Month: January 2006

Florida Repugs Sic Goons on Reporters During Jeb Speech

Trish

Florida Governor Jeb Bush is learning from his big brother. “If you have anything to say,” W. must have told him, “never say it in front of unbiased people. Make sure they’re all on your side first.”

Reporter: “How ludicrous was it? Picture this: Before Jeb spoke, half a dozen young men in dark suits frantically looking through the ballroom, as if Osama himself might be lurking…”

St. Petersburg Times:

The Florida Republican Party on Saturday called security to eject reporters listening to Gov. Jeb Bush tout his party’s accomplishments in Tallahassee.

The unusual scene – five hotel security staffers and a sheriff’s deputy escorting reporters away from where they could hear the governor – occurred in the middle of a speech in which Bush exhorted party activists to spread the word of Republican successes in Florida.

“I apologize for that if I’m indirectly responsible, which I’m not,” Bush said after addressing Republican activists gathered at Disney for a party meeting…

Way to accept responsibility like a grown-up, Jeb.

Eyewitness reporter Adam Smith had more to say about the event on his blog.

How ludicrous was it? Picture this: Before Jeb spoke, half a dozen young men in dark suits frantically looking through the ballroom, as if Osama himself might be lurking: “Find Bill Cotterell! Has anyone seen Bill Cotterell?! He could still be in there!”

Or this: An overwrought reporter (yours truly) accosting legislators in the hall, demanding they explain why their party would bar the press from hearing the governor. “No comment. I have no comment on that,” poor Sen. Durrell Peadon said, looking like he could have been leaving a grand jury proceeding.

The Lake Buena Vista Four included Windy March of the [Tampa] Tribune, the [Tallahassee] Democrat’s Cotterell, Jeremy Wallace of the [Southwest Florida] Herald-Tribune, and your Buzz correspondent.

Six Things to Know about Rep. Bob Ney

Jon Ponder

The Los Angeles Times has a profile up of Rep. Bob Ney, the Republican Congressman who allegedly traded trips and other benefits from disgraced Republican lobbyist Jack Abramoff in return for help with legislation. Here are six things about Bob Ney to know and learn:

  • Ney is the first member of Congress accused of directly trading gifts for legislative favors with Abramoff. “He is identified simply as “Representative #1″ in a Jan. 3 plea agreement between Abramoff and federal prosecutors.”
  • In his position as chairman of the Administration Committee, which controls congressional office budgets, he was known as the “mayor of Capitol Hill” — until he was forced to resign last week.
  • A former Ohio legislator, two of Ney’s former legislative aides in Ohio became lobbyists and went to jail for bribery after Ney went to Washington.
  • He is known as “Bobby.”
  • He taught English in Iran before the Revolution, and is the only member of Congress who speaks Farsi.
  • He is the idiot who forced the Capitol’s food service to change the name of French fries to “freedom fries” during the run-up to the war in Iraq — a high point in Republican low culture.

McCain: Bush Has No Legal Authority for Warrantless Wiretaps

Jon Ponder

From Fox News Sunday via Think Progress:

[CHRIS] WALLACE: But you do not believe that currently he has the legal authority to engage in these warrant-less wiretaps.

[SEN. JOHN] MCCAIN: You know, I don’t think so, but why not come to Congress? We can sort this all out. I don’t think — I know of no member of Congress, frankly, who, if the administration came and said here’s why we need this capability, that they wouldn’t get it. And so let’s have the hearings.

Glenn Beck Said He ‘Hates’ 9/11 Families

Jon Ponder

Last September, CNN’s newest star performer, rightwing talker Glenn Beck, told his listeners that he felt animostiy for the families of victims of the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks. From Media Matters:

[You] know it took me about a year to start hating the 9-11 victims’ families? Took me about a year. And I had such compassion for them, and I really wanted to help them, and I was behind, you know, “Let’s give them money, let’s get this started.” All of this stuff. And I really didn’t — of the 3,000 victims’ families, I don’t hate all of them. Probably about 10 of them. And when I see a 9-11 victim family on television, or whatever, I’m just like, “Oh shut up!” I’m so sick of them because they’re always complaining. And we did our best for them.

