Tuesday, January 22, 2008

Hollywood prepares for Celebrity Rehab II

 
With the ratings success of Celebrity Rehab (isn't Jeff Conway's acting incredible? It's almost as if he's really going through withdrawal! The man's a lock for an Emmy...), Hollywood is preparing for next year's show.

What are these poor folks gonna do after President Bush leaves office? Find out in the Spring of 2009!

Linked by Dr. Sanity's Carnival of the Insanities. Thanks!

Just how bad has the war of words between Hillary and Obama gotten?

 
The Department of Homeland Security has created this helpful real-time display to keep us apprised.

Miscellaneous stories with no particular common theme whatsoever

 
• Carl: Bolton: It's up to Israel to stop Iran:

...It's close to zero percent chance that the Bush administration will authorize military action against Iran before leaving office. At the same time in Tehran they took careful notice of how Israel got into Syria and to prepare for such an action against Iran. Without American policy backing anti-Iraq action Israel should be willing to see themselves as a possible last resort...

• NPR: Muslim Activist Critical of 'Multicultural Mistake':

Seyran Ates is a prominent women's rights lawyer in Berlin. A German of Turkish origin, she has been forced to abandon her legal practice because of death threats from Islamic radicals... Ates is a vehement critic of what she calls an excessively benign Western attitude toward the growing influence of political Islam in Europe.

• Associated Press: Afghan court sentenced student to death for distributing Internet paper that "violated the tenets of Islam":

The three-judge panel sentenced Sayad Parwez Kambaksh to death for distributing a paper that humiliated Islam... Some have accused Kambaksh of writing the paper in question, but Brahimi said that his brother printed it off the Internet... "He told them he didn't write this article," said Brahimi. "It was written by an Iranian."

• AsiaNews: Christian children’s books seized for showing pictures of Muhammad:

...Malaysian authorities have confiscated some Christian children’s books from bookstores because they contained images of Muhammad. The Malysiakini news agency reported that the order came from the Internal Security Ministry headed by Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi. The reason: illustrations of the prophet offend the religious feelings of the Muslim majority...

• Associated Press: Malaysia Islamic State to Enforce Separate Lines for Women, Men at Supermarkets:

Malaysia's only state run by the Islamic opposition party will get stricter about enforcing separate lines for men and women at supermarkets, an official said Tuesday... Authorities in the northern state of Kelantan... will fine supermarkets and shops if they let men and women use the same lines at checkout counters...

Monday, January 21, 2008

The McCain Bumper Sticker

 
The phrase is from Ace o' Spades (circa 2004).

I just hope to profit from immense bumper-sticker sales since he apparently forgot to copyright it.

Barack Obama: an accused Anti-Clintite

 
I must admit that I take no small amount of glee at the escalating war of words between America's "first black president" and Barack Obama.

Anti-Clintite?

Okay, I'll admit it. I made that one up.

Update: Dammit! I did a search and discovered that the peerless Anchoress first used the term in November of '06. My guess is she used a time machine to beat me to the punch.

Sponsor a journalist -- save a reporter today

 
Iowahawk's Pulitzer Prize-winning investigation on the national crisis in journalist violence has spawned a non-profit foundation and scores of shiny new posters.

Won't you please help? If we can save even one journalist, it will all have been worthwhile. Nothing tugs at my heart-strings like watching unemployed Los Angeles Times editors queued up in front of the soup kitchen.

More news the mainstream media forgot to report

 
Gateway Pundit is covering the trivial news stories that your local newspaper somehow forgot to report. For example: 8,800 terrorists have been captured and 2,400 killed in Iraq in 2007, resulting in a dramatic reduction in violence against Iraqi civilians. That's gotta put a crimp in Al Qaeda's planning.

I guess the mainstream media has more important stories to cover. Like Britney Spears' escape from rehab, Texan UFOs, and the homeless killer veterans who are cutting a swath of destruction across this fair land of ours.

Meanwhile, the Democrats are arguing over who will leave Iraq faster so they can cede it to Iran's mullahs. I'm no geo-political expert, but I have a funny feeling that's not the best strategy for America.

Lemmings: the story of the Los Angeles Times

 
It happened again:

The Los Angeles Times fired its top editor after he rejected a management order to cut $4 million from the newsroom budget, 14 months after his predecessor was also ousted in a budget dispute, the newspaper said Sunday.

