JustOneMinute

Sue The SEAL

Here is the latest brainwave from the Administration:

The Defense Department is threatening to go after an ex-SEAL author and his publisher over a new book that challenges the administration’s official account of last year’s raid that killed Osama bin Laden.

The Pentagon late Thursday released a letter from its top lawyer, Jeh Johnson, to publishing giant Penguin and “Mark Owen,” the pseudonym of an ex-SEAL special operator who has been identified as Matt Bissonnette. In the letter, Johnson said Bissonnette had breached non-disclosure agreements he signed while on active duty in 2007.

Uh huh. Because in a scuffle between lawyers and SEALs the public will naturally side with the lawyers and their right to concreal the truth.

As We Conclude Our Convention Coverage...

We can only conclude our convention coverage with a with a quick trip down memory lane to the Best Finish Evah! Let's go back to 2004 with John Kerry:

DNC CONVENTION DIRECTOR DON MISCHER AIRED ON CNN AS KERRY ENDS SPEECH, HEARD WORLDWIDE:

'Go balloons, go balloons! Go balloons! I don't see anything happening. Go balloons! Go balloons! Go balloons! Standby confetti. Keep coming, balloons. More balloons. Bring it- balloons, balloons, balloons! We want balloons, tons of them. Bring them down. Let them all come. No confetti. No confetti yet.

'No confetti. All right, go balloons, go balloons. We need more balloons. All balloons! All balloons! Keep going! Come on, guys, lets move it. Jesus! We need more balloons. I want all balloons to go, goddammit. Go confetti. Go confetti. More confetti. I want more balloons. What's happening to the balloons? We need more balloons.

'We need all of them coming down. Go balloons- balloons? What's happening balloons? There's not enough coming down! All balloons, what the hell! There's nothing falling! What the fuck are you guys doing up there? We want more balloons coming down, more balloons. More balloons. More balloons'...

From the video, this looks and sounds like a foreshadowing of the Obama stimulus.

I have not studied the 2012 videotape but I am advised that Team Romney managed a balloon drop.

The 'To Be Anounced' Speaker Is The Man With No Name

Reports indicate that Clint Eastwood is in Tampa to be the mystery speaker at the Republican convention. OK, that makes my day, but I am not exactly the undecided voter that Team Romney needs to win over.

I am not sure how Clint's Q score has held up or which demographic groups respond to him, but I will offer two guesses:

1) he doesn't rock the youth vote;

2) he provides useful covering fire for media/Hollywood types to come out for Romney, or at least, pipe down about Barack. Redirecting a bit of that Hollywood money and hype should be useful.

Checking The Fact Checkers

Truth, put your boots on! The WaPo "fact-checkers", led by Ezra Klein, Dylan Matthews and Glenn Kesler, with Usain Bolt handling the anchor leg, are racing to create a fog bank around Paul Ryan's speech. [MORE: James Downie of the WaPo joins in.]

Let's cut to Dylan Mathews, posting at Ezra Klein's blog:

FALSE

A GM plant in Ryan’s district shut down on Obama’s watch – From Ryan’s speech:

My home state voted for President Obama. When he talked about change, many people liked the sound of it, especially in Janesville, where we were about to lose a major factory.

A lot of guys I went to high school with worked at that GM plant. Right there at that plant, candidate Obama said: “I believe that if our government is there to support you … this plant will be here for another hundred years.”  That’s what he said in 2008.

Well, as it turned out, that plant didn’t last another year.  It is locked up and empty to this day.

The plant shut down in June 2008, when George W. Bush is president. Ryan says it had not yet shut down Obama was elected, that Janesville was “about to” lose the factory at the time of the election. This is false, as Ryan knew in 2008 when he issued a statement bemoaning the plant’s closing.

Before we address the errors and omission in Matthews' analysis, let's note some trouble in Paradise - Glenn Kessler rates this as merely "misleading", and counters with different information:

In his acceptance speech, GOP Vice presidential nominee Paul Ryan appeared to suggest that President Obama was responsible for the closing of a GM plant in Ryan’s hometown of Janesville, Wisc.

That’s not true. The plant was closed in December, 2008, before Obama was sworn in. But look how Ryan came close to the line in his speech:

“Right there at that plant, candidate Obama said: ‘I believe that if our government is there to support you … this plant will be here for another hundred years.’ That’s what he said in 2008. Well, as it turned out, that plant didn’t last another year. It is locked up and empty to this day.”

Obama gave his speech in February, 2008, and he did say those words. But Ryan’s phrasing, referring to the fact the plant did not last another year, certainly suggests it closed in 2009, when Obama was president.

Getting closer! Here in Realityville, the plant closing was announced in June 2008; the last SUVs rolled off the line in December 2008, while Bush was a lame duck, and the plant was finally idled (to stand-by status) in 2009:

Green was one of 1,200 employees let go when GM ended SUV production at the southern Wisconsin plant.

...

About 50 workers will remain at the Janesville plant to complete an order of small- to medium-duty trucks for Isuzu Motors Ltd. They’re scheduled to finish by May or June, and then the plant will close down for good, GM spokesman Christopher Lee said.

Lest you wonder, GM does not close a plant by way of aerial bombardment. The plant is mothballed and wishful thinkers contined to hope (as of Sept 2011, anyway) that GM would re-open it.

So, what did Ryan actually say? He claimed, and Kessler confirms [or see Captain Ed for more], that Obama promised in Feb 2008 that a sympathetic government could save the plant. As of this writing, that promise has not been kept, even though the Obama-led goverment became the majority owner of GM after Obama's ascension in January 2009.

Presumably the economics did not work out, and the recovery has surely been weaker than expected (which was Ryan's point.) Still, nothing Ryan said is false - Obama promised to save a plant that had been in trouble for years, had the power to do so after his election, yet didn't.

Dylan Matthews didn't even mange to get the timeline right. Glenn Kessler almost nailed the timing (the bulk of the jobs were gone by Dec 2008) but doesn't seem to grasp that closed plants can be re-opened. That is some fine job being done among the self-styled "reality-based" community.

MORE: James Downie of the WaPo checks in:

Yesterday, at an ABC News panel, Mitt Romney pollster Neil Newhouse said, “We’re not going to let our campaign be dictated by fact-checkers.” Wednesday’s speech from Paul Ryan certainly took that disdain for truth to heart, as his address was filled with falsehoods from start to finish.

Let’s start with the chronologically impossible. Ryan spoke about the GM plant in his hometown of Janesville:

...

Set aside the fact that Paul Ryan, in a fit of anti-Randianism, asked for government funds to save the plant. Set aside that he voted for the big-government auto bailout. Ryan also conveniently forgot to mention that GM announced the closure of the plant in early June 2008. In fact, Ryan and then-Wisconsin Sens. Russ Feingold (D) and Herb Kohl (D) sent a letter that month to GM CEO Rick Wagoner asking him to reconsider. This was not just before Barack Obama was inaugurated or even elected; it was the same day he won his own party’s nomination. There was no way Obama could have saved that auto plant without also discovering time travel.

