Al Franken, Al Capone

It's the taxes, stupid!

There are so many cases of rich people stumbling when it comes to paying taxes.

It was tax evasion that finally brought the infamous Al Capone down.

More recently, the Wesley Snipes case comes to mind.

Now, we have Al Franken.

U.S. Senate candidate, comedian, author, former radio talk show host on the abysmal Air America, and former cokehead Franken has tax problems.

ST. PAUL, Minn. -- Senate candidate Al Franken, dogged by accusations that he failed to file tax returns in California, said Tuesday he will pay about $70,000 in back income taxes in 17 states dating to 2003.

Most of the income at issue was from speeches and other paid appearances by the comedian-turned candidate, who said he got bad advice from his accountant but takes responsibility for the errors.

The Minnesota Democrat told The Associated Press that he and his wife, Franni, "paid taxes on every cent of income we ever had." He said that during the years in question, he followed the accountant's advice and paid his entire income tax bill to the city and state where he lived at the time. He lived in New York City from 2003-05 and Minnesota in 2006.

"What happened is our accountant made a mistake, and all of these are repercussions of that same mistake," said Franken. "His mistake was not understanding the law, the obligation to pay these state taxes."

Franken said his finances became more complicated when he branched out from "Saturday Night Live" and started writing books and making speeches around the country.

His communications director, Andy Barr, said none of the 17 states attempted to contact Franken or his accountant seeking the unpaid personal income taxes.

Franken said once the payments to the states are settled, he would seek retroactive credit from his states of residence since much of the income taxes he paid to them was supposed to go instead to the 17 other states.

Franken has been preparing for a tough fight against incumbent Sen. Norm Coleman, R-Minn., but his campaign has been sidetracked in recent weeks by bookkeeping errors related to his private corporation, Alan Franken Inc.

The campaign said last month it would pay a $25,000 fine to the state of New York for failure to carry workers' compensation insurance there.

Franken wants to paint himself as a victim. It's the accountant's fault. (It always is.)

So an accountant gave him bad advice. That does happen, but it seems that Franken is a magnet for bad financial advice.

Franken vows to pay the $70,000 in back taxes. Problem solved, right?

I don't know.

Legitimate questions arise when an individual is caught again and again making errors related to finances. No doubt, his backers will defend him and they'll give him a pass. I'm not so sure about swing voters.

Some good advice for the good people of Minnesota: Don't elect Al Franken to represent you in the Senate.

Fugitive Fundraiser Norman Hsu Arrested

Last time Norman Hsu went on the lam, he managed to avoid authorities for 15 years.

This time he managed to evade the law for barely 24 hours.

SAN FRANCISCO -- Disgraced Democratic fundraiser Norman Hsu was arrested in Colorado late Thursday after he failed to show up for a court appearance related to a felony theft conviction.

FBI agents took Hsu into custody at St. Mary's Hospital in Grand Junction, Colo., said FBI spokesman Joseph Schadler.

Hsu had been scheduled to appear in court Wednesday to turn over his passport and ask a judge to cut in half the $2 million bail he posted last week when he turned himself in after spending 15 years on the lam from a felony theft conviction.

Instead, Hsu failed to show up at the bail reduction hearing and a judge issued a new arrest warrant for him.

California Attorney General spokesman Gareth Lacy said Hsu's lawyers told prosecutors Hsu arrived by charter jet at the Oakland airport about 5:30 a.m. Wednesday local time and then wasn't heard from again.

When it became apparent that Hsu had fled the state, California authorities sought the assistance of the FBI, whose agents arrested him Thursday night on charges of unlawful flight to avoid prosecution, Schadler said.

Once he is returned to state custody, the federal charges will be dismissed, Schadler said.

From NBC11, more details:

FBI sources told NBC11's Jean Elle they arrested Norman Hsu in Grand Junction Colorado Thursday night.

Hsu was arrested at St. Marys Hospital, according to NBC11.

...The Grand Junction police department and the Mesa County Sheriff office assisted in the arrest.

Hsu has not been transferred to the Mesa County lock up, according NBC11.

It is not clear why Hsu was at a hospital.

Hsu went to the hospital after he got sick while traveling on the California Zephyr train, the Mercury News reported.

I think Hsu was picked up in Colorado because he wanted to be caught.

If you're a fugitive, you don't go to a hospital.

Did Hsu decide he didn't want to live the fugitive life?

Was he pressured by Democrats, Dem candidates, or some of their shadowy campaign operatives to give himself up?

Was it determined that it would be better to have him in custody than to let the speculation about the mysterious Hsu spiral out of control?

Whatever, it seems like there was a lot of indecision about the best way to handle Hsu-gate.

I think the problem is there are no good options for Hsu and his friends -- Hillary Clinton, Dianne Feinstein, John Kerry, Ted Kennedy, Patrick Kennedy, Al Franken, Ed Rendell, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.

This story isn't over. It's just beginning.
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More details here.

This is funny.

The growing flap over Hsu's contributions prompted Democratic presidential candidate Chris Dodd to release a statement Thursday vowing "to refuse to accept or possess campaign contributions raised, solicited, or delivered by fugitives from justice."

What an impressive display of integrity!
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UPDATE:

As more information is becoming available, it's clear that Hsu didn't initiate his medical care.

Amtrak personnel called paramedics.
More information:

Hsu was listed in fair condition, hospital vice president Dan Prinster said in a telephone interview. He declined to provide details of Hsu's ailment, other than to say that Hsu "was delirious (when he arrived) and had identification."

FBI agents arrived at the hospital about 9 p.m. EDT Thursday, Prinster said, adding he didn't know how authorities learned of Hsu's whereabouts. "All I know is I got a call," he said.

Hsu was traveling on an Amtrak train Thursday when he became ill. An ambulance was called when the train stopped in Grand Junction and he was taken to St. Mary's.

Mesa County Sheriff's Officer Heather Benjamin said that under normal procedure, Hsu would be booked into the local jail when he is released from the hospital.

And from the San Francisco Chronicle:

Authorities said Hsu was taken into custody at St. Mary's Hospital in Grand Junction at 7 p.m. local time. He had been on the lam for almost two days after failing to appear in a Redwood City courtroom Wednesday to surrender his passport.

Hsu was taken off a passenger train at the Grand Junction train station earlier in the day by paramedics who requested a backboard to move him, said Sgt. Lonnie Chavez with the Grand Junction Police Department.

Authorities received a request for medical assistance at the train station at about 11:15 a.m., but the exact nature of Hsu's condition was unclear, Chavez said.

Hsu was traveling on an Amtrak train when he became ill, and Amtrak personnel called an ambulance when the train stopped in Grand Junction, said Pete Smarr, a nursing supervisor at St. Mary’s Hospital. Hsu was listed in fair condition early Friday, but Smarr declined to comment on the nature of Hsu's illness or a timetable for his release from the hospital.

The plot thickens....

This is all so strange.

It calls for a film by Oliver Stone.

Speculation is that Hsu may have attempted suicide.

If a failed suicide attempt is, in fact, Hsu's "ailment," he certainly isn't doing the Dems any favors.

A dead or almost dead Hsu is worse than a fugitive Hsu.

This really looks bad for Hillary Clinton.

It dredges up all those old conspiracy theories about the Clinton era body count.
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Witness accounts:

Fugitive political fundraiser Norman Hsu was behaving erratically as he fled the Bay Area on Amtrak's California Zephyr, at one point stripping off his shirt and shoes, before paramedics were called to take him off the train in western Colorado, passengers said Friday.

...Passengers interviewed Friday when the Zephyr reached its final destination of Chicago said it appeared that something was wrong with Hsu.

Alberto Dee, 21, who boarded the train in Truckee, said Hsu "freaked out" when Amtrak personnel approached, and was roaming a train car "without shoes and no shirt. ... I thought he had a suitcase full of crack or meth."

Another passenger disembarking in Chicago, who declined to give his name, said Hsu appeared disoriented and was having trouble opening a door on the train. Several other passengers said they were told Hsu was behaving oddly but did not witness it themselves.

