Archive for December, 2011
Awkward: Newt Gingrich Endorsed by Ashley Madison
Ouch.
Ashley Madison, an online hookup site dedicated to helping people cheat on their spouses, has endorsed GOP candidate Newt Gingrich, putting up a giant billboard with the headline,
Faithful Republican, Unfaithful Husband.
Again, you really can’t make this stuff up.
Ron Paul Projected To Win Iowa Caucus; GOP Fears Hacker Disruption
A 12-term congressman known for his Constitutional conservatism, having run a campaign supported almost entirely by small donations from individual voters, is set to win the Iowa GOP Caucus, according to several recent polls. Ron Paul is currently the only GOP candidate who beats Barack Obama in a theoretical head-to-head matchup, mainly because of his overwhelming superiority among independent voters.
In a completely unrelated and coincidental development that has nothing whatsoever to do with Ron Paul’s rise in the polls, the Iowa Republican Party has announced that it is “taking steps to secure its electronic vote collection system after receiving a mysterious threat to its computers.”
A video claiming to be from a collective of computer hackers has jolted party officials with a worst-case scenario: an Iowa caucus marred by hackers who successfully corrupt the database used to gather vote totals and crash the website used to inform the public about results that can shape the campaign for the White House.
While confident in the safeguards protecting the vote count itself, and aware the video may be a hoax, members of the state Republican Party’s central committee told The Associated Press they are taking the threat seriously and have authorized additional security measures to ensure hackers are unable to delay the release of results. [...]
The two-minute video features a computer-generated voice denouncing what it calls a corrupt political system that favors corporations and calls on supporters to “peacefully shut down the first-in-the-nation Iowa caucuses.” The video claims to be from Anonymous, a loosely organized group of hackers that has claimed credit for attacks on targets ranging from the Peruvian government to Paypal.
A former activist for Occupy Des Moines, Clarke Davidson, has acknowledged posting the video on YouTube. He said he did so after masked men left it outside his tent near the state Capitol on Nov. 3.
Seriously? He put it up on YouTube after “masked men left it outside his tent?”
You can’t make this stuff up.
“Racism” Officially Jumps Shark Courtesy of Eric Holder
Yeah, that’s right, Eric.
You’re being persecuted because you’re black, not because you’re corrupt, unethical, and criminally negligent, and oversaw a program that killed 300 Mexicans and Border Patrol agent Brian Terry, and then lied to Congress about it.
Justice Dept silent as Holder charges critics with racism
Attorney General Eric Holder accused his growing chorus of critics of racist motivations in a Sunday interview published in the New York Times. When reached by The Daily Caller Monday morning, the Department of Justice provided no evidence to support the attorney general’s claims.
Holder said some unspecified faction — what he refers to as the “more extreme segment” — is driven to criticize both him and President Barack Obama due to the color of their skin. Holder did not appear to elaborate on who he considered to make up the “more extreme segment.”
“This is a way to get at the president because of the way I can be identified with him,” Holder said, according to the Times. “Both due to the nature of our relationship and, you know, the fact that we’re both African-American.”
[...]
Holder’s accusations come as resignation calls mount from a growing list of 60 congressmen, two senators, every major Republican presidential candidate and two sitting governors, spurred on by the congressional investigation into Operation Fast and Furious.
[...]
Holder has said he was unaware of the operation, despite having been sent several personal memos from his top deputies and assistants. The memos contained intimate details of how Operation Fast and Furious worked. “This investigation [Fast and Furious, which is named earlier in the memo] — initiated in September 2009 in conjunction with the Drug Enforcement Administration, Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Phoenix Police Department — involves a Phoenix-based firearms trafficking ring headed by Manuel Celis-Acosta,” one such memo that Holder was provided reads. “Celis-Acosta and straw purchasers are responsible for the purchase of 1,500 firearms that were then supplied to Mexican drug-trafficking cartels. They also have direct ties to the Sinaloa Cartel, which is suspected of providing $1 million for the purchase of firearms in the greater Phoenix area.”
