Ritter campaign caught sock-puppeting my blog

I wake up this morning to find 4 comments on my post "More Bumbling From Ritter" waiting for my approval. 4 comments is a lot for any post of mine onmy personal blog so that seemed a bit suspicious. Each comment was from an "Anonymous" account and each comment was in support of Ritter's veto. I check my site stats just now and there are 14 visits yesterday that arrived at my blog via a direct link from a GoogleDoc. I dig a little deeper and I have 35 visits to my site between June 4th and June 5th, some directly from the GoogleDoc link and others just coming straight here, from IP addresses registered to... The Kenney Group. This the outfit that led the Ritter's severance tax measure to a crushing defeat last fall and who's sole named partner is currently managing Ritter's re-elect campaign.

Let the record show that Bill Ritter's campaign has been caught red-handed sock-puppeting my blog. They apparently have linked to me in a campaign GoogleDoc and are sending staffers and/or volunteers to my blog to post comments in defense of the governor.

I guess in a way I should be flattered that the Kenney Group even knows this little blog exists. Really though I'm just laughing at how pathetically transparent and ham-handed this whole operation has been. The comments themselves read as though they were issued by a communications intern on summer break and the campaign has taken no steps to cover their digital tracks. It also reeks of desperation.

Update: It appears that they found my blog by doing a google blog search on "David Kenney Denver." Hey guv, tell your guy to spend less time googling his name and more time fundraising.

The funniest re-telling of a heart attack scare you'll ever read

One of my favorite bloggers, Sir Charles of Cogitamus, is on the mend from a heart attack scare. I'm glad he's doing better and that he didn't lose his sense of humor through the whole ordeal. Get well soon Sir Charles.

A note to Bill Ritter's campaign

I'm not approving anonymous comments shilling for the governor so you can stop sending your staff and volunteers here. Thanks.

More bumbling from Ritter

Andrew Oh-Wileke says what needs to be said about the governor's veto of the firefighter organizing bill,

Either Ritter, or his key political advisors, are idiots.

One important thing to note about the current state of the governors re-election bid, right now there is polling out there that shows the governor losing in a head to head race to one of the GOP challengers and neck and neck with the other. Ritter is in serious, serious trouble. He and his people know this and yet they continue to make terrible decisions.

Quite frankly they don't deserve a second term.

RIP Koko Taylor

God speed to the Queen Of the Blues.

Paragraph construction

Reading this bit of news from McClathcy left me wondering about why they chose to construct the paragraph in this way,

Even as President Barack Obama set August as a "make-or-break" deadline for overhauling the health care system, Tom Daschle, initally tapped by Obama to run the reform effort, predicted a "50-50 chance that something's going to pass."

The phrase "Even as" denotes that there is some sort of inherent conflict between the positions stated in the two sentences. While they are talking about the same topic the two are independent of each other. Obama has set an August deadline. That the chances for health care reform may be only 50/50 does not seem to undermine or contradict Obama's statement.

If Daschle said, "We'll need at least 6 more months to hammer this out," then I can see the use of the phrase "Even as." But he didn't say that, he simply stated that the odds are 50/50.

McClatchy is generally much better than the AP but still this seems like sloppy writing done to hype a conflict that's just not there.

Or am I just reading this wrong?

Diversity throughout the history of The Court

I'm sure many of you have seen this Jeffrey Toobin piece on the history of seeking diversity on the Supreme Court. By chance you haven't definitely give it a read. The points he makes are pretty obvious ones for anyone who's interested in not just the history of SCOTUS but who's read anything at all on 19th Century American political history. Toobin though is the first major commenter I've seen who's actually voiced these obvious parallels. They're important points and I hope this piece is read widely.

Department of apt analogies

Austan Goolsbee from the president's Council of Economic Advisers commenting on critcism from academic economists of some of the administrations policies,

Look, we enter[ed] the government essentially in a hotel that is on fire. We’re throwing people from the windows into the pool to save their lives and this is the evaluation of the Olympic diving committee.[...]

Ezra has the rest. As he quotes Norm Schiebner saying, the grumbling over inflation is a bit maddening given the grave threat of deflation we were staring down not too long ago. Also I think a lot of the inflation hawks are basing their position on an assumption that the administration will simply stand by and watch helplessly as inflation creeps up until its a towering inferno and we're 1930s Germany. Suffice it to say I think the Fed and the Obama administration are significantly more competent than that.

