Does this mean we can finally pry it?

Heston raised a flintlock over his head and challenged his detractors to pry the rifle "from my cold, dead hands." ...

Whatever you say, Chuck!

R.I.P. you crazy old bastard.

FDL delivers petition to FEC

Last week, in an effort coordinated by Jane Hamsher of FireDogLake, Joe Sudbay of AmericaBlog and Reverend Lennox Yearwood delivered 32,000 signatures to the FEC, cosigning the complaint filed last Thursday against John McCain and his campaign. It took three reams of paper and 1,400 pages to print it all out. The entire post is HERE.

The gist of the complaint is that John Sidney McCain III opted in to the campaign finance program that he helped reform and chose to receive matching federal funds. The limit on money he could spend under the law is $54 million for the primaries.

After he became the front runner in the Republican race, he decided that he needed more money and continued fund raising above the limit, including using the FEC funding as collateral for a $4 million loan.

The MSM is widely mis-reporting that McCain didn't receive federal funds, so he is choosing to opt out of the plan. Problem is, it isn't for him to decide. The FEC needs to make a ruling on the matter.

Currently the FEC lacks a quorum because of a standoff between Congress and the President on who to approve for the board. The president (of course) wants to put another lackey in place who would mindlessly do Bush's bidding, which would certainly include a vote against holding McCain to the law he helped write.

The MSM is ignoring this story, but the online effort continues. Even if the FEC refuses to rule on the complaint before the new administration is in power, we can help make this a significant campaign issue if we keep the pressure on. This story is a simple case of a senator breaking the law he helped enact. Usually the media is all over a story like this, except this time there is a lot of resistance to it for some reason.

We need to keep the pressure on. Go over to FDL and sign this petition. The full text of the complaint is HERE. Jane already has over 34,000 signatures, and maybe when they hit 50,000 or 100,000, the MSM will finally take notice.

Thanks for nothing, McCain

Veteran Democratic lawmaker John Conyers (D-MI) blasted John Sidney McCain III for his anti-MLK holiday stance back in 1983 and his agreement with the Arizona governor's decision to rescind the holiday in 1987.

So now that it's politically advantageous for him to apologize for a lifetime of wrongful policies, McCain offered up a lame mea culpa for his abominable vote and acquiescence with Governor Mecham's hateful ruling, on the 40th anniversary of Dr. King's assassination.

Yeah, like that's going to make everything OK.

Watch Rep. Conyers' face at the end of the video, after he says "Oh, that's great!". The word "Bullshit!" wasn't said, but you can see it hanging there.



I love how politicians like McCain think that saying "I'm sorry" automatically wipes the slate clean of a lifetime of destructive policies and hateful rhetoric. They seem to believe that forgiveness is automatic once a person asks for it. Maybe that's what Christianity teaches as the way to square things with God, but here on Earth, you're supposed to take responsibility for your actions.

"Sorry" doesn't right your wrongs, McCain. It takes actions, not empty words to earn forgiveness.

And nobody's holding their breath to see if you're actually going to do anything to earn it.

Everyone should do this once

What I mean is, everyone should ride in a chauffeured Bentley down 5th Avenue at least once in their life.

I finished up the job late today at the hotel, and I wasn't really looking forward to dragging all my luggage and computer hardware the twelve or fifteen blocks to Grand Central during rush hour.

So after I checked out, I stopped at the concierge's desk and asked if they had a courtesy car or shuttle service over to the terminal. He said if the Bentley was available, I was welcome to it.

Obviously he didn't have to mention that twice. I spun through the revolving doors and trundled my luggage down to the curb. The doorman asked if I needed anything, and I told him about the car. He waved the car smartly up to the curb and placed my bags in the trunk.

I didn't wait for the doorman, I opened my own door and slid into total luxury. The aroma of fine leather and immense wealth was intoxicating. If I could capture that smell and market it as a cologne, I'd be rich enough to actually deserve to be in that car.

They usually only drive guests to places within a 10-block radius of the hotel, usually for shopping, so they were being very generous with me. I let the driver drop me off at 44th and Madison so he'd have a quicker time getting back to the hotel. I'm sure there were some ridiculously wealthy people waiting impatiently by the curb back at the hotel for their ride to Cartier's, while a wayward blogger was being schlepped to the train station in the hotel's expensive roadster.

That thought made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

So I'm home now. I can cross a few more things off the "stuff I never thought I'd get to do" list. It was an interesting and busy week, but no matter where I've been there's always something satisfying about coming home.

And don't worry, I'll be back to political stuff now.

There'll be a few interesting things to discuss over the next couple of days.

