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The LGF Amazon Store
Lifestyle | Sat, Jul 4, 2009 at 2:34:11 pm PDT
Little Green Footballs now has its very own, shiny new Amazon Associate Store, with a button at the top right of the page that takes you to it.
This is one of the tools Amazon makes available to members of their associates program; it creates a little LGF-branded subset of Amazon where you can browse and search for products in most of their categories, read product reviews, check out ratings and lists and related products, and buy stuff if you find something you want, need, or can’t live without. And when you make purchases through this page, the LGF Blog fund gets a small cut of Amazon’s price (around 6-7%) — so you can take advantage of Amazon’s usually excellent bargains and help support LGF at the same time.
Ed Rollins: Palin a 'Shooting Star Crashing to Earth'
Politics | Sat, Jul 4, 2009 at 11:45:57 am PDT
Republican strategist Ed Rollins says Sarah Palin has made a big mistake: Palin A ‘Shooting Star Crashing To Earth’?
On “The Early Show Saturday Edition,” Rollins, who headed up former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee’s 2008 White House run, told co-anchor Erica Hill that Palin’s Friday news conference “raised a lot more questions than she answered. Usually, at a press conference, you answer questions. I think the bottom line is you saw a shooting star come crashing to Earth.
”I think the premise that she doesn’t want to be a lame duck governor - there’s people like Mitch Daniels, governor of Indiana, (Miss. Gov.) Haley Barbour, Gov. (Tim) Pawlenty, of Minnesota - they’re all gonna run for president, and they’re finishing their job. The job’s very tough now, and for her to bail out at this point in time, I don’t think it is fair to Alaskans and certainly, I think, damages her long-term career.“
Stepping down hinders a potential 2012 bid, Rollins added, because, ”Most political people fight to the end. It’s now tough. She didn’t finish the job.“
Rollins pooh-poohed political pros warning that people shouldn’t underestimate Palin’s ability to come back from any position of relative obscurity into which she risks falling.
”You have to remember, everybody else climbed the mountain; she got put on top of it by John McCain,“ he said. ”We would not be talking about Sarah Palin if John McCain hadn’t picked her (as his running mater). So, at the end of the day, she’s still gotta earn her stripes.“ ...
Rollins contended that, ”She diminished the job of governor. I think, at the end of the day, I’ve been in the business four decades, I’ve never seen a governor ever walk away from the job at mid-term, and I think, at the end of the day, that’s what’s gonna affect her."
Tour De France Starts in Monaco
Sports | Sat, Jul 4, 2009 at 11:26:12 am PDT
The 2009 Tour de France opened today, with a time trial in Monaco. And yes, Lance Armstrong was there, riding with the Astana team — he came in tenth, 40 seconds behind winner Fabian Cancellara.
The BBC has a blow by blow account of today’s race here, and a story with some quotes from Lance here.
“I did not have big illusions”, said the 37-year-old Armstrong.
“I was a bit nervous but it is logical,” added Armstrong, who last rode in the Tour in 2005 when he claimed his seventh victory.
“I’m just happy to be here even if we don’t win because there are a lot of other things I could be doing right now. It is a difficult course for sure but I think it is difficult for everybody. It is very technical, it is hard to find a rhythm but that’s logical after years away.
“What a beautiful race. It was fun. I felt pretty good, overall, I feel good. I was a little bit all over the place.”
And by the way, here’s Lance Armstrong on Twitter.
Happy Independence Day
History | Sat, Jul 4, 2009 at 10:11:01 am PDT
Happy 233rd birthday, America, and happy Independence Day to all LGF readers!
Overnight Open Thread
Open | Fri, Jul 3, 2009 at 11:22:19 pm PDT
How are we to survive? Solemnity is not the answer, any more than witless and irresponsible frivolity is. I think our best chance lies in humor, which in this case means a wry acceptance of our predicament. We don’t have to like it but we can at least recognize its ridiculous aspects, one of which is ourselves.
