Take Ben Stein's Rep

Felix Salmon aids and abets Ben Stein's auto-immolation.

Daniel Drezner provides an interesting sidebar, the gist of which is, yes, we would be in Libya even if these prominent Frenchmen had disgraced themselves a few weeks earlier.

Comments

[clarice]

Well, in an interesting twist, the papers are reporting the alleged victim lives in housing set aside for HIV/AIDs victims and that HIV can be spread to the recipient of oral sex.

DSK probably has a great deal on his mind right now.

[narciso]

The silly season comes early, but then again we can suspect who he voted for:

http://rothkopf.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2011/05/13/the_political_black_swan_of_2012_civility_and_substance

[Extraneus]

Man eats 25,000th Big Mac, 39 years after his 1st

"I plan on eating Big Macs until I die," he said. "I have no intentions of changing. It's still my favorite food. Nothing has changed in 39 years. I look forward to it every day."

[snip]

He said he is probably obsessive compulsive and that he likes repetition and doesn't like change. He said he's kept many of the Big Mac boxes and receipts over the years, and has noted his purchases in calendars he's kept.

[MayBee]

clarice- her attorney says the HIV housing story is not true.

[Rick Ballard]

My theory is that we are in Libya because the Sûreté Nationale (?)tortured credible intelligence from Libyan nationals kept in one of France's "black prisons" in Africa concerning Daffy restarting the importation of yellowcake from Niger. Daffy just switched customers from Iraq to Iran.

[Captain Hate]

narc, who is David Rothkopf and has he ever written anything coherent?

[Melinda Romanoff]

Let's not fret too long about him, clarice, there may be a cure around the corner.

[narciso]

That's a plausible theory, Rick, but wouldn't we be targeting other elements if that were true,

[Appalled]

Rothkopf I believe has connections to Hillary Clinton.

[narciso]

Interesting how this was one of the latecomers to the debunk yellowcake express,
but look what he's doing now, one scam comes
as easily as another;

https://wikispooks.com/wiki/Nigel_Inkster

[jwest]

Although I don’t agree with every point Stein made, I’m bothered that the “evidence” the media found most damning was that he was staying in a $3000/night suite and he was attempting to fly first class.

Why didn’t the police just shoot him on sight?

[Danube of Thought]

Wiki says he was in the Clinton administration.

Minus 7 at Raz today. Generic Republican leads Obama by 2. (Problem is, we can't run a generic.)

[MayBee]

We've all seen that it is Marc Grossman who Hillary is sending to Pakistan, haven't we?

[clarice]

Thanks for the updates, MayBee.

[Extraneus]

In case anyone else also isn't familiar with Marc Grossman:

Grossman met with Mahmud Ahmed, the then head of Pakistan's ISI intelligence agency, on September 4, 2001, shortly before the September 11, 2001 attacks. An article published on September 10th states: "... the most important meeting was with Mark Grossman (sic), US Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs. US sources would not furnish any details beyond saying that the two discussed 'matters of mutual interests.'" [1]

Ahmed was later dismissed from his post after it was discovered he had sent Mohamed Atta $100,000 before the 9/11 attacks. The US government has not attempted to prosecute Ahmed, [2] and the 9/11 Commission stated that the question of who financed the terrorist attacks was "of little practical significance". Grossman later facilitated the release and deportation of several suspects. [3]

In 2007, Grossman was one of fifteen US administration officials who were subpoenaed in a case which dealt with giving sensitive information to Israel, in association with the pro-Israel lobbying group AIPAC.[4]. One of the fifteen was Richard Holbrooke, whose position he replaced as Special Envoy to Afghanistan.