‘Haunted’ by ‘Brokeback,’ Schwarzenegger ‘Regrets’ Gay Marriage Veto

Jon Ponder

A news fantasy: Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger suggested that he might reconsider legalizing gay marriage, if he had assurance that gay Californians would vote for him in his reelection bid this year.

Asked what triggered his change of heart, the governor said, “I saw ‘Brokeback Mountain.’ It haunted me for days.”

The topic of gay marriage came up during a brief question-and-answer session with reporters Friday. Asked for his reaction to news earlier in the day that a Maryland judge had declared her state’s ban on gay marriage unconstitutional, the governor said he agreed with the decision — and added that he has now come to “regret” his veto of the California gay marriage law last year.

“At the time, I thought it was better for my political career to veto it,” Schwarzenegger said. “I regret that now because I could use every vote I can get. If the legislature sends me the bill again, I definitely would sign if if I thought gays would give me their vote. A lot of gay men worship my body. I want to be the governor for all the people.”

Asked what triggered his re-thinking, the governor said, “I saw ‘Brokeback Mountain.’ It haunted me for days.”

Washington Post Turns Off Its Blog Comments

Buck Banks

WaPo snafu: The Washington Post today turned off the comments function of its Weblog at www.washingtonpost.com because people just wouldn’t follow the rules:

… there are things that we said we would not allow, including personal attacks, the use of profanity and hate speech. Because a significant number of folks who have posted in this blog have refused to follow any of those relatively simple rules, we’ve decided not to allow comments for the time being. It’s a shame that it’s come to this. Transparency and reasoned debate are crucial parts of the Web culture, and it’s a disappointment to us that we have not been able to maintain a civil conversation, especially about issues that people feel strongly (and differently) about.

So a few bad apples spoiled it for everybody. Now, if you have a comment on a washingtonpost.com post, you’ll have to keep it to yourself because someone used profanity in a comment.

Come on, give me a break, Posties. What level of discourse did you expect? The Harvard Debate Club?

We here at Pensito Review understand the WaPo editors’ frustration because we get a lot of comments on our posts, too. Well, not a lot, really, but some high-quality ones. Well, not that high-quality. Actually, some of them are nasty and hurtful and sprinkled with surprising examples of profanity that we have added to our personal arsenals.

You may not know this, but there are wingnut nutjobs out there with nothing better to do than go around to thoughtful, intelligent, well-designed and left-leaning Web sites like this one and squeeze the boils they have for brains into comments on multiple stories. They are rightly called trolls. But do we take off their comments? Nope. We let other readers respond with their own comments, often creating lively and pyrotechnic strings of comments.

We do, however, remove comments with death threats and refer them immediately to the FBI.

At Pensito Review, we would never turn off comments, mainly because the comments our readers leave often are funny, clever, thoughtful, insightful and make us feel like superior spellers and grammarians. We believe in freedom and free speech, and if you want to show your ass by leaving a ranting, rambling, obscenity-laced blurt of brain pus, why, that’s OK with us. Heck, we do it ourselves sometimes. Well, there was that one time on washingtonpost.com, anyway.

Pensito Review: Off the Wires

Buck Banks

Italian Court Told to Prove Jesus Existed
ROME – Lawyers for a small-town parish priest have been ordered to appear in court next week after the Roman Catholic cleric was accused of unlawfully asserting what many people take for granted: that Jesus Christ existed. Hey, in most parts of the United States it’s unlawful to assert Jesus didn’t exist!

U.S. Rejects Any ‘Truce’ With Bin Laden
WASHINGTON – Rejecting a suggestion by Osama bin Laden of a negotiated truce in the war on terror, Vice President Dick Cheney said there was only one way to deal with terrorists. “I think you have to destroy them,” Cheney said. “And we are aggressively doing that by allowing them to fly airplanes into tall buildings and blow themselves up with homemade bombs.”

‘Evo Fashion’ Hits Bolivia
LA PAZ, Bolivia – When President-elect Evo Morales wore a brightly striped sweater on his world tour, the fashion police howled: “Are we not men? We are Evo!”

