I’m not kidding:

Before he died Wednesday evening, death row inmate Dale Leo Bishop apologized to his victim’s family, thanked America and urged people to vote for Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama.

This is the best endorsement he’s gotten since he picked up the William “Dollar Bill” Jefferson endorsement.

(Via Top of the Ticket.)

[Posted by WLS]

UPDATE:  This post was half-made in sarcasm when I first put it up, but the more I think about it the more the Obama campaign’s explanation just doesn’t hold water.  There is simply NO REASON he could not visit the military hospitals as a sitting US Senator and paid his respects — the FUCKING VISIT WAS ALREADY APPROVED AND BEING ARRANGED.

But to just cap things off in an suitable fashion, I give you this blog entry from Swampland at Time, courtesy of Karen Tumulty:

Here’s a link to my story, and to Callie Shell’s fabulous photos.

Afterward, the candidate made a surprise pop-in to a dinner with the traveling press corps and his campaign staff in downtown Berlin, and had a celebratory vodka martini (olives, very dry).

I’m sure he drank a toast to the soldiers he meant to visit in the hospital.

“Garcon — A round of Martinis for my many sychophats fans in the press corps.”

[Hey Peter — I made that last sentence up too.  WLS]

_________________

I just noted this late update on MSNBC FirstRead:

From NBC’s Jim Miklaszewski and Courtney Kube
A U.S. military official tells NBC News they were making preparations for Sen. Barack Obama to visit wounded troops at the Landstuhl Medical Center at Ramstein, Germany on Friday, but “for some reason the visit was called off.”

One military official who was working on the Obama visit said because political candidates are prohibited from using military installations as campaign backdrops, Obama’s representatives were told, “he could only bring two or three of his Senate staff member, no campaign officials or workers.” In addition,
“Obama could not bring any media. Only military photographers would be permitted to record Obama’s visit.”

The official said “We didn’t know why” the request to visit the wounded troops was withdrawn. “He (Obama) was more than welcome. We were all ready for him.”

So, if the can’t have a campaign stop at a military base hospital, he just won’t go?

Obama to Axlerod: “No photographers? Why go then?”

[I made the last sentence up — my impersonation of Bob Woodward  — WLS]

Posted by WLS:

Tuesday was the final day for prospective candidates to file their nomination papers for local and state elections.  If only it was so simple. 

From page 26 of the Candidate’s Manual issued by the State Of Hawaii, Dept. of Elections:

Candidates must file nomination papers at the office of issuance. The filing deadline is:

TUESDAY, JULY 22, 2008, 4:30 p.m.

We recommend that all candidates file their nomination papers early. 

State law prohibits exceptions or extensions to the filing deadlines.

for regular federal, state, and county elections, and Special Primary or Special Elections held in conjunction with the Primary Election. 

From page 25:

Prior to being filed, nomination papers must be signed by a specific number of properly registered voters who are qualified to vote for the candidate. The candidate is responsible for ensuring that there are sufficient signatures of qualified voters on his/her nomination papers.

Candidates are advised to file their nomination papers early and too btain more signatures than is required in anticipation of invalid or unqualified signatories.

 

Once nomination papers are filed and the filing fee is accepted, candidates will not be allowed to add more signatures to their nomination papers.

From page 77:

File nomination papers containing not less than 15 signatures of registered voters of State Representative District by 4:30 p.m. on July 22, 2008 

 

So, what happened on Tuesday?  A couple things. 

First, in a surprise 11th hour move, a sitting member of the City Council filed papers at 2:00 pm to take on the sitting Mayor — both of whom are prominent members of the state’s Democrat power establishment — but whom oppose each other on the controversial rail transit project. 

Coincidentally (not), the mayor’s opponent from his election race in 2004 — another prominent Democrat (mayor is a non-partisan office), walked in right behind the City Council women who filed to run for mayor, and filed papers to run for her Council Seat.  Turns out he made a hefty donation to her mayoral campaign, and pledged to raise more money for her to take on the sitting Mayor.  The losing mayoral candidate from 4 years ago is quite wealthy, and has never quite gotten over his loss in the mayoral race. 

The Mayor’s political machine, scrambling to respond to his new mayoral election challenger, and not wanting his campaign nemesis from 4 years ago to waltz into her City Council seat from which he can make mischief for the Mayor, arranges for the Majority Leader of the lower State House to file papers to run for the City Council seat in order to try and keep the Mayor’s ex-rival off the Council.

Keep in mind these are ALL Democrats.

That left the Majority Leader’s seat in the State House undefended, and a GOP candidate who would have had little chance of winning, was suddenly unopposed for that seat. 

Keep in mind all this was happening after 2:00 pm on the day of the 4:30 pm deadline.

So, the Mayor has one of his top aides, who happens to live in the district of the now undefended Majority Leader’s seat, literally RUN the several blocks from City Hall to the State Elections Office to file papers to run for that Legis. seat.  She says she arrived at 3:50, but there was a line at the counter.