Grossman was named by Sibel Edmonds as being involved in illegal activity in connection to links with the Turkish and Israeli governments. She also revealed that he was under investigation by the FBI. According to Edmonds:"(Grossman) became personally involved with operatives both from the Turkish government and from suspected criminal groups. He also had suspicious contact with a number of official and non-official Israelis. Grossman was removed from Turkey short of tour during a scandal referred to as 'Susurluk' by the media. It involved a number of high-level criminals as well as senior army and intelligence officers with whom he had been in contact ... Grossman assisted his Turkish and Israeli contacts directly, and he also facilitated access to members of Congress who might be inclined to help for reasons of their own or could be bribed into cooperation. The top person obtaining classified information was Congressman Tom Lantos. A Lantos associate, Alan Makovsky worked very closely with Dr. Sabri Sayari in Georgetown University, who is widely believed to be a Turkish spy. Lantos would give Makovsky highly classified policy-related documents obtained during defense briefings for passage to Israel because Makovsky was also working for AIPAC." [5]

Sibel Edmonds' claim that Grossman was under investigation by the FBI was corroborated by John M. Cole, a former FBI manager. [6]

A further claim from Edmonds is that, "Grossman arranged for Turkish and Israeli Ph.D. students to acquire security clearances to Los Alamos and other nuclear facilities; and that nuclear secrets they acquired were transmitted to Pakistan and to Abdul Qadeer Khan, the 'father of the Islamic bomb,' who in turn was selling nuclear technology to Libya and other nations."

According to journalist Gary Leupp, Grossman "seems less an ideologue driven to make the world safer for Israel than a corrupt, amoral, self-aggrandizing opportunist".

Sorry for the long post, but it's not my fault the guy's been involved in so many controversies.

[MayBee]

One hopes DSK has not heard about the lawyer's denial.

[cathyf]

Although I don’t agree with every point Stein made, I’m bothered that the “evidence” the media found most damning was that he was staying in a $3000/night suite and he was attempting to fly first class.

I think that this is not irrelevant. The most logical response to this sort of story is to doubt that it's true because no rational man would think that he could simply get away with such a brutal attack on a total stranger. The response to that objection is that a man who: 1) is used to paying $800 for a $3000 suite; 2) flys air france first class for the coach rate; and 3) is French; might indeed be under the illusion that he could get away with such a thing in NYC.

[centralcal]

From Jake Tapper a tweet with one word, "Wow" and this link.

Made in the USA

Okey, dokey.

[MayBee]

Ext- isn't it crazy? I firmly believe the whole Grossman/Plame/Wilson thing was done on behalf of Hillary.

[MayBee]

CCAL= OMG!

[Rick Ballard]

Narciso,

Perhaps the President got too wrapped up in directing the OBL snuff film to follow through with Daffy? If OBL had hit his mark properly, rather than having the "blow out his brains" order result in his brains actually being blown out on splatter-cam that can't be shown to the public, we would have a nice round hole in the forehead shot with the President tastefully thumping his chest in the background while ecstatic Libyans sing hosannas to him for his delivery of efficacious kinetic humanitarian aid...

He really isn't very smart, is he?

[henry]

ccal, I bet the shirts are made in China.

[Danube of Thought]

Grossman used to show up pretty regularly on FNC.

[narciso]

No, that's why I chuckled at Rothkopf's piece,
so the promotion of Seyf Al Adel, would suggest the Al Watan story was at least partly right,

[Porchlight]

That Obama shirt is so stupid. As if being born in the US is such a special thing for a POTUS. Talk about lowering the bar - is this seriously what they think recommends him? Only the faithful will do anything other than snicker.

[Threadkiller]

Finally, something with the Obama name, that was made in the USA.

[Danube of Thought]

That son of a bitch Gingrich should do two things: publicly, forcefully and humbly apologize for and repudiated his remarks, and withdraw immediately from the campaign.

[Danube of Thought]

*repudiate*

[Threadkiller]

I wonder if the shirt certificate comes in a long sleeve?

[Threadkiller]

It appears the long sleeve version has seven layers of fabrication.

[Porchlight]

Not sure we'll get the apology, but he'll be done as a candidate soon enough, DoT.

It's a shame because I like a lot of things about Newt. He's just a crummy candidate, and worse, not trustworthy.

Dems can pass the popcorn all they want - like Trump, Gingrich never had a shot. All this does is thin the field and make it easier for the stronger candidates, which can't be good for Obama in the long run.

[centralcal]

Did you all know that last year on Obama's birthday Kenya voted on changes to it's Constitution? Supposedly the Obama administration USA provided $23 million to aid in this? I heard these snippets on local talk radio as I drove home from work last night.

