Mood:
irritatedTopic: Lib Loser Stories
'D' Is for Bigotry Last week we noted that posters on the Angry Left Daily Kos Web site were specuating that John Roberts's 4-year-old son was gay. It turns out other Kos posters are speculating that Roberts himself is gay. Here's the "argument" someone called "ceolaf" makes: 1. He didn't get married until he was 40. That's really late. Now, he's a devout Catholic, so you know he didn't have sex before he got married (at least not heterosexual sex). 2. He married a (female) partner at a major law firm. My wife is on the cusp of partnerhood and I never see her. I don't think that my parents had sex after my dad made partner (don't try to tell me otherwise). You think that they have sex? 3. He has kids, therefore he must have had sex with a woman? Nope. They're adopted. 4. Possibly most damning: He played Peppermint Patty in his school play. That's totally gay. And cross-dressing. This may be meant in a jocose spirit, and in any case Roberts obviously isn't gay. But it got us to thinking: Liberals and Democrats certainly aren't above gay-baiting. Last year Kedwards crudely attempted to appeal to antigay sentiment by proclaiming that Vice President Cheney has a gay daughter. And as The Weekly Standard's David Skinner notes, innuendoes about David Souter's sexuality flew in 1990, when then-President Bush appointed him to the Supreme Court: "This is a man who has never been married, never had children," noted one widely quoted observer, a prominent lawyer who, reported R.W. Apple Jr. in the New York Times, "asked not to be identified because he practices from time to time before the Court." . . . This statement was quoted and alluded to so often that Souter soon became pegged as the Curious Bachelor from New England. NPR's Nina Totenberg, Skinner notes, called Souter "at best, very weird." The liberal-left engages in other forms of bigotry as well. A Senate Democratic memo revealed that Judiciary Committee Democrats targeted Miguel Estrada's judicial nomination for defeat because "he is Latino." And although Clarence Thomas's opponents avoided directly making an issue of his race during his confirmation hearings, these days he is the frequent target of liberal racism, ranging from relatively subtle (Sen. Harry Reid stereotyping him as unintelligent) to shockingly crude (Emerge magazine caricaturing him as a lawn jockey). And of course as we noted last week, Anita Hill faulted Roberts for being a white man. Then there's religion. We tuned in to NBC's "Meet the Press" yesterday, and there was Mario Cuomo sounding for all the world like a 19th-century Know Nothing: The question for Judge Roberts is, "Are you going to impose a religious test on the Constitution? Are you going to say that because the pope says this or the church says that, you will do it no matter what? You will overturn Roe against Wade." Manuel Miranda lists other Bush-appointed judges, Catholic and Protestant, who've been subject to Democratic inquisitions for allegedly excessive piety. But being impious affords no protection. As we noted in March, Sen. Howell Heflin of Alabama explained in 1987 that he voted against Robert Bork's confirmation in part because he was "disturbed by his [Bork's] refusal to discuss his belief in God--or the lack thereof." Gays, blacks, Latinos, whites, Catholics, Protestants, (suspected) atheists--come to think of it, liberals have a defense against the charge that they're prejudiced: They hate everyone equally. Opinion Journal ~ Best of the Web Today - James Taranto ** 'D' Is for Bigotry The Origional Daily KOS Libtard Babbling Bullshit
Posted by uhyw
at 3:14 PM EDT
don't ask
Despite its public statements, the office of acting Democratic Gov. Richard Codey played a key role in doling out millions of dollars in state homeland security grants this yearto legislative districts controlled by his party, a review of government documents shows.
A series of internal letters, memos and e-mails messages, obtained under the Open Public Records Act, makes it clear that decisions on which towns got grants have been influenced by the governor's office from the time the program was established in 2002 under Gov. James E. McGreevey.
The documents contradict repeated claims by Codey's spokespeople that the program was handled by the state Attorney General's Office without political influence.
A May 12 e-mail message from the coordinator of the grant program in the Attorney General's Office to a legislative staffer from Gloucester County seeking a grant update explained who was in charge.
