As you can see, the following “put a smile” on the face of someone named John J. Miller…
Jacques Chirac, the former French president, will stand trial for embezzlement in a Paris court early next year, his lawyer said on Tuesday.Don’t think this makes me sympathetic to embezzling for a moment, but we all know why Miller is so happy.
The 77-year-old, whose presidency of France ran from 1995 until 2007, could face a ten-year prison sentence and 150,000-euro (£130,000) fine if found guilty. He will be the first modern French leader to face a corruption trial.
As noted here (dusting off the memory banks a bit), Chirac actually had the unmitigated gall to oppose and criticize the Not-So-Excellent Iraq Misadventure brought to us by Former President Highest Disapproval Rating In Gallup Poll History (of course, as noted here, Russia and China opposed it also, but it’s a lot easier for conservatives to lambaste those "cheese-eating surrender monkeys" than it is to poke at the Russian bear, as it were, or ridicule a country holding a large portion of our debt).
So, if Chirac is convicted and receives the maximum sentence, he could very well die in prison, which no doubt would cause Miller and his pals to do cartwheels in glee.
However, if Chirac is acquitted, you can be sure that you’ll hear nothing from the National Review but silence.
So what does he do with these metaphorical flames burning out of control? Why, pour gasoline all over them, of course (I have to keep reminding myself that it’s a job requirement for working at that newspaper to also serve as a moral scold)…
As for child endangerment - what if you were to discover that throughout Pennsylvania is a widespread adult behavior, proven to endanger children. It leaves them prone to school delinquency, drug and alcohol abuse, teen pregnancy, economic struggle, among other pathologies.I will only say that Mrs. Doomsy and I know a great many single parents who courageously balance the demands of work (assuming they’re employed) and family life with kids who embody the very best qualities of many offspring from two-parent families (and we know a few two-parent kids with issues in their own right); I don’t believe Mullane’s inanities deserve any further response on my part.
It's called single parenthood. There is 30 years of data to attest to its harsh impact on kids. Boys are disproportionately affected. Does it shock anyone to learn that that 70 percent of convicted rapists and killers in U.S. prisons had no father at home?
Speaking only for myself, though, do you want to know something that poses a greater danger to us than the generic “single parent” boogeyman Mullane tries to concoct here?
The young one is about old enough to the point where he can walk to the morning school bus by himself. One of the reasons I continue to accompany him, though (at the risk of making him look “uncool”) is because of the drivers who routinely ignore the STOP signs showing from the bus that picks him up (a source of continual irritation to yours truly and his bus driver).
It doesn’t matter if he’s walking north and the driver is turning south. When the school bus stops, drivers approaching from either direction are supposed to stop also. IT’S THE LAW!
(My apologies for cranking to the people who do the right thing, but I felt like I needed to say something.)
The recent murders of 72 migrant workers in northern Mexico highlight one of the main immigration issues in the United States: before we see a peaceful and secure border, our southern neighbor must get control over the violent cartels that plague the entire country. According to U.S. Customs and Border Protection, more than 4,500 people have been murdered--just along the border--since 1998.That’s pretty vile stuff, but then again, Bilbray has made his name bashing immigrants.
These 72 migrant workers were looking to make a better life for themselves on the promise of illegal jobs from unscrupulous employers and a promise of amnesty from unscrupulous politicians. The migrants paid the cartels to bring them across our border illegally, not knowing they would be kidnapped, held for ransom and murdered—whether or not their families paid for their release.
Unfortunately, some people in Congress and in the business community share the responsibility for the murders. When my colleagues talk about providing amnesty (or “a pathway to citizenship”) they become an accessory to these murders.
As noted here, he originated the “Anchor baby” nonsense parroted by fellow House Repug Louie Gohmert of Texas (of course) earlier this year. And here, he said he could spot illegal immigrants by their footwear. In spite of this, though, Mike Allen and Jim VandeHei of Politico referred to Bilbray as a “centrist” here.
Bilbray, though, need not worry about the DREAM Act for now, since, unfortunately, it was defeated in the vote on the Defense Authorization Bill (here, though this is a good idea, I must admit).
Still, I’m glad Harry Reid scheduled the vote. Get the names of those who oppose it and the repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” made public, and let them answer to their constituents.
