Tonight, tonight, tonight!

He'll be discussing An American Carol on NBC--they tell me "11:34 Pacific time." That time sounds so precise; we should watch the whole thing.

After all:

• Leno has a Harley;
• his wife was one of the first women to come out against the Taliban's gender apartheid;
• Leno's been joking that if we only started ramping up domestic petroleum production ten years ago, when they told us it wouldn't do any good, because it would take a full decade to reach full capacity . . . we'd have that oil now.

Posted by: Attila Girl at 03:16 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Turne out everyone's innocent, thank goodness. We know, because they told us that

Rusty doesn't quite see it that way; he probably needs therapy or something.

Sure, the VP of a PR firm could have produced the video on his own, personally paid for the voice talent, got the agency to bill him, asked his multimillionaire President of a well known Democratically connected PR firm of a father to legitimize its false attacks, created multiple sock puppet accounts, and asked his buddies at the PR firm which specializes in "grassroots organization" to spread it around the internet claiming it was from "A Group of Concerned Citizens" --- on company time. It's possible.

It's also possible that I'll get a shot at that Angelina Jolie - Scarlett Johannson thing. This is American damnit, everything is possible!

It's also possible that we have a case of astroturfing, plain and simple. Which, by definition, is a paid political campaign run by parties unknown, who wish to remain unknown, and who wish the whole thing to appear as if it's bottom up and grassroots.

But, who knows? Our investigation was really about getting the MSM off their lazy asses and doing the real digging. But apparently investigative journalism has been reduced to calling a campaign and getting a statement.

I think that's how Woodward and Bernstein did it, right? They called the White House and said, "Hey, Nixon, did you do it? No. Okay. Case closed."

Posted by: Attila Girl at 05:59 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Men can have private meetings with foreign leaders, and it's okay.

If women have private meetings with foreign leaders, and there are no reporters to supervise, they might just start gushing blood out at them—like gory firehoses—and it takes a good pressman to smooth a situation like that over.

Actually, Palin just didn't want reporters in on these meetings because Charlie Gibson wasn't available, and it made her sad.

Posted by: Attila Girl at 05:47 AM | Comments (6) | Add Comment
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Let's bite the bullet, and then make sure this doesn't happen again.

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Apparently, it is the custom of some hospitals to bill rape victims--or, rather, their insurance companies--for their emergency exams, including rape kits. Some states permit this as standard practice, since the costs are generally absorbed by insurance companies.

This had nothing to do with Sarah Palin.

The reform that occurred before she became governor was a statewide effort to try to get hospitals not to send bills to the victims of sex crimes (even if the costs would ultimately be covered by insurance) and to make it clear to the hospitals—and to these victims—that law enforcement considered the ER visits (especially, of course, the rape kits) to be part of their responsibility, as their main purpose is to gather evidence to help cops solves crimes. Even in small towns scraping by on a shoestring, forensic evidence is forensic evidence, and is the responsibility of law enforcement.

The lawmakers' hope was that a rape victim would not even see an invoice or statement (even if it were intended to be paid by the insurance company). This hyper-sensitive (and, I think, sensible) approach is not taken in every state, but it was eventually mandated in Alaska. The legislation was passed, and signed into law, before Palin became governor.

So she gets neither credit for the reform, nor blame if any insensitive hospitals did, indeed, include rape kit charges on their financial statements to the victims of sex crimes. Apparently no one has been able to establish for sure one way or the other whether such statements or bills were actually sent to sex-crime victims in Wasilla during Sarah's time as Mayor of that town. Certainly, we do not know if she was made aware of it, if it did occur.)

One hell of a hat tip to:
Confederate Yankee, on rape kits, Part I
Confederate Yankee, on rape kits, Part II

No word yet on whether Confederate Yankee (or Charlie at Explorations, for that matter) will be invoicing the mainstream news outlets who reported the story wrong, thereby compelling unpaid journalists to pick up the pieces after the hacks at CNN, US News & World Report, USA Today, The Chicago Tribune, the Associated Press, and "dozens" of others reported the story wrong because, hey—shoeleather is expensive, and phone bills are high, and what's the harm anyway, if it might help put Obama in the White House where he belongs?

Via Twitter-Tweets from Flap.