Film shoot

Today there was a movie being shot right outside my hotel. A big film crew arrived early and started setting up on 55th St. Around lunchtime I strolled over to see what was going on.

There was a small crowd of people milling around the street corner, near a hot dog vending cart, so I wandered over to check it out.

I walked up next to a couple standing on the sidewalk and looked around. There was a makeup person applying some powder to what I figured was an actor a few feet away. I looked down and realized I was standing right at the end of dolly tracks, and a big Panaflex 35mm camera was mounted on a dolly and pointing my way.

"Excuse me sir! You need to move," a production assistant said to me.

"I'm sorry, I was just watching with these people," I said.

"Those are all extras! You're in the shot! You need to be across the street," she said, pointing to a much bigger crowd, all looking my way.

Ah! That makes sense! I muttered an apology and skulked across the street, somewhat embarrassed.

So I fired off a few shots and quickly left. I don't even know yet what was being filmed, but I can always call my butler and ask him to find out for me.

Butlers rule. Everybody should have one.

I don't know how I survived this long without one.

UPDATE: I asked the concierge instead. He said the movie was "Confessions of a Shopaholic", which apparently is a Disney vehicle with a slew of well-known actors in it, none of whom I saw during the few minutes I was there.

Also, tonight there's a big-time poker tournament for charity being held in the banquet rooms.

With a $5,000 buy-in.

I briefly considered entering, but my tuxedo is out being martinized, so I'm gonna have to sit this one out.

Scene from The Godfather

So, I'm still stuck here in this swanky hotel. It's much more difficult than you might imagine.

For instance, earlier today I was forced to choose between eating the milk chocolate or the dark chocolate the maid left in a crystal serving dish next to our bowl of fresh fruit and three complimentary newspapers (The NY Times, the Wall Street Journal, and sadly, USA Today). I was quite perplexed on which one I should consume.

So I dumped the whole bowl into the 17th century French desk drawer in the hopes that the maid will re-up on the chocolate. Problem solved.

Earlier today I was talking to one of the hotel staff about the history of the place, and while he wouldn't admit to any good ghost stories ("The entire staff is aware of the disturbances on the fifth floor") he did mention that several memorable scenes from "The Godfather (1972)" were filmed here.

Of course! I thought there was something familiar about that stairwell/elevator landing. That's where Clemenza did his part to help Michael Corleone extract his revenge on the other families for their treachery.

Here's a frame from the scene, where Clemenza pulls the shotgun out of the flower box and kicks his victim back into the elevator just as the doors opened.

This is a photo I took today of one of the stairwells. There are some slight differences, either from set dressing for the movie or renovations that may have occurred over the last 30-some odd years.

Oh yeah, you probably shouldn't ever fuck with Clemenza. He don't take no shit from nobody.

Other scenes from the hotel were Moe Green getting shot in the eye while getting a massage, and the guy who got locked in the revolving door and was shot by the guy with the mustache. We walked through that very same revolving door tonight, and we're very glad to report that nothing of the sort happened to us.

Here's a Youtube video with some of The Godfather's greatest "hits", including the three I've described above. Plus a bunch more. And some mayhem for good measure.

2008 JJB Dinner videos

(Photo credit CT Blogger)
I've placed all the videos from this year's Jefferson Jackson Bailey Dinner into this one blog post, so you can link directly here to access all of them on a single page.

JJB Dinner, April 28, 2008 at the Connecticut Convention Center in Hartford.


Chris Donovan, House Majority Leader from the 84th District in Meriden.


Jim Amann, Speaker of the House from the 118th District in Milford.


John Hartwell, candidate for Senate in the 26th District.


Arthur "Art" House, candidate for Senate from the 8th District, introduced by Audrey Blondin and Myrna Watanabe.


Peter Tercyak, State Rep. from the 26th District.


Jim Himes, Democratic candidate for Congress in the 4th Congressional District.


Jonathan Harris, State Senator from the 5th District.


George Jepsen, former Senate Majority Leader and past State Democratic Party Chair.


Dan Malloy, Stamford Mayor and candidate for Governor in 2006.


Mary Glassman, Simsbury First Selectman and Lt. Gov. candidate in 2006


Martin Goldberg, Senate candidate from the 28th District.

Roughing it in Manhattan

As long as I have to be somewhere, it's not a bad place to be.

I was going to call the butler and have him write this blog post, but I think there's something admirable in taking part in some of the simple labors of the common man.

I know what you're thinking:

Obviously this blogging thing is starting to pay off!

Well, not really.

Not at all, actually.

But the job I have in my regular life makes it necessary to spend a week or so in some of the nicer hotels out there. It's not too bad, really.

