Les Jones

National Enquirer’s Palin affair bombshell is a wet dud

Saturday, September 6th, 2008 | News | Permalink | 1 Comment |

Via Instapundit, Michael Petrelis has the complete text of the National Enquirer piece that alleges Sarah Palin had an affair with her husband’s business partner. Here’s the relevant part:

Another incredible allegation emerging from the family war is that Palin, mother of five, had an affair with a former business associate of her fisherman husband, Todd.

“Todd discovered the affair and quickly dissolved his friendship and his business associations with the guy,” charges an enemy. “Many people in Alaska are talking about the rumor and say Todd swept it under the rug.”

That’s it. That’s the entirety of the claim.

The Deceiver notes that the McCain campaign immediately threatened legal action if the charges were libelous, which is something trial lawyer Edwards never did after the paper printed much more damaging statements. The Enquirer cautiously couches the accusation of an affair as an “allegation” by “an enemy” so they must not be confident in their information. That could change, but for now I don’t any reason to believe the allegations.

Previously:
- Uh oh! The National Enquirer alleges Palin affair

Uh oh! The National Enquirer alleges Palin affair

Friday, September 5th, 2008 | News | Permalink | 2 Comments |

CBS News is reporting that the McCain camp is fighting rumors from the National Enquirer that Sarah Palin had an affair with one of her husband’s business partners.

Via Kaus, Atrios writes:

Mickey Kaus’s Rules

If the Enquirer is reporting it, every other outlet must devote significant resources to verifying it.

You can’t blame Atrios for trying to score points. After the National Enquirer revealed John Edwards affair, Kaus and others piled on to the story asking why the mainstream media wouldn’t cover it. Even though I can’t blame Atrios, he’s wrong.

Here’s why. In the Edwards case, the Enquirer made allegations of an affair in December, 2007. That story didn’t get much traction because it was a rumor, which Edwards denied. And there it lingered, because an allegation without evidence is just grist for the gossip mill.

The story took off (and I many others started blogging it) in July. That’s when Enquirer reporters caught Edwards in a late night rendezvous with the alleged mistress and baby momma at the Beverly Hilton. When confronted by reporters, Edwards hid in a men’s room for 15 minutes. The next day a hotel security guard confirmed it was Edwards he had escorted from the building because he wasn’t a registered guest.

At that point the story deserved to hit the big time. You had an obviously suspicious encounter and equally suspicious behavior by Edwards when confronted. The reporters were witnesses. The security guard was a witness.

And that’s just the signal. Then you had the signal analysis - asking how the reporters got to be there in the first place. What really sold the story was the quality of the Enquirer’s sources. Those reporters didn’t stake out every hotel in California every night of the week until they got lucky. The Enquirer had an inside source who told them exactly where Edwards would be on what night. When the paper said they had reliable sources on the Edwards affair you could believe it.

Palin supporters like me should start worrying if the Enquirer starts showing the same quality of information on its Palin affair story. Until then, it’s just another rumor of many being thrown at Palin.

Russia Invades Georgia with Planes, Tanks, Troops

Saturday, August 9th, 2008 | News | Permalink | 2 Comments |

The New York Times - Georgia and Russia Nearing All-Out War

Scary stuff. Russia has the bomb, Russia has control over lots of oil and gas resources, and worst of all Russia has the power-mad Vladimir Putin who is not under the control of the Russian people.

Texas Appellate Court: Grounds for Taking Polygamists’ Kids Insufficient

Thursday, May 22nd, 2008 | News | Permalink | No Comments |

AP - Court: Texas had no right to take polygamists’ kids.

SAN ANGELO, Texas (AP) - A state appellate court has ruled that child welfare officials had no right to seize more than 400 children living at a polygamist sect’s ranch.

The Third Court of Appeals in Austin ruled that the grounds for removing the children were “legally and factually insufficient” under Texas law. They did not immediately order the return of the children.

Child welfare officials removed the children on the grounds that the sect pushed underage girls into marriage and sex and trained boys to become future perpetrators.

The appellate court ruled the chaotic hearing held last month did not demonstrate the children were in any immediate danger, the only measure of taking children from their homes without court proceedings.

See also:
- I Agree with KAG and the ACLU re: Texas FLDS

I Agree with KAG and the ACLU re: Texas FLDS

Thursday, April 24th, 2008 | News | Permalink | 2 Comments |

The way the majority of people of the FLDS in Texas are being separated from their children without due process is criminal. How can a judge determine with only cursory arguments that all 437 children were being neglected or abused and therefore should be taken from their parents and placed in foster care? From Katie Allison-Granju:

If the adults - mothers and fathers - in this polygamist, FLDS sect are encouraging sexual activity by teenage girls with adult men as part of their religious practice (as it appears they almost certainly are), this is criminally abusive. It needs to be stopped.

