Did Sarah Palin commit perjury during her testimony in the David Kernell trial?

By GottaLaff

Sarah Palin outside court house in Knoxville

I get emails from time to time from our pals over at Palingates, inviting me to read about their latest discoveries. They do a great job of digging up evidence that calls into question the many versions of events that Barbie McLipSchmutz passes along to the accommodating media.

They also uncover emails galore, long lost press accounts, statements, videos, you name it.

Their most recent investigation involves the email hacking trial of David Kernell at which Barbie gave testimony:

Did Sarah Palin commit perjury while giving her testimony in Knoxville? We have to put this as a question, because we don't know the exact wording of all she said and have to rely on news reports for our information.

However, there are strong indications that Palin purposely lied during her testimony.

Palingates then goes on to reveal the contents of several emails as well as conflicting quotes regarding Todd, Trig, and Bristol, and much more.

Summary:

If we look at Sarah's statements from an objective point of view, provided that the reporting in the news was correct, I strongly believe that many prosecutors would choose "GUILTY". However, this is Sarah Palin we are talking about, the woman who gets away with virtually anything. For how long still? Only God knows!

However, we won't forget Sarah's immortal words:

"I do think there should be consequences for bad behavior."

Please read all about it here.

VIDEO: Sarah Palin Meets the Press after Testifying in Hacking Trial

By GottaLaff



Wordy McMilkIt even took advantage of this moment to play the Trig card... again... or as Wordy would say:

PeopleexploitmykidsbutIwouldneverdothatI'maRAGINGHYPOCRITE!
Let'stalkaboutBristolwhilewe'reatit.IllegalprivateexposenotrightWORDSALAD
Isthismygoodside?ThiswassohurtfulWEAREVICTIMSPlayvictimcardoften.
NOBREATH.
Itwassnowin'athome!
I'lljustkeeptalkingtogarnersympathyandattention.Youguysalwaysfallforthat.
Memememememememememememememememeeeeeeee!

A little background:

During the 2008 campaign, David Kernell, then a college student, thought it might be fun to hack into Sarah Palin's email account and publish her private information on the web.

Michelle Obama compared to Tarzan's Cheeta in email

By GottaLaff

Walt Baker, the CEO of the powerful Tennessee Hospitality Association, sent out a "joke" email comparing First Lady Michelle Obama to Tarzan's Cheeta. Hilarious, huh?

It said, in part, "Quoting Larry the Cable Guy ... I don't care who you are, this is funny". He sent it to 12 prominent Nashvillians:

Baker says he meant no offense and sent it to what he considered to be "a select group of friends." "If anybody wants to make a political agenda out of it, they're wasting they're time [...] It's not a political statement," Baker continues. "It was done in the spirit of having some fun with some close friends. It was something that was forwarded to me, and I forwarded it to a couple of people that, quite honestly, I thought might find some humor in it like I did."

I mean no offense, Walt, but you're a racist putz.

Baker sent a one-word follow-up email to the original recipients yesterday afternoon. It read only, "Sorry." And today, the publicly funded CVB announced it's canceling its $50,000 marketing contract with Baker's company.

Oh, did I call you a racist putz?

Sorry.

No I'm not.

Here's funny guy Walt's original email:

Quoting Larry the Cable Guy...I don't care who you are, this is funny...

I was at the store yesterday, and I ran into Tarzan! I asked him how it was going and if he was into anymore movies.

He told me that he could no longer make any more movies as he had severe arthritis in both shoulders and could no longer swing from vine to tree.

I asked how Jane was doing, he told me she was in bad shape, in a nursing home, has Alzheimer's and no longer recognizes anyone, how sad. I asked about Boy, and he told me that Boy had gone to the big city, got hooked up with bad women, drugs, alcohol, and the only time he heard from him was if he was in trouble or needed something.

I asked about Cheeta, he beamed and said she was doing good, had married a Lawyer and now lived in the White House!!!

Here are the photos:

What a laugh riot, huh?

He finally sent out an apology:

"Thursday night I spontaneously forwarded -- to a small group of people -- an email that had been sent to me as political humor. As I forwarded it, I did not think or consider its implications, other than that it was political humor. I am saddened that anyone misinterpreted the sentiments behind the email. I deeply apologize to anyone who is offended by this action. I hope that those who know me realize that the message was not intended to be malicious or hurtful in any way and can find it in their hearts to forgive me."

Dear Walt:

You're not only a small-minded racist putz, you are also tone deaf and beneath contempt. Next time you write up an apology, you might try, you know, apologizing.

I am saddened if you misinterpret this as intentionally insulting, offensive, disrespectful or disdainful. But hey, that's your problem. I'm just being spontaneous.

Go Cheney yourself.

