Eliot Spitzer’s call girl now has an advice column with the NY Post. First question: How can I turn a life turning tricks into an advice column gig with the NY Post?
Dozens of DUI cases in question after Colorado crime lab fails independent blood test audit. Exactly why audits like these are a good idea.
So the Max Baucus nominating his paramour to be a U.S. Attorney scandal is getting pretty interesting. Turns out she at one point was also sleeping with a forensic pathologist who had a history of questionable diagnoses in infant death cases. Oh, and he was a state medical examiner for the state of Mississippi in the 1980s. Why am I not surprised?
Last week, I linked to a Huffington Post entry that accused Rush Limbaugh of some racially-charged chatter concerning the Tiger Woods scandal. Limbaugh says he was misquoted. I link, you decide.
The L.A. Times rounds up the many incidences in which Joe Arpaio has launched investigations into people who have dared to question his tactics. Scariest line from the story: “Though he has said he’s not interested in running for governor, a recent poll showed him crushing the presumptive Democratic nominee, state Atty. Gen. Terry Goddard, 51% to 39%.”
Yahoo, Verizon refuse to release information related to their capability of and cooperation with the government for the purposes of spying on their customers. Their reasoning? Releasing the info would “shock” and “confuse” their customers.
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on Monday, December 14th, 2009 at 10:07 am by Radley Balko
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TheAgitator.com
Oh, and he was a state medical examiner for the state of Mississippi in the 1980s.
Iowa, not Mississippi.
Never mind. Guess I should have read the whole piece first.
Arpaio, governor of Arizona? That would indeed force me to actually drive around AZ on a cross country trip. The added fuel cost and time would definitely be justified. I wouldn’t set foot in AZ for any amount of money or reason should that POS end up governor.
Dude, it’s the New York Post. Remember “Headless Body Found In Topless Bar”?
Radley – Are you saying you’ve spent a life turning tricks? And want to become an advice columnist?
I would say you do the same you would in any profession. Do your job very well, make good connections, and keep on the lookout out for new opportunities.
Some interesting news on Martha Coakley, the women set to replace Ted Kennedy.
http://www.examiner.com/x-14537-Albany-CPS-and-Family-Court-Examiner~y2009m9d4-Involvement-in-Amirault-case-makes-Martha-Coakley-unfit-to-replace-Ted-Kennedy-as-Senator
Eliot Spitzer’s call girl now has an advice column with the NY Post. First question: How can I turn a life turning tricks into an advice column gig with the NY Post?
Second question: How much of a step down is that?
#6 Enyap
Interesting news, but do you think Ted Kennedy would be seen as “fit for office” if subjected to proper scrutiny?
As for Rush, it looks like the normal “Rush says something about race and liberals scream that he’s a racist” bs. I’ll admit to not being his biggest fan, but I’ve noticed that he seems to be one of the few people who speak honestly and openly about racial issues in this country.
I was more or less posting it for the news about Coakley, I sure as hell don’t see Kennedy as fit.
Can you provide a good definition of “racially-charged”? That there are feelings of resentment (at the least) among some members of the black community with regard to black men dating white women is not a hallucination:
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1077/is_n1_v50/ai_15885842/
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/766327/is_the_ultimate_reason_why_many_black.html
http://www.theroot.com/views/memo-black-women-get-real
Higher unemployment among blacks is also true:
http://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.nr0.htm
Now, does this mean Tiger Woods has any bearing on an overall black depression index, or that Rush actually cares about it as opposed to just playing to his audience by sticking it to Obama? Of course not. But I don’t see why what he said is any more “racially-charged” than 90% of the stuff that comes out of Al Sharpton’s mouth (to give but one example). And while I expect Huffington Post to vilify Rush while ignoring Sharpton (kind of goes with the partisan hack territory), I didn’t think you’d fall into that game.
Yahoo/Verizon: Not a big surprise. Your Internet history and your complete phone log (and location records) are pretty much open books to the state.
BUT…it is for the children.
Releasing the info would “shock” and “confuse” their customers.
That’s great progress! They’re telling the truth.
Yahoo’s “menu of services” has already been leaked anyways. Though any rumor that I have a copy of said leaked document in my possession is wholly untrue.
Yahoo, Verizon refuse to release information related to their capability of and cooperation with the government for the purposes of spying on their customers.