Posted by: Attila Girl at 01:30 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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DEAR AMERICAN:

I NEED TO ASK YOU TO SUPPORT AN URGENT SECRET BUSINESS RELATIONSHIP WITH A TRANSFER OF FUNDS OF GREAT MAGNITUDE.

I AM MINISTRY OF THE TREASURY OF THE REPUBLIC OF AMERICA. MY COUNTRY HAS HAD CRISIS THAT HAS CAUSED THE NEED FOR LARGE TRANSFER OF FUNDS OF 800 BILLION DOLLARS US. IF YOU WOULD ASSIST ME IN THIS TRANSFER, IT WOULD BE MOST PROFITABLE TO YOU.

. . . . . . . . . . .

THIS IS A MATTER OF GREAT URGENCY . . . . WE NEED THE FUNDS AS QUICKLY AS POSSIBLE. WE CANNOT DIRECTLY TRANSFER THESE FUNDS IN THE NAMES OF OUR CLOSE FRIENDS BECAUSE WE ARE CONSTANTLY UNDER SURVEILLANCE. MY FAMILY LAWYER ADVISED ME THAT I SHOULD LOOK FOR A RELIABLE AND TRUSTWORTHY PERSON WHO WILL ACT AS A NEXT OF KIN SO THE FUNDS CAN BE TRANSFERRED.

PLEASE REPLY WITH ALL OF YOUR BANK ACCOUNT, IRA AND COLLEGE FUND ACCOUNT NUMBERS AND THOSE OF YOUR CHILDREN AND GRANDCHILDREN TO WALLSTREETBAILOUT@TREASURY.GOV SO THAT WE MAY TRANSFER YOUR COMMISSION FOR THIS TRANSACTION. AFTER I RECEIVE THAT INFORMATION, I WILL RESPOND WITH DETAILED INFORMATION ABOUT SAFEGUARDS THAT WILL BE USED TO PROTECT THE FUNDS.

YOURS FAITHFULLY,

MINISTER OF TREASURY

HENRY PAULSON

h/t: Lew Rockwell, who thanks Mike Holmes for the concept/execution. I got it from Robert Stacy McCain.

Posted by: Attila Girl at 12:35 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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I wonder why they don't get more attention. For instance, there's this doozy.

Posted by: Attila Girl at 06:29 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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The McCain team makes it really easy. They provide the phone numbers, and the script; you can make the calls at your own pace.

Last week, our campaign launched a grassroots effort to put you in touch with voters all across the country through our online phone bank.

The polls all show this election is in a dead heat, and we expect the polls to stay close until Election Day. That's why it's so important for you to get involved today. This election will be won by turning out key voters all over the country. You can help the McCain-Palin campaign win by taking 30 minutes out of your evening to make 20 calls for John McCain and Sarah Palin.

Follow this link to make calls: www.JohnMcCain.com/PhoneBank

The Obama-Biden campaign has hired hundreds of paid staff and is spending millions of dollars bombarding undecided voters with advertisements filled with negative, misleading and false information about John McCain and Governor Palin. We need your help to combat this and get the truth out to these voters. You are the most effective surrogate we have in this campaign. By reaching out to undecided voters, one by one, you are taking a crucial step towards our victory.

Today, we are only six weeks away from Election Day and we need your help right now. In such a close election, taking 30 minutes to make 20 calls for John McCain and Governor Palin can make the difference.

Follow this link to make calls: www.JohnMcCain.com/PhoneBank

As always, I appreciate your hard work and dedication to our team!

Sincerely,

Christian Ferry
Deputy Campaign Manager

P.S. John McCain and Governor Palin are ready to lead our country and ready to challenge the status quo. Please do your part to elect the McCain-Palin ticket in November by making calls today through our online phone bank. The work you are doing today will make a big difference on Election Day. Thank you.

By the way, the McCain campaign official website has special resources for undecided voters, and one of their "sub-groups," Citizens for McCain, is specifically geared toward Democrats who are crossing party lines for this election. I was impressed that his acceptance speech at the Convention was critical of the GOP—even in front of thousands of the party faithful—and that he still pitched his ability to cross party lines to get things done.

