Doctor, Doctor

Give me the news; got a bad case of wingnut blues. Via The Washington Monthly.

Man, how'd you like this summbitch Pezzi dating your daughter?

UPDATE: Jesus! It gets even worse. This guy is one creeped out dude.

UPDATED UPDATE (from The Editors) :

"Say what you will about 'Dr.' Kevin Pezzi. Laugh at his many bizarre antics and delusional grandeur if it makes you feel better, basking in the warmth emanating from your elitist hearth of effetery.

But I can tell you first hand (two even!) that his penis enlargement techniques are the real deal. My junk weighs a ton now yo."

Can't be all bad then, eh?

Hook, Line? Meet Sinker

Hey did you know the word gullible isn't in the dictionary?

Visual Intermodal Prevention Response

These are at a couple of local city bus stops, mind you. Indianapolis Star (08.02.07), via DailyKos:

"Screeners from the Transportation Security Administration checked passengers at two Downtown city bus stops this morning, looking for weapons and suspicious behavior.

TSA checks IndyGo bus passengers

The TSA calls it a "'VIPR'" operation, which stand for (are you ready?) "Visual Intermodal Prevention Response." The TSA has "'plainclothes inspectors, blue-gloved uniformed security officers who are checking baggage, the behavior detection officers, and federal air marshals, which are the law enforcement arm of TSA.'"

"Some passengers were patted down or submitted to having bags checked."

The TSA "said the searches were 'by-permission,' meaning patrons could decline to be checked. Those who did would not be turned away, an official said, unless they otherwise appeared to be a security threat."

Is Al Qaeda issuing Metro Passes these days or something?

You Know Those Pundits You See On TV?

And read in the paper? And hear on the radio? Them folks? Those VerySerious people? The VeryWiseMenInWashington? Oliver Willis (06.25.07), via Eschaton:

"A long time ago I used to believe that a lot of these people were just talking over my head, their discourse too lofty for a regular guy like myself.

But that isn't true. They're just stupid."

Margaret Carlson Had A Column To Fill

Hey, we'll go even further. They're fucking morons.

Oh That Alberto!

He knew nothing. Washington Post (07.10.07):

"As he sought to renew the USA Patriot Act two years ago, Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales assured lawmakers that the FBI had not abused its potent new terrorism-fighting powers. 'There has not been one verified case of civil liberties abuse,' Gonzales told senators on April 27, 2005.

Six days earlier, the FBI sent Gonzales a copy of a report that said its agents had obtained personal information that they were not entitled to have."

Gonzales Was Told of FBI Violations

"It was one of at least half a dozen reports of legal or procedural violations that Gonzales received in the three months before he made his statement to the Senate intelligence committee, according to internal FBI documents released under the Freedom of Information Act."

"The acts recounted in the FBI reports included unauthorized surveillance, an illegal property search and a case in which an Internet firm improperly turned over a compact disc with data that the FBI was not entitled to collect, the documents show. Gonzales was copied on each report that said administrative rules or laws protecting civil liberties and privacy had been violated."

"The reports also alerted Gonzales in 2005 to problems with the FBI's use of an anti-terrorism tool known as a national security letter (NSL), well before the Justice Department's inspector general brought widespread abuse of the letters in 2004 and 2005 to light in a stinging report this past March."

Last March, the Inspector General for the Justice Department released an audit which found that there "were pervasive problems with the FBI's handling of NSLs and another investigative tool known as an exigent circumstances letter."

Alberto was shocked, just shocked. "'I was upset when I learned this, as was Director Mueller. To say that I am concerned about what has been revealed in this report would be an enormous understatement,' Gonzales said in a speech March 9, referring to FBI Director Robert S. Mueller.

The attorney general added that he believed back in 2005, before the Patriot Act was renewed, that there were no problems with NSLs. 'I've come to learn that I was wrong,' he said, making no mention of the FBI reports sent to him."

Your Government In Action

The DHS response is priceless. CNN (05.27.07), via AmericaBlog:

"Claims of terrorism represented less than 0.01 percent of charges filed in recent years in immigration courts by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, according to a report issued Sunday by an independent research group.

This comes despite the fact the Bush administration has repeatedly asserted that fighting terrorism is the central mission of DHS."

Group: Terrorism not focus of Homeland Security

Note that TRAC needed a FOIA request to even get these records. "The Transactional Records Action Clearinghouse said it analyzed millions of previously undisclosed records obtained from the immigration courts under the Freedom of Information Act."

"Of the 814,073 people charged by DHS in immigration courts during the past three years, 12 faced charges of terrorism, TRAC said."

"Those 12 cases represent 0.0015 percent of the total number of cases filed."

"DHS spokesman Russ Knocke called the TRAC report 'ill-conceived' and said the group 'lacked a grasp of the DHS mission.'"

"Knocke said that, by clamping down on all forms of immigration, DHS has made it difficult for terrorists to come to the United States."

Considering how effective DHS has been stemming the tide of immigration coming across our Southern border, we're not exactly inclined to buy that one, Russ.

Know Your Legislator

Lest he come to know you. KELO (05.18.07), via Hullabaloo:

"A former South Dakota lawmaker is accused of molesting his own foster children and legislative pages.

Ted Klaudt, 49, a Republican rancher from Walker, faces a long list of charges: eight counts of rape, two counts of sexual exploitation of a minor, two counts of witness tampering, sexual contact with a person under 16, and stalking."

Former SD Legislator Arrested On Sex Charges

"Court documents mention five possible victims. Three were foster children between the ages of 15 and 19 who lived with Klaudt's family. One is a cousin of one of those girls, and the fifth is a friend of Klaudt's daughter."

"In the most disturbing accusation, the girls say Klaudt had them convinced they could earn up to $20,000 by donating their eggs to a fertility clinic. And even though he has no medical training, the girls say Klaudt did all the supposed 'exams' and 'procedures' himself."

Some of his legislative accomplishments.

They Made Me Do It

It's their fault. I had to do it, you see. AP (05.15.07):

"World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz, fighting accusations that threaten his job, has asserted that the bank's ethics committee forced him to play a direct role in engineering a hefty raise for his girlfriend because the panel was afraid to confront an 'extremely angry and upset' woman.

That argument -- contained in Wolfowitz's written response to a bank report released Monday that accuses him of ethics violations -- cast blame on the very group Wolfowitz approached for help in resolving a conflict of interest after he arrived at the bank in 2005."

Wolfowitz says panel forced him into pay raise role

"'Its members did not want to deal with a very angry Ms. Riza, whose career was being damaged as a result of their decision,' Wolfowitz said. 'It would only be human nature for them to want to steer clear of her.'"

It's her fault too. "Wolfowitz also blamed Riza for his predicament, saying that her 'intractable position' in demanding a salary increase as compensation for the disruption to her career forced him" to do it.

Some history of this sordid little affair. George nominated Paul to be president of the World Bank back in January, 2005. Prior to that, Paul had been dating Shaha Ali Riza, "a senior World Bank official". Conflict of interest rules prohibited the two from working at the Bank at the same time. Because Paul really wanted to be President of the Bank, and because Paul is Paul and all, Riza had to go.

He says that because the ethics committee "declined to oversee the necessary job transfer and compensation", it was up to him to resolve the conflict. And boy, did he resolve it.

He has claimed (and continues to claim) "that he had helped arrange a generous pay and promotion package for his companion soon after he became bank president in 2005 as 'a settlement of her potential claims' if she sued for being relocated against her will."

We now know that if he hadn't done it, Riza would have kicked his ass.