It had to be an inside job, dontcha know:

I think a new investigation is something that many many people agree with, if people don’t start saying, ‘It’s an inside job.’ Because that turns a lot of people off, even though I think it [9-11] was an inside job, I just don’t know how far inside it went. But as soon as you say it’s an inside job, people start saying, oh, you’re accusing Dick Cheney of planning the whole thing, blah blah blah. Well, of course, some people are (laughs) but then people say, we don’t know, we need to find out. Was it CIA? Was it whoever? Whoever, um, it had to be an inside job. There’s like no way they could have done that, just like the one on December 25th. There’s no way that guy could have done it without some kind of help, and we know he got help. Who was (crosstalk) that nice-dressed man that got him through that these people witnessed, got him through security?

I doubt this comes as any particular shock to anyone who actually followed her rantings and ravings in the past. As I noted in an op-ed for the L.A. Times written back in August 2005:

Sheehan’s changing accounts of her meeting with Bush are relevant to understanding the president’s decision not to meet with her again. So are her descriptions of the president in a Dallas speech reported by leftist newsletter Counterpunch as a “lying bastard,” a “maniac” and the leader of a “destructive neocon cabal.” In an article for CommonDreams.org, she called that supposed cabal the “biggest terrorist outfit in the world.”

It’s a small step from calling the President’s “neocon cabal” the “biggest terrorist outfit in the world” . . . to calling 9/11 an inside job.

Still. It’s worth noting.

Don’t expect an apology from any of the media nitwits who puffed this woman up during Bush’s presidency. They accomplished their goal: getting a Democrat elected in 2008. If their heroine Cindy Sheehan turns out to have been a lunatic, well, that’s life.

[Guest post by DRJ]

The USGS reports a magnitude 6.5 earthquake occurred at 4:27 PM PST off the coast of Northern California near Eureka and the Oregon border. The Eureka Times-Standard reported widespread damage and concerned residents:

“The quake, which lasted for around 30 seconds, had power poles waving back and forth along Eureka streets and brought panicked residents out of their homes.

The Bayshore Mall, as of 5:30 p.m., had been closed off to customers and employees. It was unclear how many people were injured there, but one employee reported that several people were picked up by ambulances.

Employees also reported light fixtures falling out of the ceiling and floor tiles popping up off the ground. Another employee reported seeing chunks of the ceiling fall onto customers.”

Take care, ada.

— DRJ

[Guest post by DRJ]

Political reporters John Heilemann and Mark Halperin have written a new book, Game Change, that will be released January 11. Here are some of the book’s bombshells:

The Harry Reid quote discussed earlier by Karl and Patterico that Obama is a “light-skinned” African American “with no Negro dialect, unless he wanted to have one.”

Not surprisingly, the book apparently presents Sarah Palin in an unflattering light. From the publisher’s description: “Why did McCain make the novice governor of Alaska his running mate? And was Palin merely painfully out of her depth—or troubled in more serious ways?”

Clashes between Obama and Biden, including “that the two rarely spoke and aides not only kept Biden off internal conference calls but refused to even tell him they existed.”

A report Ted Kennedy was angry Clinton said “a few years ago, this guy would have been getting us coffee.”

Inside the John Edwards’ campaign meltdown, including the Rielle Hunter story.

Concerns in the McCain camp that Cindy McCain had an affair.

Imagine how many Washington campaign insiders and political reporters knew about these scandals but managed to keep them bottled up before the election. Except for the Sarah Palin stories, of course. The Palin reports were widely discussed by journalists, but stories that would damage the top Democratic candidates went largely unreported.

Amazing, isn’t it?

— DRJ

[Guest post by DRJ]

Texas Tech has named its new football coach: Tommy Tuberville.

In other news, Mike Leach has filed pleadings alleging claims for breach of contract, fraud in the inducement, defamation, a [Texas] Constitutional due course of law violation and taking, attorneys’ fees, and punitive damages. Leach has requested expedited discovery and a jury trial to commence by March 1.

— DRJ

[Guest post by DRJ]

Ciudad Juárez, a Northern Mexico city of 1.5 million, sits across the border from El Paso, Texas, home to around 600,000. In 2009, there were 2,580 murders in Juárez. There were 12 in El Paso.

It’s hard to believe things could get much worse in Juárez and Northern Mexico but they are. On Friday, police found the bodies of 2 women, a disabled man, a decapitated man with his eyes gouged out, a decapitated and partially dismembered man, and this:

“Also Friday, a man riding a bicycle was shot to death in the city, five people were killed in drive-by shootings and a group of three men were shot to death at a fast-food restaurant near a school.