Laffy

E-mails: Piper Palin pulling cancer survivor grandma's hair "best idea yet"

By GottaLaff

(click on image to enlarge)

Look what my pal Celtic Diva dug up:

It seems that there was one email from Sarah regarding Piper Palin that a bunch of the Teabaggers thought was "so cute." I expected something like the hair-flattening moment at the Republican Convention so I decided to check it out. Imagine my horror when I read this:

From: gov.sarah@yahoo.com [mailto :gov.sarah@yahoo.com]
Sent: Tuesday , January 15 , 2008 9:08 AM
To: Kelly, Russell T (GOV); Tibbles, Michael A (GOV); Frank Bailey ; Perry, Kristina Y (GOV);
Leighow, Sharon W (GOV); Leschper, Beth (GOV); Frye, Ivy J (DOA)
Cc: Balash , Joseph R (GOV); Todd ; Anders, Bruce F (DNR); Irwin , Tom E ( DNR); Rutherford, MartyK (DNR); Sally Heath ; Molly; Chuck

Subject: Lyda vs Piper

Oh no. Last night Piper overheard me griping about Lyda's action - and she said : "Can you pull her hair?"

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

From: Frye, Ivy J (DOA) [/O=SOA/OU=FIRST ADMINISTRATIVE GROUP/CN=RECIPIENTS/CN=IJFRYE]
Sent: Tuesday, January 15, 2008 9:11 AM
To: External Ernailgsp
Cc: fek9wnr@yahoo.com
Subject: RE: Lyda vs Piper

Now that's the best idea I've heard yet! What a smart kid!

So we think it's funny to suggest beating up a grandma who is a cancer survivor? We already knew Sarah's lack-of-class regarding Ms. Green. We have it recorded when she giggled incessantly while Bob Lester called Lyda a "bitch" and a "cancer."

Of course, the spin back then was that she was just laughing because she didn't know what else to do, yet these emails are totally backing the "Mean Girl" persona Sarah's former friends and co-workers have described. Isn't it facinating how the "real" Sarah is leaking out all over from these private-account emails?

Mean girls, indeed.

Mean and inept.

More over at C.D.'s place here.

Hey Dude

By GottaLaff

To the tune of "Hey Jude":

Hey Dude,
You made it worse.
Shared your wife's job
So you both blew it.

The Quitter who took you into her heart
Had a brain fart
And you both knew it, knew it, knew it, knew it!

Nearly 3,000 pages of e-mails "draw a picture of a Palin administration where the governor's husband got involved in a judicial appointment, monitored contract negotiations with public employee unions, received background checks on a corporate CEO, added his approval or disapproval to state board appointments and passed financial information marked 'confidential' from his oil company employer to a state attorney."

First Dude, you and the wife be in a heap o' trouble.

Other revelations from the emails:

• Palin "coached her staff on how to disguise the amount of electrical work needed at the mansion to hook up her new tanning bed."
• Palin and her staff "stewed over the refusal of the state Public Safety Department to provide a plane so the children could fly to Todd's family's home in Dillingham."
• A Palin aide searched for a public event to use as justification -- "I just need one" -- to charge the state for an airplane flight for Palin's daughter.

Ethics McWhoMe? was the very same person who vehemently denied ethics abuse/abuse of power charges, remember?

Dudes! WTF?

PhotOh! Obama the Palin Shoeshiner via, yes, another nasty e-mail

By GottaLaff

Gryphen has the whole story behind this appalling photo. Please go read, and bring your Pepto with you:

Gryphen:

And just to give the people who support this kind of thing a little reality check. Barack Obama is our president, while Sarah Palin is a woman who quit her job, wrote a book full of lies, and is so terrified of me that she had me banned from a public event.

These disgusting, doctored photos never fail to turn my stomach and make me wonder how the cretins who find them so amusing became so pathetically racist. Why were they taught to be that way? Why couldn't they evolve... just a little?

Yeah, yeah, I know.

The AP DESTROYS the Phony Climategate Scandal

By GottaLaff

Neener. Nanner. NeenernannerNeenernannerNeenernanner. And yes, I'm being immature and childish because I am sick to death of wingy memes monopolizing the media and accepted as truth:

This is significant because it sweeps away any quasi-legitimacy the Global Warming deniers have had in isolating or trumpeting certain doubts that individual scientists may have had.

The 1,073 e-mails examined by the AP show that scientists harbored private doubts, however slight and fleeting, even as they told the world they were certain about climate change. However, the exchanges don't undercut the vast body of evidence showing the world is warming because of man-made greenhouse gas emissions.

There is more fun over at Kos. Go visit, then dance in circles, point and laugh at the Deniers, and call everyone you know.

I will resume adulthood after I post this. So there. Pfft.

Focus on the Hypocrites

By GottaLaff

I received a very interesting e-mail today from a friend who forwarded me correspondence between her and her insurance representative. The company? Principal.

Hmm, "Principal". Principal.... Why does that name sound familiar? Oh yeah:

[...] Focus on the Family provides its employees insurance through Principal, a company that -- you guessed it -- covers abortion procedures.

Yes, Focus on the Family uses Principal as its health care insurance. And Principal offers abortion coverage.

Funny, that same coverage won't be available under the government-sponsored plans if the Stupak anti-abortion amendment makes it into the final legislation.