...Dan Roberts, 57, a furniture maker from Grand Junction, said Hsu had been sitting up on a stretcher on the station platform and appeared to be moving.

"We just figured he had a heart attack or something," said his wife, Cheryl Roberts, 52, a nurse.

Bad Day for Norman Hsu and Hillary Clinton

Norman Hsu booking photo (AFP/Getty Images)


Norman and Hillary's happy days


When Norman Hsu turned himself in to authorities yesterday, I'm sure Hillary Clinton wasn't smiling.

I doubt that others with Hsu's money in their campaign coffers, like Barack Obama, Bill Richardson, John Kerry, Dianne Feinstein, Barbara Boxer, Mary Landrieu and Al Franken, were happy.

Add the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee to the list, too.

It's not good to have a campaign donor turn himself in on a grand theft charge, appear in court, be handcuffed, and held on $2 million bail. Then, there's also that annoying FBI investigation into Hsu's campaign donations.


Norman Hsu, 56, prepares to be taken into custody Friday on fraud charges at the San Mateo County Courthouse, where he later posted bail. The FBI has opened an investigation into Hsu’s campaign donations. (Robert Durell/LAT)

The Los Angeles Times asks the question: "How did Democratic presidential front-runner Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's campaign fail to see the red flags in Hsu's contributions?"

Good question.

Until this week, Clinton counted Hsu as one of her most prolific money bundlers. He gave her campaign $22,300, regularly appeared as a co-host for major fundraising lunches and dinners, and raised more than $100,000 from his friends for her presidential run.

"Obviously, we were all surprised by this news, and we have a procedure that we follow and upon verifying it, we returned his money," Clinton said this week.

When a campaign has attracted more than 500,000 donors, as Clinton's has, there is no way a candidate's staff can check out each contributor. Clinton and her aides said there was little they could have done to protect themselves, but fundraising experts from both parties pointed to warning signs that should have given aides pause.

"If I were raising money for the prohibitive front-runner for president of the United States, I would be very, very careful about who these donors are and do some level of research," said Marty Wilson, a Republican strategist and fundraiser for Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and others.

The most obvious red flag: A check of a commonly used database produces a 1990 San Francisco Chronicle news story detailing how Norman Hsu had been kidnapped by gang members in the San Mateo County suburb of Foster City. A second widely used database discloses that Norman Yuan Yuen Hsu of Foster City had a bankruptcy in 1990.

Having established that he lived in San Mateo County, a check of the San Mateo County Superior Court's website reveals that Norman Yuan Yuen Hsu had a criminal case.

...In most instances, a donor's background is well-known. But if the person is not known to the campaign, that person will be vetted.

All major campaigns employ researchers who investigate their opponents, and pick over their candidates' donors, particularly those who are raising six-figure sums. Some campaigns retain consulting firms specifically to vet donors.

..."There is a concern, though nothing is proven, that there is some potential reimbursement of campaign contributions," said Richard L. Hasen, a Loyola Law School professor and election law expert. "Anytime you have an entire family or group of employees of apparently modest means making large contributions . . . it raises a red flag."

At an appearance in New York this week, Clinton vowed that her campaign would "continue to analyze all contributions and take action if that's warranted."

Hillary says she will continue to analyze all contributions?

She makes it sound as if her campaign checked Hsu out.

A few days ago, the LA Times reported:

"Norman Hsu is a longtime and generous supporter of the Democratic Party and its candidates, including Sen. Clinton," Howard Wolfson, a spokesman for the campaign, said Tuesday.

"During Mr. Hsu's many years of active participation in the political process, there has been no question about his integrity or his commitment to playing by the rules, and we have absolutely no reason to call his contributions into question or to return them."

Does that mean the Hillary camp did a bad job of "analyzing" Hsu? Was front-runner Hillary's campaign sloppy?

That's the best case scenario.

Knowing that Hsu's money was dirty and accepting it anyway would be a real problem for Hillary and the Dems.

Hsu's money is all over the Democrat party. This isn't about an isolated bad donation to one candidate.

It's that cloud of corruption again.

It's that Clinton family cloud that hasn't dissipated since Bill became a public servant.
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Right from the Right has a chart of Hsu & Associates nationwide (state and federal) campaign contributions.

Looks like Hillary has the most to worry about.
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Bill weighs in on Hsu.

Former President Bill Clinton said he was "shocked" by revelations that a top fundraiser for his wife is a fugitive from justice and claimed he didn't even know what "HillRaiser" Norman Hsu did for a living.

"You could have knocked me over with a straw, especially when I heard the L.A. people had been allegedly looking for him for 15 years when he was in plain view," he told Newsday while touring a county fair in rural New Hampshire Sunday.

"I never knew how he made a living or anything, but I was shocked," said Clinton of Hsu, who has made millions as an investor in tetxtile and other businesses.

...Clinton said it wasn't necessary to return $100,000 or more collected by Hsu from other donors.

"I think she did the right thing giving the money back pending resolution of his case," Clinton added. "If the other people say they gave the money of their own accord then I think she should keep it."

Norman Hsu

Norman Who?

Let me guess how Hillary Clinton will react to the revelations about Norman Hsu:

"I could hardly breathe. Gulping for air, I started crying and yelling at him, 'What do you mean? What are you saying? Why did you lie to me?' I was furious and getting more so by the second."

Actually, I think the anger act would be her last resort.

For now, her campaign is acting clueless, standing by Hsu's integrity.

From the Los Angeles Times:

For the last 15 years, California authorities have been trying to figure out what happened to a businessman named Norman Hsu, who pleaded no contest to grand theft, agreed to serve up to three years in prison and then seemed to vanish.

"He is a fugitive," Ronald Smetana, who handled the case for the state attorney general, said in an interview. "Do you know where he is?"

Hsu, it seems, has been hiding in plain sight, at least for the last three years.

Since 2004, one Norman Hsu has been carving out a prominent place of honor among Democratic fundraisers. He has funneled hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign contributions into party coffers, much of it earmarked for presidential hopeful Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York.

In addition to making his own contributions, Hsu has honed the practice of assembling packets of checks from contributors who bear little resemblance to the usual Democratic deep pockets: A self-described apparel executive with a variety of business interests, Hsu has focused on delivering hefty contributions from citizens who live modest lives and are neophytes in the world of campaign giving.

On Tuesday, E. Lawrence Barcella Jr. -- a Washington lawyer who represents the Democratic fundraiser -- confirmed that Hsu was the same man who was involved in the California case. Barcella said his client did not remember pleading to a criminal charge and facing the prospect of jail time. Hsu remembers the episode as part of a settlement with creditors when he also went through bankruptcy, Barcella said.

...As a Democratic rainmaker, Hsu -- who graduated from UC Berkeley and the Wharton School of Business -- is credited with donating nearly $500,000 to national and local party candidates and their political committees in the last three years. He earned a place in the Clinton campaign's "HillRaiser" group by pledging to raise more than $100,000 for her presidential bid.

Records show that Hsu helped raise an additional $500,000 from other sources for Clinton and other Democrats.

"Norman Hsu is a longtime and generous supporter of the Democratic Party and its candidates, including Sen. Clinton," Howard Wolfson, a spokesman for the campaign, said Tuesday.

"During Mr. Hsu's many years of active participation in the political process, there has been no question about his integrity or his commitment to playing by the rules, and we have absolutely no reason to call his contributions into question or to return them."

It's clear that Hillary is going to play the "I'm clueless" card -- AGAIN.

Her supporters don't seem to care when Hillary claims to be a victim.

Does the name David Rosen ring a bell?

If Hillary and her people are so stupid when it comes to fundraising, can she really be trusted to run the country?

If she's so willing to tolerate corruption in her campaign, what does that say about the sort of leadership we can expect from Hillary?

I guess it's says that she's a lot like Bill.

To quote Michelle Obama:

"If you can't run your own house, you can't run the White House."

My question for Hillary's supporters:

Is it worse for presidential candidate Hillary to be a liar, or to be so stupid that she doesn't realize people are lying?
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UPDATE: Change of plans at Hillary headquarters--

WASHINGTON -- Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton will give to charity the $23,000 in donations she has received from a fundraiser who is wanted in California for failing to appear for sentencing on a 1991 grand theft charge.

