They Told Glenn Reynolds... (Ongoing)

They told Glenn Reynolds that if he voted for McCain our system would become more corrupt.  And they were right!

(Reuters) - The United States has dropped out of the "top 20" in a global league table of least corrupt nations, tarnished by financial scandals and the influence of money in politics, Transparency International said on Tuesday.

Somalia was judged the most corrupt country, followed by Myanmar and Afghanistan at joint second-worst and then by Iraq, in the Berlin-based watchdog TI's annual corruption perceptions index (CPI).

The United States fell to 22nd from 19th last year, with its CPI score dropping to 7.1 from 7.5 in the 178-nation index, which is based on independent surveys on corruption.

This was the lowest score awarded to the United States in the index's 15-year history and also the first time it had fallen out of the top 20.

In the Americas, this put the United States behind Canada in sixth place, Barbados at 17th and Chile in 21st place.

So what dragged us down?

Nancy Boswell, president of TI in the United States, said lending practices in the subprime crisis, the disclosure of Bernard Madoff's Ponzi scheme and rows over political funding had all rattled public faith about prevailing ethics in America.

"We're not talking about corruption in the sense of breaking the law," she said. "We're talking about a sense that the system is corrupted by these practices. There's an integrity deficit."

Huh?  No mention of the bank bailout or the UAW bailout?  Geez, wait 'til they hear about those!

Comments

[Danube of Thought]

Yeah. I think it does him in. Weird.

[Danube of Thought]

Krauthammer predicts 55/8.

[Janet the tea-vangelist!]

In these days that we are living in, I would vote for a weird Republican over ANY Democrat. In fact, I will never vote for a Democrat again...never.

[Melinda Romanoff]

Oh, look, another voting "glitch".

"Just send your new, "mail-in" ballot to the local Democratic Party office, we'll take care of it. Just to make sure the process works properly."

Thieves.

And they're already on the ground, running with this.

[Threadkiller]

I would think a person qualified in voter fraud, with government resources, would be rewarded with a great many votes from the democrats.

[Clarice]

Why woud anyone in Ill trust a mail in ballot? Just asking.

[Porchlight]

The Miller thing doesn't seem like that big a deal, sorry.

[Threadkiller]

--"Why woud anyone in Ill trust a mail in ballot?"--

Neither fraud, nor deceit, nor intimidation, nor death shall keep the thug politicians from their appointed votes.

Rain and hail might.

[narciso]

The triumph of hope over experience, although
I don't get why they would do it to Democrats, is it to delegitimize the whole
election, or stupidity

[MarkO]

Why should our Yalies be better than theirs? To hell with them all. Get me someone from TCU or Wyoming. Get me a cowboy. I hope the Tea Party will slam Miller for this. It's fraud and someone else would have won the primary as easily as he did. Seppuku, but he's not worthy.

[Janet the tea-vangelist!]

Here's an idea...how bout anyone that wants to vote has to go register at the DMV. Then when it is time to vote, they have to take their bodies down to the voting station ON ELECTION DAY, show their ID, & cast their ballot. How bout that for an idea?
No more chasing people around getting them to register....no more voting weeks before election day.

[MarkO]

Just to be clear, I would vote for Miller, but he has disgraced himself and, with him, unfortunately, those hard working folks who could have elected someone else.

This is one of those "hidden wedges" moments.

[Melinda Romanoff]

Janet, you racist. You wouldn't dare demand people prove who they are.

Every time they vote that day.

So unfair.

[Porchlight]

Yeah, well, MarkO, it's easy to blame the guy who ran and imagine that there are better candidates out there who could have easily won the primary (a premise I don't accept), but he's the one who volunteered.

You can see why fewer and fewer decent people want to do this kind of thing anymore.

[Melinda Romanoff]

I'm getting sick of all of this.

G'night all.

[MarkO]

Porchlight,

Despite my wild hatred of the Obama agenda and anyone remotely related to it, I just don't see Miller as a "decent" person. My issue with him is not that he used computers or anything like that. It is that he knowingly withheld it from those who supported him and actively lied about it later. In that, he embodies the worst of Obama. It's not just a wart. More like a boil.

Even so, I would vote for the chasened Miller, but I think it kills him and the hopes of many.

[Ann]

Hahahaha Told ya:

Thanks Joy Behar!: Sharron Angle campaign raises $137,000 today

I demand MoDo explain this to her readers!

[daddy]

"Which JOMer was/is it that likes Sweet Tarts so much?"

Me, me, me, me, me, me, me!!!