The individual men and women who have played a role in this abuse need to be individually prosecuted. Their other, younger children should be put into state custody. I cannot express strongly enough how much I believe the state needs to take a strong, unequivocal stance in going after any of these individual adults in this group who have committed crimes against children in the name of religion.

However, I am increasingly disturbed by the way the state of Texas is handling this matter. The wholesale rounding up and de facto incarceration of hundreds of women and children - none of whom have been individually accused of any crime - is very troublesome.

The Salt Lake Tribune - ACLU says constitutional rights threatened in Texas FLDS child custody proceedings

David Bernstein at Volokh.com - Child Abuse in the Name of Protecting Children

Imagine that some parents in a school district were accused of child abuse. Now imagine that the authorities took every child from the elementary, junior high, and high school away from their parents and put them in foster care. That’s a rough analogy of what’s happening in Texas.

It’s also worth mentioning that the initial charge of sexual abuse that prompted the initial search warrant was bogus. Rozita Swinton told authorities she was a young girl being held in a basement at the ranch. She has now been arrested for filing a false report. She was never even a member of the group and there’s no reason to believe she had ever so much as been to the compound. Swinton is 33 years old and lives in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

Randi Rhodes’ Big F***ing Resignation

Thursday, April 10th, 2008 | News | Permalink | No Comments |

Boston Herald - Randi Rhodes signing off:

This statement just in from Air America chair Charlie Kireker and president Mark Green:

Last week Air America suspended Randi Rhodes for abusive, obscene language at a recent public appearance in San Francisco which was sponsored by an Air America affiliate station.

Air America Media was informed last night by Ms. Rhodes that she has chosen to terminate her employment with the company. We wish her well and thank her for past services to Air America.

We will soon announce exciting new talent and programming that will accelerate Air America’s growth in the future.

Hat tip to Ace.

See also:
- Trust Cues, or, We’re All Big F***ing Whores Now
- Randi Rhodes Censored for Criticizing Republicans. Republicans Like Hillary Clinton*

Headline of the Day

Wednesday, March 26th, 2008 | News | Permalink | 1 Comment |

Second-Rate African American Comedians for Truth

Hillsy, in an effort to give herself some CIC street cred since people are finally starting to actually say that being married to the actual Commander in Chief isn’t exactly experience in the event the phone rings at 3 in the morning, made a itty-bitty, teeny-weeny mistake and misremembered being in Cambodia in 1968. Err, no. That’s not it. Oh, that she was taking sniper fire. That’s it.

And the story kinda came undone by Sinbad of all people. Yeah, that Sinbad. The one who took issue with having a white guy (who was actually mixed race) play Barack Jong-il Obama on SNL. As opposed to the Sinbad that rode a Roc and beat up a Cyclops once. I’ll let you decide which Sinbad is cooler.

Oh, and a while back? When I wasn’t blogging much? I was busy taking sniper fire.

Bonus Photochop! - From Slublog via Ace.

Future CNN “Undecided Voter” Takes Hostages at Clinton Campaign Office

Friday, November 30th, 2007 | News | Permalink | 1 Comment |

CNN - Two hostages freed at Clinton campaign office:

Shortly before 2 p.m., police officers were gathered across the street from the office, some kneeling behind police cruisers with guns drawn. Witnesses described the man as in his 40s with salt-and-pepper hair, WMUR reported. It is believed he was still inside the Clinton office at 3:20 p.m.

Other people were caught up at the start of the hostage situation. A woman with a baby was released by the hostage-taker early on, she told a witness, Lettie Tzizik, who spoke to WMUR.

“A young woman with a 6-month or 8-month-old infant came rushing into the store just in tears, and she said, ‘You need to call 911. A man has just walked into the Clinton office, opened his coat and showed us a bomb strapped to his chest with duct tape,’ ” the Web site reported.

Clearly we need to send in a UN weapons inspection team, attempt to dissuade the hostage taker with trade sanctions, investigate the root causes of his actions, and develop a peace plan that gives him part of the state of New Hampshire. Clinton needs a timetable for withdrawl. If he doesn’t give up by 8:30 we should redeploy the SWAT team to Pizza Hut in time for the football game.

