Now Its Tom Daschle, Tax Chiseler

Obama's emerging deficit-reduction strategy - keep nominating wealthy Dems to top posts and watch the back taxes flow in.  The WaPo:

Thomas A. Daschle, nominated to be secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, did not pay more than $128,000 in taxes over three years, a revelation that poses a potential obstacle to his Senate confirmation.

The back taxes, along with $12,000 in interest and penalties, involved unreported consulting fees, questionable charitable contributions, and a car and driver provided by a private equity firm run by entrepreneur and longtime Democratic Party donor Leo J. Hindery Jr., according to a confidential draft report prepared by Senate Finance Committee staff.

A spokeswoman for Daschle confirmed last night that he recently paid back taxes in excess of $100,000. She said that Daschle, a former Senate majority leader, and his accountant discovered the error regarding the luxury car service and reported it to the committee after his vetting was completed.

Via Glenn, the Taxprof has all you need.

Daschle supported Obama, eventually opposed the war after falling victim to Bush's lies in 2002, and has been reliably pro-choice and in favor of legislating higher taxes on high earners (despite a more flexible attitude about actually paying them), so I assume he will get a pass on this.  Obviously, if he were a greedy Republican this would be disqualifying.

[END OF THREAD]

Comments

[kim]

You know, they will go, in extremis, to the extent of pointing guns at hoi polloi; for these specially chosen, they won't even point cameras, and certainly not questions.
===================================

[hit and run]

Well, hell, is there any doubt whatsoever that the healthcare crisis we face is so big, so challenging, so perilous -- and that Tom Daschle is so uniquely qualified as the only person alive who can face down this crisis, that he is, of course, too big to fail?

[clarice]

Senate courtesy aside, people were furious enough about Geithner..this confirmation would help my sharpened, pre positioned in DC, pikes business immeasurably.

[Rick Ballard]

Given that Obamavermin have a dispensation from taxation, I cannot conceive of ever voting to convict any American who had determined that they, too, were exempt from paying more than whatever they happened to feel like paying. If Obamavermin don't pay, why should anyone? Are Rangel, Geithner, Daschle et al infinitum some sort of American subspecies, possessing "Get Out of Jail, Fines and Penalties" cards due to their party allegiance?

Perhaps widespread jury nullification should be placed next to the producers and consumers strike as a gesture of disdain for government "of the thieves, by the thieves and for the thieves"?

[boris]

Building on Elliot's observation ...

To make a direct link insert "/comments/page/N/?cid=" (N=page#) between ".html" and "#comment" in the address that appears under the comment's date and time.

Eg: Soylent pg 3

[bad]

Jake Tapper: LUN

On January 2 of this year, Daschle filed amended tax returns to pay the $140,167 in unpaid taxes.

The spin that Tax Dodger Daschle self-discovered and self-corrected his tax "oversights" falls a tad short with amended returns filed in January.

It appears that Obama is prepared to shove another tax cheat down our throats.

[Rick Ballard]

Some good news re the LA Times. Given the strength of Gramscian affinity groups, we can be assured that intelligent and knowledgeable staff were the first to go - the acceleration of the demise of the LAT is a given.

[Old Lurker]

Seriously, I hope they keep the guy so, among other reasons, he can be on center stage when his handiwork on the Bush Tax Cut sunset takes effect next year...and then all those <$250k folks see how what they thought was a tax decrease is actually going to cost them real money. Plus it will help the T Shirt sales for "Change yo can smell".

[clarice]

If we can do this manually, why the hell can't the programmer do this so it happens--as it used to--automatically.

Next thing you know we'll have to post my mailing in carbon copies of our typed messages.

[bad]

Our McClatchy newspaper had more space devoted to Obama's super bowl party than to Tax Dodger Daschle's tax issues.

Tax issues that involve problems with unreported car and driver, unreported consultant income and illegal charitable deductions.

Too big to fail is wrong. Dodger Daschle is too stupid to fail.

[Old Lurker]

you

[narciso]

I know this is the wrong place to post this but this is from the 'inquest' into Culture 11's passing, by Robert McCain. I'm almost gotten over his stabbing Sarah in the back on election day, I said almost. But one wonders what they were thinking:

If Culture11 ever published any actual reporting, excuse me for missing it. Maybe they should have put a few bucks for
"promotion" into their start-up budget. Speaking of ironic retrospectives, here's Conor Friedersdorf:

Enter Joe Carter, then proprieter of
Evangelical Outpost, fresh from the Huckabee campaign, hired by David Kuo, and charged with putting together an editorial team.

