Greta Van Susteren Rages At Gregg Jarrett Over Sarah Palin

CNN's Rick Sanchez Asks If Sarah Palin Quit Because She's "Pregnant Again"

Palin Derangement Syndrome at its finest. What a prick.

They Won't Have Sarah Palin To Kick Around Anymore

YahooNews.com:

The announcement caught even current and former Palin advisers by surprise. Former members of the John McCain campaign team, now dispersed across the country, traded perplexed e-mails and phone calls.

But personal pressures have been mounting — scrutiny on her family, legal bills, ethics investigations and a running, public fued with McCain's camp that has flared up again.

In a hastily arranged news conference at her home in suburban Wasilla, Palin said she will formally step down July 26, and Lt. Gov. Sean Parnell will be inaugurated at the governor's picnic in Fairbanks. She said she had decided against running for re-election as Alaska's governor, and believed it was best to leave office even though she had two years left to her term.

"Many just accept that lame duck status, and they hit that road. They draw a paycheck. They kind of milk it. And I'm not going to put Alaskans through that," she said.

The 2008 vice presidential nominee was seen as a likely presidential contender in 2012 and had proved formidable among the party's base. But the last week brought a highly critical piece in Vanity Fair magazine, with unnamed campaign aides questioning if Palin was ever really prepared for the presidency. The backbiting continued with follow-up articles recounting the nasty infighting that plagued her failed bid. Her advisers sniped with other Republicans, underscoring the deeply divided GOP looking for its next standard bearer.

I don't know about this one. Sarah Palin has always stated that she's not a quitter and what does she do now? Quit. Pretty lame move if you ask me. Granted, constant ethic complaints (most of which have been dismissed), controversial remarks in the press and increasing hate by leftwing loons would stress anyone out. But what about the people of Alaska who voted for her? Palin had two years left in her term as governor, how can she just abandon her post like that?

Sarah Palin didn't ask for all the national fame and ridicule she's gotten over the last year, it was John McCain who plucked her out of relative obscurity by picking her to be his VP running mate last year. And sure she made a few stumbles out of the gate, but she quickly uprighted herself, galvanized her party and stood on her record and principles in facing off against hostile liberals who think a woman should apologize for being strong and conservative. For that she earned lots of people's respect, and rightly so. Of course, I feel bad that some insane liberals can't let their utter hatred for Palin go. I feel bad that they continue to attack her family and kids. And who knows, maybe she is setting up a run for President--either way still, this move just doesn't sit right. It's certainly doesn't seem like the kind of play the Sarah Palin I thought I knew would make.

Barack Obama's Road To National Debt

But they still blame Bush--when does Obama's term begin again?

STUDY: Black Reporters Are More Likely To Give Michelle Obama Favorable Coverage!

WaPo.com:

While Michelle Obama was meeting with doctors and patients at the Upper Cardozo Health Center, nearly two dozen journalists stood behind a white rope in a small room upstairs, most finally growing so tired during the hour-long wait that they sat on the floor.

Finally the first lady emerged, read a short speech about releasing federal stimulus money for community health clinics -- including $2.5 million for the Northwest Washington center -- and greeted a handpicked audience with handshakes and hugs. Then she turned and left, and the press pool quietly filed out.

Rachel Swarns of the New York Times and The Washington Post's Robin Givhan were among those herded behind the rope Monday. They and the other main beat reporters -- Newsweek's Allison Samuels, Darlene Superville of the Associated Press and Politico's Nia-Malika Henderson -- have something in common: They are all African American women. Perhaps this gives them a richer cultural understanding of Obama as a trailblazer.

Indeed, most write with enthusiasm, in some cases even admiration, about the first lady as a long-awaited role model for black women. "Without a doubt, I identify with her as a brown-skinned African American woman," Samuels says. "Now we have Michelle and see her as a mother, a lawyer, a wife, and she's doing it fabulously." Samuels got to interview Obama during the campaign and "we had a girlfriend-to-girlfriend moment. We did connect."

But if their bosses hoped these staffers would receive special access, some secret-handshake entry into the East Wing -- or even a casual wave at a health clinic -- they were mistaken, at least thus far. None of the beat writers has been granted an interview since the inauguration. Instead, they must piece together a mosaic from glimpses of Obama, who has a limited public schedule and a staff that fiercely guards her privacy and her image. (Other reporters, of varied ethnicities, dip in and out of writing about the first lady.) Whether racial and gender identification produces a gauzier, more favorable portrayal of Obama is perhaps too early to judge. After all, no one raises questions when an Irish American male reporter covers a pol named Murphy. And with her carefully crafted focus on her children, affordable fashion and such reduced-fat apple pie issues as healthy eating, Obama has done little to warrant sharp criticism.

