Looks like it's "Guess that Party" time... Yup, eleven paragraphs and they don't tell us. What are the odds ...
A Queens state senator who denies beating his girlfriend was caught on security cameras dragging the scared, bleeding woman from his apartment, law enforcement sources told the Daily News.
Newly elected Sen. Hiram Monserrate "will be convicted by the security video" taken in the hallway and outside his Jackson Heights apartment after he allegedly slashed Karla Giraldo in a jealous rage, sources said. "No one can look at the security video and think that this was an accident," said a law enforcement source who saw the footage. "The woman looks scared out of her mind and trying to get away from this guy."
The video shows Giraldo grabbing the apartment's front door as Monserrate tried to drag her out of the building, sources said. Other video clips show Giraldo clutching a towel to her injured left eye and banging on the door of a neighbor's apartment for help, sources said.
That neighbor, Carolyn Loudon, 46, said Tuesday she heard Giraldo banging on her door but was too scared to open it. She said she is used to noise coming from Monserrate's unit, but the ruckus was worse than usual on Dec. 19. "It was frightening," Loudon said. "I heard screaming and then banging on the door."
Then, later "at 3 a.m. I looked out the door and saw a bloody towel," she said. "About an hour later, I heard a noise and looked out again and the towel was gone. I know I should have called 911. That was a mistake."
Monserrate said he tripped and accidentally cut Giraldo with a broken drinking glass, requiring more than 20 stitches over her left eye, in the incident. Monserrate told The News on Monday that "any videotapes the police obtained from my building will back me up."
An individual familiar with the Democrat's defense said the senator has maintained that Giraldo never wanted to go to the hospital and nothing in the video contradicts that account, despite "creative interpretation by self-proclaimed law enforcement sources."
Giraldo at first told a doctor at Long Island Jewish Medical Center that Monserrate beat her, but then changed her story. She wants prosecutors to drop assault charges.
Emergency room doctor Dawne Kort told Queens prosecutors on Tuesday that Giraldo accused Monserrate of bashing her in the face, sources said. "The doctor's testimony cements what you see in the video - a terrified woman, begging for help," said a second source who was briefed on the content of the video sequence.
A camera on the second floor records Monserrate in the hallway screaming at someone inside his apartment, sources said. There is no audio in the security video. Monserrate is then seen throwing something down the building's garbage chute - believed to be a card belonging to another man, which cops say enraged Monserrate when he found it in Giraldo's possession.
Another camera captured Giraldo holding a towel to her injured eye. Monserrate is screaming at her and pulling her by the shoulder, sources said. In the most damning clip, a camera recorded Giraldo crying and banging on Loudon's door, sources said.
The Washington Post and The Boston Globe are both reporting that the Senate's Democratic leaders, after insisting that no one appointed by Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich would be allowed to replace Barack Obama, are getting ready to let Roland Burris take his seat after all. Although Burris was not seated yesterday, ostensibly because his appointment papers did not bear the signature of Illinois Secretary of State Jesse White, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid met with him today and signaled that he will eventually be allowed to serve. . . .
White refused to sign Burris' credentials because he did not think a governor facing corruption charges should appoint Obama's successor, especially since Blagojevich is accused of trying (or at least hopng) to get something of value in exchange for that appointment. But White does not seem to have any legal grounds for withholding his signature, and he now says it doesn't matter anyway, telling WGN Radio "they could have seated him without my signature," which he called purely "ceremonial." He confidently predicted that Burris would be seated. Unless Burris testifies tomorrow that he bribed Blagojevich to choose him (an allegation no one has made), it sounds like he could be seated in a matter of days.
That's the right decision, since it's the one required by law. But by announcing that Burris would be barred from the Senate as a matter of principle and quickly giving in, Reid and his allies look like the spineless, shifty hacks they are. By trying to avoid the embarrassment of serving with a man appointed by a fellow Democrat accused of corruption, they have only magnified their humiliation. . . .
