LEAVWORLD: GRAFFITI POLITTI

Here's another outrage that you won't hear much about in the MSM. It seems that one billion federal dollars are being held by an entity called the "WTC Captive Insurance Company." It seems to have been set up between 2002, when NYC requested the money, and 2004, when the NY Post quotes minutes from a company meeting. The company has spent 74 million on overhead and legal expenses, while paying out 45 thousand to one person for medical expenses. I repeat: The company has spent 74 million on overhead and legal expenses, while paying out 45 thousand to one person for medical expenses. Here's where it gets ugly. Mayor Bloomberg is saying that "The truth of the matter is Congress didn't set up a victims compensation fund." It looks as if he sees this money as a "legal defense fund" to fight WTC lawsuits by rescue workers. "They've set up a captive insurance company. And the insurance company can only pay out money if somebody sues us i...

Not flinching an inch, Ann Coulter responded to her critics in her latest column, titled "That Was No Lady -- That Was My Husband." Ms. Coulter is not everyone's "cup of tea," to say the least. However, in this "kerfluffle," she is not in the wrong. She correctly points out that Elizabeth Edwards' "call-in" when she was promoting her book on Hardball was an obvious "sandbag" job. Even if it wasn't "planned," (as if!) Chris Matthews didn't have to let her stay on, uninterrupted, for so long. Here's an excerpt from Coulter: I can only speak to the first 45 minutes of Elizabeth Edwards' harangue, but it mostly consisted of utterly dishonest renditions of things I had said on my "Good Morning America" interview this week and a column I wrote four years ago. (You can't rush Edwards' "rapid response team"!) She claimed I had launched unprovoked attacks on the Edwards' dead son...

Well, whaddaya know? Bloomberg has quit the Republican party. What does this mean? It means that he wants to run for president, with somewhat more credibility than Ross Perot had in '92. The question is "who will he hurt more," the Repuplican or Democrat candidate? The answer is that he will hurt the Democrat more, unless the Republican candidate is Rudy Giuliani. Rudy is the only candidate who is truly vulnerable to Bloomberg's "moderate" Republican image, which was a sham from the start, to be honest. Rudy's support with moderates rests on his stance on abortion and gay rights, and Bloomberg is his equal on these issues to most "moderates," of either party. Plus, Bloomberg doesn't have to win, to defeat Rudy. He just has to siphon off enough votes as an "independent" to give Hillary, or any Dem that doesn't self-destruct a victory. Where Perot peeled off votes from GHW Bush's conservative base, or a part of it, Bloomy co...