Vera Baker: Enquirer Website Revises, Updates Obama Cheating Scandal

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NEW ENQUIRER WEB STORY HAS BIG CHANGES

UPDATES at end of story

NEW ENQUIRER WEB STORY HAS BIG CHANGES

The National Enquirer has revised and extremely shortened their Obama Presidential Cheating Story. The old link is no longer working and a new link to a shorter story is now in place.

The new Enquirer web story is basically the same with less details than the old one.

Both the old and the new articles match up during the first several paragraphs.

UPDATED: Reports out of Washington, DC: PRESIDENT OBAMA has been caught in a shocking cheating scandal after being caught in a Washington, DC Hotel
with a former campaign aide.

A confidential investigation has learned that Obama first became close to gorgeous 35 year-old VERA BAKER in 2004 when she worked tirelessly to get him elected to the US Senate, raising millions in campaign contributions.

While Baker has insisted in the past that "nothing happened" between them, reports reveal that top anti-Obama operatives are offering more than $1 million to witnesses to reveal what they know about the alleged

What's extensively revised is the latter half of the story. Where there were once details--mostly of the alleged rendezvous-- now there are none.

Among those being offered money is a limo driver who says in 2004 that he took Vera to a secret hotel rendezvous in where Obama was staying.

An ENQUIRER reporter has confirmed the limo's driver account of the secret 2004 rendezvous.

The "DEVELOPING STORY" tag is still on the story, but the part of the "Enquirer Exclusive" about the independent collaboration of the story by a DC source" is missing.

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ALSO at DBKP:
* Vera Baker: Who is Vera Baker?
* Obama, Vera Baker: Enquirer Uncorks Presidential Cheating Scandal

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We reported previously that the story was scheduled for an update in the next 72 hours and we were right--just not in the direction it has taken. However, the salient points of the story remain, only the details have disappeared.

What does this mean? One possibility: that the Enquirer wanted to let sister publication, The Globe, have a moment in the sun before taking over the story. The Enquirer has done work on this story and its the Enquirer which has the investigative resources.

What does this mean? Nothing, everything? Let the speculation begin.

There is somewhat of a precedent: During the first hours after the Enquirer released many details of the Edwards' scandal, the Enquirer's website went down and the page with the Love Child info on was inaccessible.

Readers spent 3-4 hours wondering what the heck was going on and wild rumors flew. Some of the speculations:
* Edwards had sued the Enquirer and forced the story down;
* The story was a Clinton dirty trick and after people had seen the post, it had accomplished its mission of damaging Edwards.
* The story was a fabrication and the Enquirer had taken it down before Edwards was able to sue him.

Actually, the Enquirer's website had experienced a spike in traffic. The next morning everything was fine, the story was up--unchanged--and the Mainstream Media pretended they didn't know anything about i and couldn't ask Edwards any questions.

There's more to this, check back for updates.


by Mondo Frazier
image: UK Telegraph

Day by Day: Wild Card

[Click image to enlarge]


May 1, 2010
Wild Card
by Chris Muir
Check out the complete DbD archives.

Party Down, "Precious Lights Pre-School Auction": Rumpled Stiltskin

A review of tonight's "Party Down" coming up just as soon as you know the difference between you and James Van Der Beek's parrot...

"You'll never work in this town again!" -Leonard Stiltskin
"I know." -Henry

Rob Thomas(*) has told the story many times of how he, John Enbom, Dan Etheridge and Paul Rudd pitched "Party Down" to HBO, only for the HBO execs at the time to decide that they had conflicting visions of what a Hollywood comedy should be. And so HBO ultimately gave us "Entourage" (about Hollywood insiders who get everything handed to them on a silver platter) and Thomas and company eventually found a home for "Party Down" (about Hollywood outsiders who struggle for everything and fail far more often than they succeed) at Starz. And an episode like "Precious Lights Pre-School Auction" - which namechecks "Entourage"(**) while featuring the return of JK Simmons as foul-mouthed movie mogul Leonard Stiltskin - is a reminder of why the outsiders' perspective is so much more fun.

(*) Rob, by the way, spent a year at the start of his career writing for "Dawson's Creek" and has taken opportunities in the past to have fun at the expense of The Beek, here with the phrase "James Van Der Beek's parrot."

(**) Love that Roman is a phony who will say "F--k 'Entourage'" while at the same time knowing and caring about the show enough to be indignant at Kyle's suggestion that Roman would be Turtle, when Roman clearly knows, "I'd be E, and you'd be Turtle."

So here we have the members of Party Down once again attending a function they'd never be allowed into as guests in a million years, though Casey comes closest by running into a comedian-turned-mom who's basically Casey a few years down the road. (***) Stiltskin and his wife are there to taunt them about how far all the characters haven't progressed in the last year: Henry never got to play Young Abe Lincoln, Kyle is still nowhere (and, unsurprisingly, Mrs. Stiltskin has chosen to forget their time together), Roman is at best proprietor of a a prestigious blog, etc.

(***) And in a meta touch, the character was played by Andrea Savage, who played Casey in the original homemade pilot shot in Thomas's backyard. Savage couldn't do the series because, appropriately enough for this character, she got pregnant.

Kyle's still trying, and still believes in himself enough as an actor to enjoy gaming Roman, while Henry is slipping so deeply into his new manager job - with the Taco Bell view that accompanies it - that he tears into Ron with the kind of speech he'd have laughed at a year earlier. (He tries to play it off as acting, but you can see the self-loathing on his face afterward.) But they're all running in place, and Ron, with his disgusting 'pit stains and loss of his barely-legal girlfriend, is actually going backwards.

