as a pimp. Pimpgate is pimpless. And the videotape he presented to the world was sliced in other grossly misleading and sensational ways. Rather than get both sides of the story, Fox News immediately treated the edited video as gospel upon its release, and nearly put it on a 24/7 news loop. So now that the unedited version is available, Rachel Maddow provided some revealing context on her show last night. (Video below.)
She finds that O'Keefe edited the interviews to imply things conservatives wanted to believe (i.e., the worst), and this cost the jobs of people who were sincerely trying to 1) alert authorities of illegal human trafficking and 2) counsel a young woman out of a life of prostitution. ("You can do anything"). O'Keefe wasted their time, videotaped them with a hidden camera, and then edited the tape to stoke furor at Foxbart News, which led to excessive outrage, and ultimately these people lost their jobs. But at least O'Keefe got famous.
I haven't seen the whole unedited tape, nor read the entirety of this CA AG report on O'Keefe's "sting". And I'm certainly not excusing the nearly defunct ACORN en toto-- especially the greedheads who were running the organization. But the instances Rachel Maddow highlights were obviously edited and decontextualized for maximum political misrepresentation. O'Keefe hides behind words like "investigative journalism" and "veritas", and receives rock star treatment at conservative conferences. In reality, he's dishonest-- a bad joke. O'Keefe's not a pimp. He's a political whore.
The accolade in the referenced article for Aaron Broussard by the politically connected, former President of the Kenner council, “13 count” plea bargained confessed federal felon -– Nick Baroni -– who defrauded the Navy when American forces were “dying” in Iraq and Afghanistan had the sincerity of Captain Renault, the character Claude Raines played in Casablanca, when Captain Renault pretended, and not credibly, to be shocked after being informed there was gambling on the premises of Rick’s Cafe.
Nick Baroni’s hypocritical praise, awash in an element of sophistry of Outer Limits phony idealism, for Broussard is not a pat on the back I would wish to have quoted on my behalf in the Times-Picayune, or in the sleaziest political gutter rag on the planet!
And additionally, Broussard’s pal, Nick Baroni, likely played a significant role in the criminal corruption of his son Keith (also a 13 count plea bargained confessed federal felon) in their third-rate father/son scam to rip-off the U. S. Navy in a time of war to abscond with a mega bundle of taxpayers’ loot drenched in the blood of U. S. fighting forces -– many of whom made the ultimate sacrifice defending the Constitution.
Proving that former Jefferson Parish President Aaron Broussard -– Nick Baroni’s fellow world traveler and prayer partner, has sunk to an embarrassing level of shame, the Times-Picayune had to scrape the bottom of the latrine to dig up a complimentary quote (I suppose Bernard Madoff was not willing to give a character reference, and Bush’s buddy -- Kenny “boy” Lay is in the ground) from one of the most disgraced, and reprehensibly vile and wretched persons since Charles Ponzi decided to enter the investment market -- Nick Baroni -- whose sons were awarded a largesse of $340,000 by the taxpayers for road and drainage improvements to a carwash owned by two of Nick Baroni’s sons.
But, Nick Baroni’s felonious perception of Broussard’s rectitude, substantiates that there is “no” shame among criminals -– a group I strongly suspect former Jefferson Parish President Aaron Broussard will soon become a member.
No doubt, Broussard’s abuse of power, excuse me, “expenditure” of $340,000 as parish president to the Baronis -– at the behest of Broussard’s former chief administrative officer, the disgraced Tim “would you like to buy some insurance for your employees” Whitmer, was what Nick Baroni had in mind when quoted in the Richard Rainey article saying, "Unfortunately, a lot of the stuff he has done won't be remembered . . ."
And if the federal grand jury is investigating the Baroni carwash, which took the taxpayers for a ride to the cleaners, Nick Baroni may have the embarrassing and dubious distinction of being one of the great record holders of all time in the Guinness book of world records, that is, corrupting every one of his children!
And I must question a racial double standard in the referenced article.