She finally obtains the papers she needs to file just before 4:30 and begins filling them out — but she needs 15 signatures from registered voters in that district.  Phone calls have successfully summoned about 5 such voters to the election office to sign for her, but they are locked out by the Election’s Office staff at 4:30 when the office closes for the day.  Sometime after 4:30, enough such voters make their way to the Elections Office, but they too are locked outside in the hallway. 

But who happens to be on the scene at the Elections Office to solve all her problems??  Baracky Obama’s State Campaign Chairman, who also happens to be the State Democrat Party Chairman.  He begins working the Election Office staff to allow the prospective candidate to exit the Elections Office — the doors of which were locked at 4:30 — so she can gather the 15 signatures she needs for her nomination papers.   And you know what happens?  The staff decides to let her do just that — well after 4:30 —  and she collected the necessary signatures, which the Elections staff then accepted with her papers to run for the undefended House seat.  

Here are a couple press reports of the scene:

Several of Hannemann’s appointees and office staff literally ran to meet Eades at the state Office of Elections satellite office … they arrived in small groups, some at exactly 4:30 p.m. and others a few minutes afterward. Regardless the Office of Elections staff had already locked the door preventing anyone from leaving or entering and Eades could not file her nomination papers. Partly thanks to Hawaii Democratic Party Chair Brian Schatz’s coaxing, Eades was eventually allowed outside into the hallway by election officers to collect signatures from her supporters who were still waiting, even though it was considerably after the 4:30 p.m. deadline.

hawaiireporter.com

On the state side, Eads said she was standing in line to get her filing papers at 3:50 p.m. but didn’t get them until 4:25.  Her friends, waiting to sign her nomination papers, were crowded outside when election officials closed the door at 4:30 p.m.  At first, election officials said Eads could not file, but Hawaii Democratic Party Chairman Brian Schatz told an election official they should “err on the side of allowing people to be candidates.”  “The line was backed up and it was not the candidate’s fault,” Schatz said. The election official relented and allowed Eads to go outside and collect the needed signatures and file.  

starbulletin.com

Ignore that part about the 4:30 FILING deadline — a FILING which can only take place if you first have 15 signatures.  Just have enough people waiting nearby when you stroll on in at the 11th hour and 59th minute to stand in line behind the people WHO DID ACT EARLY as suggested.

To add a strong odor of hypocrisy to the stench of this episode, Schatz (a 28 year old weasal who has never held a job outside being a political staffer or low level elected official himself) is quoted today in the press saying about a likely GOP challenge to the Eades’ filing papers:

“It’s sad that instead of focusing on recruiting strong candidates or generating ideas for Hawai’i voters, the GOP is trying to knock people off the ballot,” Schatz said yesterday. “We were hoping for a spirited and respectful start to an exciting campaign cycle, but the Hawai’i Republicans have already dragged these elections into the mud.”

This is rich coming from a guy who is the State Chairman for a Presidential Candidate who won his first elected office by knocking all his opponents off the ballot by challeging the validity of their nomination papers.

In his first race for office, seeking a state Senate seat on Chicago’s gritty South Side in 1996, Obama effectively used election rules to eliminate his Democratic competition. As a community organizer, he had helped register thousands of voters. But when it came time to run for office, he employed Chicago rules to invalidate the voting petition signatures of three of his challengers. The move denied each of them, including incumbent Alice Palmer, a longtime Chicago activist, a place on the ballot. It cleared the way for Obama to run unopposed on the Democratic ticket in a heavily Democrat district.  

cnn.com

But that’s not the only flagrant violation of the filing rules.  The Majority Leader’s papers to run for the City Council seat were submitted at 4:29 with 18 signatures.  But at 5:20, he was informed by election office officials that only 14 of the signatures were of registered voters in the Council District in which he was running. 

Problem?  Nah — an Elections Dept. worker who lived in the Council District stepped up and signed for him at 5:30, giving him enough signatures. 

The 4:30 deadline??  Only for Republicans apparently.

[Guest post by DRJ]

It wouldn’t be my first day back without some Texas news.

Last Tuesday a Schleicher County (Eldorado, Texas) grand jury issued 7 indictments alleging 9 counts of sexual assault, bigamy and failure to report child abuse in connection with the FLDS matter. The only named suspect was Warren Jeffs who was indicted for sexual assault of a child. The remaining indictments remain sealed until the suspects are located and arrested. News reports suggest it may be difficult to locate the suspects if they have gone into hiding but a Texas official stated they will do what is needed to bring the suspects in.

More indictments are expected.

— DRJ

[Guest post by DRJ]

I’m back and I want to address the topic of banning.

It’s been 7 days since Levi was banned and I intend to lift his 10 day ban if I can figure out how to do it. During the past week, Levi left comments in moderation complaining that banning him was unfair and cowardly. Too bad, Levi. You agreed to the rules in advance. Next time agree to rules you’re willing to live with.

