[Guest post by DRJ]

… and asks conservatives to close ranks behind the apparent GOP nominee:

“Fred Thompson, the one-time Republican presidential candidate, endorsed Sen. John McCain Friday, calling on the party to “close ranks” behind the presumed nominee.

“This is no longer about past preferences or differences. It is about what is best for our country and for me that means that Republican should close ranks behind John McCain,” Thompson said in a statement reported by the Associated Press.”

This was expected given reports of their friendship in the Senate, but I’m glad Thompson waited to make the endorsement until after Romney quit.

— DRJ

We have news this afternoon that David Shuster at MSNBC has now been suspended for his “Pimped Out” comment yesterday in describing Bill Clinton’s use of WH interns in the Oval Office during …..

 Wait …. no, apparently I have it wrong …. Shuster was commenting on Bill and Hillary Clinton’s use of their own daughter in the campaign.

I feel for Shuster here — I’m sure he simply got confused.  For well over a year now his bosses at MSNBC have been egging him on to say ever more outrageous and blatantly false things about all things Republican.  Since the MSNBC hosts have clearly lined up behind Obama, I’m sure Shuter figured the same Rules of Engagement applied to the anti-Obama forces in the Democrat party.

[Guest post by DRJ]

Business travelers beware: Love is in the air in Dallas and it’s not pretty:

“Well-dressed men at posh Dallas hotels and bars are being targeted by a ring of flirtatious women who may be drugging them before swiping their watches and other expensive items, police said. One man was hurt after possibly being beaten with a high-heeled shoe, police said. Another lost his wallet while in his car with his pants around his ankles.

About a half-dozen men have reported falling victim to the scheme, Dallas police detective Mark Jenkins said. Many were business travelers, and Jenkins suspects there are others too embarrassed to file police reports.

“I don’t know if so much it’s that the men are being attracted to them, as that (the suspects) are more or less forcing themselves on the men,” Jenkins said.”

Police think the women may be prostitutes who are drugging the mens drinks.

— DRJ

[Guest post by DRJ]

In January 2007, Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez announced plans to nationalize the majority interests owned by Chevron, ExxonMobil, ConocoPhillips, Statoil and BP in Venezuela’s lucrative eastern Orinoco Belt unless the companies agreed to substantial reductions in their ownership interests. Nationalization of the interests of ExxonMobil and ConocoPhillips was completed last summer.

In September 2007, ExxonMobil filed an arbitration claim with the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) for compensation for the expropriation of its Venezuelan heavy-oil projects.

During the past two months, ExxonMobil has obtained court orders in the UK, the Netherlands, the Netherlands Antilles and the US that freezes up to $12 Billion in Venezuelan assets to satisfy ExxonMobil’s claim should it win its arbitration claim.

ExxonMobil has a reputation for being hard-nosed:

“If you look at Exxon’s decision, it is really driven by their belief that over the long run, the regulatory environment and fiscal terms in Venezuela can only get worse, not better,” said Alex Gorbansky, managing director of the Frontier Strategy Group. “So, arbitration gives them essentially the best possible expected outcome on their investment.”

“Exxon has historically taken a more hard-nosed approach,” he said.”

Freezing this amount of assets may be a problem for Chavez and Venezuela.

By the way, ExxonMobil is not only hard-nosed in its business dealings but it also pays record taxes. Here’s an analysis from University of Michigan economics Professor Mark J. Perry:

“Conclusion: In other words, just one corporation (Exxon Mobil) pays as much in taxes ($27 billion) annually as the entire bottom 50% of individual taxpayers, which is 65,000,000 people! Further, the tax rate for the bottom 50% is only 3% of adjusted gross income ($27.4 billion / $922 billion), and the tax rate for Exxon was 41% in 2006 ($67.4 billion in taxable income, $27.9 billion in taxes).”

Does all this make ExxonMobil a good citizen? It does in my book.

UPDATE: Hugo Chavez is mad at ExxonMobil and “Mr. Danger.”

— DRJ

Some Republicans are so fed up with their choices, they say they’ll vote for a Democrat.

OK, then.

UPDATE: Politico explains how they will go after McCain.