On Thursday, police in the northern city of Los Mochis, in the northwestern state of Sinaloa, found the dismembered body of a man whose face had been skinned and stitched onto a soccer ball.”

More than 25 people were killed in Juárez in the first four days of 2010 alone.

— DRJ

A well-written opinion from a copyright lawyer.

Which reassuring facts, I guess, were offered to soften the blow that Obama’s one a them, you know, black guys:

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) apologized today for referring to President Barack Obama as “light skinned” and “with no Negro dialect” in private conversations during the 2008 presidential campaign.

“I deeply regret using such a poor choice of words,” said Reid in a statement. “I sincerely apologize for offending any and all Americans, especially African Americans for my improper comments.”

Why admit it now? Apparently a book coming out Monday was going to reveal it anyway.

But did he “intend” racism?

I demand to know the context! Maybe there is a perfectly good explanation for why he used a phrase like “with no Negro dialect”!

. . .

. . .

Nah.

UPDATE: Karl already posted on this here, and has more insight and links.

[Posted by Karl]

John Heilemann and Mark Halperin have written Game Change, a book on the 2008 campaign chock full ‘o’ tasty tidbits, including two top Democrats expressing their private views on President Obama.  For example, Sen. Maj. Ldr. Harry Reid:

He was wowed by Obama’s oratorical gifts and believed that the country was ready to embrace a black presidential candidate, especially one such as Obama — a “light-skinned” African American “with no Negro dialect, unless he wanted to have one,” as he said privately.

On Twitter, John Hawkins channels his inner Kanye: “Hey Trent Lott, I’m gonna let you finish, but Reid had the best racist comments by a Senate Majority Leader of all-time!”  Reid and Obama are now desperately trying to make that story go away, though — as Allahpundit notes — Obama was a lot less forgiving of Don Imus on this score. 

The book also exposes Bill Clinton, during the Clintons’ efforts to secure an endorsement from the Kennedys:

[A]s Hillary bungled Caroline, Bill’s handling of Ted was even worse. The day after Iowa, he phoned Kennedy and pressed for an endorsement, making the case for his wife. But Bill then went on, belittling Obama in a manner that deeply offended Kennedy. Recounting the conversation later to a friend, Teddy fumed that Clinton had said, A few years ago, this guy would have been getting us coffee.

Bill may have been referring to Obama’s career of non-accomplishments, but Nathan Wurtzel reminds us Bill has a record here.

–Karl

—

Update: As Patterico himself is covering this material nearby, I’ll toss in a link to a lengthy excerpt from the book — covering the craziness that is John and Elizabeth Edwards.

Once again, someone is misusing copyright law to squelch speech about a public controversy.

I won’t be backing down.

Yesterday I received the following e-mail:

Hello,
 
NOTICE OF COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE DIGITAL MILLENNIUM
COPYRIGHT ACT (DMCA)
In accordance with Section 512(c)(3)
 
The copyrighted work at issue is the text that appears on
http://www.digital-photo.com.au/2008/09/20/american-presidential-elections-and-dirty-tricks
and
http://www.digital-photo.com.au/v/People/Street+Photography/Shoeshine_homeless_and_woman_client_MG_6348-27.jpg.html
The photograph shows a man shoe shinning woman’s shoes in Sydney Australia,Pitt Street
 
The URLs where our copyrighted material is located include copied and plagiarised without authorization photographs at:
https://patterico.com/2010/01/01/charles-johnson-denounces-the-right-wing-racism-of-a-picture-forwarded-by-a-democrat/. (Obama/Palin shoeshine plagiarism)
 
You can reach me at ted@digital-photo.com.au for further information or clarification.
 
I have a good faith belief that use of the copyrighted materials described above as allegedly infringing is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law.
 
I swear, under penalty of perjury, that the information in the notification is accurate and that I am the copyright owner or am authorized to act on behalf of the owner of an exclusive right that is allegedly infringed.
 
Ted Szukalski
January 9th, 2010

So you can understand what he’s talking about, here’s the photo:

This is a Photoshop, created by someone else, of the photographer’s original photo, which you may view at this link.

I posted the Photoshop in this post, to comment effectively on a controversy regarding whether the photo was racist, and whether Charles Johnson was correct to allege that it was an example of “right-wing racism.” My posting of the photo was fair use. I won’t be taking it down, and I have told the photographer so.

Here is what I just sent the photographer in reply.

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