When they write the book on this debacle, I've got the cover.

Patterico has more.

Hat tip: BizzyBlog

Chlorinating the (Gene) Pool

 
The slogan of the Darwin Awards is Chlorinating the Gene Pool. These dudes took that saying to the next level.

Say you wanted to grill on an electric Hibachi while still enjoying your giant inflatable pool. I don't know about you, but the first thing I'd think of is: let's stick a card table in the middle of the pool, put a grill on it, and then float a power-strip on a pair of flip-flops to make sure the power can reach the grill.

I'm just sayin': that's what I'd think of.

Hat tip: Sean

Sunday, January 20, 2008

I know what you did last summer, John McCain

 
Feel free to steal these particular DVDs from any store. John McCain doesn't seem too concerned with the enforcement of various laws.

By the way, how's that 700 miles of fence coming?

Poster idea: Reliapundit

Avoid being charged by Canada's Human Rights Tribunal!

 
Some advice for Mark Steyn: here's how you can, in the future, avoid being dragged before the Canadian Human Rights Commission.

Simply do not, under any circumstances, write, verbalize or even think of the following:

* Flags, Uniforms and Soccer Balls that depict offensive crosses, stars of David and American flags.

* Buildings, Monuments and Status including the WTC, Pentagon, Buddhas, the Beslan Memorial, Kaaba-shaped bars, Movie Theaters, and the Eiffel Tower.

* Famous Christians and Christian Practices such as the Holy Trinity, Pope Benedict XVI. Pope John Paul II, Australian Prime Minister John Howard, Coptic Pope Shenouda III., Robert Spencer, Crusaders, Crosses, Christmas presents, Bibles, selling Bibles, lip-synching videos, Valentine's Day, Christians who accidently touch the Koran, Street Evangelists, the letter X, Muslim converts to Christianity, the Knights of Malta, the Bishop of Rochester, and use of the word Allah by Catholics.

* Jews and World Jewry including the existence of Israel, the Holocaust, anti-revisionism, Holocaust Day in the UK, teaching of World War II history including the Holocaust and the Annapolis Peace Talks.

* Hindus, Buddhists and other religious figures such as the Dalai Lama, Baha'i, Pagans and Zoroastrians.

* Cartoons including the Danish cartoons, videos of Danes drawing Mohammed, cartoons about Uday and Qusay's death, the "Buddy Christ" from Dogma, the Cambridge University cartoon, Pokemon, Opus and David Low's Jack Hobbs cartoon.

* Movies, TV, Theater and Radio programs involving "The Passion of the Christ", 'Il mercante di pietre, 24, Disney's Aladdin, Theo Van Gogh's Submission, Looking for Comedy in the Muslim World, Rubber duck hostage videos, the movie 300, the PBS documentary Islam vs. Islamists, Jihad the Musical, True Lies, Michael Savage or Paul Harvey.

* Food involving Burger King ice cream cones, Passover cookies. pork, alcoholic beverages, Quebec day-care lunch menus, hot-cross buns, Cola Cola, Easter Eggs, Ham Sandwiches, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches served in jail, and parking lot signs smirkingly labeled "the Porking Yard."

* Music in general, but also rap CDs with Quranic verses. an award winning Spanish song, a party honoring the late rock star Freddy Mercury, Mozart, Gospel music in a church van, and rock singers who bare their chests.

* Animals and inanimate objects resembling them including piggy banks, the Chinese "Year of the Pig", toy pigs, pig-shaped stress relievers, Piglet from Winnie the Pooh, the story of The Three Little Pigs, dogs, guide dogs, teddy bears, and lost dog posters.

* Public figures such as Walid Shoebat, Kamal Saleem, Zachariah Anani, Daniel Pipes, Ayaan Hirsi-Ali, MP Phil Woolas (UK), Virgil Goode, Jack Straw, bloggers, the US Congress, Paris Mayor Bertrand Delanoe, the Mayor of Mirfield and Robert Bennett.

* Women and depictions of women including the passport photo of a five year-old girl, women who allow themselves to be raped, Egyptian feminist Nawal al-Saadawi, femailes who hug men in public, the anatomy of female mannequins, female dolls, pin-ups on RAF jets, breast feeding, Britney and Madonna, male gynecologists, the word "women", refusing to wear the hijab, Benazir Bhutto and Nouriya Al Subeeh.

