What Charlie Knew: EVERYTHING

From RedState:

Jim Greer has apparently decided that he has no intention of going down by alone and probably figures that Charlie Crist will adapt to life in the prison laundry room much easier than he will.

Gov. Charlie Crist personally signed off on his former Republican party chairman’s confidential fundraising role with the state party – according to Jim Greer’s attorney, whose allegation contradicts the governor’s statement that he “didn’t know anything” about the deal now part of a criminal investigation.

[...]

But Greer’s attorney, Damon Chase, said Saturday that the deal giving them a 10 percent cut of party donations was legal. What’s more, Chase said Crist’s former right-hand man, now U.S. Sen. George LeMieux, first proposed the idea that they earn a fundraising commission to save the party money and replace the $30,000-a-month contract with fundraiser Meredith O’Rourke.

“You guys work hard. You deserve it,” Chase said Greer was told by the governor as they played pool in February 2009 at a Palm Beach golf tournament.

So now we have the sitting governor and a sitting senator from Florida in danger of being indicted for theft, fraud, and money laundering. In addition, we have the spectacle of the national Democrat party apparently tossing their own candidate, Representative Kendrick Meek, an African American from a prominent Florida political family, under the bus in order to support the newly “independent” Charlie Crist.

I'm going to need more popcorn. 

Obama Knew the Scope of the Oil Spill Disaster All Along

Moe Lane:

So, seeing as it’s been clear all along to the White House that we had an ecological disaster on our hands: why did the President not act in a timely fashion to try to keep the oil off of the beaches in the five Gulf of Mexico states?

Questioned asked and answered.

H/T to Instapundit who adds:

Nonsense. If that cynical analysis were correct, we’d have seen Obama ignoring the Nashville flood, Kentucky ice storms, etc.

Sounds about right to me.

I Miss Tony Snow

There has been a lot said about Helen Thomas the last couple of days.  She was featured in the PJTV segment I linked yesterday.  Is anyone really surprised that by Helen Thomas's words on Israel?  Helen is a long standing member of the "Blame Israel First" club.  Yes, she should be fired but what of all the other journalists who would report the total destruction of Israel with a smile on their faces and a twinkle in their eyes? 

Allhapundit has posted a video of Tony Snow taking Helen Thomas to task.  It isn't so much that Snow hands Thomas her severed head, although that is certainly fun, but I was struck by the contrast between Snow, who preformed his job with intelligence, humor and dignity, and the current White House spokesman, Robert Gibbs, who is Snow's polar opposite and a total buffoon.  For your Saturday night viewing pleasure, here is Tony Snow.  I miss him.

Funniest Video of the Day

I love my PJTV and after a long day at work this Kruiser Control is just what I needed.  The video would be better if a) I wasn't still at the office and b) my employer didn't have a crazy rule against alcohol at work.  Anyway, enjoy, and if you have access to beer toss one back for me.

H/T  Instapundit

Hmmm. I Wonder Who They're Talking About?

So far he's been called a douchbag, classless and pablum puke.  Personally, I think he's a witless twit.

Stand With Israel

Marco Rubio makes the case that we should stand with our friend and ally Israel.  His statement reads in part:

For the entirety of its existence, Israel has been targeted for annihilation by its enemies and we must never do anything to undermine its right to protect its people. As enemies such as Iran develop nuclear weapons that pose an existential threat to Israel, America has a responsibility to continue serving as its strongest and most steadfast ally.

Israel is a valued American ally and our closest and most reliable friend in the Middle East. Israel is neither the problem nor the obstacle to peace, and it should not be treated as one. By strengthening the U.S.-Israel alliance, we also strengthen the moderate, pro-U.S. elements in the Arab world. If the U.S. shows itself to be an unreliable ally to Israel, moderate Arab states will take note that they cannot trust the U.S. to be a reliable friend for them either. This is unacceptable for the future of U.S. security, Israel’s existence and the prospects for a lasting peace in the Middle East.