[Jim Ryan]

Obama is coming here (Charlottesville) on Friday night to put Perriello over the top. It's prolly Hurt 48 Perriello 44 at the moment. I'd pass along your best wishes but I will be unable to attend the festivities.

Governor McDonnell and the zealous AG Ken Cuccinelli will be here Sunday for Hurt right at our li'l' HQ where I volunteer.

Anybody in VA-5, please come out and help elect Hurt.

[Porchlight]

Me too Mel. The biggest GOP surge in my adult lifetime and people are rending their garments at every opportunity all day long.

[Porchlight]

I don't know anything about it, MarkO, other than brief late-breaking reports from the MSM the week before an election.

All I know is right now our soldiers are heading toward pitched battle for what's left of the country and I really don't give a rat's ass what stupid political BS happened at someone's job however many years ago. We simply don't have the luxury to worry about it right now. And the handwringing only demoralizes OUR side.

[Jim Ryan]

Was the poll Miller voted on multiple times "Who rocks harder, Kiss or AC/DC?" Because...okay...this is hard.... Because I voted multiple times on that poll, too. I have lied about this. I have been living with this for so long. I drank. I ran from myself. Finally, something inside me just said, "Tell the truth, Jim. Just tell the truth about this."

[Porchlight]

AC/DC, no question. As the great Jim Carducci once described them, "not a brain cell to spare."

MarkO, I'm sorry for the berating. It's just been that kind of day.

[narciso]

Something like this, Porchlight, in the LUN,
gee focus people, Murkowski willing to sandbag
the Stache, vote for a state income tax, Bp's
favorite non Chicago based Senator, who tried
to fix the primary afterwards, with the help of the NRSC, and inquiried about running for
every slot south of the Raving Looney Party

[Ann]

daddy:

I haven't read all the particulars but has Joe Miller responded. I would like to hear from him before I way in.

At any rate, I remember when we have all voted on certain polls numerous times to way the results. Just saying.

Good Grief this election is ugly and exhausting.

I am with Porchlight on this one. We keep complaining about the media yet we accept the first report from the same; that came via a crooked retired judge nominated and hired by the opposition lying scumbags. Great!

[Rick Ballard]

Go to bed with this one on your mind.

"The Hill’s data confirm other public polling and expert predictions, some of which put the historic wave even higher than the 52 seats Democrats lost in 1994 and the 71 they lost in 1938.”

Miller needs a better campaign manager next time. Had he been "vetted" by the opposition in a few previous runs he would have understood that the dirty shorts he wore for three days running when he was 10 were going to show up on national TV. And he would know exactly how to respond.

Liza Minelski knows how to play hard ball but this may backfire on her yet - it ain't like her linens are pure white.

[Rob Crawford]

Wow. The Democrats run traitors, frauds, and out-right crooks and never bat an eye. Someone ties together a bunch of half-stated claims that someone "may" have had a conflict of interest, and we abandon our candidate like he's a leper. I guess the presence of the asexual Maddow seals Miller's fate -- the left wouldn't trot out such a major celebrity otherwise, eh?

Fuck this country, if its patriots are such paragons of virtue they prefer callow thieves like Murkowski to an imperfect man like Miller.

[Porchlight]

Well, here's some good polling news to build on earlier good news today. Pardon the a-----l-sized quote but it's just too delicious:

The Hill: Expect "crushing nationwide defeats" for Dems next week

The Hill 2010 Midterm Election poll, surveying nearly 17,000 likely voters in 42 toss-up districts over four weeks, points to a massive Republican wave that, barring an extraordinary turnaround, will deliver crushing nationwide defeats for President Obama’s party…

Of the 42 districts polled for The Hill, all but two of which are currently Democratic, 31 had Republicans in the lead. Democrats were up in just seven, and four were tied. In addition, there are some 15 Democratic districts that are so far into the GOP win column that they weren’t polled. That would suggest at least 46 GOP pickups, plus whatever the party gets out of another 40 or 50 seats that some experts believe are in play…

The Hill’s data confirm other public polling and expert predictions, some of which put the historic wave even higher than the 52 seats Democrats lost in 1994 and the 71 they lost in 1938.

Pollster Stuart Rothenberg wrote Tuesday that Democrats face the potential of “a political bloodbath the size of which we haven’t seen since the presidency of Franklin Delano Roosevelt.”

With this many pollsters putting their necks on the line with big predictions I'd say we're well past the "massaging expectations" stage.

The Senate will fall too. Even Ed Koch says so.

[Porchlight]

Rick, gmta. Good stuff.

[Janet the tea-vangelist!]

Me, me, me, me, me, me, me!!!