Posted by: Mike ||
01/07/2009 12:56 ||
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#1
...and "racist"
Fox reported that, Burris was Reid's 3rd black candidate that was turned down by Reid. Democrat senators are the real racists and they need to be exposed.
#2
Harry's afraid that Illinois won't vote for a black Democratic Senate candidate in a state-wide election.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/07/2009 14:03 Comments ||
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#3
Harry's a mindless twit who does what he's told. He should remember that whenever he thinks about running his mouth. I don't think I've ever seen a more unimpressive man.
#5
Congress has approval ratings now around 20 percent. Good old Harry is working hard to get those numbers down to single digits. God bless him in his noble effort to discredit our Democratic Congress. They deserve it and he's the man to get the job done.
Posted by: Richard of Oregon ||
01/07/2009 14:59 Comments ||
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#6
What's the difference between Harry Reid and Boland Burris?
One is a mediocrity with a big ego who has claimed to be clueless as major contributors to Democratic campaigns have been awarded large govt favors and the other is from Illinois.
WSJ Opinion piece on the perfidious lying weasel Senator from Countrywide
With the opening of the 111th Congress yesterday, all of Washington is tingling with the allure of a fresh start. Not so fast. We've got some leftover business from the 110th Congress -- namely, Chris Dodd's July 2008 promise to release the details of his sweetheart loans from Countrywide Financial.
The Connecticut Senator got favored treatment from the subprime mortgage purveyor, even as he was a power broker on the Banking Committee that regulates the industry. When the news broke, the Senator first denied that he sought or expected preferential treatment. He later admitted that he knew he was considered a VIP at the firm but claimed he thought it was "more of a courtesy." He also promised the Connecticut press that he'd come clean with the documents and details of the loans. But six months later -- nada, zip, nothing.
The rest of the press corps may have moved on, but we'd still like to know. All the more so because former Countrywide Financial loan officer Robert Feinberg told us last fall that Mr. Dodd knowingly saved thousands of dollars on his refinancing of two properties in 2003 as part of a special program for the influential. Mr. Feinberg also reported that he has internal company documents that prove Mr. Dodd knew he was getting preferential treatment as a friend of Angelo Mozilo, Countrywide's then-CEO, and Mr. Feinberg has offered to provide those documents to investigators.
Just before Mr. Dodd made his promise, Bank of America closed its acquisition of Countrywide and Mr. Dodd has continued to oversee BofA and the rest of the mortgage industry as Chairman of Senate Banking. He will now play a lead role in drafting legislation affecting the very business that gave him preferential treatment, yet he still refuses to release the mortgage documents that would illuminate this treatment. As the Senate Ethics Committee examines this case, Mr. Dodd's office reports that he is cooperating with the investigation and that he still intends to make good on his six-month-old pledge. But nothing in the Senate ethics process prevents Mr. Dodd from coming clean with the public whenever he wishes.
We suspect there's at least one habit of the 110th Congress that won't change in the 111th: The Members think they can get away with anything -- and usually do.
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/07/2009 09:53 ||
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Save money on your mortgage! Ask me how!
Posted by: Sen. Chris Dodd ||
01/07/2009 10:11 Comments ||
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#2
Hang in there, Chris! It's coming up to five years since I promised to release my military records.
Posted by: Sen. John Kerry ||
01/07/2009 12:51 Comments ||
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Republican Norm Coleman filed a lawsuit Tuesday challenging Democrat Al Franken's apparent recount victory in Minnesota's U.S. Senate race, delaying a resolution of the contest for weeks or months.
At a Capitol news conference filled with cheering supporters, Coleman said he won't accept a board's determination a day earlier that Franken captured 225 more votes in the November election. He had a seven-day window to file the lawsuit. "We are filing this contest to make absolutely sure every valid vote was counted and no one's was counted more than anyone else's," Coleman said.
