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Gov. Eliot Spitzer has been caught on a federal wiretap arranging to meet with a high-priced prostitute at a Washington hotel last month, according to a person briefed on the federal investigation.

An affidavit in the federal investigation into a prostitution ring said that a wiretap recording captured a man identified as Client 9 on a telephone call confirming plans to have a woman travel from New York to Washington, where he had reserved a hotel room. The person briefed on the case identified Mr. Spitzer as Client 9.

Mr. Spitzer today made a brief public appearance during which he apologized for his behavior, and described it as a “private matter.”

“I have acted in a way that violates my obligation to my family and violates my or any sense of right or wrong,” said Mr. Spitzer, who appeared with his wife Silda at his Manhattan office. “I apologize first and most importantly to my family. I apologize to the public to whom I promised better.”

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A group of dissident scientists and climate researchers has affirmed that there is no convincing evidence that CO₂ emissions from modern industrial activity cause climate change, and has called on world leaders to abandon all efforts to reduce emissions “forthwith.” Issued last week at the close of the International Conference on Climate Change in New York, the Manhattan Declaration challenged the notion that a scientific consensus on climate change exists, and claimed that efforts at emissions reduction would diminish prosperity while having no appreciable impact.

The Declaration stems from the work of the Nongovermental International Panel on Climate Change (NIPCC), which one might term the evil twin of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which published a closely-argued report on the subject this month. The report takes the form of a critique of the IPCC’s Fourth Assessment Report, which last year helped win the organisation a joint Nobel Peace Prize with Al Gore.

If you check out the funding of the organisation that created the report, you’ll know how seriously to take all this.

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Uit een rapport van twee Duitse onderzoekers is gebleken dat dieven wel degelijk reistegoed van medepassagiers kunnen stelen. De hackers brachten een paper uit waarin zij beschrijven hoe de chip te kraken is.

[..]

Vorige maand bracht TNO nog een rapport uit waarin zij beweerden dat de ov-chipkaart niet makkelijk te hacken is. Het onderzoeksbureau deed dit in opdracht van Trans Link Systems, dat verantwoordelijk is voor de invoering van de kaart. De TNO-onderzoekers concludeerden dat de middelen die nodig zijn om de chip te kraken zo zwaar zijn dat dieven het al gauw teveel moeite vinden.

Trans Link Systems greep dit onderzoek aan om de invoering van de ov-chipkaart door te laten gaan.

(ter volledigheid: deze website staat op dezelfde server als dit weblog…)

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I voluntarily left thE Hillary Finance Committee after I discovered more than $3, 000 in unauthorized charges from HRC campaign on my own VISA card! And that set off a wave of overdrafts and $400 in bank charges that I was stuck with. And thE compliance officer Allison Wright at Hillary VA headquarters refused to reimburse me for the charges. And the senior finance reps who I notified about more than $3, 000 in Unauthorized Visa Charges: never once aplogized or empathized with my plight…Much less send me a “sorry for all the trouble” note and a check!

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My wife and I have two small children, both of whom go to preschool. About six months ago, a friend of my daughter asked her what church she went to. While my wife and I expected this to eventually be an issue, we were not prepared for three-year olds to be asking my kids where they went to church. While I have lived in the Southeast almost my entire life, we moved here recently from a more urban location where this was never remotely an issue. However, apparently my daughter was being asked quite regularly now about her religious affiliation, and it was starting to distress her.

[..]

Fortunately, we did find a congregation to join. We visited the local Unitarian Universalist fellowship and spoke with the minister. It was quite interesting. The congregation is made up of about 1/3rd atheists and agnostics, a large number of deists, with a sprinkling of pagans, pantheists, and related theists. The creed of the fellowship is wholly humanistic, based on seven principles.

The inherent worth and dignity of every person;
Justice, equity and compassion in human relations;
Acceptance of one another and encouragement to spiritual growth in our congregations;
A free and responsible search for truth and meaning;
The right of conscience and the use of the democratic process within our congregations and in society at large;
The goal of world community with peace, liberty and justice for all;
Respect for the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part.

We have been going there for about four months now, and have found it to be a very comfortable place for our non-theistic family. Our children are taught about various faiths around the world in a value-neutral manner. But above all, they are taught humanistic morals independent of religious authority. In fact, our sermon last Sunday was on the value of skepticism, and the belief and value of atheist, agnostics, and humanists to the Fellowship. It was a welcome contrast from the last Jewish sermon I saw during the last High Holy Days, where the rabbi stood up and viciously slandered atheists and agnostics, along with spreading misinformation about evolution.

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How good Are experienced presidents, anyway? Suppose you had to choose between two Presidential candidates, one of whom had spent 20 years in Congress plus had considerable other relevant experience and the other of whom had about half a dozen years in the Illinois state legislature and 2 years in Congress. Which one do you think would make a better President? If you chose #1, congratulations, you picked James Buchanan over Abraham Lincoln. Your pick disagrees with that of most historians, who see Lincoln as the greatest President ever and Buchanan as the second worst ever, better only than Warren “Teapot Dome” Harding. Both served in what was probably the most difficult period in American history, where slavery and secession tore the nation asunder.

