I hope the West Virginia GOP will not waste Shelly Capito in a run against Byrd. While she might run close, she is still likely to lose. And if she gives up her hard earned House seat to run, the seat could well be picked up by a  Democrat. The state is turning quite red at the Presidential level (Bush won by 13% in 2004), but  still leans Democratic for most other races.

Richard Baehr   4 14 05

The trial of the 16 year old girl who slashed an elderly woman's neck to the bone faces a possible delay. "Misunderstandings" between the Alameda County Probation Department and the Alameda County Health Department in setting up court-ordered psychiatric testing evidently are to blame. In addition, the suspect was placed on a "psychiatric hold."

Court Commissioner Mark Kliszewski was not amused, and accused the agencies of "disobeying court orders."

"She should be taken to Herrick Hospital (in Berkeley) for a psychiatric exam immediately," Kliszewski said. "Do we understand that?"

Meanwhile, Hamaseh Kianfar, the Alameda County mental health worker who accompanied the assailant, and then drove her away in her sports car, failing to notify police and violating county policy forbidding contact with clients outside the therapeutic setting, has resigned her part time job with the county. She had continued to draw her salary while on administrative leave.

The case is already biazzare. The screw-ups and odd behavior of the justice system makes it even stranger.

When will the national media notice?

Thomas Lifson  4 14 05

 

 

 

Don Surber, the remarkable writer for the Charleston Daily Mail, has a terrific column today on the re-election prospects for 88 year old West Virginia Senator Robert Byrd. Once upon a time, Byrd won his seat by a 30 point marging. But

The National Republican Senatorial Committee did a telephone poll of 500 likely voters on March 15-16 and found Republican Congresswoman Shelley Capito is within 10 points of Byrd.

Byrd was ahead 52 percent to 42. The margin of error is 4.3 percent, meaning that in 19 out of 20 cases, the numbers for the two would fall between 48 and 56 for Byrd and 38 and 46 for Capito.

The days of the 30-point wins may have passed.

It is far too soon to begin celebrating a Senate seat pickup in West Virginia. But the luster has dimmed for the man who has more highways, hospitals, rest stops, schools, and other facilities named for him than any other man in West Virginia history. And the state of West Virginia is drifting in the red direction.

Surber is a witty writer, and he owns the story on Byrd. Check it out.

Thomas Lifson   4 14 05

 

He's baaack. Tongsun Park, the man at the center of the Koreagate scandal of 1978, has been indicted for allegedly funneling bribes to UN officials in the Oil-for-Food scandal, as an unregistered agent of Iraq.

Koreagate was never fully excavated. I always thought there were too many powerful people at risk. Will Park be returned to the US to face prosecutors, and maybe work out a plea bargain?

Thomas Lifson   4 14 05

Now it appears that the lawyer, Greg Craig, who helped Clinton during the Elian Gonzales immigration issue, and helped him avoid impeachment regarding the Monica Lewinsky affair, has been the lawyer for Kofi Annan.  Craig is representing Annan free of charge.

If only the skills of such lawyers were available to the rest of us on such generous terms! There is more. A lawyer for a key witness who cooperated with the committee investigating the oil-for-food scandal charges that Clinton’s consigliore has manipulated the panel to discredit his client and presumably help the Annan family. 

In a nutshell, Clinton has provided Annan with high-powered diplomatic and legal talent (who may have bent or broken the rules to manipulate the  investigation) free of charge, to defeat efforts by the Congress to discover the truth behind the oil-for food scandal.
 
This colonization of the United Nations by the Clinton extended family is abhorrent. Most ex-Presidents are willing to give others a chance to rise to positions of prominence. They can serve as honorary chairmen of this or that charity group, write memoirs (Clinton’s profitably done that), serve on Boards of Directors, and preside over Presidential libraries. They don't need to interject themselves into international affairs (particularly accepting positions in international bodies undergoing Congressional oversight) in order to promote their wives’ political careers.

Ed Lasky   4 13 05

Yesterday, Ben Stein, and today, Tony Blankley.  Eloquent defenses of Tom DeLay are finally coming from the leading minds of the conservative cause. The Majority Leader's only genuine offense is being an effective parliamentarian. Make that a spectacularly successful parliamentarian.

We are near he moment of  a counter-offensive. Harry Reid, Bernie Sanders, and the many other Democrats who are "guilty" of the exact same (legal and ethical) practices for which DeLay is being slimed must be hounded to comment on their views of the "offences" they too commit.

Thomas Lifson   4 13 05

Blogger Bat One, posting on Pennywit.com, has noticed an item in the Bennington (Vt.) Banner which reports that  Socialist Congressman Bernie Sanders

used campaign donations to pay his wife and stepdaughter more than $150,000 for campaign-related work since 2000, according to records filed with the Federal Election Commission.