[Cecil Turner]

I don't agree with everything Stein said either (in particular, points 1-3 are weak, and taint the rest), but the points about "innocent until proven guilty" (which in this case means currently innocent) and the dubious requirement to keep him locked up in Rikers seem pretty self-evident. I also find the class-conscious gloating evident in many of the pieces wherin he is assumed guilty (along with the assumption of guilt) to be at least as objectionable.

[narciso]

I think this is kind of excessive, unless the kind of trash like Dunn and McGuiness's gets
through, and one can always find a copy of Hatfield's screed or the Bellesiles fraud in a local library:

http://www.esquire.com/blogs/politics/jerome-corsi-birther-book-5765410

[Threadkiller]

Narciso, they should have stuck to my version of events.

[maryrose]

The main result of Trump's and Huck's pseudo runs was that obama had to release a birth cert. earlier than he wanted to and then had to get bin laden out of the way or risk losing him ala Clinton. These 2 were excuse the pun "trump cards" for his re-election and now that his bump is gone he is reduced to begging for money and pissing off the Boston Herald.

[centralcal]

Interesting, narciso. The talk radio snippet I posted above was from a show that airs every week night and they were also touting an interview with Jerome Corsi for this Thursday airing. Wonder if that is cancelled?

[MayBee]

Daily Caller says the Esquire article is a "parody" and not true.

[Threadkiller]

WND calls BS on BC book pulling story.

[Ignatz]

--The most logical response to this sort of story is to doubt that it's true because no rational man would think that he could simply get away with such a brutal attack on a total stranger.--

That's the intitial response I've had to literally thousands of stories over the years, the stars of which are usually correctly convicted.
The only conclusion I can draw is that there is a seemingly endless supply of irrational people in the world and so logic seldom applies and probably hinders rather than helps understanding these stories.

[jimmyk]

Did anyone see the clip of the guy in Iowa shaking Newt's hand while telling him off? It was either on Greta or BOR. Yikes, I'm guessing that would make even Cap'n Hate a bit squeamish. It looked like Newt was trying to escape the guy's grip but he kept holding on and continued his tirade. Not sure if there's video.

[MayBee]

The only conclusion I can draw is that there is a seemingly endless supply of irrational people in the world and so logic seldom applies and probably hinders rather than helps understanding these stories.

Bingo. Bravo.

[Danube of Thought]

the dubious requirement to keep him locked up in Rikers

I can understand why they consider him a flight risk, and if he gets to France he's home free. I should think the French could get him out if they would promise to return him to the US for trial. I suppose Sarkozy is in no hurry to help him out.

[Ignatz]

--Made in the USA--

Doesn't "made" have a slightly different connotation in Chicago?

[Danube of Thought]

I think the tipoff was the bit about NASA and the Great “Moon Landing” Cover-Up.

[jimmyk]

Newt getting skewered is about 1:20 into the LUN.

[MayBee]

If it's true that AirFrance will let him on any flight, then he is indeed a flight risk. He doesn't need his passport to leave the country, only to get into France. And at that point, who knows?

[Jane (sit on the couch or save your country)]

CCAl,

Maybe it is push back on Corsi's book.

[narciso]

I should have suspected that from Esquire, who were not chastised the last time they made something up. in a significant way.

[Captain Hate]

I think I've shown my extreme distaste before for the Iowa-goes-first provincial freak show that's a construct of the party grandees not having the common sense to tell a bunch of hayseeds with an outsized sense of electoral entitlement to use the part of their state constitution that mandates they go first as a suppository. If Newt wanted to do something useful instead of engaging in a quixotic whoring quest, he could address that.

[Jane (sit on the couch or save your country)]

Clarice,

Is your post on Corsi's book satire or what?

[clarice]

Whew! Thanks guys. I stepped away for a few minutes and missed the Daily Caller thing. I really see nothing funny about what Esquire did and I hope WND makes them eat it.

[Jane (sit on the couch or save your country)]

This is the best video ever!

[(Another) Barbara]

I respect your insights about Ben Stein's warm heart and his love for his country and its military, Clarice. You may know him personally and I certainly do not. It's difficult though, to square his concern for America's future, his avidly conservative views, with his campaign donation -- the largest permissible -- to Al Franken. To me, that's like a husband who's hired a hooker proclaiming to her his love for his wife.