But for once we get a small victory, as Casey nails her audition for a small role in a Judd Apatow movie(****), dissuading her from following Savage's path for at least a little while.

(****) Between Lizzy Caplan's early role on "Freaks and Geeks" and the amount of crossover between the Thomas and Apatow repertory companies, what other director could it be?

Structurally, "Precious Lights" didn't have the comic build that the best "Party Down" episodes do, but it still had plenty of great one-liners, whether it was Stiltskin explaining that he once drank ape sperm to get a game with Tiger Woods, or Roman's line about The Beek's parrot, or Casey lamenting all her bad auditions, including the time she was told she was "'too Jew-y'... and I was reading for 'The Diary of Anne Frank.'" And the tip jar gag was a nice role reversal from the episode last year where team leader Ron insisted on putting out the tip jar over everyone's objections, only for the partygoers to cheap out on them.

What did everybody else think?

Classroom chemistry

I’ve spend almost four months with my spring semester students. We’ve gathered three times each week. We’ve talked about books; we’ve shared food and poetry and personal reflections. We’ve become a community who encourage and support each other. We’ve bonded.

One of my favorite moments of the semester was the first time we wrote a poem together. I’d warned the students that I wanted to try writing a collaborative poem, and some of them had given me scared looks. Slam Poet, who had wowed us all with a poem the week before, grinned and said, “Oh, yeah.”

During the class, we were talking about environmental issues and body image, and the connection between the two. Then suddenly, I felt that the energy in the room was right. I said, “Wait! I think it’s time.” I handed each student an index card and told them to write a line of poetry.

It took only a few minutes – each student wrote a line or two, and then we shuffled the cards together and read them aloud. It took only a few minutes — but the result was amazing. Somehow, during the discussion, our minds had all gotten into sync and the poem was both coherent and meaningful.

“We totally rock,” said Slam Poet. And everyone in the room agreed with her.

That chemistry is one of the things I love about teaching, the magic that happens when you take a random group of humans and put them together in a room with the common goal of learning from each other. That chemistry is also what makes me a little sad every time a semester ends.

Final Fantasy VII - Squall Leonhart x Seifer kiss (Yaoi)

Squall x Seifer kiss - Yaoi

Douche scene

Cracks - Spanish Soccer Reality

Vera Baker, Obama: Presidential Cheating Scandal in National Enquirer

Originally posted at DBKP: Obama, Vera Baker: Enquirer Uncorks Presidential Cheating Scandal
Check DBKP for updates on this "developing story."

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FINALLY!

The National Enquirer has been working to confirm details of a presidential cheating scandal involving Barack Obama and former aide, Vera Baker. The Enquirer tried mightily in 2008 to confirm the whispers of the affair but couldn't get anyone who could confirm the story to talk.

At last, someone did--in 2010.


From OBAMA CHEATING SCANDAL:

PRESIDENT OBAMA has been caught in a shocking cheating scandal after being caught in a Washington, DC Hotel with a former campaign aide, sources say.

And now, a hush-hush security video that shows everything could topple both Obama's presidency and marriage to Michelle!

A confidential investigation has learned that Obama first became close to gorgeous 35 year-old VERA BAKER in 2004 when she worked tirelessly to get him elected to the US Senate, raising millions in campaign contributions.

Vera Baker rumors surfaced briefly in 2008 on the Internet, mostly on a few conservative blogs, but were dismissed because of a lack of evidence.

The Enquirer heard those same whispers--but couldn't confirm them through other sources.

According to a source close to the Enquirer investigation, there were five people who could confirm the overnight hotel stay between Obama and Baker--but none of them would talk. Baker reportedly then left the country.

MORE:

While Baker has insisted in the past that "nothing happened" between them, the ENQUIRER has learned that top anti-Obama operatives are offering more than $1 million to witnesses to reveal what they know about the alleged hush-hush affair.

Among those being offered money is a limo driver who says that he took Vera to a secret hotel rendezvous where the President was staying.

On the condition of anonymity, the limo driver said he took Baker "from a friend's home in the DC area to the Hotel George where I learned later that Obama would be spending the night."

The driver recalled that he "waited in the lobby while she went to change her outfit.

"But to the best of knowledge she did not have a room at the hotel and she was not staying there so I thought that it was a bit odd."

The driver said he then picked up Obama at the airport and drove both he and Baker to various locations while he was campaigning for funds. Vera accompanied him to each meeting.

"About 10:30 PM, I drove them to the hotel and they went in together!"

"My services for the evening were done - and there was no indication she was going to leave the hotel that night."

While it's still too early to tell if this turns into a Pulitzer moment for the best-selling supermarket tabloid, it's a good start if true.

It's the fruits of another multi-year Enquirer investigation, ala John Edwards, which has been on-going since at least 2008.

A top DC source told The ENQUIRER exclusively that the driver's account had been independently corroborated by investigators who believe the couple spent the night together at the hotel.

The ENQUIRER has also learned that on-site hotel surveillance video camera footage could provide indisputable evidence.

"Investigators are attempting to obtain a tape from the hotel (that) shows Vera and Barack together," the DC insider confided.

"If the tape surfaces, it will explode the scandal."

What will Robert Gibbs say?

