Apparently If We Pass Enough Blatantly Unconstitutional Laws...

You have to admit, passing laws that are completely unconstitutional is a good way to prove that representative democracy isn't very useful at times.

Legislation introduced to the Iowa House of Representatives on Wednesday would completely outlaw abortion and mandate up to life in prison for those who purposefully terminate a pregnancy.

The bill, House File 2298, was introduced by state Rep. Kim Pearson (R). It would outlaw all abortions, even cases of rape or incest, or to save the life of a mother.

In response, Iowa Democrats blasted Republicans for pushing a divisive social agenda rather than focusing on improving the economy.

“Republicans have failed to focus on ways to make Iowa stronger,” Iowa Democratic Party Chairwoman Sue Dvorsky said in a statement. “House Republicans and their colleagues in the Senate would rather put the lives of women in danger than have a real discussion about how we create jobs and move Iowa forward.”

So go for it, Iowa Republicans.  Continue to prove why you should be in charge like this.  Hell, why stop there, just bring back Jim Crow laws and indentured servitude while you're at it.  At least this way is faster.

Best And Worst Video of 2011

My favorite is short, sweet and hilarious.




... and now we have the worst.

In "Republican Wisdom" this old lady shows us exactly why we must never vote for the GOP.  It's a bit dated, the Herman Cain reference is hilarious.

Last Call

Meet the new employee/boss relationship involving Keith Olbermann, same as the old employee/boss relationship involving Keith Olbermann.

Keith Olbermann, who came to Current TV this year to remake the channel and compete against his old home, MSNBC, is sitting out the biggest political nights of the season.

Despite being the biggest star on the fledging channel, Mr. Olbermann is not scheduled to anchor Current’s coverage of the Iowa caucus or the New Hampshire primary in January. Instead, Current’s other prime time anchors, Cenk Uygur and Jennifer Granholm, will be joined by the channel’s chairman, the former vice president Al Gore, according to the channel’s TV schedule.

Mr. Olbermann also was noticeably absent from two special reports that Current produced after Republican debates in mid-December. Those, too, were anchored by Mr. Uygur.

These absences suggest that there may be new tension between Mr. Olbermann and the managers at Current, who are trying to create a progressive-oriented cable news channel. 

I don't get Current TV on my cable provider...and I'm not too particularly broken up over it either.  But if Cenk is Al Gore's new golden boy, I can't wait for the fireworks to begin...especially when Cenk's extracurricular activities at HuffPo involves telling people not to vote for President Obama on Tuesday in Iowa in order to "teach him a lesson".

I follow politics for a living; I'm not unaware of how hideous the Republican choices are. But that doesn't mean that we should pretend that President Obama has been brilliant because we're scared of the big, bad Republicans. That would be fundamentally dishonest.

And to be honest, I'm really disappointed that he does not have a primary opponent. This country is dying for someone who is going to take on the establishment. Who is that going to be on our side -- Barack Obama? On that, I know whether to laugh or cry. Every time I think about the idea that President Obama might be against the establishment, I laugh and laugh and laugh. There is never been a guy who was this enamored with the establishment. If he had wrestling nickname it would be The Establishment.

Hey Current?  Your new host is openly advocating weakening the President, ostensibly because walking out on "establishment" Dems and handing the House to the Tea Party in 2010 worked out so very well for progressive legislation in 2011.  It'll be good for Cenk's ratings so he can continue to rail at the horrible Dems while the GOP wrecks the country, or so he thinks.

Then again, HuffPo has no problem espousing the greatness of Ron Paul and saying Dems need to insist on dumping Biden for Hillary as soon as possible, so nobody should be surprised at Cenk's antics.  Works for HuffPo, doesn't it?

Perhaps Olbermann has noticed the ratings swirling down the drain. Things are certainly...interesting over there.   On the other hand, maybe there's a reason why people are dumping Current with analysis like this:

The agenda of the president sucks and is deeply Republican.

Boy, that sure makes me want to switch over from "fake progressive" MSNBC and watch "true progressive" Current, huh.