(I kid. He’s released all of the hostages and it’s doubtful he has a real bomb.)

LATER: Police have taken the man, Leeland Eisenberg, into custody. The “bomb” was a set of road flares. This proves we never should have believed his claim to have weapons of mass destruction. The peaceful resolution illustrates that force is never required when responding to threats.

Phillipines Concedes Territory to Muslim Separatists

Thursday, November 29th, 2007 | News | Permalink | No Comments |

You didn’t hear a lot about this:

The agreement on the extent of territory to be handed over had been a major stumbling block in the peace talks that opened when a ceasefire was forged with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) in 2001. The two sides did not disclose the new borders agreed after two days of talks here, but Malaysian officials said the territory would be greater than the present autonomous region in the troubled island of Mindanao.

“After more than three decades of problems in Mindanao, it is for the government to give concessions. It could not be the other side, so the government has to concede what it think is reasonable,” said Philippines chief negotiator Rodolfo Garcia. In an issue known as “ancestral domain,” the land in question consists of untitled communal farms that came under formal state ownership when the Philippines became a Spanish colony in the late 16th century.

“Andalusia here we come.”

Jimmy Carter Killed his Sister-in-law’s Cat?

Friday, November 9th, 2007 | News | Permalink | 2 Comments |

From a recently-discovered letter Jimmy Carter sent to his sister-in-law.

5/13/90

To Sybil,

Lamentably, I killed your cat while trying just to sting it. It was crouched, as usual, under one of our bird feeders & I fired from some distance with bird shot. It may ease your grief somewhat to know that the cat was buried properly with a prayer & that I’ll be glad to get you another of your choice.

I called & came by your house several times. We will be in the Dominican Republic until Thursday. I’ll see you then.

Love, Jimmy

I got my twelve gauge sawed off.
I got my porch light turned off
I’m ’bout to bust some shots off.
I’m ’bout to dust a kitty off.

Uhn. Cat killer.

Family Wins Lawsuit Against Fred Phelps

Thursday, November 1st, 2007 | News | Permalink | No Comments |

Via Hot Air:

Albert Snyder of York, Pa., the father of a Westminster Marine who was killed in Iraq, today won his case in a Baltimore federal court against members of Topeka, Kan.-based Westboro Baptist Church who protested at his son’s funeral last year.

The jury of five women and four men awarded Snyder $2.9 million in compensatory damages. The amount of punitive damages to be awarded has not yet been decided. The jury deliberated for about two hours yesterday and much of today…

Specifically, he charged that they violated his privacy, intentionally inflicted emotional harm and engaged in a conspiracy to carry out their activities. The jury decided in Snyder’s favor on every count.

Good. I’m not a big fan of litigiousness in general, but Phelps was acting with malice to disrupt people’s private lives for political gain.

Ostensible political gain, anyway. I don’t think any reasonable person was actually swayed by protests of soldier’s funerals. Phelps was engaged in what Lee Harris calls fantasy ideology:

Continue reading the rest of this post ›››

Al Gore Wins Nobel Peace Prize

Friday, October 12th, 2007 | News | Permalink | 2 Comments |

He should have won the Nobel Prize in Zoology for discovering ManBearPig (language warning).

Nobel Peace Price Rockin’ Fun Zone Facts!

Gore is pitching carbon offsets as a solution to global warming, while serving on the board of a company that sells carbon offsets. That’s funny, when four-time Peace Prize nominee Gandhi was going on hunger strikes to protest British occupation of India I don’t recall him hawking Old Mahatma’s Miracle Diet Pills. (That’s right - Al Gore won a Peace Prize, but Stockhokm Oslo* snubbed Gandhi four times.)

Peace Prize winner Nelson Mandela spent 28 years in a South African prison for opposing his country’s policy of racial apartheid. Peace Prize winner Mother Theresa spent more than 40 years serving the poor and sick in third world countries. Al Gore flew around in a private jet giving lectures and filming a documentary while hobnobbing with Hollywood celebrities. So, you know, same difference.

In the science categories, Nobel prizes are generally awarded ten years or more after the original work was done. (This year’s winners in medicine began their work in the 1980s.) The belated recognition ensures that the work was both correct and relevant. This past week a British judge found nine significant errors of fact in Gore’s documentary, and ordered schools showing it to provide balancing viewpoints. Gore’s co-winners the IPCC has had to significantly adjust their past predictions of sea level changes downwards.

Finally, Al Gore is a hypocrite. After winning an Oscar for An Inconvenient Truth it was revealed that Gore’s mansion uses $30,000 a year in electricity and gas. It’s as if Gandhi was hunger striking during the week and secretly spending his weekends at an all you can eat buffet.