Will any MSM reporters ask him? Or will they clam up as they did during the Edwards Scandal when NOT ONE reporter asked Edwards about Rielle Hunter for a ten-month period.

Time will tell.


by Mondo Frazier
image: DBKP file

where would I be?

Happy Anniversary Louise Dean School,

And thank you for being here. I graduated in 1998 as an 18 year old mother with the help of my family, friends, and this school. I don't know where I would be or what I would have become if it weren't for you. The 18 months I attended was the most important 18 months of my life as I was given the tools, resources, motivation, and encouragement to tackle what was laid out in front of me. You helped me through the last few months of my pregnancy and supported me as I welcomed my little baby daughter into the world. And at her young age of 7 weeks, you welcomed her into your learning centre where you took great care in making sure she was fed, changed, attended to, happy, and safe as I was in class, earning the credits I needed to get out there and make something of myself. Or while I was in the lounge napping during spares trying to recover some much needed sleep that I lost as new mother. It seems like just a few years ago that I walked to the podium in your gym and accepted my diploma. And now as I raise my daughter into junior high school, you are celebrating your 40th year. I can't thank you enough. You will always be in my heart.

Sincerely,

Stacy (with baby-girl Sydney)

There! My tender side. Brought to you today as I think back to a time long ago, that doesn't seem so long ago. Waddling the halls of a school for pregnant & parenting teens, anticipating the birth of my baby, wondering where I'd been in the future. Well, here I am. Kicking ass and taking names .... or something of the sort. And sharing bits of my stories with anyone who will listen ... including those at Julie's place for Letters of Intent.

Where the Sidewalk Ends [1950]

Otto Preminger’s Where the Sidewalk Ends saw the coming together of Dana Andrews and Gene Tierney, co-stars in the director’s brilliant Laura. The movie, though not as brooding, atmospheric or downright magnificent as the latter, was no less ‘noirish’; in fact, the end product was far more gritty, brutal and tense. Andrews starred here, with considerable aplomb, as Mark Dixon, a pugnacious cop who prefers treating thugs and crooks with body blows than with kid gloves – a reaction to his wanting to move out of the shadows of his father who was a criminal himself. Consequently, though he’s good at his job, he’s forever facing the ire of his more morally upright chief. During the course of an investigation he accidentally knocks off the key accused of a murder incident, and wrongly ends up framing the guy for it whose lovely daughter he finds himself falling for. Though Lana Tierney’s character is as bland as it gets, she forms the moral anchor which compels Dixon, on one hand, to get even with a mobster who he’s been after for a long time, on the other it also makes him do the ethically right thing (whoever heard that phrase in a film noir) at the end. The good guys and the bad guys are separated right from the beginning of the film; nonetheless, Preminger did blur the line between what’s right and what isn’t, making this a pretty fatalistic movie even for the genre it belongs to, and a satisfying watch too.






Director: Otto Preminger
Genre: Film Noir/Crime Thriller
Language: English
Country: US

Genre Films on TCM (04.30.10)

There's a quartet of genre films on Turner Classic Movies starting late tonight that you may be interested in.  Peep it:

11:15pm: Nocturne (1946)
A police detective refuses to believe a composer's death was suicide.
Cast: George Raft, Lynn Bari, Virginia Huston, Joseph Pevney Dir: Edwin L. Marin BW-87 mins, TV-PG

12:45am: Johnny Angel (1946)
A sailor sets out to solve his father's murder.
Cast: George Raft, Claire Trevor, Signe Hasso, Lowell Gilmore Dir: Edwin L. Marin BW-79 mins, TV-G

2:15am: Incubus (1965)
An evil spirit plots to snare the soul of a courageous and good man.
Cast: William Shatner, Milos Milos, Allyson Ames, Eloise Hardt Dir: Leslie Stevens BW-74 mins, TV-14

3:45am: Brotherhood of Satan, The (1971)
A vacationing family is trapped in the desert by aging devil worshippers.
Cast: Strother Martin, L. Q. Jones, Charles Bateman, Ahna Capri Dir: Bernard McEveety [Jr.] C-93 mins, TV-14

Incumbency Fever: Treatment Now Available for Gonnarhea Lectim

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Originally posted at DBKP: New Disease Alert: Gonorrhea Lectim Treatment Available

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The Center for Disease Control has issued a warning about a new virulent strain of this old disease.

The disease is called Gonorrhea Lectim. ("Gonna re-elect 'em") and is a terrible obamination.

The disease is contracted through dangerous and high risk behavior involving
ingestion of the media/administration drug “Ignoritol”TM which leads to rectal/cranial inversion
and irrational behavior such as agreement with "social justice", "spreading the wealth",
"alternative energy", "tax the rich", "violent Tea Parties" and "Fox News Propaganda".





Many victims contracted it in 2008...but now, most people,
after having been infected for the past 1-2 years,
are starting to realize how destructive this sickness is.
Gonorrhea Lectim is easily cured however with a new drug
just coming on the market called VoteemoutTM.







Taking the first doses of voteemoutTM in 2010 and continuing doses through 2012,
along with cessation of the use of “Ignoritol”TM indicates reduced rectal/cranial inversion
and gradually decreases the effects of Gonorrhea Lectim
but can cause severe withdrawal symptoms in those individuals also infected with
long term liberalstatistosis and Bush Derangement Syndrome.