If an African-American mayor of New Orleans would have resigned in disgrace, a la Aaron Broussard, would the Times-Picayune have dared to put into print a complimentary remark from the former president of the New Orleans city council, the confessed plea bargained felon Oliver Thomas, for a disgraced mayor of New Orleans! Well, I think not.
And Oliver Thomas’ confession of criminal wrongdoing pails in comparison with the heinous criminal behavior of the treasonous Baroni crime family!
As a matter of racially bias propriety, since Nick Baroni is a white conservative Republican and Oliver Thomas is an African-American liberal Democrat -- and the stigma of a black liberal Democrat, with a criminal record, in present society is deemed to be a far more serious character stain.
Example: The political rehabilitation of white conservative Republican Sen. David Vitter has been frictionless as a sleigh ride and as smooth as a garden fresh Georgia Peach.
Vitter, an adulterer, and a purveyor of unquestionable “lies and hypocrisy,” and who most undeniably procured the services of prostitutes -- “illegally,” has a seeming lead in the polls that a candidate could no more overcome if his opponent were Silky Sullivan making up lengths in the final furlong of the 1958 Santa Anita Derby.
Furthermore, David Vitter’s undeniable participation in a criminally adjudicated racketeering organization played a role in the suicide death of Deborah Jeane Palfrey!
And David Vitter will likely waltz back to the Senate with a comfortable majority of the white Republican conservative elective giving the “whore-monger” their thumbs-up in the upcoming November election.
However, at the other end of the politically racially biased spectrum, example:
After former Congressman and former State Senator Cleo Fields was videotaped by the FBI pocketing cash -- being dished by former Louisiana governor Edwin Washington Edwards and “Fields not” holding public office at the time, and never indicted, much less convicted of a crime -- the political career and reputation of an African-American liberal Democrat was demolished as if Fields’ future in politics was sliced and diced and torn and shredded by a Vegematic!
Enough said!
And a most interesting development after my last piece was posted -- http://righthandthief.blogspot.com/2010/01/jefferson-parish-clerk-of-court-jon.html -- regarding the cozy/comfy relationship between the Gegenheimers and Aaron Broussard -- well, the payroll records of Cherreen Gegenheimer, wife of Jon Gegenheimer, Jefferson Parish Clerk of Court, has been subpoenaed by the FBI!
Jindal made deal with Caldwell over healthcare lawsuit?
An intrepid YRHT source alerted us to a scoop from a newspaper in Eunice[!] that the big blogs have already picked up. Here's how Steve Benen ably summarized it:
There are 14 states (and counting) launching odd lawsuits against the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act, and 13 are the result of conservative Republican state attorneys general. The exception is Louisiana Attorney General Buddy Caldwell, a Democrat. ... Amanda Terkel and Matt Yglesias have flagged an interesting report from a small Louisiana paper that suggests there may be more going on behind the scenes with this case.
It also turns out [Caldwell] may have been reluctant to become what he described as the "token Democrat" in the litigation, but was backed into a corner by Gov. Bobby Jindal. [...]
In a subsequent address to employees of his office, the Attorney General said the decision was made more out of the necessity of saving jobs in his agency than any real hope -- or desire -- of overturning the health care law.
One employee said Caldwell, in a candid admission, claimed that a deal was made with Jindal. Under terms of that agreement, the governor would not make additional cuts in the attorney general's budget if Caldwell joined in the litigation. Caldwell agreed to be the "token Democrat," he said, so that he might save additional job cuts by an administration whose state goal is to reduce the number of state employees by as much as 5,000 per year over three years.
... [I]f the report is accurate, it would not only be a pretty significant scandal for Jindal, it would also put the notion of a "Louisiana Purchase" and controversial, secret "backroom deals" in a whole new, bipartisan light.
Developing... ===
Update: Thx to T-P for the link in this political news digest, and to commenter laone who linked to Olberman awarding Jindal (yet another) "Worst Person in the World".
This little dance scene goes out to Miss Constance McMillen , her girlfriend, and the other so-called "freaks" that attended the faux prom in Northern Miss. I hope y'all get to move far away from Itawamba County, which I believe is the setting of Faulkner's lesser-known work, The Shitheads and the Fury.