"I've asked the Gov.'s Office to advise if anything changed in terms of Franklin Twp. receiving funding," Steven Talpas wrote to the aide of Democratic Sen. Fred Madden, who represents Franklin Township. "Our office does not make the funding determination for this grant program."
Among hundreds of pages of other documents obtained by The Star-Ledger was a memo from a top administrator in the Attorney General's Office who describes the program as "Christmas Tree funding" -- a term long used in Trenton to describe grants given along party lines to loyal and politically connected lawmakers for use on pet projects in home districts.
Other letters and e-mail messages show Talpas conferring with the governor's office on the distribution of the grants and, at one point in 2003, asking a McGreevey staffer when the grant decisions would be made.
The homeland security grants sparked controversy in July when The Star-Ledger reported that 93 percent of the $23 million handed out since 2002 had gone to districts controlled by Democrats. At the time, Codey spokeswoman Kelley Heck said the governor's office "didn't play a role in the awarding of those grants."
More than $8 million was allocated for the program this year with 94 percent going to districts controlled by Democrats. The money was part of the 2005 budget approved six weeks before McGreevey announced his resignation last summer.
The distribution of those funds to each municipality came after Codey took office. Codey has eliminated the program for 2006.
POLITICAL PRESSURE DENIED
Spokesman Sean Darcy acknowledged the governor's office was part of the bureaucratic chain through which the requests went, but said that no political influence was exerted.
"The Legislature makes recommendations to us and to the Attorney General's Office for their districts," Darcy said. "Those recommendations get passed along from our office to the Attorney General's Office and the Attorney General's Office makes the final decision."
Last month, Attorney General Peter Harvey issued a statement saying "the grants were awarded based on the strength of the proposals and the homeland security needs of the municipalities." He has declined further comment.
But a senior official in Harvey's office, speaking on the condition he not be identified, said the grants were made without input from the Attorney General's Office.
"This is the governor's budget ... and they determine how the money is spent," the official said.
That same official also said McGreevey's office established control of the awards in 2002 after ignoring a proposal from the Attorney General's Office to give each county a base amount and then distribute the rest according to population. Control of the system stayed in the governor's office when Codey replaced McGreevey, the official said.
Harvey has been a target of Republicans since the funding disparity was reported. Several Republicans, including gubernatorial candidate Doug Forrester, have called for his resignation. They have also asked Codey to spend $40 million from the current budget to correct the imbalance in funding.
A RESPONSE TO SEPT. 11
When McGreevey and the Legislature created the Statewide Local Domestic Preparedness Equipment Grant Program nine months after 9/11, the grants were touted as a way to help towns purchase "first-responder" equipment to respond to a terrorist attack.
Soon after, the Attorney General's Office sent letters to every mayor and lawmaker in the state asking them to identify equipment -- such as new radios, gas masks, protective suits and bomb-sniffing dogs -- they wanted to purchase for their police, fire and emergency services departments.
The office received requests from 374 towns seeking a total of more than $64 million.
The correspondence shows the Attorney General's Office initially approached McGreevey's office with proposed guidelines to administer the grants.
In a letter hand-delivered to James Davy, who was McGreevey's chief of management and operations, on Aug. 19, 2002, Thomas O'Reilly of the Attorney General's Office suggested grants go to counties to maximize the limited funding. One suggestion was for each county to get a base award of $200,000, with the remaining funds based on population.
No response to that proposal was included among the documents provided by the state last week.
In an interview Friday, Davy, now the state human services commissioner, said the proposal could not be implemented because the Legislature wanted grants sent to municipalities, not counties.
Davy said his involvement in the grant program was limited to creating the application process, and he never discussed how the money should be distributed.
GOP AREAS GET LESS
Records show that on Dec. 11, 2002, McGreevey's office e-mailed a list of grant recommendations to O'Reilly based, in part, on input from legislators.
The memo was followed up with a meeting in the governor's office that night during which the Attorney General's Office was "advised to begin cutting checks out to the towns who were identified to receive an allocation," Talpas wrote in an e-mail message.
Towns in Democratic-controlled legislative districts received $8.28 million that year. Municipalities in Republican-controlled districts got $384,188.