Before becoming President, Buchanan had served 6 years in the Pennsylvania state legislature, 10 years in the U.S. House of Representatives, 4 years as ambassador to Russia, 10 years in the Senate, 4 years as Secretary of State, and 4 years as Ambassador to England. Talk about experience, Buchanan did just about everything except serve on the Supreme Court, a job he was offered by President Polk and refused. Yet by any measure, he wasn’t up to the job as President. In contrast, Abraham Lincoln served 8 years in the Illinois legislature and one term in the U.S. House (1847-1849), a decade before becoming President. The rest of the time he was a lawyer in private practice, a bit thin one might say.

Of course, these are only two data points. What about all the other Presidents? Weren’t the experienced ones the better Presidents? Fortunately, there have been a number of surveys of presidential greatness, some by professional historians and some by the general public. Many of these are given in the Wikipedia page on Historical rankings of U.S. Presidents. The amount of experience each President had before taking office is well known since the lives of all Presidents have been extremely well documented. Thus the basic data–years of experience and ranking–are available making a statistical analysis of experience vs. greatness possible.

with lots and lots of stats….

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A few weeks ago the Clinton campaign shot down a report that they would seek to entice Barack Obama’s pledged delegates into flipping over. Now the idea is being floated again — by Hillary herself.

“There are elected delegates, caucus delegates and super-delegates, all for different reasons, and they’re all equal in their ability to cast their vote for whomever they choose,” Hillary told Newsweek, when asked how she can win the nomination despite the current delegate math.

“Even elected and caucus delegates are not required to stay with whomever they are pledged to. This is a very carefully constructed process that goes back years, and we’re going to follow the process.”

Perhaps Hillary can give Carel Coe a call?

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A staggering 16,000-plus Republicans in Cuyahoga County switched parties when they voted in last week’s primary.

That includes 931 in Rocky River, 1,027 in Westlake and 1,142 in Strongsville. More than a third of the Republicans in Solon and Bay Village switched. Pepper Pike had the most dramatic change: just under half its Republicans became Democrats. And some of those who changed – it’s difficult to say how many – could be in trouble with the law.

At least one member of the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections wants to investigate some Republicans who may have crossed party lines only to influence which Democrat would face presumed Republican nominee John McCain in November.

Those who crossed lines were supposed to sign a pledge card vowing allegiance to their new party.

In Cuyahoga County, dozens and dozens of Republicans scribbled addendums onto their pledges as new Democrats:

“For one day only.”

“I don’t believe in abortion.”

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Wow. Just wow.

Flash game theft is nothing new. I’m actually quite used to having my games taken without my permission, and without receiving compensation. The difference here is that this is not some crappy no-name portal. This is The Olympics.

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The operators of the official Beijing 2008 Olympic Games website have removed an online flash game after a graphics designer said it was a rip-off of a game he had made two years earlier.
The organising committee for the Beijing Olympic Games (BOCOG) has yet to comment on the matter but the game was removed within an hour of queries by smh.com.au.

[..]

Two other games on the Beijing 2008 site, Obstacle
Race and Leap and Leap,
bear an uncanny resemblance to Arctic Blue
and Winter Bells,
respectively, which appear on the popular flash game site
Orisinal.

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You all know the old joke for dealing with Creationists:

What should a teacher say to a student who, every time he comes to a question on a test he cannot answer, writes “God did it.”? Then, when he hands in the test, he expects — even demands — a perfect score and a pat on the head.

Idiot Creationists see unanswered questions, proclaim ‘GOD DID IT!’ and expect a pat on the head. They are shocked and offended when people laugh at them.

But members of the reality based community know that ‘God did it’ is a joke answer in the real world.

Well… the real world minus Oklahoma

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Kentucky Representative Tim Couch filed a bill this week to make anonymous posting online illegal.

The bill would require anyone who contributes to a website to register their real name, address and e-mail address with that site.

Their full name would be used anytime a comment is posted.

[..]

Represntative Couch says enforcing this bill if it became law would be a challenge.

No shit, sherlock!

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Hillary and Bill Clinton are again teaming up on Barack Obama — this time saying the first-term U.S. lawmaker, whom they have derided as inexperienced, would be a strong running mate on a Democratic presidential ticket headed by the former first lady.

[..]

The maneuver may also be aimed at countering an image in voters’ minds of Obama as presidential material and at helping restore an aura of inevitability as the party’s nominee that Clinton had early in the campaign but lost.

“The Clintons are in a difficult position,” said Dennis Goldford, a political science professor at Drake University in Iowa, who has tracked the presidential race.

“If she wins the Democratic presidential nomination, she would need Obama’s supporters. But she needs to be careful. If this talk of him on the ticket is seen as a cynical maneuver, it could backfire and hurt her,” Goldford said.

Former Senate Democratic leader Tom Daschle of South Dakota, an Obama backer, mocked the idea.

“It may be the first time in history that the person who is running number two would offer the person running number one the number two position,” Daschle told “Meet the Press.”

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Microsoft Corp. on Friday asked that a lawsuit claiming it duped consumers in a Windows Vista marketing program be suspended while the company appeals a judge’s decision to grant the case class-action status.

If granted, the motion would also postpone any new disclosures of potentially embarrassing company e-mails.

Which would support class-action status, I presume. I wonder what they’re trying to hide… Perhaps they should have hired the White House email administrators..

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Rep. Kern with a pin
and an ultra-butch haircut.
Don’t agree? Let her know:

(405) 557-7348
sallykern@okhouse.gov