[Captain Hate]

Esquire has recently squandered a formerly good reputation with partisan garbage like this. Good riddance to them.

[Jack is Back!]

Jane,

Can you imagine how much it cost to produce that video? Very professionally done - movie theater quality. Only thing missing was 3D:)

As far as DSK goes, give him $10 million bail, ankle bracelet and confiscate his passport. Put his photo in every major US airport with international flights. Or send him to Guinea.

[narciso]

This is their excuse,

UPDATE, 12:25 p.m., for those who didn’t figure it out yet, and the many on Twitter for whom it took a while: We committed satire this morning to point out the problems with selling and marketing a book that has had its core premise and reason to exist gutted by the news cycle, several weeks in advance of publication. Are its author and publisher chastened? Well, no. They double down, and accuse the President of the United States of perpetrating a fraud on the world by having released a forged birth certificate. Not because this claim is in any way based on reality, but to hold their terribly gullible audience captive to their lies, and to sell books. This is despicable, and deserves only ridicule. That’s why we committed satire in the matter of the Corsi book. Hell, even the president has a sense of humor about it all. Some more serious reporting from us on this whole “birther” phenomenon here, here, and here.

[Extraneus]

To me, that's like a husband who's hired a hooker proclaiming to her his love for his wife.

Surely this happens all the time.

[Dave (in MA)]

Corsi was on Boston talk radio this morning talking about his opinion that the BC was phoney.

[centralcal]

Admittedly, I am at work and missing some thread comments, but I am not seeing a post from Clarice about Ben Stein that AB and Jane are referencing? Whereabouts is it?

So, the Esquire bit is just hooey, phooey! Guess Corsi will be a local talk radio guest this week after all!

[MayBee]

I was just going to ask what ppl were referring to w/r/t clarice too, ccal.

[narciso]

It was on the Tatler, hey Althouse fell for it, although Danube pointed out a fairly obvious flag

[(Another) Barbara]

Surely, Ext. But it may cause doubt about the husband's devotion, as I have doubts about Stein's.

I wrote Stein a letter when I heard about his donation to Franken, asking him if that rumor was true. He responded in the affirmative, saying Franken was his friend of many years and he was called upon to help the candidate in any way he could.

"Give him a kidney, then," I suggested, "or a vacation in Hawaii, but don't aid in electing an enemy to all you say you hold dear."

I canceled my subscription to Amer Spectator immediately. No longer wanted to support Stein's views. Franken! Feh!

[centralcal]

Oh, thanks MayBee - I am NOT losing my mind after all!

Great video, Jane!

[Extraneus]

Rush talking about what happens if Rick Perry gets in.

[(Another) Barbara]

Clarice's comment was on the last thread, I believe, cc. I'm a slow thinker.

[pagar]

Jane, I put that Youtube post on the other thread because I thought it went so well with the title TM put up, and countered the bad stuff DSK and Arnold have put out there. It is truly a great idea. Someone is going to have to go quite a ways to top that one.

[(Another) Barbara]

Apologies for again linking the Mamet article. David and I are married now. He's a fine man.

[Jane (sit on the couch or save your country)]

That video made me cry.

And nothing makes me cry.

Clarice's comment, now updated was on the Tatler. Now wanna place bets that Esquire was told by the administration to do it.

Anything to cut off the legs.

[Jane (sit on the couch or save your country)]

Good idea Pagar!

[Old Lurker]

Jane, I sent the video to YL and told her my SIL is a slacker.

Then I sent it to YL's sister and told her I expected something great from her young man soon.

[Jim Rhoads a/k/a vnjagvet]

Those metro Atlanta guys sure are creative and romantic.

[Ignatz]

--He responded in the affirmative, saying Franken was his friend of many years and he was called upon to help the candidate in any way he could.--

If Ben would stick to writing about the military and whining about his asthma and bad hotel service he'd be a lot more entertaining.
But he is a very loyal person; frequently remarks on how great Nixon was.
Whether his loyalty progresses to a moral blind spot is for the individual to decide, I guess.

[Jack is Back!]

Why do the liberal press and media believe that by doing satire or parody they will nip the controversy in the bud? All this has done is given everyone a head's up that the book is still available and is paining some people because of that. There is enough of Lucy Ramirez in this whole episode to make Mr. Corsi a very successful author and rich man. This is not going away thanks to idiots at Esquire and the guy who writes Barry's jokes.