Sarah Palin on the GOP Field
Very interesting comments by Sarah Palin on the GOP field going into Iowa.
Note: Clicking on the image will take you to a blog post on the Washington Post’s website, because the embed wasn’t working for this clip. Don’t read the blog post unless your blood pressure is too low this morning.
HillBuzz Open Thread: December 19, 2011
Thanks to Diamond Mair for sharing! You can’t watch this without smiling.
So, what are people talking about today?
What do you think about North Korea?
What’s the scuttlebutt? What’s shakin’?
Bob Dole Endorses Mitt Romney
Well, there’s just not much more I can say about it, really.
Mittens Romneycare Officially Jumps Shark with Bob Dole Endorsement
“Though Dole’s endorsement is not much of a surprise this election cycle, he went a different route in 2008 when Romney made his first bid for the nomination. Four years ago Romney got in some hot water when he said that Dole – who had written a letter supporting eventual Republican nominee Senator John McCain – was the last person he would want a letter from.
Dole was Senate majority leader at the same time that Newt Gingrich – one of Romney’s main rivals in the quest to unseat Obama – was speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives.
But the two Republican congressional leaders were often at loggerheads, with Dole often frustrated by Gingrich’s firebrand personality. An exasperated Dole once said to Gingrich: “You pay a penalty for leadership. If you don’t want to pay the penalty, maybe you ought to find some other line of work.”
HillBuzz Open Thread: December 17, 2011
Got any Christmas videos you’d like me to feature in an upcoming Open Thread? Please share a link in the Comments section.
Dr. Ron Paul was on The Tonight Show tonight. First time I’ve watched The Tonight Show in about….forever. Dr. Paul did really well…but the fun part was Joe Rogan from The Fear Factor, who followed Dr. Paul. Turns out, Joe is a massive Ron Paul fan and wore a Ron Paul long-sleeved t-shirt on the show. Aaaahhhh. Good times.
Okay, there were at least three completely gratuitous Ron Paul mentions in that paragraph, mainly put there just for Google’s sake. (Ron Paul!!!!) Ron Paul people are an excellent source of traffic (I know…I’m a compulsive Ron Paul Googler myself.)
Ah…that felt goooood. 
So, what’s going on in your neck of the woods today? Got all your Christmas shopping done?
HillBuzz Open Thread: December 16, 2011
Yes, I grew up in the Eighties.
It was a simpler…but in some ways, weirder time.
Live Blog Transcript: Fox News Sioux City GOP Debate TONIGHT December 15 at 9pm EST and 8pm CST
What: FOX News GOP Debate in Sioux City, Iowa
When: Thursday December 15th, 2011
Time: 9pm EST and 8pm CST
Where to Watch: On FOX, or on FOXnews.com for a livestream feed
I’ll be covering this with a live blog transcript when the debate begins. Refresh this page on your browser every 15 minutes while the debate is ongoing for updates to the transcript.
Before the debate starts, let’s take a look at the candidates and where they all stand:
Baby Seal Breaks Into New Zealand Home, Falls Asleep on Sofa
For no other reason than the fact that it has been a hard few days, and everybody could use a smile and an “awwwwwww.”
New Zealander Annette Swoffer got the surprise of her life when she found a baby seal in her kitchen, who later began to snooze on her couch, the New Zealand Herald reports.
According to the report, the seal wandered from the bay waterfront, through a residential area, across busy roads, under a gate, through a cat door, and up some stairs before he was found at around 9:30 p.m.
“I thought ‘I’m hallucinating, this is just wrong,’” Swoffer told the paper. “Then it looks at me with those huge brown eyes. It was so cute…”
Photo credit: Crown Copyright: Department of Conservation Te Papa Atawhai (11 December 2011), Photographer: Christopher Clark
Read More: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/12/14/baby-seal-house-couch_n_1146980.html?ref=mostpopular
UPDATE: Even better version of the story in the New Zealand Herald
