Wiener of the Month - July

By rights, the WotM should be ME, for being late two months in a row with the WotM. But, even though I qualify as a first-rate dumbass for failing to notice the change of month twice in a row, there are so many more worthy candidates.

My choice is John McCommie, who is running perhaps the most dreary and uninspiring political campaign ever. Even Bob Dole must be asking himself, "How did the party choose such a Nimrod?"

Honestly, if I were an aluminum hat-wearing conspiracy theorist, I would SWEAR that Team Elephant is trying to throw the election. That's how bad McCommie is as a candidate.

For being a total douche in the face of a Team Donkey candidate who isn't so hot himself, John McCommie is the Wiener of the Month (for July).

Update: high drama in Frederick

As I mentioned on Saturday, my "mole" at Fort Detrick was less than certain that Bruce Ivins was really the anthrax murderer. They aren't the only one. It seems like everyone is in agreement on one thing, though; the FBI investigation was W-A-A-A-A-A-Y over the top.

Before killing himself last week, Army scientist Bruce Ivins told friends that government agents had stalked him and his family for months, offered his son $2.5 million to rat him out and tried to turn his hospitalized daughter against him with photographs of dead anthrax victims.

The pressure on Ivins was extreme, a high-risk strategy that has failed the FBI before. The government was determined to find the villain in the 2001 anthrax attacks; it was too many years without a solution to the case that shocked and terrified a post-9/11 nation.

The last thing the FBI needed was another embarrassment. Overreaching damaged the FBI's reputation in the high-profile investigations: the Centennial Olympic Park bombing probe that falsely accused Richard Jewell; the theft of nuclear secrets and botched prosecution of scientist Wen Ho Lee; and, in this same anthrax probe, the smearing of an innocent man - Ivins' colleague Steven Hatfill.

In the current case, Ivins complained privately that FBI agents had offered his son, Andy, $2.5 million, plus "the sports car of his choice" late last year if he would turn over evidence implicating his father in the anthrax attacks, according to a former U.S. scientist who described himself as a friend of Ivins.

Ivins also said the FBI confronted Ivins' daughter, Amanda, with photographs of victims of the anthrax attacks and told her, "This is what your father did," according to the scientist, who spoke only on condition of anonymity because their conversation was confidential.

The scientist said Ivins was angered by the FBI's alleged actions, which he said included following Ivins' family on shopping trips.

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Dr. W. Russell Byrne...who retired from the lab four years ago, said FBI agents interviewed him seven to 12 times since the investigation began - and he got off easy.

"I think I'm the only person at USAMRIID who didn't get polygraphed," he said.

Byrne said he was told by people who had recently worked with Ivins that the investigation had taken an emotional toll on the researcher. "One person said he'd sit at his desk and weep," he said.

Innocent until proven guilty? Or literally hounded to death? Given that we STILL haven't been presented with any evidence that Ivins was guilty of anything except working for USAMRIID, we may never know for sure.

Naturally, the Feebies claim that the investigation was all on the up-and-up.

FBI official John Miller said that "what we have seen over the past few days has been a mix of improper disclosures of partial information mixed with inaccurate information and then drawn into unfounded conclusions. None of that serves the victims, their families or the public."

The FBI "always moves aggressively to get to the bottom of the facts, but that does not include mistreatment of anybody and I don't know of any case where that's happened," said former FBI deputy director Weldon Kennedy, who was with the bureau for 34 years. "That doesn't mean that from time to time people don't make mistakes," he added.

No mistreatment? I wonder how Richard Jewell, Wen Ho Lee, and Steven Hatfill feel about that. Not to mention the Ivins family, which has been shattered by the suicide of a husband and father.

Taser Love

The increasingly-militarized state and local police forces have fallen in love with the Taser. They love it. L-O-V-E it. And they've taken to over-using and abusing the cute, "harmless", little toy just a wee bit. Just ask Mace Hutchinson.

Parents of a 16-year-old boy in intensive care with a broken back want to know why police Tasered their son 19 times rather than calling an ambulance for help.

Citizens noticed Branson, Mo., teenager Mace Hutchinson walking alongside the road and, fearing for his safety, called 9-1-1.

"We called the police. My wife was afraid he was going to get ran over or hit," said witness Doug Messersmith. "He looked a little agitated but, other than that, he didn't look to be falling down drunk or anything like that."

When police arrived, they found Hutchinson under an overpass on U.S. 65 Saturday morning, Springfield's KY3 News reported. The boy had fallen 30 feet off the overpass and was lying on the shoulder.

When the boy didn't respond to police, they Tasered him, repeatedly.

Ah, yes. There's the money quote. "When the boy didn't respond to police, they Tasered him, repeatedly."