Last Call

And The New Republic sticks a fork in Ron Paul.  The fork is labeled "racist douchebag" but it's tastefully lettered, and there plenty of citations of other various bigotries besides racism from Ron Paul's publications, including gay-bashing, antisemitism, and just plain tinfoil idiocy.

Highlights of the collection:

“A Special Issue on Racial Terrorism” analyzes the Los Angeles riots of 1992: “Order was only restored in L.A. when it came time for the blacks to pick up their welfare checks three days after rioting began. ... What if the checks had never arrived? No doubt the blacks would have fully privatized the welfare state through continued looting. But they were paid off and the violence subsided.”

The July 1992 Ron Paul Political Report declares, “Jury verdicts, basketball games, and even music are enough to set off black rage, it seems,” and defends David Duke. The author of the newsletter—presumably Paul—writes, “My youngest son is starting his fourth year in medical school. He tells me there would be no way to persuade his fellow students of the case for economic liberty.”

The September 1994 issue of the Ron Paul Survival Report states that “those who don’t commit sodomy, who don’t get blood a transfusion, and who don’t swap needles, are virtually assured of not getting AIDS unless they are deliberately infected by a malicious gay.”


The October 1992 issue of the Political Report paraphrases an “ex-cop” who offers this strategy for protecting against “urban youth”: “If you have to use a gun on a youth, you should leave the scene immediately, disposing of the wiped off gun as soon as possible. Such a gun cannot, of course, be registered to you, but one bought privately (through the classifieds, for example).”

The January 1988 Ron Paul Political Report approvingly cites Dr. William C. Douglass, who “believes that AIDS is a deliberately engineered hybrid” developed at a World Health Organization experiment conducted at Ft. Detrick. Douglass has long been a fringe medical guru, and today claims that “smoking can help you live longer!!!”

The November 1992 Ron Paul Survival Report defends chess champion and Holocaust-denier Bobby Fischer, saying that “the brilliant Fischer, who has all the makings of an American hero, is very politically incorrect on Jewish questions, for which he will never be forgiven, even though he is a Jew. Thus we are not supposed to herald him as the world’s greatest chess player.”

Here's the thing, Paul's had this particular load of nitroglycerine in his luggage for years, in several cases well over decades.  How was he able to get re-elected in Texas as a Congressman every two years with this?  These are not new, people.  Ron Paul's been an asshole for a very, very long time.

It's the people on the left that support Paul that I don't get.  You have to overlook all of this atrocious, foul vitriol before you even get to his policies or positions, and you have to do so through either staggering ignorance or agreement with him.

Not only do I think Ron Paul is suspect, but the people telling me to support Ron Paul have no business being listened to for advice.

And Then...Enter The Moose

Sarah Palin's bank account must be running dangerously close to under a couple million or so, either that or her narcissism is kicking in full blast, because...she's baaaaaaaaaaaack!

In a pre-taped interview set to air tonight on Fox Business Network’s “Follow The Money,” Eric Bolling mentioned to Sarah Palin that people constantly tell him they wish she was running for President. Instead of tut-tutting the idea, Palin — who said on Sunday that she wasn’t ready to endorse any Republican candidate yet — swung the door wide open for a possible entry into the GOP field:

“Any chance we can see you making a play, even after Iowa or New Hampshire?” Bolling asked. “There’s still plenty of time, Governor.”

“You know, it’s not too late for folks to jump in,” Palin replied. “And I don’t know, you know, it — who knows what will happen in the future?”

So… good news for all those people who bought “Palin 2012″ t-shirts as a joke four years ago; they may soon be wear-able outside of Halloween parties or in ironic neighborhoods of Brooklyn. And love her or hate her, Palin entering the race could add a fun element to the GOP race, which is due for another major shake-up soon.

And so, the Great Alaskan Grifting resumes.  People will send her money, she'll get on TV, she'll get attention...and then she'll pull out like she always does.  And her fans will love her all the more for it.

She can do this for decades.