— Ogden Nash
Dr. Tiller's Murderer Still Advocating Via the US Mail
US News | Fri, Jul 3, 2009 at 6:37:12 pm PDT
According to ABC News, Scott Roeder (the fanatic suspected in the murder of Dr. George Tiller), has been using snail mail from his jail cell to stay in touch with the extremist anti-abortion network: Abortion Doc Murder Suspect Advocates Via Mail.
A man charged with shooting a prominent Kansas doctor who performed late-term abortions has been advocating through mailings from his jail cell that such killings are justifiable and communicating with individuals on the fringes of the anti-abortion movement, weeks after suggesting others might be planning similar attacks.
Scott Roeder, 51, is charged with first-degree murder and aggravated assault in the May 31 death of Dr. George Tiller — an attack that reignited the national debate over late-term abortion and gave Roeder icon status among extremists in the anti-abortion movement.
From his cell in Sedgwick County jail, Roeder has been sending anti-abortion pamphlets that laud Paul Hill, who was convicted of murdering an abortion provider in 1994, as an “American hero,” and include examples of Hill’s writings about how the killing of abortion providers is justifiable.
Hill was executed in 2003 for killing Dr. John Bayard Britton and his bodyguard outside a Pensacola, Fla., abortion clinic.
Roeder has also been corresponding with Rev. Donald Spitz — whose Army of God group’s Web site celebrates Hill and who says he sent Roeder seven of the pamphlets at Roeder’s request — and Linda Wolfe, an Oregon activist who has been jailed about 50 times for anti-abortion activities and who is close friends with a woman convicted of shooting Tiller in the arms in 1993. She says Roeder mailed her one of the pamphlets.
No one has accused Roeder of breaking any laws because of his jailhouse correspondence. But local and federal law enforcement agencies took seriously a threat Roeder made during a June 7 interview with The Associated Press that there are “many other similar events planned around the country as long as abortion remains legal.” A judge raised Roeder’s bond to $20 million, citing his comment to the AP, after a prosecutor argued Roeder’s ability to get his message widely disseminated should lead a reasonable person to believe he is engaged in “alleged acts of American terrorism.”
Onion Reviews Innovative Wearable Feeding Apparatus
Humor | Fri, Jul 3, 2009 at 6:10:18 pm PDT
Friday Night Lounge
Private | Fri, Jul 3, 2009 at 4:42:32 pm PDT
The Lizard Lounge is now open for another wacky Friday evening.
If you have an LGF account, log in and then click the green magnifying glass in the row of icons at bottom right of this post to enter LGF Spy in Lounge Mode. This is a private thread; comments are only visible to registered, logged in users.
Shocka: Palin Resigns As Alaska Governor
Politics | Fri, Jul 3, 2009 at 12:34:37 pm PDT
Initial reports were that Sarah Palin was planning not to run for re-election, but in a surprise move today she announced she’s resigning as Governor of Alaska.
ANCHORAGE, Alaska — Gov. Sarah Palin will resign her office in a few weeks, she said during a news conference at her Wasilla home Friday morning.
Lt. Gov. Sean Parnell will be inaugurated at the Governor’s Picnic at Pionner Park in Fairbanks on Saturday, July 25, Palin said.
There was no immediate word as to why she will resign, though speculation has been rampant that the former vice presidential candidate is gearing up for a run at the 2012 Republican presidential nomination.
Palin made the announcement flanked by Parnell and most, if not all, of her cabinet.
Hmm. This is a pretty standard way to downplay something and keep it out of the news cycle as much as possible — release it late Friday on a long weekend.
UPDATE at 7/3/09 2:21:58 pm:
MSNBC video of Palin’s announcement:
CBS: Palin Emails Show Infighting With Staff
Politics | Fri, Jul 3, 2009 at 12:17:19 pm PDT
CBS has obtained internal McCain-Palin campaign emails that show a lot of infighting between Sarah Palin and campaign staffers.
Internal campaign e-mails exchanged three weeks before Election Day offer a rare look at just how frustrated then Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin had become with the manner in which top McCain campaign aides were handling her candidacy. The e-mails, obtained exclusively, also highlight the power struggle and thinly veiled acrimony that pervaded the relationship between Palin and the campaign’s chief strategist, Steve Schmidt.