* Books, publications and various writers such as Salmon Rushdie's "Satanic Verses", books by Egyptian feminists, French and German newspapers, the Tampa Flyers, the Nobel Prize winning author Naguib Mahfouz, Harry Potter,the autobiography of Norwegian politician Carl I. Hagen "Ærlig talt", Bangladeshi feminist writer Taslima Nasreen, the National Review and Mark Steyn.

* Various types of clothing including western-style trousers, colored underwear, the Nike "flame" logo, Italian soccer t-shirts, Iraqi tennis players who wear shorts.

Just avoid mentioning any of these topics in public and you may be able to be avoid being brought up on charges before Canada's various, august Human Rights Commissions.

Update: Mark Steyn's Scandal exposes the corruption endemic to this travesty of a sham of a faux "Commission."

Texas-sized tip o' the hat to: Amboy Times

Judicial Watch: the personal destruction of HillaryCare v1.0

 
Judicial Watch pried a small number of 1993 documents from the Clinton Library related to the first version of HillaryCare. The revelations are astounding -- and are now rippling through the blogosphere at the speed of light.

Furthermore, the Clintons are blocking the release of the motherlode:

The National Archives admits there may be an additional 3,022,030 textual records, 2,884 pages of electronic records, 1,021 photographs, 3 videotapes and 3 audiotapes related to the Task Force that are being withheld indefinitely from the public. On November 2, 2007 Judicial Watch filed a lawsuit with the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia against the National Archives to force the release of all the Task Force records.

What's contained within the tiny number of documents that have been released?

Selective Spying


Michelle Malkin:

Spying on jihad suspects? Bad.

Spying on health care opponents? Good.

• A June 18, 1993 internal Memorandum entitled, “A Critique of Our Plan,” authored by someone with the initials “P.S.,” makes the startling admission that critics of Hillary’s health care reform plan were correct: “I can think of parallels in wartime, but I have trouble coming up with a precedent in our peacetime history for such broad and centralized control over a sector of the economy… none of us knows whether we can make it work well or at all…”

• A “Confidential” May 26, 1993 Memorandum from Senator Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) to Hillary Clinton entitled, “Health Care Reform Communications,” which criticizes the Task Force as a “secret cabal of Washington policy ‘wonks’” that has engaged in “choking off information” from the public regarding health care reform. The memorandum suggests that Hillary Clinton “use classic opposition research” to attack those who were excluded by the Clinton Administration from Task Force deliberations and to “expose lifestyles, tactics and motives of lobbyists” in order to deflect criticism. Senator Rockefeller also suggested news organizations “are anxious and willing to receive guidance [from the Clinton Administration] on how to time and shape their [news] coverage.”

• A February 5, 1993 Draft Memorandum from Alexis Herman and Mike Lux detailing the Office of Public Liaison’s plan for the health care reform campaign. The memorandum notes the development of an “interest group data base” detailing whether or not organizations “support(ed) us in the election.” The database would also track personal information about interest group leaders, such as their home phone numbers, addresses, “biographies, analysis of credibility in the media, and known relationships with Congresspeople...”

Featuring "real" people with "real" stories


Jammie Wearing Fool:

Judicial Watch ... managed to wrangle [a few documents] from the Clinton Library on the topic of Hillarycare circa 1993. Specifically, some of the documents detail ... how to deal with the First Lady's detractors. And the tactics discussed (including ... "expose lifestyles, tactics and motives of lobbyists") are of a flavor that can best be described as Clintonian.

Impeach the credibility of opponents:

* Avoid partisan targeting. Demonstrate that opponents are advocates of delay or inaction, regardless of party affiliation. Moderate Republicans must be broken from conservative ranks.
* Expose opponents as "professional lobbyists" with values and interests divorced from average Americans (document salaries, perks, ideological extremism, and provide all to the media.
* Use classic opposition research to expose their selfish and short-sighted motivations, and obstructionist tactics (collect mailings, track ad campaigns, investigate expenditures, and provide to the media)...

Apply pressure on undecided Congressional votes with intensive message delivery through their home state or home district media outlets.

...[Adviser Paul Starr's] punctuation here is comically revealing:

Result: Three-four days of saturation local coverage in all targeted states and/or districts, tied to national events with network coverage - all featuring "real" people with "real" stories.