Well, there is no way James Downie can do fact-checking until he discovers Google; the plant was not finally and fully closed until 2009 and could have been re-opened at least until September 2011.

STILL MORE: Jon Cohn of TNR leads with the Janesville plant as one of Ryan's five "misrepresentations" in "the most dishonest convention speech ever" (with a question mark.) Obviously Ryan struck some nerves.

BRING BACK THE JOURNOLIST: I deplore this lack of coordination among the partisan "fact-checkers" of the left. Let's go back to Dylan Matthews:

Wonkblog went about sorting the true from the misleading and the downright false.

TRUE

Obama cut Medicare - Ryan blasted the cuts to Medicare reimbursements and Medicare advantage included in the Affordable Care Act. “They just took it all away from Medicare,” Ryan declared. “Seven hundred and sixteen billion dollars, funneled out of Medicare by President Obama.” That much is correct – the Affordable Care Act contained over $700 billion in cuts to Medicare reimbursement rates and Medicare advantage. The Obama administration insists the cuts will not hurt quality and are necessary to control costs, while the Romney-Ryan campaign disputes this, but the underlying claim is correct.

Well, sure, but then what do we make of Joan Walsh of Salon?

Paul Ryan gave a feisty anti-Obama speech that will have fact-checkers working for days. His most brazen lie accused President Obama of “raiding” Medicare by taking the exact same $716 billion that Ryan and the House GOP notoriously voted to slash. It was stunning.

I guess not everyone is stunned by the truth. Let's go to Paul Ryan's stunning bit on Medicare:

The president has declared that the debate over government-controlled health care is over.  That will come as news to the millions of Americans who will elect Mitt Romney so we can repeal Obamacare. 

And the biggest, coldest power play of all in Obamacare came at the expense of the elderly.  

You see, even with all the hidden taxes to pay for the health care takeover, even with new taxes on nearly a million small businesses, the planners in Washington still didn’t have enough money.  They needed more.  They needed hundreds of billions more.  So, they just took it all away from Medicare.  Seven hundred and sixteen billion dollars, funneled out of Medicare by President Obama.  An obligation we have to our parents and grandparents is being sacrificed, all to pay for a new entitlement we didn’t even ask for.  The greatest threat to Medicare is Obamacare, and we’re going to stop it.  

In Congress, when they take out the heavy books and wall charts about Medicare, my thoughts go back to a house on Garfield Street in Janesville.  My wonderful grandma, Janet, had Alzheimer’s and moved in with Mom and me.  Though she felt lost at times, we did all the little things that made her feel loved.  

We had help from Medicare, and it was there, just like it’s there for my Mom today.  Medicare is a promise, and we will honor it.  A Romney-Ryan administration will protect and strengthen Medicare, for my Mom’s generation, for my generation, and for my kids and yours.

So our opponents can consider themselves on notice.  In this election, on this issue, the usual posturing on the Left isn’t going to work.  Mitt Romney and I know the difference between protecting a program, and raiding it.  Ladies and gentlemen, our nation needs this debate.  We want this debate.  We will win this debate.

I think that taking money out of Medicare to reduce the projected growth in our national debt is different from taking money out of Medicare to fund yet another entitlement intended to buy votes for the Democrats and insure Obama's legacy. That, at least, is the stunning debate Paul Ryan is prepared to engage.

Another Night At The Convention

It's another night at the convention. I have sort of been ducking this one, partly due to a back to school crush and partly because my real focus is on the Dem activity next week. Unless the Dems shock us by nominating someone other than Barack, I don't need any speeches to guide my vote this November.

Well, I say that. If Mitt takes the stage tomorrow and starts speaking in tongues, I may reconsider voting for him. 

No I won't. OK, how about if he takes the stage, speaks in tongues and takes hostages?  Hmmm...

Calorie Restriction Flops In Life Extension For Monkeys

You can't trust that lean and hungry look:

Severe Diet Doesn’t Prolong Life, at Least in Monkeys

By GINA KOLATA

For 25 years, the rhesus monkeys were kept semi-starved, lean and hungry. The males’ weights were so low they were the equivalent of a 6-foot-tall man who tipped the scales at just 120 to 133 pounds. The hope was that if the monkeys lived longer, healthier lives by eating a lot less, then maybe people, their evolutionary cousins, would too. Some scientists, anticipating such benefits, began severely restricting their own diets.

The results of this major, long-awaited study, which began in 1987, are finally in. But it did not bring the vindication calorie restriction enthusiasts had anticipated. It turns out the skinny monkeys did not live any longer than those kept at more normal weights. Some lab test results improved, but only in monkeys that were put on the diet when they were old. The causes of death — cancer, heart disease — were the same in both the underfed and the normally fed monkeys.

Oh, boy - where do the people who were betting on this dietary plan go to get the last fifteen years back? The Times described one such intrepid eater back in 2003:

Six years ago, Mr. Sherman put himself on the most brutal calorie-reduction plan imaginable. Not that he was especially overweight at 5-foot-5 and 145 pounds. But by switching from pizza and chips to flaxseed, brewer's yeast and sprouts, he whittled his daily caloric intake to less than 1,600, and dropped his weight precipitously, dumbfounding his friends and family.

''Here was a one-time competitive power-lifter who looked to me like a concentration camp refugee,'' said his wife, Kathy, who almost divorced him because of it. In those first two years, Mr. Sherman's libido disappeared, he was cranky, cold and flatulent all the time, and people suspected he had cancer or AIDS. ''Michael's skin hung off his body like you see on old men,'' she said.

Paradoxically, old age was exactly what Mr. Sherman was shooting for. After reading that drastic calorie restriction slows the aging process in laboratory animals, he vowed to starve himself to stretch out his golden years into the 22nd century. If mice, geese and guppies could extend their life span 40 to 50 percent by eating 40 percent less than they wanted, why couldn't he?

''I'm definitely not one of these guys who says, 'Ooo, 18 more years and I can retire,' '' said Mr. Sherman, 46, who runs a biotech company in California near his Silicon Valley home. Now that he's acclimated to the diet and is somewhat bulked up from weight lifting, he looks more like a cyclist than a ''Survivor'' finalist. ''I feel very much like I did at 20,'' he said. ''Nothing but blue sky ahead of me.''

Well, he won't get any more blue sky than the rest of us, if we can believe this monkey business.

I'll say it again - with a diet like that, you may (or may not!) live to 120, but it will seem a lot longer.

A New Judge For George Zimmerman

Mark O'Mara of the Zimmerman defense team plays hardball and wins:

A Florida appeals court has granted George Zimmerman's request for a new judge to oversee his trial for second-degree murder in the Feb. 26 shooting death of Trayvon Martin, the Orlando Sentinel is reporting.

