The Lime House and The State House

Treason doth never prosper: what's the reason? Why, if it prosper, none dare call it treason.
John Harington, British Poet, 1613


















What do these buildings have to do with one another?

The first is the lime-green house with many residents, home of the now famous Paw family. Father Paw is a postman, earning $49,000 per year; Mother Paw is a Housewife. But from this little oak at 41 Shelbourne Ave., a mighty oak has grown. Father and Mother Paw, along with their four adult children (one of whom is a school lunch aide) who list this address as their residence, have donated a combined $45,000 to Hillary Clinton since 2005, for her presidential campaign, her Senate re-election last year and her political action committee. In all, the six Paws have donated a total of $200,000 to Democratic candidates since 2005, election records show. Remarkably, their donations mirror those of controversial Chinese 'bundler' Norman Hsu, who also listed the tiny house as his legal address for a brief period of time.

Here are some 'blasts from the past' regarding the Clinton Administration and the Chinese with Cash -

President Bill Clinton, during his 1996 re-election campaign, accepted cash which in some cases originated with Chinese military officials anxious to influence Defense Dept. export policy on advanced missile and satellite technology. The policy ultimately was changed by the Clinton Administration in the way the Chinese wanted, and they obtained the highly sensitive technology over Defense Dept. protests. In that scandal, the FBI traced $300,000 in contributions back to the Chinese Embassy in Washington, D.C. Back then, the Chinese relied on just one or two intermediaries to serve as the donor, so they were caught, but the results seem to be effective.

Operating with an interim top secret clearance (but without FBI investigation or foreign security check) Commerce official Huang requested several top secret files on China just before a meeting with the Chinese ambassador. Huang and the Riadys then held a meeting with Clinton. Not long after, Huang went to work as a Democratic fund-raiser, but remained on Commerce's payroll as a $10,000-a-month consultant. Huang raised $5 million for the campaign. About a third of that was returned as having come from illegal sources. Among the problem contributions: $250,000 to the DNC from five Chinese businessmen in order to have a brief meeting with Clinton at a fund raiser.

Macao businessman Ng Lap Seng, closely linked to a couple of major Chinese-owned enterprises, was regularly bringing in large sums of money to the United States, according to customs records. On one occasion, he arrived with $175,000 and then two days later met with Charlie Trie and Mark Middleton at the White House. That evening Ng sat at Clinton's table at a DNC fund raiser.

The New York Times reported in 1998 that the Defense Technology Security Administration said Loral's unauthorized release of sensitive technology to the Chinese gave rise to at least three "major" violations of U.S. national security, three medium violations and 12 "minor" infractions.

Throughout these dealings, the CEO of Loral, Bernard Schwartz, contributed at least $1.5 million to the Democrats, making him the single largest contributor to these groups during the period in question.

Three major players in the China scandal – John Huang, Charlie Trie and Johnny Chung – were all allowed by the Justice Department to cop pleas.

Remember now? You will read a lot about it briefly, but Labor Day may wash those recollections away.

Of course, Sen. Clinton is giving the controversial money to charity. She made use of it, and will garner more donations to replace it. Early Money Is Like Yeast, they say, so returning questionable donations later AFTER you've become front runner is not as impressive as it seems.

And what does the Clinton Lime House have to do with the Patrick State House?

Well, today Mararet Botsford was confirmed as Deval Patrick's first pick for the Supreme Judical court, after a 5 - 3 vote (unusual in itself as they are commonly unanimous). The Friday before Labor Day isn't the sort of high press day such an event would usually garner.

But - one day after the nomination was made, Judge Botsworth's husband Stephen Rosenfeld, contributed three times the legal limit to Patrick's campaign fund. It is difficult for him to plead ignorance, as he was Dukakis' legal counsel. Naturally, the money will be returned through proper channels.

It would appear that even though he worked in the Clinton White House, Deval didn't learn enough of the Lime House tricks - but, getting another liberal justice appointed despite campaign finance improprieties is a step in the...well...direction he wants to take.