The decision came Wednesday as other Democrats began distancing themselves from Norman Hsu, whose legal encounters and links to other Democratic donors have drawn public scrutiny in the past two days.

Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., also planned to turn over Hsu contributions to his 2004 presidential campaign to charity. Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., Al Franken, a Senate candidate in Minnesota, Reps. Michael Honda and Doris Matsui of California and Rep. Joe Sestak of Pennsylvania said they would divest their campaigns of Hsu's donations as well.

Hsu is a fundraiser for Clinton and is described as a devoted fan of the presidential candidate and New York senator. He had planned to co-host a money event for Clinton on Sept. 30. In a statement Wednesday, Hsu said he believed he had resolved his legal issues, but said he would halt his work raising political money.

"I would not consciously subject any of the candidates and causes in which I believe to any harm through my actions," he said. "Therefore, until this matter is resolved, I intend to refrain from all fundraising activities on behalf of all candidates and causes."

Clinton campaign spokesman Phil Singer said the $23,000 included contributions from Hsu to Clinton's presidential campaign, her Senate re-election and her political action committee. The campaign did not plan to return any money Hsu raised from other donors, Singer said.

"In light of the information regarding Mr. Hsu's outstanding warrant in California, we will be giving his contribution to charity," Singer said.

Yesterday, campaign spokesman Howard Wolfson said there was no plan to return any money.

Today, Hillary camp's is giving up some money. The decision to hand over $23,000 of the donations from Hsu to charity is a poor attempt to distance Hillary from the impropriety.

That sum is just a drop in her bucket.

Given how many candidates are connected to Hsu's dirty money, I think this story should be far more significant in terms of the 2008 political landscape than Larry Craig's airport bathroom behavior.

It should be but it won't be. The media are having way too much fun playing up Craig's case.
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More on the mysterious Mr. Hsu:

Money has brought both trappings and trouble for Norman Hsu. Major contributions to the campaigns of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton and other candidates have made the apparel executive an insider in elite political circles. He shows up in cozy pictures with politicians, at lavish fundraising events, and on the boards of prestigious organizations.

But Hsu's history includes more unsavory episodes and associations. In 1990, he allegedly was kidnapped by Chinese gang members in San Francisco as part of an apparent effort to collect a debt. A year and a half later, he pleaded no contest to a charge of fleecing investors in what authorities called a Ponzi scheme of fraud. Along the way, he left a bankruptcy filing and bitter investors who accused him of making off with their savings.

...Court documents and interviews with close associates of Hsu have shed considerable light on his unlikely emergence as a major Democratic fundraiser. But much of Hsu's story remains a mystery -- including how to account for significant gaps on his resume and record, and where he got all the money that he has showered on Democratic candidates and causes.

Clinton and other candidates have scrambled to distance themselves from Hsu's money. At a New York event Thursday, Clinton said: "I wish Mr. Hsu well in dealing with the problems he's confronting."

But he has powerful defenders. Former Sen. Bob Kerrey (D-Neb.) said in an interview that Hsu was being pilloried unfairly.

"This isn't Osama bin Laden or some drug kingpin," Kerrey said. "What he's done is he's volunteered to help people raise money for their campaigns. That doesn't make him either unique or bad."

...Records indicate that he didn't make his first federal campaign contribution until 2003, when he gave $2,000 to the presidential campaign of Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.). Hsu rapidly established himself as a major donor, contributing to an array of Democrats -- including California Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer, Louisiana Sen. Mary L. Landrieu and New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson.

All have said in recent days that they plan to divest their campaigns of Hsu's donations.

Hsu has donated or raised more than $1 million for Democrats and their causes, often delivering large donations from multiple individuals. Some of these "bundled" contributions have raised suspicions. In particular, Hsu has worked closely with a family in Daly City, Calif., headed by William Paw, a mail carrier, and his wife, Alice, who is listed as a homemaker.

The Paws apparently never donated to national candidates until 2004. Since then, they have given $213,000, including $55,000 to Clinton. Barcella denies Hsu provided money for the contributions, which would violate federal law. The Paws, Barcella said, "have the financial wherewithal to make their own donations."

Who is Hsu?

Very strange. Very mysterious. Probably very corrupt.
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Read more.

Bill Maher on American Idol

The shock of tonight's American Idol broadcast wasn't that LaKisha was sent home.

The shock was seeing Bill Maher in the audience.

After Barry Gibb performed "To Love Somebody," the camera panned the crowd.

On his feet, cheering Gibb, was the crass, hateful, foul-mouthed, venom-spewing Bill Maher.

I had no idea that Maher was an Idol fan or a Barry Gibb fan.

It seems so... so... unlikely.

Very surreal.

I wonder if U.S. Senate candidate Al Franken will be in the Idol audience next week.

Al Franken Hates Homosexuals

Is Al Franken U.S. Senate material?

Does character matter?

Will the people of Minnesota excuse the slimy trail of Franken's past?

I think they will. Libs will excuse anything, literally anything, as long as the individual in question is a fellow lib.

Here's some creepy stuff that appeared in The Harvard Crimson, published on April 16, 1976.

Richard S. Lee did a piece on Franken when Saturday Night Live was in its first season.

He writes:

"My advice to Harvard students," Al Franken said soberly, "is to drop out."

It was hard to tell whether Franken was serious or not. His round, plump face certainly looked sincere, and with the aura of innocence radiating from his big, thick glasses and curly hair, who would have doubted him? He was, after all, a 1973 Harvard alumnus himself, so he should have known something about the value of his Psych and Soc Rel degree.

But something wasn't quite right. Franken was sitting in his writing office for "NBC's Saturday Night," a new, New York-based television comedy show. And that chair Franken was sitting in--that was the chair he is paid to sit in and make jokes.

A few yards away, another writer was playing a joke on Jane Curtain, an attractive "Saturday Night" actress. The writer had taken a surgical glove and stretched it tightly across the top of a quarter. The coin stuck to the underside of the glove, but the rubber was so thin that the quarter appeared to be sitting upon it. He walked over to Curtain's desk and pressed the top of the quarter, which fell magically to the desk, and the writer walked away giggling, leaving Curtain to try to find a nonexistent hole in the glove. "Stupid trick," Curtain shouted as she poked the coin at the rubber. "What a stupid trick."

Something was rotten on the 17th floor of Rockefeller Center.

Finally, Franken's stoic expression collapsed and he broke into laughter. "I'd like to see something like that in The Crimson," he said. "But seriously, if anyone wants to make it in show business, well, it doesn't help at all to go to Harvard--not at all."

He learned back in his plush chair and grinned because he knew he had made it, for a while at least, despite his four years at Harvard. Nine months ago he had his big break, when "Saturday Night" producer Lorned Michaels discovered Franken and his partner, Tom Davis, in a Los Angeles nightclub and hired them to write for the live, 90-minute comedy.

...He recalled writing a skit called "Seamen on Broadway" that was rejected from the Hasty Pudding show "by some preppie so they could take some other preppie's skit." Franken started to smile again, but his tone was serious, too serious. "It's not preppies, cause I'm a preppie myself. I just don't like homosexuals. If you ask me, they're all homosexuals in the Pudding. Hey, I was glad when that Pudding homosexual got killed in Philadelphia." The smile became so broad it pushed his eyes shut. He couldn't stand it any longer. "Put that in, put that in," Franken laughed, leaning over the desk. "I'd love to see that in The Crimson."

It sounds like Franken really creeped Lee out.

Franken started to smile again, but his tone was serious, too serious.

Yes, definitely creeped out.

But Franken was just joking.

He doesn't really hate homosexuals.

He wasn't really glad that "Pudding homosexual got killed in Philadelphia."

Franken was being funny!


Isn't he funny?

What a sense of humor!

I'm sure Franken's cocaine use kept his creative juices flowing and enabled that incredible wit.

Besides, who cares about what Franken said or did in 1976? That was so long ago.

His past is irrelevant, right?

