LEAVWORLD: GRAFFITI POLITTI

I am so sick of the credit card commercials that have everybody doing a synchronized dance up to the cash register. Everything is in harmony, until one person tries to pay with cash. The whole line stops, as well as the background music. After the awkward stares from everyone, the "cash" person produces a card to swipe at the terminal, restoring music and harmony to the commercial. Here's the real story. I have twice as much handwritten paperwork to do for credit card customers at my job, so it's exactly the opposite of the insipid commercial. Credit card customers take longer to process, for reasons besides the paperwork. ID requirements are strict at my job, which means I've had to make people go back to their cars for their ID, if they want to pay with a credit card. We accept debit cards, but the pinpad also takes much longer than paying cash. Are you getting the point of this post yet? Contrary to the stupid commercials, it is actually easier to use cash, in ...

Huckabee is the flavor of the month, and the month is drawing to an end. This is a blog roundup of his latest controversy, where his campaign slanders Rush Limbaugh. I think he's "hit the wall," regardless of how he does in Iowa. The following is crossposted from STOP THE ACLU , with permission. Wow! Now this is gonna have to sting , at least a bit. There may not be many conservatives in Iowa that read the blogs, but I know there are plenty that tune into talk radio. As Jammie Wearing Fool says: If you're now a top contender for the GOP nomination, the last man you want to alienate is Rush Limbaugh . "Honestly, because Rush doesn't think for himself. That's not necessarily a slap because he's not paid to be a thinker?he's an entertainer. I can't remember the last time that he has veered from the talking points from the DC/Manhattan chattering class. If they were praising Huckabee, he would be too." Of course his campaign is backpeddaling...

This is an excerpt from my latest email from the NYCLU: In April, the Supreme Court showed a frightening disregard for a woman's right to make private reproductive health care decisions when it upheld a federal ban on abortion methods. This decision was a profound setback - not just for women, but for all Americans who believe medical decisions should be made by patients and their doctors, not by politicians. This defeat endangers women and undermines one of the core principles of Roe v. Wade - that women's health is always paramount. Is there no consideration for the life that the man and woman create? The Supreme Court seems to think there is some. The question is how much can women and men restrict the procreation of humans. It's an age-old question, but it still lingers as a theme in the public/political debate. The "women's health" argument is a canard. If a woman could abort a pregnancy for "health risks," EVERY child could justifiably be termi...

Alot of people think alot of bad things about New York City, sometimes with reason. Here's a story that shows not just the bad, but the greatness that exists in our fair city. The story made the front page of the NY POST . Here's an excerpt: A Brooklyn man whose "Happy Hanukkah" greeting landed him in the hospital said he was saved from a gang of Jew-bashing goons aboard a packed Q train by a total stranger - a modest Muslim from Bangladesh. Walter Adler was touched that Hassan Askari jumped to his aid while a group of thugs allegedly pummeled and taunted him and his three friends. So Adler has invited his new friend over to celebrate the Festival of Lights. The two new pals - Adler, 23, with a broken nose and a fat lip, and Askari, 20, with two black eyes - broke bread together and laughed off the bruises the night after the fisticuffs. "A random Muslim guy jumped in and helped a Jewish guy on Hanukkah - that's a miracle," said Adler, an honors student...

Spitzer gets "profiled" by both The New Yorker , and Vanity Fair . According to PAGE SIX , neither is a flattering profile. My buddy jJack Midnight asked me back in July: " why I should care about local politics in New York ?" My reply was that he was a rising Democratic star, who was about to fall. And fall he has. That two "dyed-in-the-wool" liberal magazines will feature him, in a critical light, at the same time, says it all. He should never have made a problem for Hillary. I'd like to think that my reporting of Spitzer's excesses helped, but this level of media influence is uniquely Clintonian. The "long knives" are coming out. Readers of LEAVWORLD: GRAFFITI POLITTI will be familiar with all of the dirt on Spitzer, of course. I'm just glad to see the "progressive intellectual" media agree with a position I've been advocating for months. A final thought: "Don't put a fork in Spitzer; he's not done yet!...

I was going to write about today's NY Daily Snooze double-page spread on the GOP YouTube debate, which didn't mention the "plant" situation once (the Post was sold out at two stores). Instead, I'm publishing this rambling rant, on the wider story. For those who don't know, more than 4 of the question videos that CNN selected were from open supporters of Democratic candidates, and the story's still breaking. One, Keith H. Kerr , is on Hillary's LGBT steering committee in California. He was flown into CNN studios, to ask follow-up questions. He looks like a "plant," but it's growing into what Michelle Malkin calls "foliage." ( Read her lead story for all the updated details ) Edwards, Obama, and Richardson supporters also were selected, as evidenced in their own YouTube profiles, in some cases. One guy participated in the Democratic YouTube debate, so they had to know his political affiliation. We're talking overwhelming bi...