A three-judge panel of the 5th District Court of Appeal found that Circuit Judge Kenneth Lester Jr. cast doubt on his impartiality when he wrote in his July 5 order setting $1 million bail that Zimmerman showed "blatant disregard for the judicial system" and that he was "manipulating the system for his own benefit."

...

The court directs Lester to disqualify himself and ask the chief circuit judge to appoint a successor.

The order is at the Zimmerman website.

New CAFE Standards

The Obama Dream Team announced the latest poll-tested results of their Energy Independence Seance:

The Obama administration announced strict new vehicle fuel-efficiency standards Tuesday, requiring that the U.S. auto fleet average 54.5 miles per gallon by 2025, an uncontroversial move that, unlike other administration energy policies, was endorsed by industry and environmentalists alike.

The new rules, announced by Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood and Environmental Protection Agency administrator Lisa P. Jackson, expand on existing standards requiring American-made cars and light trucks to average 34.5 mpg by 2016. They will significantly cut U.S. oil consumption and greenhouse gas emissions by the time they are fully implemented, according to the EPA.

“These fuel standards represent the single most important step we’ve ever taken to reduce our dependence on foreign oil,” President Obama said in a statement.

In other news, the Administration announced a bold step to lift millions of American kids out of poverty - henceforth, all children of families earning less than $20,000 per year will receive $100 per tooth from the Tooth Fairy.

"This will give America's poorest children a chance to grab the first rung of the ladder to the American Dream" said an Administrative source, speaking off the record because he also raises money for his alma mater and has an economics degree. "And we are focusing on dreams here, because frankly, reality has become so darn uncooperative".

It's all good and getting better.

Restoring American Greatness

Every time I hear a politician (last night it was Chris 'Cojones' Christie, the First Jersey Boy) talk about restoring America's greatness, it is my teeth that grate. America has never stopped being great; it is the leaders that got small.

Bah. It was sunset for America in 1980 when Jimmy Peanut boldly led the boycott of the Moscow Olympic Games in response to Soviet meddling in Poland and Afghanistan. Yet the sun rose again shortly thereafter. As it will this November. Because it never set! The sun is setting on this metaphor, not this country.

I'm Gonna Wait 'Til The Ten O'Clock Hour...

Ann Romney and Chris Christie should be rocking the convention between 10 and 11 Eastern time.

The Yankees have won, so maybe I ought to flip the dial.

I Love A Mystery

The WSJ builds some suspense around the Republican convention:

TAMPA, Fla. – Republican convention planners appear to have a surprise planned for those tuning in Thursday night.

Buried deep in the convention schedule released Monday is a vague reference to a mystery speaker scheduled for the event’s final evening. “To Be Announced” has a prime speaking slot late in the Thursday program.

...

The only other speakers to follow “To Be Announced” will be Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida and Mr. Romney himself, suggesting that the unnamed guest may appear during the 10 p.m. hour when the networks all will be broadcasting the convention.

Convention planners have spread the announcement of the speakers for this week’s gathering across a few weeks, slowly revealing the names of those who landed coveted slots. But until Monday, it appeared that all the blanks had been filled in, as most high-profile Republicans already had speaking roles or had explained their absence from the convention.

The line-up features a long list of governors and senators, including New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and Sen. Rob Portman of Ohio. Former presidential candidates Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich are on the agenda, as are former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. Former Vice President Dick Cheney and former President George W. Bush have said they won’t be attending, but a video from Mr. Bush is on Wednesday’s program.

So who’s left? Stay tuned.

They follow with a poll and a give the readers a chance to vote. The offered choices are Zell Miller, Ted Nugent, Sarah Palin, David Petraeus, Nancy Reagan and Chesley Sullenberger (aka "Sully").

Nancy Reagan is 91; Zell Miller is yesterday's news; Ted Nugent is not a Republican rock star the way Sarah Palin is. Gen. Petraeus, on the other hand, could be. Hmm...

Bring It On!

Isaac spares Tampa, so now the Republican conventioneers won't spare us.

ERRATA: Do keep in mind the media storm posture - if Isaac smites New Orleans, all blame goes to Rep. Governor Bobby Jindal. But if the New New Orleans is ready for a storm, all credit to Obama.

We Need To Pass The Bill To See What's In It

The Times opines on the latest hidden surprise in the Not So Affordable Care Act:

Confusing language in the health care reform law has raised the possibility that millions of Americans living on modest incomes may be unable to afford their employers’ family policies and yet fail to qualify for government subsidies to buy their own insurance. This is a bizarre development that undercuts the basic goal of health care reform — to expand the number of insured people and make their coverage affordable.

The people left in the lurch would be those who had lower incomes but were not poor enough to qualify for Medicaid. They would either have to pay more than they could afford for an employer’s family plan or go without health insurance. The problem arises because the reform law quite properly tries to keep people from dropping affordable employment-based coverage and turning to taxpayer-subsidized coverage on new insurance exchanges, starting in 2014. Only those with coverage deemed “unaffordable” by the health care act would be allowed to receive subsidies.

As Robert Pear reported in The Times recently [link], the law considers a worker’s share of the insurance premium unaffordable when it exceeds 9.5 percent of the worker’s household income. But that calculation is based on individual coverage for the worker alone, not family coverage, which is much more expensive. That is how the wording of the law has been interpreted by the Internal Revenue Service and the Congressional Joint Committee on Taxation.

Analysts at the Kaiser Family Foundation, a nonpartisan research organization, estimated that in 2008, 3.9 million nonworking dependents were in families in which the worker could afford individual coverage (costing less than 9.5 percent of household income) but not the family plan, which cost, on average, 14 percent of household income.

Part of the problem is that employers are penalized if they fail to offer "affordable" coverage. Consequently, expanding the definition of "affordable" increases the penalties to which employers (known to Republicans as "job creators" and to Obama as "fat cats") are subject.

Fortunately, the Times has an answer!

Several analysts have suggested a solution that would allow workers’ dependents to buy subsidized coverage, without penalizing the employers. The worker would simply remain covered through the employer, while the rest of the family could get subsidies to buy separate coverage on the exchanges.

The Treasury Department ought to interpret the law to allow such a compromise. It appears to have little or no opposition. Otherwise Congress would have to amend the law. But that seems unlikely at a time when House Republicans are determined to do everything possible to disrupt the health care reform law. Doing nothing would leave vulnerable families out in the cold.

Familes fooish enough to believe Obama's promise that if they liked their health care they could keep it will be in for the old switcheroo.

As to the effect of this expansive interpretation of "affordable" on the CBO score and the budget deficit, well, the Times doesn't ask and I can't tell. But I'm sure they figure someone else is paying for it, so it's all good.

Fly Me To The Moon

Neil Armstrong, the first moonwalker, passes away at 82. Neil Young is doing fine, this NBC report notwithstanding.

So, where were you when? I was in grade schol and my father's company had moved us to The Netherlands in the summer of '69. We were still in transition, living in a hotel. What with the time zones, the first moon walk was at scheduled for roughly 3:45 AM local time. I asked the hotel front desk to give me a wake up call at that time, but...