Yeah daddy...I found it in the JOM archives. Hah...I sent some to Soylent wrapped in an old post of yours...with SweetTarts highlighted.

[Porchlight]

Just savor it. 31 of 42 districts, 40 of which are held by Dems, are trending Republican, with 4 tossups.

17,000 likely voters.

[Danube of Thought]

I just can't wait. I would vote for Miller just as I would vote for the simpleton O'Donnell. But I think a great deal less of him now.

[Janet the tea-vangelist!]

daddy, here it is.

[maryrose]

Alex Giannoulous is somehow connected to the mob and Joe Miller was on some other peoples computers during lunch break and this is a disqualifier? It reminds me of how another candidate's divorce records were made public to ease Obama into the Chicago Senate seat. Stop going to court to get dirt on people!

[daddy]

I absentee voted for Miller today and still support him, tho' am bummed about this. Have not seen the reaction which I suspect will be coming tomorrow. I will say that if its true that Rachel Maddow is out here, then she is out here for a reason and has had a heads up, and it also tells me that with the way Lisa phrased her question at the debate about the USMA Code of Ethic's ("I will not lie cheat or steal, or tolerate those who do") that she also probably had a heads up.

Today on Fagan's show he had a regular guest who is a big Lisa supporter and who is tied in with the big money folks and Lawyer's who support her. When asked about Lisa's miserable debate performance, his response was that he did not watch it, but that he and most of her supporters know her debate skills are terrible so most of them didn't watch her either, and so it really didn't matter to her supporters at all. This angered me, so when I called in I asked essentially the following:

"Having listened to Lisa in the debates so far I've found that she opposes the Arizona Immigration Law, opposes the Border fence being built, voted for a State Income Tax, co-sponsored a Cap and Trade Bill, is pro Earmarks, says she recognizes that we have a massive Federal debt yet says that the lower 48 should cut out the Federal Pork not Alaska, so what I'd like to know is if you are going into the voting booth enthusiastically voting for Lisa because of those things, or are you holding your nose and voting for her simply because of the Pork?" Weasel snarkily dismissed my question saying I already had my mind made up as to his answer so I wouldn't be interested in his reasoning, but the host pressed the question, and though this guy remained unresponsiveness and snarky, at least the 3rd guy in the studio had the guts to respond and talk about the issues themselves. He explained why he was voting for Miller on the issues as opposed to the other guy who simply criticized Miller but would never say why the heck he's voting for Lisa.

I didn't ask it near as professionally as I should have, or as in depth, since I'm whizzing down the highway on the cellphone with the dog all over me, but at least I tried and I got the guys talking about issues instead of continual ad hominem and snide anti-Palin jokes. It is amazing though that Fagan hates Palin's guts yet is Miller's biggest supporter, while the slightly left Bob and Mark FM Talk duo, love Palin, yet hate Miller's guts, and are cutting ads for Lisa. We are obviously all nuts up here.

Anyhow, tomorrow or Thursday is a big Miller/Palin rally, so we will see how it all falls out.

And am definitely not interested in watching Rachel Maddow, but am curious in seeing if she is pro-McAdam' (the Dem), pro Lisa, or simply anti-MIller/Palin. I suspect the latter.

[JM Hanes]

It might level the playing field if Miller had the resources to do his own oppo research, but then Murky probably doesn't even have a job related personnel file.

[narciso]

It's a strange, strange world, 'of those who stopped living and became mixed upped zombies,'daddy, those Taiwanese animators
(NMA) only capture a small part of it

[daddy]

Janet,

I have those in my cockpit brain bag all the time. My job is essentially to stay awake, and nothing works like a couple SweetTarts just at the top of descent to perk up the ol' brain cells.

Also at this time of year I always go to the base commissary and load up on my stash of big bags of the small Halloween SweetTart rolls, and those are what I give the ramp folks as a calling card all around the world for the next 6 months. I've got half of Asia addicted:)

[Porchlight]

daddy,

Please don't forget about the Mary Jane peanut butter kisses. It's Halloween - think of the children (that don't like them).

Do they still make chewy SweeTarts?

[Janet the tea-vangelist!]

Murky probably doesn't even have a job related personnel file.

I thought if you hacked your co-worker to death the company couldn't tell anyone. The Human Resources Dept. had to just say...yes she worked here from x until xx.

maryrose is right...it reminds me of the divorce records being released.

I just want equal rules for all candidates. Let all of em show their divorce records, school records, personnel files, birth certificates,....
The rules shouldn't just apply to Republicans.

and who looked at his personnel files? Weren't people prosecuted for looking into Obama's school loan files?

