Year: 2008

Former Fox News Radio reporter tries to take gun to court

Posted on by TL

News from Pittsburgh:

A radio reporter was arrested this morning and accused of trying to take a loaded handgun into the Allegheny County Courthouse.

The county sheriff’s office said KDKA reporter Rob Milford was stopped at 9:25 a.m. after a .38 caliber snub-nosed revolver was found in his briefcase at a courthouse screening station. Mr. Milford said he didn’t realize he had put his gun in the briefcase, said Sheriff William P. Mullen.

Don’t you check your briefcase for snub-nosed revolvers before heading to court?

Mr. Milford, a morning general assignment reporter, arrived at KDKA in April 2006 after working for CBS Radio News and Fox News Radio. He reported from the Iraq war twice, once when he was embedded during the initial invasion in 2003.

The man’s a real war hero, another safely “embedded” journalist writing one side of the story from Iraq. Why bother interviewing Iraqis?

David Brooks is an idiot

Posted on by TL

For some reason, I used to enjoy reading David Brooks in the New York Times. I don’t know why. He’s a smart guy. Perhaps it’s my liberal leanings that cause me to thirst for news from all perspectives, not permitting myself to be limited to one point of view.

Brooks’ mere presence in the NYTimes is proof they don’t pander to liberals.

But this one really takes the cake. I’ve watched Brooks give commentary on television. Whether it’s This Week with George Stephanolopous or the pages of the NYTimes, commentators want to tell you what to think as much as they tell you what they think.

Well, Mr. Brooks slipped this time. Regarding Barack Obama, Brooks said:

“Obama‘s problem is he doesn‘t seem like a guy who can go into an Applebee‘s salad bar and people think he fits in naturally there. He has to change to be more like that Applebee‘s guy and as he‘s done that he‘s become much more transactional. Much more, I‘m going to deliver this and this and this to you on policy.”

David, Applebee’s doesn’t have a salad bar. I know you know this by now. Face it, you looked downright silly on this one.

As someone who’s had the pleasure of meeting the Senator from Illinois on more than one occasion, I can say with confidence Barack’s a good guy.

You know, Barack Obama does look like someone who could go into an Applebee’s and have lunch or a good dinner.

You don’t.

Rezko’s Plan for a Third Airport

Posted on by TL

Tony Rezko allegedly tried his hand at starting a “pay-for-play” third airport in Will County.

I had my doubts the first time I read this, but, knowing Rick Bryant, this report is accurate.

Bryant writes in eNews Park Forest:

Two years ago – before Rezko’s indictment and trial – the Congressman and I (as executive director of the Abraham Lincoln National Airport Commission) were invited to meet with state officials about the third airport, a project we’ve championed for 14 years.

At the time, the governor was running for re-election and facing angry south suburban leaders who were running a massive ad campaign criticizing Blagojevich for reneging on his promise to build the airport.

Feeling heat from his voter base, the governor agreed to have two of his top aides meet with Jackson and ALNAC.

At the last minute, however, there was a change of plans.  Instead of meeting with the Governor’s aides, we would be meeting with Tony Rezko.

So, on Sunday, June 25, 2006, at the Chicago Four Seasons Hotel, Rezko showed up by himself.  He said he could offer gubernatorial support for ALNAC’s airport plan – if the governor were allowed to make key appointments to ALNAC’s Board.

Wow.  It’s worth it to read Bryant’s entire commentary.

To be honest, I tire of the back-and-forth sniping between Congressman Jesse Jackson, Jr. and Senate Majority Leader Debbie Halvorson.  Both are good people.  That’s not the issue.  But both, at times, have postured unnecessarily over the Third Airport, bringing each other down in the process.  Thankfully, Bryant, a top aide to Congressman Jesse Jackson, Jr., only takes a backhanded slap at Halvorson in this piece.

ALNAC’s model for building the airport comes with built-in accountability and ethics designed specifically to eliminate kickbacks and graft, thus creating 15,000 private-sector jobs at a low-cost airport that will attract low-cost carriers during this challenging economy.

Rezko’s model and the Senate bill would turn ALNAC’s innovative plan to construct a privately funded, publicly accountable, low-cost airport into a taxpayer-funded, pay-to-play, high-cost airport.

Bryant’s point, however, is clear enough: a third airport would be much less expensive and more accountable to the public under ALNAC.

I simply find it astounding that Rezko tried to put his finger in the third airport pie.

How Hillary got her groove back

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“Today I am standing with Senator Obama to say: Yes we can!”

With those words, U.S. Senator Hillary Clinton ended her historic run for the White House and endorsed Senator Barack Obama for President of the United States. Senator Clinton said everything she needed to say, and more, with her sound endorsement of Senator Barack Obama for president Saturday.

While some supporters called for Clinton to form a third party and challenge both Democrats and Republicans for the White House, there’s no indication that Mrs. Clinton took any of these ideas seriously.

