This ain't Hell, but you can see it from here

Author: Jonn Lilyea

  • So where’d the money go?

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    Mother Harriette

    I can’t believe that this story hasn’t grown legs. No one outside of the blogosphere and the Beltway has heard of this potentially $30 million rip-off by relatively low-level government employees. I work across the street from the DC Tax and Revenue Office and two of my workmates from Baltimore have never heard of the scam. It’s 30 MILLION BUCKS, for cryin’ outloud.

    The worst part? The Feds don’t know how much was stolen or where it went according to the Washington Examiner;

    The number of phony checks recorded by the scandal-ridden D.C. tax office continues to grow, but a critical question remains: Where did the money go?

    If cashed, the bogus checks would have cost the District more than $40 million, according to a report published by The Washington Post, and a similar tally was reached by The Examiner.

    But investigators cautioned that it is far from certain what amount was ever actually stolen from the city tax coffers. Tax office thieves may have prepared checks that for various reasons were never cashed.

    Law enforcement officials have told The Examiner that the case is probably much more complicated than adding up fraudulent-appearing check approvals from city records.

    The Washington Post reported Sunday that $44.3 million in false payment approvals could be found in a review of tax record offices dating to June 1999. An analysis by The Examiner has found $41.5 in questionable approvals.

    It’s so bad that the Feds are going to give immunity to one of the suspects so they can just get an outline of what the hell happened;

    A former tax office employee has been offered one day of immunity to tell prosecutors what she knows about the largest corruption scandal in D.C. history.

    Diane Gustus is facing up to 100 years in prison on charges that she helped co-worker Harriette Walters siphon off tens of millions of dollars through a series of phony tax refunds and dummy companies.

    But authorities have given her limited immunity for a meeting this week in the hope that she can help unravel the conspiracy and help the government track down the stolen money, sources with intimate knowledge of the case told The Examiner.

    Yeah, lets get some bigger government and give them more of our money because they’re so careful with how it gets spent.

  • Clinton gets ugly (well, moreso, than usual)

    So the second prettiest woman in the Democrat field of presidential candidates has begun to fall behind a bit, and out come the ugly sticks (Washington Post, Anne Komblut);

    With a new poll showing her losing ground in the Iowa caucus race, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) mounted a new, more aggressive attack against Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) on Sunday, raising direct questions about his character, challenging his integrity and forecasting a sharp debate over those subjects in the days ahead.

    Clinton has hammered Obama recently over his health-care proposal, arguing that he is misleading voters because it omits millions of people and would not lower costs. But Sunday, in a dramatic shift, she made it clear that her goal is to challenge Obama not just on policy but also on one of his strongest selling points: his reputation for honesty.

    “There’s a big difference between our courage and our convictions, what we believe and what we’re willing to fight for,” Clinton told reporters here. She said voters in Iowa will have a choice “between someone who talks the talk, and somebody who’s walked the walk.”

    Asked directly whether she intended to raise questions about Obama’s character, she replied: “It’s beginning to look a lot like that.”

    So, it looks like Robert Novak’s predictions back in mid-November are coming to pass, despite Clinton denials to the contrary;

    Agents of Sen. Hillary Clinton are spreading the word in Democratic circles that she has scandalous information about her principal opponent for the party’s presidential nomination, Sen. Barack Obama, but has decided not to use it. The nature of the alleged scandal was not disclosed.

    This word-of-mouth among Democrats makes Obama look vulnerable and Clinton look prudent. It comes during a dip for the front-running Clinton after she refused to take a stand on New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer’s now discarded plan to give driver’s licenses to illegal aliens.

    But Clinton’s cohorts denied it;

    Clinton’s camp swung back, denying they were spreading rumors about Obama or that they planted information with Novak, wondering why Obama would want to fall into a “Republican trap” to “pit Democrats against Democrats.”

    So it looks like Novak does know what he’s talking about – let’s see what surfaces from non-Clinton sources in the next few weeks, since the Clinton campaign dosen’t want to get any splash back on their candidate.