Drug use/abuse, bizarre "jokes" -- None of that matters. Franken is a lib.

Picture Franken's place in the history books:

Quotes from the honorable Minnesota Senator Alan Stuart "Al" Franken

"I just don't like homosexuals. If you ask me, they're all homosexuals in the Pudding. Hey, I was glad when that Pudding homosexual got killed in Philadelphia."

What a legacy!

Al Franken: Cokehead Senator?

Delusional: "I'm good enough, I'm smart enough, and doggone it, people like me!"



The 2008 campaign lineup is taking shape.

It looks like past pothead and cokehead candidates will figure prominently.

One high profile former drug-using/abusing lib is that storybook character Barack Obama, the "first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy," according to Joe Biden anyway.

Another candidate has thrown his paraphernalia in the ring -- the far Leftist, former Air America host Al Franken.

WASHINGTON -- Comedian Al Franken has decided to run for the U.S. Senate from Minnesota in 2008, a senior Democratic official from Minnesota said Wednesday.

Franken told the official, who did not want to be identified because Franken has not made an announcement, that he had decided to run in a recent conversation.

...The news was not unexpected. Franken has been calling members of the Minnesota congressional delegation to get their input on a run, and he announced this week that he would be leaving his show on Air America Radio on Feb. 14. He told listeners he would be making a decision on a race soon.

...Franken, 55, was born in New York City, like Coleman, but grew up in St. Louis Park, a suburb of Minneapolis. He was a performer and writer on television's "Saturday Night Live" before writing best-selling books combining humor and politics.

What a nice write up from the Associated Press!

Very kind.

In addition to his Air America stint, he's a best-selling author.

Impressive.

Franken was a performer and writer on Saturday Night Live.

Also impressive.

Yes, Franken worked on the show in its infancy, during its especially creative but devastatingly destructive drug-crazed years.

He reminisces fondly:

NBC brass were consumed with nervousness about the content of the show - about giving ninety minutes of network time a week to Lorne Michaels and his left-wing loonies.

So, who is this Al Franken, besides being a left-wing loon as he calls himself?

He's a man with a plan.

It seems that his decision to run for the Senate has been well thought out. He's been laying the groundwork for some time.

For instance, Franken may be anti-war and anti-Bush, but he can claim to support the troops.

Few celebrities have made the trip to the war zone with the USO. However, Franken has gone on a few tours to entertain our military personnel.

Certainly, that's a plus. Franken has shown that he's not just talk when it comes to supporting the troops. But it's not that simple.

Sure, Franken has done more than other celebrities. But he also has no qualms about bashing the Commander-in-Chief day in and day out on Air America. He doesn't have a problem with undermining the troops' mission and coddling the enemy. Basically, Franken is a Bush-hater.

It's hard to make the case that Franken is for the troops when he doesn't at all support what they're doing, as if they're mindless robots and victims of the evil, oil-loving, imperialist, terrorist Bush. Kind of condescending.

Franken also has a closet packed with skeletons. Actually, they're not in the closet. His less than honorable past is well-documented.

Some excerpts from Live from New York: An Uncensored History of Saturday Night Live by Tom Shales and James Andrew Miller reveal that wannabe Senator Franken has a history of illicit drug use.

DICK EBERSOL: My office was on the fourth floor. The writers basically never got there before one o'clock in the afternoon - ever. We had so little space. Herb Sargent was back in a corner. In the hallway to Herb's office were like Franken and Davis and Alan Zweibel, the three apprentice writers. Al and Tom had bought their first-ever cocaine, and they had it all out on the desk. First time they were ever able to buy any. As apprentice writers, their pay was, I think, $325 a week. So they have the cocaine on the desk, they're like literally staring at it. I'm off in the distance. I'm in a tough place because I'm supposedly the executive, but I decided it wasn't my job to play the policeman. Suddenly this figure comes roaring through the room. Unbeknownst to us at the time, he had a straw in his hand. He gets to the table, and he has half of that stuff up his nose by the time they knew who it was: Belushi. They didn't know whether to be thrilled that Belushi had just done this to their coke or be absolutely decimated, because that represented about half the money they had in the world at that time. The drugs didn't bother me, yet I knew they could be the end of the world for the show.

NEIL LEVY: Franken and Davis I think shared an apartment, and they threw a party so we could get together to watch Howard Cosell's Saturday Night Live. It came on before us, which is why we weren't allowed to call our show Saturday Night Live at first. We wanted to see this other Saturday Night. All the writers showed up, Michael O'Donoghue, Dan Aykroyd. They were passing around these joints. I had never smoked before, or not really gotten stoned, and I didn't want to seem like "the kid," so I started smoking. This pot was from Africa or something. You didn't even have to smoke it; you just looked at the joint and you were unconscious.

The book is 566 pages.

There's A LOT more.

I assume that Franken will have to address his drug use/abuse.

Frankly, I doubt that his base will care. They probably find Franken's past endearing. I don't think it will be a factor in the race.

If Franken was going to run as a Republican, it would be a completely different matter. The standards are so different. Character counts with conservatives.

The Dems, on the other hand, will welcome Franken with open arms.

Al Franken a U.S. senator?

Pathetic.



"I'm not good enough, I'm not smart enough, and doggone it, people don't like me!"


DON'T DO THIS TO AMERICA, MINNESOTA!

Air America Sinks

I believe in free enterprise.

It works, whether we're talking about toothpaste or talk radio.

Successful private businesses will thrive if they give the people what they want.

That explains why Air America is filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

People aren't buying what Air America is selling and the radio network is suffocating.

No surprise there.


Delusional: "I'm good enough, I'm smart enough, and doggone it, people like me!"

NEW YORK (AP) -- Air America Radio, a liberal talk and news radio network that features the comedian Al Franken, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, a network official told The AP.

The network had denied rumors just a month ago that it would file for bankruptcy. On Friday, Air America spokeswoman Jaime Horn told The Associated Press that the filing became necessary only recently after negotiations with a creditor from the company's early days broke down.

The network will stay on the air while it resolves issues with its creditors, Horn said....

...The filing marked the latest turbulence at the liberal talk radio network, which went on the air two years ago. This April, Danny Goldberg stepped down as CEO and was replaced by an interim chief executive from a management consulting firm.

"Nobody likes filing for bankruptcy," [new CEO Scott] Elberg said in a statement. "However, this move will enable us to concentrate on informing and entertaining our audience during the coming months."

Hope springs eternal, I guess.

Air America has been broadcasting for over two and a half years!

Hasn't that been enough time for the radio network to figure out how to inform and entertain in a manner that draws in an audience?

Apparently not.

I've never heard far Left lib talk radio that I liked.

Is that my political bias at play?

I don't think so. I can be a fair judge of quality. For instance, I don't care for certain genres of music, but I can still appreciate a well-done work even if it doesn't appeal to my personal tastes.

Simply put, Air America is not quality radio.

It's not entertaining.

It's not informative because it's a slightly more extreme regurgitation of the mainstream media's product.

The on air personalities are lacking in personality.

Based on its ratings, even libs can't stomach it.

A radio network in the private sector can't succeed without an audience, and Air America doesn't have one.

Filing bankruptcy won't change the fact that people of all political stripes have rejected Air America.

Why don't they give it up?

They tried. They failed. Move on.

I know that libs have a problem dealing with reality, but this is pathetic.

All in all, I think this is a positive step.

It's better to declare bankrupty than to funnel tax dollars meant for the New York-based Gloria Wise Boys and Girls Club into the failed partisan, political radio operation.

Hopefully, this will end those sort of dirty dealings to keep the network afloat.

The heads of Air America really need to take a good, long look in the mirror and search their souls.



"I'm not good enough, I'm not smart enough, and doggone it, people don't like me!"

Blowhard Chris Matthews

Why do I feel ill? Oh, that's right.

I watched Chris Matthews chatting it up with Jay Leno tonight.

I haven't recovered yet.

It was pure propaganda.

The "Bush is going to nuke Iran" stuff, the immigration stuff -- it was all anti-Bush Administration garbage.

At one point, he said something like, "I don't want to get in trouble here, but having power is not the same as wisdom."