Hat tip to STOP THE ACLU and Weasel Zippers . What to make of this? WASHINGTON (AP) — Firefighters in major cities are being trained to take on a new role as lookouts for terrorism, raising concerns of eroding their standing as American icons and infringing on people’s privacy. Unlike police, firefighters and emergency medical personnel don’t need warrants to access hundreds of thousands of homes and buildings each year, putting them in a position to spot behavior that could indicate terrorist activity or planning. But there are fears that they could lose the faith of a skeptical public by becoming the eyes of the government, looking for suspicious items such as building blueprints or bomb-making manuals or materials. The American Civil Liberties Union says using firefighters to gather intelligence is another step in that direction. Mike German, a former FBI agent who is now national security policy counsel to the ACLU, said the concept is dangerously close to the Bush administration...

Gov. Spitzer has a serious credibility problem permeating the core of his administration, beyond the looming "dirty tricks" scandal. This problem stems from the attitude he instills in his appointees, and how "hands on" he manages their bullying tactics. I will relate three stories that illustrate either a lack of control over his administration, or direct control over shameful tactics, and policies. The same day that Spitzer flipped on his license plan for illegals, he killed a proposed tax on internet sales in NYS, that would have gone into effect just in time for Christmas shopping season. The interesting thing was that it hadn't been publicly "proposed" anywhere, until they announced it's cancellation. Spitzer now claims that he just found out about the tax, and cancelled it. The NY Post has two Op-eds that are worth excerpting. First, from " The Grinch & the Gov ." Alice in Wonderland has nothing on Eliot in Albany: The latest Sp...

I was recently asked a few questions about Gov. Spitzer: How was he elected by such a large margin? What was his platform? What was his reputation in NY before becoming Govenor? The answers to all of these are intertwined, but I'll try to answer them with some context here. Spitzer, as the NYS Att'y Gen., was known as "the sheriff of Wall St." He "prosecuted" many high-profile CEO's and corporations, also making some forays into the richly corrupt area of NYS Medicaid fraud. I put "prosecuted" in quotation marks, because of the lesser-known stories, one of which has resurfaced of late. Spitzer is being hit with a lawsuit for $75 million, accusing the former AG with fraudulent prosecution. Here's an excerpt from Alex Ginsberg, reporting in the NY Post : The lawsuit, filed last week in Brooklyn federal court, charges that Spitzer, who in 2006 was the attorney general and the Democratic front-runner in the primary battle for governor, was gett...

Crossposted from Stop the ACLU! Written by Jay Gideons Keep Out of North Carolina’s Elementary Schools! A North Carolina school district is putting an end to the donations of Bibles to elementary school kids. The Cumberland County school system says state law limits the practice strictly to high schools and has issued instructions banning it at 54 elementary schools in the metro Fayetteville area. The move comes after a parent complained about the stack of Bibles left in her son’s classroom earlier this month. The same parent filed a complaint with the American Civil Liberties Union. The Fayetteville Observer said that while a 1998 court decision allows outside groups to make Bibles available to high school students, the ACLU contends it doesn’t apply to elementary kids who might see the practice as promoting Christianity over other religions. The Bibles came from the Gideons, the group best known for supplying Bibles to hotel rooms. Gideons be warned. The ACLU are likely to jail you...

Crossposted, with permission, from Sweet Spirits of Ammonia , by BobG: Yasser Arafat's legacy of death is still bearing its rotten fruit in the Middle East. At a rally in Gaza City to commemorate his death, at least six have died from gunfire. The opponents are the secular Fatah and Isalmist Hamas. Hamas has banned opposition rallies since its takeover of Gaza. However, stopping a ceremony to honor Arafat would not have been possible. So great is the Palestinian worship of this devil's spawn, it crosses all factions. The demonstration became chaotic as Hamas security began shooting. Hamas officials said they fired toward Fatah protesters for throwing stones at the security compounds. Others said the shots were fired when the crowd began taunting Hamas security forces, accusing them of serving the interests of Shia ruled Iran. The crowd chanted the word "Shia" repeatedly. That's enough to get you shot by Isalmomaniacs. And we want these lunatics to have their own ...

It's been awhile since I updated everyone on my Governor, Eliot Spitzer. His "illegal license" plan has been causing quite a stir in the democratic primary race, but that's all been in the news. My last Spitzer post was about his retaliation against his political opponents, in the form of funding cuts to the poor. He's been busy as a bee since then, and not all of it has been widely reported. Gov. Spitzer was reeling from the Spygate scandal, when he released his policy. It caught many of his political allies off guard, including Hillary Clinton, showing it for the political distraction ploy it was. It did distract the media, but became too big a story, focusing much negative attention on Spitzer, from both sides of the political aisle. One can only guess how Hillary's campaign expressed their displeasure. The story, as all NY political dramas do, gets more convoluted. Spitzer is backtracking on the license policy, and one of his former top aides may have lie...

In a strange, almost "karmic" co-incidence, I started reading Ann Coulter's latest column, " McCarthyism: The Rosetta Stone of Liberal Lies ," at the same time that PBS was broadcasting " The Manchurian Candidate ," Friday morning. I had never seen the movie, and was shocked to witness the very same historical liberal smears of Sen. Joe McCarthy that Ms. Coulter was writing about! In the movie, released in 1962 (which was long after McCarthy's "fall from grace"), a fictional version of the senator is portrayed as totally subservient to his domineering wife, who is also a Communist agent (Angela Lansbury, in an outstanding performance). Here's an excerpt from Coulter's column that explains this in political terms: Rather than own up to their moral blindness to Soviet espionage, Democrats fired up the liberal slander machine, which would be deployed again and again over the next half century to the present day. In hiding their own p...

