Tigermania is Upon Us, Weekend Update, Ethics Violators

Homa Katouzian
Gail Collins
Colbert I King

"Home-based terrorism is here," - Janet Napolitano

"When you venture into topics like that, it’s always a good idea to try to begin with an orgy." - Gail Collins

"Some of those arrested appear to have not been well-trained terrorists but rather radicalized klutzes and hapless al-Qaeda wannabes." - Colbert I King

 Tigermania!


Gerald Posner
Janice Min
Abby Ellin
Patrick Sauer
Jay Mariotti
Hank Gola



Hopefully, this should quell your curiosity for all things Tiger. Who knows how many more women will claim to have had relations with him. What I find amazing are the women who clearly are "escorts" and want to publicize that fact. I guess they all smell a payday coming around the next corner... The best suggestion I heard is that Tiger could come back, grow a goatee and mustache, and bill himself as the evil golfer, partying and dating actresses, talking gruffly to interviewers like a wrestling character. None of what has happened takes away from how good he is at golf. So he'll earn a few million dollars a year less from advertisers, and nobody will watch golf tournaments on tv until he returns, and he has to make his mind up what to do with his trouser snake on those long, lonely nights ahead... that's right, he'll have to get a grip on the situation, ha, ha, ha.


higher education...
The Daily Beast ranked 26 colleges for being the best places to focus and study. Boulder came in as #3:

#3, Boulder, Colorado

Major College: University of Colorado
Total Population: 92,871
Percent Students: 29%
Overall Grade: A

Says Boulder Mayor Susan Osborne on Boulder’s third-place finish: "In part because of the physical environment and climate, but also because of the many students, scientists, and "creative class" types who've settled here, the town seems to be always churning." Lots of start-ups feed off the University of Colorado.

Nicknamed "The People’s Republic of Boulder," the town’s libertarian bent pops up on everything from nude streaks to International Cannabis Day.

weekend updates...
CIA director Leon Panetta said that he has cancelled a contract with Blackwater loading missiles on drones in Pakistan. No mention of the other contracts it has with the DOD, the State Department, and one other shadowy agency, or why they are still in Iraq...

It turns out that the US is producing some pretty lame homegrown terrorists, thank the lord. The five kids who went to Pakistan were repeatedly rejected by the few groups they contacted because they didn't speak the local language, didn't know enough about extremist Muslim beliefs, and the extremist groups suspected that they might be spies, not having enough references . Imagine that you need the right references to become a jihadist or suicide bomber... They were stopped in their quest because one of the boy's father turned them in to Pakistani police. This illustrates the gigantic gulf between cultures in the US and in places like Pakistan. They aren't even wanted on any charges yet at home, their families contacted authorities because they didn't know where they were.

The Internet is now playing such a huge role in the lives of millions of people around the world. From jihadists inviting Americans to Pakistan from their YouTube watching patterns, to organizing street protests in Iran, to broadcasting fake software in China, to raising money for political candidates in the US, it has changed our lives and the way that information travels. Where will we be in ten years from now?

ethics violations...

Both  Congressional Ethics Committees have been pretty busy this year. One the Democratic side we begin with the House of Representatives: "Rep. Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.) is likely to extend well into 2010, according to sources familiar with the probe


Rep. Bennie Thompson of Mississippi has had to deny allegations that he used his chairmanship of the Homeland Security Committee to help raise campaign contributions.


... the Justice Department is continuing its criminal investigation into Democratic lawmakers’ dealings with the PMA Group, a now-defunct lobbying firm that specialized in winning multimillion-dollar spending earmarks from the Appropriations Committee for its clients.


Sen. Max Baucus of Montana faces accusations that he nominated his girlfriend for a U.S. attorney position in the Justice Department, while Sen. Roland Burris of Illinois was recently admonished by the Senate Ethics Committee for failing to fully disclose his contacts with indicted former Illinois Democratic Gov. Rod Blagojevich over an appointment to the Senate seat vacated by now-President Barack Obama."

“Thanks to Nancy Pelosi’s lapses in judgment, the rap sheet on the Democratic-led Congress is getting longer by the day" - RNC Spokesman Ken Spain

And the Republicans are not escaping the fire either: "Sen. John Ensign of Nevada faces a Senate Ethics Committee investigation — and a possible Justice Department probe — of his handling of an extramarital affair with a former staffer, a controversy that has also ensnared Sen. Tom Coburn of Oklahoma. Rep. Don Young of Alaska was accused by an Alaska businessman of receiving tens of thousands of dollars in improper campaign donations. And Republican appropriators had their own ties to the PMA Group, which means that GOP lawmakers are vulnerable on that front, as well."

“After more than a decade of Republicans’ culture of corruption, they are not used to seeing an ethics committee that does its work without interference from Republican leaders" - DNC Spokesperson Jennifer Crider

Now, this is the kind of competition I like. If only the people found guilty would have to resign, I would be happier. Right now, South Carolina's Governor, Mark Sanford, dodged a bullet when the state legislature decided to slap his hand instead of impeaching him. His wife is divorcing him, and if she ran for Governor against him, she would win by a landslide. After all, she created his political career and is the smart one...