Dan Cleary

CNN Tracks Down Suspected Weinergate "Hacker"

Yep, that's him all right.

That's definitely the guy who sent the tweet.

It's written all over his face.

Feel Good Story of the Day: Rapist Foiled When Victim Severs His Manhood

John Wayne Bobbitt could not be reached for comment.

DHAKA, Bangladesh - A 40-year-old Bangladeshi woman cut off a man's penis during an alleged attempted rape and took it to a police station as evidence, police in a remote part of the country said Monday.

The woman, a married mother of three, was attacked Saturday night while she was sleeping in her shanty in Jhalakathi district, some 120 miles south of Dhaka, officers said.

"As he tried to rape her, the lady cut his penis off with a knife. She then wrapped up the penis in a piece of polythene and brought it to the Jhalakathi police station as evidence of the crime," police chief Abul Khaer said.

The woman filed a case accusing the man -- who is also 40 and a married father of five -- of attempted rape, saying that he harassed her for six months.

The severed penis was kept at the police station, and the rape suspect was undergoing treatment in the hospital.

Rape suspect? Well, here's hoping she got the right guy.

h/t: Matthew Hurtt.

Cross-posted at JWF.

Michael Bloomberg: 50 Years From Now the Earth Might Be "Uninhabitable"

Scary stuff.

But don't panic! All you need to do is cough up more taxes to science experts like Michael Bloomberg, and the global warming apocalypse can be averted.

Sorry, I meant to say 'climate change apocalypse'.

Whatever - just give Bloomberg your money and nobody will get hurt.

MICHAEL BLOOMBERG: If you ask the public ‘is there global warming,’ is in ’50 years the earth going to be dramatically different or perhaps uninhabitable,‘ their eyes roll. Nobody can think 50 years in advance.

MICHAEL BLOOMBERG: Your job is not to ask the public where they want to go and get behind them. Your job is to tell the public and convince the public where they should go, and lead from the front.

The Mayors of these cities are not asking the public whether they are willing to spend to live healthier lives and live longer. They are there to explain to the public that if they don’t spend that money they’re not going to live as long and not going to be as healthy. And then convince them to come along, reach into their pockets, pay their taxes, change their policies.

Gee, it's too bad Bloomberg isn't running for President. I can just picture the bumper sticker:

Bloomberg 2012: Reach Into Your Pockets, Pay Your Taxes, Obey My Commands

He'd be a shoo-in!

Via Bluegrass Pundit.

Cross-posted at JWF.

Great Moments in Bureaucratic Competence: IRS Often Doles Out Home Energy Tax Credit To People Without Said Home

Makes ya feel good, doesn't it?

Can the Internal Revenue Service handle tax credit programs that pump out billions of dollars to homeowners and buyers? A new federal investigation on home energy tax credits suggests the answer may be: Not quite yet.

The Treasury Department's inspector general for tax administration audited the residential tax credit program, created by Congress to encourage homeowners to install energy-saving equipment and materials in their houses, and found some disturbing oversights.

One part of the program offers 30% credits — with no dollar limit — for solar energy systems, geothermal heat pumps, wind turbines and fuel cells installed before Dec. 31, 2016. A second part of the program — for energy-efficiency home improvements — offered credits up to $1,500 for qualifying exterior windows and doors, insulation and roofing materials.

Both credits have been popular. More than 6.8 million taxpayers received credits during tax year 2009, totaling $5.8 billion through December 2010. But substantial numbers of the filings had problems that went undetected by the IRS, according to the inspector general's investigation. In a review of 5 million returns, auditors found that more than 302,000 taxpayers, who received a total of $234 million in credits from the IRS, showed no evidence of owning a home — the minimum requirement for eligibility.

A review of a smaller sample of returns, supplemented with local real estate property deed information, found that 30% "had no record of owning a home."

I propose we punish the IRS with a one-year, unpaid hiatus.

h/t: Ben Cunningham.

Cross-posted at JWF.

Rep. Debbie Wasserman-Schultz (D-Marblemouth): Loony GOP Wants to Criminalize Illegal Immigration, Or Something

So either you support illegal immigration, or you're a xenophobic right-wing Neanderthal.

That's the official Democrat position on the issue, in a nutshell.

Via Weasel Zippers.

Cross-posted at JWF.

Faint Praise for T-Paw, But I'm Not Damning Him

Here's my take on Tim Pawlenty's candidacy for President of the United States.

I understand he used to be a RINO on a couple of issues.

BUT...

He's seen the light now, I think.

PLUS...

He's not a kook.

He doesn't appear to have a fatal flaw.

He's not a tiresome Beltway relic.

Furthermore, he's actually running, and last time I checked that is still a prerequisite to winning the party nomination. He's also not allergic to tea parties, which is a nice touch. And of course, he's a far cry from the abject failure currently occupying the White House.

So I have Pawlenty penciled in as a definite possibility. He may be a tad boring, but that's OK - so is the the narcolepsy-inducing drone America elected last time around.

There are other potential candidates I'd be more enthusiastic about, but they haven't thrown their hats in the ring yet. Nudge me when they do and I'll reassess.

Cross-posted at JWF.