Sunday Summer Sing Along - 2007 - Number 8!

Yet another musician from Hope, Arkansas and the Arkansas Goveror's Mansion is running for President. Cheery Mike Huckabee is an excellent speaker and has his own group, called Capitol Offense. Porcupine is sure that as a country rock musician, Gov. Huckabee will appreciate this offering modeled upon the greatest song of Miss Patsy Cline called 'Crazy':

Crazy, They Said I was Crazy for Tryin’
I'm Crazy, Crazy for Speaking So True;
I knew I had the Ideas That You Wanted
And Then Someday You'd Be Wanting Somebody New!

Worry, Why Should I Let Myself Worry?
Wond'ring - What in the World Did I Do?
Crazy - for Jumping to Real Big Dog Status,
I'm Crazy for Straw Polls, and Crazy for Poll Rolls,

And I'm Crazy Running for You!
Crazy - For Hoping My Speeches Could Hold You
I'm Crazy with Trying, and Crazy, not Lying,
Be Crazy – Say I’m Voting for You!

Next Week - Sunday Summer Sing Along Grand Finale!

Gadfly Triumphant!

“Mr. Ferson asked if I were a Journalist. I told him that depended on your point of view, and explained who I was, and what I was doing. Ferson told me that he would be happy to speak with a REAL Journalist, but I didn’t fit that description. I told him I would be happy to speak with a real war hero, but Glenn Marshall didn’t fit that description.”

Peter Kenney, Show #550, The Great Gadfly



Porcupine has long thought that it’s a shame that Peter Kenney’s controversial television show, The Great Gadfly, doesn’t receive greater scope and distribution. To be sure, Mr. Kenney opines almost exclusively upon local matters, but his sardonic stylings and imaginative camera work place him at the very top of local affairs programming – now on the verge of extinction, if the telecommunications industry has anything to say about it. His work is so good that he was temporarily banned from the production studio, for reasons unrelated to obscenity. Think how muckraking he must be to have THAT occur in the feel-good world of public access programming!

Peter Kenney has long been a semi-professional gadfly. He is an easy person to meet and talk to, but a hard one to keep talking to, as almost invariably you will disagree with him about something, and are then cast into his mental oubliette of worthless persons. Still, there is no doubt that his mind, however opinionated, is a first class one, and his controversial program is always a treat – agree or disagree with him. Porcupine admits to sometimes feeling a little queasy when Mr. Kenney describes his thoughts so accurately that he could be doing a live remote from inside his prickly head, but Gadfly is a dead-on observer with a long memory.

It is his long memory which has started a major scandal, and has once again called into question the relationship between blogging and traditional mainstream media (MSM), for a blogger is what Mr. Kenney has become in addition to his television show. He writes for a virtual paper called Cape Cod Today, run by Walter Brooks, which also gave Porcupine his start in blogging. In some circles, Walter has a lot to answer for.

When the casino vote in Middleboro endorsed a contract with the newly recognized Wampanoag tribe, one of Gadfly’s leg hairs trembled. What WAS it about Glen Marshall that he remembered? Marshall referred to himself as having served as 'a Hero of Khe Sahn' during his VietNam service. Gadfly, with a little persistence, discovered that Marshall had reported a variety of dates of birth in different places (Gadfly strongly insinuates on his show that it is an attempt by Marshall to evade an accurate CORI check), but one date could not be disguised. Khe Sahn occurred only three months after Marshall graduated from Falmouth High – while he did serve in VietNam, he could not have taken part in that battle. Likewise, his claim to five Purple Hearts and a Silver Star is also fictitious. As Kenney said in this Friday's television show, the service he did provide in Viet Nam was distinguished enough; it is a shame that he sought to needlessly enhance it. It was during Gadfly’s attempts to verify the military service record that he had the above-quoted exchange with tribal spokesman Ferson of the Liberty Square Group. Mr. Ferson is doubtless wishing he had been less condescending, although it appears to be a habit. The Cape Cod Times reports that Mr. Ferson offered them an exclusive interview with Glenn Marshall if they would just hold back on their story about Marshall’s criminal conviction. The Times was unmoved by Mr. Ferson’s veiled threat that he would be talking with the Globe instead, and went ahead with the story.