  • Great day in the morning

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    I went to bed last night thinking that Chavez had pulled off what Raul Baduel had called a coup. I opened my email at 5am and found an email from Kate pointing to her post of her experiences at the Venezuelan Embassy in  DC yesterday. So I drowzily clicked over and read it. Then out of the corner of my room, I heard the CNBC newsreader announce that Chavez had lost the referendum. Huh?

    I scrolled up from Kate’s post to her more recent one “Chavismo is no longer invincible” and just stared.

    Well, that was a couple of hours of ago (that I really don’t remember well) now other links;

    Manuel writes;

    Democracy wins, autocracy losesChavez lost 3 million votes since last yearChavez lost 3 million votes since last yearI am exhausted, good night and thanks…

    Chavez lost 3 million votes since last yearI am exhausted, good night and thanks…

    Quico at Caracas Chronicles;

    Quico says: Venezuela rejects authoriarianism. It’s a historic day. The myth of Chávez-the-invincible is no more.

    Daniel says;

    In spite of all the obscene governmental advantage, all the threats and blackmails, the Venezuelan people found the strength to say NO.

    ¡Gloria al Bravo Pueblo!

     

    That’s “Glory to the brave people”, by the way.

    Bloodthirsty Liberal quipped;

    I wouldn’t be surprised if he did have the votes, but spoiled some of the ballots by using them as napkins.

    From Wall Street Journal Online’s John Lyons, an attempt to explain the loss;

    The defeat for Mr. Chávez, who is accustomed to trouncing opponents by 20 percentage points, shows how many of his own supporters have soured on his policies amid rising crime and persistent scarcities of basic goods.

    High on the list of complaints is food shortages. Mr. Chávez’s decision to fix prices has resulted in acute scarcities of many staples. Last week, the government-owned luxury hotel, the Alba, was refusing to serve customers cafe con leche, a Venezuelan breakfast standard.

    “In all my life, I never would have thought there would be no milk in Caracas,” said Luis Morillo, a 30-year-old bodyguard who was standing in line to vote in Caracas’s working-class Catia district, a traditional Chávez stronghold. Mr. Morillo said he planned to vote against the changes.

    To be sure, Mr. Chávez retains a deep reservoir of support among Venezuela’s majority poor and working class. Riding a global oil boom, Mr. Chávez has boosted spending on health care, food subsidies and work programs. Government spending was rising at an annual rate of 70% in late 2006, although the rate has since slowed to about 40%.

    That helps explain why Mr. Chávez can count on voters such as Marisol Herredia, a 38-year-old hairdresser. She said she was unnerved by how much power the constitutional changes would give Mr. Chávez, but she voted for it anyway, she said. The changes also guarantee her a fixed monthly salary and health insurance, benefits too good to pass up.

    I guess the good news and the bad news are the same; Chavez will be President until 2012.

  • …with bated breath (Updated 2x)

    News outlets are claiming a Chavez victory;

    Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez appeared headed for victory on Sunday in a referendum on allowing the leftist to rule for as long as he keeps winning elections, government-linked sources said, citing exit polls.
     
    Three exit polls showed Chavez won by between six and eight percentage points in a vote where turnout was low, the two sources said.

    If confirmed, it would be by far the slimmest victory margin in the career of a man who wants to rule for life and turn the major oil exporter into a socialist state.

    Daniel reports the same unconfirmed results;

    Unfortunately I have also received some information that would indicate that the SI won. My NO contact has not given me any sign of life to deny them. Maybe the SI indeed won by 53%. Cheating? Not cheating? We will see, but even if the SI won with 53% it is a 10% drop for Chavez and a bitter victory. Though that will certainly not stop him from exacting revenge on us for not acclaiming him. A psychotic narcissistic is a psychotic narcissistic, you cannot help that.

    Miguel writes that Globovision reports isolated malfeasance. Guess which side;

    5:31 PM Globovision report Chavista group detained in Zulia trying to vote twice.

     

    Photos from The Devil’s Excrement

    Actually, I’m obsessed with the Venezuelan referendum today. It’s appropriately enough the 184th anniversary of the Monroe Doctrine, too.

    Since Hugo Chavez has declared an embargo on news about the vote until the “official” results are posted, I figure, I’ll be waiting a while. But I don’t see anything worth writing about that’s more important at the moment. From AFP;

    The 69 reforms they are being asked to approve include lengthening the presidential mandate from six years to seven, allowing the government to censor the media in times of emergency, and permitting the expropriation of property.