* I just read that while the other Nobels are awarded in Stcokholm, Sweden the Peace Prize is awarded in Oslo, Norway.

Amherst College Eliminates Loans in Financial Aid Packages

Thursday, September 27th, 2007 | News | Permalink | 1 Comment |

The Amherst Student - Amherst cuts loans in college aid

“Our concern was that students who expect to have to take out large loans to come to Amherst were being scared away from applying or choosing not to attend Amherst if admitted,” said President Anthony Marx. “In addition, we were concerned that students who did choose to come to Amherst and took out significant loans were having their career choices constrained by debt.”

Scholarship resources derive from the College’s endowment, alumni gifts and operating budget. As its resources have expanded, the College has increasingly taken measures to make tuition more affordable for low-income families.

The College began reducing loans in the mid 1980s, and, in 1999, became the first college in the U.S. to abolish loans for low-income students. The policy was initially confined to students with family incomes under $40,000, but was extended to include incomes lower than $60,000 two years ago.

I’m of two minds about student loans. On the one hand, they enable students to go attend college who wouldn’t otherwise be able to afford it. On the other hand, some students wind up saddled with big debts early in life, and often have degrees where the likely career prospects make repaying the loans difficult.

The U.S. government, in trying to help the former, is enabling the latter. Many people would object to Bank of America letting an 18 year old anthropology major take on tens of thousands of dollars a year in debt to finance their personal lives in college, but the government is making it possible for that same student to take on the same debt to pay for tuition. With the student loan the interest rate is lower, but you may not be able escape the debt with bankruptcy.

According to the article Princeton University and Davidson College have eliminated loans completely. I’m glad to see some colleges acknowledge the potentially disruptive effects of an education bought on credit and take action to minimize that danger. Too, many colleges are so well-endowed they can afford to significantly offset tuition costs rather than let students take out loans. A few colleges are so rich from alumni endowments that they should be ashamed to charge tuition.

The 9/11 Truthers and the JFK Conspiracy Theorists

Tuesday, September 11th, 2007 | News | Permalink | 3 Comments |

So some people have compared the 9/11 “truthers” to the JFK conspiracy theorists who said that Oswald didn’t shoot JFK, or didn’t act alone or whatever.

That analogy would hold, if there were multiple photographs and videotapes of Oswald shooting JFK. And if Oswald had escaped and sent in videos every six months proclaiming that he had, in fact, killed Kennedy, and if on those films he continued to make demands on America to cease its war against Communism in Vietnam, the USSR, and Cuba.

Because if all that were true, then JKF conspiracy theorists would be viewed as being as completely batshit crazy as 9/11 Truthers.

See also:
- Rosie O’Donnell: “This is the first time in history that fire has ever melted steel”
- Gasoline Tanker Melts Bridge Steel, Causes Collapse

Kathleen Wiley: “Clintons Stole My Manuscript”; Or Did They?

Friday, September 7th, 2007 | News | Permalink | 1 Comment |

WorldNetDaily:

The theft of the manuscript early Saturday morning was suspicious, she told WND, coming only days after the first mainstream media mention of her upcoming book, which is expected to include accusations of campaign finance violations and new revelations about harassment and threats by the Clintons and their associates.

“Here we go again; it’s the same thing that happened before,” Willey told WND. “They want you to know they were there. And they got what they wanted. They pretty much managed to terrorize me again. It scared me to death. It’s an awful feeling to know you’re sound asleep upstairs and someone is downstairs.”

The book, “Target: Caught in the Crosshairs of Bill and Hillary Clinton” by World Ahead Publishing, WND Books’ partner, is due for release in November. Willey said the stolen manuscript was not the book’s final copy.

So maybe that happened. Or just maybe this is a publicity stunt for Wiley’s book (to be released in November from World Ahead Publishing, doncha know). It would be an awfully easy stunt to pull off if you’ve got a personality that’s comfortable lying to the police. Whether Wiley does or not, I have no idea.

It could have happened either way, and with the various ambitions involved on each side, you have to wonder. Like Lily Tomlin said, “No matter how cynical you get, it’s impossible to keep up.”

Chavez: No Term Limits for Me, Less Court Oversight of Property Seizure

Monday, August 20th, 2007 | News | Permalink | 5 Comments |

He wants to extend presidential terms and get rid of those pesky term limits.