[clarice]

What a fab video !!!!!

I don't know him AB and I disagre with him sometimes, but I do think he is something rare in Hollywood--a decent man.

[Janet]

Some more serious reporting from us on this whole “birther” phenomenon here, here, and here.

The "here, here, and here" are pretty much mocking name-calling pieces....not serious at all. I bet ol' Mark Warren who wrote the Esquire piece knows very little about Obama's life. He was probably whining that Obama had ALREADY released his BC...but Trump proved that wasn't true.
None of these "reporters" even wonder why Obama waited so long?
Cashill's article today - "Most problematic is the content of the dramatically released birth certificate. Corsi does an excellent job documenting the many efforts made to keep that certificate from public view, efforts that put huge demands on Hawaii officialdom, engaged federal courts in needless ways, and, most inexcusably, sent Lt. Col. Terry Lakin to prison. If the birth certificate is, in fact, as innocuous as it appears, a real reporter has to ask why all the efforts to conceal it."

[jimmyk]

So the tax cheat who heads up the Treasury says that Strauss-Kahn is "not in a position to lead" the IMF. Glass houses anyone?
LUN

[NA]

--Made in the USA--

You know, no one has ever doubted that he was made in the USA........but being born here is another story. It has always been accepted that Stanley Ann and Barak Sr made Jr while he was here in this country.

[clarice]

Well, JimmyK, I don't see DSK getting out on bail and I don't see the IMF being run out of Rikers though perhaps that's where it belongs.

[Janet]

I can't stand Tapper -
"The birther lie thrived despite the certificate of live-birth candidate Obama posted on his website in 2008,..."

What was/is the "birther lie"? He was born in Kenya, Washington, Hawaii but not in a hospital?
and Obama released a certification of live birth. It was as though the MFM used incorrect terms just to mix the story up & make it more complicated on purpose.

The line should read...The birther lie thrived because we so-called news reporters refused to do our jobs & verify any information coming out of this administration.

[jimmyk]

Clarice, running a business from prison is old hat to these mob types. I just wish that Timmy had the opportunity to try it too.

[Ignatz]

--most inexcusably, sent Lt. Col. Terry Lakin to prison--

Never really thought about that before.
Presumably Barry had no legal requirement to release the thing but you would think the most transparent guy ever would, rather than cost the taxpayers [or whoever paid for it] millions defending these suits would feel some moral compunction to not send a guy to prison when all he had to do was release the thing rather than defend his right not show it.
And of course he could have released it at anytime while continuing to defend his right not to show it.

[centralcal]

I agree with you about Tapper, Janet. Every now and then he asks a semi-professional question of the WH press guy (Carney or Gibbs) - and then gets heaps of praise for it. I learn more about him when he gets all snippy and has his knickers in knots on Twitter. You can easily see what upsets his apple cart if you follow him long enough.

[Captain Hate]

I dunno, Iggy; he has a bit of skepticism about how sealed court records can stay intact.

[Jane (sit on the couch or save your country)]

The most corrupt administration ever!

New documents suggest Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan involved with crafting legal defense of Obamacare

In an email on March 21, 2010, Katyal urged Kagan to attend a health-care litigation meeting on defending the law. “I think you should go, no?” wrote Katyal. “I will, regardless, but feel like this is litigation of singular importance.”

The documents also show that once Kagan was nominated to the Supreme Court, she and Katyal immediately switched course to distance her from discussions about the legislation.

On May 17, 2010, for example, Tracy Schmaler, a Department of Justice spokesperson wrote to Katyal, “Has Elena been involved in any of that to the extent SG office was consulted … ?”

“No, she has never been involved in any of it. I’ve run it for the office, and have never discussed the issues with her one bit,” was Katyal’s response. He then forwarded the correspondence to Kagan, saying “This is what I told Tracy about Health Care.”

Kagan’s response: “This needs to be coordinated. Tracy you should not say anything about this before talking to me.”

Other email chains between Kagan, White House lawyers and Vice President Joe Biden’s then-Chief of Staff Ronald Klain show a coordinated effort on how to respond to questions about the health-care law that may have arisen in the confirmation hearings.