AFL Endorses Murphy, Slams Fitzpatrick for Outsourcing Jobs
Group calls out former Congressman Fitzpatrick for lying about promises to vote against unfair trade deals that shipped American jobs overseas
(Bristol, PA) – On Monday, the Pennsylvania AFL-CIO endorsed Patrick Murphy in Pennsylvania’s 8th Congressional District race over his opponent, former Congressman Fitzpatrick, who lied to the organization when he promised members he would vote against outsourcing American jobs.What a sorry tale (and to help our congressman fight to help develop new jobs and keep the ones we have that are left, click here).
Mary Dunne, President of the Bucks County AFL-CIO, recalled the meeting she had with Congressman Mike Fitzpatrick in the summer of 2005. She traveled from Bensalem to Washington to ask that Fitzpatrick vote against a trade deal that would ship American jobs to Central America. The Congressman promised Mary and the other working families present that day he would vote no. But something changed in between that meeting and the time Fitzpatrick walked down to the House floor to cast his vote on the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) just a few hours later. As documented in later news reports, Dick Cheney called Fitzpatrick to tell the freshman Congressman they needed his yes vote. That was all it took.
One phone call from Cheney and Congressman Fitzpatrick flipped, breaking his word to his constituents and becoming the tie-breaking vote to outsource American jobs (see article below).
“Fitzpatrick lied to my face that day,” Mary said of her 2005 meeting with the former Congressman. “You may not agree with Patrick Murphy on every issue, but you know when he tells you something, he’ll stick to his word.”
The endorsement announcement took place in Bristol at the site of the former Jones New York plant, which laid off hundreds of workers after CAFTA passed and its pattern-making operations were shipped overseas.
Murphy thanked the AFL for their endorsement on behalf of working families and reiterated his commitment to moving our economy forward and creating jobs here at home. He has worked to advance his “Make it in America” aimed at driving innovation and expanding domestic manufacturing. His efforts have centered on closing tax loopholes that encourage outsourcing, providing tax credits to encourage local manufacturers to invest in new technology and innovation, and working to stop China from manipulating its currency and thus gaining an unfair and illegal trade advantage against U.S. producers.
He drew a stark contrast between his efforts and those of his opponent, who advocates a return to the failed Bush economic policies of the past, like unfair trade deals and tax breaks for outsourcing jobs.
“Mike Fitzpatrick voted to outsource American jobs to Central America and the Middle East and then has the nerve to criticize high unemployment,” Murphy said. “That’s like an arsonist complaining about the Fire Department’s response time.”# # #
Excerpt from The Hill article detailing Fitzpatrick’s role as the tie-breaking vote to pass CAFTA:
Then, just before midnight, Fitzpatrick emerged from the cloakroom followed by Blunt, DeLay and Hastert. The field was set.
Around midnight, Hayes switched his vote, then Fitzpatrick and LaTourette voted yes, after which Blunt signaled his deputy whips to release the remaining nos. Then the majority whip drew a hand across his throat signaling the vote to a close.
Note: The link to the Hill article has expired.
CAFTA: Part 3 the night of the vote
By Patrick O'Connor
An eerie calm fell over Capitol Hill on the morning of the Central America Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) vote. Police cars blocked all roads leading to the Capitol, and a helicopter hovered over Constitution Avenue in anticipation of a presidential motorcade. In the Capitol basement, a press gaggle had gathered to glimpse President Bush on his way to HC-5, the basement conference room where he would thank Republican House members for their efforts in the first seven months of the year and make one final conference-wide appeal for members to support his controversial free-trade bill. As he passed the assembled reporters, photographers and television cameras accompanied by Vice President Cheney, a handful of Cabinet secretaries and most of the Republican House leadership, one reporter yelled, “Mr. President, do you have the votes to pass CAFTA?” Bush smiled, waved to the cameras and kept walking. House Majority Whip Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) and his team had been aggressively selling CAFTA to Republican members for almost two months when it came to the floor that last Wednesday in July. The bill had momentum in its favor, but passage was not a guarantee that hot and humid morning. The whip team had been whittling down the official list of member concerns since mid-June, after Blunts 15-member task force completed its preliminary count of the votes. There was still much to be done, but the entire apparatus of Republican leadership was now behind Blunt and his team. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Texas), the iconic former whip whose effectiveness and outspoken manner have made him a forceful and controversial figure on Capitol Hill, volunteered to take on many of the hardest cases during that final stretch. In addition, Bush unleashed the full force of his Cabinet for the final push. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, U.S. Trade Representative Rob Portman, Secretary of Agriculture Mike Johanns and Secretary of Commerce Carlos Gutierrez all spent much of that final day on the Hill lobbying. By visiting congressional Republicans that morning, Bush also put the entire weight of his office and reputation on the line in support of CAFTA.