As my pal in the e-mail wondered, do the House insurance plans "cover this evil procedure as well?"

Now check out the exchange between Principal and my friend (I removed names, but kept everything else intact):

-----Original Message-----

Subject: FW: Medical: Interest in an employer-sponsored product

Comments and Questions:

I am considering several different companies for my health insurance. My employer has given quite a wide variety of choices. As I am a pro-choice woman, I only wish to support those health organizations covering first-term abortions. Could you please reply via email or you may leave a message on my voice mail. I don't have much time and I am really hard to get hold of as I travel quite a bit.

Here is the reply:

------ Forwarded Message

From: _____ @principal.com

To: _________

Subject: Medical Coverage Inquiry

Dear Ms. ___ :

Thank you for using our website to contact us regarding medical coverage.

The first term elected abortions are something that is offered on our group plans. However, the employer has to choose this option for it to be covered on the plan.

If we can be of further assistance, please email us back by clicking on the ‘REPLY’ button on this page, or call the Principal Benefit Verification Line at 1-800-____.

Sincerely,

Principal Financial Group

How about that? Confirmation of Focus on the Hypocrites' coverage right there in black and white.

From: Laffy

To: Focus on the Family

Subject: Medical Coverage

Dear Focus on the Family:

Your jaw-droppingly pious, double-dealing, fraudulent b.s. makes me want to puke.

Have a good day!

Laffy

Chain e-mail spreads illegal immigration lies

By GottaLaff

Hector Tobar of the L.A. Times received a couple of chain e-mails filled with lies, hyperbole, misstatements of so-called facts, you name it. He had recently written a story about Mexican immigrants, a sympathetic one, and this is what he got. Ten of the facts, by the way, were said to have come from the Times.

The chain e-mail, titled "Just One State", made the usual request to forward to at least a couple of others along with the note, "If this doesn't open your eyes, nothing will." It sure opened mine. I'll let Hector take it from here:

I waded deep into The Times' archive with the help of our librarian Scott Wilson, and made a few phone calls too.

What did I find? A stew made up for the most part of meaty exaggerations and spicy conjecture, mixed in with some giblets of truth. Two of the "stats" are the musings of a conservative op-ed writer. Another takes its information from a government "report" that is, in fact, a work of fiction. [...]

1. "40% of all workers in L.A. County are working for cash and not paying taxes. . . . This is because they are predominantly illegal immigrants working without a green card."

The source of this information seems to be a 2005 study by the Economic Roundtable on the informal economy in Los Angeles County. Its findings were reported in The Times and other papers.

But the chain-mail's author more than doubled the figures in that study, which estimated that 15% of the county workforce was outside the regulated economy in 2004. Illegal immigrants getting paid in cash, it said, probably made up about 9% of the workforce.

A later Economic Roundtable report, by the way, credited immigrants with keeping the local economy from shrinking in the 1990s.

2. "95% of warrants for murder in Los Angeles are for illegal aliens . . . "

We traced this "fact" to a 2004 op-ed in The Times by Heather Mac Donald of the conservative Manhattan Institute for Policy Research. Mac Donald said "officers" told her about the warrants. She conceded that there were no such data in official reports but suggested the LAPD "top brass" was hiding the truth.

I called the LAPD's press office, which contacted the department's Fugitive Warrant Section. Officers confirmed that the statistics in item No. 2 and No. 3, which follows, don't exist.

3. "75% of people on the most wanted list in Los Angeles are illegal aliens."

We traced this figure to something circulating on the Internet under the name "the 2006 (First Quarter) INS/FBI Statistical Report on Undocumented Immigrants." The "report" contains similar figures for Phoenix, Albuquerque and other cities. But it isn't an actual government document. The INS ceased to exist in 2003, after the Department of Homeland Security was created.

There's something really disturbing about a work of fakery meant to tarnish an entire class of people. You wonder what kind of person would pen such a thing.

4. "Over 2/3 of all births in Los Angeles County are to illegal alien Mexicans on Medi-Cal, whose births were paid for by taxpayers."

Once again the "statistic" more than doubles the actual figures. According to a 2006 story in The Times, there were 41,240 Medi-Cal births to "undocumented women" in the county in 2004. They accounted for 27% of all births.

5. "Nearly 35% of all inmates in California detention centers are Mexican nationals here illegally."

This time the author more than triples the actual figure. Authorities project some 19,000 of the 172,000 inmates in the California prison system in the 2009-10 fiscal year will be illegal immigrants. That's equivalent to 11%. [...]

6. Over 300,000 illegal aliens in Los Angeles County are living in garages.

This information apparently comes from a 1987 article in which The Times visited a sampling of properties across the county and looked for unauthorized garage conversions. The story concluded that 200,000 people lived in such dwellings.

The story made no effort, however, to determine immigration status. I'd like to point out that just living in an "illegal garage" doesn't make you "an illegal." You might just be a starving artist, or a guy who recently lost his job.

7. "The FBI reports half of all gang members in Los Angeles are most likely illegal aliens from south of the border."