I'm not sure exactly what he said, but he was slamming Bush for being a poor leader in respect to dealing with Iran, and in every other respect for that matter.

On immigration, Matthews summed it up as the Democrats want to be nice to illegals and the Republicans hate everybody and want them out now.

What a crock! That sort of utterly lame simplification really does a disservice to the public.

I think the worst part had to be Matthews' discussion of the Scooter Libby "leak" story. He reiterated the same lies that poor Joe Wilson and his lovely wife were unfairly targeted by the Bush Administration for telling the truth about Iraq intelligence.

Even the Washington Post* decided to show some decency and admitted to the idiocy of the story; but Matthews won't let go of it, being the sycophant that he is.

Beyond my personal feelings of nausea, the real problem with this drivel is that he was spewing it out on an entertainment show. For some people, the only exposure that they get to current events and news is Leno's monologue and the rot that guests like Matthews offer.

NBC gave Matthews a network forum from which to pontificate. The Tonight Show audience dwarfs what Matthews normally draws on his little cable program. So in a few quick minutes he was allowed to rattle off the Dems' talking points and the lib agenda to people that normally don't hear him.

What would they take away from Matthews' segment? Bush = Bad for America.

The closest that Leno comes to having a conservative voice on his show is when Dennis Miller is a guest. The libs/Bush-haters, on the other hand, are offered in abundance -- Chris Matthews, Bill Maher, Al Franken, James Carville, even Jimmy Carter.

Often, these guests are hawking a new book. But tonight, Matthews' appearance served no other purpose than to provide the late night audience with a big dose of Bush-bashing bunk.

If Leno is going to let Matthews come on and very clearly promote the lib agenda, then he should allow a conservative to have some air time.

Actually, I'd prefer Matthews to just stay put in the ratings abyss known as Hardball, and not venture out of his cable spider hole.

___________________________________

*Note: The Washington Post editorial board's shocking display of good sense was speedily countered by E.J. Dionne's op-ed piece, "All the President's Leaks."

Dionne is grasping at straws. It's embarrassing.

Sometimes, I just can't believe the extent to which the lib elite hate the President.

An Exclusive Club

Only wackos Tom Harkin and Barbara Boxer dared to side with Feingold on his censure resolution. No other senators have joined that exclusive club.

Poor lonely Russ.

The editorial board of the New York Times feels his pain.

In the March 17 lead editorial, "Time for Facts, Not Resolutions," Feingold gets sympathy but not support.

We understand the frustration that led Senator Russell Feingold to introduce a measure that would censure President Bush for authorizing warrantless spying on Americans. It's galling to watch from the outside as the Republicans and most Democrats refuse time and again to hold Mr. Bush accountable for the lawlessness and incompetence of his administration. Actually sitting among that cowardly crew must be maddening.

Lawlessness. Incompetence. Gee, that sounds like the modus operandi of the Times.

Obviously, the board can relate to Feingold's feelings of impotence, and they condemn the cowardice of his colleagues; but that's little consolation.

Still, the censure proposal is a bad idea. Members of Congress don't need to take extraordinary measures like that now. They need to fulfill their sworn duty to investigate the executive branch's misdeeds and failings. Talk about censure will only distract the public from the failure of their elected representatives to earn their paychecks.

We'd be applauding Mr. Feingold if he'd proposed creating a bipartisan panel to determine whether the domestic spying operation that Mr. Bush has acknowledged violates the 1978 surveillance law, as it certainly seems to do. The Senate should also force the disclosure of any other spying Mr. Bush is conducting outside the law. (Attorney General Alberto Gonzales has strongly hinted that is happening.)

These libs are nuts.

If they believe that the Bush Administration is engaging in illegal activities and spying on Americans at will, then why would censure of the President, though not constitutionally an option, be considered an "extraordinary measure"?

The board gives the lame excuse that censure is a distraction. I think what the board is actually doing is try to provide an out for the overwhelming numbers of Dem senators that are running from Feingold's resolution.

The Senate Intelligence and Judiciary Committees should do this, but we can't expect a real effort from Senator Pat Roberts, the Intelligence Committee chairman, or Senator Arlen Specter, chairman of the Judiciary Committee. They're too busy trying to give legal cover to the president's trampling on the law and the Constitution.

Once again, we're back to the "Bush acts like he's above the law" mantra. Blah, blah, blah.

When the Republicans try to block an investigation, as they surely will, Senator Harry Reid, the minority leader, should not be afraid to highlight that fact by shutting down the Senate's public business, as he did last year. This time, though, Mr. Reid needs to follow up. The first time Mr. Reid forced the Senate into a closed session, Mr. Roberts said he would keep his promise about an investigation into the hyping of intelligence on Iraq. But Mr. Roberts continues to sit on that report.

Yeah, that's a great idea -- call for Reid to shut down the Senate. Right. A vote on a censure resolution is too much of a distraction, but shutting down the Senate completely is an appropriate measure. Sure it is.

The nation needs to know a great deal more about the domestic spying. How many people's calls and e-mail were tapped? How were they chosen? Was Mr. Bush planning to do this until the war on terror ended — that is, forever? The public should be asking why members of Congress are afraid to make those important and legitimate queries.

This paragraph is shockingly stupid. Did the Times board lift this from an Al Franken monologue?

With so much still unknown about the domestic spying, the censure resolution merely allows the Republicans to change the subject to fairy tales about Democratic leaders' trying to impeach Mr. Bush. They are also painting criticism of Mr. Bush as unpatriotic. That's tedious nonsense, but watching Mr. Feingold's Democratic colleagues run for cover shows how effective it is.

HEY! Geniuses! Step out of your elist lib bubble!

Repeating this garbage about Republicans making up "fairy tales about Democratic leaders' trying to impeach Mr. Bush" will not alter the reality of what the Dems are actually doing.

Explain H. RES. 365.

Is that a fairy tale? Yes, I know it's hard to believe; but it's not a fairy tale.

Regarding questions of patriotism, let's put those aside. Instead, let's focus on the irresponsible behavior of the Dems and their mouthpieces in the media. Day in and day out they mercilessly and groundlessly attack the President and the Administration.

Feingold spent twenty-five minutes on the floor of the Senate calling Bush a criminal.

Do these patriots think they are talking in a vacuum?

Their words and actions are heard around the world. Our enemies are listening. Our troops, bravely serving and sacrificing in Iraq and Afghanistan, are listening. Their loved ones here at home are subjected to the rants of these patriots.

I think these very patriotic Americans, the ones seeking to censure or impeach or otherwise assault the Commander-in-Chief, need to evaluate the likely consequences of their selfish, politically-motivated antics BEFORE they follow through on their "missions of patriotism" by staging news conferences, issuing press releases, and scheduling TV appearances.

BUSH LIED

"The man in the White House is a liar."

Who said that?

Of course, the possibilities are endless.

Dr. Dean
Jimmy Carter
John Kerry
Russ Feingold
Ted Kennedy
John Edwards
Harry Reid
Nancy Pelosi
Dick Durbin
Joe Biden
Jay Rockefeller
Hillary Clinton
Chuck Schumer
John Murtha
60 Minutes Staff
The New York Times Newsroom
Maureen Dowd
Paul Krugman
Frank Rich
Michael Moore
Cindy Sheehan
Al Franken

(I'll stop there. I'm starting to feel nauseous.)

Although all of these Americans have made that statement in some form, the specific quote goes to SADDAM HUSSEIN.



Al Jazeera (the Eastern bureau -- not the NBC, CBS, ABC, CNN, NPR outlets) writes:

Saddam Hussein has accused the White House of lying about his alleged stockpiles of chemical weapons as well as the claim that he was tortured in US custody.

Speaking on Thursday at the start of the seventh session of his trial on charges of crimes against humanity, the former Iraqi president rekindled his battle of words with Washington.

"Zionists and Americans, I mean officials, hate Saddam Hussein," Saddam said. "The man in the White House is a liar. He said there are chemical weapons in Iraq.

"He later said that, 'We did not find anything in Iraq'."