Working the phones
The early-morning calm quickly dissolved once Bush reached the Capitol. During a round of votes earlier in the day, Cantor and Blunt both had private discussions with Virginia Republican Jo Ann Davis, who was expected to vote no but missed the vote. She was away to attend a Boy Scout Jamboree event in Caroline County, Va., that was eventually canceled. Later that afternoon, as Cabinet secretaries and lobbyists canvassed the halls of Capitol Hill, Blunt assembled his 60 or so deputy whips to remind them to stay in the House chamber throughout the vote in case he needed people to help put pressure on reluctant members or find someone who skipped out of the chamber early. Around 5 that evening, Cheney, a former House whip who has become one of leadership’s most effective closers, set up shop in his House office just off the chamber. There, he called on members with his legislative liaison Brenda Becker standing nearby. Just after 6, Blunt and his floor director, Amy Steinmann, briefed the vice president on their official whip list heading into the vote. As Cheney left his office just after 10, John Engler, the president of the National Association of Manufacturers who had been stalking the Capitol that night, thanked the vice president for supporting the bill. While Cheney worked the phones that night, Cantor was scrambling to secure Rep. Robert Aderholts (R-Ala.) vote. Aderholt was seeking assurances from the White House that CAFTA would not hurt sock makers in his district by eliminating an existing tariff on imported socks. Fort Payne, Ala., is the self-proclaimed Sock Capital of the World.? He asked for a letter from Portman and Gutierrez assuring him, and in turn his constituents, that the administration would negotiate protections for American sock makers as part of the deal. He also got Portman on the phone with Charles Cole, the chief executive of one of his districts biggest sock producers. Cantors last-minute effort with Aderholt was illustrative of how leadership and the administration earned member support during those critical last days. Lobbyists and administration officials had been holding similar meetings for months, but wavering members waited until those last weeks to commit. Cajoling votes To the outside observer, the House floor is filled with members glad-handing and joking while paying minimal attention to the board overhead that lists each of their votes. But amid the social element, the floor is where rank-and-file members push their individual issues or campaign for promotions within the conference while leadership monitors that activity to keep a pulse on the troops. During each of the votes earlier that week, Blunt and Cantor worked the floor tirelessly, holding a series of one-on-one meetings with uncommitted members on the floor to gauge their level of commitment for or against CAFTA. In general, whipping tough votes is generally more about cajoling members than outright coercion because a hard case on one vote might be the difference on another. And while lobbyists, staff and administration officials tend to push the policy benefits of a particular bill, members often tell their colleagues that it’s all about the team.? When Rep. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) reached the House floor that night for the CAFTA vote, Cantor immediately found her and said, We need you to hold your vote.? He knew she was a no, but they needed her to hold out so that they would have more flexibility once the vote got close. Cantor sat with her throughout the night as House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.), Ways and Means Committee Chairman Bill Thomas (R-Calif.) and other eager CAFTA supporters paid her occasional visits. Earlier that day, Bush had called Capito to say, “I need you on this.” Afterward, her 24-year-old son, Charles, who had been sitting up in the gallery that night, told her, “I could tell you were getting pretty heated. In the end, Capito voted against the bill, but not without heavily weighing the impact on her state and the importance of her team. The team is important, Capito said the following day. I’ve been the recipient of a lot of help from the team.