[bgates]

even the president has a sense of humor about it all

Yes, when it comes to classless mockery of political opponents, our Barry can read material the Daily Show staff prepared for him like nobody's business.

Or as he might say, "like every aspect of my life".

[Frau Lehrerin a.D.]

Sorry to post this again, but it's for rse and others who watch (horrified) the state of education and especially teacher education:

rse - another leftist report from my little college town. Stanford professor Linda Darling-Hammond--Billy the Bomber's best "social justice and educational debt owed minorities" friend--was in town speaking at the graduate school. The forum was titled "The Urgency of Transforming Education for an Equitable, Diverse Society" and included discussions on racial inequity, student achievement and teacher education. She recommends more money for education, reducing the defense budget and increasing taxes on the evil 1% that "now controls 25% of the wealth of the country." Complete article is at LUN and the forum can be viewed at an address listed at the end of the article.
I've been following Ms. Darling-Hammond since Steve Diamond brought her to my attention. Her influence in CA alone is large.

From a quick check:
CA is 10th in the country in per capita spending.
CA is 24th in the country (not 47th as reported) for per pupil funding.
The USA is 3rd in the world for spending on education behind Switzerland and Norway (based on the higher value of the Euro?).
The average CA teacher earns $64,424.

Spending is fine; the achievement in our schools is not.

[Janet]

Kagan probably went into law after being turned down by Starbucks for a barista job. :(

[Frau Lehrerin a.D.]

lol Keep it up, Janet. As a munchkin (156cm), I love all the attention you are giving those of us who gave up some height so that others had more.

[clarice]

It's a good post, frau.

Jane, refresh my recollection from Jan to March of 2010 what was the status of the Obamacare legislation?

[jimmyk]

Jane, I hope they can find more of a smoking gun about Kagan's involvement than is in that article. What's there looks a bit circumstantial.

[Janet]

I believe munchkins are known for their generosity, Frau. Dwarfs...not so much, ummm errr...very little,umm...not very generous.

[Jane (sit on the couch or save your country)]

I believe Kagan stated under oath that she had nothing to do with Obamacare.

Clarice, I am more able to tell you what I was doing in January of 1967 than 2010. Getting old sucks.

[Old Lurker]

"The average CA teacher earns $64,424."

Which if for a 180 day year (private schools = 150 days), grosses up to $93,000, or to $100,000 if the number of school days is fewer than 180. And that is before counting the perks and promises of future benefits and employment.

And that is the AVERAGE so imagine how the distribution looks overall.

[Old Lurker]

By grossing up, I meant to a year round job where you have to work five days a week even in the summer.

[jimmyk]

The quoted e-mails only seem to indicate that others wanted her to be involved, but they don't directly show her involvement. I'm sure where there's smoke there's fire, and they'll find it.

[Rick Ballard]

Jimmy,

I'm left wondering about the actual intelligence of DSK. I know he's very well credentialed but falling for the cops ploy of laying out a false time line was just plain stupid. Anyone minimally aware of the DNA problem suffered by President Blue Dress should be quick enough to understand that splattering DNA all over a hotel suite was going to foreclose the "It couldn't have been me, I was at lunch" ploy in short order.

He deserves the benefit of the doubt to the same extent that any SOD (Some Other Dude) pleader does in the face of eye witness testimony corroborated by physical evidence. His initial panicked grab for a time line error does not, IMO, belong among any list of explanations which might be classified as exculpatory.

[clarice]

Jane, what I meant is what others have noted--it doesn't seem to prove any substantial involvement..I believe the first email is dated after the Senate "passage" which one would suspect the SG would be invited to a discussion of litigation strategies. The timing does not suggest she was involved in the crafting of this POS

[Melinda Romanoff]

OL-

Your SiL has friends on the intertubes, warnings ensue.

FYI.

[jimmyk]

Rick, falling for the "Where are you, I'll bring your cell phone to you" ploy was even stupider, since otherwise he'd be out of the country.

As with Clinton, I don't see how any innate intelligence can compete with raging hormones to the kind of deliberation, observation, and knowledge accumulation that are the requirements of wisdom. I'd guess these types are all instinct, coupled with a heavy reliance on lackeys.