The episode in question began when an investigative report published on the left-leaning Web site Salon.com raised questions about Palin’s relationship with members of the Alaska Independence Party (AIP) when she was mayor of Wasilla. The AIP’s platform calls for a vote giving Alaskans the option to secede from the United States. It had already been widely known that Todd Palin was a registered member of the AIP from 1995 to 2002 and that Governor Palin had taped a recorded greeting at the party’s 2008 convention.
On the morning of Oct. 15, Palin was aboard her campaign jet and en route to New Hampshire when she happened to catch a disparaging CNN segment that touted the Salon.com story, complete with a provocative graphic at the bottom of the screen reading, “THE PALINS AND THE FRINGE.”
While shaking hands after a rally later that afternoon, someone on the rope line shouted a remark at Palin about the AIP.
The comment set her off. She worried that the campaign was not sufficiently mitigating the issue of her alleged connection to the party, which despite a platform that harkens more to the Civil War than the 21st century, continued to play a serious role in Alaska politics.
Palin blasted out an e-mail with the subject line “Todd” to Schmidt, campaign manager Rick Davis and senior advisor Nicolle Wallace, copying her husband on the message (all of the e-mails are reprinted below as written).
“Pls get in front of that ridiculous issue that’s cropped up all day today - two reporters, a protestor’s sign, and many shout-outs all claiming Todd’s involvement in an anti-American political party,” Palin wrote. “It’s bull, and I don’t want to have to keep reacting to it ... Pls have statement given on this so it’s put to bed.”
Her reference to a single protestor’s sign and “many shout-outs” was indicative of Palin’s occasional tendency to take anecdotal evidence of a minor problem and extrapolate it into something far more menacing. The final of the three presidential debates was just hours away, which would mark the unveiling of the soon-to-be canonized Joe The Plumber.
UPDATE at 7/3/09 12:20:26 pm:
Meanwhile, Palin appears to be positioning for a run at the presidency: Palin won’t run for re-election in Alaska, source says.
WASHINGTON (CNN) — Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin is expected to announce Friday that she will not seek a second term, a Republican source close to Palin tells CNN. ...
As the 2008 Republican vice presidential nominee, Palin is considered one of the front-runners for the GOP nomination in 2012. Her decision not to seek another term as governor is sure to stoke speculation that Palin is seriously eyeing a run for the White House.
UPDATE at 7/3/09 12:23:24 pm:
Todd Purdum has a lengthy (and not very complimentary) piece on Sarah Palin in Vanity Fair: It Came from Wasilla.
WSJ: Franken Stole the Election
Politics | Fri, Jul 3, 2009 at 11:27:21 am PDT
The Wall Street Journal’s editors weigh in on Al Franken’s Senate win: The ‘Absentee’ Senator.
The Minnesota Supreme Court yesterday declared Democrat Al Franken the winner of last year’s disputed Senate race, and Republican incumbent Norm Coleman’s gracious concession at least spares the state any further legal combat. The unfortunate lesson is that you don’t need to win the vote on Election Day as long as your lawyers are creative enough to have enough new or disqualified ballots counted after the fact.
Video: Sarychev Peak Eruption from Space
Science | Fri, Jul 3, 2009 at 11:19:45 am PDT
An incredible 3D image captured by an astronaut in the International Space Station as it passed over the Sarychev Peak volcanic eruption on June 12, 2009.
Astronaut photograph ISS020-E-9048 was acquired on June 12, 2009, with a Nikon D2XS digital camera fitted with a 400 mm lens, and is provided by the ISS Crew Earth Observations experiment and Image Science & Analysis Laboratory, Johnson Space Center.
Iran Intends to Try British Embassy Employees
World | Fri, Jul 3, 2009 at 11:01:30 am PDT
The Iranian thugocracy is holding three British Embassy employees arrested last weekend during the election protests, and a senior cleric says they are going to be put on trial.
A senior Iranian cleric said today that several employees of the British Embassy in Tehran arrested in recent days would be put on trial for unspecified charges of acting against Iran’s national security, potentially escalating a confrontation with the West over last month’s disputed presidential election.
Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati, head of the conservative Guardian Council, said in a Friday prayer sermon that the employees, all of them Iranian nationals, “will definitely be tried” for taking part or promoting weeks of unrest surrounding the June 12 election, which was marred by opposition allegations of massive vote-rigging.
“The enemy made an effort to poison the people,” Jannati, who is politically close to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, told worshipers gathered in Tehran. “They had planned a velvet revolution before the election . . . A number of people at the British Embassy were arrested for involvement in the unrests and they will definitely be tried.”
Russia Allows Afghanistan Flyovers
World | Fri, Jul 3, 2009 at 10:53:55 am PDT
This is a welcome development, but I’m sure Putin has his own reasons for agreeing to it: Russia Opens Route for U.S. to Fly Arms to Afghanistan.
MOSCOW — The Russian government has agreed to allow American troops and weapons bound for Afghanistan to fly over Russian territory, providing an important new corridor for the United States military as it escalates efforts to win the eight-year-old war, officials from both sides said Friday.
Krauthammer: The Ricci Case and Affirmative Action
Opinion | Fri, Jul 3, 2009 at 9:49:06 am PDT
Charles Krauthammer on The Meaning of the Ricci Case.
The major conundrum of the civil rights age remains. The 14th Amendment bans discrimination on the basis of race. But the Civil Rights Act, which bans “disparate impact” discrimination — procedures (such as exams) that yield racially unbalanced results — affirmatively mandates racial favoritism to undo those results. The evil day will come, writes Justice Antonin Scalia in his concurrence, when this contradiction will have to be resolved.
He is right. For decades we have been finessing the issue with a mess of compromises, euphemisms, incoherences and pretenses such as banning racial quotas but promoting racial “goals.” Anyone who has ever had to make hiring or admission decisions knows that this angel-on-the-head-of-pin distinction is 95 percent a matter of appearances, gestures and lawsuit-avoiding paperwork.
And yet we have muddled our way through, permitting a large dose of intentional discrimination to ameliorate past discrimination — and present inadvertent imbalances — without totally abandoning the ideal of colorblindness.
The result? At the near half-century mark of the Civil Rights Act, racial minorities have seen remarkable social advancement. The younger generation is infinitely more racially tolerant and accepting. We’ve made great racial progress. But the fundamental unfairness that underlies the racial spoils system continues to rankle. That’s what animated the Ricci case.
And Now for a Baby Sumatran Orangutan
Images | Thu, Jul 2, 2009 at 11:29:41 pm PDT
This Sumatran Orangutan inflicts its ineffable cuteness upon you, courtesy of ZooBorns.
6 New Personality Disorders Caused by the Internet
Humor | Thu, Jul 2, 2009 at 6:02:41 pm PDT
Major Military Campaign in Afghanistan
World | Thu, Jul 2, 2009 at 3:21:20 pm PDT
A massive military offensive is under way in Afghanistan against the Taliban.
NAWA, Afghanistan (AP) — U.S. Marines suffered their first casualties of a massive new military campaign Thursday as they engaged in sporadic gunbattles along 55 miles of Taliban-controlled heartland in southern Afghanistan.
One Marine was killed and several others were injured or wounded on the first full day of the assault, the largest military operation in Afghanistan since the fall of Taliban government in 2001.
The offensive will test the Obama administration’s new strategy of holding territory and letting the Afghan government sink roots in Helmand province. The insurgency has proven particularly resilient in this area, where foreign troops have never before operated in such large numbers.
President Barack Obama told The Associated Press in an interview Thursday that he has a “very narrow definition of success when it comes to our national security interests” in the region. “And that is that al-Qaida and its affiliates cannot set up safe havens from which to attack Americans.”
And Long War Journal has some disturbing news from eastern Afghanistan: Haqqani Network captures US soldier in Afghanistan.
The Haqqani Network has captured a US soldier who was based in the eastern Afghan province of Paktika. The soldier, who has not been identified, had reportedly been captured after walking off of his small outpost.
The US military has confirmed a solider has been missing since June 30 and believes he has been captured by the Taliban.