Last Call

The One Percenters complain that we can't possibly spend any more money to help Americans in need right now, that we have to cut, cut, cut social programs and aid to the 99% as the Great Recession and the Housing Depression rolls on.

Turns out the banksters got more money than anyone possibly imagined, including me.  The Fed, over three years, made $7.7 trillion in emergency no-interest or low-interest loans to banks, including $1.2 trillion on one day, in order to save the financial system.

The Federal Reserve and the big banks fought for more than two years to keep details of the largest bailout in U.S. history a secret. Now, the rest of the world can see what it was missing.

The Fed didn’t tell anyone which banks were in trouble so deep they required a combined $1.2 trillion on Dec. 5, 2008, their single neediest day. Bankers didn’t mention that they took tens of billions of dollars in emergency loans at the same time they were assuring investors their firms were healthy. And no one calculated until now that banks reaped an estimated $13 billion of income by taking advantage of the Fed’s below-market rates, Bloomberg Markets magazine reports in its January issue.

Saved by the bailout, bankers lobbied against government regulations, a job made easier by the Fed, which never disclosed the details of the rescue to lawmakers even as Congress doled out more money and debated new rules aimed at preventing the next collapse.

A fresh narrative of the financial crisis of 2007 to 2009 emerges from 29,000 pages of Fed documents obtained under the Freedom of Information Act and central bank records of more than 21,000 transactions. While Fed officials say that almost all of the loans were repaid and there have been no losses, details suggest taxpayers paid a price beyond dollars as the secret funding helped preserve a broken status quo and enabled the biggest banks to grow even bigger. 

And the banks made $13 billion in profit off these loans.   Topping the list: Citigroup made $1.8 billion off those loans, Bank of America $1.5 billion, and Royal Bank of Scotland made $1.2 billion off of the America taxpayer.  But that's not socialism, or course.

So yeah.  When the one percent and the companies they work for and own need money, they get $7.7 trillion in loans to keep the status quo going.  Meanwhile, you as a peon?  You should be made to suffer.  It builds character.

Assholes.

Last Call

Hope you had a good Black Friday.  This year shopping was especially rough, apparently.

Authorities are searching for a woman accused of pepper-spraying other shoppers Thursday night at the Wal-Mart in Porter Ranch so that she could grab more discounted merchandise.

Twenty customers, including children, were hurt in the 10:10 p.m. incident, officials said. Shoppers complained of minor skin and eye irritation and sore throats.

"This was customer-versus-customer 'shopping rage,'" said Los Angeles Police Lt. Abel Parga.

The woman used the spray in more than one area of the Wal-Mart "to gain preferred access to a variety of locations in the store," said Los Angeles Fire Capt. James Carson.

"She was competitive shopping," he said.

Oh beautiful for spacious aisles, for amber waves of spray...

Only in America would a police spokesperson look at this case where pepper spray was used by a civilian, get nervous about the whole UC Davis thing, and decide to dodge the whole incident by calling it "competitive shopping".   Black Friday kinda sucks.

On the other hand, our old friend Don Surber says college economists who oppose rampant consumption on Black Friday should be taxed within an inch of their lives, (and while we're taxing private universities, let's charge sales tax on college tuition and end student loans!  That'll keep the poor people in their place!)

Drive Fast, Turn...On The First Lady

So Michelle Obama and Dr. Jill Biden went to Sunday's NASCAR Sprint Cup finale race in Miami to honor our men and women in uniform.  The reception the First Lady got?  Exactly what you'd expect from NASCAR fans, apparently.



I'll tell you what, nothing shows class and distinction like booing the First Lady of the United States because you disagree politically with her husband. Way to go, guys.

As I've said again and again:  Not all Obama Derangement Syndrome is directed at one Barack Obama.

Penn State Of Denial, Part 2

In the wake of the truly ugly incidents of child molestation involving former Penn State assistant football coach  Jerry Sandusky, looks like his one-time boss Joe Paterno will be retiring at the end of the season from Penn State.