[daddy]

JMH,

Even when stuff is uncovered on Lisa it never seems to gain traction. 2 Days back she apologized for sending out 25,000 mailers saying the Dem Governor candidate, Ethan Berkowitz, was voting for her, yet even when he says ">http://community.adn.com/adn/node/153889"> thats “a blatant lie” it doesn't seem to get any traction.

Same last week when she illegally appeared on paperwork of some million dollar Native Political Fund, yet it was again presented as simply a mistake of paperwork, could'a happened to any one.

Or also how numbers of In-State Legislators have been listed on her Campaign forum as supporters, who are definitely not supporters, and half to twist arms to get that "mistake" removed.

Lisa seems to be able to continually make mistakes left, right and center, yet Miller is held to a standard demanding he made no mistakes ever. I see so much of it that I really am glad to be able to go out for long walks with Pup to let steam off.

[Frau Pfui!]

Rob expresses my views exactly. Miller's sin does not rise to the level that I am sorry to have sent him money. I wish now I had sent more. Having personnel files opened by tricky legal maneuvers (the public has the right to know unless it is all of Obama's records) seems to be a standard Dem tactic.

[bgates]

Political party seeks candidate for high office. Must be graduate of accredited 4-year university with at least 3.0 GPA (transfer students strongly discouraged). Military service a plus unless it's that phony National Guard/Reservist crap; combat experience acceptable if obtained during a UN- and NATO-approved conflict and/or during a Democratic administration.

The ideal applicant will have a 2-income family with household income at the 60th to 75th percentile, and parents and in-laws with same, one current 30-year mortgage, and have a long personal history (not family history) of public service in elected office.

Children a must; children of female applicants must be at least of college age. Children of college age must be enrolled in accredited 4-year university, and must never have been photographed drinking alcohol.

Must have no family history of divorce, substance abuse, infidelity, unemployment, overdue library books, teen pregnancy, late bill payment, shoplifting, parking tickets, Mormonism, or providing accounts of ballgames without the express written consent of Major League Baseball, for 2 generations in each direction. Applicants who knew weird kids in high school will not be considered.

[bgates]

Other political party has opportunity for anybody who knows how to look out for who's looking out for him. Ideal candidate will be in favor of college, and will never have been convicted of, or already completed sentence for, or make compelling case prosecution was racist during trial about, murder, manslaughter, domestic abuse, and/or rape. If you're connected to a family in the business, let us know who you know.

Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer.

[daddy]

Do they still make chewy SweeTarts?

Porch,

They do. ">http://www.sweetjanes.com/images/gwt54.jpg"> These I can get at Blockbuster, tho' I am partial to the non-chewy variety that come in the convenient 3 Pack, which unfortunately are now much harder to find than the clumsy 4 pack as shown. I still think it difficult to find a finer flavor to gnaw on though than a hard Yellow Sweetart ">http://www.oldtimeconfection.com/Count%20Goods/giant%20sweet%20tart%20single.jpg"> the size of a Hockey Puck.

For highway driving with dog on lap and cellphone in hand while hollering at Talk Radio host I recommend these boxes of ">http://74.55.211.242/~weep//site_images/galleries/gallery34/SweetTarts_DSC0022.jpg"> Industrial Strength SweeTarts. About half the size of a phone book, with the box torn open at the corner perforation the same motion that will deliver a slug of beer in Cologne will allow a nice mouthful of double sized SweeTarts to pour quickly upon one's tongue, allowing you to quit steering with your knees, re-grab control of the steering wheel, and still have kept the dog at bay with your other elbow while waiting for the Talk Host to say "Robert, you're on."

Janet's ">http://suburbanamerican.com/Sweet%20Tarts.jpg"> SweeTart Rolls are a great favorite for troops in the field and for nodding off pilots and other drivers of heavy machinery. I suspect that they will be a great favorite with cockroaches when they control the planet after the nuclear annihilation of the human race, as they will probably be the only packaged human food product that survives that apocalypse.

And then of course there are the old standards, the ">http://www.sweetjanes.com/images/pieces.jpg"> normal sized package, the environmentally unfriendly ">http://www.lollypopsandcandies.com/images/bulkcandy.jpg"> mini-packages (too much wrapping for too little product), and the wonderful new addiction of Asian ramp folks, the very popular ">http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2064/1848903301_5d106ef83e_z.jpg"> SweeTart Mini-fun-rolls!