Referring to a White House statement that his claims that he had been tortured were preposterous, Saddam said: "They lied again when they said that what Saddam said was wrong."

On Wednesday, Saddam accused the Americans of beating him in custody and said he had the bruises to prove it.

Saddam said: "I had my injuries documented by three American [medical] teams." He did not say where or when he was allegedly beaten.

This must be playing well in the enlightened liberal elite circles. Saddam is an ally.

We know Dan Rather is his personal buddy.

Saddam sounds just like someone on the radical Left.

Would distinguished ex-President Carter argue with Saddam's comment that Bush is a liar? Would any of the people I cited?

NO. They've all been saying the same thing.

The question: Has Saddam taken his cues from the American Left, or has the American Left taken cues from Saddam?

In the end, the answer is irrelevant. They're on the same page.

The things that Saddam is saying in order to garner support from his backers, insurgents, and assorted terrorists, the ones that kill innocent civilians and our troops, is what American libs are saying.

Isn't that nice?

Culture of Corruption

There is no question that a culture of corruption is permeating the party, leaving it reeling from the many criminal and ethical investigations.

If you read Newsweek and other liberal publications, or if you watch any news channel other than FOX, you probably assume that I'm referring to the Republican Party.

I'm not. I'm talking about the corruption that embroils the Dems and their liberal media mouthpieces.

To find examples, we don't need to go back to the Clinton era, though it might be worth it to recall a few stats from what Bill proclaimed to be "the most ethical administration in American history."

- Number of individuals and businesses associated with the Clinton machine who have been convicted of or pleaded guilty to crimes: 47
- Number of these convictions during Clinton's presidency: 33
- Number of indictments/misdemeanor charges: 61
- Number of imprisonments: 14
- Number of congressional witnesses who have pled the 5th Amendment, fled the country to avoid testifying, or (in the case of foreign witnesses) refused to be interviewed: 124

In terms of fostering a culture of corruption, the Clinton administration deserves special recognition for all that it accomplished. However, for the sake of time, let's just review a few instances of Dem corruption from the past twelve months.

1) Dan Rather and CBS used forged documents in a story intended to sway the U.S. presidential election. CBS fired producer Mary Mapes and demanded the resignation of three senior CBS executives -- senior vice president Betsy West, executive producer Josh Howard and his deputy, Mary Murphy. Dan, of course, was forced to relinquish his anchor chair and "retire" in disgrace.

2) David Rosen, Hillary Clinton's finance director for her 2000 Senate campaign, was indicted on federal charges of filing bogus financial reports with the Federal Election Commission.

3) Bill Clinton's former national security adviser stole classified documents from the National Archives and then destroyed some and misplaced others. In early September of this year, a federal judge ordered Sandy Berger to pay a $50,000 fine and give up his security clearance for three years as the penalty for smuggling classified terrorism documents out of the National Archives.

4) Air America Radio and the Gloria Wise Boys & Girls Club were involved in a loan scheme that is currently under investigation by New York City's Department of Investigation and New York's Attorney General Eliot Spitzer. Al Franken claimed that he was not involved. Oops! According to Michelle Malkin, Franken lied about that.

5) House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi was among many Democrat lawmakers who amended missing or incomplete travel reports. Pelosi failed to file records for three trips she accepted from outside sponsors that were worth $8,580.

6) Harry Reid arranged for federal grants for two Las Vegas pastors and the wife of one of them. They were indicted when they were accused of mishandling the money.

7) Paul Krugman, editorial columnist for the New York Times, has been reprimanded repeatedly for his compulsive lying by Times "public editor" Byron Calame.

8) A scandal involving Chuck Schumer's staff -- working for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee - is currently unfolding. Schumer's staff fraudulently obtained credit information on Maryland's Republican lieutenant governor. Schumer's research director Katie Barge and staffer Laura Weiner reportedly used the Social Security number of Lt. Gov. Michael Steele in an attempt to find something politically damaging to him.

Less than a week ago at a White House press briefing, Terry Moran asked Scott McClellan, "Is the President concerned that there's a stench of corruption around the Republican establishment in Washington?"

McClellan responded, "Terry, I don't think you can make such a broad characterization. There are some instances of individual situations, and we'll let those -- the legal process proceed in those instances."

Of course, it's wrong for Moran to make that sort of sweeping generalization; but Dems and the MSM are shouting it from the rooftops--

There is a Republican culture of corruption.

Speaking of "stench," the Democrat establishment doesn't exactly smell like a bouquet of roses.

Apologize, Now!

Once again, liberals are screaming for an apology because they are incapable of comprehending English.

They cannot have a legitimate debate on a topic because they always lose. So, they fall back on the tactic of constructing a false reality to achieve their political ends.

Case in point, from the Washington Post:

Democratic lawmakers and civil rights leaders denounced conservative commentator William J. Bennett yesterday for suggesting on his syndicated radio show that aborting black children would reduce the U.S. crime rate.

This is flat out shoddy reporting. The Washington Post simply echoes the rantings of misinformed political opportunists.

While it's true that these people denounced Bennett, the reporter, Brian Faler, fails to point out that they denounced him for something he DID NOT do.

Bennett called the notion ridiculous.

Abort every baby in the country and the crime rate would go down. While true, that's a completely ludicrous, immoral proposition, as Bennett stated.

The former U.S. education secretary-turned-talk show host said Wednesday that "if you wanted to reduce crime, you could -- if that were your sole purpose -- you could abort every black baby in this country, and your crime rate would go down." Bennett quickly added that such an idea would be "an impossible, ridiculous and morally reprehensible thing to do." But, he said, "your crime rate would go down."

Faler provides no context for this. I can only conclude that he is intentionally misleading the public.

Listen to Bennett's comments IN CONTEXT here.

Faler is suggesting that Bennett said something he regretted, so he "quickly" tried to cover it up.

FALSE.

I've listened to the audio repeatedly. There is no urgency there. Bennett is simply stating the obvious.

Bennett's comments, flagged by the liberal news media watchdog group Media Matters for America, were quickly condemned by Senate Minority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.), who issued a statement demanding that Bennett apologize. Rep. John Conyers Jr. (D-Mich.) circulated a letter, signed by 10 of his colleagues, demanding that the Salem Radio Network suspend Bennett's show.

How many times is President Bush called a racist in any given hour on Air America?

Of course, there are no such tallies because no one listens to Air America; but the comparison is valid.

Do Republicans rush out and demand that Al Franken and Randi Rhodes have their shows suspended for making such outlandish statements about Bush and Republicans?

What about Kanye West's comments on NBC's Hurricane Katrina relief fund-raiser? He said, "George Bush doesn't care about black people." Instead of demanding that West apologize and ban him from appearing on the network, West is scheduled to perform on Saturday Night Live this weekend.

Why is it that far Left-wingers can make idiotic statements with impugnity but conservatives are condemned for things they didn't even say?

Wade Henderson, the executive director of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, demanded that the show be canceled.

"Bennett's statement is outrageous. As a former secretary of education, he should know better," Henderson said. "His program should be pulled from the air."

Bennett was referencing Freakonomics, by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner. He stated the theory in the book and said that he did not think that the claim that crime is down because the abortion rate is up was an accurate statistic.

I'm curious. Did Wade Henderson demand that all copies of Levitt and Dubner's book be removed from bookstore shelves and burned? After all, it's their theory.

A spokeswoman for Salem Radio Network did not return three calls requesting comment.

Imagine. The spokeswoman didn't return THREE calls.

Faler presents that information as indicative that the Salem Radio Network is complicit in some wrong-doing. I have no idea what the network would be complicit in, but not returning calls apparently shows it's complicit.

Bennett, education secretary under then-President Ronald Reagan and director of drug policy during George H.W. Bush's administration has written a number of books stressing the importance of traditional values, including the 1993 bestseller "The Book of Virtues."

In 2003, he admitted he was a heavy gambler after news reports that he had lost millions of dollars in casinos.

Here's where Faler loses it completely. How is any of this relevant to the story?