I've never met Joe Carter, although he's worked with friends of mine, but there is something odd about that phrase "fresh from the Huckabee campaign." If you are ever introduced to an editor as being "fresh from the Huckabee campaign" run, do not walk, in the opposite direction. Ditto editors "fresh from the Giuliani campaign." (Meeting an editor "fresh from the Ron Paul campaign" -- now, that might be intriguing.)

It has been my habit to twist Conor Friedersdorf's nose from time to time, simply because he is so conspicuously earnest and, being incurably facetious myself, earnestness amuses me. Nevertheless, I feel sorry to see Conor standing beside the smoking crater of another doomed David Kuo project.

Doubtless, someone will protest that Kuo is "a nice guy." Exactly. (Cf., Leo Durocher.) By way of explanation, Kuo writes: "The economy racks up more victims." In other words, Kuo claims that the meltdown of the economy caused the failure of his project. I suspect the chain of causality is nearly the opposite. The news that investors were willing to bankroll a commercial enterprise headed by David Kuo should have been a siren on Drudge: FINANCIAL COLLAPSE EMINENT!

Kuo will go back to the non-profit sector where he belongs, hired by some 501(c) tax-dodge that will pay him six figures as a "senior fellow" or "communications director" until about January 2011, when his name will pop up in connection with a Republican presidential candidate. Between now and then, save your money, so you can invest it all in shorting the InTrade stock of whatever candidate hires Kuo. In an economy like this, you can't afford to pass up a sure thing.

UPDATE: Josh Trevino has some thoughts on the failure of Culture11, but since none of his thoughts are along the lines of "David Kuo couldn't make a profit on the snow-cone concession in Hell," can we really take Trevino seriously?

Hey, y'know, now that I think about it, maybe the sudden disappearance of Culture
11's funding might have had something to do with their investors noticing that Culture11 was making the "conservative" case for gay marriage. (Wonder who else noticed?) Also, if you're trying to attract a conservativereadership, slamming Sarah Palin might not have been the ticket, huh?

You know I'm no publishing genius, but that was my impression from cursory examination of the site, and that little colloquoy with
Conor F.. Yep, what we need are more sites that slam our side, from the wet Tory side:
I'm speaking of you, New Majority

[hit and run]

OK, you think we have it bad here, try googling something.

They've turned on some kind of warning advisory.

If you click the link you're looking for, google takes you to a warning page, "this site may harm your computer".

They also have a link on that page for more information, but that page is down for the count.

If you want to go to the link you were looking for, you have to then copy and paste the url you are trying to get to -- the page says "you can visit [url] at your own risk", but the page doesn't hyperlink the url.

I'm sure it's temporary, a service that they've created with the intent of having people opt in -- but they've inadvertently released it universally.

I'm also sure that they will have it fixed long before typepad fixes their shinola.

But there you have it.

[clarice]

I have such a headache and it's early in the morning. Urgh

[Old Lurker]

"I have such a headache and it's early in the morning. Urgh"

My mother taught me that it is not the drinking that causes the hangover...it's the stopping. After the past ten days, I'm thinking she was one smart lady.

[hit and run]

Told you they'd fix it quickly. It's gone.

As you were.

[Porchlight]

Oh, thanks, Hit, I thought it was just me. I was searching for info on the 1993 Clinton stimulus bill when I first got those malware results and I thought they'd tagged me as anti-Obama or something.

[Fashionforitsh]

This brother was passed over by the CIA unlike the other engineers. His dad was just a minor bureaucrat and the HOBO got into the White House all by himself.

He should have asked to meet with Rham. I thought the finger thing meant hello, not dope.

Leonard Cohen's good.

[clarice]

I know Rush is sorry he's on vacation this week--he never misses a chance to poke fun at whiny, oily Tom Daschle.

[hit and run]

Old Lurker, that is the height of wisdom.

And let me tell you, I strive to walk in the way of wisdom.

[clarice]

*Reaching for Hit's earlobe to give it a good pinching*

[narciso]

Probably, anyone actually inquiring about the events in '93, down the memory hole, what need you know of this.

[Jane]

I'm sure that warning will be applied to every conservative blog Hit - in the public's interest and all that.