This is part of the government-business partnership I keep referring to. If you’re wondering who’s left if government and business are in bed together, the answer is simple: you and I. Yep, we’re the prize and those guys get together over dinner, drinks, and hookers to decide how to divide up our wealth, although, since our wealth is finite, they are also dividing up the income potential of our offspring. If they had the technology, they would already be cultivating us in pod farms and harvesting our productivity through a plastic tube.
Sprint talked though-
http://arstechnica.com/telecom/news/2009/12/sprint-fed-customer-gps-data-to-leos-over-8-million-times.ars
I gotta admit this particular Limbaugh quote doesn’t seem racist to me. “Racially Charged” perhaps but I have no idea what that term really means.
Now the link to buy a pro-waterboarding pro-gitmo tee-shirt @ the bottom of Limbaughs page, That is a much better example of Rush being a douchebag.
From the false DUI story, Colorado Springs DA:
“We don’t want to treat anybody as guilty if they’re not,” he added.
Bullshit. No self-loving police department would let a DA with that kind of attitude live.
In all fairness to the people of AZ, I suspect name recognition has more to do with the poll results than actual support of Sherriff Joe.
Once the campaign got started, Sherriff Joe’s actions would come under much broader scrutiny.
OTOH, considering that NY elected Spitzer, another grandstanding bully, I could be wrong.
Maybe we should set Sherriff Joe up with a call girl.
All business is already government business (after it reaches a certain size). Thru threat, regulation, tax, and forced access by the thugs the system and the shake-down is pervasive.
The state doesn’t really need to target any one individual lest it be seen as a conspiracy. Instead, they ruin and kill just a random few to keep the rest of the herd in check. Any more than that and the herd might spook and realize how much power they (the herd) has and how they don’t need the state. But, the herd is a herd and exists only to serve the state.
At some time in the distant future, we might get a state that exists to serve the people, but not here, not now.
WRT Tiger Woods’ choice of women, if YOU were a black woman, wouldn’t you find it depressing to some extent to know that THE single most successful black man in the PGA of all time (and one of its most successful men period) has apparently no taste for black women at all?
Limbaugh is correct, to some extent, that it is a slap in the face to a lot of blacks.
Tiger is black? I thought Asian women were the ones who should be concerned. He’s a very successful Asian man.
But my friends Colt, Bear, Dog, and Roo are the most upset as he’s not representing animal-named men very well. And Roo just got out of rehab!
Re: Tiger Woods, maybe he didn’t want to deal with all that attitude? I mean, black women usually won’t take shit from anyone, no matter how rich and famous you are.
#18, don’t give people in AZ too much benefit of the doubt. AZ is generally pretty conservative; there are a lot of douchebags there who think that due process/rights/etc are just technicalities. Sheriff Joe is widely popular for a reason. Note the part in the article about widespread anger over illegal immigration – plenty of people are happy seeing the “problem” “solved” without bothering to think about the fact that they could well be the next “problem” under that kind of thinking.
I used to live there and know several people (i.e, yes, those not in the above douchebag category) who won’t stay there forever either. #3 has the right idea too….
Though he has said he’s not interested in running for governor, a recent poll showed him crushing the presumptive Democratic nominee, state Atty. Gen. Terry Goddard, 51% to 39%
You know, Hitler was democratically elected, but he only won by one vote. As crazy as Arpaio is, its scarier that 51% of Arizona endorses his madness. I mean going on recent behavior, even if he ran and lost, his opponent might get arrested on the way to the inauguration.
(I know the Hitler thing is not entirely true, but what the hell)
If Sheriff Joe became governor of AZ, I would refuse to visit taht state again until he was voted out (or impeached), even tho I LOVE Arizona, especially Oak Creek Village. I would instead visit Nevada, New Mexico, or So. California. I know a lot of ohter snow birds who feel the same way.
Wonder how long he’d be allowed to stay in office if tourism in AZ fell off sharply should he be elected governor?
#24 random guy
“(I know the Hitler thing is not entirely true, but what the hell)”
In 1925, Paul von Hindenburg was elected the second President of Germany. Though 84 years old and in poor health, Hindenburg was persuaded to run for re-election in 1932 as he was considered the only candidate who could defeat Adolf Hitler.
Hindenburg was re-elected in a runoff but nonetheless played an important role in the Nazi Party’s rise to power, dissolving parliament twice in 1932 and eventually appointing Hitler as Chancellor in January 1933.