    Many voters were woken before dawn by trucks blaring recordings of trumpet revelries. In Caracas, fireworks crumped over the skyline to rouse residents.

    There were lines in front of many polling centers early in the day, which was sunny and warm. The capital’s public transport was free.

    More than 100,000 soldiers were deployed across the country. Unlike in past polling, there were no EU or Organization of American States election monitors, only international observers invited by the government.

    In yesterday’s New York Times, Raul Baduel wrote in “Why I Parted Ways With Chavez“ (h/t Silvio Canto, Jr.);

    Venezuela will thrive only when all its citizens truly have a stake in society. Consolidating more power in the presidency through insidious constitutional reforms will not bring that about. That’s why the Venezuelan people should vote no tomorrow, and prepare to pursue a political culture that will finally be able to steer our beloved nation toward true economic and social progress.

    Cheat Seeking Missiles has background on Baduel. 

    The last poll from Katy at Caracas Chronicles;

     

    The Devil’s Excrement reports low early morning turnout, but a commenter says nearly a third of their particular precinct had voted in the first hour.

    Daniel at Venezuela News and Views describes early morning in Venezuela today;

    I was awakened at 4 AM by some scandal in the street, an army truck bringing some material to the voting station in front. Not the faintest attempt at discretion.

    And then at around 4:30-5 [A]M a truck with loud speakers started circulating around with “La diana“, which is the army trumpet wake up call used by chavismo to rouse its voters. Now, what is curious is that it is really the first time I heard it with such insistence. I mean, the school in front of me tends to vote 2 to 1 against Chavez, and perturbing the slumber of the folks is not going to gain chavismo any vote. That sound tends to be used in the barrios to wake people so that they all go early in packs to vote, not only for security reasons but also to be herded by chavismo political agents, least one of them strays. so why that truck going back and forth and making no sound sleep possible until around 6 AM? Provocation? A demonstration of the nervousness of chavismo?

    The bad news if you ask me is that I was not awakened by the voters starting to vote. That is, from past narratives readers might remember that at 6 AM there is usually a line formed in front before the polls open and the chatter of people always wakes up the neighborhood. Nothing this morning. No lines at all, a few people walk in on occasion and leave fast!!!! Either abstention is going to be large or the CNE has gotten so efficient that voting is now a breeze…. 

    UPDATE: Venezuela News and Views and The Devil’s Excrement are updating their posts at the links above with their observations on the voting. 

    Fausta’s Blog has more links and news. Jungle Mom (a long time resident of Venezuela’s interior, and now living in Paraguay, I believe) points towards Daniel’s News and Views, too and asks for comments from Venezuelans. Kate at A Columbo-Americana’s Perspective has VZ blogger links.

    Julia voted;

    My new friends at Western Hemisphere Policy Watch wonder “Venezuela Lurching Towards Civil War?” A Blog For All  and Bryan at Hot Air compare Venezuela’s vote to Russia’s. In Redstate, Pejman Yousefzadeh says democracy is under seige. No More Spin outlines the Constitutional reforms that are being voted upon today. Neptunus Lex writes that the referendum disputes Francis Fukuyama’s contention that the end of the Cold War ended history. Michele Malkin has some more poll results.

    And the US Left still clings to the “Operation Pliers” farce.

    Keep watching this space for news – if you have a tip, email me at admin@thisainthell.us or comment here.

  • Final chapter of the Scott Thomas Beauchamp saga

    Franklin Foer has written the final chapter of the “Shock Troops” saga. Bob Owens of Confederate Yankee fame writes at Pajamas Media;

    It takes him fourteen pages, but Franklin Foer finally makes an admission regarding Scott Thomas Beauchamp’s posts in The New Republic.

    …in light of the evidence available to us, after months of intensive re-reporting, we cannot be confident that the events in his pieces occurred in exactly the manner that he described them. Without that essential confidence, we cannot stand by these stories.

    Foer’s opus begins 13 pages earlier and attempts the impossible feat of justifying his editorial leadership at The New Republic from the time period leading up to the publication of Beauchamp’s work to the fourteen-page long screed that culminated in the pained retraction above.