Let's take a look at another liberal folly exposed. First, from FNC's Special Report, the Political Grapevine segment : The president of the University of Delaware has pulled the plug on that controversial student diversity program we told you about Thursday. Training materials for the program stated - "The term (racist) applies to all white people ... living in the United States, regardless of class, gender, religion, culture or sexuality. By this definition, people of color cannot be racists, because ...they do not have the power to back up their prejudices, hostilities, or acts of discrimination." Students also complained about coercion on such topics as sexual orientation, politics and the environment. Thursday, university President Patrick Harker said, "Questions about the program must be addressed and there are reasons for concern that the actual purpose is not being fulfilled." Indeed. This type of thinking is based in leftist ideology, not reality. P...

I often post about STOP the ACLU , and repost alot of their stuff. This week, I want to focus on an organization that I learned about from the fine folks at STACLU. The Alliance Defense Fund is kind of an ACLU for people of faith, who choose to express it openly. Apparently, the ACLU is often an opponent of religious civil liberties; the ADF is there to oppose them, as well as some like-minded activists in the bureaucracy and judiciary. Here's a roundup of some of their latest cases, so you can get an idea of where they stand : 5th Circuit upholds parental rights victory for Texas teacher Teacher represented by ADF ally denied promotion after declining to move her children from private religious school to public school ADF attorney available to the media following hearing on Ga. man jailed for handing out religious literature Alliance Defense Fund Senior Legal Counsel David Cortman will be available to answer questions from the media following a hearing Wednesday in the case Bauma...

"Bush wants to take us into a war with Iran." HULABAZOO! This is a "scare tactic" from the left. I love it that they aren't terrorized by the thought of a nuclear weapon in Iran's possesion, than the thought that Bush might authorize a war with them over it. It's not going to happen. This has become a political football for the Dem primary candidates. Obama accuses Hillary of giving Bush "cover" for an invasion with her vote declaring Iran's Republican Guard and Al Quds Force terrorist organizations, but he wasn't there for the vote. I have to side with Hillary on this one. The truth is that these organizations are responsible for the Shiite terrorists in Iraq, as well as linking with both Sunnis and Christians in Lebanon and the Palestinian Authority, especially the Gaza. They fund Hezbollah, Hamas, among other terrorists. Let's look at the "sabre-rattling" done by other world leaders recently. Ahmedinejad just called the...

Seeing the recent news (link) about the Mafia's "vote" on whether to whack Giuliani back in the '80's, I was reminded of an old publicity stunt he pulled with then-Sen. Al D'Amato, in '86. Picture D'Amato and Giuliani dressed as bikers. buying crack on a NYC streetcorner. Here's an excerpt from The New Yorker, August 4, 1986, p. 66: (link) D'Amato & Giuliani, dressed in disreputable clothing, went to what amounts to an open-air drug market in Washington Heights. They were accompanied by 30 armed federal agents & undercover police plus photographers. Within a few seconds each had bought 2 vials of crack. No arrests were made. The purpose of the excursion was to demonstrate that it's easy to buy crack in that neighborhood. I remember the photos. They were hilarious! Expect them to resurface soon, probably with a story of how improved that corner is today. Google the title of this post for more links, but I didn't find any that sho...

In my last column , I noted that the NYCLU thanked NY Gov. Spitzer for his "illegal alien drivers license" plan. I wonder if they'll thank him for this week's stunt. Assembly Minority Leader James Tedisco (R) has pledged to sue Spitzer, to block the drivers license plan. Now, Spitzer has blocked $300,000 of "member item" spending in Tedisco's district. "Member items" usually mean pork, but in Tedisco's struggling Assembly district, the money was designated for, among other things, the following : Upgrading one school district's elementary school playgrounds; video surveillance upgrades for another; finally, $100,000 for Schenectady's health clinic, which provides free health care for poor and uninsured people. Tedisco predicts that this will shut the clinic down, harming the most needy people in his district. It's not hard to see why the Gov's poll numbers are in a freefall, and not likely to come back up anytime soon. Stil...

There they go again. The NYCLU sent out an email containing the following excerpt: Then, on September 21, Governor Spitzer announced his plan to expand access to New York State driver’s licenses to hundreds of thousands of immigrants living in New York. This was a tremendous step for public safety, for immigrants’ rights and for the civil rights of all New Yorkers. The policy will enable some 500,000 New Yorkers to emerge from the shadows and become full contributing members of society and the economy, building trust between undocumented communities and law enforcement. Take a moment to thank the governor for taking action to promote public safety, safe roadways, and civil liberties for all New Yorkers by clicking here. Now, this is not surprising, but it brings up several questions. First, won't this make it harder for employers to screen out people who are here illegaly, opening them up to legal sanctions? I hear my friends on the left saying that the feds should "go after...