But one again, Gadfly scooped the Times and the Globe. Part of the buzz surrounding the faux military background is that those stories were part of a biography, erroneously supplied by a Council member, and that Glenn never said those things himself. Except that he did – in his testimony before Congress, at the Tribal Recognition hearings. Gadfly was brandishing a transcript on Friday, more than the Times and Globe had by Friday night.

This brings us to Gadfly’s ultimate scoop – that Glenn Marshall is a rapist, convicted in 1981. What is awkward for the Cape Cod Times is that the entire story was in their own archives, but during their enhanced six part series on casino gambling, none of the ace cub reporters they employ had stumbled across it. It took a curmudgeon with a long memory to do that. As Gadfly pointed out on Friday, with his felony conviction, Marshall couldn’t get a liquor license in Gadfly’s home town of Yarmouth, but here was the state considering giving him oversight of a multi-million dollar business.

So the credibility two major newspapers and a multi-million dollar deal have been jeopardized because of the efforts of an ostensibly insignificant Blogger, making use of public records and intelligence. Why the MSM continues its disparagement of citizen journalists like Peter Kenney is incomprehensible, unless it is some blind trades-union loyalty to journalism school graduates. To Porcupine, this is the Dan Rather National Guard memo story all over again, writ smaller for a local stage. The only difference is that nobody’s head will roll at the newspapers – and the news will continue is obdurate stance of not mentioning where their information is actually coming from – the Triumphant Gadfly, Peter Kenney.

Priority Amongst Outrages

’Tis true; and therefore women, being the weaker vessels, are ever thrust to the wall.
Romeo and Juliet, William Shakespeare (1564–1616)

Porcupine is an avid football fan. He greatly enjoys the Patriots, despises Peyton Manning, and is perturbed by the oxygen wasted lamenting the serial failure of the Red Sox while the Patriots are World Champions over again. But the NFL is not a happy place as another season opens.

Quarterback Michael Vick has agreed to a plea bargain for dog-fighting charges against him, as the world knows. Today, the Atlanta Chapter of the NAACP decided to come to his defense.

The more spurious part of the defense can be dealt with quickly. While R.L. White, president of the Atlanta Chapter of the NAACP said he does not support dog fighting, he also said he considers it as bad as hunting. "His crime is, it was a dog," White said. Now that bear baiting has been brought under control, the comparison between hunting and dog fighting is ludicrous. A deer hunter, killing a buck with a single clean shot bears no resemblance to a man who repeatedly put a dog into a pit to maul and be mauled, until pain or death overcame him and he was finally able to leave the “Bad Newz Kennels”.

The second part of Mr. White’s statement bears a little more examination. In decrying the plea agreement, which curtails Vick’s ability to ‘defend’ himself, Mr. White said, "Some have said things to save their own necks. Michael Vick has received more negative press than if he had killed a human being."

As they say in the world of sports, let’s go to the videotape.

• In 1996, Hall of Famer Warren Moon went to trial for choking his wife during an argument. No games missed.

• In March of 2005, two Tennessee Titans were arrested on domestic violence charges. Titans tackle Brad Hopkins was arrested and charged with domestic assault after a confrontation with his wife outside a Cool Springs restaurant, as he grabbed her by the neck and choked her when she would not end a cell phone conversation. Cornerback Samari Rolle was charged with assaulting his wife at the couple's home in Brentwood after Danisha Rolle was treated for three stitches above her left eye at a local hospital. The Titans later released Rolle, who was signed by the Baltimore Ravens. No need to ruin his career over that.

• November 25, 2005, (Thanksgiving?) Kansas City Chiefs defensive tackle Lionel Dalton was arrested for domestic violence.