Especially on those occasions that CT Joyce can join me for a few days. Like now, for instance. Tomorrow she's going to spend the day at the Museum of Modern Art just around the corner.

Although, there are occasionally little miscues that takes a bit of the fun out of the experience.

Like when I mistakenly told her the 8.45 oz. bottle of mineral water was complimentary, but then finding out by reading the mini-bar sheet we're down seven bucks for what amounted to three gulps of room temperature liquid.

Well, suffice it to say, I'm not even going to TOUCH the scotch!

Fifth Anniversary for "Countdown" tonight

Locally, it's tonight (Sunday) at 7PM on NBC (not MSNBC), the fifth anniversary special episode of "Countdown" with Keith Olbermann.

Here's a snippet from Olbermann's post over on Daily Kos:

Well, it's not a Special Comment, and with one possible exception, I don't think it's particularly nasty towards one side more than the other in the current Democratic Endlessness.

But, if like me, you've recently been called out by Governor Ed Rendell or James Carville, you probably need a few yucks.

So tonight when the show celebrates its 5th Anniversary with our special on NBC, we will be laying on the network folks, four minutes' worth of our exclusive "discovery" of the actual "Commander-In-Chief Threshold Test," the existence of which was revealed by Senator Clinton and Mr. Wolfson earlier in the month.

That's right: if you hear any small explosions or "thunk"-like sounds just after sunset, that may be one of your neighbors exposed to this kind of stuff for the first time, since it's on real tee-vee.

So you know what's coming: we have a video package illustrating the seventeen questions on the test.

QUESTION NINE: How often should the commander-in-chief joke about nuclear holocaust?

Ronald Reagan: "I've introduced legislation to outlaw Russia. We begin bombing in five minutes."

Let me repeat Question Nine: How often should the commander-in-chief joke about nuclear holocaust?

John McCain: "The Beach Boys Song? Bomb bomb bomb, bomb bomb Iran."

There's more over at Kos, but I don't want to ruin your enjoyment of tonight's show by posting it here. So catch the show, or the inevitable reruns that'll be on MSNBC in a day or two, and have yourself a good laugh.

Olympics 2008: China sells souveniers and human organs

Dr. Kirk James Murphy M.D.posted an horrific story on FireDogLake about China's thriving business selling executed convict's human organs to wealthy foreigners. And then many of them come back home to the U.S. to take advantage of gov't sponsored anti-rejection medications.

As if China's genocide in Tibet and complicity in Darfur weren't reason enough to boycott the Blood Olympics: the Official Hosts selected by the International Olympics Committee to host the 2008 Summer Olympics sell human flesh taken from victims of China's vast, corrupt execution industry. But wait - there's more. We in the US pay for the anti-rejection drugs taken by Medicare recipients who travel to China in order to purchase kidneys from the organ emporium otherwise known as China's "justice" system.

[...]

Some depraved recipients fly to China to buy an execution victim's kidney - and then come back and let US taxpayers foot the bill for the drugs - the drugs they need to take for the kidney they bought off the Official Organ Harvesters For The 2008 Summer Olympics.

[...]

"The reason for his condemnation of the surgeries was that about 90 percent of the transplanted organs in China were taken from prisoners on death row without their consent.

'Organs removed while prisoner was alive'

The article quoted Dr. Wang Guayoki, a Chinese doctor who escaped China and sought political refuge in the United States. He described before a committee of the House of Representatives how he removed skin and corneas from the bodies of over 100 prisoners who were executed in Chinese prisons.

He explained that the "donors" receive a special injection which prevents their blood from clotting and aids in preserving their organs. The execution team shoots the prisoners in the head while a medical staff stands by in order to remove the organs meant for transplants.

Dr. Guayoki recounted a particularly shocking case where kidneys were removed from a prisoner while he was still alive due to a faulty execution. Other testimonies brought before congress confirmed other such cases."

Read the entire story on FireDogLake. Sorry if this offends any Chinese nationals out there. Keep in mind that I don't dislike the Chinese people; in fact, I think they're pretty much like everyone else, but I think their system of government is among the worst the world has ever seen.

I can't speak for anyone else, but I'm making a vow not to watch a single minute of Olympic coverage this summer. I'm not buying a single product advertised on the broadcasts. And I'm not going to buy a stupid T-shirt with their logo on it.

Sorry, but until the IOC institutes real standards into it's selection process for host countries, the Olympics will ALWAYS be somewhat political in nature.

Maybe we can find an island somewhere and establish a permanent "ideology-free zone" and create an Olympic wonderland there, where the games will be held in perpetuity. That would be cool.