Legendary Penn State head football coach Joe Paterno will retire at the end of the season, he said Wednesday in a statement. Paterno's move comes in the wake of a child sex abuse scandal involving a former assistant football coach.

“I am absolutely devastated by the developments in this case.  I grieve for the children and their families, and I pray for their comfort and relief,” he said.

“I have come to work every day for the last 61 years with one clear goal in mind: To serve the best interests of this university and the young men who have been entrusted to my care. I have the same goal today.

"That's why I have decided to announce my retirement effective at the end of this season. At this moment the Board of Trustees should not spend a single minute discussing my status. They have far more important matters to address. I want to make this as easy for them as I possibly can."

I personally don't think Paterno should be allowed to finish out the season, but that's not my call.  The university will be under a lot of pressure to see him go sooner as these allegations get worse.  I have no sympathy for his "legend" either if he turned a blind eye to this for years, nor do I have any sympathy for the school or the program.

Geov Parrish has more on this over at BooMan's place.

And the value of the downfall of Paterno is twofold. First, it underscores that a situation like that can happen anywhere, to anyone - even in a place as idyllic as Happy Valley and with the moral rectitude of Paterno's football program. Secondly, while Paterno has been legally exonerated of wrongdoing, there's also been a pretty clear public moral judgment that his actions were not adequate. That as the most influential man in his community, he should have followed up. He should have asked why Sandusky continued to be around his program - with more young children in tow, no less - for a full decade after the initial allegations against him. When nobody else contacted authorities, Paterno - among others - should have. 

Absolutely agree with this.  I mean Penn State's president, Graham Spanier, is expected to lose his job over this imminently.  Why not JoePa too?

Nader's Latest Nadir, Part 2

It seems Ralph Nader really wants to turn the Occupy Together movement into "Primary Obama!" but as usual, he's having trouble with that whole Step Two Question Mark thing and has taken to kicking around the house in his slippers.

It's not exactly clear what direction the Occupy movement will take, or what course Nader himself will take.

In September, he joined forces with Cornell West, a Princeton University professor and progressive agitator, in a public letter to distinguished Americans calling on them to step forward and challenge President Barack Obama in the Democratic primary.

However, he told McClatchy that the effort was now effectively dead, despite fielding what he said was a "pretty good slate" of candidates, because the New Hampshire primary filing deadline was moved up to Oct. 28.

Nader, who looks remarkably the same as he did when he first became a public figure and still lives on $30,000 a year, could possibly be cajoled into another run, say longtime associates. But for now he's doing what he's always done — support citizen agitation and hawk a book.

This month his 16th book, "Getting Steamed to Overcome Corporatism," will be released.

"He's looking for the strategic and tactical advantage in the current situation," said Steven Schier, professor of political science at Carleton College in Northfield, Minn. "This should be grist for his mill. You'd think he'd capture some of the energy of that movement for his causes."

You'd think that.  Of course, maybe it's not working because people still remember the 2000 election and what that meant to the country, or maybe they realize Nader's just trying to sell books, or hanging out with fellow grifter Cornell West, or that the idea of primarying an incumbent Democrat in the White House is a sure way to hand the country over to the GOP a year from now.

And it's not Nader's ideas I have a problem with.  I'd love to see a completely balanced public financing system for candidates, free of corporate influence and lobbying.  I also know that handing over the country to the GOP isn't the way to get that, either...especially in the name of self-aggrandizement.

Penn State Of Denial

As much as the arguments about looking the other way while NCAA athletics programs pay athletes under the table (meaning at least these kids get a small slice of the pie that these major programs rake in for universities) are valid ones, the culture of lawlessness that these programs create has very real consequences.

Documents indicating that criminal charges are being filed against former Penn State football coach and Second Mile founder Jerry Sandusky were posted to the Pennsylvania court system website Friday afternoon.


The documents listed 40 charges of sex offenses involving minors as being filed against Sandusky, 67, on Friday. The documents show the case is assigned to District Judge Leslie Dutchcot in Ferguson Township, but employees at her office said no charging documents had been received by the time it closed at 5 p.m.