Furthermore, on the McCain website, one can earn "points" (that silly little gimmick so many websites are engaging in these days to motivate their members) not only by hosting debate-watching parties, phone-banking, inviting friends to join, sending political emails, etc., but also by volunteering for community groups to perform nonpolitical charity work. Including Habitat for Humanity. So Senator McCain is not throwing the Carterian baby out with the bathwater, by any stretch of the imagination.

This election could well be even closer than the 2004 election was, so get busy.

Posted by: Attila Girl at 04:12 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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. . . however he tried in 2005. Kevin Hassett in Bloomberg:

Sept. 22 (Bloomberg) -- The financial crisis of the past year has provided a number of surprising twists and turns, and from Bear Stearns Cos. to American International Group Inc., ambiguity has been a big part of the story.

Why did Bear Stearns fail, and how does that relate to AIG? It all seems so complex.

But really, it isn't. Enough cards on this table have been turned over that the story is now clear. The economic history books will describe this episode in simple and understandable terms: Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac exploded, and many bystanders were injured in the blast, some fatally.

Fannie and Freddie did this by becoming a key enabler of the mortgage crisis. They fueled Wall Street's efforts to securitize subprime loans by becoming the primary customer of all AAA-rated subprime-mortgage pools. In addition, they held an enormous portfolio of mortgages themselves.

In the times that Fannie and Freddie couldn't make the market, they became the market. Over the years, it added up to an enormous obligation. As of last June, Fannie alone owned or guaranteed more than $388 billion in high-risk mortgage investments. Their large presence created an environment within which even mortgage-backed securities assembled by others could find a ready home.

The problem was that the trillions of dollars in play were only low-risk investments if real estate prices continued to rise. Once they began to fall, the entire house of cards came down with them.

Turning Point

Take away Fannie and Freddie, or regulate them more wisely, and it's hard to imagine how these highly liquid markets would ever have emerged. This whole mess would never have happened.

It is easy to identify the historical turning point that marked the beginning of the end.

Back in 2005, Fannie and Freddie were, after years of dominating Washington, on the ropes. They were enmeshed in accounting scandals that led to turnover at the top. At one telling moment in late 2004, captured in an article by my American Enterprise Institute colleague Peter Wallison, the Securities and Exchange Comiission's chief accountant told disgraced Fannie Mae chief Franklin Raines that Fannie's position on the relevant accounting issue was not even ``on the page'' of allowable interpretations.

Then legislative momentum emerged for an attempt to create a ``world-class regulator'' that would oversee the pair more like banks, imposing strict requirements on their ability to take excessive risks. Politicians who previously had associated themselves proudly with the two accounting miscreants were less eager to be associated with them. The time was ripe.

Greenspan's Warning

The clear gravity of the situation pushed the legislation forward. Some might say the current mess couldn't be foreseen, yet in 2005 Alan Greenspan told Congress how urgent it was for it to act in the clearest possible terms: If Fannie and Freddie ``continue to grow, continue to have the low capital that they have, continue to engage in the dynamic hedging of their portfolios, which they need to do for interest rate risk aversion, they potentially create ever-growing potential systemic risk down the road,'' he said. ``We are placing the total financial system of the future at a substantial risk.''

What happened next was extraordinary. For the first time in history, a serious Fannie and Freddie reform bill was passed by the Senate Banking Committee. The bill gave a regulator power to crack down, and would have required the companies to eliminate their investments in risky assets.

Different World

If that bill had become law, then the world today would be different. In 2005, 2006 and 2007, a blizzard of terrible mortgage paper fluttered out of the Fannie and Freddie clouds, burying many of our oldest and most venerable institutions. Without their checkbooks keeping the market liquid and buying up excess supply, the market would likely have not existed.

But the bill didn't become law, for a simple reason: Democrats opposed it on a party-line vote in the committee, signaling that this would be a partisan issue. Republicans, tied in knots by the tight Democratic opposition, couldn't even get the Senate to vote on the matter.

That such a reckless political stand could have been taken by the Democrats was obscene even then. Wallison wrote at the time: ``It is a classic case of socializing the risk while privatizing the profit. The Democrats and the few Republicans who oppose portfolio limitations could not possibly do so if their constituents understood what they were doing.''

