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Still Bigots After All These Years

The guy who occupies pride of place on many far-right bloggers’ blogrolls, and had occupied even more until the lefty bloggers pointed out his racism against Native Americans, is showing his true colors again (h/t Joe Bodell of MNCR):

Never put insulting half of America and a fifth of the world’s population past Tracy Eberly of Anti-Strib.What’s the issue this time? Oh, just Eberly misreading a news article in order to let some pretty violent racism shine through. You know what, on second thought, don’t click that link, posted yesterday afternoon. Here’s a screenshot of the offending and offensive post…

Let’s get this piece straight: the alleged rapist accused law enforcement officials of persecuting him for traditional behavior, and Eberly takes the alleged rapist at his word in order to assert his rhetorical codpiece: he believes, naturally, that rape is a part of traditional Muslim behavior.And then tries to hang the case around the neck of those evil godless libruls.

People like Eberly disgust me, personally. Anyone who willingly takes an article like this, warps it, and then tries to hang it around the necks of those with whose politics he disagrees has deeper issues than I care to dignify with even cursory discussion.

My question is where the rest of Minnesota’s conservative blogosphere, known colloquially as the Minnesota Organization of Blogs, stands on this. We on the left side of the aisle have been called to task by our less horribly racist colleagues on the Right when one of our number says something inflammatory; what’s good for goose is good for the gander.

With respect to this wrong-headed, racist, and disgusting post, I heartily await disavowals and criticism from the leading figures in Minnesota’s conservative blogosphere.

The Republican Party wouldn’t be bad too, since Eberly sees fit to associate coddling of rapists with liberals and Democratic elected leaders. Paging Mark Drake…

The righties’ response to Joe Bodell’s calling them out? Why, attacking Joe, of course.  (Meanwhile, reality-based blogger Spotty over at The Cucking Stool has a few words on the subject.)

Another Corrupt Bushevik Out the Door

Alphonso Jackson has resigned amidst accusations he used his position as Secretary of Housing and Urban Development to Republicans and to punish agencies and contractors that didn’t support Bush and his cronies.

The FBI has been examining the ties between Jackson and a friend who was paid $392,000 by Jackson’s department as a construction manager in New Orleans. Jackson’s friend got the job after Jackson asked a staff member to pass along his name to the Housing Authority of New Orleans.
 

In another instance of alleged favoritism that came to light in February, the Philadelphia housing authority alleges that Jackson retaliated against the agency because it refused to award a vacant lot worth $2 million to soul-music producer-turned-community developer Kenny Gamble for redevelopment of a public housing complex.
 

Jackson’s problems began in 2006, when he told a group of commercial real estate executives that he had revoked a contract because the applicant who thanked him said he did not like President Bush. Jackson later told investigators “I lied” when he made the remark about taking back the contract.
 

The probe of Jackson’s comment by the HUD inspector general ended with no action taken against him, but the investigators brought to light friction between the HUD secretary and some contractors who have long done business with the agency, a number of them donors to Democrats. On Monday, the IG’s office said it had seen Jackson’s latest remarks and “there is nothing more that we can add.”
 

In the IG probe, some of Jackson’s own aides contradicted his account of one incident in which investigators found the HUD secretary had blocked a contract for several months to one heavily Democratic donor.

With a record like that, Mr. Jackson is overdue for a Presidential Medal of Freedom.

Maliki Blinks

Smintheus has the story:

On Sunday Nouri al-Maliki admitted defeat in his attempt to crack down on Moqtada al Sadr’s Mahdi Army in Basra. Maliki had begun the week demanding that Mahdi forces surrender within 72 hours, calling this “a decisive and final battle.” Yet as the disastrous campaign backfired in Basra, Baghdad and elsewhere Maliki pathetically extended the rejected deadline until April 8th. As Patrick Cockburn noted, “Maliki’s confident prediction that he would crush the Mehdi Army is turning out to be a dangerous gamble that is fast eroding his authority.”

Today Maliki appears to have accepted a humiliating ‘compromise’ offered by Sadr (h/t Cernig). The Iraqi government will leave the Mahdi militia alone, which in turn will cease patrolling the streets under arms. It’s a return to the status quo ante, except that Sadr has demonstrated his power conclusively – and Maliki his weakness.

Stay tuned — this is by no means settled.

“You can’t cheat an honest (Leh)man”

(with apologies to WC Fields). “You can’t cheat an honest man” rings a bell in what could turn into yet another major chapter in the credit crisis:

The American investment bank Lehman Brothers is to sue Japan’s fifth largest trading firm, Marubeni, over an alleged $350m (£176m) fraud involving two of the company’s employees.