This is another "fact" spun from the 2004 op-ed by Heather Mac Donald, whose article refers to a single Los Angeles gang and the conjecture of an unnamed federal prosecutor.

8. "Nearly 60% of all occupants of HUD properties are illegal."

Annie Kim, a spokeswoman for the Housing Authority of the city of Los Angeles, called this statement "an urban legend."

The source of the information may be an Associated Press report from earlier this year. It quoted a government study that found that 0.4% of residents of federally funded public housing are "ineligible noncitizens." Half of those, or about 0.2% of the total, are illegal immigrants.

9. 21 radio stations in L. A. are Spanish speaking.

10. In L. A. County 5.1 million people speak English, 3.9 million speak Spanish.

These facts are close to the actual numbers, though the language figures are deceptive.

An annual census survey asks people if they "speak a language other than English at home." According to the most recent report, 3.7 million county residents speak Spanish. But more than half of those Spanish speakers answered that they also speak English "very well." Only one in 10 Spanish speakers said they don't speak any English at all.

Obviously, the ability to speak a language other than English, or the desire to listen to Spanish music, doesn't make you an illegal immigrant or a threat to U.S. democracy. It's a slur against Los Angeles, really, to find these items on a list of "problems" caused by illegal immigration.

The authors of the chain e-mail and the phony government report fear what Los Angeles has become -- a multilingual, multiethnic city with multicultural tastes.

They search for information to persuade others to be afraid, but the actual numbers don't quite add up to the big monster they think is out there.

So they make the numbers bigger. Or they just make them up. And they spread them around until all that fear and anger turns into a big hate.

Get ready. The -Ers haven't even begun to unload on this one yet. I don't even want to think about what their despicable, twisted, racist minds will concoct next.

Cornyn Hits White House For Collecting Emails, But So Does His Senate Web Site

By GottaLaff

All those accusations that the Big Bad White House was creating their Ultra Super Duper Secret E-Mail List of Unsuspecting Citizens? Bull pucky, brought to you by the King of Bull Pucky, Senator John Hyp. O. Crite:

Over on Cornyn’s Senate Web site, for instance, you find that people who want to contact the Senator are asked to submit personal info, such as their names, addresses and emails, which are all required.

Oh noes! He's compiling an Ultra Super Duper Secret E-Mail List of Unsuspecting Citizens! Socialist Commie Dictatory Marxist!

Following Cornyn’s logic about the White House, the DNC says, shouldn’t those who write in to Cornyn’s Web site to criticize the Senator ask what his office will do with their personal info? Isn’t it also fair to ask Cornyn to “purge” the email addresses of such critics, too?

Says a DNC official: “The only thing ‘fishy’ is John Cornyn’s sudden newfound interest in internet privacy.”

Nice try, Corninny.

Ensign NRSCers' e-mails show affair was known inside organization over a year ago

By GottaLaff

(click to enlarge)

Dear Rushpublics,

E-mails are a written record of stuff. They get discovered.

Love, Laffy:

The emails, between Mike Slanker and Doug Hampton and Lindsey Slanker and Cindy Hampton, show the Slankers knew of the affair between John Ensign and Cindy Hampton while they were working in 2008 at the National Republican Senatorial Committee, which the senator headed.

But... but... wasn't it the case that nobody knew until after the Big News Conference?

Slanker now says he did indeed find out shortly after he hired Hampton, but did not intend to mislead the media.

No, of course not. That's why we're just finding out about it.

E-mails here and here.

Lies. And then, more lies.

Burnt toast.

UPDATE: Rachel Maddow on MSNBC just now reminds us that the son of the paramour was employed during the time of the e-mail exchanges. Oops. The teenaged son was on the payroll in some kind of "policy role", said Rachel just now. This raises all kinds of questions, one being how distracted Ensign was while on the job.

Ensign's wife, Darlene, called Mike Slanker and said he was hired because of the affair. And so, so much more. I'll find the video of the segment.

H/t: VNDNBRG

Emails Implicate Rove in Prosecutor Firings

By GottaLaff

From the Department of Tell Us Something We Don't Know:

"Political adviser Karl Rove and other high-ranking figures in the Bush White House played a greater role than previously understood in the firing of federal prosecutors almost three years ago, according to e-mails obtained by the Washington Post, in a scandal that led to mass Justice Department resignations and an ongoing criminal probe."

Emptywheel has more.

Take a letter, Maria: Sanford E-Mails-- Ick Factor Alert

By GottaLaff



Sorry to inflict this upon you, but I do post about the stories-o'-the'day, and this, unfortunately, is one of them. A few excerpts from ::dun dun dunnnn:: The E-Mails:

From: Mark Sanford

To: Maria

Date: Fri, 4 Jul 2008 03:09:44 +0000

Dearest,

You are glorious and I hope you really understand that. You do not need a therapist to help you figure your place in the world. You are special and unique and fabulous in a whole host of ways that are worth a much longer conversation. To be continued ... [...]