Since January 20th of 2009 we have been awful quick to throw our traditional friends under the bus while we've been darn slow to back what could have been valuable new friends-think the demonstrators in Iran and our deplorable actions (inaction?) in Honduras.  The message we've sent has been loud and clear:  you can't count on us.  We appear weak and fickle to both friend and enemy alike.  Let's not blow it with Israel.  The consequences are simply to grave.

Marco's statement in its entirety.

Also see the post from Backyard Conservative at Potluck.

Smitty at the Other McCain has the words to We Con the World.  Let's all sing along!

Former Florida GOP Chairman Jim Greer Arrested-Best Buddy, Charlie Crist, "Disappointed" UPDATED

From Daniel Foster at The Corner:

Federal authorities today arrested Jim Greer, a close Charlie Crist ally and the governor's hand-picked choice to run the Florida Republican Party. No word yet on charges.

As it turns out, Greer is looking at six felonies for fraud, an attempt to defraud and money laundering.  Bail has been set at $105,000.  Well, birds of a feather and all that-this doesn't look good for Good Time Charlie.

Pat at And So it Goes in Shreveport has all the details.

UPDATE:

Via TBO.Com:

The affidavit gives this account:

Johnson rose from Greer's travel aide to head of the party's Orlando office, to deputy executive director and finally, to executive director, a position that Greer said would include fundraising. Johnson told investigators that Greer told him they would take 10 percent of all major donor money raised and split it and that he would have lawyers set up a company for them "for tax purposes."

Johnson said he was told "not to disclose Mr. Greer's involvement to anyone, to take steps to hide the truth about Mr. Greer's involvement from RPOF and, if questioned, to deny Mr. Greer's interest in the company."

Under the papers drawn up, Johnson was listed as president/secretary/treasurer owning 40 percent of Victory Strategies, while Greer, who was not an officer of the company, owned 60 percent.

The financial arrangement, the affidavit says, was never submitted for approval by the RPOF attorney.

Johnson signed an agreement with the RPOF to provide fundraising services through Victory Strategies. Subpoenaed bank records show the only sources of money to Victory Strategies was from Greer and the RPOF, and the only two benefactors of the money were Greer and Johnson.

An FDLE review of Greer's personal bank records showed that he "appeared to be suffering from financial problems in 2009," with bank accounts overdrawn by $25,392 in July and $3,794 in August. His accounts in the rest of 2009 were overdrawn by an average of $10,000. The affidavit says that Greer pleaded for financial help from a Republican donor, who sent him $3,000 a month over 18 months.  (emphasis added)

According to the affidavit, the Republican party was a constant and apparently trusting source of money for Greer throughout 2009, through invoices from Victory Strategies to the RPOF. Once the party wrote a check to Victory Strategies, that company in turn wrote a check to Greer. In all, the affidavit says, the party paid more than $199,254 to Victory Strategies. Greer took more than $125,161 from his interest in Victory Strategies. Johnson was paid $65,093.

At the same time this was going on, the affidavit says, "Mr. Greer was facing additional public and RPOF scrutiny related to party spending. In what was purported by Mr. Greer to be a show of fiscal responsibility, Mr. Greer stood before the media and RPOF officials and cut up an American Express card." The card, however, was not Greer's, but that of a staff member, Johnson told investigators.

When asked earlier today if he felt responsible for Greer's actions, Charlie Crist, Greer's #1 cheerleader, said, "I do not feel complicit."  "Complicit" means that a person has knowledge of a crime but does not report it.  But according to TPM Greer allegedly tried to strong-arm a professional fundraiser for the state GOP into giving him a percent of her earnings -- and when she refused, he cut off her access to his close ally Gov. Charlie Crist.  What are the chances that Charlie was not aware of that?

More Attacks on Our First Amendment

Well here we go:

Over thirty organizations want the Federal Communications Commission to open up a probe on "hate speech" and "misinformation" in media. "Hate has developed as a profit-model for syndicated radio and cable television programs masquerading as 'news'," they wrote to the FCC earlier this month.