Sandusky has been the subject of a state grand jury investigation for the past two years. The (Harrisburg) Patriot-News in March broke the story of the investigation, reporting that it began in 2009, when a 15-year-old told authorities that Sandusky had inappropriate contact with him over a four-year period, starting when he was 10.

Calls to the state Attorney General’s Office Friday were not returned. Sandusky’s attorney, Joseph Amendola, also could not be reached.

The charges against Sandusky include one made during his final four years at Penn State under Joe Paterno, as well as the following eight years after he left the program in retirement as he spent time as head of the charity for kids he had founded called Second Mile, and the charges are supposedly pretty brutal, dozens of counts against Sandusky are to be filed.

Innocent until proven guilty of course, but this raises all kinds of questions about Penn State and Second Mile, very uncomfortable ones.

Happy, Hollow Weenies

Meet the Buffalo law firm of Steven J. Baum, where the specialization is helping banks with foreclosure law and the annual Halloween costume party shows just how the employees feel about the "home ownership society" as I give Joe Nocera a second chance after last week's Bork idiocy.

Let me describe a few of the photos. In one, two Baum employees are dressed like homeless people. One is holding a bottle of liquor. The other has a sign around her neck that reads: “3rd party squatter. I lost my home and I was never served.” My source said that “I was never served” is meant to mock “the typical excuse” of the homeowner trying to evade a foreclosure proceeding.

A second picture shows a coffin with a picture of a woman whose eyes have been cut out. A sign on the coffin reads: “Rest in Peace. Crazy Susie.” The reference is to Susan Chana Lask, a lawyer who had filed a class-action suit against Steven J. Baum — and had posted a YouTube video denouncing the firm’s foreclosure practices. “She was a thorn in their side,” said my source.

A third photograph shows a corner of Baum’s office decorated to look like a row of foreclosed homes. Another shows a sign that reads, “Baum Estates” — needless to say, it’s also full of foreclosed houses. Most of the other pictures show either mock homeless camps or mock foreclosure signs — or both. My source told me that not every Baum department used the party to make fun of the troubled homeowners they made their living suing. But some clearly did. The adjective she’d used when she sent them to me — “appalling” — struck me as exactly right.

These pictures are hardly the first piece of evidence that the Baum firm treats homeowners shabbily — or that it uses dubious legal practices to do so. It is under investigation by the New York attorney general, Eric Schneiderman. It recently agreed to pay $2 million to resolve an investigation by the Department of Justice into whether the firm had “filed misleading pleadings, affidavits, and mortgage assignments in the state and federal courts in New York.” (In the press release announcing the settlement, Baum acknowledged only that “it occasionally made inadvertent errors.”) 

It seems Nocera can at least spot some of the bad guys when they are on his regular NY Times business beat, but he still has problems with the politics of it all, not really mentioning the banks that are of course the real source of all the arrogance and misery that he chides the Baum firm for.  He also ends the piece with the standard "you should look at the pictures and judge for yourself" cop-out.

For an opinion piece, Nocera is certainly careful not to have too much of an actual opinion, lest he anger the corporate overlords he normally deals with as a business reporter.  Funny how that works.

Calling Out The Neighbors

Over at Rumproast, marindenver has some choice words for David Sirota on his Salon article about the his wife Emily's school board race.  The article sparked more than a bit of outrage, but it turns out Sirota was playing fast and loose with the facts about his wife's opponent, Anne Rowe.

The “slickly produced flier” points out the difference between Anne’s extensive experience volunteering both in her/our local school, volunteering for the school district as a whole including serving on advisory boards to the district and her experience as a community volunteer and foundation board member in general.  Emily, she points out, does not have anywhere close to this level of involvement in school and local politics and is, in fact, a relatively recent resident of the area.  Attack?  You decide.  Relevant information to decide which candidate possesses a better skill set for the job?  I think so.