No surprise here. Despite the fact that Michelle Obama has used her First Lady status to speak out on issues concerning gays much than she has those concerning Blacks, her minions in the black press at large could care less and will continue to kiss her ass with nary a word of criticism. The last thing Black reporters want to do to piss Michelle off--they know what happened when Vera Baker did.

The GOP Can Attract Minorities -- If They Can Stop Being Bigots

Great article by Ruben Navarrette Jr. on PajamasMedia.com the other day:

It’s sad to watch.

Republicans have a good case to make to African American voters about how the GOP is the real party of empowerment and opportunity, and how the Democratic Party is only interested in empowering itself at the expense of minorities. So much so that it will attack those uppity enough to think for themselves.

On education, for instance, Democrats side with mostly white teachers’ unions against black parents who want their children’s schools to be held accountable for student performance — finally purged of what a Republican president called “the soft bigotry of low expectations.” The educational reform law, No Child Left Behind, has the support of the NAACP, but is fiercely opposed by the teachers’ unions.

Many African Americans also find appealing the GOP’s adherence to personal responsibility, lower taxes, smaller government, and traditional moral values.

But Republicans never get around to making that case to the black community, because too many of them are busy making jackasses out of themselves and coming across as thickheaded, insensitive, and mean-spirited racists. The election of the first black president only made matters worse, as some conservatives, particularly at the local level, responded to this historic event by taking political discourse into the gutter with jokes and sophomoric stunts that don’t amuse but offend:

• Rusty DePass, a Republican activist in South Carolina and former state senate candidate, made a crude joke that played off the stereotype likening African-Americans to apes. After a gorilla escaped from a local zoo, DePass responded: “I’m sure it’s just one of Michelle’s ancestors — probably harmless.” DePass later acknowledged to a news station that he was talking about First Lady Michelle Obama.

• A Republican legislative aide in Tennessee distributed an offensive e-mail with portraits of all the presidents. President Obama is depicted as nothing more than two cartoonish white eyes against a black background. Sherri Goforth, an assistant to State Senator Diane Black, has admitted she sent the email with the title “Historical Keepsake Photo.” Goforth said that she mistakenly sent it “to the wrong list of people.”

• Last year, before the presidential election, a Republican women’s group in San Bernardino County sent out a newsletter joking that Obama, if elected, would be a president who appeared on food stamps instead of dollar bills. The mailer included an illustration of “Obama Bucks” — a picture of the Democratic candidate surrounded by watermelon and fried chicken.

• A few months later, after Obama was elected, Dean Grose — the Republican mayor of Los Alamitos, CA — resigned after being roundly criticized for distributing an email showing a watermelon patch in front of the White House with the caption: “No Easter egg hunt this year.” Grose later apologized for forwarding the email and claimed that he wasn’t aware of the racial stereotype that blacks like watermelon.

Certainly, Republicans don’t have a monopoly on racism. It’s a matter of public record that the first slings of racism aimed at Barack Obama came from fellow Democrats, supporters of Hillary Clinton who tried to depict her challenger as a reformed drug dealer, a Muslim, a black militant, a “shuck and jive” political hustler, and — thank you, Geraldine Ferraro — someone who wouldn’t have gotten this far in life if he hadn’t been black.

But Democrats get a pass for their sins because African Americans can cite one battle after another when Democrats stood with them, dating back to Harry Truman desegregating the armed forces in 1948. And even though, in the 1950s and 1960s — which served as the defining eras for the black Civil Rights Movement — Southern Democrats were among the chief antagonists, it was Democrat John F. Kennedy who first addressed the nation on the importance of recognizing the civil rights of black Americans. And it was Democrat Lyndon B. Johnson who signed the landmark Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

Meanwhile, Republicans are becoming known for bad jokes and racist pranks. If they keep it up, with the United States becoming more diverse and inching towards the day — demographers put it near 2032 — where whites become a statistical minority here, they may soon be known for something else: consistently coming in second.