I’ve got some hate speech for you-kiss my ass.

The First Amendment is quite clear:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.

And who do these thirty some organizations think should judge what is hateful and what is not? Keith Olbermann, good/Glenn Beck, bad? Yeah. The problem with determining what is “hate speech” is that there are too many variables. Ear/eye of the beholder and all that. That is why our Founders didn’t throw a bunch of qualifiers in to the First Amendment.

You have every right to annoy, offend and cause me hurt feelings and I can do the same to you. Grownups have a way of working these things out-mainly, if you don’t like it ignore or refute it or, if the mood strikes, one up it, but don’t act like a poor little child whose sensitivities must be protected by the all powerful State.

It is important to remember that people who want to restrict speech are perfectly fine allowing some hate speech filter through-in the interest of cultural diversity, sensitivity, blah, blah, blah. Controlling the message is merely one means of controlling the messenger and it is the tool of tyrants.

Oliver and Jennifer Call it Quits

Boy, did I just show my age or what?  For the younger among us, Oliver and Jennifer were the fated couple in Erich Segal's Love Story.  Al Gore once claimed that the characters were based on him and Tipper, which is one way of saying that Tipper was beneath the Gore family standards.  But in any case, the Gore's have announced that after forty years of marriage they are going their separate ways.  I am not one of those people that believes a marriage ending is always a bad thing. Last week an acquaintance of mine told me that she was ending her marriage of twenty-seven years.  It was twenty-seven years of Hell for her and my reaction was a hearty "good for you."   Forty years of Al's hot air would have to be a kind of Hell on earth.  Good luck to Tipper.

Israeli Soldiers Attacked by "Activists"

Contrary to the false headlines being splattered throughout the world by the MSM, a group of Israeli soldiers were viciously attacked when they attempted to board a flotilla carrying "aid" to Gaza.  The following video, via The Sundries Shack, clearly shows that it was the soldiers who were attacked and not the other way around:



How did the MSM and the crackpots and thugs at the UN get the story so wrong?  Simply, they wanted to. 

Stacy McCain has background on the "activists" on the flotilla.

Melissa Clouthier-President Obama Abandons Israel (AGAIN)

American Power-Gaza Flotilla Activists Launched Pre-Planned Attack on Israeli Commandos

As we speak, the UN Security Council is meeting to condemn Israel.  The UN is a joke.  It is comprised of a bunch of thugs and self-dealers who have no moral authority to pass judgement on anyone.

STAND WITH ISRAEL

Memorial Day

What do we owe those gave their lives for our freedom?  Simply that we, each according to our ability will continue the fight in our everyday lives. 

When we take to the streets with our Gadsden flags we stand up for the freedom our fallen fought for.

When we challenge our government through letters, blog posts or Tea Parties we stand up for the freedom our fallen fought for.

They won our freedom with their blood.  Let us preserve our freedom with our voices.

We owe them that much.

Get the Hell Off of OUR Land

That was the message being driven home at the pro-illegal immigration/anti SB 1070 march held in Phoenix complete with Nazi and KKK imagery mixed with the usual "this land is their land" claptrap.  From American Power:

So, we, and judging from the above sign, the Canadians, are a bunch of imperialistic encroachers who have squatted on Mexican lands for long enough.  They want the continent, the whole continent back because, well, they've done such a bang up job with their current little piece of it. 

Donald did a great job covering the march.  Read his post.

Update:  Smitty writes:  Border security, like energy security, is a hard problem. The country is going to have to insist on candidates with platforms, not platitudes, to address these issues.

I couldn't agree more Smitty, but sadly, the "tell it like it is" politicians are outnumbered by the platitude spewers.  We need to close our borders while we still have borders to close. 

Blazing Cat Fur Assaulted at Thug Rally

Blazing Cat Fur was taping an anti-Israel rally supported by the Canadian Union of Public Employees(CUPE)and organized by the "Palestine House", when he was assaulted by Ali Mallah, union thug and Vice President of the Canadian Arab Federation. Judging from the policeman's reaction, assault, depending I guess on who is the assaulter and who is the assaultee, is perfectly okay in Canada.



