THE OTHER SHOE DROPS: Updates To Previous Posts
† Why Romney Could Not (Maybe Can Never) Win The Presidency (second item): Government Is Not G-d, a Political Action Committee formed by social conservatives, launched a “NO Mitt” newspaper ad campaign in 20 newspapers targeting locations where John McCain will be campaigning warning him off choosing Mitt Romney as his running mate:
The unvarnished facts of Mitt Romney's record as governor of Massachusetts make him utterly unacceptable as a Vice Presidential choice. …
His actions as governor betray well-timed conversions as mere political opportunism, and are offensive to those who demand “straight talk” from their leaders. …
If Governor Romney is on your ticket, many social conservative voters will consider their values repudiated by the Republican Party and will either stay away from the polls this November or only vote down ticket. For the sake of your election, the health of your party, and the future of America you must not allow the obvious electoral consequences of that to occur. …
Senator McCain, despite the proclamations of your surrogates we hope you will act to earn the support of the conservative grassroots in November, unite the Republican Party, and lead it to victory. However, Willard Mitt Romney is a deal breaker.
Moral Majority co-founder Paul Weyrich – who once supported Romney before souring on him – Matt Barber, of Concerned Women for America and Christian book publisher Stephen Strang, a Mike Huckabee supporter, were amongst the 26 signers of the open letter to McCain. If you would like to add your name to the PAC’s anti-Mitt petition, click here.
Editorial Note: Romney is one of two Veep picks that will induce The Stiletto to stay home on Election Day. The other is Condoleeza Rice.
† To Tell The Truth: The Stiletto recently asked: “When Hillary lies, does she know she is lying? Is she a reflexive liar, a compulsive liar, or a pathological liar?” Washington Post columnist Charles Krauthammer – a board-certified psychiatrist – answers:
[C]onfabulation is a fairly common psychological phenomenon. We all have internalized childhood stories so oft repeated by elders that we come to falsely "remember" the actual experience. Adult memories are less susceptible to such unconscious inventions, but past experiences embellished over time by repeated recounting can reach the point where we actually believe the elaborate trappings of our own retellings.
Clinton's problem, however, is that a corkscrew landing under sniper fire is the kind of thing that is hard to forget and harder still for memory to invent. This is confabulation on a pathological scale.
A Clintonian scale.
Perhaps the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders ought to be updated to define the symptomatic characteristics of “clintonian” lying, a personality disorder if ever there was one.
† Suit Tests How Far You Can Go To Avoid Renting To The Roommate From Hell (second item): The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco ruled that Roommates.com, an online roommate-matching service, can be sued for violating federal fair housing laws by requiring users to state their preferences regarding a variety of factors, including age, gender or sexual orientation as a condition of using the site, reports the Los Angeles Times. Writing for the majority, Chief Judge Alex Kozinkski drew a distinction between users providing unsolicited information about potential roommates and asking for information that could be discriminatory:
“A real estate broker may not inquire as to the race of a prospective buyer, and an employer may not inquire as to the religion of a prospective employee. If such questions are unlawful when posed face-to-face or by telephone, they don't magically become lawful when asked electronically online.”
Last month, the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago found that Craigslist, an online network of classified ads, is not liable for such discriminatory housing ads as "NO MINORITIES" and “Only Muslims apply." The appeals court upheld a federal district court judge's decision that Craigslist is only an intermediary for user-generated content and is protected by the Communications Decency Act, reports the San Francisco Chronicle.
† Does The Nanny (State) Know How To Raise Your Kids Better Than You Do?: Undeterred by public ridicule from coast to coast, CA Assemblywoman Sally Lieber (D-Mountain View), has reintroduced a bill to discourage corporal punishment of children under the age of 3. But unlike Lieber's previous effort to ban spanking, AB 2943 is meant to address “unjustifiable physical pain or mental suffering on a child” – in particular, hitting a child in the face or head, throwing a child or using a closed fist. Lieber, who is childless, wants to raise awareness about child abuse, reports The Mercury News (San Jose), but critics point out that the “severe behaviors spelled out in [her] bill already are banned under state child-abuse laws.”
† She Stared Down An Armed Terrorist To Save Her Unborn Baby’s Life: Back in July 2006, Naveed Haq, a Muslim of Pakistani descent, stormed the Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle, ranted about his hatred of Jews and U.S. foreign policy and shot six women, killing one of them. Haq’s trial on charges that include aggravated first-degree murder and attempted first-degree murder is scheduled to get under way next week.
Haq, now 32, has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity, and prosecutors and defense attorneys alike must now seat a panel of jurors who have not already formed an opinion regarding the defendant’s guilt despite the heavy media coverage of the case. Reports The Seattle Times:
More than 3,000 registered King County voters - an unusually large group - were initially summoned as prospective jurors for the Haq trial. That pool has been whittled down to fewer than 100 over the past three weeks. Beginning Tuesday, attorneys will further pare that group to a dozen or so. …
One of the shortest rounds of questioning in the Haq case came Thursday, when a potential juror - a married, middle-aged woman - promptly told the court: “Anyone found guilty of murder should be executed. No waiting on death row wasting taxpayer money.”
She had barely sat down before she was politely excused by Superior Court Judge Paris Kallas. For most of the selection process, it has been Kallas who decides whether to remove someone from the pool for cause, after one or both legal teams make a request.
But next week, once the panel has been trimmed to about 30 prospective jurors, each side will be allowed to exercise six “peremptory challenges” - meaning they can remove someone from the dwindling pool without having to say why.
In the end, 12 citizens and two alternates will be left.
† Child Brides: An AR law that included a typo allowing anyone who was not pregnant to marry with parental consent – no matter how young – has been repealed by a measure signed into law by Gov. Mike Beebe, reports The Associated Press. The minimum age boys can now marry is 17; girls must be 16 or older.
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