GOP Says Even Bloodhounds Can't Find Stimulus Jobs

CNN.com:

On the day the June jobs report showed the U.S. labor market shedding 467,000 jobs, House Republicans released a tongue-in-cheek Web video featuring a bloodhound named "Ellie Mae" sniffing out stimulus jobs.

Narrated by Georgia Republican Rep. Lynn Westmoreland, the clip shows the bloodhound "on the money trail" visiting AIG's headquarters in New York City and projects in Wisconsin and North Carolina supported by federal stimulus dollars. It was modeled on a campaign commercial run by the current Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell in his 1994 Kentucky Senate race.

House GOP Leader John Boehner poses with Ellie Mae at the end of the video. "She hasn't found any stimulus jobs yet, and neither have the American people," says Boehner. "It's time to stop runaway spending in Washington and help small businesses get the economy running once again. Hang in there, honey, we'll find 'em."

"This is a lighthearted web video, but the underlying point is no laughing matter," Boehner said in a written statement. "At a time when Americans are looking to Washington for leadership, the trillion-dollar 'stimulus' isn't working. Americans were promised the 'stimulus' would keep the unemployment rate from going above eight percent. It's now it's skyrocketing above nine percent. Where are the jobs?"

Nadeam Elshami, spokesman for Speaker Nancy Pelosi, wasn't amused by the video. "Looks like the hound couldn't track down any of the police officers, teachers or nurses who are working today because of the Recovery Act or the construction workers working on more than 1,900 highway projects already under way across the country."

Elshami also said the stimulus law still needed time to show results, and slammed the GOP: "Betting against the American economy is another fairly depressing political strategy from the House Republican Conference."

Under Barack Obama Unemployment Is Highest In 26 Years

BizJournals.com:

Employers cut more jobs in the U.S. in June causing unemployment to rise to 9.5 percent from 9.4 percent in May, the highest since August 1983.

The Labor Department report shows that in June employers slashed 467,000 jobs and hourly earnings were flat. In May the economy lost 322,000 jobs.

Factory payrolls fell by 136,000 after decreasing 156,000 the prior month. Payrolls at builders fell 79,000 after decreasing 48,000.

Retail payrolls decreased by 21,000. Financial firms reduced payrolls by 27,000.

In a separate report the Labor Department said the number of Americans filing first time claims for unemployment benefits last week fell in line with forecasts. Initial jobless claims dropped by 16,000 to 614,000 in the week ended June 27.

The average work week fell to 33 hours from 33.1 hours in May. Workers' average hourly wages held at $18.53 for a second month.

It'd be outright spiteful to say that Barack Obama was supposed to turn around our nation's economic problems in only 5 months, but so far there isn't even a sign of progress. Meanwhile, Barry keeps telling us that his $800 billion stimulus plan is working?!? Including the couple of months as President-Elect, Barry's had almost a year to work on fixing this mess we're in, but instead things are getting worse and millions of Americans are suffering because of it. This isn't "change" we can believe in, it's pure and utter bullshit.

Wall Street Journal Admits That Al Franken Stole MN Election

Pretty bold stuff. Kudos to the WSJ for having some balls:

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.

Mr. Franken trailed Mr. Coleman by 725 votes after the initial count on election night, and 215 after the first canvass. The Democrat's strategy from the start was to manipulate the recount in a way that would discover votes that could add to his total. The Franken legal team swarmed the recount, aggressively demanding that votes that had been disqualified be added to his count, while others be denied for Mr. Coleman.

But the team's real goldmine were absentee ballots, thousands of which the Franken team claimed had been mistakenly rejected. While Mr. Coleman's lawyers demanded a uniform standard for how counties should re-evaluate these rejected ballots, the Franken team ginned up an additional 1,350 absentees from Franken-leaning counties. By the time this treasure hunt ended, Mr. Franken was 312 votes up, and Mr. Coleman was left to file legal briefs.

What Mr. Franken understood was that courts would later be loathe to overrule decisions made by the canvassing board, however arbitrary those decisions were. He was right. The three-judge panel overseeing the Coleman legal challenge, and the Supreme Court that reviewed the panel's findings, in essence found that Mr. Coleman hadn't demonstrated a willful or malicious attempt on behalf of officials to deny him the election. And so they refused to reopen what had become a forbidding tangle of irregularities. Mr. Coleman didn't lose the election. He lost the fight to stop the state canvassing board from changing the vote-counting rules after the fact.