You see, citizens apparently don't have the right to ignore police, even when they're lying on the ground with a broken back, probably in shock, and already identified as being "out of it". Lack of consciousness is no excuse! for failing to obey the direct orders of these humble representatives of der Staat.

Tell us again, Dear Leader, how the "enemies" of America "hate us for our freedoms". Please.

It's not an election, it's a coronation

Forget the polls. They're a load of dung. The choice has already been made for us. Don't take my word for it -- see what the fawning media have to say about it themselves.

The 5:20 TBA turned out to be his adoration session with lawmakers in the Cannon Caucus Room, where even committee chairmen arrived early, as if for the State of the Union. Capitol Police cleared the halls -- just as they do for the actual president. The Secret Service hustled him in through a side door -- just as they do for the actual president.

Inside, according to a witness, he told the House members, "This is the moment . . . that the world is waiting for," adding: "I have become a symbol of the possibility of America returning to our best traditions."

As he marches toward Inauguration Day (Election Day is but a milestone on that path), Obama's biggest challenger may not be Republican John McCain but rather his own hubris.

Some say the supremely confident Obama -- nearly 100 days from the election, he pronounces that "the odds of us winning are very good" -- has become a president-in-waiting. But in truth, he doesn't need to wait: He has already amassed the trappings of the office, without those pesky decisions.

And why shouldn't Mr. {don't say his middle name or you're a racist} feel like he's already the president? Who wouldn't with this crowd of sycophants following you everywhere you go?

Obama, who appeared tired in his first major appearance since returning Saturday from a 10-day trip abroad, met with a receptive audience at the Chicago convention. Some journalists had waited three hours for the 40-minute appearance.

The group had expected Obama and Sen. John McCain to speak on Thursday night, but because of scheduling conflicts, only Obama could attend yesterday morning's talk.

When Obama walked on stage at the McCormick Center, many journalists in the audience leapt to their feet and applauded enthusiastically after being told not to do so. During a two-minute break halfway through the event, which was broadcast live on CNN, journalists ran to the stage to snap photos of Obama. (emphasis mine)

OMG. No mention of knee pads, so I guess the media stopped just short of Monica Lewinsky, though I wouldn't have put it past any of them.

Sure, there's still plenty of time for Mr. {} to take a misstep and fall on his face. Remember Michael Dukakis. But as long as he plays it straight and doesn't make any egregious gaffes, he's a shoe-in for Supreme Ruler of the American Empire.

God help us all.

Wiener of the Week

This week the WotW goes to Team Donkey for their refusal to even allow a vote on lifting the offshore oil drilling ban.

This is truly an example of the democratic process at work (/sarcasm). We elect representatives to make tough choices that impact the lives of each and every one of us. And they dither. And they dally. And they equivocate. They CAN'T vote. Why? Because voting will put them on the record, one way or another.

Team Elephant is just DYING to vote on this issue because, for a change, they're on the right side of an issue. Team Donkey? They're so beholden to Big Enviro that, if they vote for American interests (a Yes vote), they'll lose the Big Enviro vote (more importantly, they'll lose the Big Enviro money). But if they vote No, Americans will rightly see them as being out of touch with economic reality, and Team Donkey will lose their votes. Lose/lose. That's what happens when your constituency shifts from the people you represent to the money you represent.

For showing true cowardice in the face of adversity, Team Donkey is the Wiener of the Week.

High drama right here in Frederick

After years of stumbles, bumbles, and fumbles, the FBI finally managed to accomplish something in their search for the anthrax murder. That accomplishment, unfortunately, was the suicide of the prime suspect.

In 2003, the Defense Department gave Bruce Ivins its highest civilian honor for his work on an anthrax vaccine.

Friday, the government had little to say about him, following his apparent suicide and media reports that the FBI was preparing to charge him with the 2001 anthrax mailings.

Ivins was a Frederick resident who worked at the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases...

I have an insider at Ft. Detrick (a mere 15 minute drive from my house -- ain't it comforting to know that all of the major toxins and biological agents known to mankind are such a short drive away?). My source knew both Ivins as well as Steven Hatfill, the original "person of interest" in the case. My source said that it was ridiculous to ever consider Hatfill a suspect; in his line of work, he would have never had access to anthrax. I mean, it's not like people can wander into any old area of the research labs and grab up a smallpox sample or a cup of ricin.

So what did my source have to say about Mr. Ivins? They told me that, given the constant harassment he was under for the past two years from law enforcement, it's not surprising that he offed himself. They didn't come right out and say that they didn't think he did it. But they didn't express the same certainty that the media has expressed.

Naturally, the Frederick News-Post is all over the story, in case you want to get the "local" read on it.

It's certainly been more spotlight than Frederick is used to, that's for sure.