Does NY-20’s Scott Murphy (D) still think that the military’s a bunch of racists?

Do not blame me for the fact that he is on the record with this.

(H/T: Hot Air) That’s a serious question, because he signed his name to an article saying precisely that back in college. The quote goes:

The military not only discriminates on the basis of sexual preference, but on the basis of sex and race. Women are not allowed to serve in combat even if they are physically superior to males who do serve in combat. And, while there are not explicit rules discriminating against minorities, the Congressional Black Caucus has found that “racism has become institutionalized at all levels of the military. Black and other minority service men are victims of discrimination from the time that they enter the services until the time that they are discharged.” Will Harvard choose to ignore this discrimination?

Murphy went on to declare that military values – which he proceeded to get wrong, as only a liberal Democratic Ivy League student can – are directly contradictory to those of Harvard University, or at least the Harvard University of twenty years ago. I would like to say that Harvard’s grown up a little since then, but it’d be a lie. Still, I’d like to know: has Murphy?

Moe Lane

PS: Jazz Shaw has more; so does this site, even if they can’t get the name of the NRCC right. But one of their commenters noted that parts of this district were once Gerald Solomon’s (I think), so that works out. And, of course, see also Erick’s post on the subject.

PPS: Jim Tedisco. Republican. Running for the seat. Doesn’t hate the military. Donate here.

Crossposted to RedState.

Gary Locke: New Commerce pick, guy with a brother-in-law.

Yeah, you know where that last bit’s going.

[UPDATE]: (Via Ed’s original post, and thanks for the link) John Huang? John Huang?
OK, that’s it. Somebody from the White House give me a call. I will personally pick out a Commerce Secretary for you. It will be a liberal Democrat, with no skeletons in his or her closet – I’m actually leaning towards her at this point – and nothing that will make the GOP freak out. As God as my witness, I will not play any partisan games. This is a legitimate offer.
Because you people are embarrassing me with this, that’s why.

Kind of the point, really.

Via Hot Air we hear a story that sounds hauntingly familiar about Obama’s third-time’s-the-charm pick for Commerce (former WA Democratic governor Gary Locke):

LET’S SAY YOU’RE Gov. Gary Locke’s brother-in-law. You bunk at the governor’s mansion. You commute to your nearby job as an executive of a private technology firm.

uring your two years with the firm, the governor signs a bill giving your company a tax break, personally intervenes in a dispute involving your company, shows up for a party there, and signs a federal loan application for your company, whose founders—your bosses—pay at least two visits to the mansion.

At the same time, your company rakes in millions in state aid, lands a fat state technology contract, and is allowed to use government credit authority to float new loans (an authority illegally granted, as a state auditor’s report will reveal this week).

Are you getting gubernatorial favors that average citizens don’t get?

Naaaw, says the governor.

So, where have I heard this before? Continue reading Gary Locke: New Commerce pick, guy with a brother-in-law.

Hunter Biden: Stanford associate.

Welcome to Washington.

Now, that’s Hunter Biden, corporate lobbyist and former Amtrak vice-chair, not Beau Biden, former state attorney general – and widely-assumed heir-in-exile to his father’s Senate seat, just as soon as they can have the formality of an election in 2010. Heaven forbid that you get these two scions of a good working class family mixed up, or something.

Speaking of getting mixed up in something, hey!

A fund of hedge funds run by two members of Vice President Joe Biden’s family was marketed exclusively by companies controlled by Texas financier R. Allen Stanford, who is facing Securities and Exchange Commission accusations of engaging in an $8 billion fraud.

The $50 million fund was jointly branded between the Bidens’ Paradigm Global Advisors LLC and a Stanford Financial Group entity and was known as the Paradigm Stanford Capital Management Core Alternative Fund. Stanford-related companies marketed the fund to investors and also invested about $2.7 million of their own money in the fund, according to a lawyer for Paradigm. Paradigm Global Advisors is owned through a holding company by the vice president’s son, Hunter, and Joe Biden’s brother, James.

Continue reading Hunter Biden: Stanford associate.

Obama to make mega-bundler Louis Susman Ambassador to England?

Come, I will hide nothing from you: it would be blatantly unfair for me to mock the President for choosing Chicago bundler Louis Susman to be the ambassador to the Court of Saint James. You see, unlike a certain subset of the population I know how the game is actually played; certain ambassadorships are considered prestigious, and some aren’t. The ones that are prestigious – and I don’t think that they get much more prestigious than the one for Great Britain – are going to be filled for political reasons, which means that generally they will not be filled by a professional diplomat. The last four were, in fact: a retired admiral, a senior government official/financial guy; a financial/oil guy; and a senior government official/car dealership owner. An investment banker who raised 500 grand for the President is not particularly surprising, in other words… unless you happened to be one of those people who actually believed that line of Obama’s about how he was going to do things differently. As I didn’t and don’t, I really can’t see how I can go off on this, so I won’t.

Besides, the Brits are already doing it for me. Continue reading Obama to make mega-bundler Louis Susman Ambassador to England?

The end of the quote-unquote ‘Kimmel Occupation.’

That’s right.  Smile for the nice man with the other camera who’s filming you for your expulsion hearings.

Before you click this link (language warning), do yourself a favor: pour yourself a glass of wine, or other favorite tasty, tasty beverage; assemble a little platter of light fare, suitable for nibbling; and, of course, make sure that you have refreshed yourself. If you have a choice of chairs, go for the comfortable one. Take a couple of centering breaths. Familiarize yourself with the background to this.

All done?

Then click (language warning).

Enjoy.

Via Hot Air and The Daily Gut.

Moe Lane
Continue reading The end of the quote-unquote ‘Kimmel Occupation.’

And now, a quick naval change of pace.

Age of Sail has a bit up about a British captain that took on six frigates with one converted Indiaman in 1796… and drove them to port.

You know. Just in case you were feeling like you had a hard day, or something.

Moe Lane

PS: Actually, you can’t go too far wrong with Errol Flynn. Captain Blood
wasn’t completely unlike the book; The Sea Hawk is, but when it’s 1940 and you’re trying to save England you don’t quibble about the plot.

Charlie Rangel (D, NY-15) to donate part of Stanford money.

He’s keeping the rest, presumably.

Maybe he’s got some sort of Magic Light that can tell tainted Mexican drug-laundering money from good?

Janison: Campaigns shedding donors in financial scandal

[snip]

Fraud allegations swirling around Texas billionaire R. Allen Stanford last week drew attention to his contributions to Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-St. Albans) and to House Ways and Means Committee chairman Charles Rangel (D-Manhattan). A Rangel spokesman said $10,800 that Stanford contributed over the years would be donated to charity.

Why, that’s almost half. Kind of. Moderately close to almost half. OK, so it may be closer to a third. The difference, by the way, is the $25K that went to the Rangel Victory Fund – which, bluntly, I consider Rangel to be morally on the hook for if the people who he helped refuse to pay back the money*: Continue reading Charlie Rangel (D, NY-15) to donate part of Stanford money.