Crush Liberalism

Merry Christmas, everyone!

I’ll be on the road tomorrow, heading home for Christmas (and some darn fine Memphis BBQ). I don’t know how often I’ll be updating the blog during the holidays, but feel free to continue the dialog that began today (or whenever).

At any rate, I’d like to wish all of you, regardless of your political persuasion, a Merry Christmas and wonderful holiday season. Enjoy the time you spend with friends, family, loved ones, or even co-workers.

And of course, it just wouldn’t be a CLOWNS entry if I didn’t at least post a teensy bit of snark:

Jesus loves you…even though everyone else thinks you’re an @ssh0le!

Merry Christmas, my friends!

December 21, 2006 Posted by crushliberalism | Uncategorized | Leave a Comment

"Lewinsky graduates from London School of Economics"

From al-Reuters:

Former White House intern Monica Lewinsky, whose sexual relationship with U.S. President Bill Clinton led to his impeachment, has graduated from the London School of Economics, her publicist said on Wednesday.

Lewinsky, who was 21 when she became involved with Clinton, is interviewing for jobs in Britain, publicist Barbara Hutson said.

When Lewinsky, 32, received her Masters of Science degree in Social Psychology last Thursday “the audience of students and parents erupted in spontaneous applause. … It was a very emotional moment for her,” Hutson said in a statement.

Hutson said Lewinsky spent the past year studying and “staying away from the London social scene.”

She completed a thesis entitled “In Search of the Impartial Juror: An exploration of the third person effect and pre-trial publicity.”

My sources tell me that she passed her final exam…because the exam was oral.

Good grief, I really do need to grow up sometime, don’t I? >:)

December 21, 2006 Posted by crushliberalism | Uncategorized | Leave a Comment

"Bloggers Must Disclose Sponsored Posts"

According to the FTC, we must. Via the AP:

A company that helps advertisers connect with bloggers willing to write about their products for payment will now require disclosures amid criticism and a regulatory threat.

Before this week, advertisers were barred by PayPerPost Inc. from telling bloggers they can’t disclose the sponsorship, but bloggers were able to decide on their own whether or not to do so. Under the new policy, bloggers must disclose that they are accepting payment, either in the write-up or in a general disclosure policy on the blogger’s Web journal.

“Ever since we launched, there’s been a lot of controversy about disclosure,” said Ted Murphy, PayPerPost’s chief executive.

Besides other bloggers questioning the ethics of receiving payments without disclosure, the Federal Trade Commission said in a Dec. 7 staff opinion that failure to disclose could, in some cases, violate consumer-protection laws on deception. The FTC did not single out PayPerPost or say whether it would launch any investigation.

So, in order to be in compliance with the FTC’s ruling, here’s the disclosure:

This post was sponsored by the law firm of Dewey, Cheatham, and Howe. We here at the Crush Liberalism Objective World News Service (CLOWNS) are grateful for their support.

December 21, 2006 Posted by crushliberalism | Uncategorized | Leave a Comment

"Applicants line up to fill jobs left empty by Swift plant raid"

From the Rocky Mountain News:

The line of applicants hoping to fill jobs vacated by undocumented workers (aka “illegal aliens” in the real, non-MSM, non-PC world – Ed.) taken away by immigration agents at the Swift & Co. meat-processing plant earlier this week was out the door Thursday.

Among them was Derrick Stegall, who carefully filled out paperwork he hoped would get him an interview and eventually land him a job as a slaughterer. Two of his friends had been taken away by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents and he felt compelled to fill their rubber boots.

The line was “out the door”? Why, that can’t be! I mean, Dubya said that illegal aliens (or, if you prefer, “lawbreaking non-citizens”) were here to take the jobs that “Americans won’t do”, right? Then how does Dub explain a “line out the door” of (presumably) legal workers?

December 21, 2006 Posted by crushliberalism | Uncategorized | Leave a Comment

"Report Says Berger Hid Archive Documents"

Funny that we were just discussing this recently, huh? From MyWay:

President Clinton’s national security adviser removed classified documents from the National Archives, hid them under a construction trailer and later tried to find the trash collector to retrieve them, the agency’s internal watchdog said Wednesday.

The report was issued more than a year after Sandy Berger pleaded guilty and received a criminal sentence for removing the documents.

Berger took the documents in the fall of 2003 while working to prepare himself and Clinton administration witnesses for testimony to the Sept. 11 commission. Berger was authorized as the Clinton administration’s representative to make sure the commission got the correct classified materials.

Berger’s lawyer, Lanny Breuer, said in a statement that the contents of all the documents exist today and were made available to the commission.

But Rep. Tom Davis, R-Va., outgoing chairman of the House Government Reform Committee, said he’s not convinced that the Archives can account for all the documents taken by Berger. Davis said working papers of National Security Council staff members are not inventoried by the Archives.

“There is absolutely no way to determine if Berger swiped any of these original documents. Consequently, there is no way to ever know if the 9/11 Commission received all required materials,” Davis said.

Berger pleaded guilty to unlawfully removing and retaining classified documents. He was fined $50,000, ordered to perform 100 hours of community service and was barred from access to classified material for three years.

Inspector General Paul Brachfeld reported that National Archives employees spotted Berger bending down and fiddling with something white around his ankles. (Were it Clinton doing that, I’m guessing that the “something white around his ankles” would be his underwear. – Ed.)

The employees did not feel at the time there was enough information to confront someone of Berger’s stature, the report said.

Later, when Berger was confronted by Archives officials about the missing documents, he lied by saying he did not take them, the report said.

Brachfeld’s report included an investigator’s notes, taken during an interview with Berger. The notes dramatically described Berger’s removal of documents during an Oct. 2, 2003, visit to the Archives.

Berger took a break to go outside without an escort while it was dark. He had taken four documents in his pockets.

“He headed toward a construction area. … Mr. Berger looked up and down the street, up into the windows of the Archives and the DOJ (Department of Justice), and did not see anyone,” the interview notes said.

He then slid the documents under a construction trailer, according to the inspector general. Berger acknowledged that he later retrieved the documents from the construction area and returned with them to his office.

“He was aware of the risk he was taking,” the inspector general’s notes said. Berger then returned to the Archives building without fearing the documents would slip out of his pockets or that staff would notice that his pockets were bulging.

The notes said Berger had not been aware that Archives staff had been tracking the documents he was provided because of earlier suspicions from previous visits that he was removing materials. Also, the employees had made copies of some documents.

In October 2003, the report said, an Archives official called Berger to discuss missing documents from his visit two days earlier. The investigator’s notes said, “Mr. Berger panicked because he realized he was caught.“

The notes said that Berger had “destroyed, cut into small pieces, three of the four documents. These were put in the trash.”

After the trash had been picked up, Berger “tried to find the trash collector but had no luck,” the notes said.

Significant portions of the inspector general’s report were redacted to protect privacy or national security.

So much for that “rightwing smear machine” and “rightwing myth” meme, huh?

Let’s be honest, people: Berger knew there was damning information in the documents that might reflect poorly on himself and/or the former Intern Diddler-in-Chief. He didn’t want that information to see the light of day, much less the “disinfectant sunshine” of the 9/11 Commission. That’s why he tried destroying national security documents, and that’s why he was found guilty. Sorry, but Berger cannot be defended. End of story.

As usual, the left cares more about legacy-protection than national security.

December 21, 2006 Posted by crushliberalism | Uncategorized | Leave a Comment