• January 16, 2006, Seattle Seahawks starting right tackle Sean Locklear was in jail for investigation of assault after his girlfriend told police he grabbed her around the neck. He was suspended for Week 8, the game against Kansas.

• October 25, 2006, Reuben Droughns was arrested but later acquitted on drunken driving charges and had a domestic violence case against him dropped by prosecutors in Denver citing a lack of evidence. After missing two games because on injuries, he was traded to the New York Giants.

• May 25, 2007, a false imprisonment charge against Denver Broncos wide receiver Brandon Marshall stemming from a domestic dispute was dismissed after Marshall completed anger-management classes.

• July 23, 2007, Former Seahawk defensive tackle Chad Eaton was arrested for ‘investigation of domestic violence’.

This is a far from comprehensive list, and involves only incidents of violence which actually proceed to court, and are not dropped quietly, or dealt with by the NFL's Domestic Violence program. Some coaches are more strict and serious about this than others, but the overall attitude is discouraging. Gambling seems to be the only genuine taboo in professional sports.

Porcupine does not wish to gloss over Michael Vick's sadistic and brutal conduct - some of his best friends are dogs. Still, this incident reminds Porcupine that the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals existed long before the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children - let alone women. Since Michael Vick's career is ending, perhaps it's time the NFL takes a hard look at other behaviors as well, or Mr. White will have a dead human to compare to a dog fight.

No Place for Haters

Porcupine has been trying to put this post up since last Friday - but the story keeps evolving so fast that he has held off. Now, however, the time is ripe, if not passed, and Porcupine wishes to call an unusual coincidence to the attention of all.

It began with listening to Rep. Rachel Kaprilian on the Finneran Forum show on WRKO. Rep. Kaprialian was detailing how she had led the Watertown Town Council to ask the 'No Place for Hate' (NPFH) group to leave, as it refused to recognize the Armenian Genocide by the Ottoman Turks in 1915. As it happens, Porcupine lived next door to survivors of the Genocide, and knew how devastating it had been for them - the grandmother kept the entire front room of the house dark, with candles, incense and ikons as a shrine to remember the family members butchered. Porcupine was much impressed with Rep. Kaprilian's chops in insisting that this lack of acknowledgement was wrong and should be corrected.
While listening, Porcupine was reminded of a recent flap in the Cape Cod 'No Place for Hate' organizations, fairly summarized in an editorial from the Barnstable Patriot HERE. At the time, it seemed like mere political correctness - how could a 'majority' Christian denomination be attacked with a hate crime, since such a target must be, ipso facto, a minority? A deplorable lapse, an oddity.

Also, Porcupine was mildly surprised to hear Rep. Kaprilian speak as if No Place for Hate was some sort of wholly owned subsidiary of the Anti-Defamation League. That isn't how it was presented at the various town meetings which adopted the program. The Harwich No Place For Hate blog - HERE - is typical in listing the ADL among a laundry list of supporters, including ACLU of Mass., ADC, AIM, NAACP, and the Harwich Clergy Association. In fact, virtually all of the NPFH activity on Cape has centered on gender and racial issues, not anti-Semitism. But, just another oddity.

On Saturday, the New England ADL decided to back Rep. Kaprilian and announced that they would agree that the Arlington group should acknowledge the Armenian Genocide. The spokesman was Andrew Tarsy, the regional director for New England. He was intelligent and accomodating, and acknowledged that the massacre of 1.5 million Armenians was indeed a genocide. So once again, chops for Rep. Kaprilian, and all's well that ends well.

But that was not the end. Mr. Tarsy was promptly fired for breaking with national policy, prompting the resignation on Sunday of two board members - Michael Ross, the Boston City councillor and Stewart Cohen, former president of the Polaroid Corp.

By Monday, the ADL was grudgingly admitting that if the word had existed at the time, then perhaps what they persist in calling the 'Armenian massacres' may have been referred to in that way, but it's all over now, and there's no sense in upsetting Turkey, as it's one of the few Muslim nations which isn't bent upon destroying Isreal outright. Yet in fact the word was invented to describe what happened to the Armenians in the 1940's - using their history as a parallel for what might be happening to Jews in Europe.