The Washington Post 'Salon'
Media | Thu, Jul 2, 2009 at 11:48:33 am PDT
Oh brother. The Washington Post was apparently planning to sell access to top Obama officials and other VIPs, at a price of $25,000 to $250,000 a pop, in a “salon program” at the private home of CEO Katharine Weymouth.
The Washington Post has long prided itself on its access to the capital’s elite. Now, it appears, the paper is willing to sell that access.
In a flier circulated to Beltway lobbyists, the Post touted a “salon” program which gives “exclusive access” to “Obama administration officials, Congress members, business leaders, advocacy leaders and other select minds” for between $25,000 and $250,000. (View an image of the flier.)
White House officials said privately Thursday that the administration had no idea that the Post was peddling access to its officials.
The first event, entitled “Health-Care Reform: Better or Worse for Americans” is scheduled for July 21, at the home of Post Publisher Katharine Weymouth.
“Spirited? Yes. Confrontational? No,” the flier states. “The relaxed setting in the home of Katharine Weymouth assures it.”
The flier, first reported by former Post editor Mike Allen on the Politico web site, offers the chance to “hear and be heard as an equal with key policy-makers and other stakeholders,” including Weymouth, Post executive editor Marcus Brauchli and health-care “reporting and editorial staff members” at the Post.
Post company spokeswoman Kris Coratti issued a statement Thursday morning claiming that the flier was a “draft” that hadn’t been “properly vetted” before being dispatched.
Arab Fists Still Clenched
Middle East | Thu, Jul 2, 2009 at 10:17:12 am PDT
Imagine my surprise; Barack Obama’s bold new initiative for Arab countries to normalize relations with Israel is getting nowhere.
The U.S. administration has not been successful in securing commitments from Arab countries to take steps toward normalizing relations with Israel, a senior source in Jerusalem said Wednesday.
The source said U.S. President Barack Obama’s recent meeting with King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia did not produce a commitment to encourage the other Arab states to begin normalization.
“In such a situation, the Americans can’t continue demanding gestures only from Israel, such as the demand that Israel freeze settlement construction,” the source said.
So naturally, since the Arab countries remain committed (as they always have been) to the destruction of Israel, Obama will continue asking them to unclench.
In response, a senior White House source said talks with the Arab states are continuing with the aim of obtaining a commitment to make gestures toward Israel, and there is still hope for progress.
North Korea Launches Four Missiles
World | Thu, Jul 2, 2009 at 10:12:02 am PDT
As North Korea continues preparations for a long-range ballistic missile test, possibly this weekend, today they test-fired four short-range missiles that apparently landed in the China Sea.
Reports say these were ground-to-ship missiles; this bit of saber-rattling is probably intended as a threat to South Korea.
Sanford: Dog About Town
Politics | Thu, Jul 2, 2009 at 6:16:18 am PDT
More of the Mark Sanford story’s leaking out, and it’s just not looking any better for the philandering creationist governor: Sanford, like a man in love, gushes about his ‘soul mate,’ confesses to other encounters.
Crying at times and clearly wearing his emotions on his sleeve, the two-term governor also acknowledged that he had casual encounters with other women but insisted that he never crossed the line by having sex with them.
“If you’re a married guy, at the end of the day, you shouldn’t be dancing with somebody else,” he said. “There were a handful of instances wherein I crossed the lines I shouldn’t have crossed as a married man but never crossed the ultimate line.”
Overnight Open Thread
Open | Wed, Jul 1, 2009 at 11:08:53 pm PDT
Human judges can show mercy. But against the laws of nature, there is no appeal.
— Arthur C. Clarke
God Said, Don't
Politics | Wed, Jul 1, 2009 at 5:34:02 pm PDT
Joe the Plumber had a chat with the Almighty, and the word came down from on high: “Don’t run for office, Joe.”
Asked if he has plans to run for public office, he replied, “I hope not. You know, I talked to God about that and he was like, ‘No.’”
He continued, “I believe he’s gotten me on this grassroots movement. If I can encourage leaders to step up, that’s what I would like to do. That’s a heavy role. That’s something I don’t know if I am prepared to do yet.”