And the Sirotas were naive indeed in believing that running for the DPS board would consist of backyard barbecues and schmoozing their neighbors.  Politics in DPS have been highly rancorous in recent years due to the reform programs that were initiated by former superintendent Michael Bennet (now our Senator) and carried on by his hand-picked successor.  Reform=change and many people fight change tooth and nail.  But it is hard to argue that DPS is badly in need of change with graduation rates only slightly above 50% district wide and thousands of kids lagging several grade levels behind.  Currently the 7 member board is split 4-3 in favor of the reforms which consist of re-designing failing schools to emulate successful models both within and without the district.  As a result of the split many board meetings have been marked with open dissension, fighting and recriminations.  Anyone following DPS politics even moderately closely would be aware of this and recognize that being on the board would be a tough job.

Wait, you may be saying.  How has Anne Rowe been able to rack up all this volunteer and board experience while raising three kids and carving out a career as a “deep-pocketed investment banker”?  Perhaps because she is, in fact, not an investment banker.  This is one of the most glaring lies of all in a piece riddled with lies and insinuations.  Anne’s biography, as listed on her website, is completely accurate.  This is someone that I have known, remember, for the last 15 years.  As far as I can tell he pulled “deep-pocketed investment banker” straight out of his butt.  Or he was misinformed but could not be bothered to check the details on her website in the interests of accurate reporting.  I report, you decide.

It seems to me that Sirota's not exactly a neutral observer here in this race, and looking at the links posted, it also seems to me that marindenver is right and Sirota's at the bare minimum making some pretty outrageous claims in a national forum in order to help his wife's local race.  Sirota also leaves out the fact his wife did score more than $50 grand in donations while intimating that $500 was a major donation for her:

In District 1, Rowe's competitor, Emily Sirota — endorsed by the union — has raised $57,962, $22,500 of which came from the Denver Classroom Teachers Association's small donor committee.

And yes, Anne Rowe has about tripled Sirota's total in that race so far, and it seems that the vast bulk of the money has come from in-state donors.  If anything, Sirota seems to be using his pulpit to raise money from out of state for his wife.  Best case scenario, this is a hell of a hit job Sirota's leveling against his wife's opponent.  Worst case?  Guy has a hell of a lot of questions to answer.

Here's what bothers me the most:  when Sirota ran the piece Friday, I looked it over and found that Sirota had some good points: that there is too much corporate money in local elections these days and that the right really is trying to buy as many school boards and city councils and county commissions as they can across the country.  So I took Sirota at his word and thought nothing of it, it was clearly Sirota's wife (who being not David Sirota deserved the benefit of the doubt) doing exactly what I have been preaching about for three years plus on this blog and getting involved in local politics.  It never occured to me that Emily Sirota's opponent could be anything but another Tea Party goon.

And then I saw marindenver's piece this afternoon. 

Really, Sirota?  You're a self-important asshole.  The "W. coming after my wife" stuff was, I thought, hyperbole.  Turns out you're just another grifter and while you're gotten steadily worse over the months, it now seems you're willing to do just about anything to help win this election.  Your article is a massive conflict of interest even in the most generous light.  I think some sort of apology is in order, yes?

Christ, what an ass.

Last Call

Meanwhile, the Koch brothers are really hoping you're too busy paying attention to the debt ceiling mess and screaming at the left so they can steal Wisconsin's recall elections.

As Politico reports, mailers have now turned up from Americans For Prosperity Wisconsin, addressed to voters in two of the Republican-held recall districts, where the elections will be held on August 9. The mailers ask recipients to fill out an absentee ballot application, and send it in -- by August 11, after Election Day for the majority of these races.

"These are people who are our 1's [solid Democrats] in the voterfile who we already knew," a Democratic source told Politico. "They ain't AFP members, that's for damn sure."

There are two other recall elections being held on August 16, targeting two Democratic incumbents, but they are both a distance away from the recipients of these particular mailers.

Furthermore, a close look at the mailer shows a continuation of irregularities that have already involved conservative groups and absentee ballots in the state.