From: Maria

Sent: Friday, July 04, 2008 4:26 PM

To: Mark Sanford

Subject: RE:

My beloved, (hope you also change the dearest ...)

I’am (sic) reading your last two mails sitting outside with a great seaview here in Ilhabela, a beautiful island near Sao Paulo. Have been thinking of you while watching the beautiful blue sea (a) great part of my day and remembering with a great smile on my face, the time we had spent together. As I told you before, you brought happiness and love to my life and (I) will take you forever in my heart. I wasn’t aware till we met last week, the strong feelings I had for you, and believe me, I haven’t felt this since I was in my teen ages, when afterwards I got married. I do love you, I can feel it in my heart, and although I don’t know if we’ll ever be able to meet again this has been the best that has happened to me in a long time You made me realized (sic) how you feel when you realy (sic) love somebody and how much you want to be beside the beloved. Last Friday I would had stayed embrassing (sic) and kissing you forever.

Don’t know why you think you bore me with the description of your farm. [...] Thanks for your beautiful words, I don’t know if I do need or not therapy but I have to find my new place in this new stage of my life. [...] Miss you so much... love you from the deepest of my heart. Sweet kisses. [...]

From: Mark Sanford

To: Maria

Subject: RE:

Date: Thu, 10 Jul 2008 00:24:54 -0400

Sweetest,

It was indeed a long day. I am most jealous of your salad under the palm tree. [...]

I have been specializing in staying focused on decisions and actions of the head for a long time now — and you have my heart. You have oh so many attributes that pulls it in this direction. Do you really comprehend how beautiful your smile is? Have you been told lately how warm your eyes are and how they softly glow with the special nature of your soul. I remember Jenny, or someone close to me, once commenting that while my mom was pleasant and warm it was sad she had never accomplished anything of significance. I replied that they were wrong because she had the ultimate of all gifts — and that was the ability to love unconditionally. The rarest of all commodities in this world is love. It is that thing that we all yearn for at some level — to be simply loved unconditionally for nothing more than who we are — not what we can get, give or become. There are but 50 governors in my country and outside of the top spot, this is as high as you can go in the area I have invested the last 15 years of my life — my getting here came as no small measure because I had that foundation of love and support so critical to getting up in the morning and feeling you could give and risk because you already had a full tank of love in the emotional bank account. [...]

As I mentioned in our last visit, while I did not need love fifteen years ago — as the battle scars of life and aging and politics have worn on this has become a real need of mine. You have a particular grace and calm that I adore. You have a level of sophistication that is so fitting with your beauty. I could digress and say that you have the ability to give magnificently gentle kisses, or that I love your tan lines or that I love the curves of your hips, the erotic beauty of you holding yourself (or two magnificent parts of yourself) in the faded glow of night’s light — but hey, that would be going into the sexual details we spoke of at the steakhouse at dinner — and unlike you I would never do that! [...]

How in the world this lightening strike snuck up on us I am still not quite sure. As I have said to you before I certainly had a special feeling about you from the first time we met, but these feelings were contained and I genuinely enjoyed our special friendship and the comparing of all too many personal notes (and yes this is true even if you did occasionally tantalize me with sexual details over the years!) — but it was all safe. Where we are is not. I have thought about it and in some ways feel I let you down in letting these complications come into a friendship that I hope will last till death. In all my life I have lived by a code of honor and at a variety of levels know I have crossed lines I would have never imagined. I wish I could wish it away, but this soul-mate feel I alluded too is real and in that regard I sure don’t want to be the person complicating your life. [...]

I want to help (one of Maria’s sons) with film guys that might help his career, etc. I also don’t want you walking20away (sic) from some guy (I take it the younger guy you mentioned a t dinner) because of me — and what we both have to see as an impossible situation. I better stop now least this really sound like the Thornbirds — wherein I was always upset with Richard Chamberlain for not dropping his ambitions and running into Maggie’s arms. The bottom line is two fold, my heart wants me to get on a plane tonight and to be in your loving arms — my head is saying how do we put the Genie back in the bottle because I sure don’t want to be encumbering you, or your options or your life. Put differently, given I love you, I don’t want to be part of the reason you are having less than an ideal week in what sounds like a cool spot.

Lastly I also suspect I feel a little vulnerable because this is ground I have never certainly never covered before — so if you have pearls of wisdom on how we figure all this out please let me know ... In the meantime please sleep soundly knowing that despite the best efforts of my head my heart cries out for you, your voice, your body, the touch of your lips, the touch of your finger tips and an even deeper connection to your soul. I love you ... sleep tight. M

PS. I will make it a point in NY tomorrow to drop by a store and get that movie I promised to send your way ... I am encouraged to know you will not keep it beside the bed least we have tangible evidence of two pathetic figures missing each other far too much to live a few thousand miles apart!

From: Maria

To: Mark Sanford

Subject: RE:

Date: Thu, 10 Jul 2008 23:22:29 +0000

I don’t know if I did understood (sic) well about what was unsafe or not safe. Before our mails use to have other contents ... if you want to go back to that and don’t write love things and so on because is not safe for you it’s ok with me, i (sic) love you and by no way would do something that can harm you, so please let me know.

