Hillary and Huma...?

though it's been casually tossed around the underground, such as here in the Village Voice (courteousy of Michael Musto), i guess it's officially on, now...the Times of London has taken the much-whispered-about relationship between Hillary! and her beautiful assistant, Huma Abedin, out of the internet rumor mill and into the "old media"...

according to the Drudge Report..

The splash stunned British readers and angered campaign insiders.

"This does not even qualify as tabloid trash... it's ridiculous and reckless," a Hillary confidante explained over the weekend.

i'm not even really sure i buy into this at all...since it was reported a month ago or so that the hillary campaign was wooing the drudge report, to use what had formerly been an "enemy" and turn it into a campaign asset as place to float strategic "leaks"...drudge (who himself is rumored to be gay..."outed" by David Brock in "Blinded by the Right") seems to have been getting a lot of exclusives from there lately...

but, come on...the hillary camp was "angered" by this "latest" revelation? are you telling me that none of them read the Village Voice??? this is what Musto said in the piece i linked to above--

As I recently said on MONICA CROWLEY's radio show, whisper campaigns are claiming that HILLARY CLINTON is GAYLE KING–ing her aide de camp, the glamorous HUMA ABEDIN, an Indian/Pakistani goddess from Kalamazoo, Michigan. In other words, Hillary may be putting Huma out there in the press and purposely making her more visible as a pre-emptive strike that amounts to her hiding in plain sight. This way, no Republican can later say, "Who is this gorgeous babe who spends so much intimate time with Hillary that the Observer called her Hill's 'body person'? Was GENNIFER FLOWERS's book right about Hillary's sexual taste?" And does either of this couple have the balls to bottom?

Of course that whole scenario can't possibly be true, since Bill and Hill have been so lovey-dovey lately for the cameras, and besides, whenever he's been serviced by an intern—or by anyone—he's clearly been thinking of his wife. (They're that close.) But suddenly, Huma—a sort of Muslim SALMA HAYEK—has that spread in Vogue and the accompanying write-up notes that she "oversees every minute of Senator Clinton's day." Every single minute? Even Gayle King takes a break now and then! (PS: If I called for comment, Hillary's camp would surely say, "Just because two powerful women are closer than sardines doesn't make them dykes." And that's so true. Look at MATT and BEN. But now that Crowley has dubbed me the head of Huma Resources, I'm going to pursue this story with every cojone I've got.)

A straight Democrat—sorry, that's a segue—DNC head HOWARD DEAN, guest-starred at a "Democrats and Donuts with Dean" event in Fire Island, where there was no worry that he might outscream the screaming queens. But I was told that press attendees couldn't write up the event, so I'll shut up here and only say that at another point in the weekend, I told one Pines Democrat the Hillary/Huma scenario and he deadpanned, "That's a step up from DONNA SHALALA."
-by Michael Musto
August 7th, 2007 7:58 PM

hillary...you may not like her, but she sure makes politics fun!

"green" building at Emory University is bird slaughterhouse

back in the 1970's my family had some good friends in Birmingham, AL, who we would usually get together with once or twice a year. they had a beautiful house on a forested mountainside, with a towering A-frame front entrance with 2 panes of triangular glass which stretched to the ceiling, and this A-frame extended to the back of the house, which was a complete glass wall. you could see all the way through this house, and the view was lovely...trees, rocks, leaves...

from time to time while visiting we would hear a massive "WHOOOOMP!", and we would walk out the front door to see what kind of bird had flown into the windows this time and killed itself. i would estimate that between 1972-1976 i must've witnessed this between 10-15 times (which includes one case where two popped the glass at the same time).

flash forward to today...

Emory University's Math & Science Center is a "green-friendly" building, with soaring glass panels which aid in lighting and whatever else the environmentalists get out of it. it's a hallmark of the Atlanta school's effort to "go green"...it's also the "wall of death", as Emory Professor of Environmental Studies John Wegner charmingly put it in an atlanta journal-constitution story. he estimates that the building, whose windows reflect the forest in front of them, killed at least 60 birds in it's first year (2002) alone. he made a stink about it from the beginning, but, according to the story, it wasn't until he rammed some dead birds into his pockets and whipped them out in a meeting with his boss that he finally got some attention.

it's interesting that "green buildings" all share this glassy template. this bird deal is not isolated to Emory. in addition to my anecdote above (from 30 years ago, mind you...), just a casual coupling of "birds + buildings" in Google found this letter to the editor in a University of Saskatchewan campus newspaper, admonishing the school administration to take care of the same problem.

in the AJC story, they interviewed ornithologist David Klem, a professor who has "studied the problem for decades", and says that between 100 million and 1 billion birds die every year in the US by flying into glass windows. he seems to blame ARCHITECTS for the problem, because of the glass which has become such an integral part of "green" construction. by the way, according to the story, "buildings that earn LEED certification, the brass ring of environmentally sustainable construction, are often largely made of glass". the "brass ring", huh? i was thinking that the LEED certification was mainly an industry thing, but apparently environmental organizations such as the National Resource Defense Council (NRDC) have endorsed this certification.

this whole thing begs so many questions for me...this all has to do with universities and public buildings efforts at environmental "sustainability", which i just blogged about. universities are filled with professors and scientists, right? my roommate, who works in a chemistry lab at the University of Florida, constantly lectures me about the sanctity of research which comes out of universities (as opposed to business-sponsored, which is defiled by $money$) because it is subject to "peer review".

somewhere, when it comes to this "sustainability" movement, this "peer review" seems to overlook the most obvious things--birds run into glass...you might want to mention this to architects--that even a stupid kid from alabama that i was could see as plain as day...

algore celebrates a touchdown! UF/FSU game to go "green"...

this is surreal.

they want to highlight the "fact" that football games produce a ton of greenhouse gasses. to help combat this problem,

...UF and its partners, the Florida Forestry Association and Environmental Defense, are arranging for approximately 18 acres of rural North Florida land to be set aside and managed as a pine plantation forest for 10 years. UF calculates that this is an acreage and period of time sufficient to absorb all the carbon emissions from the game.

according to Deedee Delongpre', director of UF's "Office of Sustainability",

At 18 acres for one game, some quick calculations reveal that we would need 126 acres to be managed for 10 years just to offset our football program for one year,” she said.

in a statement released from his office, Governor Crist approves, and will attend the game.

this is being hyped as the "first" carbon-neutral game ever. with 3 losses, i guess it's nice to be "first" in something...

go gators.