At the beginning of the second year of the grant program, Talpas sent Karen Kominsky, deputy chief of staff in McGreevey's office, a spreadsheet with all 422 municipalities seeking a total of more than $48 million for various grants. He followed up two weeks later.
"Given that we've been receiving numerous phone calls from the municipalities on the status of this program, can you shed any light as to when a decision will be made on the awards?" Talpas wrote in an e-mail message dated Sept. 25, 2003.
For that year, towns in Democratic-controlled legislative districts received $5.18 million. Republican districts got $740,000.
In the summer of 2004, the Attorney General's Office mailed requests seeking proposals for 2005, the third round of funding. Officials there also sent a letter to McGreevey's operations chief, Diane Legreide, to let her know they were preparing for the 2005 grant program.
"As in past years, upon receipt and review of all applications, staff from my office will forward the listing of municipalities and requested funding amounts to the Governor's Office for further guidance," wrote Robert Caccese, the attorney general's director of finance and grants.
When the grants were distributed in April, more than $7.8 million went to Democratic legislative districts. Municipalities in Republican districts got $523,454, despite requesting a similar amount as Democrats.
'Satanist' dances on Reagan's grave
Posts photos on Net, presidential library mum about incident
A self-described Satanist has posted photos online of himself dancing on President Ronald Reagan's grave, raising the ire of the former chief executive's admirers.
Posted on the message board 
Continues the post: "We had to tear ass out of there and lose security in the parking lot, but we appear to have gotten away scot-free."
The post is signed "Monte."
Most responding to the post were congratulatory, with one poster exclaiming, "That is spectacular."
Several e-mails have crisscrossed the Internet about the incident, with one person claiming to have contacted authorities:
"I forwarded the pictures to the Reagan Library, the FBI and the National Archives. They have turned the case over to their lawyers and have been in the process of determining if there is any legal action they can take against this individual. I tracked down a website where this guy has posted more pictures of presidential grave desecration and even has orchestrated a national contest to see how many of these website members can desecrate the most presidential graves around the country."
"Monte" appears to be pursuing that goal, also posting on a different site a photo of himself purportedly urinating on President Richard Nixon's grave at the presidential library in Yorba Linda, Calif.
Talk-radio host 
d'oh
The Democrats' political divisions could be worse than New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton said they were when she called last month for a cease-fire among the party's warring factions and a renewed focus on beating Republicans in the next election.
Her call for unity came at a time when a major sector of the party's working-class base appeared to be splitting apart, a key Senate Democrat was criticizing his party's credibility on national security and new polling data showed that a majority of the nation's working class has turned against unions, one of the party's most loyal allies.
These developments within the past two weeks have Democrats re-examining their future political strategies:
♠ Two of the country's biggest and most influential labor organizations, the Teamsters and the Service Employees International Union, have left the AFL-CIO, taking $20 million in dues money from the powerful labor federation, which is one of the Democrats' chief donors. Their main complaint: The AFL-CIO spends too much money on election campaigns and not enough on union organizing.
♠ Indiana Sen. Evan Bayh, former chairman of the centrist-leaning Democratic Leadership Council, which has entered into a strategic political partnership with Mrs. Clinton, said many Americans don't think Democrats "have the backbone" to protect the nation.
"Many Americans wonder if we're willing to use force to defend the country even under the most compelling circumstances," Mr. Bayh told the Associated Press last week.
♠ In another setback for unions, who have long been a pivotal voter constituency for the Democrats, a national survey of nonunion workers by independent pollster John Zogby found that only one-third of workers want to unionize their workplace, while a 56 percent majority do not.
With union membership in the midst of a sharp downturn, "these survey results seem to indicate that, under present circumstances, no amount of organizing effort would be able to turn around the decline," said David Denholm, president of the Public Service Research Foundation, which funded the poll.
Democratic strategists acknowledge that their party is undergoing a sometimes divisive debate about the party's direction after last year's election losses, but view this as a natural process of recovery.