The front desk called at 4 AM. I headed down to the lounge (what, you think every hotel room had its own television in 1969? Not in Holland!) where the television was on, a crowd was gathered, and Neil Armstrong was walking about on the moon. Groan.

SOON TO BREAK NEWS: When will NBC report that Neil Armstrong has been stripped of his Tour de France titles?

Joe Biden, Unchained And Feeling The Pressure

Was it some combination of bad polling and frequent gaffes that prompted this bit of introspection from Joe Biden?

“There’s a lot of people going to bed tonight staring at the ceiling, wondering whether they’re going to be living in that house a month from now,” he said. “There a whole hell of a lot of people who’ve made that longest walk up a short flight of stairs to their kids’ bedrooms, saying, ‘Honey, we can’t live here anymore.’

A month? I imagine Barack is set through January 2013, although Joe could be out at anytime.

Tell It To The Ear

There is a possibility that Barack Obama, know affectionately in some circles as the JEF, or Jug-Eared, uhh, Flop, is a bit sensitive about his cranial protuberances. Since Obama is laughably thin-skinned, commenter bgates has suggested the following speech for Romney:

Many of us were concerned about the idea of taking a man with no executive experience, a first-term Senator still wet behind the ears, and handing him the Presidency, especially given that anyone who went beyond the careful campaign speeches to hear how Barack Obama talked to the Left would get more than an earful of tired extremist left-wing notions that had never worked elsewhere and had always been rejected by the American people. Now those ideas have been tried here, and the result? Unemployment is up, confidence in the future is down, and we’re up to our ears in debt.”

“And what does Obama propose to do about it? What does he think went wrong? Well, listen to this — and you’re not going to believe your ears: He has said that his biggest problem in office has been not spending even more time telling us what he’s doing. After all the addresses, speeches, prime time tv appearances…Joe Biden would say he’s literally talked our ears off for the past three and a half years, and all he can think to do is talk some more? Talking would be fine, if he were proposing to do anything. Is he? In this entire campaign, has he proposed a single plan or initiative for his threatened second term? It seems like he spends all his time instead talking about me. Certainly my ears have been burning (which is less of a problem for me than it would be for some). But when it comes to the policies which would follow an Obama reelection, he’s mentioned no plan at all. Apparently he wants to just play it by ear.”

“Meanwhile, to fill the time he is not using to suggest his own plans, Obama claims we don’t have any of our own. In fact we have plenty, which we will be presenting throughout this convention. As a wise man once said, he who has ears, let him hear.”

“The relentless demonization of the opposing party which has characterized Obama’s reelection campaign is a stark contrast to the 2008 message of hope and change that candidate Obama used to deliver with an air of confidence and a grin that spread from ear to ear. The President promised at the start of his term that he would listen to both sides, and America believed him; he certainly appeared equipped for it. Very soon afterward, he switched to telling Republicans to shut up, as though his ears were too sensitive to bear even a whisper of dissent in our representative democracy. Of course, we didn’t shut up. We made our case to the American people, and in November 2010 we sent a message to Barack Obama loud and clear. Yet that message fell on deaf ears. Tens of millions of Americans delivered the biggest midterm rebuke to a sitting President in decades, and for Barack Obama that gigantic expression of dissatisfaction somehow just went in one ear and out the other. He’s taken the traditional American practice of a government representative of and responsive to its citizenry and turned it on its ear. It’s plain he will continue to govern as he has, no matter what anyone says, no matter what effect it has on our country, for as long as he is allowed to remain in office. His ideas have failed, he has no others, and he won’t listen to ours. We’ve tried two years of a united Democratic federal government and it didn’t work; we tried two years of a split government and it hasn’t worked. The only solution is for America to go to the polls on November 6, and throw Obama out on his….”

Ahh, but what would be an appropriate soundtrack? "Gonna Fly Now" comes to mind.

TO BE FAIR: Obama was equipped for the job when he embarked on his 2011 Listening Tour, but he should have left his mouth behind.

NY Times - Romney Has Been Paying Federal Taxes For Last Decade

Despite their "questions have been raised" headline about Romney's taxes, the NY Times provides an early answer to one obvious question raised by Senator and alleged pederast Harry Reid (my emphasis):

But even though he has not released his returns from earlier years, the 2010 return sheds some light on those years.

That’s because Mr. Romney paid income tax to foreign countries, and as result claimed in 2010 a $129,697 foreign tax credit, which he used to offset taxes he owed in the United States. American taxpayers who claim the foreign tax credit are required to report their total foreign taxes paid and tax credits used for the previous 10 years. So that return contains foreign tax data going back to 2000.

The good news for Mr. Romney is the forms suggest that he paid at least some federal income tax every year, as he has said he did. He used the foreign tax credit every year to offset his taxes in the United States, and American taxpayers can’t use a tax credit if they owe no federal income tax. This casts even more doubt on the claim by the Senate majority leader, Harry Reid, attributed to an unnamed Bain Capital source, that Mr. Romney paid no income taxes during that time.

Meanwhile, Harry Reid's office maintains its devastating silence on his alleged pedophilia.

Born In The USA

Boring Mitt Romney reminisces about his hometown and causes a controversy. Wow - Team Obama should not be encouraging people to watch this full clip, where Romney goes on about the nicknames for Ann and his school (Cranbrook Cranes and Kingswood Aardvarks - "Couldn't we do better than that?") and the non-partisan appeal of his parents. Geez, what an angry hater. I love Frank Fleming's suggested apology (via Glenn):

BREAKING: Romney has issued an apology. "It was wrong of me to point out how foreign and divorced from basic American values Obama is."

While we are busy finding topics for Team Obama and the media to steer away from, let's make sure they bury this story about Bain Capital and a senior partner's lost fourteen year old girl. Who knew that in addition to being a ruthless corporate bucanneer Mitt Romney was a caring community organizer? At least, he helped organize the hell out of this search for a missing teen; here is Politifact today, and contemporaneous NY Times coverage:

July 12, 1996

Volunteers Search for Missing Girl, 14, in Party Underworld

By CHARISSE JONES

They were surreal scenes: the lawyers at Lollapalooza, the bankers talking to bouncers, the middle-aged accountant interviewing a child with green spiked hair. They came in their jackets and ties bearing fliers and an urgent question: Has anybody seen a girl named Missy?

Melissa Gay, 14, left her parents' home in Ridgefield, Conn., on Saturday, took a train to New York and apparently disappeared into the underground world of rave parties, in which teen-agers follow hazy clues to abandoned warehouses and dance till dawn.

As the days went by and her parents, Robert and Lynette Gay, grew more and more frantic, they finally told Mr. Gay's partners at the private equity-investment firm Bain Capital. A few hours later, executives of the Boston-based firm were on the shuttle to New York for a huge volunteer effort, harnessing corporate manpower throughout the city and immersing professional baby boomers in a youth party culture many knew nothing about.