This is now the second time Republicans have been beaten in this kind of legal street fight. In 2004, Dino Rossi was ahead in the election-night count for Washington Governor against Democrat Christine Gregoire. Ms. Gregoire's team demanded the right to rifle through a list of provisional votes that hadn't been counted, setting off a hunt for "new" Gregoire votes. By the third recount, she'd discovered enough to win. This was the model for the Franken team.

Mr. Franken now goes to the Senate having effectively stolen an election. If the GOP hopes to avoid repeats, it should learn from Minnesota that modern elections don't end when voters cast their ballots. They only end after the lawyers count them.

Even if he didn't think that he had a chance in hell, Norm Coleman should've at least tried to take this up with SCOTUS--he owed that to the Minnesota voters.

The Israelis Have Kidnapped Crazy Cynthia McKinney!

Reuters.com:

The Israeli navy intercepted and boarded a ship carrying pro-Palestinian activists and humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip on Tuesday in defiance of an Israeli blockade.

"No shots were fired during the boarding of the boat," the Israeli military said in a statement, adding the vessel was being taken to the Israeli Mediterranean port of Ashdod. "The boat crew will be handed over to the appropriate authorities."

The small ferry had set off from Cyprus with activists from the U.S.-based Free Gaza movement and humanitarian aid for Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, territory ruled by Hamas Islamists.

"Yesterday evening the Israeli navy contacted the boat while at sea clarifying that it would not be permitted to enter Gaza coastal waters because of security risks in the area, and the existing naval blockade," the military said.

"Disregarding all warnings given, the cargo boat entered Gazan coastal waters," the statement said, promising that humanitarian goods found on board would be transferred to the Gaza Strip "subject to authorisation".

On its web site, the Free Gaza movement said among the activists on the vessel, which it dubbed the Spirit of Humanity, were Irish Nobel peace prize laureate Mairead Maguire and former U.S. congresswoman Cynthia McKinney.

"We are outraged, they just stole our boat and kidnapped our people," said Greta Berlin, a representative of the movement in Cyprus.

Hey, not that I'd ever support Americans being kidnapped, but would anybody here be upset if they just....yunno, kept Cynthia?

Helen Thomas Pwnes Robert Gibbs

Woah! Helen Thomas may be an old relic who pissed many conservatives off with her vile treatment towards George W. Bush for 8 years, but as seen here, at least she plays fair. Robert Gibbs is an arrogant prick who long had this coming, leave it to Helen to do the job.

Newsbusters has more.

John Stossel Whines About Michael Jackson Coverage....Where Was He On Media's Princess Diana Obsession?

I've always been a fan of John Stossel's reporting and writings--he's long been a truth-seeker whose always shown to be one of the few in the leftist media unafraid to take on the slime of liberal propaganda. But joining the growing ranks of conservatives bitching about the news coverage of a global icon, just makes Stossel look dumb in my book:

Of course, maybe my bosses made the wrong choice. Maybe more viewers would have tuned in for my health care report. But the beauty of the market is that if they regularly choose wrong, they will go bankrupt. Networks better at giving the public what we want will take their business. I’d rather have viewers vote with their remotes than have elites govern our choices, making sure we watch “serious” programming.

Yes, I am sick of the coverage of Michael Jackson. I hate it that ABC didn’t run my piece. Free markets sometimes encourage pandering to the masses. I still say, bless the market. The good outweighs the bad.

Free speech means rude obscenity and hate speech. I treasure free speech too.

It just irks me that conservatives are acting like Michael Jackson planned his death ahead of time so as to interfere with their ability to get news. Then too treating a guy, whose death almost literally killed the internet, like he was just your average, run-of-the-mill "pop star" just hints of racism, esp. when you consider the media's over-the-top obsession with Princess Diana's death that went on for weeks on end.

Centrist Democrats Will Be No Pushover For Obama

WashingtonExaminer.com:

Former Sen. Norm Coleman conceded defeat in his eight-month recount battle after the Minnesota Supreme Court ruled former comedian Al Franken the winner of the state's contested Senate seat, giving Democrats a 60-vote majority supermajority that could make Senate Republicans largely irrelevant.

While Franken's win will allow Democrats to push some legislation through without the worry of a Republican filibuster, the party will still have to grapple with defections from its many centrists who have the power to derail key legislation, including global warming fees that just passed the House.

"It's not correct to think that the caucus will be unified," said Jake Thompson, an aide to Sen. Ben Nelson, D-Neb., who is one of at least a dozen moderate Democrats who meet regularly. "There are a number of independent minds in that group and they will stay that way."