˜Any other competition Blunt is a study in understatement, and that night as he walked to the floor he was focused on the task at hand more than any particular emotions surrounding the moment. But he does get excited for the big votes. It’s like any other competition, Blunt said. As he walked to the floor, he and DeLay had a list of members who were planning to vote no. Within that list, Blunt knew he and his team needed to persuade some of those members to vote yes. House Administration Committee Chairman Bob Ney (R-Ohio) had already caused the first stir of the night when his office put out a press release just after 6:30 explaining his vote against the trade bill. Then, on his way to the floor, Blunt learned that Democratic Rep. Sanford Bishop Jr. (Ga.) was voting against the bill after promising Bush earlier in the day that he would support it. When the vote finally began, Republicans took an early lead and held it until the Democrats tied things up at 174 votes apiece. The Democrats then went up by as many as nine votes before Republicans tied it up again at 207-207. As the overhead screen tallied member votes, Republicans and Democrats alike scoured the board to see how their colleagues were voting.
The vote then locked at 214-211, where it remained for the next 30 or so minutes. Nine Republicans had not yet voted, while Rep. Marty Meehan (D-Mass.) was the lone Democratic holdout. Outside lobbyists were confident at that point that Blunt would find some combination of loyal Republicans to bring the tally to the necessary 217. Afterward, Blunt said it was a big advantage for him to have the lead at that point because Democrats could not shout regular order and demand Republicans to close the vote. A curious exchange On a night full of tense conversations, the most curious was that between DeLay and House Resources Chairman Richard Pombo (R-Calif.). DeLay and Pombo had a brief, heated conversation at the back of the chamber, after which DeLay marched over to Transportation Committee Chairman Don Young (R-Alaska). Young, who was putting the finishing touches on a massive highway bill filled with members’ pet projects, quickly explained something to DeLay. DeLay walked back to Pombo, told him something and watched in frustration as Pombo stormed out of the chamber. Pombo returned to vote yes 10 minutes later, but the content of those conversations is still unclear. Ney and Armed Services Committee Chairman Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.) were the only Republican chairmen to vote against the bill. They were joined by four Republican freshmen ” Reps. Charles Boustany (R-La.), Bobby Jindal (R-La.) and Patrick McHenry (R-N.C.) had pledged to vote against it during their campaigns, something Blunt always recommends against, and Rep. Connie Mack (R-Fla.) had told leadership that he was voting no because the White House had not done enough to support him during last years Republican primary. Jeff Cohen, Mack’s chief of staff, said, Congressman Mack didn’t think the bill sufficiently protected Florida’s interests. The three freshmen held their votes until late as a strategic favor to their Republican colleagues, but they all faced enormous pressure during the course of the vote. McHenry, who was standing by himself, finally appeared to relent and vote no after enduring an aggressive appeal from Rep. Todd Tiahrt (R-Kan.). Blunt and other leaders had been leaning heavily on Reps. Mike Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.), Robin Hayes (R-N.C.) and Steve LaTourette (R-Ohio), as leaders quickly realized they were the swing members. Fitzpatrick spent most of the vote surrounded by members of the Pennsylvania delegation in the Republican cloakroom. At one point, he told Bush that he would vote yes on the bill but that he wanted Brian Conklin, the White House liaison working CAFTA, to get National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley on the phone to explain the national-security benefits of his vote. Conklin then had to wake Hadley up to go over the vote with Fitzpatrick.
Hayes had voted no earlier in the night, but leaders and business owners in his district persuaded him to switch his vote and support the legislation around midnight. Portman meanwhile was explaining how a tariff issue related to the bill would not affect furniture makers in LaTourette’s district an explanation that has since come under severe scrutiny by local press.
Then, just before midnight, Fitzpatrick emerged from the cloakroom followed by Blunt, DeLay and Hastert. The field was set.
Around midnight, Hayes switched his vote, then Fitzpatrick and LaTourette voted yes, after which Blunt signaled his deputy whips to release the remaining nos. Then the majority whip drew a hand across his throat signaling the vote to a close.
Republicans erupted with applause.
In the Speaker’s office shortly after the vote, Commerce Secretary Gutierrez thanked Fitzpatrick and promised the tired freshman he would visit his district to explain the benefits of the bill, an agreement arranged through Blunt’s staff.
Gutierrez hugged Hastert and thanked him on behalf of the administration for all his hard work to pass the trade bill. We did what we had to do to get this job done,? Hastert said. Staff soon appeared with cigars and beers for an impromptu celebration on the Speakers Balcony. While Blunt and his team celebrated their big win looking out over the Mall, inside the dark Capitol fell silent again as a lone janitor swept Statuary Hall just outside the Speakers quarters and CAFTA joined the 200-year-old echo of tough votes long forgotten.
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