I don’t know how we figure all this out and I am not interested in knowing. I prefer to think we’ll see each other again somewhere sometime in this life and in next. Will be missing you till then... .

Have a great trip with the ones you love ... they are the kind of trips you will never forget and for your boys will be unworthable (sic) not only because of the places they will visit but for sharing all that time with you.

Send you millions of kisses that will last till we get in touch again. best wishes from the deepest of my heart.

P.S.: I don’t want to put the genius (sic) back in the bottle because I truly believe in freedom. I never gave you sexual details but now you don’t need to imagine you can close your eyes and just remember. I’ll do the same.

E-mails between Sanford, woman

By GottaLaff

UPDATE:

Unanswered: Why did the newspaper hold back running the story if they knew Sanford was having an affair six months ago?

Does anyone in politics ever get that e-mails come back to bite?

Below are excerpts of e-mails, obtained by The State newspaper in December, between Gov. Mark Sanford and Maria, a woman in Buenos Aires, Argentina. [...]

Sanford's office Wednesday did not dispute the authenticity of the emails. [...]

From Gov. Sanford,
Date: Thursday, July 10, 2008, 12:24 a.m.

“One, tomorrow leave at 5 a.m. for New York and meetings. Will think about you on its streets and wish I was going to be there later in the month when you are there. [...]

Two, mutual feelings .... You have a particular grace and calm that I adore. You have a level of sophistication that so fitting with your beauty. I could digress and say that you have the ability to give magnificent gentle kisses, or that I love your tan lines or that I love the curve of your hips, the erotic beauty of you holding yourself (or two magnificent parts of yourself) in the faded glow of the night’s light - but hey, that would be going into sexual details ...

Three and finally, while all the things above are all too true - at the same time we are in a hopelessly - or as you put it impossible - or how about combine and simply say hopelessly impossible situation of love. How in the world this lightening strike snuck up on us I am still not quite sure. As I have said to you before I certainly had a special feeling about you from the first time we met, but these feelings were contained and I genuinely enjoyed our special friendship and the comparing of all too many personal notes ...

Lastly I also suspect I feel a little vulnerable because this is ground I have never certainly never covered before - so if you have pearls of wisdom on how we figure all this out please let me know... In the meantime please sleep soundly knowing that despite the best efforts of my head my heart cries out for you, your voice, your body, the touch of your lips, the touch of your finger tips and an even deeper connection to your soul.”

--------------------

From Maria,
Wednesday, July 9, 2008 8:14 p.m.

“As I told you I shouldn't have done this trip but I would have felt worst if I wouldn't have come because it was too over the date, he is a very nice guy, great heart ... but unfortunately I am not in love with him ... You are my love ... something hard to believe even for myself as it's also a kind of impossible love, not only because of distance but situation. Sometimes you don't choose things, they just happen... I can't redirect my feelings and I am very happy with mine towards you.”

Wow. Is it hot in here or what?

Accused Palin Hacker Says Stolen E-Mails Were Public Record

By GottaLaff

Surprise!

A surprise legal maneuver by the defense in the Sarah Palin hacking case could undermine key charges carrying the stiffest potential penalties.

A lawyer for the Tennessee college student charged with hacking into the Alaska governor’s Yahoo e-mail account last year says his client couldn’t have violated Palin’s privacy because a judge had already declared her e-mails a matter of public record.

Ooo, the smart college student's lawyer is smarter than the dufus governor's lawyer.

Additionally, photos that 20-year-old David Kernell allegedly obtained of Palin and her family were not private since the Palins are “the subjects of untold numbers of photo-ops,” the lawyer argued last week, in one of a slew of motions and memorandums attacking the government’s four-count federal indictment against Kernell. [...]

Davies implies in his motion to dismiss that there are reasonable grounds to conclude that Palin’s Yahoo correspondence was a public record, and cites case law showing that information that already appears on the public record can’t be considered private.

As for photos of Palin and family members that Kernell allegedly obtained from the account, Davies says there’s no expectation of privacy for the images, because the people depicted in the photos “continue to regularly and voluntarily appear in the national media.”

Without the privacy violation, the government has no felony case, Davies argues. Therefore he wants the charge reduced to a misdemeanor.

Calls to Davies and federal prosecutors in Tennessee were not returned, but Rasch finds the argument compelling.

“He’s also saying that what was in the e-mails would ultimately have been revealed [under litigation] therefore she had no expectation of privacy in it,” says Rasch. [...]

Rasch says the argument that e-mail is not property is “interesting” but will likely fail to get the wire fraud charge dismissed. However, if the matter goes to trial, he says the attorney might be able to convince a jury that Kernell simply accessed the e-mail out of curiosity, not out of an intent to defraud.

He notes that the issue over whether e-mail constitutes property and therefore carries privacy protection is one that the laws don’t cover sufficiently.

I have no idea whether the legal arguments will be successful or not, but they certainly provide additional Palin spectator sport amusement.