"These are investment bankers, lawyers and accountants, many of whom are out there in jackets and ties and wool suits trying to talk to kids with spiked hair and nose rings who are young enough to be our kids," said Marc B. Wolpow, a managing director at Bain Capital, who was helping coordinate the effort. "We basically learned this thing overnight. You'd be amazed."

...

Bain Capital's partners closed down the firm and drew on friendships and connections to find volunteers for the search. R. R. Donnelly, the firm's printer, printed more than 300,000 fliers bearing Ms. Gay's picture and last known whereabouts. Duane Reade, a drugstore chain in which Bain Capital is an investor, had clerks at 52 stores insert fliers in shopping bags. Price Waterhouse, which does the firm's accounting, sent nearly 100 volunteers to distribute the posters, and Goldman Sachs, Bankers Trust and Morgan Stanley dispatched more than 60 people.

Command centers to dispatch volunteers and get in touch with the press were set up at the Marriott Hotel at La Guardia Airport, the Donnelly offices and the Pierre Hotel in Manhattan. Volunteers with cellular phones fanned out to clubs like the Limelight and the Tunnel, the Lollapolooza concert at Downing Stadium on Randalls Island, parties in Tompkins Square and Central Park, to Madison Square Garden and the Port Authority Terminal.

"We haven't stopped," Mr. Wolpow said. "And we're going to find her."

Ms. Gay disappeared Saturday evening. She had gone to a country club in Danbury, Conn., to play tennis, but sometime that afternoon got together with two young men she knew and went with them to New York City, to a rave party dubbed RockRave/Fantasia II on Randalls Island, said Stephen Pagliuca, a managing director at Bain Capital.

One young man told the police that she took several doses of the drug Ecstasy, her parents said. She was reportedly last seen at a party at a park beneath the Whitestone Bridge in the Bronx, where the young man she was with left her.

They found her, apparently in response to a tip generated by the news coverage of the huge volunteer effort. The young lady should be about thirty today, so one wonders whether anyone from our intrepid media will track her down and put a microphone in her face. Well, they will if she is a Democrat (Too bad - she was a Romney donor in 2007).

I AM SOOOO YESTERDAY: From Daily Caller coverage of this story last April:

The Daily went to the home of Melissa Gay Lewis in Danbury, Conn., where she is a fourth-grade teacher and lives with her husband and young children just a couple miles from the Ridgefield house she once ran away from. She refused to comment.

In 2008, Lewis and her husband each donated $2,300 to Romney’s presidential run. So far, they haven’t donated to Romney’s second White House bid.

FWIW: The dad, Robert C. Gay, is a successful businessman, senior Mormon and, with his wife, a noted philanthropist. Robert Gay is a co-founder of Huntsman Gay Global Capital (the Hubntsman there is the dad, not our beloved Jon), but if I can rely on this FEC search Gay is a Romney donor.

Melissa seems to live in Danbury, CT and was a max donor to Romney in 2007, as is her husband.

Household Income Down During "Recovery"

Are you better off than you were three years ago, at the beginning of the Obama recovery? The NY Times says, probably not:

Americans nearing retirement age have suffered disproportionately after the financial crisis: along with the declining value of their homes, which were intended to cushion their final years, their incomes have fallen sharply.

The typical household income for people age 55 to 64 years old is almost 10 percent less in today’s dollars than it was when the recovery officially began three years ago, according to a new report from Sentier Research, a data analysis company that specializes in demographic and income data.

Across the country, in almost every demographic, Americans earn less today than they did in June 2009, when the recovery technically started. As of June, the median household income for all Americans was $50,964, or 4.8 percent lower than its level three years earlier, when the inflation-adjusted median income was $53,508.

However, the WaPo notes that the pain has not been evenly shared by sector:

Households led by the self-employed saw their income drop 9.4 percent, to $66,752, the report said. Households headed by private-sector employees saw wages drop by 4.5 percent, to $63,800, and households led by government workers saw median income decline by 3.5 percent, to $77,998, the report said.

Government workers, on average, are better educated than private-sector workers, which could help explain their higher wage levels, Green said.

Captain Ed has the video of Obama explaining that theprivatesector is "doing fine", but let's go the the text:

Question: What about the Republicans saying that you're blaming the Europeans for the failures of your own policies?

President Obama: The truth of the matter is that, as I said, we created 4.3 million jobs over the last 27 months, over 800,000 just this year alone.

The private sector is doing fine. Where we're seeing weaknesses in our economy have to do with state and local government. Oftentimes cuts initiated by, you know, Governors or mayors who are not getting the kind of help that they have in the past from the federal government and who don't have the same kind of flexibility as the federal government in dealing with fewer revenues coming in.

And so, you know, if Republicans want to be helpful, if they really want to move forward and put people back to work, what they should be thinking about is how do we help state and local governments and how do we help the construction industry? Because the recipes that they're promoting are basically the kinds of policies that would add weakness to the -- to the economy, would result in further layoffs, would not provide relief in the housing market, and would result, I think most economists estimate, in lower growth and fewer jobs, not more.

 These reports are coming from Sentier Research. heir latest report is available for $25 but last month's report, which describes their methodology and foreshadows their results, is free.

I DEPLORE THESE FALSE EQUIVALENCIES: ABC News delivers a 'gotcha' so phony they quit mid-story:

Mitt Romney Says Big Business ‘Doing Fine’ After Criticizing Obama for Similar Remarks

Sure, if the "private sector", which includes the workers therein, equals "big business" shareholders. Let's press on:

HOPKINS, Minn. – Mitt Romney tonight said that big businesses are “doing fine,” using similar language that the presumptive nominee has hammered President Obama for using to describe the private sector earlier this year.

“I’m going to champion small business. We’ve got to make it easier for small businesses. Big business is doing fine in many places – they get the loans they need, they can deal with all the regulation,” said Romney, speaking to a group of supporters at a private fundraiser in Minnesota this evening.

Romney then added that the reason that big businesses are “doing fine in many places” is because they are able to invest their money in “tax havens.”

“They know how to find ways to get through the tax code, save money by putting various things in the places where there are low tax havens around the world for their businesses,” said Romney. “But small business is getting crushed.”

This is newsworthy? Let's cut back to the WaPo coverage of declining household incomes:

Corporate profits, meanwhile, have recovered. But with workers producing more on the job, the gains in economic output have not been matched by new hiring.

“The character of the recovery has been one that has benefited businesses more than it has workers,” said Gary Burtless, a Brookings Institution economist.

The S&P 500 has more than doubled from the spring 2009 lows and (at 1400) is around the levels seen in April 2008 (getting back to the Oct 2007 level of 1565 would be record territory).

 

Bury The Bad News In August

As balancing for the anti-Romney stories the Times will promote in September and October, the Times treats us to an 'expose' of the close ties between Obama and Exelon, a major utility that has benefited from having the White House in its pocket. Its summertime and no one will notice, so I guess no one will notice a glaring omission from the Times piece - Exelon was formed by the merger of power companies in Chicago and Philadelphia. The Chicago company was once run by Thomas Ayers, patriarch of the Ayers family and probable guardian angel of the young Barack Obama as he rose through Chicago politics.