Side effects may include but are not necessarily limited to:
Increased patriotism
Sudden ability to see issues clearly
Irresistable urge to join Tea Party rallies
Auditory discomfort when hearing liberal/statist talking points
or current presidential speeches/statements
Temporary blindness and/or involuntary eye movement away from images of:
Nancy Pelosi
Harry Reid
Barack HUSSEIN Obama
Susan Estrich
Robert Gibbs
Alan Colmes
Bob Beckel
Members of Congress
Members of the Senate
(may also induce nausea and vomiting but can be avoided by limiting exposure)

QUIT BEING A VICTIM!!
GET VOTEEMOUTtm
AT YOUR LOCAL DRUGGIST
NOW!!!


by RidesAPaleHorse
images: RAPH

The Office, "Body Language": Kiss me, stupid

A review of last night's "The Office" - and this week's bit of potentially huge "Office" news - coming up just as soon as I reanimate a bull...

The internet briefly freaked out earlier this week when a radio clip turned up of Steve Carell saying he intends to leave "The Office" when his contract ends. Everyone calmed down quickly once they realized two things: Carell's contract runs through next season, so we still have a while to go; and chances are high that over the next year, NBC will find a way to keep Carell around, whether that requires more money, a more flexible schedule that would have Michael largely absent from some episodes, or what have you.

Now, I think most of us are in agreement that this hasn't been a particularly strong season for "The Office," and that's led many of you to declare that the show needs to end soon. Even with the Carell situation, that ain't happening. "The Office" is one of NBC's few success stories, and its only real comedy hit (the other three Thursday sitcoms are largely being buoyed by its wake), and while a network's fortunes can change in a year, I have to believe the show is too valuable to let go. And I do think, as I've said before, that whatever problems there have been this year, the show can rebound, because I've seen it happen to great sitcoms that have had off years.

And in watching an underwhelming, Michael Scott-centric episode like "Body Language," I almost wonder if an arrangement where Carell isn't around as much might be beneficial.

Look, I love Steve Carell. Funny man, talented man, kind man, and the show would not exist without him. He's been at the center of most of the funniest moments and episodes of this show's history, as you'd expect from the leading man. But despite being at the center of the show, Michael has always been the character the writers have had the most trouble getting a handle on. Some weeks, he's the 8-year-old who never grew up. Some, he's got Asperger's. Some, he's just a normal guy who isn't as funny as he thinks he is.

The inconsistency, and the writers' tendency to fall into the trap of highlighting Michael's worst qualities (writers on "The Simpsons" fall prey to the same thing with Homer), can make me really dread Michael-centric episodes sometimes. "Body Language" wasn't nearly as bad as this season's "Mafia" - nor was Michael as idiotic in this one as he was there - but it was still a fairly uncomfortable, airless outing, one where nearly all the laughs could be found in the Dwight/Daryl/Kelly subplot.

Given the choice between more episodes like this or occasional episodes where Michael's on the road and Dunder-Mifflin has to get by without him, I think I might take the latter. That way, perhaps the Michael-heavy episodes might be more focused.

I know there can be a danger in trying to elevate supporting characters above the lead, but "The Office" has always been structured in an odd way, where Michael is the main character in terms of screen time and his importance to the plot, but where he's otherwise written like a supporting character while Jim and/or Pam are written as more traditional leads. So I think an "Office" with Carell's reduced participation might actually work, and perhaps work better than what we've gotten this season.

But again, that's a year away, at a minimum, and hopefully the series can rediscover some of its juice before then.

What did everybody else think?

Parks and Recreation, "94 Meetings": But a rich ain't one

A review of "Parks and Recreation" coming up just as soon as I alter a gazebo...

Ron Effing Swanson hates meetings. I know that. You know that. April Ludgate certainly knows that. But you can only put off the thing you hate for so long, and "94 Meetings" had a lot of fun with the idea of Ron trapped in a hellish day of meetings (and dragging April, Andy and Ann along with him), while at the same time doing some nice character work on both the budding April/Andy romance and the sweet, paternal relationship developing between Ron and April.

The meetings were a nice mix of the absolutely ridiculous (the purple bikini man, the guy who yells at 5-year-olds for lack of talent), eminently reasonable ones made absurd (Andy being unable to say yes to the woman) and unlikely left turns (Ann spending her day diagnosing moles). And perhaps the funniest part of all was Ron describing the situation as "a blood-saked, nightmarish hellscape. However, to Leslie Knope...," followed by the abrupt cut to a giddy Leslie declaring, "Oh, how fun!"

Leslie's own plot, however, didn't quite click for me, in part because they didn't tie the gazebo situation strongly enough to Leslie's fear of Mark and Ann getting married, in part because the show has been a little vague about where Leslie stands on that relationship, anyway. We've mostly moved past the idea that Leslie is crushing on Mark, but when she claimed to feel nauseous over news of a possible engagement, I began to wonder if she still had feelings for the guy that she's suppressed all this time for the sake of her friendship with Ann. Instead, it turned into a commentary on Leslie's fear of being a single person in a world of couples, but the idea was introduced too late in the episode, I think, for it to have worked.

On the other hand, Leslie chained to the swinging gate? Oh, how fun!

And any episode that can give us both Ron whittling a duck and an introduction to April's parents (who couldn't be less like her) and sister (who couldn't be more like her) is an overall winner.

What did everybody else think?

Community, "The Art of Discourse": See if you can guess what I am now

A review of last night's "Community" coming up just as soon as I meet Sting at a Cracker Barrel...