Nelson and other moderate Senate Democrats will likely become key figures in the effort to pass health care reform and a climate-change bill.

Nelson, for example, is opposed to a cap-and-trade plan, which would set limits on carbon emissions and requires polluters who exceed a certain cap to purchase costly permits.

Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., has said she will not "rubber-stamp" a cap-and-trade proposal. President Barack Obama praised the House cap-and-trade bill and is now pushing for the Senate to move similar legislation.

"It's going to be a tough fight," Thompson said. Other Senate moderates include Sens. Evan Bayh, D-Ind., and Claire McCaskill, D-Mo.

Centrist Democrats are also opposed to aspects of the health care overhaul bill under construction in the Senate, including a plan to create a public health insurance option that would compete and potentially undermine the private insurance system.

Despite what the liberal media likes to portray, Democrats are not a monolithic group--indeed conservative Democrats such as myself make up over 20% of the party. So instead of worrying about the Dems now 60-vote majority, the Right should worry more about keeping RINO's like Olympia Snowe in check in the future.

H/T: BookerRising

Victory For King Of All Liberals George Soros: Al Franken Wins MN Senate Seat

YahooNews.com:

Al Franken refused his rival's calls for an election night concession last November, choosing instead to begin vote counting and courtroom haggling that stretched almost eight months and ultimately landed him a seat in the U.S. Senate.

Franken's victory over Republican Norm Coleman gives Democrats 60 Senate seats, the critical number needed to overcome Republican filibusters. When Franken is seated, which could come as early as next week, his party will have a majority not reached on either side of the aisle in some three decades.

Coleman conceded the election hours after a unanimous state Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that Franken — who moved into politics with books poking fun at conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh — should be certified the winner. In doing so, Coleman pulled the plug on a bitter election that was decided by 312 votes out of almost 2.9 million cast.

"When you win an election this close, you know not one bit of effort went to waste," Franken told reporters outside his downtown Minneapolis town house, accompanied by his wife. "The way I see it, I'm not going to Washington to be the 60th Democratic senator, I'm going to Washington to be the second senator from Minnesota."

As most conservatives already know it was leftwing kingpin and billionaire George Soros who threw his mighty dollars behind Al Franken, giving him the wherewithal to rob Norm Coleman of his Senate seat. All I can say now is thank goodness we have the Blue Dogs and other conservative Democrats to keep the socialist Obama agenda in check no matter how much the loons think they should be the ones running things now.

Liberals Want Bush Torture Lawyers Disbarred

They just can't let go of the hate:

A coalition of liberal activists Monday called for the disbarment of two current CIA officials — and a former one — because of their roles in crafting and implementing Bush administration legal policies on detainee interrogations.

The National Disbar Torture Lawyers Coalition filed formal disciplinary complaints with the Washington, D.C., and New York state bar associations against John A. Rizzo, the current acting general counsel at the CIA; Jonathan M. Fredman, a CIA official currently on loan to the Office of the Director of National Intelligence; and Scott W. Muller, the agency's former general counsel, who is now an attorney in the private sector.

The coalition has already filed a dozen similar complaints against former White House and Justice Department officials, including former White House Counsel Alberto Gonzales, who also was attorney general in the Bush administration; and former Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Legal Counsel Jay S. Bybee, now a federal judge on the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals.

The complaints accuse the three attorneys of "advocating for immoral and unethical 'extended' or 'enhanced' interrogation techniques (amounting to torture), and other policies that resulted in clear violations of U.S. and international law." They were filed the same week that the CIA is expected to release an internal inspector-general report from 2004 criticizing the interrogation program.

CNN was unable to reach the three lawyers for comment, but CIA spokesman George Little responded, "This, to put it mildly, is something with which we do not agree."

This is nothing but politically-motivated, Leftist hate by idiots who think it's more important to protect terrorists than Americans. The sanctimonious "outrage" by the Left on waterboarding remains laughable at best.

Obama Insults Blacks Again, Compares Gay Wants To Civil Rights Movement

CNN.com:

President Obama honored Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Pride Month with a White House reception Monday where he likened the struggle for gay rights with the struggle of African-Americans for civil rights.

With first lady Michelle Obama at his side, the president told the cheering crowd filling the East Room that his administration would work to repeal the so-called Defense of Marriage Act and end the "don't ask, don't tell" policy regarding gays in the military.