A nostalgia piece on Big Media's lack of interest in the evasions by Team Obama about Obama's relationship with bomber Bill Ayers is here.

Vote Early, Vote Often

I deplore this obvious attempt to suppress the ethnic vote:

Michelle Obama, speaking yesterday at a campaign event in Florida:

So that one new voter that you register in your precinct -- think about it -- that one neighbor that you get to the polls on November the 2 I want you to understand, that could be the one that makes the difference. That one conversation, that one new volunteer you recruit, that could be the one that puts this over the top. 

The presidential election this year is November 6.

I ASKED CARNAC THE MAGNIFICENT... If I had to guess (and doesn't the bloggers union have some such requirement?), I would say our First Lady is looking to the past rather than the future - November 2 2010 was a glorious day for the voters but less so for the Democrats, and we hope to repeat that result in 2012.

Win Some, Lose Some

Umpire Jim Joyce is famous all over again, this time for a very good call.

You never know when the big moments will arrive, and so it was that veteran umpire Jim Joyce made his biggest call of the season ... roughly 90 minutes before the Marlins-Diamondbacks game started in Arizona on Monday night.

Joyce administered CPR to a Diamondbacks' game-day employee named Jayne Powers in a tunnel leading to the umpires' dressing room minutes on his way into the ballpark Monday, saving her life in a moment nobody who was in the vicinity at Chase Field will soon forget.

Yes, you have heard his name before:

Joyce... was in the national spotlight in 2010 when he missed the call at first base that prevented the Tigers' Armando Galarraga from completing a perfect game against the Indians...

And since we are waxing nostalgic, let's remember that Tiger's pitcher Armando Galarraga deserves a Hall of Fame plaque for his sportsmanlike reaction to the debacle. That will be his best shot for the Hall, so far anyway.

Four Clowns In OIHO...

Tin ears and Romney coming...

FOR THE SKEPTICS: No, that pic is not a mirror-reversal; check the wristwatches in that and their corrected pose.

Is Poker A Game Of Chance? Not The Way They Play It

A Federal judge rules that poker is not a game of chance and therefore is not covered by Federal anti-gaming statutes.

Lest anyone doubt that good players take money from bad players, one relevant academic study reaching that conclusion is described here.  Would anyone request a similar study for bridge, where the long-run triumph of skill over luck is obvious?

I wonder what other common recreation pastimes could sneak out from under anti-gaming rulkes based on similar reasoning. Craps, I would assume, is mostly luck (setting aside the skill involed in breaking rigged dice into the game, or avoiding stupid bets.) Betting on horses clearly takes skill but... an efficient markets argument would be that in poker there is a profit opportunity for whover is the best player at a (relatively small) table.  In parimutel horse betting, shrewd players from all over the world have a chance to participate.

 

Good Morning

Let's have the untraditional Tuesday morning open thread.

Not Impressed

From Matt Drudge we learn that Obama is not impressed with his campaign team's effort and results.

McKayla would not be impressed either.

This Is Campaign Nowhere

Team Obama explains that their small, unenthusiastic crowds are all part of the plan:

PICKET:Obama camp - We are intentionally limiting crowd size at rallies

Well, yes - the President has not put forward serious plans to create jobs or address our fiscal challenges, Gitmo is still open, Afghanistan has three times as many US troops and and is still a quagmire, global warming is so far on the back burner it's in a new area code, and the Vice President is a touring jester. So yeah, limiting crowd size by over-promising and under-delivering has worked beauthifully.

She Didn't Build That

A great photo of Obama waving good-bye to the small business vote.

Sunday Afternoon

Clarice on Palin and Biden.

Ditherer In Chief

From the Times:

Obama Lags on Judicial Picks, Limiting His Mark on Courts

They provide an endless and complicated rationalization. Let's cut to the numbers:

Mr. Obama has still put a significant stamp on the judiciary, appointing two Supreme Court justices — the same number as Mr. Clinton and Mr. Bush each did in eight years — and 30 appeals court judges, roughly as many as either did on average per term. But his impact has been uneven. He has made significant changes to some appeals court circuits — which have the final word on tens of thousands of cases a year — while leaving others untouched.

In federal district courts, where trials are held, Mr. Obama has appointed just 125 such judges, compared with 170 at a similar point in Mr. Clinton’s first term and 162 for Mr. Bush.

Mr. Obama is virtually certain to leave more vacant federal judgeships at the end of his term for the winner of the 2012 election to fill than he inherited from Mr. Bush. Beyond sheer numbers, Mr. Obama has reduced his long-term influence by appointing judges who were more than four years older, on average, than Mr. Bush’s, according to data compiled by Russell Wheeler, a Brookings Institution scholar.

The less long term impact Obama has, the better.

Maybe They Didn't Build It, But They Sure Are Running It

A small businessman turns down Joe Biden, gets national support. Gimme a B!

Radford baker's business booms after Biden brushoff

The small-business owner has become a star after turning down a photo op with the vice president.

Apparently the reason was some combination of religious conviction and irritation with Obama's "you didn't build that" insight.

Combine this with the Chick-Fil-A display and one senses much eagerness amongst the Great Unwashed to express their dissatisfaction with the regime. We have a great opportunity coming up this November.

Dirtiest Campaign Ever?

The press is starting to notice:

Even the media’s had enough.

The race for the White House has grown so toxic that it’s become a top topic among reporters and analysts covering the contest — and some are even calling on President Barack Obama and presumptive GOP nominee Mitt Romney to call a truce.

“[Wednesday], specifically … was a terrible day for a discourse in democracy,” Brian Williams said Wednesday on The Daily Show. “We can’t, as a country, keep doing this.”

And what happened Wednesday?

“I don’t want to overstate it but last night was a big, historical moment, I think, in this campaign,” Halperin said.

He suggested that Obama call Romney and negotiate a truce, so the two candidates could then instruct their aides to knock off the brutal attacks and get back on the high road.

“Both campaigns are expressing not faux outrage, which is mostly what we see , but genuine outrage,” Halperin said. “Based on what happened last night, the president’s team is stunned that the president would be accused of engaging in a campaign of hate. Mitt Romney used the word ‘hate’. I think he meant it. I think the president’s team was very stung by it. Either today and the rest of this week we’re going to escalate into nuclear war, or I’d like to see some détente. This is not the campaign I think either of these candidates wants.”

Romney's outrage:

Mitt Romney, capping off a five-state bus tour in Ohio Tuesday night, delivered the most aggressive and fiery speech of his bid for the presidency -- accusing President Obama of running a "campaign of division and anger and hate" while taking on what he called an "outrageous charge" by Vice President Biden.

No kidding. Team Obama has no ideas and no plan whatsover for even pretending to work with a Republican House and possible Republican Senate.