The mailing address for the applications is listed as "Absentee Ballot Application Processing Center, P.O. Box 1327, Madison WI 53701-1327." A Google search shows that this address is not any sort of government office, but has been used by the conservative group Wisconsin Family Action.

In addition, Wisconsin Right To Life previously used the same address for absentee ballot application letters and phone calls that were sent out shortly before the July 12 Democratic primaries, but after the official deadlines for the applications. The group responded to criticism, saying the phone calls were intended to be for the general elections in August.

Calls placed by TPM to Americans For Prosperity Wisconsin, and to Wisconsin Family Action, were not immediately returned.

Dirty deeds, done dirt cheap.  Republicans know that if people actually vote, they lose...so they cheat. Shave off a couple thousand absentee ballots by assuring they show up after the deadline, that might be the difference a week from Tuesday.

The problem is how many folks are targeted by scams like this and they go unreported.  But this is what corporate money does to our election system, folks.

It needs to be stopped.

A Weiner Is Not A. Weiner

Well, in the most bizarre press conference in recent memory, this afternoon Andrew Breitbart took over Rep. Anthony Weiner's press conference and vowed that he had even worse pictures of the Congressman, and that if he didn't come clean and stop going after him, he would release them.

Conservative media showman Andrew Brietbart took the microphone this afternoon at a press conference scheduled for Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-NY). TPM's Eric Lach is on scene for the presser and sent these dispatches:

"He was on the side when a few reporters noticed him. Then suddenly swarmed. So then he strolls up to the podium," Lach reports. "I don't know if he got permission or what. Now just ended after someone in back yells "thank you" and he says thank you and gets off stage. "

Breitbart told reporters he feels "vindicated" after the initial attacks on his reporting of the Weiner incident. He said the photos he published today are from a tip they got before the infamous Weiner tweet that eventually led to today's press conference. 

It became clear that Breitbart was doing pre-victory laps when a visibly shaken Democratic Rep. Anthony Weiner took the podium 15 minutes later...

"Last Friday night i tweeted a photograph of myself that I intended to send as a direct message as part of a joke to a woman in Seattle," he said, fighting back tears. "Once I realized I had posted to Twitter, I panicked, I took it down and said I had been hacked. I then continued to stick to that story which was a hugely regrettable mistake."

He added: "To be clear, the picture was of me and I sent this. I am deeply sorry for the pain this has caused my wife Huma and our family and my constituents, friends, supporters and staff."

As for his own future, Weiner pledged to remain in Congress, saying he had not broken any law to his knowledge. "I am not resigning," Weiner said, telling reporters he would try to convince his constituents this was a "personal failing" and did not alter his record.

Weiner said that he traded inappropriate messages and emails with six women over the last three years, including some exchanges after his marriage last year to Huma Abedin, a longtime aide to Hillary Clinton. Abedin was not present at the press conference. Weiner said he thought the women he exchanged messages with were all of legal age, but he conceded he had no way to know for sure.

"I don't know the exact ages of the women," he said. "And I don't know if you do, I'm going to respect their privacy. But they were all adults -- at least, to the best of my knowledge, they were all adults, and they were engaging in these conversations consensually."

Needless to say, this disaster of a presser only cements what I said earlier:  that whoever is advising Weiner on this issue needs to be fired and never work again.   The press pounced on Weiner and the Congressman came clean to the fact he lied to pretty much everyone involved.  Having said that, A) if lying is the new standard for resigning your seat in Congress, Capitol Hill is going to be a lonely place and B) Weiner actually apologized to Breitbart.  When's Breitbart going to do the same for his lies about ACORN and Shirley Sherrod?

Oh, and nothing has changed about why this attack on Weiner came in the first place.

[UPDATE] And now we know what happened over the weekend when Weiner was told by the Dem leadership to get his ass in order:  Nancy Pelosi is immediately calling for an ethics investigation into the Congressman's conduct this week.

No Longer Dodger-ing The Problem

Major League Baseball has taken over the LA Dodgers day-to-day operations in the wake of the bitter divorce fight between the team's owners, Frank and Jaime McCourt.