President Hugo Chavez called for radical changes to Venezuela’s constitution Wednesday night, proposing reforms that would eliminate current limits on his re-election and extend presidential terms.

Venezuela President Hugo Chavez wants to be allowed to be elected indefinitely.

Chavez, speaking to the National Assembly, also proposed ending the autonomy of Venezuela’s Central Bank, which would give him access to billions of dollars of foreign reserves. He also called for increasing the government’s power to expropriate private property before getting a court’s approval.

I’m always amazed when people defend Chavez.

House Passes 100% Cargo Container Screening Bill

Thursday, August 9th, 2007 | News | Permalink | 5 Comments |

I hadn’t heard about this:

The U.S. House late last week approved a modified bill that requires eventual 100% screening of all cargo bound for the U.S. at the port of origin. The move follows similar legislation in the Senate, and after reconciliation in conference, will move on to President Bush for expected signature into law. While relaxing some of the proposed provisions slightly, the measure was passed over the strong objections of a number of business groups.

When Kerry used to complain that only a small percentage of cargo containers coming into the U.S. were inspected, my reaction was “What, you want them all inspected?” And apparently they will be.

This seems pointless. Lots of expense and hassle for virtually no increase in security, sort of like the average TSA policy. The containers will be checked at the port of origin, which means something could be added to the cargo once the ship has left port for the United States.

Elizabeth Edwards Speaks Out - Women, Minorities, the Poor Hardest Hit

Wednesday, August 8th, 2007 | News | Permalink | No Comments |

From CIO Insight:

With Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama hogging media coverage, campaigns can push their messages without paying for ads.

“In some ways, it’s the way we have to go,” Edwards says. “We can’t make John black, we can’t make him a woman. Those things get you a lot of press, worth a certain amount of fundraising dollars. Now it’s nice to get on the news, but not the be all and end all.”

In a Salon interview Elizabeth Edwards said of Hillary Clinton:

“She’s just not as vocal a women’s advocate as I want to see. John is.”

And John Edwards wife isn’t crazy about her trailer-dwelling neighbor who lives in the cheap seats of the Two Americas:

Edwards views Johnson as a “rabid, rabid Republican” who refuses to clean up his “slummy” property just to spite her family, whose lavish 28,000-square-foot estate is nearby on 102 wooded acres.

Johnson, 55, acknowledges his Republican roots. But he takes offense to the suggestion he has purposefully left his property, including an old garage that he leases for use as a car shop, in dilapidated condition.

Shorter Elizabeth Edwards: vote for the rich white male in 2008!

See also:
- John Edwards, TV Preacher
- John Edwards, TV Preacher 2
- John Edwards Helps Himself to Poverty Funds
- The Onion Leaks John Edwards’ Campaign Platform

“The Problems With Putinism”

Tuesday, July 31st, 2007 | News | Permalink | 4 Comments |

Anne Applebaum looks at the increasingly hellish Putin Russia:

Most of the stories had nothing to do with politics. But they illustrate something about contemporary Russia that we too rarely discuss: Putinism isn’t just a foreign-policy problem. The Russian president’s penchant for breaking weapons treaties, threatening small neighbors, disposing of his enemies, and spouting Cold War rhetoric creates dilemmas for the West. The lawlessness that pervades his country creates much worse dilemmas for ordinary Russians.

Where Will We Get our Batboy News?

Tuesday, July 24th, 2007 | News | Permalink | 1 Comment |

The Weekly World News is shutting down.

Hillary Clinton Chooses Celine Dion Tune as Campaign Song

Thursday, June 21st, 2007 | News | Permalink | 3 Comments |

Katherine Coble rounds up blogger reaction to Hillary Clinton’s choice of Celine Dion’s “You and I.”

I am personally appalled. Celine Dion is Canadian. Because of Hillary Clinton’s outsourcing there’s an annoying, no-talent pop singer somewhere in America who’s out of a job.

Parents Get 27 Months for Giving Minors Alcohol

Thursday, June 14th, 2007 | News | Permalink | 6 Comments |

You’ve probably heard about the Virginia couple who are going to jail for serving alcohol at their son’s 16th birthday party. The prosecutor recommended a 90 day sentence, which would have been appropriate. The judge instead sentenced the couple to eight years, which was reduced to 27 months on appeal.

I think you can argue that 27 months may be a bit much. The parents took everyone’s keys and none of the children were legally intoxicated. The parents weren’t completely irresponsible.

At the same time, I can’t understand the sort of wholesale defense of what the parents did that you see, for instance, from many of the commenters at Metafilter.