By today, the ADL had reversed itself, and acknowledged that the use of the term was correct, but had not yet decided to hire back Mr. Tarsy.

The ADL was founded 90 years ago to educate people, to point out that unreasoning hatred must be stopped by the communities in the world. Darfur, Cambodia, Rwanda, Bosnia, Kurdistan - all these ethnic cleansings were and are genocide, and the Jewish ADL should be at the forefront of decrying them.

Which brings us back to Barnstable. The idea of being a No Place for Hate community is a worthy one - as long as Baptists, Balcks, Armenians, Gays, and Jews are all afforded the same respect and protection. Otherwise, the shunners of Hate risk becoming Haters themselves.

Sunday Summer Sing Along - 2007 - Number 7!

This week, Porcupine considers the petulant candidacy of John Edwards - Senator, former Vice Presidential Candidate, and talk show host in touch with the dead (no, not that last bit...although he DID run with John Kerry) ... to the tune of 'Send In the Clowns' from the Stephen Sondheim show, 'A Little Night Music'.

I know I’m Right
I Know You’re Wrong
Just Get Me Elected
We’ll Get Along.
Pollsters are Clowns
Just Media Clowns.

I’m From the South
Speak for the Poor
Forget the Haircuts
And High Class Couture
Reporters are Clowns
Republican Clowns.

Just When I Had Bush in My Sight
Finally Knowing I’d Hang His Mistakes on the Right,
Making My Entrance Again with My Usual Flair
Sure of My Lines,
No Voters were There.

Obama’s a farce
Clinton I fear
I thought that Dems Want What I Want
Sorry, not clear.
But where are the clowns?
Those Progressive clowns
Don't bother, they're here.

John Kerry Lost
I Was Vee-Pee
I Took the Second Place Slot
So Now You Owe Me
So where are the clowns?
Those Democrat clowns -
Well, maybe next year….

Wheat and Chaff

Now that the dust has begun to settle from the Ames, Iowa straw poll, Porcupine has some observations about some common themes, and some ideas of his own to present.

First, the Chaff -

The straw poll this year has less significance, as the turnout was so much lower.

Actually, as the Des Moines Register pointed out, attendance this year was more in line with previous polls - it was the heavy turnout in 1999 that was the exception. In 1995, attendance was described as having 'ballooned' to 11,000, while this year it was 14,302, and for the first time, a valid Iowa ID was required. Back in 1987, it was only 3,500 attendees.

The poll is not really a victory for Romney, because the other top tier candidates didn’t compete.

Please explain to Porcupine why building such a well run team that your opponents are afraid to compete, as it might muss their MSM story-lines, isn’t a victory.

Romney did just about as well as expected.

Actually, Romney did better than expected. A Friday poll had Romney at 25%, Giuliani at 23%, McCain at 21%, and Huckabee and Brownback tied with 8% - the others were less than 3%. Romney got 32% of the vote - a slightly better percentage than George Bush in 1999 - and Giuliani and McCain got less than 1%. In fact, McCain got 101 votes overall, fewer than every other candidate but John Cox. Additionally, while Romney beat his nearest competitor by 13%, Bush only defeated Steve Forbes by 10%.

Romney purchased the poll, spending almost $500 per vote.

If Ames were the only Iowa event, that assessment would be correct. As it is, Romney has built name recognition for the caucus, and has established a working team on the ground for that - something his 'top-tier' rivals, those MSM darlings, have yet to do.

Now for the Wheat -

Almost as satisfying as Romney’s first place was Huckabee’s victory over Brownback.