[Jane]

What does HOBO stand for? (I think I figured out the BO part)

[jimmyk]

I'd like to check in with John Tower about that "Senatorial courtesy" business, but unfortunately he's not available.

[bad]

WaPo:

He is considering amending his tax returns a second time because he did not pay Medicare taxes on the additional taxable income he incurred related to his use of the Cadillac. Finance panel staff members found that lapse.

Considering... how considerate of him to consider paying the taxes he owes.

[RichatUF]

bad-

I'll do some googling later, but I'd like to take a closer look how Daschle made $4 million as a "consultant and advisor". Healthcare is about a 2.5 Trillion dollar industry in the US, and I'm sure the lawfirm and hedge fund Daschle worked for is positioned to capture the Obama arbitrage (productive firms looted for Dem shell companies).

At this rate, the financial media will have to get new talking points regarding the downturn. If the thesis is that this downturn is similiar to 90-91 (although deeper) and healthcare will lead the way out, what will they say as the Obama Administration launches Daschle on the industry causing it to break in a not dissimiliar way to the banking industry?

[Old Lurker]

The other day when one of our JOM ladies promised to put out for a good Aussie, was this the guy you had in mind? LUN

[jimmyk]

I'd like to take a closer look how Daschle made $4 million as a "consultant and advisor".

And apart from the tax cheating, what exactly was Daschle doing that made this Hindery fellow want to give him $350,000 worth of free services? I don't suppose it was just from the goodness of his heart.

[MayBee]

It just makes me laugh about all the times Obama and Bill Clinton have trotted out the old line that they can afford to pay more taxes. They try to make it sound as if higher income earners are just dying to pay more taxes if the government would let them.

It makes me appreciate George Bush's State of the Union where he talked about the Treasury taking donations all that much more.

My reminder for Obama: Raise taxes, create more tax cheats.

[bad]

Old Lurker, not my idea of a man. He appears to have lost essantial equipment.

[MayBee]

The spin that Tax Dodger Daschle self-discovered and self-corrected his tax "oversights" falls a tad short with amended returns filed in January.

The spin brings with it another opportunity for members of the press* to learn that Their Obama will say what he needs to say to get himself out of a sticky situation.

*besides Jake Tapper, who looks to be next in line for the Obama Shoulder-Sqeeze

[RichatUF]

boris-

I notice that the links to comments you were posting were truncating.

Try this link.

You might have already have figured it out so my apologies if I'm repeating. The way typepad seems to have broken the direct link to comments is that when you click on the date-time id it drops the page/number index in the address. FWIW.

[Barney Frank]

Hotair has a story about Barry ordering the Pentagon to find 10% of its budget to cut next year.
I was never depressed that this dumbass was elected but I'm starting to get pissed off about it. Before he is done, he will have out Cartered, Carter.
Would public flogging be too harsh for the imbecilic Christopher Buckleys and Doug Kmiecs of the world?

[bad]

Maybee, someone needs to ask Glib Gibbs why Obama has selected unpatriotic, unfair cabinet members.

It appears their idea of spreading the wealth is to themselves.

[RichatUF]

boris-

I'm dumb. Disregard-for some reason the first time I clicked on the link it dropped me at the top of the thread.

[Ranger]

I'd like to take a closer look how Daschle made $4 million as a "consultant and advisor".

Posted by: RichatUF | January 31, 2009 at 10:35 AM

That was the pay off for all those years that he was working so hard in the Senate to advance their interests. They just put the quo before the quid, because its not bribary if they wait to pay you the money until you are out of office.

[JM Hanes]

With thanks to Daddy for spelling out the idea, this is what I wrote to my Democratic Congresswoman:

Ted Stevens got $250,000 worth of gifts in Alaska. He has been convicted of 7 felonies.

Tom Daschle got $363,000 worth of unreported gifts and income. He’s been appointed Healthcare Czar and is about to become Secretary of HHS.

What’s wrong with this picture? Is there any ceiling on the amount of tax fraud Democrats are willing to endorse?

hit et al: I've gotten a similar malware warning on other sites from time to time. I think it's actually an advertisement.

[Payroll]

Wandering homeless people, transient. Travels from city to city using his luciferian powers(claims it's Jesus or his history>define lucifer) to have you see, hear and ruin your life. Later, joins circus, helps with family with kids.