    It’s beyond me why it has taken this long – except that I know the Left has taken a page from the Clinton book. They wait a sufficiently long time hoping no one is paying attention, or sick and tired the whole thing, when they finally admit they were wr…uh…wr…uh…wr…uh…wrong.

    Spree at Wake Up America has the transcripts and background leading up to this point. Bloggers are declaring victory, once again. Of course, this blogger said it was BS back when it began – I took a personal interest when I found out it was my last company, A 1/18th Infantry, and wrote a piece that is still one of the highest traffic posts on this blog though it was written back in July. In August, Beuchamp recanted, but we already knew it was a fantasy because GI Jane posted an email she’d gotten from Beauchamp’s First Sergeant.

    Michele Malkin says “Buh-bye, Franklin Foer“. Jimbo at Black Five says “Please fire Foer“. DrewM at Ace of Spades says;

    I’ve read it all now and it’s a sad story about people who should have known better but were blinded by their faith in The Narrative. TNR was like Fox Mulder, they wanted to believe.

    Actually, it’s more than that. Everyone who had spent more than a day in the infantry was telling these guys they were wrong, but they’re so steeped in their elitist bullshit culture that tells them everything they need to know is in books, they disregarded people with actual experiences similar to Beauchamp’s fantasies.

    If they’d stopped and swallowed their pride for a moment and asked actual authorities, instead of the gumballs that tell them what they want to hear, they could have avoided this whole mess from the start. And apparently, according to Michele Malkin’s transcripts, Foer knew Beuachamp was lying back in August. By not apologizing back then, he needs to lose his job.

    Now Foer calls it “The Fog of War“, invoking Tzun Tzu as an excuse for his own journalistic failures. The last four months have had nothing to do with war, Franklin. You should have called the “Fog of Leftist Manipulation”.

    Patterico quotes Foer;

    When I last spoke with Beauchamp in early November, he continued to stand by his stories. Unfortunately, the standards of this magazine require more than that.

    Horseshit. Your magazine has no standards – especially if you’re blaming your writers for your own shortcomings. Beauchamp gave you exactly the stories you were looking for – you used him just like you used the entire military for sensationalist journalism. Maybe Mad or Cracked can use your brand of journalism.

    See Blue Crab Boulevard‘s “Fouteen Pages and Run For Cover” for more links and a perfect cartoon. Allahpundit writes;

    On the very first page, Foer introduces Beauchamp’s pieces as exercises in “how war distorts moral judgments.” That’s what they wanted to hear, that’s what they got. Their explanation for why they have to cut Beauchamp loose now: War distorts mental judgments, too. Perfect.

  • Court upholds immigration laws in VA

    Earlier this year, Prince William County, VA passed legislation that would require anyone to prove they’re legal residents of the county before they participated in any county programs. Seems reasonable doesn’t it? Well, not according to the illegal residents of Prince William County (surprise), so they took the County to court. 
    They were handed their collective ass yesterday in court, according to Seth McLaughlin of the Washington Times;

    A federal judge yesterday threw out a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of Prince William County’s [Va.] new ordinance denying services to illegal aliens. 
    Judge James C. Cacheris said during a brief hearing at U.S. District Court in Alexandria that the plaintiffs lacked standing to challenge the resolution passed earlier this year by the Prince William Board of County Supervisors.

    Judge Cacheris said he will issue a written ruling at a later time detailing his decision. 
    The Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund filed the lawsuit last month on behalf of plaintiffs who included illegal aliens and the Woodbridge Workers Committee, an organization of day laborers in Prince William County.

    But county attorneys argued that the plaintiffs could not demonstrate they had suffered any harm under the measures, which have not been fully implemented. 
    “This is a big win,” said Corey Stewart, chairman of the Prince William Board of County Supervisors. “This is the best shot that some of the best litigators in the country can throw at our resolution against illegal immigration. I think that is very telling.”

    So what’s the result going to be? Well, I wrote back in October that Ike Leggett, Montgomery County (Maryland) Supervisor (across the Potomac River from PW County) has already accepted the inevitable – instead of passing similar laws that would prevent illegal immigrants from invading Maryland and draining us of our resources (the resources that we pay for with our tax dollars) Leggett just criticized Prince William County instead;

    “When one jurisdiction tries to force people to move around, they don’t leave,” Leggett said. “They either shift the burden from one community to another, or they go underground. That’s why this is not a solution.”