The rest of the story.

h/t Atlas Shrusgs

Oh, But He's Not a Racist

This is what black people get when they allow themselves to be defined by white liberals:



Charming.   Maher equates being "a real black" with being a cheap thug.  I won't even go into the whole "if a white Conservative had said that" thing-we all know the answer.  The point is that for too long, blacks have allowed white liberals to tell them who they are and what they think.  As a result, blacks are boxed in.  They either have to conform to a narrative that actually only applies to a minority of black people or face the wrath of liberal America. 

Worse for Obama, he hasn't satisfied anyone with his handling of the gulf spill.  However, while Maher may believe that Obama has been black enough, I haven't heard any Conservatives complaining that Obama is too black.  Maybe that is because we, Conservatives, don't define our brothers and sisters so narrowly.

H/T  Doug Ross

The 'Little Boy' President

Via Instapundit, comes an interesting description of our president.  Peter Wehner:

“Obama is among the most thin-skinned presidents we have had, and we see evidence of it in every possible venue imaginable, from one-on-one interviews to press conferences, from extemporaneous remarks to set speeches. . . . With Obama there is also the compulsive need to admonish others, to point fingers, to say that the problems he faces are not of his doing. . . . The ingredients are in place for some serious problems down the road. Those who care for the president need to recognize the warning signs now, sooner rather later, before it becomes too late, for him and for the nation.”

Doesn't that description sound terribly familiar?  Actually, I've seen that behavior in both my children and grandchildren.  Bossiness, an exaggerated sense of self, "creative" truth telling and being thin-skinned are common traits in childhood.  Fortunately, nay, thankfully, they tend to grow out it by the time they are nine or ten years old.  Our president, not so much:

In Obama's eyes, he is always the aggrieved, always the violated, always the victim of some injustice. He is America's virtuous and valorous hero, a man of unusually pure motives and uncommon wisdom, under assault by the forces of darkness.

It is all so darn unfair.

Not surprisingly, Obama's thin skin leads to self pity. As Daniel Halper of The Weekly Standard pointed out, in a fundraising event for Sen. Barbara Boxer, Obama said,

Let's face it: this has been the toughest year and a half since any year and a half since the 1930s.

 Really, now? Worse than the period surrounding December 7, 1941 and September 11, 2001...

Yeah, it's not fair!  Where have we heard that before?  Apparently, no one ever took the young Obama aside and gave him the 'life isn't fair' speech not to mention the 'the universe doesn't revolve around you' talk.  What a shame, now he is permanently stuck in pre-adolescence.  Look at Obama's treatment of  Prime Minister Netanyahu.  Is that how an adult treats a guest in his home?
 
Obama is a self absorbed bully who acts more like a spoiled little boy than the President of the United States.  As my Dad would say, it is time for him to "straighten up and fly right."
 
The rest of Wehner's post.
 

When the Crap Hits the Fan

As I said yesterday, the memo released by the White House regarding the Sestak affair was crap.  Here is Rep. Darrell Issa's reaction:

A spokesman for Rep. Darrell Issa, who is pursuing the Sestak matter in his role as ranking Republican on the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, sends the following reaction:

Are we to believe that Rahm Emanuel, a former Member of Congress himself, dispatched President Clinton to maneuver Admiral Sestak out of the Senate Primary by dispatching him with an unpaid appointment that Congressman Sestak couldn’t even accept if he wanted to? What’s more likely, that two of the most politically sophisticated people in American political history didn’t do their due diligence or that the narrative told by the White House is a not-so-brilliant work of fiction?

Is it just me or has the White House dug themselves further in to a hole?  It isn't the crime, it is the cover-up.