I don’t think I ever went to party where there wasn’t alcohol when I was sixteen. That mother should be commended for doing the responsible thing.

No, the punishment did not fit the crime.
Yes, I’ve been to a party where alcohol was served when I was underage.
Yes, I would buy my kids alcohol.
Settled? Good. We can close this now.

Speaking as a European, articles like this worry me just as much as those about water board torture or extraordinary rendition. It indicates a sickness within American society.

Punishment does not fit the crime. But I suppose it is reflective of the glorious Family Values, and will certainly do much to teach that family proper respect for the law.

Look, the parents weren’t just turning a blind eye to alcohol. They actively purchased the alcohol for the kids and served it to them. And it wasn’t just their own children. They were giving alcohol to other people’s minor children, some as young as 15, without the other parents’ permission.

It gets worse. Some of the other parents specifically asked ahead of time if alcohol would be available. The now-convicted parents lied and told them there would not be any alcohol. If someone asks if alcohol will be available at a party their children are attending, that’s tantamount to saying “I don’t want my kid around underage drinking, much less drinking themselves.” The convicted parents were clearly going against the wishes of the other children’s parents. If you have to lie about what you’re doing, that shows you know it’s wrong.

This isn’t a knotty ethical question. If you’re a friend of mine, I promise not to secretly give your minor children alcohol, and I expect the same consideration from you.

Paris Hilton Enters Retox

Thursday, June 7th, 2007 | News | Permalink | 3 Comments |

Released from jail five days into a 23 day sentence.

Hilton will serve out the remainder of her sentence under house arrest and will be required to wear a cokespoon an illegal smile a beerhat edible panties an electronic monitoring bracelet.

Yesterday’s Dark Parody is Today’s Headline

Tuesday, May 29th, 2007 | News | Permalink | No Comments |

Here’s a blog item I posted on August 05, 2004:

Future Reality Show: Who Wants a Life-saving Organ Transplant?

It’s a new low in reality TV programing:

A Spanish-language reality TV show is offering contestants an unusual prize: the services of immigration lawyers to guide them toward a green card for U.S. residency.

“Gana la Verde” (search) - “Win the Green” - began airing daily last month on KRCA-TV Channel 62 in Los Angeles. Owner Liberman Broadcasting also airs the program on its San Diego, Houston and Dallas stations.

What’s next? How about “In Vitro,” a new show where infertile couples compete to win a viable embryo and the services of a surrogate mother. Sheesh.

Seen today at the BBC via Drudge:

Outcry over TV kidney competition

A Dutch TV station says it will go ahead with a programme in which a terminally ill woman selects one of three patients to receive her kidneys.

Political parties have called for The Big Donor Show to be scrapped, but broadcaster BNN says it will highlight the country’s shortage of organ donors.

“It’s a crazy idea,” said Joop Atsma, of the ruling Christian Democrat Party.

“It can’t be possible that, in the Netherlands, people vote about who’s getting a kidney,” he told the BBC.

The programme, from Big Brother creators Endemol, is due to be screened on Friday night.

Again, sheesh.

Incidentally, I once saw a simple solution to the shortage of organ donors that just might work. Limit organ recipients to those people who had signed organ donor cards. That would eliminate the free riders who haven’t agreed to donate their kidneys, but who are perfectly willing to take someone else’s.

In Tennessee becoming an organ donor is as simple as signing the organ donor statement on the back of your driver’s license.

Fred’s Too Sexy for His Video

Thursday, May 17th, 2007 | News | Permalink | 9 Comments |

Damfool says of the Fred Thompson video response to Michael Moore:

His most recent heaping helping o’ Republican rhetoric came in the form of a video response to filmmaker Michael Moore over a debate challenge on the issue of health care. Now, I am not a fan of Mr. Moore and my personal views on the state of American healthcare is that we are better off for having a free-market system. However, his weak attempt to suggest Michael Moore is mentally ill for having the audacity to disagree with him is nothing short of schoolyard name-calling.

No. That isn’t what Thompson said.

Thompson said that another documentary filmmaker, a Cuban, who used his documentaries to criticize Fidel Castro was put in a mental institution by Uncle Fidel.

In other words, Moore is celebrating a Cuba for its healthcare system and ignoring the political oppression that goes hand-in-hand with complete government control. And of course, like many people Moore takes Cuba’s rosy government healthcare statistics at face value, despite the lack of a free press and the violent suppression of dissent.

Thompson’s video is here. It only takes 38 seconds to watch.

Hat tip to Brittney with two t’s and an e.