    The result will be expanded services for illegals in Montgomery County, Maryland at the expense of legal residents because Maryland legislators are more interested in appearing humane to the world than protecting their own citizens.

    (Crossposted at Red Maryland)

  • Chavez threatens to cut off US oil shipments

     

    Photo from Reuters

    As promised, Chavez held his own rally yesterday, according to Wall Street Journal’s Jose de Cordoba;

    In a fiery speech before tens of thousands, President Hugo Chávez alleged the U.S. was planning to sabotage a vote Sunday on proposed constitutional changes and threatened to cut off oil shipments if Washington did so.

    It was one of a string of threats issued by Mr. Chávez two days before the country votes on extensive constitutional changes that if approved would give the populist president enormous powers and set the legal framework for a Cuba-like socialist state. He also threatened to nationalize Spanish-owned banks here if King Juan Carlos doesn’t apologize for telling the Venezuelan president to “shut up” last month during a conference of Latin American heads of state.

    Mr. Chávez also told the army and oil workers to immediately take up positions to guard oil facilities ahead of the referendum Sunday.

    The threats underscore the increasing tension in Venezuela in what is expected to be a close vote on Mr. Chávez’ proposed constitutional overhauls. In the speech Friday, Mr. Chavez repeatedly alleged the opposition wouldn’t accept unfavorable election results as part of a U.S. plan to get him out of power. “They are making plans to turn Venezuela into chaos,” he said. “We won’t allow it.”

    U.S. officials in Washington dismissed any suggestion that the U.S. plans to meddle in the Venezuelan electoral process.

    “We reject and are disappointed by the allegations that the U.S. would be involved in any type of conspiracy to affect the outcome of the referendum,” said Heide Bronke, a State Department spokeswoman.

    Maybe in the short term Chavez’ threats will impact the US, but in the long term, Venezuela’s economy would suffer more without petro-dollars. Alberto de la Cruz at Babalu Blog agrees;

    With 60% of Venezuela’s oil production going to the US, the interminable mouth-flapper could ill afford to take such a financial hit. But threats such as these sure do make provocative headlines.

    Daniel from Venezuela News and Views reports some more polling data from Venezuela on the upcoming referendum;

    Anyway, it is from a famous pollster who has been holding a tracking for a few months now. Early he predicted a possible SI victory, now his prediction is a NO victory by at least 7% and up to 16%. As usual, all depends from participation. What is new here is the guy going on record predicting a 7% minimum. Well, the poll is through phone interviews as tracking polls do and thus the error is 4%. So the NO, according to his own words, could squeeze by a meager 3%, enough to cause trouble and even allow enough cheating by the CNE. At any rate, my 5% gut feeling prediction keeps strengthening 🙂

    But the most interesting part of the tracking poll is the result for the following question: “Is it right for Chavez to qualify anyone that votes NO as a traitor”? Stunningly 70% of the respondents disagreed!

    That indicates to me that Venezuelans had an epiphany about the type of leader Chavez is becoming – that would affect the secret balloting. But Chavez has successfully manipulated elections in the past, with Jimmy Carter’s help. The fix may already me in. 

    Francisco at Caracas Chronicles reports some news about potential voters;

    And then, the stunner: four out of five of respondents are now telling Schemel they’re sure to vote. Surely, if turnout is that high, the Sí is toast…

    The Devil’s Excrement writes that Chavez promised followers he’d remain in power for life at his rally yesterday;

    With promises of running Venezuela until 2050 if he lives that long, when he will be 95 years old, Hugo Chavez closed his rally of the close of the campaign for referendum reform. And if some of his supporters were having doubts about Chavez’ intentions, just daring to say that revealed to a great extent he autocrat’s frame of mind.

    The Left, of course, is perpetuating the “Operation Pliers” story. A large number of the hits to this blog over the last few days have been Google searches for the fantasy concocoted in Chavez’ palace. My new friends at Western Hemisphere Policy Watch are convinced that Cuba’s DGI and Venezuela’s DISIP (secret police agencies) are behind the story.