The Politico expounds on Romney's change in tone and includes this Romney attack:

“This president has pushed Republicans and Democrats as far apart as they can go,” Romney said Tuesday night in Chillicothe, Ohio. “And now he and his allies are pushing us all even further apart by dividing us into groups. He demonizes some. He panders to others. His campaign strategy is to smash America apart and then cobble together 51 percent of the pieces. If an American president wins that way, we all lose. But he won’t win that way.”

The fellow who ran as a uniter, not a divider and promised to change the tone in Washington is long gone.

What Sarah Said

The inimitable Ms. Palin provides campaign advice to The One:

Sarah Palin has said that Joe Biden’s controversial ‘put y’all back in chains’ comment should be the ‘nail in the coffin’ for his career and suggested Barack Obama replace him on the 2012 ticket with Hillary Clinton.

She added that she hoped Obama would not take such a step because ‘an Obama/Clinton ticket would have a darn good chance of winning’.

She's right - Obama would get Hope, Change, and the Clinton money machine. Of course, Bill and Hillary would upstage Obama and dumping Biden would be an admission that picking Biden was, hmm, not a mistake, no, not at all, but a brilliant choice for a very different time. And now Hillary is an equally brilliant choice for these new times because Team Obama is utterly out of ideas and their campaign message of "Vote For Obama Because He Can't Work With Republicans And Doesn't Want To" has not caught traction.

From Michelle To Fauxcohantas

Back at Harvard the never-original Michelle Obama parroted the lefty line of the day and called for alternative hiring standards to bring in professors of color and gender at Harvard Law School. She did not explicitly call for the hiring of faux Native Americans, but only because no one suggested it.

The Party Of Tomorrow

Chris Christie and Marco Rubio will get star turns at the Republican convention:

Chris Christie, the governor of New Jersey, will bring his blunt, everyman style of politics to a much bigger, prime-time stage as the keynote speaker of the Republican National Convention, officials announced on Tuesday.

Mr. Christie, who briefly considered running for president himself last year, will deliver one of the most closely watched speeches of the week. Senator Marco Rubio of Florida, a Republican rising star who had been considered as a vice-presidential nominee for Mitt Romney, will introduce Mr. Romney at the convention, which will be held in Tampa, Fla.

This is how Obama got launched in 2004. Yike.

 

Moderate This!

The Presidential debate commission announces the debate moderators.

PBS's Jim Lehrer will host the first presidential debate on Oct. 3 in Denver, Colo. CNN's Candy Crowley will host the second, town-hall debate on October 16 in Hempstead, N.Y. CBS's Bob Schieffer will host the third debate on Oct. 22 in Boca Raton, Fla.

ABC's Martha Raddatz will host the vice presidential debate on Oct. 11 in Danville, Ky.

I love the first comment at Politico:

Debate moderators were chosen for diversity - a network liberal, a cable liberal, a PBS liberal and a female liberal.

Yup. But as newsies go, these are about as centrist as could be expected, since both sides have to agree on each choice.

Typical Media Bias

Politico:

“At Obama fundraiser in Chicago. Admission only $51, but room is half full,” New York Times reporter Jodi Kantor wrote on Twitter.

C'mon, cut the Obama cheerleading - the room was half empty!

Which reminds me - some say the glass is half empty but I say it's a specimen cup.

Sunday, All Day

Closing day at the Olympics. Spoiler Alert - the US Men pick up gold in basketball.

For those uninterested in summer escapism, Clarice Feldman writes on Paul Ryan.

Ryan's The One

Paul Ryan for Romney's VP. I would have been excited to see Usain Bolt run for VP but the distance might not be right for him.

Obama Eats Dogs, Abandons Cats

Having learned that Romney causes cancer, we now find out that Obama hates America's pets:

Our pet population is shrinking.

Americans had 2 million fewer dogs and 7.6 million fewer cats at the end of last year than at the end of 2006, the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) says.

The reasons are both economic and demographic as fewer Americans live in families, which are more likely to own pets.

Most pet owners have dogs: about 70 million of them in 36.5% of U.S. homes. Cats, at 74 million, are in 30.4% of homes.

It's the first decline in dog or cat households since 1991.

"It's clearly the economy," says Karen Felsted of Felsted Veterinary Consultants, in Richardson, Texas. She presented the findings at the vets association's national meeting in San Diego this week. "The percentage of households that owned at least one pet was down 2.4%." That's 2.8 million households that became petless. "It's a significant number," she says.

Obama will blame Bush but we know who the dog-eater is here.

Gonna Stand His Ground

The Zimmerman defense team surprises no one by announcing that they will seek a Stand Your Ground hearing for George Zimmerman. Failure to do so would have been legal malpractice.

From the announcement:

There are significant differences between a “Stand Your Ground” hearing and a trial. In a “Stand Your Ground” hearing, there is no jury; the decision is made by the judge alone. In a criminal trial, the prosecution must prove the defendant’s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt, but in a “Stand Your Ground” hearing, the burden is on the defense to prove that the evidence fits the conditions of the “Stand Your Ground” law. If the Court rules in favor of the defendant in a “Stand Your Ground” hearing, not only are criminal charges dismissed, the defendant is also immune from civil actions related to the shooting. The primary focus of a “Stand Your Ground” hearing is whether George Zimmerman reasonably believed that his use of his weapon was necessary to prevent great bodily harm to himself at the hands of Trayvon Martin.

SHADES OF GREY: Interestingly, since the burden of proof is different here and in a trial, the same facts that lead to an unfavorable ruling (for the defense) in the hearing could result in acquital at trial. Basically, the situation, rather than being black or white, could be grey enough to go to trial but not grey enough to convict.

Carbon Trading Fail

When the United Nations put together a carbon trading scheme to reduce greenhouse gases they forgot to repeal the law of unintended consequences. The NY Times explains the latest bureaucratic 'surprise':

Greenhouse gases were rated based on their power to warm the atmosphere. The more dangerous the gas, the more that manufacturers in developing nations would be compensated as they reduced their emissions.

But where the United Nations envisioned environmental reform, some manufacturers of gases used in air-conditioning and refrigeration saw a lucrative business opportunity.

They quickly figured out that they could earn one carbon credit by eliminating one ton of carbon dioxide, but could earn more than 11,000 credits by simply destroying a ton of an obscure waste gas normally released in the manufacturing of a widely used coolant gas. That is because that byproduct has a huge global warming effect. The credits could be sold on international markets, earning tens of millions of dollars a year.

That incentive has driven plants in the developing world not only to increase production of the coolant gas but also to keep it high — a huge problem because the coolant itself contributes to global warming and depletes the ozone layer. That coolant gas is being phased out under a global treaty, but the effort has been a struggle.

These people will keep on being surprised by a problem that has sop many moving parts.

Now Romney Is Carcinogenic

The Extended Team Obama is scraping under the bottom of the barrel now:

Priorities ad ties Romney to lost health insurance, cancer death (Updated)

Team Obama seems to have internalized the generic HuffPo/DKos 'analysis' of the defeats of  Kerry and the Duke, who in that telling were undone by their lack of viciousness rather than their unrelenting mediocrity.