In February, he issued the Reichstag Fire Decree which suspended various civil liberties, and in March he signed the Enabling Act, in which parliament gave Hitler’s administration legislative powers.
Hindenburg died the following year, after which Hitler declared the office of President vacant and, as “Führer und Reichskanzler”, made himself head of state.
As you say – “What the hell…”
Testing audits. In a REAL lab, double blind performance evaluation samples are run quarterly. And the analysts are retrained if they don’t pass.
Arrgh, wish there were an edit feature. I hate typos I cannot correct.
#20
I can’t believe that this is even being rehashed in 2009. Tiger Woods is not a black man and has emphatically stated such for many many years now. His mother is Thai, and his father is half-black and half-white. Tiger is no more “black” than he is “white”.
Remember the “one drop” rules that applied during Jim Crow and anti-miscegenation laws? Anyone who had a single black ancestor was legally “black”, no matter their appearance or culture.
That rule was quite rightly denounced by those seeking equal civil rights for all people. So it seems strange to me that celebrities of mixed race somehow must be “black”.
For the record, I consider us all to be “mixed race”, yet at the same time reject the idea that there’s more than one race: the human race.
Micheal Chaney
I’d go a little further.
Beyond those directly involved, who on earth should care?
Just another jock with his fly open.
Details at eleven.
Eliot Spitzer’s call girl now has an advice column with the NY Post. First question: How can I turn a life turning tricks into an advice column gig with the NY Post?
Getting into better shape was a good start, but you’re going to need a better rack.
@29 yes it was decided. Tiger was drafted by the black delegation.
http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=349514
Precisely. There is only the human RACE. Black, Asian, Indian, etc. are all ethnicities.
#18- Boy.
As a resident in Maricopa County (pop 3.6 million) I’ll offer my thoughts on Sheriff Joe Arpaio. I do believe that he and his staff do abuse the powers granted to him. The newspapers documents that 1 person will die in his care every 18 months or so. That all being said there is hardly a soul other than Arpaio and Thomas the county attorney who is concerned about building a new court building in a day and age of reduced revenue all around where government should be arresting less people not more.
If I was really concerned (and I was a county supervisor) about Joe Arpaio and his cohort Andrew Thomas I would begin by announcing that plans for the new court palace will be delayed for 1 full year (or 2) so that all the accusations can be properly addressed.
The problem with Arpaio is that he has completely destroyed any credibility that his investigations and indictments are anything but politically motivated. As almost invariably happens in politics (especially among those who are self absorbed from the start), the contest between the opposing sides becomes all that matters. It has nothing to do with integrity, job function, civil liberties, crime, or justice. Now, all that matters, even with the public, is who is winning.
This is nothing new. That’s the way it’s been for democrats and republicans for decades. For what it’s worth, that just happens to be the way it is between many countries, religions, ethnicities, gangs, etc. The idea of making things better, even for themselves or their constituency got lost.
From all the articles I’ve seen, it’s probably better to live in a nation like Ecuador than in Marikafka County.
#18 I have a better idea:
“Both ends at once? What a player!”
If you don’t recognize the quote, get a copy of Unintended Consequences.
OT: I’d like to note that thanks to this site, I can’t watch police procedural dramas anymore without wantig to yell at the television. I think my wife is sick of me. :)
#18 | Aresen | December 14th, 2009 at 11:55 am
Maybe we should set Sherriff Joe up with a 12 year old boy.
FTFY
Maybe we should set Sherriff Joe up with a call girl.
Sheriff Joe likes to dress men in pink underwear so I’m guessing a call girl won’t tempt him much.
Frank
“From all the articles I’ve seen, it’s probably better to live in a nation like Ecuador than in Marikafka County.”
Ecuador’s not so bad. Ecuador’s a lot nicer than a lot of places in America.
Dad’s a mix of African American, Chinese and Native American.
Mom’s a mix of Thai, Chinese, and Dutch.
When it comes to women, maybe Tiger’s Dutch gene is expressing itself.
I actually heard the particular Limbaugh segment. Limbaugh said nothing racist at all! He was talking what other people (Rev. Jackson and Sharpton, as I recall) had said.
There are plenty of things that one may disagree with about Limbaugh, but he simply does not make racist statements. He does talk about the media view of race, and therefore mentions it now and then, but he is talking about the media, not about race.
Surprised that Balko would link to such drivel.