3 A.M. update--i can't sleep, this stuff is really bugging me. the more i read of this "office of sustainability" at UF, the more i want to puke. what a commie front. i'm going to this game tomorrow, and these whiners want to make me feel bad about it? i think a good old-fashioned protest could be in order...

now you see them, now you don't--tits disappearing...

...because of climate change.

"Most may well be able to bounce back next year"--Mark Grantham

astronomers observe dark energy, move universe closer to death

...so says a couple of american cosmologists. makes sense to me...you look at stuff, it changes. butterfly wings' flapping leads to tsunamis and yada yada...

stop looking at the sky, you morons!

somebody should just ask surfer dude--he's got the "theory of everything"...

"My brain exploded with the implications and the beauty of the thing," he tells New Scientist. "I thought: 'Holy crap, that's it!'"

Ron Paul picks up endorsement from the owner of the Moonlight Bunny Ranch

brothel owner Dennis Hof of Nevada has decided to endorse Ron Paul for president, after being pointed in his direction by friend and MSNBC host Tucker Carlson.

one of the elements of Hof's support is a vow to put up a collection box outside the door of the Bunny Ranch~

"I'll do it today," he said. "I'll get all the Bunnies together and we can raise him some money. I'll put up a collection box outside the door. They can drop in $1 dollar, $5 dollar contributions. What a great way for the working girls to support Ron Paul. It's just the right thing to do."

awesome.

...Hof said Paul's anti-establishment, libertarian platform of "live and let live" resonates in a state that permits legalized prostitution.

While Paul professes a limited-government philosophy, he's also hews to a deep Christian faith, is pro-life and reportedly is so traditional that he doesn't travel alone with women.

Campaign spokesman Jeff Greenspan said he doesn't think Paul will have any problem accepting the brothel's money.

"On a personal basis, he doesn't condone those things," Greenspan said. "At the same time, from his campaign perspective, it's not the role of federal government and it's not in the constitution for federal government to regulate these thing. The Nevada voters and Legislature have decided it is a legal activity in this state."

high fives all around!

hat tip to the huffington post.

superbly played by senate Democrats!

in order to prevent Pres. Bush from making any recess appointments (judges, ambassadors, cabinet members, etc..) which would have to be approved if the senate were in session, Dingy Harry (i.e. Senate Majority Leader Reid) and the gang are engaged in a brilliant strategy of keeping the Senate officially "open for business", while most of the members (except for Sen. Jim Webb, apparently...) are at home enjoying the break.

video here. all 46 seconds.

anti-war mommy drops human shield, i mean "her baby" on sidewalk

michelle's got the whole story, per usual.

it's all about how some loons were blocking a military convoy in Olympia, WA, and in order to prevent the cops from interfering, they were using their children as human shields...how brave.

there are several interesting pictures on her post.

an eyewitness account, from michelle's blog-

I work at the port, and have observed some truly mind boggling events unfold, but the most astonishing was the use of children as human shields. The attached pictures were taken on 11/9/07; the night military equipment was first blocked from leaving the port. The Olympia Police Department essentially abandoned any effort to remove the protesters out of fear that a child would be harmed in their efforts to enforce the law. The mother of these children apparently had no such concern.

After the military convoy was forced to retreat, a victory celebration ensued, with chanting dancing, etc. I was horrified to watch as the woman in the attached photograph, distracted by events, allowed her infant to fall from her lap and land, face first on the pavement. The second photo shows her retrieving the crying baby as her other two children, dressed as terrorists look on.

This situation, and another two days later, when dozens of college aged girls were arrayed in rows with arms linked to block the road, showed a deliberate effort to use the same tactics as the terrorist savages who manipulate us, knowing that decent people cannot abide putting innocents in harm’s way. And, while the police were dragging the females away, under the glare of the media’s cameras, the males were establishing rolling blockades; throwing rocks at police and military vehicles; breaking windows, etc.

another Democratic debate "average voter" plant?

LaShannon Spencer, in a photo from 2003, identified in
this New York Times story as "director of political affairs for the Democratic Party of Arkansas".


LaShannon Spencer, "undecided voter" in Nevada who got to ask a question.

BLITZER: Welcome back to the campus of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. We're at the Democratic presidential debate. Suzanne Malveaux's got another undecided voter with a question.

MALVEAUX: LaShannon Spencer, please stand up for a moment. What is your question?

LASHANNON SPENCER: We constantly hear health care questions and questions pertaining to the war. But we don't hear questions pertaining to the Supreme Court justice or education. (Applause.)

My question is, if you are elected president, what qualities must the appointee possess?

Malveaux redirects the question...

MALVEAUX: ...And in answering that question, also tell us whether or not you would require your nominees to support abortion rights.

(Laughter, cross talk.)

then all the candidates were given an opportunity to voice their support for the "right to privacy".

Ms. Spencer's connection to the state of Arkansas wouldn't be telling, would it?

previous post about debate plants