...If the modern day Clinton machine is aptly characterized as one of meticulous scripting, triangulation, and... lets face it, ham-fisted sock puppetry, Senator Rockefeller may deserve some credit for showing them the ropes.

Non-partisan: The National Health Policy Council is the most obvious existing organization to be expanded for this purpose...

Advantages:

* ... A high-profile announcement of the decision to take this "aggressively non-partisan approach" would be extremely helpful in building public confidence and support...
* General public would recognize this as a clear attempt to break through partisan politics and gridlock.

NOTE: Just so you understand, I have been involved with NHPC, as honorary chair, for nearly two years. I can attest to their effectiveness and their breadth both geographically and politically. I have considered other existing organizations, but I believe NHPC would serve you needs best, in part because I know that the people involved are prepared to do anything you would ask of them.

Politicizing the White House


Ed Morrissey:

The Bush administration has taken plenty of heat over their alleged politicization of the White House, especially in the roles Karl Rove has played in the past two terms. The release of the memos from the 1993 Health Care Task Force might put that in some perspective. The HCTF anticipated a tough debate over its proposal to nationalize American health care, and it proposed some specific remedies -- including using the DNC to conduct intelligence operations... A February 1993 memo to Hillary Clinton from Alexis Herman and Mike Lux proposes that the HCTF -- a White House policy group -- enlist the DNC for several purposes, discussed on page 5:

C. The DNC Role

The DNC clearly has a critically important role to play in the campaign. I would suggest the following roles ...

3. The DNC can be instrumental for us in intelligence gathering and opposition research. Their staff will hear talk about things that may never reach us inside these walls...

...The HCTF foresaw using the DNC to "gather intelligence" on political opposition -- a way to gain information to intimidate or extort their critics. It's bad enough when electoral campaigns do this, but having the White House use the DNC for these purposes doesn't border on abuse of power but invades it with a vengeance.

And this memo came to Hillary Clinton a mere two weeks after her husband's inauguration...

Ed concludes with a call for Hillary to release all of the records. The tiny fraction that have come to light reveal a stunning disregard for the separation of Clintons' office from their political party. But I suppose we already knew that.

Influencing a gullible mainstream media


Jammie Wearing Fool:

For this option to work best, we would recommend the following:

1. The summit would be a two day event structured similarly to the economic summit except with Mrs. Clinton running it. The
President should come by to open or close the event, but should not be there most of the time.

2. It should be held outside of Washington, D.C.

3. This should be an event where the average people dealing with the health crisis get their chance to speak up. Although individual health care providers should be invited to speak, no one who is head of or lobbyist for a trade association or other
interest group should be asked to speak.

4. There should be at least two or three people with specific horror stories, but there should also be several middle class
people with decent benefits who are feeling squeezed and worried.

5. Small business people should be prominently featured. There should also be at least one Fortune 500

6. Senior citizens should be there, and should be encouraged to talk openly about their insecurities about potential changes in medicare and their choice of doctors.

If these fears are expressed, and we deal with them head on, we will gain immeasurably.

Hillary's contribution to the debate: the politics of personal destruction


Don Surber provides the executive summary.

I'd like to say in 15 years, Hillary has changed her tactics. But the same strategy of demonization and class warfare continues — against Obama now, against Republicans later. It's called the politics of personal destruction. In 35 years, that's the one change she's brought to the nation.


More: EIB, Michelle, Ed Morrissey, Don Surber, Hot Air, Jammie Wearing Fool and Suitably Flip have more.

Hollywood refuses to be left behind

 
After the New York Times' expose of American vets who return from war only to turn into cold-blooded murderers... and the AP's story of American vets who return only to become homeless... Hollywood has but one choice.

Certain to be coming soon to a theater near you.

Waiting for more Democrat voter shenanigans

 
Before the Nevada Caucuses




After the Nevada Caucuses




Hot Air:

I guess we’re just going to have to get used to this sort of after-the-fact crying foul in every single election involving a Democrat... It’s not just one diary on Kos. Here’s another. The Obama campaign itself has made the claim of “more than 200 voting irregularities” in Nevada... We never hear anything like this on the Republican side.

For those who think it's a foregone conclusion that Obama would accept an offer of the Veep slot from Hillary, here's some food for thought.

* Co-presidents: the role of VP in a Clinton co-presidency would be devastatingly slim. Consider Al Gore.