Now for a completely different ban that involves fast food in South Los Angeles. The Los Angeles Times reports that an LA City Council committee unanimously agreed to a one-year ban on new fast food restaurants in South Los Angeles in an effort to combat widespread obesity and diabetes in that area. The proposal must be approved by the full City Council and signed by the Mayor. If approved, the moratorium will last 1 year and can be extended for two 6-month terms.

The ban was almost certainly prompted by a study published in January 2004 in the Journal of Pediatrics that concluded “Consumption of fast food among children in the United States seems to have an adverse effect on dietary quality in ways that plausibly could increase risk for obesity.” In a companion or follow-up article published in December 2004 in The Lancet, a 15-year study analyzed “… the association between reported fast-food habits and changes in bodyweight and insulin resistance over a 15-year period in the USA.” The long-term study concluded:

“Fast-food consumption has strong positive associations with weight gain and insulin resistance, suggesting that fast food increases the risk of obesity and type 2 diabetes.”

The Center for Consumer Freedom criticized the study on several grounds and noted especially that the study primarily recommended curtailment of fast food marketing. It looks like the LA City Council committee is taking this one step further by seeking to also ban new fast food restaurants.

I don’t know LA politics so I can’t tell if this proposal has a chance to pass the full City Council and be signed into law by the Mayor. But if this law is such a good idea, it should apply to all of LA and not just South LA … and I think we all know that won’t happen.

UPDATE 1: Dana links this Pajamas Media article that has more on the South LA ban. Thanks, Dana.

UPDATE 2: On 7/29/2008, the LA City Council unanimously approved the one-year fast-food ban. I don’t know if the Mayor plans to sign off but I assume he will.

— DRJ

Posted by WLS:

This:

Pete: You miserable little snake! You stole from my kin!
Ulysses Everett McGill: Who was fixin’ to betray us.
Pete: You didn’t know that at the time.
Ulysses Everett McGill: So I borrowed it until I did know.
Pete: That don’t make no sense!

is what I thought of when I read this:

Obama spokesman Robert Gibbs explains the cancellation of a stop at a U.S. military base in Germany during a leg of the trip paid for (unlike the Iraq and Afghanistan visits) by his campaign:

“During his trip as part of the CODEL to Afghanistan and Iraq, Senator Obama visited the combat support hospital in the Green Zone in Baghdad and had a number of other visits with the troops.  For the second part of his trip, the senator wanted to visit the men and women at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center to express his gratitude for their service and sacrifice. The senator decided out of respect for these servicemen and women that it would be inappropriate to make a stop to visit troops at a U.S. military facility as part of a trip funded by the campaign.”

Obama passed on a visit to wounded soldiers and marines at US military bases in Germany, and substituted in a workout at the Ritz Carlton in Berlin, and a little sightseeing around Berlin.  After all, he’d never been there before.

Obama noted that in a break from his whirlwind schedule, “we’ve got some down time tonight. What are you guys gonna do in Berlin? Huh? Huh? You guys got any big. plans? …I’ve never been to Berlin, so…I would love to tour around a little bit.”

http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2008/07/obama-on-tonigh.html

Jack Shafer:

But if Edwards had an affair and lied about it, shouldn’t he suffer scrutiny akin to that of Craig? At least three-dozen daily newspapers in the United States published the Craig news the day after the Roll Call scoop, according to Nexis, but this morning not a single U.S. daily mentioned the Enquirer piece.

Now, as I’ve already said, the two stories aren’t completely analogous.

Indeed, for at least two reasons.

First, what Craig did was considered a crime. As Shafer says, “the police blotter is always news.”

Second, Craig is a Rethuglican, while Edwards is a progressive Democrat. Republicans always claim to be Upstanding in Every Stage of Their Lives — and even if they don’t, they belong to a party where some do, which is almost the same thing. Thus, any morally bad behavior by a Republican is news, Because of the Hypocrisy.

By contrast, Edwards never claimed to be Mr. Moral. Except, of course, when he specifically denied this exact affair. Uh . . . anyway, as I was saying . . . and so, Democrats, like, don’t claim to be moral. So it’s OK for them to cheat on their wives who have cancer.

I hope this list of differences has helped.

I had an enjoyable evening last night in the company of iowahawk, Bill Whittle, Armed Liberal, Moxie, and other good folks.

I confirmed my longstanding impression that iowahawk likes cars. I mean, he really, really, really likes cars.

Re Bill Whittle: he says that he has something big coming up. On his blog, he says:

I’ve been busy with two major breakthoughs in my non-Eject! life: one I can tell you a little about, and the other I can tell you nothing about, other than to say it will be news when it breaks and I look forward to the day I can write about being a part of it.

He says that the former is a film he’s hoping to have made. I’m not sure if what he told me last night is The Other Thing, but I’m thinking it is. If so, it’s pretty cool. He also confirmed his statement on his blog that he has a bunch of new posts on the way, so watch out for those.

So that was fun.

The evening was capped by an offer from DRJ to resume posting while I busy myself with trials and vacations and such for much of the next five weeks or so.

Excellent. I was wondering how the heck I was going to keep this thing going.

Thanks to DRJ. And welcome her back.