Coleman shrugged off the idea that he might concede the election to avoid a protracted fight that could leave Minnesota with only a single senator in Washington for months.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/07/2009 00:00 ||
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#2
I wish him the best but I think he is on thin legal ground once the vote is certified. What is telling is that Franken AKA Smally has gone to ground. Once the twisted count put him ahead he had no compuction to "Count every vote". I really blame Coleman for not presenting a better argument to the people of Minnesota. If the race aint close then they can;t steal election like this. State your priciples and stand by them you would be amazed how that works for most elected officials.
#3
For a lot of people Franken was a protest vote. They didn't like him but they wanted to send a message that they really didn't like Republicans right now. And I bet a lot of them never imagined Franken would win.
President-elect Barack Obama took big money from a man at the center of a federal probe that has forced one of Obama's top Cabinet picks to withdraw. Financial records show the Obama campaign got more than $30,000 from California financier David Rubin, the target of an investigation into donations and possible "pay-to-play" deals involving New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, Obama's pick for commerce secretary.
Richardson removed himself from consideration for the post Sunday, saying the ongoing grand jury investigation threatened to hold up his confirmation. Richardson and Rubin have both denied any wrongdoing in the matter, which involved contributions and state business in 2003 and 2004.
In late September, Rubin attended an exclusive Los Angeles fundraiser for Obama, held at the Beverly Hills' Greystone Mansion. Attendees gave tens of thousands of dollars which the campaign split between its own coffers, the Democratic National Committee and state-level campaign groups supporting Obama and Democratic candidates. The technique helps campaigns take in from individuals far more than the $2,300 maximum they are allowed to give to a single campaign fund.
Rubin's money went to a joint Obama-DNC fund ($28,500), the DNC itself ($26,200), and to the Obama campaign ($2,300), according to the database of campaign donations at OpenSecrets.Org. News of the federal investigation into Rubin's New Mexico dealings had broken less than three weeks earlier.
According to Entertainment Weekly's coverage of the event, Rubin sat at Table 17 one table away from Leonardo DiCaprio, "Survivor" producer David Katzenberg and comedian Chris Rock.
Reached by phone Monday, Rubin declined to answer questions. His firm's spokesman, Allan Ripp, said neither he nor Rubin would discuss Rubin's donations to Obama or his attendance at the fundraiser. Ripp said that Rubin sought nothing for his donation but to elect Obama.
Neither the Obama campaign nor the DNC responded immediately to a request for comment.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/07/2009 00:00 ||
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David Rubin bio excerpt:
Created the full-flex investment products industry, permitting, municipalities to avoid low yields by investing longer term while maintaining liquidity and transferring risk to the provider.
Implemented a new concept of Rolling Treasury Bills, previously considered impossible, leading to over 100 transactions valued at $3.4 Billion.
Developed and implemented creative, tax exempt home purchase programs in excess of $2 Billion for low and middle-income families.
A lot of the venal sins of Congress could be judged pornographic, both politically and otherwise, but we've never had an Official Senate Pornographer before. Sen. Chuck Schumer says Al Franken will fit right in.
"With the Minnesota recount complete," he says, gleefully, "it is now clear that Al Franken won the election." Actually, it isn't clear at all, as Mr. Schumer well knows, even though the Democrats managing the recount declared Mr. Franken the winner yesterday. The Democrats in the Senate are eager to get Al seated quickly because once he's seated among equals a bum is difficult to throw out. There's honor among senators, similar to the honor among thieves. (The difference is that thieves often hold to higher standards.)
The post-election campaign in Minnesota to deprive Norman Coleman of his seat is remarkable for the way it was done in broad daylight, with everyone watching in a way not possible before the 24/7 glare of modern media.
The Minnesota secretary of state, Mark Ritchie, presided over the recount and it became clear quickly that the Democrats would do whatever was necessary to count Mr. Coleman out, stopping just short of borrowing votes from neighboring Wisconsin and Iowa. He was behind by 215 votes when the official counting stopped, and finished ahead by 225 votes when the recount was concluded. Nearly every dispute over procedure, evidence and judgment was resolved in Al's favor.