Business Man Closes Up Shop to Prepare for Rapture. UPDATE: Now He's Hosed

Yeah, I'd have advised against that.

Harold Camping could not be reached for comment.

SPRINGFIELD, Tenn. - One Springfield man has "closed up shop," and is now preparing for the return of Jesus.

Gary Rastelli shut down his Springfield business last Saturday and notified the customers of his lawn mower repair shop.

"I'm not going to charge you anything," he said to his last customer Friday.

Rastelli also made preparation for those he calls the "non-believers." He says he's saved up some water and food, as well as a generator and a well to produce water.

Rastelli is among those who believe that the world is coming to an end on October 21, but he hopes not to be around for that, because he says May 21 is the date of the Rapture.

"There have been many people that are taking it as a joke," he said. "There are a few who are humbling themselves, are frightened or scared."

The Family Radio Network and owner Harold Camping placed billboards around the United States and even the Mid-state area last December claiming that the world will come to an end on Saturday.

Camping predicts the destruction of the earth will begin at 6 p.m. with a massive earthquake.

Theologians and some people in the Christian community have pointed to biblical scriptures like 1 Thessalonians 5:2, which says, "For you yourselves know very well that the day of the Lord will come just like a thief in the night."

"But the rest of that verse says that you are not children of darkness that that day should overtake you as a thief," Rastelli said.

He says he understands that there have been dates given before, but believes Saturday is it, and he's doing his part to spread the word even up until his last customer Friday night.

"I'll check it out. I'm Church of Christ, and I don't... I have to totally disagree with anybody," one customer said.

Nick Braunsheneider, the pastor at Belmont Heights Baptist Church, told Nashville's News 2 that he does not believe the predictions about Saturday.

"It seems to be a contradiction to what Jesus said in the Gospels," he said, adding, "We will not know the day or the hour, and even the angels in heaven don't know the day or the hour. He will come like a thief in the night and we are to be expecting that, we're to be waiting, we need to be ready."

The question a lot of people want to know is how will Rastelli feel on May 22 if he's still in his home in Springfield, Tennessee?

"For me to doubt or the waiver in my belief basically would be sin, because I'd be saying I don't believe God's word, the bible," he said.

Rastelli has already referred his customers to other businesses in town.

Video here.

Cross-posted at JWF.

Gene Simmons 2*, Barack Obama 0

Screw John Kerry.

I nominate Gene Simmons for Secretary of State.

Via Newsbusters.

*ICYMI.

Cross-posted at JWF.

SHOCKING POLL: High Gas Prices Not Popular

What would we ever do without polls?

Here I thought people enjoyed paying an arm and a leg for gasoline. Not true! Turns out even seniors and upper-income households are now feeling the pinch.

Imagine that.

WASHINGTON — As high gasoline prices become commonplace, drivers have made tough choices: scaling back vacations, driving less or ditching the car altogether. And a new Associated Press-GfK poll shows the impact of sustained high prices is spreading among seniors and higher-income Americans.

According to the poll, the share of all Americans who say increases in the price of gasoline will cause serious financial hardship for them or their families in the next six months now tops 4 in 10.

Overall, 71 percent said rising prices will cause some hardship for them and their families, including 41 percent who called it a “serious” hardship. Just 29 percent said rising prices are not causing a negative impact on their finances.

While those with household incomes less than $50,000 were already feeling strained in March, the new poll shows financial pain is increasingly spreading to those with higher incomes. Among those with annual household incomes more than $50,000, 63 percent now say rising prices are causing them financial hardship, up from 55 percent in March.

For older Americans, it’s worse.

The share of seniors expressing financial hardship over gas prices hit 76 percent; it was 68 percent in March.

Nettie Cash, 65, of Dallas, Ga., is cutting back on her medicine because of the cost of fueling up her Buick. Cash is still taking her heart pills but is forgoing her inhaler and ulcer medicine for now.

“It’s not easy,” she said. “You have to do what you have to do.”

Ms. Cash drives a Buick? I bet it's one of those ginormous gas-guzzlers. I'm guessing 8 MPG, tops. Has she considered a trade-in, I wonder?

Cross-posted at JWF.

Delicious Irony: Obama Fanboy Ed Schultz is Very Concerned About "Radical" Whippersnapper Paul Ryan

I'm not sure whether the doctors dropped Ed Schultz on his head in the delivery room or if he was recently kicked in the head by a mule. But somewhere along the way he must have experienced some severe head trauma. Poor guy. It obviously affects his political analysis.

Fortunately for Schultz, that sort of impairment is par for the course over at MessNBC.

Apparently, Mr. Ed believes that allowing Medicare to collapse while doing nothing (except of course demagoguing the bejeezus out of the issue) isn't radical at all. No, no - the radical plan I guess is to come up with a few common sense ideas that preserve benefits for seniors age 55+ while making necessary changes to the program for younger Americans, so that we might have a fighting chance at avoiding certain fiscal and societal calamity.

Who does Paul Ryan think he is, anyway - some neophyte community organizer with perfectly creased pants and an irresistibly cute boyish smile?

Special thanks to Newt Gingrich for teeing this one up for Schultz.

Via Newsbusters.

Cross-posted at JWF.