Obama is The ONE HOBO. Elevated above humans 'cause he (ain't) uses lucifer to have humans assumed, force seeing hearing and pain. The ONE. ONE HOBO came to your city. That's all that was..............

[narciso]

They might like that Barney, not enough of a punishment, community service in a deep red state. like Missisippi or Oklahoma, that could hell for them so.

[Porchlight]

JMH,

This was a situation where every single result in any Google search had "This site may harm your computer" just under the link. You couln't get to any of the pages at all, even the news stories from major outlets. Big glitch, but now fixed.

[bad]

Rich, I concur with Ranger.

[JM Hanes]

Here's the latest from Typepad on my continuing "Help Ticket" saga: They are "looking into" increasing the limit on comments per page and wondered if I thought 100 would be sufficient. I wrote back that I was looking into finding a new host, but thought a minimum of 200 would be a start, especially since it was now impossible to link directly to previous comments -- assuming you could even find them.

[Ranger]

Funny how the first stories make it sound like he just forgot to report a service as income. Now it comes out he also failed to report over $80,000.00 in consulting income for 2007. I think that is more than the average American makes in year.

If the Rs can't use the Obama cabinet to point out to the American people that Democrats believe rules are only for the "little people" then they deserve to lose.

So far we have:

You need to turn your heat down below 72, but I'm turning mine up to 80.

Paying taxes is patriotic, which is why Republicans pay theirs, and Democrats don't.

I will bar all people who lobby from my administration, except for the ones I always planned on hiring anyway.

[Jane]

The other day when one of our JOM ladies promised to put out for a good Aussie, was this the guy you had in mind?

That was me Old Lurker. Yeah I know Oz is socialist - but somehow they seem to make it more fun.

I'm sure Rudd is in the process of changing that.

[kim]

Old Lurker, that link at 10:37 is disturbing.
====================================

[Jane]

JMH,

In your conversation with typopad, did they tell you why they made the change?

[JM Hanes]

Ranger:

"I think that is more than the average American makes in year."

It's actually closer to what it takes an average guy two years to earn. Median income for men in 2007 was $45,113.

[Porchlight]

especially since it was now impossible to link directly to previous comments

JMH,

If you haven't already, please tell TypePad that Instapundit, one of the biggest traffic driving blogs on the web, has on numerous occasions linked directly to comments on this blog. I'd be happy to help find examples if that would help.

[RichatUF]

Barney-

Obama made that tape laying out the defense spending cuts he'd like to make. Not sure why people didn't take him at his word when he was addressing his political allies.

On the chopping block: F22, missile defense, ship construction (I think it is too late to make any cuts on the v-22 Ospry, but it wouldn't break my heart if that program were dropped), and the F35 (Joint Strike Fighter)...but to actually hit his number he'd have to reduce numbers of personnel.

He isn't too worried all the engineers and technicians that will be put out of work can thank Pelosi for the increase in unemployment compensation and food stamps or they can get work on windmills and solar panels (those mythical "green collar jobs" he yammers on about).

[kim]

Barney, that Kmiec business really bugs me. His account of the Ashcroft bedside scene was spot-on and evidence of a discerning political mind; then he supports this guy who abandons infants in the dirty utility room. It's like he's tossed his conscience on the ash heap.
================================

[Rick Ballard]

"Would public flogging be too harsh for the imbecilic Christopher Buckleys and Doug Kmiecs of the world?"

Not in my book. I'm thinking more along the lines of auto da fé. We'd probably be fined for a CO2 emission violation but I'll be happy to chip in my share (per the ObamaVermin standard).

Rich,

Re your comment on the previous thread concerning the MSM gleaning ideas from comment threads - sure they do, but the capital/production/consumption strike is pretty obvious. I think even someone educated at an elite institution might be able to suss it out with only a little help. Pretty quick someone in the MSM is going to realize that the inventory build in Q4 (even after sharp cuts) is going to kick the props out from under Q1. We could very easily see a -7% Q1.

At some point in a hazy future we may even read about the fact that FDR's power grab kept the country in recession due to just such a capital strike in the '30's. Maybe someone will even note that the high unemployment rate in the '30's was greatly exacerbated by the final shift away from mules (and hired hands to care for them) to horsepower derived from the internal combustion engine.

[JM Hanes]

Jane:

TypePad says it was to improve load time for bloggers, and was supposedly one of their "most requested" "features." I offered my opinion on that score.... I've actually got multiple ongoing exchanges with regard to other recent "improvements" as well.