Cross posted at Potluck

Ode to the Almost Dead

Writing in the Weekly Standard, P.J. O'Rourke has hit upon a wonderful idea:  pre-obituaries.  O'Rourke writes of the possibilities:

Jimmy Carter is 85. We must hasten to throw the Camp David Accord in his face before he heads to his eternal camp-out with Anwar el-Sadat. Gore Vidal is 84. There’s no chance he’ll end up in the same place as Bill Buckley. We ought to take up Buckley’s gauntlet and slap Gore’s face here and now. Noam Chomsky is 81. Why should Satan have all the fun? We own pitchforks of fact aplenty with which to prod his living flesh. Norman Lear is 87 and will be married to Maude forever any minute now. (Although Lear may find himself forgiven. He never meant to make Archie Bunker a hero and a role model, but perhaps the road to heaven is paved with bad intentions.) Ed Asner is 80. Put him together with Ben Bradlee (88) and Alan J. Pakula, director of All the President’s Men (died in 1998, darn it), and you have the villains in the tragic tale of the American newspaper’s self-congratulatory ossification. Ross Perot also will be 80 soon. We owe him one Bill Clinton-sized philippic. Ralph Nader is 76. High time that someone, metaphorically, flipped him in a Corvair. And Paul Ehrlich is 78. In these days of the graying workforce, baby bust, and demographic decline, surely he needs a population bomb in his underpants.

The beauty of obituaries for the still-extant is that they needn’t be limited to those who are about to go home feet first. Preemptive necrology can be practiced on persons who are in the prime of life, especially if they’ve had their little turn in the limelight and will never do anything else of note if they live to be 1,000.

When I read that last sentence I immediately thought of Al Gore.  Let's face it, Gore's "best years" are behind him, though I doubt he has noticed.  What better way to close the chapter on three decades of hot air than to write a final tribute to the demise of Gore's broken religion? 

O'Rourke suggests many candidates for pre-obits-from Bernie Sanders to Lindsay Lohan.  In Lohan's case it would seem that if somebody desires to write a pre-obit they had better hurry.  The point being that are many among us, or in their estimation, above us, whose time has come and gone.  Why not celebrate?

Cross posted at Pundit & Pundette

Really, Really Stupid Lies

Being lied to is always insulting but being told a lie that does make one lick of sense is the height of assholeness.  Via Allahpundit:

Let me get this straight: The president’s chief of staff dispatched a former president to talk to an aspiring senator about dropping his primary bid in return for … a spot on some no-name unpaid advisory board? Does that sound remotely plausible? (Surprisingly, lefty sedition expert Joe Klein says no, before quickly adding that it doesn’t matter anyway.) Does that even square with what Sestak’s said in the past about having been offered “a job”?

Not only does it not square with Sestak's previous statements, the story makes no sense.  Are we to believe that an unpaid position on some advisory board would be incentive enough to induce Sestak to drop out of the primary race?  And why would the White House release a statement that doesn't change anything?  Prof Jacobson:

The Obama administration memo supposedly vindicating the administration actually should be Exhibit A in a criminal case, because the White House admits to the offer and that it was for the purpose of convincing Sestak to withdraw.

I believe the memo is what amounts to a confession that a crime was committed.  The relevant section of the law that applies:

Whoever, directly or indirectly, promises any employment, position, compensation, contract, appointment, or other benefit, provided for or made possible in whole or in part by any Act of Congress, or any special consideration in obtaining any such benefit, to any person as consideration, favor, or reward for any political activity or for the support of or opposition to any candidate or any political party in connection with any general or special election to any political office, or in connection with any primary election or political convention or caucus held to select candidates for any political office, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than one year, or both.

The White House "explanation" doesn't pass the smell test.  In fact, it stinks.  Rather than shrink the story, they expanded it.  Stupid.

Onward Christian Soldiers

Tavis Smiley, who calls himself a Christian, says that Christians commit more acts of terrorism in this country than Muslims have ever attempted.  In fact, he says Christians blow people up every day.  Unbelievable!  Via Townhall:

Aw, Dang Nabbit!

With news like this the boys at The Atlantic will never cure their collective ED.