Instead, Mrs. Clinton graciously thanked her supporters, strongly urging them to support Obama’s candidacy.

To all those who voted for me, and to whom I pledged my utmost, my commitment to you and to the progress we seek is unyielding. You have inspired and touched me with the stories of the joys and sorrows that make up the fabric of our lives and you have humbled me with your commitment to our country.

Some have said Hillary dallied too long on her campaign, that she should have spent more time talking about Barack.

But those words ring hollow.  Her supporters stood by her even as she spoke Saturday, and this was their time as much as it was hers.

This has been an extraordinary primary campaign season.  For the first time in the history of the United States, a woman and a black man stood as the front-runners overall in the primaries.  Both Clinton and Obama top John McCain in national polls throughout the primary campaigns.  Senator Clinton stood strong until she decided that it was time to suspend this campaign, and endorse another.

I would caution Democrats who might resent Hillary staying in the campaign as long as she did.  Some, I know, have become angry that she didn’t “get it” like they thought she should and bow out, leave the once crowded stage so Barack could concentrate on November.

But I disagree.

What she did, in fact, was extraordinary, and we owe her our gratitude.  Senator Clinton fought.  This was not ego — this was history in the making.

Hillary did not “get her groove back” by endorsing Senator Obama.

The Senator from New York had it all along.

It’s Hillary-day

Posted on by TL

Today, it’s all about the Senator from New York.

Today, Senator Clinton endorses the Senator from Illinois for President of the United States. Today is Hillary-day.

The Associated Press reported Senators Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton met Thursday at the Washington home of California Senator Dianne Feinstein, and emerged from the meeting laughing.

They spent one hour alone, without aides, without Senator Feinstein, “in two comfortable chairs facing one another.”

No one else was present during the meeting and nothing was served except water.

“There was a desire on both sides, I think, to have private meeting,” Feinstein said.

This has been a spectacular campaign season.

“They called me when it was over,” Feinstein said. “I came down and said, `Good night everybody, I hope you had a good meeting.’ They were laughing, and that was it.”

Today, it’s all about the Senator from New York.

Mrs. Clinton, thank you. Thank you for hanging in there. Thank you for fighting.  Thank you for taking this nation where it has never, ever gone before. Thank you for taking the challenge and not giving up. Thank you for fighting to the end. Thank you demonstrating strength, integrity, and class.

Madame Senator, thank you.

Today is your day.

The best is yet to come.

Rezko a problem for the GOP also

Posted on by TL

Republicans are salivating with news of Rezko’s conviction. According to the Chicago Tribune, Illinois Republicans opened their state convention vowing to link Governor Blagojevich to all Democrats across the state, including the presumptive Democratic nominee, U.S. Senator Barack Obama. They’re pulling out all the stops, but saying nothing new.

For example, they’re going to run around screaming, “Hussein!” Obama’s middle name, very common in the Arabic world, simply means “good” or “handsome.” According to a wonderful analysis of the name at Salon.com:

Barack Obama’s middle name is in honor of his grandfather, Hussein, a secular resident of Nairobi, Kenya. Americans may think of Saddam Hussein when they hear the name, but that is like thinking of Stalin when you hear the name Joseph. There have been lots of Husseins in history, from the grandson of the prophet Mohammed, a hero who touched the historian Gibbon, to King Hussein of Jordan, one of America’s most steadfast allies in the 20th century. The author of the beloved American novel “The Kite Runner” is Khaled Hosseini.

But in Obama’s case, it is just a reference to his grandfather.

Yes, attacking Barack’s middle name sounds like a great game plan.

Republicans plan to play up Rezko’s conviction and attempt to link Rezko to every Democrat running for office in Illinois.  According to Rick Pearson at the Chicago Tribune, however, Rezko did business across party lines:

Still struggling to recover the relevance it lost amid the corruption investigation and conviction of former GOP Gov. George Ryan, the state GOP also finds itself beset by longtime internal strife. A cadre of conservatives trying to advance their agenda under a reform mantle has clashed repeatedly with old-guard moderates seeking to maintain their control.

Another convention panel recommended former prosecutor Patrick Brady of St. Charles to succeed the embattled Robert Kjellander as the state’s Republican national committeeman, a critical post for fundraising and to serve as an Illinois liaison with the national campaign of presumptive GOP presidential contender U.S. Sen. John McCain of Arizona.

Kjellander, who is retiring at the end of his term this year, has been a source of controversy over his consulting activities with the state during the Blagojevich years and his own relationship with Rezko.

Illinois Republicans are a shrewd lot. Mess with them, and they’ll import Alan Keyes again to save the day.  Just pray Keyes wasn’t caught in a photo-op with Rezko during his brief stay in the Land of Lincoln a few years ago.

Oil prices: Neck high by the 4th of July?