* Track record of Veeps: the track record of VPs moving on to the Presidency isn't a stellar one.

* Eight year wait: Obama's choice -- sit for as long as eight years as a third player in the White House... or secretly undermine Hillary in the '08 general election to ensure a GOP victory; and then come out swinging in 2012 (perhaps against a 75 year-old McCain).

If these thought processes are going through Obama's head, I think odds are better than 50-50 that we could see a Hillary-Edwards ticket. You heard it here first.

Update: Dan Riehl has more.

For those of you who saw the movie Waiting, yes, this post's headline is a secret reference!

Saturday, January 19, 2008

Conclusive Proof that Robert Novak is senile

 
Novak on Fox News: "...the Hillary campaign wants Romney, because they don't think he's likable!"

Hmmm. Hillary's campaign. Discussing "likability." Excuse me while I break out in an asthmatic conniption fit of laughter.

Wired's transportation safety gallery

 
Wired Magazine visited the Homeland Security Stakeholders SI Conference and snapped some photos of a transportation security display.

This is a replica of a nitroglycerin bomb that Ramzi Yousef used in an attempt to destroy Philippine Airlines flight 434. The bomb detonated and killed a passenger, but failed to take the plane down.

This shoe-bomb is an accurate copy of Richard Reid's footwear. The terrorist was subdued by passengers after attempting to ignite his shoes.

Quick Links: Progressives vs. Actual Progress

 
Today's must-read award goes to Discerning Texan writing at The Astute Bloggers. Check it now.

..."movement Conservatives" in fact are the closest thing remaining in the US to the "Classical Liberalism" of its founders. These are people who love this place, and who understand and believe in the vision of the brilliant Renaissance men who crafted the most revolutionary and enlightened document in the history of the world: the United States Constitution. This Constitution -- this noble experiment by enlightened men -- changed the world, forever. Because of America the planet as a whole is more wealthy and prosperous that it has ever been.

Movement Conservatives understand and recognize the profound sacrifice that countless men and women have given for that grand vision. And they can't even begin to comprehend the mentality of those who want to do away with all that in the name of some false utopian notion of "equality of result"...


Bonus: Top Ten Rejected Hillary Campaign Slogans

Sweetness & Light points to a Sun-Times Exclusive: Obama surfaces in Rekzo’s federal corruption case: "Democratic White House hopeful Barack Obama has surfaced in the federal corrupton case against his longtime campaign fund-raiser, Tony Rezko." Dirty money in Chicago politics? Say ain't so, Toe. Nee.

Iowahawk has a blistering expose of the violence endemic to the media business: "[Are these unrelated] incidents, or mounting evidence that America's newsrooms have become a breeding ground for murderous, drunk, gun-wielding child molesters? Answers are elusive, but the ever-increasing toll of violent crimes committed by journalists has led some experts to warn that without programs for intensive mental health care, the nation faces a potential bloodbath at the hands of psychopathic media vets..."

Ray Robison uncovers a story about a man, his gun, and a UFO.

GOPublius provides excellent linkage and documentation related to Hillary Clinton's Wellesley Thesis. Got Marxism?

The mysterious financial backers of Hillary Clinton

 
Morris and McGann report on Hillary's massive conflict of interest:

As American banks go hat in hand to foreign financial institutions and governments, begging for capital to help them get out of the mess into which their subprime loans have landed them, the question arises as to whether the United States should permit nations like China, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the banks they control to acquire part ownership of our leading banks.

The presidential candidates discussed this issue in their Nevada debate and Hillary was asked about it in an interview with Neil Cavuto on the FOX Business Network yesterday. She replied that she would not “stand in the way” of such investments, but said that they needed to be vetted and called for more disclosure and “transparency.”

...Bill [Clinton] — and therefore [Hillary] — have been getting a reported $10 million per year from a fund that administers the investments of the Emir of Dubai, the largest component state in the UAE...

...Neither Dubai nor Saudi Arabia would be permitted to contribute to Hillary’s campaign. Foreigners are not allowed to do so, precisely to avoid having potential office holders compromised by gratitude for their financial support. But these nations have used the porous ethics of the Clinton family to acquire positions of massive influence by making contributions, not to her campaign, but to her personal bank account — either through Bill or through the Library and Foundation, which the Clintons directly control...