"Ridiculous situation descending into heavy-handed drama for the illusion of story... check." -Abed

After last week's all-out "Goodfellas" parody, "The Art of Discourse" confines most of the meta/pop culture humor to the Abed and Troy subplot, while going more straightforward in showing Jeff and Britta, and also Pierce and Shirley, dealing with being the old men (and women) out on campus.

Jeff and Britta's conflict with the high school kids was played entirely for laughs, as we once again see that those two are more entertaining when they join forces for some ridiculous goal than when we're supposed to care about the simmering sexual tension between them. This was a really strong episode for Gillian Jacobs as Britta let herself get sucked into trying to pwn the three Schmitty kids, whether pathetically trying to defend her life choices (invoking Winona Ryder and wearing a Discman) or going pure evil in that moment when she had the brainstorm to send Jeff to have sex with Lisa Rinna.

The Pierce and Shirley plot, meanwhile, did a nice job of balancing laughs (Pierce being oblivious to his racism, the gang all turning on each other in the search for New Pierce) and some more genuine character moments about Shirley and Pierce's feelings about each other and their respective places in the group. Unlike the scenario Abed described in the quote above, this felt like actual story, and like something the show's been building to for a while. If the series wants us to care about this community and its characters beyond their role as avatars of pop culture gags - and it clearly does - then sooner or later Pierce's treatment of Shirley in particular and the group in general had to be addressed, and in a mostly heartfelt, sincere manner. Some very nice work by Chevy Chase and Yvette Nicole Brown in this one, and ultimately their moment of bonding climaxed with a nice callback to the pantsing joke that started the whole mess - and by the time we got to the food fight and the extended riff on the end of "Animal House," it felt okay to go whole-hog on the parody, and I look forward to seeing Troy and Abed in "College Cut-Ups 2: Panty Raid Academy."

What did everybody else think?

Simple question

I was standing at the sink, washing my hands, in a public restroom. In the mirror, behind my own reflection, I noticed woman wearing a bright red jacket and a nametag that indicated that she was at the same conference as me. She was in a wheelchair.

What caught my attention was that she had paused at the open door to the large stall on the end. I could tell she was having some sort of difficulty, but I couldn’t figure out what the problem was. As I dried my hands, I tried to figure out how I could help. But I was seized with uncharacteristic shyness. I wanted to see what the problem was, but I didn’t want to stare at her. I wanted to help, but I didn’t want to assume that she needed my help. I had good intentions but was seized by the worry that I might do something offensive out of my own ignorance.

Just then a young woman, about the age of my daughter, stepped away from the same set of sinks. She walked over to the woman in the wheelchair, looked at her without hesitation, and said, “What can I do to help?”

“This stall is the only one I can get into, and there’s no toilet paper left,” the woman in the red jacket said. “Can you get me some?”

The young woman ducked into a stall, handed out the toilet paper, smiled again, and went on her way.

Rielle Hunter, Oprah Interview: That's My Story and I'm Sticking to It

Rielle Hunter showed up on Oprah to collect another 60 --48 with commercials removed--minutes of fame. The interview, as with all Hunter utterances, was amusing. Viewers tuning in to learn something new were disappointed however.

[ABOVE: "Now that we're comfy.."]

RIELLE HUNTER on OPRAH:
NOTHING NEW

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SAME OLD, SAME OLD

Rielle Hunter's Mistress Media Rehabilitation Tour booked a daytime TV powerhouse: Oprah. Oprah booked a solid sweeps week draw. So, both of the heavies involved got what they wanted.

However, viewers tuning in to Oprah in hopes of learning anything new when the TV talk diva interviewed John Edwards Scandal mama were sorely disappointed.

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Originally posted at DBKP: Rielle Hunter on Oprah: Something Old, Nothing New

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Oprah asked many questions and Rielle Hunter stuck to her same familiar script ("I'm not a home-wrecker. I didn't cause the Edwards' marriage to break up").

At times, Oprah acted incredulous at the answers she got from the former mistress, but didn't dig deeper--although several times Ms. Winfrey reacted to Hunter with skepticism.

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Rielle Hunter, John Edwards, Andrew Young, Elizabeth Edwards, Fred Baron, Frances Quinn Hunter and a cast of thousands!
Over 200 DBKP articles and videos on the John Edwards Love Child Scandal from December 2007: John Edwards Love Child Scandal DBKP Library of Stories

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"Are you telling me that...?" and repeating the question again, the second time in disbelief. That was about the extent of the "grilling" that some reports characterized the face-to-face. The Washington Post, in particular, called the interview a "grilling."

Of course, compared to the questions the paper of Woodward and Bernstein asked while the affair--and Edwards' campaign--was active (zero), the Oprah sweeps week episode probably did seem like a turn under a bright police light. The writer, Lisa de Moraes, does get major style points for labeling Hunter "the Queen of Denial" and "High Priestess of Having It Both Ways."

Lisa de Moraes did record one of the best Hunter Howlers of the day.

Rielle insisted she did think about Edwards's wife and his three children while conducting her affair with Edwards.

"I mean, it was very hard -- very, very hard," Rielle said, in re herself.

After Rielle had explained to Oprah about a gajillion times that she was a person who was deeply committed to the truth and being authentic, Oprah was finally driven to ask: "So you are a person who is on a spiritual path. You've mentioned truth here several times. What part of you could make that okay, then, to be with this married man with children?"

"Because he was available," Rielle said simply.

Hunter has previously displayed a singular talent for disassembling and mendacity, so this nugget of truth stood out. "Because he was available."