Posted on by TL

Oil prices jumped $11 a barrel to a new high above $139 a barrel. An analyst from Morgan Stanley predicted prices could reach $150 by July 4. According to WTAE in Pittsburgh:

A falling dollar and growing tensions in the Middle East are also pushing prices higher.

Light, sweet crude for July delivery has traded as high as $136.62 on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Prices hit a previous record of $135.09 a barrel on May 22.

There’s more bad news:

Congressional auditors said that if oil and natural gas prices stay as high as they’ve been in recent months, the government could lose as much as $53 billion over the next 25 years in energy royalties because of an adverse court ruling.

The Government Accountability Office said the soaring price of crude oil and natural gas also means the windfall that companies will enjoy from the court ruling also could increase by billions of dollars.

The impact on the American economy will be staggering. Prices in all areas will rise even more, while the value of the dollar continues to fall.

Currently, $1 American will buy €0.6342.

Thanks, George.

Guard Destroys Million-Dollar Painting

Posted on by TL

A security guard at the Carnegie Museum of Art told police he “didn’t like” the $1.2 million painting he allegedly destroyed.

The suspect — Timur Serebrykov, 27, of Pittsburgh — is being held in the Allegheny County Jail on a felony charge of institutional vandalism, police said.

According to a police affidavit, surveillance video from May 16 shows Serebrykov defacing Vija Celmins’ “Night Sky #12” at the museum on Forbes Avenue.

The affidavit said there was an “obvious large vertical gouge” in the middle of the piece.”I did it with a key… I didn’t like the painting… I’m sorry,” Serebrykov told Detective Daniel Sullivan, according to the affidavit.

Very strange.

Berwyn makes history

Posted on by TL

Berwyn, IL,  recently joined 13 other cities in Illinois when city officials unanimously decided to include “sexual orientation” to its human-rights ordinance:

The decision brings Berwyn in line with a statewide law barring discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity in areas of housing, public accommodations and employment, which was passed in 2005.

According to the Windy City Times:

The decision brings Berwyn in line with a statewide law barring discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity in areas of housing, public accommodations and employment, which was passed in 2005.

The moment was, typically, full of irony:

[Former board chair Ted] Korbos, one of the organization’s founding members, said that one of the vocal opponents of the sexual orientation clause from 14 years ago showed up to the recent city council meeting, but left in a huff when even Republican alderman approved of its inclusion last week.

Fourteen years ago, one of the main arguments given for voting down the clause was that state law did protect against sexual orientation discrimination. Korbos told Windy City Times that it is “ironic” that today, current Illinois law became an argument to update the Berwyn ordinance.

“It really paved the way,” Korbos said.

And so it goes, as Kurt Vonnegut, master of irony, would have said.

R. Kelly has a mole on his back

Posted on by TL

R. Kelly actually had an expert testify about the mole on his back:

R. Kelly‘s mole returned to the forefront of his child pornography trial on Thursday, as a forensic video analyst testified the blemish on the R&B star’s back is not identical to the dark mark seen on the man in the sex tape.

The mole has emerged as the surprise crux of the singer’s defense in the three weeks since testimony began. From the onset, his attorneys have told the jury that the caterpillar-shaped mark along Kelly’s spine would clear him of the crime.

Ugh. There are many things I didn’t need to know about R. Kelly, and I certainly didn’t need to know, nor could I have cared less, that Kelly has a mole on his back.

He could’ve had the bloody thing removed in his doctor’s office sometime over the past six years this trial has been delayed.

In addition to Kelly claiming he’s not the guy, the defense is also claiming the girl is not the girl:

Shonna Edwards, 27, said she was formerly in a singing group with her cousin, who prosecutors allege is the underage girl in the tape. The group toured throughout Europe in the late 1990s, she said.

“Was the female in the [sex] tape your cousin?” asked defense lawyer Ed Genson.

“No, she definitely wasn’t her,” Edwards said.

Similar words from an uncle later on.

On the other hand, the fiance of the prosecution’s star witness reportedly wanted $300,000 to keep her quiet:

Jack Palladino — a private investigator best known for being hired by Bill Clinton to track down women he’d been linked with — testified Thursday that the fiance of the prosecution’s star witness wanted a $300,000 payoff to keep the witness quiet.

The star witness, Lisa Van Allen, testified Monday that she had engaged in threesomes with R. Kelly and the underage girl who allegedly appears in a sex tape with the singer.

So, R. Kelly’s not the guy, the girl is not the girl, but Lisa Van Allen might have kept quiet about the whole thing for a few bucks? Everyone’s bending over backwards to drag each other further into the mud.

Mr. Kelly may be innocent — and he is, right now, innocent until proven guilty. But we need to remember what this is really about: the awful reality that an underage girl may have been horribly violated. If she was, we don’t need another sexual predator driving around the south suburbs of Chicago looking for his next conquest.