Jane O'Meara Sanders, his wife, received $91,020 between 2002 and 2004 for "consultation" and for negotiating the purchase of television and radio time-slots for Sanders' advertisements, according to records and interviews.

Approximately $61,000 of that was "pass through" money that was used to pay media outlets for advertising time, Jane O'Meara Sanders said in an interview. The rest, about $30,000, she kept as payment for her services, she said.

Carina Driscoll, daughter to Jane O'Meara Sanders and stepdaughter to the lawmaker, earned $65,002 in "wages" between 2000 and 2004, campaign records show.

Neither Bat One nor I is going to hold our breaths waiting for the MSM to demand the same sort of invetsigations and punishment they have demanded of Tom DeLay, accused of the same "crimes." In fact, I doubt that either the New York Times or the Washington Post will find space on their front page (or anywhere else) for this news, even though DeLay rated front page treatment.

Thomas Lifson   4 13 05

La Nacion of Argentina reports, with a savage photo,  that Paraguay's ambassador to Venezuela was physically attacked in broad daylight in Caracas as she left the cathedral mass honoring Pope John Paul II. Unknown goons set upon her, and worse yet, when she sought help from a Venezuelan government office across the street, the doors were slammed shut on her. Meanwhile, in Asuncion, Paraguay, Venezuela's ambassador confidently explained to Paraguayans that the ambassador's assailants were members of Venezuela's opposition.
 
As they say in the Vatican, 'cui bono'?
 
It doesn't sound like Venezuela's opposition. American officials like Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld charge that the government of Hugo Chavez intends, through huge weapons purchases, to intimidate and destabilize the region, which includes countries like Paraguay.
 
That's not all. There is also a fierce diplomatic battle going now over who will lead the Organization of American States, which at last count was tied 17-17 between Hugo Chavez's "kiss of death" candidate and another candidate from Mexico. Paraguay is supporting Mexico's, not Chavez's, candidate. A very good news story on this issue can be read here. 
 
Worst of all, Hugo Chavez has recently permitted Colombian FARC guerrillas to operate freely on Venezuelan soil, from where they directed and plotted by e-mail the murder of a Paraguayan ex-president's 31-year old daughter, whose body was discovered earlier this year. 
 
From a PR perspective, if there is one country Hugo Chavez should not menace, it is Paraguay. But if this attack is from his goons, it would signal he doesn't care, and may intentionally be doing it to send a "message" to this small, blameless state, which will only portend worse.
 
Paraguay will have to get more vocal and take tangible action against this pattern of thuggery directed against it unless it wants more. This looks like real aggression. 
 
A.M. Mora y Leon 04 13 05 

Whereas it is the opinion of the majorities of the House and Senate that their joint directions to the 11^th Court of Appeals have been ignored; and

Whereas it is the duty of the Congress to safeguard the taxpayers money; and

Whereas Article III, Section 1 requires that judges  “…during good Behaviour…” shall “…receive for their Services, a Compensation, which shall not be diminished during their Continuance in Office;” and

Whereas there exists a question whether said justices have been performing with “good Behaviour;”

It is hereby directed that the Treasurer of the United States shall not issue paychecks to said justices until the last day of their term and/or until said justices have testified, under oath, before the appropriate committees of the Congress, as to their compliance with the directives of the Congress in the performance of their duties. Such payment may be resumed prior to the end of the judges' term, with the consent of the Congress in a budget resolution, initiated in the House of Representatives, and brought to the floor at the behest of the House Majority Whip, currently the Honorable Thomas Delay, Representative from the State of Texas.

Bruce Thompson  4 13 05

A number of us have noted that the New York Times, which disgraced itself by agreeing to supress reporting of contrary viewpoints when it received an advance copy of Columbia University whitewash of its anti-Israel classroom atmosphere, has compounded the offence. In profiling Professor Joseph Massad, it came remarkably close to whitwashing the one professor the Columbia report criticized. The Daily Scorecard did a good job in explaining the problems with the article:

The writer glowingly observes -

- his impeccable dress and Christian fellowship 
- fine taste in wine and magazines, perfect attire and cultured ingratiating manner with a metrosexual gloss 
- a Professor who 'won't stand for either anti-semitism or anti Palestinianism'
- someone who once long ago held seders with a roommate
received (he says) hate email from 'other Columbia faculty'
- someone on the front lines 'defending academic freedom' from the dark forces of McCarthyism
- was intimidated as a student "for criticizing Pinochet" (A regular Che Guavara)
- "allowed" 'student hecklers' into his classroom because he firmly believes in free speech

Hat tip: Larry and Ethel Carol