Another Alaskan blogger's p.o.v.: Hate mail from Team Sarah (Palin)

By GottaLaff

Earlier I posted about The Mudflats' run-in with Alaskan Rep. Mike Doogan after he "outed" her. Now we have another Alaskan blogger to whom I often link, Celtic Diva, who did a little outing of her own.

You'll have to read this to believe it, but here's a tiny morsel:

When hate email started rolling into my inbox, I needed only look to one of the many posts on Team Sarah calling for my head to find contributors to that onslaught:

Reply by Douglas Timbie

Is there a lawyer in the group? Can the frivolous charge-filers Andree McLeod, Zane Henning, Linda Kellen Biegel etc. be given a dose of their own medicine with counter law suits seeking restitution for harrassment. Doesn't Alaska have laws to reimburse the governor when these suits are found to be without merit.

If not, can we get pictures of these locusts, email addresses, and the home addresses, place of work, with maps distributed so these people can be given the Acorn AIG treatment. We should be very pleasant and non-threatening, but flood their emails with thousands of complaints...

Here's a sampling of the hate mails I've gotten, the majority of which were anything but "pleasant":

**WARNING: THE EMAILS AFTER THE FOLD ARE NOT WORK OR CHILD SAFE**

Now by all means, go read the rest of this not-child/work-safe post. It's a doozy.

Finished? Swell. Now everyone has seen for themselves what happens if you dare exercise your first amendment rights around conservative wingnuts.

Speaking of Governor Crassy McClassless, here's another assignment, if you're so inclined: Go read this and this. They are two very revelatory pieces over at HuffPo about our bestest friend and date from hell, the one, the only Palin (wannabe) filmmaker John Ziegler, brought to us via an e-mail from my pal Mark Karlin over at BuzzFlash.

FOX (yes, Fox) Bags Trove Of Secret TARP Emails

By GottaLaff

This is getting good. Too bad it was Faux News that got the scoop. Via TPM:

...Fox Business News has obtained a much-redacted 10,096 pages of Treasury Department documents on the bank bailout. Scrubbed of "proprietary" information and what would presumably be their most explosive revelations, the communiques exchanged between the Bush Administration and executives at Citigroup and AIG read something like "Dumb and Dumber and I Know It Seems Impossible But Even Dumber Than That." The first role would be played by the TARP overseer and cheerleader for the Italian automobile industry Neel Kashkari, whose aides nervously emailed one another as they watched him testify before the House Financial Services Committee on what exactly he was doing with their money.

Nason: How's it going?

Zuccarelli: Bad. Serious questions, too, not "chump" type questions. They're going to start to break Neel down soon, I'm getting worried he's going to start snapping.

Nason: This AIG stuff is tough to watch.

Zuccarelli: They killed him on exec comp. He didn't know answer. [...]

But maybe because their $45 billion bailout was so puny compared to AIG's, Citigroup seemed most oblivious of all:

Though the details of what specifically held up an agreement with Citigroup at the end of last year are muddy, it's clear from the documents it dealt with compensation. What's also clear is that government officials were amazed that, even at the eleventh hour, Citi officials still didn't seem to understand that they would have to make concessions.

"Unbelievable," wrote Stephen Albrecht, the counselor to the general counsel at Treasury, summing up the situation.

There is more here. I felt too guilty to steal the entire post.

DNC about to get louder on Obama agenda

By GottaLaff

I just posted about the NRSC video launch attacking President Obama. Now the DNC is about to get going on behalf of the Obama agenda:

The Democratic National Committee is about to crank up the speakers. As part of its campaign to sell President Obama's agenda, DNC HQ will double the size of its communications and research operation to make sure that even tiny, local pro-Obama efforts, like the weekend nationwide neighborhood canvassing for the president's budget, get a voice and some press.

That's the spirit. Effective rapid response would be swell. Big time campaigning, media blitzing... go for it. Hey, I bet we bloggers would be a welcome addition, right?

"It's going to be like a general election for president," says Brad Woodhouse, the new DNC communications and research boss. That means rapid response, regional media help, and party bloggers. One reason for the expansion is to take advantage of the Obama campaign's E-mail list of 13 million. The Obama campaign arm, Organizing for America, is also being folded into the DNC. The party, says Woodhouse, "has never before been used to pass a president's agenda."

Unity.

More fuel: Secret e-mails show Iraq dossier was 'sexed up'

By GottaLaff

Is anyone surprised? .... Anyone....? ::crickets:: Who will be the first one to finally prosecute?

Secret Whitehall emails released yesterday provide damning new evidence that the notorious dossier making the case for invading Iraq was "sexed up".

They disclose that the intelligence services were skeptical over the "iffy drafting" of government claims that Saddam Hussein could mount a missile strike on his neighbours within 45 minutes of ordering an attack.

Officials privately mocked assertions that the Iraqi president was covertly trying to develop a nuclear capability and wisecracked that perhaps he had recruited "Dr Frankenstein" to his supposed crack team of nuclear scientists.