The girl's should take up stand-up.

Oprah's menu most of the day, however, consisted mainly of grilled creampuffs.

Oprah shrewdly scheduled the interview for sweeps week: interest in the mistress and all things John Edwards Scandal is still high: Google processes over 250 milllion search queries a day and the term "Rielle Hunter, Oprah" bounced around all day in the top 10 search results according to the search giant.

So what exactly did Oprah ask? Nothing that hasn't been asked before, but let's take a look.

---

["According to my script, it wasn't my fault..."]


THE QUESTIONS

As we said, it was mostly 'same old, same old' but for those readers new to the story, we'll hit the high spots anyway.


OPRAH--on why Reille Hunter agreed to the cover-up involving former Edwards aide Andrew Young claiming he was the father of her baby: "Why did you, Miss Spirituality in Alignment With the Truth . . . go along with it?"

Hunter then trotted out her GQ line which used Frances Quinn as a human shield, saying she did not want her then-unborn daughter growing up blaming herself for Edwards dropping out of the race.

Oprah passed on the chance to then ask Hunter how she's supported herself during the last four years--the amount of time the former mistress has been on the Edwards/Baron/Mellon dole.

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ALSO at DBKP: Rielle Hunter on Oprah
* Rielle Hunter on Oprah: The Latest Spin, Media Coaches and Creampuffs
* Rielle Hunter on Oprah: The GQ Photos, Video of Photo Shoot
* Rielle Hunter on Oprah: The “Truth” According to Rielle Hunter
* Rielle Hunter on Oprah: It’s Elizabeth Edwards’ Fault I’m John Edwards’ Mistress
* Rielle Hunter Comments: Mistress Image Rehab Tour Not Doing Well
* Oprah: Rielle Hunter Mistress Rehab Media Tour to Appear on Oprah
* Rating the Pay-Off’s for Tiger Woods, Jesse James, and John Edwards’ Mistresses
* Rielle Hunter GQ Interview: The Many Versions of the Rielle Truth

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Hunter insisted several times that she was "committed to the truth." Presumably, this included the times she made statements--one through a Fred Baron-arranged lawyer--that she was not involved with Edwards, that anyone who suggested that was a liar and that her conduct, while working for the Edwards' campaign was completely "professional."

Which begs the question, did her "professional" conduct involve the on-going affair with Edwards, or her claim that she fathered a child with the very-married Andrew Young? Which was it? Oprah missed a chance for clarification.

Oprah never asked about Hunter's previous statements of 2007-2008, which were as phony as the ones Edwards made on the subject. This might have been a good line of questioning when Hunter was discussing why John Edwards repeatedly lied: to Elizabeth, the nation, his staff. Rielle would have viewers believe she was a spectator during that entire time.


["After Elizabeth found out, Johnny and I LOLed--sorta."]


When Oprah asked Rielle whether she slept with Edwards hours after first meeting him, she feigned coyness--"Fade to black"--but it was much too late: she'd already informed GQ readers that they met in his room, then slept with him that night. She also left out the GQ charade about Edwards calling her back on her cell phone because the hotel had 'caller ID'--which upon checking it was discovered the Regency rooms never have had that service.

Is this projecting?

Sorry.

Hunter pleaded GUILTY to the "power of love overcoming her judgment" when asked about Edwards' wife and kids. She also said that "he was available" and that "their (the Edwards) marriage was in trouble."

Okay then. If Hunter hasn't considered playing the part of the mistress in a possible movie about the Scandal, she's not the opportunist many have given her credit for. No amount of thespian training can match the complete lack of irony she musters when saying these things.

There was the usual psycho-babble about "truth" and "living a life of integrity" and "being authentic"--this used to describe the months when Hunter flew around the country, meeting secretly with Edwards on the campaign trail, where she was stashed in a hotel room under a fake name. It was also about this same time period that Rielle Hunter, who burns to stand up for the truth, took the name Jaya James as another ruse to fool anyone who was trying to get to another, non-Rielle version of the truth.

In the end, Oprah did the best she could with what she had to work with; which is to say, Hunter herself.

Score one for Hunter's media coaches--whoever they may be--she avoided repeating most of her worst GQ moments. But in the end, Oprah sounded unconvinced about most of what Hunter was selling. It was clear that Oprah was giving the former Lisa Jo Druck a big benefit of the doubt.

Which most anyone else who's followed the scandal finds hard to do.

Regardless of how many TV shows Rielle Hunter appears on in an attempt to portray herself as something she's not.

When asked what Johnny thought of her GQ piece, Hunter stated that Edwards had asked her, "Where was your pants? What happened to your pants?"

If only Edwards had asked that question back in 2007, he might be Attorney General today.


by Mondo Frazier
images: DBKP file

A Chance to Shine...or not.

Speaking with a friend/ client the other day about interviews reminded me of a strange one that I went through some years back.

I had taken some time out from my “normal” career to concentrate on writing. Not the wisest thing I’ve ever done. You live and learn, no? And if you don’t learn you deserve everything you get, but that’s another wisecrack for another time. Once I ran out of money, I decided to go back to a “proper” job and joined an agency.

A brief word on agencies: shite.

Anywho – I don’t like to talk about my day-job on here on account of it could get me the sack, so let’s just say that I’m “Something in Finances”. I wear a suit, shirt and tie...and that will have to be enough people.