Mounds of Materials

Now that the collapse has occurred, the roadblock built by Senate Democrats in 2005 is unforgivable. Many who opposed the bill doubtlessly did so for honorable reasons. Fannie and Freddie provided mounds of materials defending their practices. Perhaps some found their propaganda convincing.

But we now know that many of the senators who protected Fannie and Freddie, including Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and Christopher Dodd, have received mind-boggling levels of financial support from them over the years.

Throughout his political career, Obama has gotten more than $125,000 in campaign contributions from employees and political action committees of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, second only to Dodd, the Senate Banking Committee chairman, who received more than $165,000.

Clinton, the 12th-ranked recipient of Fannie and Freddie PAC and employee contributions, has received more than $75,000 from the two enterprises and their employees. The private profit found its way back to the senators who killed the fix.

So: heads, the politicians win; tails, the taxpayers lose.

Via Ace of Spades.

Posted by: Attila Girl at 02:31 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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Sarah on the Iranian threat:

Senator McCain has made a solemn commitment that I strongly endorse: Never again will we risk another Holocaust. And this is not a wish, a request, or a plea to Israel's enemies. This is a promise that the United States and Israel will honor, against any enemy who cares to test us. It is John McCain's promise and it is my promise.

As Sandra Bernhard would say: shiksa.

Posted by: Attila Girl at 01:45 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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It's like this: it appears that John McCain's chief of staff is gay.

Now here is what your average German Shepherd would conclude: "Oh. I thought most prominent members of the Republican Party were homophobic. Guess I was wrong."

Instead, it's being presented as "hypocrisy." Because, you see, John McCain is "anti-gay." How do we know he's anti-gay? Because he wants to go slowly on integrating "out" gays into the Armed Forces, and isn't sure that civil unions should be referred to using the word "marriage." (I'm cool with the latter; I disagree strongly with the former; "don't ask, don't tell" has been a disaster. But is there anyone out there who doesn't think we're going to go the way of the British special forces and have full sexual-orientation within the military within 5-10 years?)

So was it hypocritical for Cheney to employ his daughter in the 2004 campaign? Was it hypocritical for Barry Goldwater to maintain good relations with his son, and rail against sexual-orientation in the military back in the 1960s? Is it hypocritical for Steve Schmidt—the architect of McCain's Presidential election this year—to see to it that the Log Cabin Republicans were an officially recognized group this year at the GOP convention, and to meet with them personally? Is it hypocritical for him to speak warmly of his sister and her life partner—and to stress what an important role they play in his life, and the life of his kids?

Is it hypocritical for George W. Bush to have friends who are transgendered? Is it hypocritical for Condi Rice to befriend her colleagues with gender dysphoria issues?

Was it hypocritical for Sarah Palin to leave her church after they started discussing the notion that homosexuality can be "cured"?

I'm sorry, but none of these things strike me as hypocritical. The word I would use is "tolerance."

Except that these people are and were Republicans. So it cannot be "tolerance." It must be "hypocrisy," since leading members of the GOP cannot quite live up to (or rather down to) the cartoonish notions that people carry around in their heads.

Oh, and: here's a portrait of one of our frontrunners for the GOP Presidential nomination:

And some more from "hypocrites" like BoiFromTroy—who is running an ad for Arnold Schwarzenegger's "Republicans Against 8." Hypocrites!

Posted by: Attila Girl at 11:11 PM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
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Maybe I did misjudge him . . .

Obama Promises To Stop America's Shitty Jobs From Going Overseas

Posted by: Attila Girl at 09:28 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Dan Riehl just ran this extremely authentic-looking video of David Axelrod talking to Ethan Winner of Winner and Associates:

I know I can trust the information contained therein, because there are no production credits on it. With no one taking credit or blame, it seems safe to say that this is an honest representation of just exactly how it all, um, went down last night.

Posted by: Attila Girl at 05:27 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Robert Stacy is staying on top of the case.

Hey—unlike Family "Winner," the Kernel kid at least made a half-assed attempt to cover his tracks. And he's half Ethan's age or some such.

Posted by: Attila Girl at 05:17 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Keep your eye on the ball:

Newark, Blast Ring 4: Radioactive mutants from the National Jewish Democratic Council today tapped an angry Morse code press release message on the lid of the fallout shelter of another Jewish organization, demanding that it "immediately disinvite" controversial Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin from its fortified underground bunker.