You are always welcome to be yourselves in New Orleans.
Ah, the presidential first pitch on Opening Day. A storied tradition fraught with no small amount of risk. I continue to hope that one day a POTUS will do an Al "the Mad Hungarian" Hrabosky impersonation as part of the first pitch ceremonies. It would be so cool! But, alas, the chances of that ever happening are terribly slim.
Ok, let's see how #44 does.
[Insert mandatory "Just a bit outside" joke.]
Dreadful! (Unless that was a slo-mo homage to the levity of John Kruk's at bat versus the Big Unit in the 93 All Star game.)
To make up for that, here's a few sweet fielding highlights from yesterday that will impress you (the last one is the best):
After courting Gov. Charlie Crist as part of his brilliant "Florida Strategy" in 2008, Rudy Giuliani's team was steamed when Crist changed his mind and endorsed McCain at the last minute. So yesterday Rudy went back to Florida to endorse... Marco Rubio, Crist's GOP opponent for U.S. Senate. After fluffing Rubio for standing "up for freedom" and "up to terrorists", Giuliani said "When Marco gives you his word, he keeps it".
So that's the subtext there.
Let's not forget a couple things. First, Senator Vitter endorsed Rudy Giuliani in 2008. Despite Rudy being "hard on guns and soft on gays" (by GOP standards), Vitty-cent was won over by sheer political ambition his belief that Rudy would make great appointments to the courts. Heh. That still makes me laugh. Vitter had this confidence, despite Rudy advising Pres. Bush to nominate Bernard Kerik to be the head of Homeland Security. Kerik initially refused the job[!], and the White House called him back and told him to reconsider.
Kerik was the one who juggled extra-marital affairs in a Manhattan apartment overlooking Ground Zero that was "supposed to be for the use of exhausted 9/11 workers". Nice. He's also been involved in bribery, tax fraud and umpteen other scandals. Kerik pleaded guilty to eight felonies, and was recently sentenced to 4 years in prison. In other words, he was a monumentally horrible choice to be Czar of Homeland Security. Yet despite this disasterous recommendation, Rudy still goes around acting like his endorsements should be respected. "America's Mayor" wanted Kerik to protect the Homeland and Vitter to chair the southern region of his Presidential campaign. Now he's endorsing some dude named Rubio because Crist screwed him over in 2008-- take a break, Rudy! ---
Sports columnist Dave Zirin writes about a hate crime on a black kindergartner who was tied to a tree by older bullies, stoned, and had the "N" word spray painted on his body. An outrageously incendiary story, right? But wait till you hear who the victim was. (Go read the article.)
Zirin rightly wants to establish the truth value of the account, since the kindergarten teacher denies that this ever occurred. No one should get a "mulligan" here, because someone is obviously lying. Zirin seems to want to believe the story and give the alleged victim the benefit of the doubt, but I'm pretty damn skeptical. For starters, the spray paint part is implausible. A kindergartner's torso doesn't provide much of a canvas for six letter words. And since when do elementary school bullies have spray paint and rope ready to hand? Also, how is it possible that this story about this person flies under the radar for so long?
Eldrick Woods-- the former kindergartner who is now a grown man-- should clear this up. If such a heinous episode is true, he should rebut those who are denying it. If it is false, or wildly exaggerated, he should correct the record and apologize.
T-P awards "Loving Cup" to Tulane University President Scott Cowen. After lauding his accomplishments, they touch on one of his more controversial decisions:
During that fall [in 2005 after Katrina/FF], Cowen devised a plan to restructure the university, a proposal that ruffled more than a few feathers because it closed Newcomb College, laid off 230 faculty members and eliminated all but two engineering majors.
The changes, he said then, were necessary for Tulane’s survival in a post-Katrina world where enrollment and resources would be depleted.
Noladishu documents the protests that accompanied the "restructuring" and says:
There's no getting around the fact that in the aftermath of... the Federal Flood, the largest engineering disaster in US history, Cowen axed the programs that could have made the most difference. In his own words, "If they don't fix the levees, everything we've done [with the Renewal Plan] is for naught."* What are we going to do Dr. Cowen? Sue our way to Category 5 Levees?