So this “agency” set me up with an interview at a local posh hotel. I was told to turn up at 10am. Being anal about time – if I’m late – which does happen now and again – I worry about it as if I was waiting to hear the results of a biopsy at my local clinic – so I was there in PLENTY of time.

The reception of the hotel was empty when I arrived so I sat at a small chair and made myself as comfortable as I could. I checked the knot in my tie in the mirror on the far wall, picked a piece of lint from the crease on my trousers which was sharp enough to slice a ham and then looked down at my shoes which wore a shine strong enough for me to count my nasal hairs. Of which I had many. It looked like somebody stuck one of Cher’s wigs up there.

I swithered about popping in to the gents to give the old proboscis a pluck. Just then a young lady in a black suit walked from behind the reception desk...are you here about the interview, she asked?

Yes, I cleared my throat in that pretending not to be nervous way. And sniffed, wishing that nose hair was retractable like a cat’s claws.

Please, follow me, she said and then turned in to the public bar. Interesting place, I thought, for an interview and doesn’t she fill those black trousers very nicely. We sat at a small table. She put a brown A4 envelope on said table and pulled a pen from her inside jacket pocket.

What’s your name? She glanced at my tie and made a small face of surprise.

I told her and mused over her reaction to my tie. It was a nice tie, but not that nice.

She wrote my name down on the back of the envelope. And then took in the shine on my shoes.

I raised an eyebrow, thinking, this is casual.

So tell me, she smiled, why do you want to get into this industry?

Well, I paused gathering my thoughts and wondering if she had read my CV, I’ve worked in this industry since I left school. It’s what I know and what I’m good at. ( I HATE having to spout all that bullshit.)

She wrote something down and offered me a smile. Like she liked what she saw.

What about transport, she asked. Do you have your own car?

I have a car, I said wondering what a strange question that was, but if I’m successful with this interview I plan to sell it and take advantage of your company car scheme.

Her chin slackened somewhat, her brows furrowed...she put her pen down as if the penny and five hundred of her sisters had just dropped and asked, so you’re not here about the night-watchman’s job?

Oh how we laughed.

I told her I was “Something in Finances”. We laughed again. She apologised for the mix-up and escorted me back to the bar where a middle-aged man with a comb -over haircut and wearing a home-knitted tank top/ shirt and tie combo looked up expectedly. Casting for Clichés was obviously the name of the agency that supplied this candidate.

At this point a man in a grey suit rumbled in the door holding a briefcase in one hand and pulling a suitcase on wheels with the other.

Mr Malone? He asked.

Yes, I said and couldn’t help but taking a look at my watch. It was twenty minutes after my interview was supposed to start. I then realised how this action might be viewed and hid my watch-bearing hand behind my back as if that meant it never happened.

He pretended not to notice my transgression and without as much as an explanation or an apology he walked past me with a curt –This way. He bustled through the bar and into a suite of rooms beyond.

Grey Suit Man began to empty his suitcase on to the table. While I’m getting ready, he said, you may as well get out your passport and driver’s licence.

My, eh, passport, I asked?

Did you bring something to prove your address?

My address, I asked?

The agency, he pulled a video camera out of his suitcase and placed it on the table, sent you some information and in it we asked you to bring identification etc.

It didn’t arrive.

What about the CD? Did you get a chance to watch the CD?

What CD? I asked beginning to get really pissed off. The list of his transgressions piled up in my head; his lateness, his briskness, his rudeness, the agency’s ineptitude (is that a word?)

The CD that explained about our application process and the role-play that we will have to record...

...this really hasn’t been organised very well, has it? The words tumbled from my mouth, by-passing my usual very strong self-edit button.

Well, he huffed, we are going through a HUGE recruitment drive at the moment and I’m doing several of these a day and you rely on these agencies to ....and blah, blah, blah. And as he blahhed for Britain I realised that no matter how strong my performance was over the next 2 hours I was never, ever going to get past this part of the interview process.

That was 5 years ago.

I still haven’t received notification of how well/ badly I performed at the interview.

So go on, spill – what are your worst interview experiences?

Birdie - Hot boys kissing - Yaoi

Two guys kissing in Birdie Yaoi Game

Shakira: LISTEN TO HER

farkin winter

Winter Storm Warning : City of Calgary

Not a great way to wake up in the morning. Seriously, we've had enough! We're done! Winter is exhausting. And it's April mo-fo! Whoever built that little fort in Calgary way back when sure was a funny little fucker. We were took. I want my money back. I just want to be dry and warm.

Here's some snippets from todays news just to give you an idea of the bullshit that is my reality from September to May ...

"Snow and local blowing snow. Amount 5 to 10 cm. Wind north 60 km/h gusting to 90. High plus 2."

"Old Man Spring? Calgary's storm closes schools, cancels flights"

"Schools in the city are open, but buses have been delayed."

Bullshit contradiction right there ... Calgary's storm has actually closed out of town schools ... but whatever. I didn't mind driving around the idiot that parked IN THE MIDDLE of the street today to take his kids in to the school ... didn't mind risking my little micro-machine getting stuck in the snow at all. Idiot! But again, whatever.

what we were faced with when we left the house this morning:

what my back yard looks like, present tense. Let me reiterate - this is NOT a blog un-published from December, this is today, April 29:

And I'll let you take a guess at what this is:

Are you done yet?  ..... No, it's not just the snow. It's not just the outside of my garage door....