Unless Mr. Coleman, who leans to the good-loser wing of the Republican Party, gets a case of cold feet the Great Minnesota Ballot Box Raid goes next to the courts, first to St. Paul and maybe eventually to Washington. That's why Mr. Schumer and his merry gang of enablers are eager to seat Al before the ink is dry on the recount.
"Minnesotans like to think that their state isn't like New Jersey or Louisiana," observes the Wall Street Journal, "and typically it isn't."
Well, maybe. But any Minnesotan who thinks that owes Tony Soprano and Carlos Marcello an apology. The Mafia hasn't stolen an election this brazenly since Sam Giancana bought Illinois for John F. Kennedy a half-century ago.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/07/2009 00:00 ||
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Well, if he doesn't win the seat, Franken could at least lecture at the Clown College.
A key Democrat broke with her Senate colleagues Tuesday to support Roland Burris in his controversial bid to assume Barack Obama's U.S. Senate seat. California Sen. Dianne Feinstein, chairwoman of the Senate Rules Committee that soon could take up Burris' case, said Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich has the right to appoint a senator despite the allegations of corruption against him.
"Does the governor have the power, under law, to make the appointment? And the answer is yes," Feinstein said, urging the Senate to settle the matter. "If you don't seat Mr. Burris, it has ramifications for gubernatorial appointments all over America. ... Mr. Burris is a senior, experienced politician."
And a crook. And a grub. And a leech. And a blow-hard. And a fool. And an egotist.
The comments flew in the face of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's assertion that Burris should not be seated in part because the move would be tainted by the Blagojevich scandal. Feinstein's stance is the latest sign of intra-party tensions over the matter.
Democratic leaders, set to meet with Burris on Wednesday, are searching for a way to defuse the dispute before it further overshadows the 111th Congress. Knowledgeable Senate officials of both parties widely predicted that the saga would end with Burris being seated.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/07/2009 00:00 ||
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"The comments flew in the face of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's assertion"
Forget the flying comments. I want to see chairs, water pitchers, and perhaps the occasional page.
#3
There is something tortured about the reasoning that would allow Rangle to be seated in the house but Burris to be rejected in the Senate. How can the malfeasance of the appointer be more pertinent that the personal scandel of the office-holder himself. I expect that ability to block a duly appointed senator will be used against Republicans down the road. All it will take is a frivilous lawsuit against a governor like Sarahcuda, for instance, to become a pretext for blocking anyone she tries to seat.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
01/07/2009 7:38 Comments ||
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That'll teach The One not to run DCI appointments by her.
#8
I notice that Sen. Feinstein refers to Mr. Burris as "a senior, experienced politician."
She has not called him a senior, experienced statesman, administrator, or leader.
As others have noted here, the Democrats are disinclined to follow the Constitution when the Constitution doesn't suit their convenience. Legally, Mr. Burris is eligible, whether he merits consideration or not; and the Democrats may wind up tying themselves in some embarrasing legal knots trying to keep him out.
See Ann Althouse's column from yesterday, and her link to Walter Dellinger's op-ed piece on Burris in yesterday's NYT.
#14
IIRC someplace along the Ohio River in either Indiana or Illinois in a House race during the '80s, a Republican won on a recount in a tight election, but the Donks who controlled the House refused to seat him and gave the seat to his opponent in face of all the legality of the election process. So, why should the Senate really care when there is no election, if they refuse to seat someone? It's about power.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
A lot of the venal sins of Congress could be judged pornographic, both politically and otherwise, but we've never had an Official Senate Pornographer before. Sen. Chuck Schumer says Al Franken will fit right in.
A key Democrat broke with her Senate colleagues Tuesday to support Roland Burris in his controversial bid to assume Barack Obama's U.S. Senate seat. California Sen. Dianne Feinstein, chairwoman of the Senate Rules Committee that soon could take up Burris' case, said Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich has the right to appoint a senator despite the allegations of corruption against him. 