When Clinton recently unveiled his Global Initiative amid great fanfare, did the Post's coverage happen to mention that Clinton was impeached or that he was unfaithful to his wife or that he had a "critical lapse in judgment" when he indeed "did have a relationship with Ms. Lewinsky that was not appropriate"?

No. It wasn't relevant.

Accordingly, it's difficult to make the argument that bringing up Bennett's gambling is appropriate here. Faler's purpose is solely malicious.

Bennett's comments came Wednesday, during a discussion on his talk show "Morning in America." A caller had suggested that Social Security would be better funded if abortion had not been legalized in 1973 because the nation would have more workers paying into the system.

Bennett said "maybe," before referring to a book he said argued that the legalization of abortion is one of the reasons the crime rate has declined in recent decades. Bennett said he did not agree with that thesis.

"But I do know that it's true that if you wanted to reduce crime, you could -- if that were your sole purpose -- you could abort every black baby in this country, and your crime rate would go down," Bennett said, according to an audio clip posted on Media Matters for America's Web site. "That would be an impossible, ridiculous and morally reprehensible thing to do, but your crime rate would go down. So these far-out, these far-reaching, you know, extensive extrapolations are, I think, tricky."

So--

Faler tacks on at the end of his article that Bennett didn't agree with the thesis put forth by the authors of Freakonomics.

Why wasn't that in the first paragraph?

The article should have been about how misguided the Democratic lawmakers and civil rights leaders were to be demanding that Bennett be silenced just because they can't seem to understand what Bennett actually said.

There's your story.

Transcript

From the September 28 broadcast of Salem Radio Network's Bill Bennett's Morning in America:

CALLER: I noticed the national media, you know, they talk a lot about the loss of revenue, or the inability of the government to fund Social Security, and I was curious, and I've read articles in recent months here, that the abortions that have happened since Roe v. Wade, the lost revenue from the people who have been aborted in the last 30-something years, could fund Social Security as we know it today. And the media just doesn't -- never touches this at all.

BENNETT: Assuming they're all productive citizens?

CALLER: Assuming that they are. Even if only a portion of them were, it would be an enormous amount of revenue.

BENNETT: Maybe, maybe, but we don't know what the costs would be, too. I think as -- abortion disproportionately occur among single women? No.

CALLER: I don't know the exact statistics, but quite a bit are, yeah.

BENNETT: All right, well, I mean, I just don't know. I would not argue for the pro-life position based on this, because you don't know. I mean, it cuts both -- you know, one of the arguments in this book Freakonomics that they make is that the declining crime rate, you know, they deal with this hypothesis, that one of the reasons crime is down is that abortion is up. Well --

CALLER: Well, I don't think that statistic is accurate.

BENNETT: Well, I don't think it is either, I don't think it is either, because first of all, there is just too much that you don't know. But I do know that it's true that if you wanted to reduce crime, you could -- if that were your sole purpose, you could abort every black baby in this country, and your crime rate would go down. That would be an impossible, ridiculous, and morally reprehensible thing to do, but your crime rate would go down. So these far-out, these far-reaching, extensive extrapolations are, I think, tricky.

I do think Bennett should issue a statement to clarify, for those needing clarification, that he was not suggesting that an effective plan to reduce crime would be to abort every black baby in this country.

If I am misunderstanding Bennett's comments, and he does, in fact, believe that a solution to crime would be the systematic abortion of all black babies, then I think he's a racist, as well as insane, and incapable of issuing a meaningful apology.

AIR AMERICA IN DEEP

This is a REAL scandal.

This isn't just throwing stuff at the wall hoping something will stick. This is the real deal.

New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer is probing Air America's loan. Of course, he's a huge lib and wanted to avoid looking into it at all costs.

According to the New York Post, Spitzer was pressured into launching the probe by "Internet bloggers and Republican critics [who] began pounding Spitzer for not intervening" when it was learned last month that the New York Department of Investigation was examining the dirty dealings of Air America.

For weeks, the MSM have tried to ignore it. Al Franken has tried to ignore it. Even the state's AG tried to ignore it.

Billboard Radio Monitor writes:

New York State Attorney General Eliot Spitzer is looking into questionable loans made by the New York-based Gloria Wise Boys and Girls Club to Air America Radio (AAR) early in the liberal talk network’s life. Spitzer’s interest in the case, which is already being investigated by the New York City Department of Investigation (DOI), was first reported by the New York Post and has been confirmed by Billboard Radio Monitor.

At issue are government funds which were earmarked for the charitable, not-for-profit organization, but were funneled to AAR through its former CEO, Evan Cohen. At the time of the loans, Cohen was serving as a paid development director for Gloria Wise.

Although AAR is no longer affiliated with Cohen, who sold his interest to Piquant LLC in 2004, the current owners have said they will repay the loans to the club, even though they maintain they have no legal obligation to do so.

What huge hearts the current Air America owners have!

It seems to me that Billboard Radio Monitor is eager to distance the scandal from today's Air America. Why are they helping the lib radio network's CYA efforts?

Meanwhile, the DOI has recommended that Piquant place $875,000 in an escrow account, pending the outcome of the investigation, according to the Post. The company, however, has reportedly deposited $50,000 into an account controlled by an attorney for the network, to the dismay of investigators.

How pathetic!

Piquant had to reserve $50,000. For what? Is that the legal defense fund?

Cohen was forced out at the liberal network shortly after its launch when employees, affiliates and detractors learned that instead of three years' worth of funding there was actually three weeks' worth.

The libs are using Cohen as their scapegoat. It seems pretty clear that Cohen is a crook, but that doesn't let Air America off the hook.

NewsMax writes:

Last month, the DOI said Gloria Wise was under investigation for approving "significant inappropriate transactions" and using "falsified documents that were submitted to various city agencies."

In July, the Bronx News reported that the Air America loan "is at the center of the city’s probe of corruption at the local club." Subsequent reports have pegged the loan's amount at $875,000.

Spitzer's spokesman said the probe is examining "the conduct of the board of [the] charitable not-for-profit organization. The question is: Was their action appropriate?"

Appropriate?

How could it be appropriate for tax dollars to be funneled to a partisan, political organization?

Finally, after weeks of pretending that there was no scandal, Al Franken addressed the matter.

Again, from NewsMax:

Liberal yakker Al Franken blasted the man who founded his Air America radio network as "a crook" on Monday - even as he laughed off the financial scandal that continues to dog his broadcast.

...Franken was finally forced to discuss the scandal when a caller asked him to explain.

"Here's the deal," the Air America host said. "The first guy who was chairman of the board of Air America - Evan Cohen - was a crook, it turns out. I mean, I guess that's the only way to put it."

Explaining Cohen's role in ripping off the kids' club, Franken suddenly turned giddy.

"He borrowed $875,000," he said, erupting in laughter. "I don't know why they did it and I don't know where the money went."

Franken said he "imagines" that the funds earmarked for childrens' programs were instead "used for operations" at Air America, which was strapped for cash at the time.

"[Cohen] was robbing Peter to pay Paul," he explained.

Franken finds this all funny?

What's funny is Franken saying that Cohen was "robbing Peter to pay Paul."

That might be fitting if Cohen was illegally shifting funds between two private sector organizations or two public sector groups.

It gets a lot messier for Air America because the people's tax dollars, funds meant to aid children and the elderly, were channeled into their privately-owned, anti-Bush hatefest.

Air America is desperately trying to wash its hands of the scandal by blaming Cohen and claiming innocence.

They may manage to do some legal wrangling to distance themselves, but let's be realistic.

This scandal belongs to Air America. They can't disown it.

It's not as simple as Franken makes it out to be.

AND, it's not funny.

Air America, Al Franken, and the Liberal Media Exposed

The Washington Times has an enlightening editorial today. It not only sheds light on the despicable nature of Air America and its minions; but it also reveals the monstrous liberal bias of the mainstream media.

The Times writes:

For a change, Al Franken sounded serious and didn't want a fistfight. He didn't seem to know much about Air America Radio's loan scandal speaking to the New York Sun Monday, and said he had just learned the details last week. In sum, he sounded a lot like the politicians he plays "gotcha" with. Maybe Mr. Franken's ambitions for Norm Coleman's seat in the Senate are sobering him up a bit.