So much for that mushroom cloud. What was that you were saying again, Ari?

The release of a series of confidential memos and emails, following a protracted Freedom of Information battle, reignited the controversy over accusations that Tony Blair's government "spun" Britain into war.

Last night both the Tories and the Liberal Democrats renewed their demands for a full public inquiry into the decision to join the US-led invasion of Iraq.

The 45-minute claim – presented to MPs in a notorious dossier on 24 September 2002, six months before military action began – was central to the Blair government's justification for war.

But a memo sent 13 days earlier by Desmond Bowen, head of the Cabinet Office defence secretariat, to John Scarlett, who was head of the Joint Intelligence Committee, suggested he had grave reservations over the threat. [...]

Another memo, dated 16 September 2002, from an unnamed official, also suggests exaggerated claims were being included in the about-to-be-published report. [...]

Last night William Hague, the shadow Foreign Secretary, said: "This is the latest in a steady stream of damaging revelations about the events leading up to the Iraq war. These minutes shed interesting light on the process by which the caveats in the Joint Intelligence Committee's original assessment of Iraq's WMD programmes were stripped out of the dossier that was presented to Parliament and the British people." [...]

The emails: How 'sexing-up' was achieved:

11 September 2002 Desmond Bowen: "The question we have to have in the back of our mind is: 'Why now?' I think we have moved away from promoting the ideas that we are in imminent danger of attack and intend to act in pre-emptive self-defence... In looking at the WMD sections, you will clearly want to be as firm and authoritative as you can be. You will clearly need to judge the extent to which you need to hedge your judgements with, for example, 'it is almost certain' and similar caveats."

11 September 2002 Mark Sedwill: "I would expand the history of weapons inspections. It is an interesting story and would give the media a better feel for the difficulties they faced and the persistence of the Iraqi obstruction... We need a very simple table somewhere... This should be brief enough to get on to the Sky wall – ie no more than five bullets."

16 September 2002 Unnamed official (thought to be intelligence agent): "I note that the paper suggests that Saddam's biotech efforts have gone much further than we ever feared. Page 4 Bullet 4: '[Iraq] has assembled specialists to work on its nuclear programme' – Dr Frankenstein I presume? Sorry. It's getting late... We have suggested moderating the same language in much the same way on drafts from the dim and distant past without success. Feel free to try again!... Lots of 'ranges' close together – iffy drafting."

At the risk of repeating myself, what more does it take? Now that Bush and Blair are out of office, and troops are coming home, more evidence is being revealed. What excuse can anyone come up with to justify avoiding a full investigation, not just some white-washy commission?

Maybe we the people need to be a little louder with our demands.

Alaska Democrats want Palin's e-mails; she's still stalling

By GottaLaff

Get out your scrapbooks, kiddies! It's time to take a fond look back at Grandma 2012's e-mail issues... again:

The Alaska Democratic Party says the state's repeated delays in providing public records it has asked for involving Gov. Sarah Palin are "excessive and unwarranted."

The state notified the Democrats earlier this week that it would likely need until the end of March if not longer to provide records first requested more than four months ago, on Sept. 22, during the heat of the presidential campaign when Palin was the Republican Party's vice presidential candidate.

In the request, Alaska Democratic Party chairwoman Patti Higgins sought Palin's schedules and calendars between Jan. 1, 2007, and Sept. 15, 2008. The Democrats also sought various categories of e-mails for about the same time period, including:

• All those between Palin and state Rep. John Coghill, R-North Pole, or between Palin and state Sen. Fred Dyson, R-Eagle River, with the words "abortion" or "AGIA," which is short for the Alaska Gasline Inducement Act;

• All e-mails from Palin containing the following words: babysitter, childcare, McCain, Obama, Democrat, Huckabee, Wal-Mart, Eskimo, Natives, Kuwait, passport, Ruedrich, or Kopp;

• All e-mails between Palin and her husband, Todd, with any of the following words: vote, veto, budget, oil, Monegan, or Wooten; and

• All e-mails between Palin and her sister, Molly McCann, with the words Wooten or Monegan. [...]

Kay Brown, Democratic Party communications director, said the party's request is straightforward and shouldn't be lumped in with other, bigger requests.

"These repeated delays are excessive and unwarranted. There is obvious obfuscation going on here. Sarah Palin is proving herself to be anti-transparent about her own communications and activities," Higgins said in a written statement. [...]

He said he's heard estimates that the requests may cover 50,000 e-mails, and each one must be reviewed by a state attorney to see if the information should be withheld for reasons such as executive privilege.

There's that E.P. phrase again. Bush III. Need a memory-jogger?

The process was complicated by the fact that Palin used a private Yahoo account for much state business. Technicians had to sift through e-mail accounts of 51 employees, including Cabinet members, executive staff and close aides, to look for e-mails from or to Palin. [...]

Public records in Alaska are generally supposed to be provided within 10 days, but the deadline can be extended for more complicated requests.

Q: How many investigations and ethics lapses does it take to be a Republican? A: Yes.