"I know that many in this room don't believe that progress has come fast enough, and I understand that," Obama said. "It's not for me to tell you to be patient any more than it was for others to counsel patience to African-Americans who were petitioning for equal rights a half-century ago."

The "don't ask, don't tell" policy bars military officials from asking about a service member's sexual orientation but also bars the service member from revealing it, and allows the dismissal of a service member if a same-sex orientation is discovered.

"I believe preventing patriotic Americans from serving their country weakens our national security," Obama said to applause. Ending the policy requires an act of Congress and will take time, he added.

Proof once again of how much Barry and his mostly white, liberal staff continues to take the black vote for granted. Despite the fact that homosexuality is an immoral and unhealthy lifestyle choice, Barry still insults Black Americans in this country by equating the two. The "Stonewall Riots" vs the Middle Passage? No comparison. Continued discrimination faced by blacks in regards to access of income, education, housing, healthcare and criminal justice vs. that for gays? Again, no comparison. Blacks going back-n-forth on race vs. gays going back-n-forth on their sexuality? Funny that. If Barry's going to let the mostly white, male, liberal gay movement bully him into passing their wayward agenda, fine. Just don't insult the history of blacks and racial oppression in this country while you do it.

Liberal Media Silent On Gay Duke University Offcial Accused Of Molesting Black 5yo Son

Of course, if this was about a bunch of rich, white kids accused of raping a black hooker, it'd be a story, maybe even national headlines.....but wait:

A Duke University official has been charged in federal court with offering his 5-year-old adopted son up for sex. Frank Lombard, associate director of the Center for Health Policy, was arrested Wednesday in Raleigh, the FBI said.

An unidentified informant who already faces child porn charges in a different child sex case pointed investigators to Lombard, according to court documents. The informant told investigators he had met Lombard on the Internet four years ago. The informant described in graphic detail how he allegedly observed Lombard molesting an African-American child on four occasions over an Internet video chat service called ICUii.

The informant said, according to court papers, that Lombard, who is white, said that he lived in the Raleigh-Durham area of North Carolina and that the child was one of two adopted African-Americans in his custody.

Lombard has been charged with attempting to induce someone to cross state lines to engage in sex with a child, punishable by a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.

I've seen this disturbing news reported on the radically Leftist HuffPo and I've linked to the ABCNews website here, but let's see if MSNBC, the NYTimes, CNN, CBS and WaPo go after this story, and if so, with near the same amount of intensity as they all did the faux Duke Lacrosse Rape a few years back.

Rudy Giuliani Says He's Considering Run For New York Governor

CNN.com:

Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani tells CNN that he's thinking about running for governor of New York next year, but that's as far as he's going right now.

Asked by CNN's John Roberts on American Morning if he's seriously considering a gubernatorial bid, Giuliani said "I'm thinking about it but I don't know if I'm at the point of seriously considering it. It's a little too early."

Giuliani, who spent much of 2007 and the first month of 2008 running for the Republican presidential nomination, is often mentioned as a possible contender to take on incumbent Democratic Gov. David Paterson in next year's contest.

Recent polls of New York State voters indicate that if the election where held today, Giuliani would beat the unpopular Paterson. But surveys also suggest if New York State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo were the Democratic nominee, Cuomo would beat Giuliani in a hypothetical general election match up.

God, and I can't believe I'm saying this considering how much I despised the man when he was mayor of NYC, but I'd take Giuliani over Paterson any day of the week.

Supreme Court Sides With White Firefighters

Politico.com:

The Supreme Court handed a victory Monday to a group of white firefighters charging racial discrimination, while also giving some fodder to critics of President Barack Obama’s pending nominee for the high court, Judge Sonia Sotomayor.

Justice Anthony Kennedy, writing for a court split 5-4 along ideological lines, reversed an appeals court ruling Sotomayor joined last year that rejected a claim that the City of New Haven, Conn., discriminated against white firefighters by throwing out a promotional exam after all the African-American firefighters who took it scored too poorly to be promoted.

“Whatever the City’s ultimate aim — however well intentioned or benevolent it might have seemed — the City made its employment decision because of race. The City rejected the test results solely because the higher scoring candidates were white,” Kennedy wrote on behalf of Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Antonin Scalia, Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito.

Kennedy said that allowing the city’s conduct would establish “a de facto quota system” where test results could be discarded whenever a particular racial group didn’t achieve the average score.