[bad]

Cornyn and Hutchison have no voicemail to accomadate after hours or weekend calls. Perhaps other senators do but I'm not hopeful. Use email to reach them this weekend to let them know Tax Dodger Daschle is absolutely unacceptable.

LUN for that info.

[hit and run]

JMH:
especially since it was now impossible to link directly to previous comments

And to put a fine point on it, it is now impossible to even find old comments.

For example, older pages that have more than 50 comments no longer list comments past the first page. http://justoneminute.typepad.com/main/2008/06/just-say-no-car/comments/page/2/#comments>Like this one. That's page 2, and you just get "The comments to this entry are closed."

[boris]

Rich,

You are correct, to make a valid link all that's needed is to insert "/comments/page/3/" just before the "#comment-146792896" to get to Soylent pg 3

Perhaps that could be added to the Recent Comments seidbar code by TM.

[narciso]

These people are playing with fire, unless they want to start start a tax revolt. two tax cheats in the Cabinet, and it has to happen with people who are exactly in the tax bracket told Joe the Plumber, he was going to focus on. How did Geithner and now Daschle not incur criminal penalties, tax liens, (back to Joe the Plumber) garnishing of wages, we know the drill for what would ordinarily happen. This in addition to the "Don Draper" of Baghdad at CTU, sorry CTC.
All this approaches nothing like the American republic, that we're used to, but
the Chinese mandarinate, or the rarified Egyptian oligarchy portrayed by Al Aswany in his books, or to use a parallel they might be a little more familiar, Saddam's former palaces in the Green Zone where the CPA was located.

[matt]

The Iranians just told Obama to pound sand, He tried to open dialog with them, and they are saying it is proof of the weakness of America. What a world class fool.

[Porchlight]

TypePad says it was to improve load time for bloggers, and was supposedly one of their "most requested" "features."

Maybe so - but in that case why not make pagination optional and keep everyone happy? Somehow I think something else may be at issue (ad views, most likely, as others have suggested).

Thanks so much for your work on this, JMH.

[JM Hanes]

Porchlight:

I'll put on the list for my next reply. A "Help Ticket" is a kind of continuing webform for client queries and Typepad responses. Fortunately, there's at least one policy which has yet to be changed: Until I tick off the "problem resolved" box, they have to keep responding!

[Rocco]

Didn't Republicans stand firm against Clinton's tax hikes in 94? Not one vote. Newt's Contract with America combined with a few dem scandals and we made progress...no?

Why can't we do it again?

[clarice]

Oh well, his foreign policy initiatives are working:
"US President Barack Obama's offer to talk to Iran shows that America's policy of "domination" has failed, the government spokesman said on Saturday.
"This request means Western ideology has become passive, that capitalist thought and the system of domination have failed," Gholam Hossein Elham was quoted as saying by the Mehr news agency.

"Negotiation is secondary, the main issue is that there is no way but for (the United States) to change," he added. "

NOT

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=CNG.073ba2ee2f1f00668848a4655420fedc.411&show_article=1>Mad Mullahs

[kim]

I don't think this 'End of Thread' is working. I'm afraid to look at the other threads. In other news, I can now get on Watts Up, but every word is at the left margin. Watts Up has wave after skeptical wave crashing on the crumbling headlands of the dominant climate paradigm, and Climate Audit has the latest shenanigans by the guvmint scientists manipulating policy with chimerical analysis. Ironically, a Day One Presidential Directive may have helped Steve's quest re-iterating the necessity of lawful and prompt response to Freedom of Information requests. They are having a ball over there, also, with humourous translations of the acronym FOIA. Cute bear pictures, too.
==========================

[Rick Ballard]

Clarice,

Apparently they want him to take a firmer grip on his ankles.

[clarice]

jmh, a blessing on your head.

[clarice]

Sounds like that to me, Rick. What a total and complete dunce he is at everything but manipulating voters.

[Pall]

ONE DEAD HOBO. We should stop making jokes about Obama's powers.

[Barney Frank]

Rich,

I guarantee missile defense will be sacrificed first and foremost, because death-wish-Dems think its provocative.
When that EMP warhead comes scooting up out of a freighter off the coast of Venezuela we'll be sitting ducks. The possibility is probably not great, but it's also potentially a nation ending event.