Italian Official: World Must Confront Iran
ROME – Iran’s nuclear program is testing the resolve of the international community, and the world needs a unified approach to the escalating diplomatic standoff, Italy’s foreign minister said Friday. In related news, Italy is withdrawing its troops from Iraq — and you can bet it’s not to send them into Iran.

U.S. Allows Cuba Into Baseball Classic
NEW YORK – Cuba will be allowed to play in the World Baseball Classic, after all. But if they break Mrs. O’Malley’s window, they’re going to be in really big trouble.

Man Who Shot Pope Back in Police Custody
ANKARA, Turkey – A court ruled Friday that the man who shot Pope John Paul II in 1981 should return to prison to serve more time for killing a journalist and for other crimes in Turkey. Now that’s justice. It’s OK to put a cap in the Pope, but knocking off a journalist will land you in the hoosegow.

Iran Moving Currency As Pre-Emptive Move
TEHRAN, Iran – Iran is moving its foreign currency reserves out of European banks as a pre-emptive measure against any possible U.N. sanctions over its nuclear program, the Central Bank Governor said Friday. Oh yeah? And where do they think they’re going to spend them rials when the world slaps them silly with trade embargoes?

Chirac Nuclear Comments Draw Ire in Europe
PARIS – President Jacques Chirac drew scorching criticism in Europe on Friday for suggesting France would consider a nuclear response to state-sponsored terrorism. Duck and cover, Washington!

Straw: No Flights Via Britain Since 9/11
LONDON – Britain’s foreign secretary denied Friday that he had withheld any information from Parliament. Jack Straw also said there had been no secret CIA flights through Britain since the Sept. 11 attacks. “Honest. No really, I mean it,” said Straw. “Is this the face of a guy who’d lie to Parliament?”

Whale Swimming in London Lost, Likely Sick
LONDON, England – A whale swam up the River Thames past Parliament and Big Ben in central London on Friday, then beached itself. And we thought Benny Hill was dead!

More GOP Sleaze: ‘Family Values’ Proponent Rep. Connie Mack in Adulterous Affair with Rep. Bono

Jon Ponder

Moral compass gone astray: What will finally drive a stake through the Republicans’ false claim that they are the party of high morals? I doubt it will be the latest soap opera to play out within their ranks. Buzzflash has named Rep. Connie Mack, Republican of Florida, as it’s Hypocrite of the Week:

[Rep. Mack] has been seen cooing and cuddling with Republican Congresswoman Bono in the back of the House of Representatives. Mack’s estranged wife also dropped the bombshell that Connie was lying when he claimed, during his Congressional run, that he had moved his “beloved” family, which he is now in the process of abandoning, into the Congressional District he represents. As one Florida news report noted about Mack, “During his campaign, he stressed family values and told questioners he and his family were committed to Southwest Florida.”

Rep. Mack, whose real name is Cornelius H McGillicuddy, is the son of former Sen. Connie Mack, and the grandson of a famous baseball player who was also named Connie Mack.

Rep. Mary Bono represents Palm Springs, California. She remarried after the death of her husband, Sonny Bono of Sonny and Cher fame, but is said to be seeking a divorce.

Avian Flu: Turkish Samples Show Mutations

Buck Banks

From the journal “Nature”:

Scientists studying virus samples from the human outbreak of avian influenza in Turkey have identified three mutations in the virus’s sequence. They say that at least two of these look likely to make the virus better adapted to humans.

The Turkey outbreak is unusual, because of the large family clusters of cases; the fact that many of those infected have only mild symptoms; and the speed with which infections have arisen — 20 cases, including four deaths, in less than two weeks.

So scientists are urgently trying to establish whether the virus is behaving differently in this outbreak from previous ones in Asia. In particular, international teams are investigating the possibility that the virus is moving between people.

“With such a large number of cases within such a short period of time, human-to-human transmission is something that we’ve had to consider,” says Maria Cheng, a spokeswoman at World Health Organization (WHO) headquarters in Geneva.
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