Consider – CNN polling had them both at 8%, and then Sen. Brownback went on a spiteful tear against both Romney and Huckabee, saying that they weren’t Christian or Conservative. Huckabee blew up and pushed back against the television ads and robo-calls, and was rewarded with a second place finish over the candidate who had hired over 100 buses to ferry in his support. There is a phenomenon in Iowa known as ‘faithless riders’ – that is, people take the free ride, maybe even the free ticket and free lunch and swag bag with the tee shirts and foam toys, but still cast their secret ballot for somebody else. At one point on Saturday, Huckabee said, “I can’t buy you. Heck, I can’t even RENT you!” in describing his spending. The secret of his success had to be Faithless Riders, and it gives Porcupine a great deal of pleasure to see such mean spirited and petty tactics blow up in a candidate like Brownback’s face – it couldn’t happen to a nicer guy.

The Three Wise Men – Giuliani, McCain and Fred Thompson – goofed up badly.

The day after the Ames straw poll, the announcement was made that the Iowa caucuses are moved up an additional three weeks, and the New Hampshire primary will be in early January as well. So instead of having a team in place to work now, they have less than five months to put one together, and get to explain why they blew off the state’s single most important GOP fundraiser as well.

Tommy Thompson is an honest man.

He said if he didn’t finish at the top, he would drop out – and he did. That’s what a Straight Talk Express looks like.

Oh - and Ron Paul is apparently a Virtual candidate, as few actual Human Voters showed up for him despite his vast Internet poll victories. Once again - the only polls that count are taken every two years!

Sunday Summer Sing Along - 2007 - Number Six!

This week, Porcupine comments on the remarkable unexamined record of actor and lobbyist, for Senator Fred Dalton Thompson - included in national polls and on the Iowa ballot without even the bother of announcing a candidacy or filing contribution reports. the tune is by the remarkable Fats Waller, and is called 'Honeysuckle Rose'.

Ev'ry GOP fills with jealousy
When they see you coy and free;
Don't blame 'em, with the polls you’ve led,
Honeysuckle Fred.

When you're passing by, pundits droop and sigh,
And I know the reason why;
That folksy humor keeps them fed;
Honeysuckle Fred.

Don't buy sugar - interest groups can just keep it up.
You've got sugar; it's sweet to see them lap it up!

When You’re givin' bread, selling off your ‘cred’,
Keepin’ Senate coffers fed;
You're Connected, Like They Said,
Honeysuckle Fred.

Epoxy Redux

A few weeks ago, on the anniversary of the Big Dig tragedy, Porcupine wrote a post featuring a dishevelled (!) Mitt Romney, titled, "It Was The Epoxy, In the Boardroom, With the Candlestick..". Recent announcements indicate that Atty. General Martha Coakley concurs with Porcupine's assessment.

AG Coakley has announced indictments against Powers Fasteners, Inc., the manufacturer of the epoxy used to hold the heavy cement panels in place. It would be interesting to know if Powers was the contractor in the Salt Lake City Olympics disaster that Romney was involved with, and even more interesting to know if former Chairman Amorello withheld this information from the Governor (or if anyone connected with the company ever donated to Amorello's senate or congressional campaigns).

Either way, kudos and good luck to Martha Coakley, who seems to have delivered an indictment against the right parties.

Sunday Summer Sing Along - 2007 - Number Five!

Porcupine is doing a Red & Blue alternation with the songs in the Sunday Summer Sing Along this year, and after having immortalized Deval Patrick and Barack Obama, it's naturally time to salute the most powerful woman in Democratic Politics. Smart, opnionated, made it own her own...Oh! No, not that Presidential candidate, but a woman with REAL power in politics - the first female President of the Massachusetts - Sen. Therese Murray!

When I Name a Brand-New Chairman,
Have a Budget I Can Unfurl,
It All Makes Me So Glad that I Ran!
I Enjoy Being The Girl!

When Men Say I'm Cute and Funny,

And My Teeth Aren't Teeth, But Pearl...

I Just Cut Their Highway Money!
I Enjoy Being The Girl!

I Flip When the Old Dogs Try to Shun Me,
I Drool Over Taxes I Can Place,
When Told That I Couldn’t Vote Gay Marriage,
My Gavel Put Them Back Right in Their Place!

