Saturday, February 18, 2006

Quote for the Day, 2/18/2006   "Experience has taught me never to trust a policeman.  Just when you think one's all right, he turns legit."   -Sam Jaffe (Doc Erwin Riedenschneider), The Asphalt Jungle 11:36:03 PM    comment []

Belated Quote for the Day, 2/17/2006   "My week beats your year."   -Lou Reed, the liner notes for Metal Machine Music   Since I first ran across that line, I've always wished I could say that with conviction.  But who knows?  Maybe I've had a week or two where it was true. 11:34:10 PM    comment []

A Challenger to Representative (and Public Enemy) #1   Ohio Republican Congressman Bob Ney has become a national poster boy for corruption because of his willingness to fetch, roll over, play dead, or do any other obedience school tricks one might expect from a dog at the command of his political master, Jack Abramoff, in return for a shockingly paltry amount of money.  In the Abramoff documents, he is simply known as "Representative #1".  One of the wonders of the Ney story is not that the Congressman was corrupt...there have been some crooked politicians since Adam delved and Eve span...but how very affordable it is to own your own national Representative.  A Republican has finally emerged to challenge Rep. Ney in the Republican primary.  The challenger, James Broadbelt Harris, described by The Hill as a "political neophyte", was remarkably frank about why he was entering the race:  "I think this is an unusual opportunity for someone like me to get into the race.  I believe any good Republican could hold this Republican gerrymandered district and the only way a Democrat could win this district is in the midst of a scandal." A candidate for national office is admitting the opportunity for democratic competition for political office is only possible in his home district as a result of some sort of accident.  A guy this honest, and direct, will probably have a hard time raising money.  But he bears watching. 2:28:45 AM    comment []