"I think it's normal for a party to go through what the Democratic Party is going through after a loss. People are looking to see what we need to do differently that will put us back into the majority," said Maria Cardona of the New Democrat Network.
Mrs. Cardona says it is "too early to tell what kind of effect [the AFL-CIO's breakup] will have" on the party, but agreed with Mr. Bayh "that we need to formulate a message of confidence that we are willing to use force to secure this nation."
Meantime, Democratic National Committee (DNC) Chairman Howard Dean has announced that he has put or is in the process of putting dozens of paid party organizers in 25 states as part of his drive to rebuild the party's grass-roots campaign apparatus.
"Nearly 90 [regional organizers] have been recruited so far, and more come on every day," the DNC said in a memo to its members.
chatty
PROTESTING SOLDIER MOM CHANGED STORY ON BUSH
The mother of a fallen U.S. soldier who is holding a roadside peace vigil near President Bush's ranch -- has dramatically changed her account about what happened when she met the commander-in-chief last summer!
Cindy Sheehan, 48, of Vacaville, Calif., who last year praised Bush for bringing her family the "gift of happiness," took to the nation's TV outlets this weekend to declare how Bush "killed an indispensable part of our family and humanity."
CINDY 2004
THE REPORTER of Vacaville, CA published an account of Cindy Sheehan's visit with the president at Fort Lewis near Seattle on June 24, 2004:
"'I now know he's sincere about wanting freedom for the Iraqis,' Cindy said after their meeting. 'I know he's sorry and feels some pain for our loss. And I know he's a man of faith.'
"The meeting didn't last long, but in their time with Bush, Cindy spoke about Casey and asked the president to make her son's sacrifice count for something. They also spoke of their faith.
"The trip had one benefit that none of the Sheehans expected.
"For a moment, life returned to the way it was before Casey died. They laughed, joked and bickered playfully as they briefly toured Seattle.
For the first time in 11 weeks, they felt whole again.
"'That was the gift the president gave us, the gift of happiness, of being together,' Cindy said."
CINDY 2005
Sheehan's current comments are a striking departure.
She vowed on Sunday to continue her protest until she can personally ask Bush: "Why did you kill my son?"
In an interview on CNN, she claimed Bush "acted like it was party" when she met him last year.
"It was -- you know, there was a lot of things said. We wanted to use the time for him to know that he killed an indispensable part of our family and humanity. And we wanted him to look at the pictures of Casey.
"He wouldn't look at the pictures of Casey. He didn't even know Casey's name. He came in the room and the very first thing he said is, 'So who are we honoring here?' He didn't even know Casey's name. He didn't want to hear it. He didn't want to hear anything about Casey. He wouldn't even call him 'him' or 'he.' He called him 'your loved one.'
Every time we tried to talk about Casey and how much we missed him, he would change the subject. And he acted like it was a party.
BLITZER: Like a party? I mean...
SHEEHAN: Yes, he came in very jovial, and like we should be happy that he, our son, died for his misguided policies. He didn't even pretend like somebody...
END
On her current media tour, Sheehan has not been asked to explain her twist on Bush; from praise to damnation!
silly
Democrats are looking in the wrong place for their lost voters
The Democratic National Committee is in San Antonio this weekend trying to develop a strategy to bring more Hispanics under the tent after a steady decline of support from the nation's largest minority in recent elections.
And while San Antonio is clearly a cut above my hometown as a convention city, the Democratic honchos might have learned more about the party's plight at my 20th high school reunion in El Paso last week.
Certainly, they wouldn't have gotten any of the inside jokes about how my border brothers and I gave each other nicknames like "El Fin," "Beak" and "Gator." But the DNC would have gotten a lesson on why an increasing number of my former classmates have abandoned the Democratic hustings of their parents and are now voting Republican.
To understand how solidly Democrat El Paso still is as a city, consider this: While President Bush carried red-state Texas with 61 percent of the vote last year, 56 percent of El Pasoans voted for Sen. John Kerry.
But virtually none of the 10 or so guys I hung around with in high school still call El Paso home, a sad commentary on the brain drain that besets the border city. The group includes a physician, a microbiologist, a financial analyst, a schoolteacher, a pharmaceutical rep, a cop and a couple of salesmen.