I am Presidential Female,
And My Future, I Hope, Will Be
In An Office Where I Just Can’t Fail
You’ll Enjoy Governor Murray - Not Tim – But ME!

Next Week: A Fandango for Fred!

Ain't No Valley Low Enough?

Porcupine is very angry now.

It was Jay Leno who pushed him over the edge.

Last night, when commenting about the seizure that chief Justice Roberts suffered at his vacation home in Maine, Leno quipped, “"At first people thought he had just fallen over from leaning too far to the right."

Stop and think about this for a moment. What would be the reaction to a cute joke about FDR falling out of his wheelchair? Or Sen. Inouye or former Sen. Dole having a weak grip? As one friend of Porcupine’s put it:

Coming soon to a theater near you:

Steven Spielberg and Robert Zemekis present:

Back to the Middle Ages

Starring: ignorant morons who post anonymously on the Internet. And Michael J. Fox.

That may seem like overreaction – after all, it’s just one mildly tasteless joke. But Porcupine had been following this in the Knox County Gazette, the newspaper for Rockland, Maine. Here’s their descriptive paragraph.

"St. George Ambulance responded to a call at about 2 p.m. Monday of a man who had fallen 5 to 10 feet and landed on a dock, hitting the back of his head. The patient was ashen and was foaming at the mouth. National news report quotes a Supreme Court spokeswoman as saying that Roberts was conscious the entire time of the incident. That spokeswoman has not returned a telephone call to the newspaper."

Here are some of the reactions on the Comments section in reaction to that story (and to be fair, these represent only about 25% of the comments, most of which were supportive and/or sympathetic):

poedude99 wrote on July 31, 2007 8:56 AM: "Roberts lied to Congress and he thought it was funny; Roberts is a liar with a smiling face.... I hope John Stevens outlasts John Roberts; I think the guy should be re-examined; I am tired of crazy, physiologically incapable judges/ justices who run this country inside secret and dark rooms.... they are sick because they are inbred and their genes are not strong... if this guy did not mention his obvious physical defects to congress, he should be impeached; it is unacceptable that someone can lie their way into a lifetime appointment.

AnahadWolves wrote on July 31, 2007 7:35 AM: "Chief Justice Roberts was, reportedly "foaming at the mouth" as if that was some kind of indicator of a disease or defect, correct? Funny...most far-Right republicans I know generally foam at the mouth; are they diseased or defective? I won't answer that one..."

acnelsonCA wrote on July 30, 2007 11:32 PM: "Seizing? Frothing? OMG!!! Out, out, evil spirits!"

bubbolas wrote on July 30, 2007 11:20 PM: "omigawd...he was ashen, frothing, and conscious at the same time! Sounds like a seizure and a very bad fall (five to ten feet landing on his head)....so I think it's more than just a frothing seizure..but potentially a bad head injury. May he recover swiftly and have a complete change of judicial philosophy!"

somecallmechief wrote on July 30, 2007 10:17 PM: "One can only hope that at the very least this prevents his return to the Supreme Court, or failing that that the fall knocked some sense into him. That's probably too optimistic."

Porcupine has long had a theory about the lack of empathy for epilepsy, or seizure disorder, as it is now more commonly called. You can put your hands over your eyes, and pretend to be blind. You can put your fingers in your ears, and pretend to be deaf. You can sit in a wheelchair, and pretend to be mobility impaired. But short of experiencing a seizure, nothing can prepare you for that sensation or experience. So, it remains mysterious. Justice Roberts hadn’t suffered an episode for 14 years – oooohhh, but he MIGHT have at any moment! Creepy!

Porcupine very much hopes that the Democratic and Progressive wings of the Body Politic will be able to evince some self control about mocking a Conservative about a physical problem. Only last week, we celebrated the 15th anniversary of the effectiveness of the Americans with Disabilities Act. Let’s hope we can all honor that commitment to one another; you are still perfectly free to despise Justice Roberts on the grounds of doctrine and decision. Let’s keep it at that.