[kim]

JMH, Typepad is just crazee on this issue. Pagination made DotEarth a nightmare to traverse, and everyone complained. Especially long conversations are often the ones interesting enough to wait just a bit extra for the display. I've found pagination universally inhibiting. I can't believe it is not deliberate sabotage, but then, I'd have to be paranoid about intent. It's far more likely idiocy.
===============================

[boris]

The "End of Thread" link seems to be case sensitive now.

.html?cid=x works okay

.html?CID=X seems to fail

[JM Hanes]

hit: I made the point about not being able to find comment either. I really do mean to change locations, myself, as soon as I can figure out how to make a portable archive for my miscellaneous blogs. In addition to all the problems here, TypePad has instituted an alternative interface for author postings which really junks up the composing window, and when there are slowdowns like last night, I can't even access my author pages.

I actually bought some software for designing my own site, but the part nobody ever seems to explain is how to get the thing from my desktop to the web. You can even make web pages in Photoshop at this point, but I have no idea what the next step is supposed to be.

[kim]

See, now I'm stuck. With this old machine, the new Type Odd, and 'End of Thread' not working, I can't get onto p. 2 unless I comment. Why should it take 10 days to fix a 'kernel panic' in an eMac?
============================================

[hit and run]

The Iranians had better watch their step. You don't mess with the O like that.

I bet at his next press conference, he'll give them the ol' subtle bird flip move.

In your face, mullahs!

[Barney Frank]

Up until now TP hasn't eaten any of my posts. I had a devestaingly insightful one about cutting missile defense, EMP bursts from freighters off Venezuela, etc, but its gone.

Short version: Obama is going to get people killed, potentially a lot of them.

[kim]

Why do ask questions I can't read the answer for? Reckless curiosity, must be.
=====================================

[Barney Frank]

Now it's appeared out of the blue, 10 minutes later. Good grief. TP needs a bailout.

[clarice]

It helps, I suppose to be both clueless and shameless if one wishes a political career. Anyone else having a week like Obama did would be hiding under the covers today.

[JM Hanes]

boris:

Typepad is in the process of trying to "fix" a lot of these new "features" they've added, so I wouldn't count on any workaround lasting very long right now.

They seem to have fixed the one that kept turning JM Hanes into Quasiblogger whenever I commented on any Typepad blog, as well as re-directing anyone who clicked on my name to a TypePad profile that they created, instead of my blog -- regardless of what I had filled into the databoxes for posting. Apparently they haven't yet managed a universal repair though, so I'm expecting a return glitch any time.

[GT327]

So, on Friday afternoon Daschle's spokesperson comes out and says Daschle found and corrected unreported in-kind income, resulting in about $102,000 in additonal taxes. We learn on Saturday that the original story was a lie -- the errors also included failing to report $83,000 in cash income and claiming charitable deductions to organizations that are not qualified charities, causing Daschle to pay the IRS about $140,000 on January 2, 2009.

Does anyone mind that we are being lied to by a tax cheat who dedicated his public career to raising our taxes while his wife raked in millions for lobbying Congress?

[bad]

NYT providing cover as usual. LUN

An aide to Mr. Daschle said he had been preoccupied in recent days with the need to help a brother who was being treated for a brain tumor.

Obviously, Mr Daschle is too compassionate to pay taxes.

NYT doesn't mention unreported consulting fees, or illegal claims of charitable contributions.

[JM Hanes]

bad:

Multi-tasking is out, distractions are in.

[bad]

GT, well said.

[BobS]

morning gang! anybody here whether or not judd gregg is going to accept the commerce spot....it would swing the senate to fillibuster proof......he's got to not do it....

[bad]

JMH, good one.

[Elliott]

Thanks for the tips, boris. They are much appreciated.

[bad]

I wonder what skeletons Judd Gregg has hidden that will get publicized in vetting.

You know, The-old-republicans-do-it-too gambit.

And being republican, he'd resign and leave the seat open anyway.

[BobS]

to use a famous daschel introductory clause....."I'm saddened......."

[hit and run]

JMH:
Multi-tasking is out, distractions are in.

Speaking of which...Gibbs has one http://www.whitehouse.gov/the_press_office/Press_Briefing_1-29-09/>he is willing to use when necessary.

From Friday's press briefing...

MR. GIBBS: Let me apologize in advance. My five-and-a-half-year-old has a cold; therefore, I have a cold. So if I sniff a little bit, it's because of that.