Petraeus For VP?

Matt Drudge has an exclusive tip from a "top" Obama fundraiser:

OBAMA: ROMNEY WANTS VP PETRAEUS
Tue Aug 07 2012 12:01:02 ET

**Exclusive** 

President Obama whispered to a top fundraiser this week that he believes GOP presidential hopeful Mitt Romney wants to name Gen. David Petraeus to the VP slot! 

"The president wasn't joking," the insider explains to the DRUDGE REPORT. 

Hmm. First, *IF* Petraeus is being vetted by Team Romney the President ought to have an inkling; I can't believe Petraeus would simply accept the VP slot and resign as CIA head with an hour's notice.

As to whether this would be a good pick by Romney, well, Petraeus is a great general and a great American, but his skills as a politican are untested. Maybe he is the next Wesley Clark, who flamed out in 2004.

I think Romney is committed dullness with VP pick; Romney's basic plan is to keep the spotlight on Obama, who will continue to shrink and wither under the bright lights. Petraeus does not advance that plan.

Gun Laws=Good, Gun Law Enforcement=Bad

My head-spinning morning with the NY Times continues. First, I learn (for the umpty-bumpth time) that what New York needs, following mass shootings in Colorado and Wisconsin, is stricter gun control:

After Shootings, Push in Albany for Tougher Gun Laws

By THOMAS KAPLAN

In the wake of mass shootings in Colorado and Wisconsin and an uptick in gun violence in New York City, lawmakers are planning a new push in Albany to win approval of tighter gun laws in New York State.

One measure introduced last week would require background checks of anyone buying ammunition. Another, being drafted this week, would limit the purchase of firearms to one per person per month.

In another story about 'stop and frisk' I learn that actually enforcing the laws on the books is far too onerous for the public to endure:

Last year, New York City police officers stopped 46,784 women, frisking nearly 16,000. Guns were found in 59 cases, according to an analysis of police statistics by The New York Times.

While the number of women stopped by officers in 2011 represented 6.9 percent of all police stops, the rate of guns found on both men and women was equally low, 0.12 percent and 0.13 percent, respectively. Civil rights leaders have argued that the low gun-recovery rates are a strong indication that the bulk of stop-and-frisk encounters are legally unjustified. (The number of police stops has dropped by more than 34 percent in recent months.)

My goodness - 59 illegal guns (hmm, were they all illegal, or am I misreading this?) just among the women? I think Mayor Bloomberg should take credit for averting 59 Auroras, with over eight hundred lives saved. And that is just for the women! Figuring there were more than ten times as many men stopped with guns, that suggests total lives saved of over nine thousand. Why isn't Bloomberg talking this up?

Well - file this as yet more evidence that I will never be smart enough to be a lib.

Iran=Bad, Iran=Good

I always learn something new on my daily stagger throughthe hall of mirrors known as the NY Times. Today I learned that dealing with Iran is goodbad. Or is that badgood?

First, Standard Chartered is in trouble:

Regulator Says British Bank Helped Iran Hide Deals

Using its New York-based operations, a major British bank schemed with the Iranian government for nearly a decade to launder $250 billion, leaving the United States financial system vulnerable to terrorists and corrupt regimes, New York’s top banking regulator charged on Monday.

That is very serious and the stock action reflects it, as the shares slide more than 20%.

On the other hand, dealing with Iran is not so bad if you work for Obama:

WASHINGTON — The White House defended President Obama’s senior adviser on Monday for taking $100,000 in speaking fees before joining the government from a subsidiary of a company working with the Iranian government.

David Plouffe, who managed Mr. Obama’s campaign in 2008 and joined the White House staff in January 2011, accepted the money from an affiliate of MTN Group, a South Africa-based telecommunications firm, for two speeches in Nigeria. MTN is part of a joint venture in Iran’s mobile communications market reportedly linked to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

The White House rejected criticism of Mr. Plouffe’s dealings with the firm, saying that MTN was not a major focus of those seeking to cut off business with Iran when it issued the invitation in the spring of 2010. “Even the most zealous watchdog group on this issue did not start their campaign on the host’s holding company until many months later,” said Eric Schultz, a White House spokesman. “Criticism of Mr. Plouffe now for issues and controversies that developed only years later is simply misplaced.”

Well, then. That was just patriotic outreach, or something.

 

 

My News Blackout Is Over

I had a self-imposed news blackout so I could watch the Usain Bolt excitement "NBC Live!". And wow.

But we ought to have an open thread on the tragedy in Wisconsin.

Courage Under Fire

The past becomes the future - in 2008 Hilary regaled a nation with tales of her heroism under fire at an airport in Bosnia.

Today, it sorta kinda happened:

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's tour of Malawi had an inauspicious finale on Monday as she and her detail were targeted by a swarm of bees at the airport.

Clinton and her detail were headed to board her plane at Kamuzu International Airport in the capital, Lilongwe, when a swarm of bees descended on the farewell gathering. According to press reports, Malawi and American officials all scampered for cover while Clinton ran onto the jet for cover.

“There was a slight panic as the bees winged across the airport. People could be seen running away to keep cover as the Secretary of State swiftly boarded her plane to avoid any stings,” a witness told the Nyasa Times.

So Hillary made a beeline for her plane as bees made a beeline for her. Courage!

 

Sunday Morning

Clarice writes about the Tea Party and Chick-Fil-A.

In London all of England will watch Andy Murray battling someone or other for the men's tennis gold. That is 9 AM Eastern for "Breakfast at Wimbledon II".

Usain Bolt and and his buddy Yohan Blake will run this afternoon in the semis (2:45) and final (4:50)  of the men's 100. This might be bigger than Beijing, which was incredible. NBC will probably televise it on Monday night for better ratings.

Saturday Morning At The Olympics

Away we go.

A LITTLE MISSY FRANKLIN TRIBUTE: From the Times:

The Olympics, she said, have taught her so much. “I had a few times where it’s hard not just to sit down and go, ‘I’m exhausted, I’m so tired,’ ” she said. “Those are the times when it’s most important to keep a smile on your face. To get up and say, ‘You know what, so many people would kill for this opportunity.’ ”

Franklin’s ambitious program taxes her facial muscles most of all because racing and talking about racing make her smile.

“Her personality is contagious,” [Amerivan bronze medalist] Beisel said. “In the ready room, I was pretty nervous. Just watching her have so much fun, it helped me relax, and I want to really thank her for that. She’s awesome.”

To lighten the mood, Franklin told Beisel to think about the fast-food meals that await them at the end of the meet. She smiled, she danced, she laughed, and Beisel smiled and danced and laughed with her. They spoke as if the United States team were one big “Glee” cast, leading [Russian silver medalist] Zueva to say, through an interpreter, “We didn’t have such great fun on the Russian team.”