I suspect you guys are probably also aware of other seasonal varieties; (ie ">http://farm1.static.flickr.com/27/88330922_af4fc66633.jpg"> Valentine Heart SweeTarts), but I will leave off here without further discussion of the differences in taste of each product, as I learned long ago to cast not your SweeTarts before swine, especially as there may be some ">http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_XU9x8G7khv0/StctdfLD36I/AAAAAAAAKRI/Yqfd9zjEr4g/s400/smarties.jpg"> Smarties or ">http://bretcontreras.files.wordpress.com/2010/09/skittles.jpg"> Skittles apostates amongst you bunch:)

[Janet the tea-vangelist!]

Applicants who knew weird kids in high school will not be considered.

LOL! too funny bgates, too funny.

[daddy]

Yippee,

This report says ">http://news.discovery.com/archaeology/neanderthal-human-mating.html"> Asian's also had sex with Neaderthal's, so apparently Caucasions weren't the only guys to go ugly early!

[Stephanie]

AJ Strata's take on the tsunami crashing into Obama in that ditch. The dems may not find that car for weeks.

LUN

[Jim Ryan]

Here's an industrial-strength post on Joe Miller.

[Jim Ryan]

This O'Keefe. First he's up, then he's down, and now he's back up.

[Jim Ryan]

Let's cut the chase. Harry's toast is up.

[Extraneus]

I'm not giving up on Miller. Just sent him some money.

[pagar]

"Applicants who knew weird kids in high school will not be considered."

Applicants who no one can remember, or no one can find any record of ever having been in the high school or two or three different colleges will be moved to the head of the list. If they were elected head of the yearbook committee and no one can remember them or find any record of them having every done anything as the head of that committee, all other names will be removed from the list and they will be declared the automatic winner.

[pagar]

Jim Ryan, Great link on Miller, Thanks.
-----------------------------
With all the reports of fraud concerning Mortgagegate etc. that Mel has been doing such a fine job of reporting; does anyone wonder what BAC would want more than anything else?

If you guess that it would be for the Democrats to win, you'd probably be right.

Did the DNC Get an Illegal Campaign Loan from Bank of America? (PJM Exclusive).

"DNC loan agreement as posted online by the Federal Election Commission (FEC) and signed by former Virginia Governor Tim Kaine (D) on September 16, 2010, says the loan collateral included: “All electronic mail (‘E-mail’) addresses and other contact lists, records and other Information (electronic or otherwise) relating to contributors, supporters and subscribers owned by any of the Borrowers.” The borrowers in this case were the DNC and the DNC Services Corporation."

This loan stinks to high heaven. A list of names is worth 32 million dollars, you've got to be kidding.

Big Government has 18 headlines up right now. 18 talk about Democrat voter fraud. They haven't even got to the BAC loans to the Democrats fraud.

[narciso]

Just as we found out about Peter a year ago, it is my sad duty to report that my good friend, the former Philly cop, that I had referenced upon on more than one occasion,
passed on this morning. He had been in poor health, he more than a touch cynical, because
he was wise about the world

[Pagar]

Sorry to hear that, Narciso. So many good ones gone.

[boris]

A sad duty indeed.

[bgates]

Narciso, my condolences.

[centralcal]

Sorry to hear about the loss of your friend, Narciso.

About Joe Miller - pheh. Rush hammered the point on Monday that we all need to gird our loins every day until election day, and then every day afterward. He said the MFM and their liberal cohorts would be working overtime to bring us bad news, to tear us and our candidates down, to try and depress us.

Stay strong everyone. I know it's hard, but we have each other to keep encouraging.

[Janet]

Sorry for your loss narciso.

[narciso]

Thanks all of you,

[Porchlight]

I'm so sorry, narciso. Hope you are doing okay.

[Perspective, kiddoes. Where's the cartoon of 'Somebody lied on the internet and I'm gonna make him pay for it'?]

Omigod, a sockpuppet voted and lied about it. What has the internet come to?
=============

[caro]

My condolences, Narciso.

[Forgive, and don't forget the laughs.]

narciso's street goes by a blue hill today.
===============

[caro]

Before there were SweeTarts,one could just open a pack of KoolAid and pour the powder on one's tongue. Mmmm

[D'ya suppose that's why her heart didn't get her?]

I snuck spoonfuls of Crisco.
=========

[macphisto]

it's never easy to lose a friend. at least part of him stays with you.

[sbw]

Nerciso, I'm grateful you knew him as long as you did. Condolences.

[Clarice]

I am so sorry to hear that, narciso. (That BTW is the aniversary of my husband's father's death, too.) I know how much you cared for and will miss him.

[Clarice]

OK, stephanie, I read thru that long AJ Strata link and still have no idea of what numbers he's predicting

[Clarice]

daddy, those neanderthals look not unlike lots of people you see on the street.