And...

MR. GIBBS: I did not attend the cocktail party last evening. I went home to read a book to my son.

How cute, he's a devoted family man who loves his son. We should go easy on him.
Sincerely,
White House Press Corps

That's swell, thanks.
Sincerely,
Robert Gibbs

::under breath:: Dumbasses

[narciso]

He does elevate cluelessness to a fine art, doesn't he, or is it cynicism, What if soldiers and technicians refused to stand down; against these orders, particularly at the Ketchikan BMD radar installation. Would he force a confrontation would it be a trigger for his domestic security force to go into action. 10 days of surrender, to
jihadists, the czar in a suit, to the Moloch lobby, it just gets more and more insane, I don't know what's coming next but 'Something Whicked This Way Comes" seems a fair description. I don't like to think this way of my president, but what choice
does he leave me, when he does these sorts
of things

[Jane]

JMH,

For what it is worth FWDAJ is at Wordpress and even I am able to figure it out. And that says a lot. I've had a number of blogs over the years and the guy who has hosted all of them has moved his stuff to Wordpress. I am assuming he did his homework.

[BobS]

and the nh dem gov appoints a dem partisan to replace him....we cant have turncoats.....maybe michael steele will get oin the phone and talk him out of it,,,,,surely cornyn is

[MayBee]

Obviously, Mr Daschle is too compassionate to pay taxes.

I love you, bad.

[Charlie (Colorado)]

Hey, folks, just a little technical addon here.

The business with getting warnings about possible malware sites was a google bug that takes a couple of preconditions before it showed up. If your browser supports it (firefox does, for one) then you can set a preference that the browser checks back with Google when it goes to a site, and warns you if that site is on a greylist of suspected malware-installing or phishing sites. For a short while, due to what is known in software engineering as a "fuck up", Google was warning about every site no matter what. The alarm was stuck on. That's fixed.

Now, if while you're browsing you get a popup window telling you that your "registry needs cleaning" or "suspected malware has been detected" that's an advert. If it offers you a free tool to help prevent malware, that is in all probability giving you an opportunity to install malware yourself; it's a great way to have your very own zombie spam bot. So don't do it unless you have peculiar taste in pets.

[Old Lurker]

"That was me Old Lurker. Yeah I know Oz is socialist - but somehow they seem to make it more fun."

Yes, Jane, I knew that was you...but wanted to let you let it get lost in the typhus ether if you desired to. :-)

Mrs. Lurker and I did the AU Open last year and loved every minute of it. Yes, they do know how to have a great time, and could not have been nicer to us.

But here's the downer for you: both Lurker daughters spent time there, one as a medical researcher in Sydney and the other as a ballet dancer in Melborne. Independently, they were shocked at the sexism, shocked at the racism, and stunned how unfriendly they were to conservative Americans.

So perhaps they deserve their PM.

My question of the day to Rick, now that he and Clarice told us WHAT to put in the floorsafes, is WHERE to locate them!

[Jane]

Hey maybe this Daschle disclosure is just to cover all his ties to lobbyists - like his wife.

[Jane]

Independently, they were shocked at the sexism, shocked at the racism, and stunned how unfriendly they were to conservative Americans.

Old Lurker,

Really? I'm really surprised because I had the exact opposite experience. Then again I was only there for a month and visiting a bunch of conservatives for the most part.

[Charlie (Colorado)]

My question of the day to Rick, now that he and Clarice told us WHAT to put in the floorsafes, is WHERE to locate them!

In the floor?

[matt]

daddy;

am supposed to fly to Anchorage on Monday for a deployment ceremony. Yea or nay?

[narciso]

I hope Gregg, doesn't take, giving the 60th vote to the Dems, then again he'd be the best of a sad lot. No hell, let'm take it, people
have to be aware exactly how big a mistake they made on November 4th, give it to them 'good and hard'. I don't care anymore, they were warned they chose to believe Stewart, Fey, Couric, Gibson, Olbermann, et al. A full pack of lies, they chose a passel of tax cheats who will put the screws to us, for any irregularity, They chose to drain our 401 Ks, starve our power plants, dismantle the military and free the terrorists, appease their foreign masters

[bad]

Obama is outraged about Wall Street bonuses. I am unable to find his outrage about bonuses paid to FM/FM executives and board members which included Rahm Emanual.