The case stems from a lieutenants’ promotion exam administered to New Haven, Conn., firefighters in 2003. After no African-American firefighters ranked highly, the city’s Civil Service Board threw out the results and decided not to make any immediate promotions.

Eighteen white firefighters, including one Hispanic, sued, claiming racial discrimination. The city countered that it was simply trying to avoid being sued by black firefighters argued that the test was unfairly skewed.

A district court judge sided with the city and tossed the suit out before trial. Last year, a three-judge Second Circuit panel, including Sotomayor, backed that decision.

As much as conservatives are literally jumping for joy over this decision, I really don't see what the big deal is, much less why this case should make any difference on whether or not Sonia Sotomayor gets on the Supreme Court. Sotomayor belongs on SCOTUS because she's more than qualified and David Souter siding with the minority here proves once again that Sotomayor's placement on SCOTUS will more than likely have little impact on the ideological balance on there. Considering too that most Americans feel that Sotomayor belongs on SCOTUS, the GOP needs to thread carefully about making this firefighters case an issue during confirmation proceedings for Sotomayor, as it could very well come back to haunt them.

Bernard Madoff Sentenced To 150 Years In Prison Maximum

YahooNews.com:

Historic swindler Bernard Madoff was sentenced to 150 years in prison Monday for a fraud so extensive that the judge said he needed to send a symbolic message to potential imitators and to victims who demanded harsh punishment.

Scattered applause and whoops broke out in the crowded Manhattan courtroom after U.S. District Judge Denny Chin issued the maximum sentence to the 71-year-old defendant, who said he lives "in a tormented state now, knowing all the pain and suffering I've created."

Chin rejected a request by Madoff's lawyer for leniency and said he disagreed that victims of the fraud were seeking mob vengeance.

"Here the message must be sent that Mr. Madoff's crimes were extraordinarily evil and that this kind of manipulation of the system is not just a bloodless crime that takes place on paper, but one instead that takes a staggering toll," Chin said.

The judge said the estimate that Madoff has cost his victims more than $13 billion was conservative because it did not include money from feeder funds.

"Objectively speaking, the fraud here was staggering," he said.

Good. Bernard Madoff will spend the rest of his life in prison and rightfully so. "Extraordinarily evil" doesn't do justice in describing Madoff--a man who would've kept right on hurting and destroying families if he hadn't been caught. Bernard Madoff is scum and now he'll stay behind bars where he belongs.

Politiks As Usual: In The News 6/29/09

Argentine Woman Admits Relationship With SC Governor Mark Sanford

Eight Republicans Vote For Obama's Cap And Trade Bill

EPA Suppressing Report That Questions Global Warming

House Leadership Takes Suicidal Stand Against Its African American Base

Senate Blocks George Tiller Resolution

Controversy: Porn Apps For iPhones

Jena 6 Case Wrapped Up With Plea Bargain

Califormia Assembly Speaker: Conservative Talkers Are Terrorists

$10,000 Bounty For Any Witness To Obama's Birth

CanadaCare Sends Baby To U.S. For Treatment

Billy Mays, OxiClean Pitchman, Found Dead

ABC's ObamaCare Infomercial Turns Out To Be A Flop

ThrFeed.com:

President Obama's town hall meeting on health care delivered a sickly rating Wednesday evening.

The one-hour ABC News special "Primetime: Questions for the President: Prescription for America" (4.7 million viewers, 1.1 preliminary adults 18-49 rating) had the fewest viewers in the 10 p.m. hour (against NBC's "The Philanthropist" debut and a repeat of "CSI: NY" on CBS). The special tied some 8 p.m. comedy repeats as the lowest-rated program on a major broadcast network.

The special was shot at the White House and featured the president answering questions about his health care plan. The president's primary message was that those who like their current insurance will be able to keep it and that taking no action will result in higher health care costs.

The special drew fire from Republican leadership after refusing to allow an official opposition response, or even a paid ad. ABC also interviewed Obama on "Good Morning America" to help promote the special.

Maybe when the mainstream media finally understands that liberals aren't the only ones who pay attention to the news, they'll make more of an effort to be fair to both sides of the ideological aisle in the future--hey, doing so might help their dismal ratings!

John Boehner Speaks On Obama's B.S. Health Care Reform, Cap And Trade

It's not only bad and it's going to get worse.

Oklahoma Woman Accused Of Trading Sex For Frito Lays Chips!

Damn, this recession has really gotten to some people.