I wish Ashley Morris were here to react to the news. (We will always remember Ashley, but since two years have passed since he left, please consider donating again to his family.) Ashley trusted Scott Cowen about "as far as he could explode him". He was on the Tulane President like white on rice maggots. Here's a short but representative quote from Ashley regarding a similar circumstance:
I don’t have too much to say about the Gambit piece on NOLA universities, written by a Tulane undergrad and Gambit intern. As expected, Scott Cowen is portrayed as the visionary who made the painful but necessary bold moves to keep Tulane afloat.
I'll note one more news item, before presenting a palate-cleansing musical number. On March 19th I heard Kaare Johnson of WIST 690am report that Tulane will build a $100 million dollar athletic project that includes a "32,000 seat on-campus RETRACTABLE roof football stadium with a new administration building in one endzone and new basketball arena in the other endzone".
If true, that's awesome news for the remaining students and faculty whose departments weren't eliminated out of "necessity" following Katrina/FF. I wonder if engineering grads will help build it? --- Update:Clay points us to around the 7:40 mark of the extended Treme preview, where John Goodman's character quotes nearly verbatim from this Ashley Morris post (see "in the process" link above), saying: "Why would the university train people who know how to build things? Like, oh say computer systems, power grids, levees. Hey, who needs them?" From what I hear, Simon will appropriately credit Ashley's posts for informing the Treme script.
---
Note: some edits made after initial publishing --- * nsfw
May your eggs be full of sweets, and your sepulchres be empty (except for informative angels).
I love this passage, where Jesus fuels up before ascension. ===
Dr. Luke, chapter 24
37 They were fearful and terrified and thought they were seeing a ghost. 38 But Jesus said, "Why are you troubled? Why do you doubt what you see? 39 Look at my hands and my feet. It is I myself! Touch me and see, because a ghost does not have a living body as you see I have."
40 After Jesus said this, he showed them his hands and feet. 41 While they still could not believe it because they were amazed and happy, Jesus said to them, "Do you have any food here?" 42 They gave him a piece of broiled fish.43 While the followers watched, Jesus took the fish and ate it. ... 50 Jesus led his followers as far as Bethany, and he raised his hands and blessed them.51 While he was blessing them, he was separated from them and carried into heaven.
Obamanomics Job Destruction Report for Neue Sozialist Amerika
Bureau of Proletariat releases labor situazion papers on continued destruction of USA Free Enterprise system by Premier Kommissar Obama. Let's see how capitalism inevitably tore itself to pieces (with our help!) last month:
Nonfarm payroll employment increased by 162,000 in March, and the unemployment rate held at 9.7 percent, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. ... The change in total nonfarm payroll employment for January was revised from -26,000 to +14,000, and the change for February was revised from -36,000 to -14,000.
Oh No! How can this be?
Premier Kommissar Obama is leader who insists on hearing bad news immediately. This turn of events will not please him. But I will tell him this is only one month. Be patient. Internal contradictions of capitalism will manifest themselves next report, and our plan will be back on traintracks.
I hope.
=== Update:Comrade Patrick has circulated report throughout headquarters.
"In the garden I was playing the tart, I kissed your lips and broke your heart"
I don't get to write the word "Maundy" very often, so let me send out profound Maundy Thursday wishes to all the Christians in the house. Today, we remember the Nazarene's command to love one another-- let's get to it!
Holy Thursday is a pretty dramatic day in the ole' New Testament. There's a supper spiced with suspicion, an orchard fertilized with sweat, oil rubs followed by kissing, swordplay and faith healing, silver and suicide, prayer and narcolepsy, olive trees and blood fields, an angry mob stoked with the fear of insurrection... You can't beat it! And did I mention there's betrayal on top of betrayal on top of betrayal?
What a crazy night! They should make a movie about it. Hang Over: the prequel.
Here's Bono and U2, in full JC rockstar pose, celebrating the day as only they can.