"As an evangelical extremist Republican, Sarah Palin is no friend to surviving American Jews, or the former country of Israel," said NJDC chairman Mark Stanley. "Allowing Palin into a Jewish refugee shelter creates not only a partisan circus, but a health hazard for fellow Jews who will be exposed to her dangerous Alaska redneck cooties."

A spokes-tapper from the organization, the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, defended the invitation of Palin to the join the group in the bunker, noting it had given similar invitations to several Democratic politicians after former Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad appeared at the United Nations last week strapped with a 50-megaton nuclear device. However, all of the Democratic invitees canceled under pressure from the NDJC.

"Just because Senators Clinton and Schumer were vaporized in the attack last week is no excuse for you to continue hosting Sarah Palin," responded Stanley. "It is an affront to all Jews that you would actually share your freeze-dried kreplatch and tzimmes with this dangerous meshuggah shiksa."

Posted by: Attila Girl at 05:08 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Apparently, though, he did it on his own time, with his own money, and out of the goodness of his heart.

He hasn't paid the voiceover actress, yet: apparently, she hasn't yet "invoiced" him. And he didn't identify himself as the producer, because he . . . I dunno. I guess he forgot or something.

No word why his father/CEO or his colleague-in-the-family's PR firm also created You Tube accounts and attempted to promote the video. Nor why it came to the attention of sites like dKos or Jesus' General, where it was openly promoted there as a good "dirty trick" that the Left ought to disseminate as aggressively as possible.

It seems to me that Winner and Associates is the real-life equivalent of the Jodie Foster character in "Inside Man": 100% amoral, completely mercenary, and able to fix just about any problem—for the right price.

So . . . now that they've been outed, on a scheme that might just be violation of FEC rules, can they fix themselves?

Posted by: Attila Girl at 04:50 PM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
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They've got a new series of ads out to buttress their assertion that Obama might be "the most anti-gun President in U.S. history."

Here's one:

Two questions:

1) They actually identify themselves as the producers and disseminators of this political ad. Isn't that old-fashioned? I thought people didn't need to do that any more: isn't the new trend to "upload to You Tube, send it to Jesus' General, and hope it goes viral"?

2) They keep talking about someone named "Joe Biden," who's apparently a big gun-grabber. Name doesn't ring a bell, though. Apparently, he's linked with that far-left Presidential candidate . . . Obama-something.

For more, see the NRA Victory Fund's "Gun Ban Obama" site.

Via Marc Ambinder, via Conservative Grapevine.

Posted by: Attila Girl at 04:25 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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The second version of the trailer; I kind of like this one:

Opens October 3rd! (I've been told that's the same day that the movie about G.W. Bush comes out.)

Remember: The film's parody site is moovealong.org. I signed up there, too, and got a note from "Michael Malone" saying something along the lines of "I can't believe you signed up for this! Go see An American Carol! Her master's voice . . . )

The official site is here, and you can join the "American Carolers" to help spread the word, network with other supporters of the effort—and even earn "points" by spreading the word in various ways. Those who earn the most points can win prizes such as autographed movie posters, and the Brass Ring—a private screening of the movie for you and your friends.

(As usual, other bloggers are encouraged to get in touch with me, so I can forward any extra goodies that come my way from their new media outreach branch.)

Posted by: Attila Girl at 03:51 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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and then there's Chicago.

Know the difference.

h/t: Insty.

Posted by: Attila Girl at 03:20 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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People waited for hours in the hot sun to see her; she drew somewhere between 30,000 and 60,00 people, depending upon which Fire Dept. official one speaks to.

Her roles, she tells us, would be (1) helping with political/economic reform; (2) working with Johnny Mac on energy issues, and (3) advocating for help with special needs children and other health-related issues (in particular, she mentioned the NIH, and continuing to seek cures for some of the diseases that still plague us).

Too bad Obama doesn't have someone who can go around and campaign on his behalf like that: really motivate large crowds to turn out the vote for him. Kind of a shame, that it all sort of falls to him. Oh, well. Guess Senator Gaffe seemed like a good idea at the time.

Posted by: Attila Girl at 03:04 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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