The majority are Hispanics whose parents are either first- or second-generation Mexican immigrants. Of those parents, I'd be willing to bet that about 70 percent of them are products of the civil rights era and are die-hard Democrats.
Going into the reunion, I was ready for numerous discussions to steer toward politics.
When people hear you cover politics for a living, they tend to treat you like an electoral confessional, regaling you with the reasons why they voted for Ross Perot for president or Chuy De la O for El Paso mayor. (The late De la O was a colorful political dreamer who had one good eye and was known to don Uncle Sam outfits during campaigns.)
Yet I was mildly surprised by what my old buddies had to say about the last presidential election. About half, I'm guessing, voted for Bush. And the other half were sticking with the Democratic Party, but by a thread.
The physician in the group, a Houston pediatrician who is African American, described the shift best.
"Being black, you can probably guess what my political leanings are," he said. "But I find myself increasingly in the middle anymore. The Democrats don't want to hold anybody accountable for anything, and the Republicans still have some conservative views on social and health programs that make me uncomfortable."
The Bush backers were vocal about their support, saying they appreciated the president's strong faith in God and his firm stand against terrorists. The Democrats were markedly more guarded, and none of them offered a spirited defense of the party.
That's when it struck me: In their silence, what the latter group seemed to be saying is that they don't know what the party of FDR and JFK stands for anymore.
This weekend, I expect DNC Chairman Howard Dean to talk a lot about investing in the political infrastructure to reach out to Hispanics, blacks and women.
But that investment will only lead them to voters. They still must find a message that resonates with these groups that are no longer exclusively on the liberal fringe.
Related story...
A politically connected businessman has been indicted for a second time on federal fraud charges. Stuart Levine (left) is linked to a scam involving the Illinois Teachers Pension Fund along with one of the Democratic party's biggest fund raisers, Joseph Cari.
The message from the feds Wednesday is crystal clear: Chicago City Hall is only one of the fronts in the war on government corruption. It also appears to be rampant at the boards and commissions that oversee billions of dollars in state of Illinois programs. One of the alleged scammers is multi-millionaire businessman Stuart Levine. Another is Joe Cari, one of the Democratic parties biggest national fundraisers.
Joseph Cari, a 52-year-old Chicago lawyer and major Democratic party fundraiser for Bill Clinton, Al Gore and others, allegedly conspired with Highland Park businessman Stuart Levine, a former member of the Illinois Teachers Retirement System. The two were attempting to extort $850,000 in kickbacks from a Virginia investment firm that was seeking an $850 million contract to invest the money of 325,000 retired teachers.
"Cari called the firm and told the firm they had to sign the contract by the end of the day or their application for the money would be pulled off the table. He made clear this is the way things are done in Illinois," said Patrick Fitzgerald, U.S. attorney.
Levine, who has already been indicted for allegedly shaking down hospitals and medical schools as a member of the state's hospital construction board, is facing 14 additional counts in the new indictment. He allegedly extorted several hundred thousand dollars from investment firms that wanted a piece of the teachers' $30 million pension fund.
"He used fraud and extortion to put those funds to use for the benefit of his friends, not for the teachers," said Fitzgerald.
Levine was appointed to the boards by former Governor George Ryan and reappointed by Governor Blagojevich. He is a longtime friend and major contributor to the state's former attorney general, Jim Ryan.
At Wednesday's announcement the feds talked about where the investigation is going.
"We're obviously very concerned about how the state boards are operated. This is a broad investigation, and if there's anyone out there who has information about any corrupt conduct, regardless of individual involvement in the state board, we want them to come forward," Fitzgerald said.
Stuart Levine is fighting the charges in the hospital shakedown scheme, but the government has at least one major cooperating witness. We don't have a reaction to the new indictment from Levine or his attorney, but Joe Cari is pleading guilty along with another lawyer, Steven Loren of Highland Park, who allegedly drafted the phony legal documents in the scam. Both lawyers are cooperating with the government.