Once among baseball's glamour franchises, the Dodgers have been consumed by infighting since Jamie McCourt filed for divorce after 30 years of marriage in October 2009, one week after her husband fired her as the team's chief executive. Frank McCourt accused Jamie of having an affair with her bodyguard-driver and performing poorly at work.

Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig told Frank McCourt on Wednesday he will appoint a trustee to oversee all aspects of the business and the day-to-day operations of the club. At the same time, Frank McCourt was preparing to sue MLB, a baseball executive familiar with the situation told The Associated Press, speaking on condition of anonymity because McCourt had not made any statements.

"I have taken this action because of my deep concerns regarding the finances and operations of the Dodgers and to protect the best interests of the club," Selig said in a statement.

A person familiar with Selig's thinking said the commissioner may choose to force a sale. The person spoke to the AP on the condition of anonymity because Selig's statement did not mention that.

Baseball officials could not recall another instance in modern times when the commissioner seized control of a team from its owner. Before Tom Hicks sold the Texas Rangers last year, Selig appointed McHale to monitor the Rangers but technically left Hicks in charge of the franchise while McHale worked behind the scenes.

Even when suspending George Steinbrenner from the Yankees in 1990 and forcing Marge Schott to sell her controlling interest in the Cincinnati Reds in 1999, the commissioner's office allowed the owners to choose their successors as the controlling executive.

"This is one of the great franchises. It's hard to imagine a mess like this ever having happened," former Commissioner Fay Vincent said. "It's a very sad situation. I feel very bad for baseball and for Bud."

Just goes to show you that custody battles hurt everyone involved.  Only this time, it's an entire baseball team.

I really don't have a hell of a lot of sympathy for folks in a divorce battle who are using one of the great sports franchises in the country as a chip on the high stakes table.  If you can't treat your franchise correctly, maybe it needs to go to someone who will care for it correctly.  Besides, if you have enough money to buy an MLB team, you're probably doing okay otherwise.

Well, except for the bloody divorce that's threatening to wreck the entire NL West.  First World Problems, we have a winner...

Last Call

At this point, Qaddafi has achieved some sort of self-mockery dictator zen.

The United States accused Muammar Gaddafi of defying international demands for an immediate ceasefire, and France's U.N. envoy predicted military action within hours of an international meeting on Libya on Saturday.

A unilateral ceasefire declared on Friday by the Libyan government appeared to have done little to convince outside powers to hold off on plans for air strikes to force an end to an increasingly bloody civil war.

Residents in the rebel-held western city of Misrata said they faced heavy bombardment on Friday -- a charge the government denied -- while a U.S. official said Gaddafi's forces were still advancing toward the rebels' eastern stronghold Benghazi.

Within hours of President Barack Obama saying the terms of a U.N. resolution meant to end fighting in Libya were non-negotiable, his U.N. envoy, Susan Rice, asked by CNN whether Gaddafi was in violation of these terms, said: "Yes, he is."

UN calls for ceasefire.  Qaddafi says "OK, we stopped firing."  Then his forces proceed to bomb rebel positions, then claims that he wants international observers to prove he's holding up to the cease fire, while continuing to bomb rebel positions anyway.

He has a bright future as either a three-year old with a bag of Skittles, or as a Republican lawmaker.

Stalkers, Friends on Farmville, What's The Difference?

TMZ ran an update on the restraining order taken out by owner Mark Zuckerberg:

Manukonda tells us [TMZ] he doesn't want to cause any more problems and plans on leaving Mark alone -- but he's taking it a step further. Manukonda says when his wife -- who is pregnant -- can travel they will go back to his native India.

Remember the letter Manukonda sent Zuckberger about his sick mother? Turns out she's totally fine and Manukonda says he played the "sick mom" card because someone told him Zuck was a momma's boy ... and he thought he'd get some sympathy.

So, here is my first nomination for Biggest Tool of 2011.  He'll be in fine company and stiff competition by the end of the year, I'm sure.