Glenn Beck and Jonah Goldberg: GM is the new Volkswagen !!1ZOMG!!

I actually wonder if these two guys are able to dress themselves in the morning or if they have assistants who have to put their arms in the sleeves of their shirts and so forth. In Jonah's case I'm guessing it's his mother who dresses him.

Criminalizing abortion, the reality

The NY Times has a piece entitled "The Deadly Toll of Abortion by Amateur" that is really a must read, especially for those opposed to legal abortion. Here's a sample of what's in the article, it gets more graphic but I'll leave it up to my readers to click through.

Worldwide, there are 19 million unsafe abortions a year, and they kill 70,000 women (accounting for 13 percent of maternal deaths), mostly in poor countries like Tanzania where abortion is illegal, according to the World Health Organization. More than two million women a year suffer serious complications. According to Unicef, unsafe abortions cause 4 percent of deaths among pregnant women in Africa, 6 percent in Asia and 12 percent in Latin America and the Caribbean.

If you're going to advocate against legal abortion you should have spend some time thinking about the consequences of illegal abortion - lots of dead women, doctors and nurses forced underground and made into criminals. Beyond that if you really believe that abortion is murder are you willing to prosecute any women who undergo (and survive) the procedure with murder? How about the doctors? The nurses? The husband who drives his wife to the hospital? Are you willing to put those people in prison for the rest of their lives? How about capital punishment?

What's really at issue is the access of poor women to health care. The wealthy and middle-class will always be able to find a way to get the procedure done. If it's illegal in their home state then they'll travel to another. If it's illegal in the U.S. then they'll fly overseas. Working class women will not have that luxury, they'll be denied access to safe medical care and forced underground and quite literally into back alleys.

I've often said, and still do believe, that many men who are vehemently anti-choice are motivated by a desire to control women. It's more than that though, it's also an opportunity for the relatively wealthy to assert dominance over the working class and assert their presumed moral superiority.

Terrorism and the rule of law

In light of the assassination of Dr. Tiller Conor Friedersdorf poses the obvious questions to our friends on the right who have so strenuously advocated for unchecked Executive power to conduct the war on terror,

Would these predominantly conservative officials, commentators and writers be comfortable if President Obama declared two or three extremist pro-lifers as “enemy combatants”? Should Pres. Obama have the prerogative to order the waterboarding of these uncharged, untried detainees? Should he be able to listen in on phone conversations originating from evangelical churches where suspected abortion extremists hang out?

Unchecked government power is just fine so long as your guy is in charge and its only the "others" that he is looking at. For conservatives though it's only when they're out of power and suddenly causes and groups that they affiliate with are under scrutiny that they are at all concerned about due process and the rule of law.

The Constiution, and specifically the Bill of Rights, protects minorities from the untrammeled will of the majority. For far too long Republicans mocked those of us who sought to uphold the Constiution above all else. Let's see if they finally wake up and begin re-asserting their rights.

Are you washed in the Blood Of the Lamb?

Two religious zealots commit two murders in two days. I don't think the two cases are precisely analogous but I think its worth noting that both men were driven by a hatred that was couched in their religion.

Are your garments all spotless? Are they white as the snow? Are you washed in the blood of the lamb? Is your soul all spotless? Is it clean as the snow? Are you washed in the blood of the lamb? I am washed, yes I'm washed I am washed in the blood I'm all washed in the blood of the lamb I'm all clean I'm all spotless I'm all pure like the snow I'm all washed in the blood of the lamb Have you laid down your burdens? Have you found peace and rest? Are you washed in the blood of the lamb? I've laid down all my troubles I've found peace and rest I'm all washed in the blood of the lamb Have you learned to love your neighbors? Of all colors, creeds and kinds? Are you washed in the blood of the lamb? I've learned to love my peoples Of all colors, creeds, and kinds I'm all washed in the blood of the lamb I am washed, yes I'm washed I am washed in the blood I'm all washed in the blood of the lamb I'm all clean I'm all spotless And I'm pure like the snow I'm all washed in the blood of the lamb

words: Woody Guthrie