And it is for exactly this kind of situation that the Clintons should be required to divulge the extent of their involvement with foreign interests and exactly how much money their personal bank accounts and their Library/Foundation have received. (The Saudi donation to the Library and Foundation was only discovered by the New York Times when the information was inadvertently posted on the Library’s Web site. Soon after the story appeared, it was taken down. The Clintons refuse to reveal the donors to the Library or the related Foundation.) Hillary and Bill have also refused to release their income tax returns, despite the fact that Bill willingly released his when he was running for president.

These questions are legitimate and highly germane:

* Who is paying Bill Clinton and how much he is being paid?
* Who are the donors and the amounts paid to the Bill Clinton Library/Foundation?
* Why won't the Clintons release their income tax returns?

The Clintons' net worth is reported to have risen to around $40 million in very short order. Someone's been paying their bills.

Hillary's been about as transparent as an ancient pyramid at night. She is not a legitimate choice for President until and unless she releases this information.

Discovery of ancient seal validates Biblical account

 
JPost: "First Temple seal found in Jerusalem."

A stone seal bearing the name of one of the families who acted as servants in the First Temple and then returned to Jerusalem after being exiled to Babylonia has been uncovered in an archeological excavation in Jerusalem's City of David, a prominent Israeli archeologist said Wednesday.

The 2,500-year-old black stone seal, which has the name "Temech" engraved on it, was found earlier this week amid stratified debris in the excavation under way just outside the Old City walls near the Dung Gate (pictured above), said archeologist Dr. Eilat Mazar, who is leading the dig.

According to the Book of Nehemiah, the Temech family were servants of the First Temple and were sent into exile to Babylon following its destruction by the Babylonians in 586 BCE... The family was among those who later returned to Jerusalem, the Bible recounts...

...The 2.1 x 1.8-cm. elliptical seal is engraved with two bearded priests standing on either side of an incense altar with their hands raised forward in a position of worship...

...The Bible refers to the Temech family: "These are the children of the province, that went up out of the captivity, of those that had been carried away, whom Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon had carried away, and came again to Jerusalem and to Judah, every one unto his city." [Nehemiah 7:6]... "The Nethinim [7:46]"... The children of Temech." [7:55].

...The seal of one of the members of the Temech family was discovered just dozens of meters away from the Opel area, where the servants of the Temple, or "Nethinim," lived in the time of Nehemiah, Mazar said... "The seal of the Temech family gives us a direct connection between archeology and the biblical sources and serves as actual evidence of a family mentioned in the Bible," she said. "One cannot help being astonished by the credibility of the biblical source as seen by the archaeological find."

In an earlier interview (Feb. 14, 2007) with archaeologist Mazar, I noticed this almost shocking snippet:

Mary Ellen Marks Highland Lakes: Is it true that the Ark of the Covenant is buried under the mount?

Dr. Mazar: There is a very high probability that the most important ancient remains are inside the compound in the massive underground halls. This includes the Ark of the Covenant...

Margaret, Sydney, Australia: Why is the site important to the Christians?

Dr. Mazar: The Temple Mount is of extreme value to the Christians as well, as it was the very spot where the Temple stood, at which Jesus himself arrived and became infuriated when he saw that it was being desecrated by so many people. He said that this was the holy place that the people must respect, and then he overturned the tables in fury...

The Ark of the Covenant?

Start excavating now!

Hat tips: El Naar and Masada 2000 (close-in photos).

HuffPo's Hillary Clinton Sleaze Database

 
I don't frequently recommend articles over at the Stuffington Roast, but Paul Loeb's latest ("Hillary Clinton's Sleaze Parade") is worth the time. Loeb has assembed a veritable database of sleaze related to the Hillary campaign, including:

* Hired Burston-Marsteller's CEO, the PR firm known for its union-busting activities

* Received donations from Rupert Murdoch and massive amounts of dough from defense, oil and health care companies

* Accepted money from fugitive Norman Hsu, tainted database guru Vin Gupta, alleged bribery specialist Dickie Scruggs, the Tan family (international sweatshop owners), and Peter Paul

* Used mailers that intentionally distorted Barack Obama's positions on abortion-related legislative votes

* Through proxies, worked the court system to discourage participation by voters inclined towards Obama and Edwards, most recently on the Vegas Strip

* In various settings, refused to answer hard questions while planting questions repeatedly

The list goes on and on and on.