[Guest post by DRJ]

For your evening entertainment, the Jawa Report is playing Name That Party:

“Scandal-ridden Ohio A.G.’s Party Affiliation Irrelevant; Party Affiliation of Mother of Mother of Child of Son of Arrestee Highly Relevant?”

Two scandals. Two Parties. In the reports, the media names one of the Parties 97% of the time and the other 20% of the time. Let’s guess which is which.

— DRJ

[Posted by Karl]

When he joined the Sorosphere, I noted that “terrorist chic” blogger Matthew Yglesias seemed fuzzy on the identity of his employer.  He recently found out the hard way, via a “Yglesias” blog post composed by his boss — Jennifer Palmieri, acting CEO of the Center for American Progress Action Fund.  His Orwellian declaration of independence is not washing with many of his (former) readers.  And he is being well-mocked by Jeffrey Goldberg.

–Karl

[Posted by WLS Shipwrecked]:

I’ve seen some snarky articles around the web mentioning Obama staying in a $9 million mansion while on vacation in Hawaii.  Frankly, most of the coverage is nonsense.

First, while the house did sell last January for $9 million, the fact is that it sits on a one acre parcel of beachfront property at the far end of Kailua Beach.  That parcel of land itself, with nothing on it, would sell for more than $7 million easy.  Much smaller lots along the beach in Kailua or Lanikai sell for no less than $5 million.  The popular saying among the real estate people here is “They ain’t making no more beach front property.  Pay what you have to pay if you want some.” 

Here is the Yahoo Maps Satellite view of the house.  The Secret Service probably likes this a lot because its bounded on 3 sides by water, is at the end of a private road which had a normally unmanned guard shack at the entrance — Secret Service occupies it now — and has only one entrance to the property itself at the end of the street.

Obama vacation house.

The property has two houses, both of which suit the property, but neither is  a “mansion.”   The neighborhood where this house is located is not “swanky” at all.  It’s a nice neighborhood, and some new very expensive houses were recently built just a few lots away from the house where Obama is staying, but the overall character of the neighborhood is “comfortable” but far from ultra-high end.  Houses not on the water in this neighborhood go for $1 million and higher.  But since the “average” home price in Hawaii is close to $600,000 — and that won’t buy you much — houses for $1 million aren’t really luxurious. 

And, yesterday Obama played golf at Olomana Golf Course.  This is the same course he played at last summer. 

He’s the President-elect and he could play at any course on Oahu that he wanted to play.  But he chose Olamana — a public course owned by the City&County of Honoulu — which plays about 6000 yards.  It’s pretty much your basic “muni” course — nothing fancy.

And the course was not closed to the public as I’ve seen written elsewhere.  The hole immediately in front of him and the hole immediately behind him were kept open by the Secret Service, but otherwise the course was open for normal play. 

And, the guy has gone to Kaneohe Bay Marine Corps Base to work out two straight mornings.  If you move the Yahoo image directly up, you can see the “back” entrance to K-Bay is about a 1/2 mile from the house where he’s staying, though the drive to get there is a little longer.  This is clearly the quickest, easiest, and easiest to secure location he could use.

— WLS Shipwrecked

[Guest post by DRJ]

Oops:

“The New York Times admitted Monday it published a fake letter purportedly from the mayor of Paris criticizing Caroline Kennedy’s Senate bid as “appalling” and “not very democratic.”

The letter and the Times‘ correction are here. The letter was received via email. The Times edited the letter and returned it to the sender for approval, but it was published without verification even though no response was received.

I get outlandish emails every day but I check their accuracy before I decide whether to post. I guess I wouldn’t have to go to all the trouble if I worked for the New York Times.

— DRJ

The L.A. Times reports:

A key figure in Illinois Gov. Rod R. Blagojevich’s alleged scheme to sell a U.S. Senate seat has sought immunity from federal authorities in return for his cooperation.

Businessman and political fundraiser Raghuveer P. Nayak is Individual D in the federal complaint, sources said. Individual D was being squeezed by the governor for campaign cash, according to prosecutors, in order to appoint Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. (D-Ill.) to the Senate seat vacated by President-elect Barack Obama.

The article tells us a little about his donations:

Federal and state election reports show that Nayak, his wife and his businesses for the last decade have donated more than $779,000 and raised hundreds of thousands more for candidates ranging from the Cook County circuit court clerk to Obama.

He has contributed primarily to Democrats but also to Republicans.

Nayak has been a notable contributor and fundraiser for three state officials who have been among the governor’s harshest critics since the scandal broke — Atty. Gen. Lisa Madigan, Lt. Gov. Patrick Quinn and Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias.

Was he a “notable” contributor to Obama? Let’s look:

That may mean nothing, of course . . . but as long as we’re naming recipients, I thought I’d give specifics on the one whose name was only whispered by the L.A. Times.

And yes, it’s the same Raghuveer P. Nayak (there could be many, after all). The article says he “made his fortune in medical businesses” — even though Joe Biden was overheard saying he must have had a couple of 7-Elevens or Dunkin’ Donuts as well.