    Cuba’s Brig. General Eduardo Delgado Rodriguez and Venezuela’s Pedro Carreño need to reign their people in. In the end, the “blame the USA and CIA” mantra is not going to get you out of this mess. The region would be a much more stable place of countries such as these would simply look North, know their own limits and place in the larger scheme of things, and just take care of their own. Newsflash amigos y amigas: you are all going to lose, the US and freedom always win.

    Reuters uncovers a more dastardly plot;

    Venezuelan businesses spent years conspiring against President Hugo Chavez, but the government now says they have found a new way to play dirty — hiding toilet paper to sway Sunday’s vote on expanding Chavez’s
    powers.

    Naw, that doesn’t sound paranoid at all. Neither does this;

    “We know there are sectors that are hiding toilet paper,” Finance Minister Rodrigo Cabezas told state television on Friday. “A group of business leaders are playing mean, playing dirty … of course trying to create the sensation of product shortage during the elections.” 

    Fidel Castro fans the flames of paranoia;

    Venezuela, whose people are heirs to Bolivar’s ideas which transcend his era, is today facing a world tyranny a thousand times more powerful than that of Spain’s colonial strength added to that of the recently born United States which, through Monroe, proclaimed their right to the natural wealth of the continent and to the sweat of its people. 

    Chavez’ allies are defecting en masse, according to Washington Times’ Jeremy McDermott;

    Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez’s ex-wife, his former mentor and the previous defense minister are among the millions opposing a referendum tomorrow on plans to give the Venezuelan leader greatly expanded powers.

    “This reform definitely favors the president, as there is a clear and evident concentration of power in his hands,” said his ex-wife, Marisabel Rodriguez, a former member of the National Assembly and now a tireless critic.

    Other former allies of Mr. Chavez — who says he wants to rule until the 2030s and possibly for the rest of his life — also called the referendum a power grab.

    “This is a constitutional fraud, which the country must repudiate and reject,” said Luis Miquilena, 88, once Mr. Chavez’s political mentor and the mastermind of his first electoral victory in 1998.

    Perhaps the most damning opposition has come from Gen. Raul Baduel, the former defense minister who rescued Mr. Chavez when he was briefly overthrown in 2002.

    Gen. Baduel calls the constitutional referendum a “coup d’etat.”

    Like I said yesterday, however the vote turns out tomorrow, Venezuelans are going to have a tough day come Monday.

    Read more at Fausta’s Blog and Captain’s Quarters. Bloodthirsty Liberal says “He ain’t heavy, he’s my despot”

    From Scott Ott:

    “There is a sinister plot brewing,” said Mr. Chávez, “to try to make me believe that everyone is plotting against me. They’re trying to scuttle this referendum by making me look like an irrational ranting maniac.”

  • Yet Another Phony Soldier

    In reference to the Hillary Clinton plant, Keith Kerr at the CNN/YouTube Republican debate the other night, David Horowitz received this email (h/t Atlas Shrugs);

    In spite of my current distractions at home I am forced to enter the public arena to express my outrage at the current republican debate as managed by CNN. Gay Keith is not a brigadier general. He is not even an active duty retired army officer. He spent his years as a reservist solely in the state of California military bureaucracy. His bio is published in the gay organization dedicated to voiding the “don’t ask don’t tell” policy.

    For details. You must note that Kerr was retired from the inactive army reserves in the grade of colonel. With the exception of a few years served on active duty as a lieutenant his entire service was in the reserves in California. He was placed in retired reserve status with the California National Guard reserves and promoted to brigadier general in that federally unrecognized status.

    It damn sure is tough to be a lying sack o’shit in the age of the internet, ain’t it? In case you don’t remember who General Kerr was, Michele Malkin can refresh us;

    The tallest plant was a retired gay vet, one “Brig. Gen. Keith Kerr,” who questioned – or rather, lectured – the candidates on video and in person about the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy that bans open gays from the military.

    Funny. “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” was exactly the policy CNN adopted in not telling viewers that Kerr is a member of Lesbian-Gay-Bisexual- Transgender Americans for Hillary.

    Hot Air has “CNN Defending their Vetting Procedures“