He didn't know whether former Air America director and nonprofit executive Evan Cohen had transferred inner-city children's money to Air America, nor whether the money had been used for Air America's operations. Mr. Franken did know this: Air America had known about the problem before New York's Department of Investigation began studying it. But a city spokesman says Air America "neglected to tell anyone at DOI or in the city about it." Add another unanswered question to Air America's tally.

Up to this point, Mr. Franken gets a pass: He is the talent, not the management. But now that he is apprised, Mr. Franken should get to the bottom of the scandal.

He SHOULD, but I doubt he will.

That would demand some personal integrity. It would require him to admit that Air America is involved in a truly disgusting, corrupt act. It would mean Franken would have to admit the HYPOCRISY OF THE HYPOCRITICAL HYPOCRITES at the network and force him to take a FAIR AND BALANCED LOOK AT AIR AMERICA.

That will happen when Hell freezes over.

On Friday, Air America confirmed that last year it did in fact take money from a city-funded nonprofit that runs programs in the Bronx for children and Alzheimer's sufferers, and that it plans to pay the money back. It also revealed that it refuses to accept responsibility: First it blamed the Gloria Wise Boys & Girls Club, the nonprofit, calling the club's alleged behavior "absolutely disgraceful"; then it blamed Progress Media, a now-defunct Air America parent company, and said it had no obligation to pay the money back. But Air America announced it would pay the money back because it is "very disturbed that Air America Radio's good name could be associated with a reduction in services for young people."

It's also clear that Air America was the primary beneficiary of whatever "absolutely disgraceful" corruption occurred. As Jeannette Graves, president of Gloria Wise's executive committee, explained to the New York Sun this week, Mr. Cohen received more than $800,000 for himself and for Air America. She and her colleagues approved two $35,000 "loans" to Mr. Cohen plus another $167,000 for Air America because "he had thrown a tremendously successful fund-raising affair for Gloria Wise in Manhattan last year." He was "a very wonderful young man" who "left a very favorable impression." The rest of the transfers apparently happened without Mrs. Graves' knowledge: Someone approved a $213,000 loan with Mrs. Graves' name rubber-stamped on it plus a whopping $400,000 wire transfer.

Mr. Franken should get to the bottom of this scandal. He didn't create it, but he's part of it, and he will be implicated if he does not help find the wrongdoers and compensate the victims. Besides, things get a lot tougher in the Senate, a place where fistfights and jokes won't cut it.

In the past, Franken has hinted at the possibility of running for the U.S. Senate. Minnesota is a blue state, but is it blue enough to send a man like Franken to Washington?

I think Franken would have to dig himself out of the hole of his cocaine history, his violent outbursts, and his over the top, reckless rhetoric before he could begin to talk about issues.

Now, he has this Air America scandal sitting in his lap. Think of how he pummeled Tom DeLay, and deemed him evil incarnate. How many times has he called Bush and his administration corrupt?

Speaking of Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them, Franken should look in the mirror.

It's time for Franken to quit kidding himself. His dream of being a Senator is dead on arrival. It's not going to happen. (I say that with some hesitation. I would never have predicted that Jesse Ventura would be elected the governor of Minnesota.)

In any event, the funneling of tax dollars that were earmarked for children and the elderly to his partisan, private operation makes Franken look bad--VERY BAD.

Air America needs to come clean about its shady dealings immediately. Instead, Franken and his cohorts have chosen to hem and haw and hope the scandal goes away.

This strategy makes sense; given the fact that they have the liberal media on their side.

Therein lies the other ugly underbelly of this scandal. The Leftist media have for all intents and purposes ignored this story.

Why has this scandal received so little attention?

Very simple. It's about Air America, the network that still has relatively NO audience in spite of massive lib media efforts to pump it up. The lib media can't bear to say anything negative about their precious Air America.

If Rush Limbaugh or Sean Hannity or any other conservative talk radio outfit had illegally received public funds to bolster their shows, it would be pounced on by every mainstream outlet from here to eternity.

Every morning, Katie Couric and Matt Lauer would lead Today with the latest damning developments. There would be protests and petitions. Senate Dems would take to the floor to express their outrage in fiery speeches, and compare the evil conservatives to Nazis. Dr. Dean would be foaming at the mouth more than usual.

Air America, Al Franken, and the Liberal Media have been exposed.

Is anyone noticing?

Hypocrisy and the Hypocritical Hypocrites Who Wallow in it: A Fair and Balanced Look at Air America

Al Franken, author of Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them: A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right, must be squirming over this story.

Then again, I don't know if it's possible to be amoral and squirm. A conscience and integrity would be required for Franken to be troubled.

Do you think he's bothered by the allegations that hundreds of thousands of public tax dollars were illegally channeled from a Bronx community center to the private, partisan operation, Air America?

In an editorial in today's Washington Times, "Robin Hood and Air America," we see ANOTHER indiciation of the Left's tendency to...ethically stray.

Did Al Franken's liberal radio network Air America divert city money for the elderly and inner-city children to itself? That's the question people should be asking this week after the revelation that the New York Department of Investigation is looking into whether hundreds of thousands of dollars were illegally transferred from a Bronx community center to Air America. Only a community paper and a few Internet bloggers seem interested in what could be an egregious case of illegal funneling of tax dollars to a private, partisan organization.

In late June, city officials designated the Gloria Wise Boys and Girls Club, a nonprofit organization that runs mentoring programs for children and day care for Alzheimer's patients, a "non-responsible city contractor." Investigators found "significant inappropriate transactions and falsified documents that were submitted to various City agencies." The city subsequently suspended the club's contracts, which run well into the millions.

It turns out, according to sources quoted anonymously by the Bronx News, that the mishandled money went to Air America. One source claims that $480,000 was wrongly transferred. The city investigation is concentrating on Charles Rosen, the club's president for 15 years, and Evan Cohen, the development director, who is a former chairman of Air America. Mr. Cohen resigned from Air America in May after the network's leasing plans in Chicago, San Francisco and elsewhere fell through.

No one has claimed that Messrs. Cohen or Rosen sought to profit personally from any transfers. The money was said to have been a "loan" from the community center to Air America, which Air America would repay with interest at some point in the future. But why the public till should be tapped to rescue a foundering news outlet was a question no one seemed to consider. Maybe Air America officers thought spending public funds on their network was a truly compelling public interest. It isn't, of course, and if the allegations are true, they reveal a misuse of tax dollars to support a partisan organization.

Air America's parent corporation Piquant LLC issued an "explanation" yesterday but did not deny the allegations. It instead tried to pin them on Air America's previous owners, on whose watch the transfer is said to have occured. That won't wash.

Not only is Air America teetering on the brink of bankruptcy in fiscal terms, but it's also sadly lacking in terms of talent, humor, entertainment, accurate information, and truth.

Now, though not surprisingly, we discover in concrete terms that Air America is morally bankrupt as well.

It is unjustifiable for public money to be "loaned" to a private, partisan group.

Beyond that, this story is troubling on another level. I question the mental stability of Charles Rosen and Evan Cohen.

After all, no sane person would ever consider "loaning" anything to Air America.

Al Franken--Not Funny, Not Smart

Al Franken was a guest on Conan O'Brien tonight.

Working at Air America must have altered Franken's diet. He looked like he gained a ton. Doughnuts, maybe?

He was hawking his new TV show on Redford's Sundance Channel.

Franken claimed he rides his bike to work nearly every day. It must be an awfully short ride. He certainly didn't look like a health nut. I hate to think how fat he'd look if he didn't ride a bike daily.

Of course, he was political, showing a clip of McCain on Meet the Press.

Franken said he used to like McCain, until he supported Bush in 2004. He brought up push polling, supposedly done in the 2000 primary by the Bush campaign to smear McCain.

Franken said that the tactic was only used by the "dirtiest people in the world, which would be Karl Rove."

No one laughed. O'Brien's audience didn't seem to know who Rove is.

Overall, Franken was not funny, not smart, and looked overweight.

I'm not surprised.