Day: April 29, 2006

Rush Gets Off

Jon Ponder

Radio comedian Rush Limbaugh got his money’s worth by hiring attorney Roy Black. After a three year investigation into Limbaugh’s addiction to barbituates, Black struck a plea bargain with Palm Beach, Florida, authorities. Limbaugh essentially gets off with a slap on the wrist. He has to pay a fine and go to rehab for 18 months and then his record will be cleared.

This would have never happened to a regular person, of course — mainly because most people wouldn’t be able to afford to buy downers at the volume Limbaugh did.

Update: There’s a web poll up at the Palm Beach Post that asks, “Did Rush Limbaugh get off too easily?” The poll is being freeped so that “No” is leading handily. If you have a moment for anti-freeping, go there and vote “yes.”

CIA Director Denies Attending Watergate Prosti Parties

Jon Ponder

Names of Republican politicians who may have had sex with prositutes provided gratis by defense contractors at the Watergate Hotel are seeping out. CIA Director Porter Goss, whose previous position was chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, denied rumors that he was involved:

Speaking on behalf of the director, CIA spokeswoman Jennifer Millerwise Dyck said, “This is horribly irresponsible. He hasn’t even been to the Watergate in decades.” When … asked if Goss had attended Wilkes’ parties at the Westin or other locations, Millerwise Dyck repeated the denial. “It’s horribly irresponsible. Flatly untrue.”

Another CIA official may have been involved:

People who were present at the games said one of the regular players was Kyle Dustin “Dusty” Foggo, who has been [corrupt defense contractor Brent] Wilkes’ best friend since the two attended junior high school in Chula Vista in the late 1960s. In October, Foggo was named the CIA’s executive director — the agency’s third-highest position.

More to come…

CA Gov: Westly Leads Angelides and Schwarzenegger

Jon Ponder

State Controller Steve Westly is in the lead in the California governor’s race against both Treasurer Phil Angelides in the Democratic primary and Gov. Schwarzenegger in the general election, according to the new Los Angeles Times Poll.

If the election were held today Westly would beat the governor 48 percent to 39 percent.

Westly leads Angelides 33 percent to 20 percent, and would beat the governor 48 percent to 39 percent. Angelides would tie Schwarzenegger with 43 percent.

While Schwarzenegger’s approval rating has climbed from 37 percent last fall to 44 percent, his disapproval rate is 53 percent — and 48 percent say they definitely or probably will not vote for him in the fall.

Among Democrats, a whopping 45 percent of us are undecided. Many people have yet to focus on the June 6 primary. But others who are focused on the race are genuinely undecided, including yours truly. I’d be happy with either candidate, but I’m leaning toward Westly because, well, he’s winning. That could change.

For Schwarzenneger, the most ominous news in the poll is the fact that 61 percent believe California is seriously on the wrong track. This was precisely the percentage who believed the same thing in 2003 when Gov. Gray Davis was ousted by Schwarzenegger in the recall election.

Specter on Bush’s Domestic Spying Program: ‘Where Is the Outrage?’

Jon Ponder

“Where is the outrage?” is an odd question coming from Arlen Specter, the chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee. While he has convened hearings into the Bush Administration’s illegal domestic spying program, the famously low-key senator has conveyed nothing but restrained deference toward President Bush regarding this issue until now:

Sometimes outrage starts at the top, Senator. It’s called “leadership.”

New expressions of frustration over how little information the administration has shared about the National Security Agency’s warrantless eavesdropping on Americans flared yesterday in the Senate, one day after House Republicans barred amendments that would have expanded oversight of the controversial program.

Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) said yesterday that he will file an amendment to block the NSA program’s funding — but said he will not seek a vote on it at this time — in hope of stirring greater debate on the warrantless surveillance, part of the agency’s monitoring of alleged terrorists.

“Where is the outrage?” asked Specter…

Sometimes outrage starts at the top, Senator. It’s called “leadership.”