It's where I just fucking fell. Flat on my ass. As I pranced from my house to the garage because I was desperate for another coffee and ran out of cream at home. I can hear the wind blowing shit off my house, I can see the blizzard like conditions, but I just needed that damn coffee. And now, I need an ice pack. My back is getting sorer by the minute. And graceful I am not. I didn't go down lightly or in the fluffy snow that is fun to fall in. I went down like a sack of potatos right on the farkin cement. But I guess it serves me right from prancing in the snow anyway when I should have been holding on for dear life, but come on ... I've lived here my whole life, I should know how to maneuver in this crap. I'm starting to believe that I really am a masochist.

Cougar Town, "Letting You Go": Sail away

A quick review of last night's "Cougar Town" (which, if I haven't said it enough lately, has been vastly improved since the start of the season) coming up just as soon as I use my mouth vacuum...

I haven't written much about "Cougar Town" lately, but it hasn't been for lack of watching/enjoying. It's just that between vacation time and the crunch of Wednesday programming, something's had to give, and this show has settled into a nice, strange groove that doesn't always leave me a ton to say by the time I have time to say it.

But "Letting You Go" was a very strong episode on several levels. It kept up the goofy enthusiasm of Jules and her cul de sac crew to find ways to fight boredom by trying to start new rituals, first with morning drinking, then with the late night Enya parties. The entire cast is really game for this stuff, and here I want to single out Josh Hopkins, who came across as a total stiff in nearly everything I've seen him do in the past, and is completely loose and fun and fearless here as Grayson.

The episode also did a good job of pushing the Jules/Travis relationship back to the forefront, after letting it slip away at various points this season. Jules is, on many levels, a sad character (again: morning drinking), and I like that the writers have found ways to acknowledge that quality, and the clinginess of her relationship with Travis, without undermining the humor of it all. And it also makes sense that Travis's impending departure (from her home, if not the show) would finally send Jules towards Grayson.

One question: is the mention of Winston University (home of the med school affiliated with Sacred Heart on "Scrubs") the first sign that "Cougar Town" and "Scrubs" are part of the same fictional universe, even with Christa Miller playing different roles in each? Or was there an earlier one I've forgotten?

(And second question: funnier Bill Lawrence show dog? Rowdy or Dog Travis?)

What did everybody else think?

Se7en (Seven) [1995]

David Fincher showed promise in the often neglected Alien ³. But he truly and squarely came on his own as a tremendous talent with the dark and noirish Seven – a movie that is on one hand a trip down the murky by-lanes of human civilization, and on the other an unabashedly stylish take on the oft-made genres of police procedurals and serial killer films. Morgan Freeman stars as a brilliant and well-read, albeit world-weary, veteran homicide detective on the verge of retirement, when he is paired with a brash, rookie cop (played by Brad Pitt) to solve a series of grisly, horror-inducing and impeccably planned murders based on the seven deadly sins. Played against the backdrop of a cold, bleak and perpetually rain-swept New York-like urban jungle, the movie presents the grotesque underbelly of our seemingly staid society (a theme which Fincher employed with fantastic effects in his Fight Club as well) – the kind that is sure to leave the weak-hearted shuddering. The grim plot and exacting violence have been suitably boosted by the pulpy, gripping and blazing fast narrative. The acting, too, is first rate; no just the two leads, Kevin Spacey too is quite terrific as the deranged psychopath and religious fanatic John Doe as he leads the film to a memorable, if chilling, climax.





Director: David Fincher
Genre: Thriller/Crime Thriller/Psychological Thriller/Mystery
Language: English
Country: US

The Horror at Martin's Beach by H.P. Lovecraft

The Horror at Martin's Beach

by H.P. Lovecraft and Sonia H. Green

This story has been called by some "wild" and "improbable", and I must admit that both of these adjectives fit the bill quite well.  But how many of Lovecraft's stories do you read and then think, "Yeah...I could see that happening"?

A group of sailors kill an enormous fish-like sea monster after a lengthy fight at sea. Bringing the carcass back to Martin's Beach, a small makeshift museum is set up to house it, and everyone and their mother is more than happy to fork over a few bucks to see the beast up close and personal.

Scientific probing has discovered that this monster, large though it may be, is actually an infant, a virtual newborn. Meaning that were its natural lifespan not interrupted, it could have grown many times its current size. And also meaning that somewhere out there in the murky waters lurks the mother. A mother who is probably none too happy about the murder of her child.

The vengeance that Big Mama wreaks upon the beachcombing populace could have come across as a Cthulu-meets-Jaws scenario (and honestly, I was kind of hoping that it would), but instead we're given a vengeance so melancholy that it would feel right at home in some imported slice of Japanese cinema.

Which isn't necesarily a bad thing...but it is certainly far from what you might expect. It's worth reading if only to see where it ends up...strange and subtle as it is.

--J/Metro

Modern Family, "Travels with Scout": I am not left-handed, either

A review of last night's "Modern Family" coming up just as soon as I lose the deposit on that fog machine...

I often have less to say about the episodes of "Modern Family" that work than the ones that don't, and since two and a half out of the three main stories this week were very funny, I'm going to be brief.

Cameron's brief drumming career was a nice example of the writers striking gold with an unexpected character crossover, with Dylan and his bandmates briefly being awed by Cam's stick skills, and Mitchell and Hayley bonding over their totally rockin' boyfriends. Jay's fiasco with the slasher film was a good story where good intentions (and a mental image of Mitchell's friend as a sweet kid who would never star in such a movie) led to increasingly bad consequences (and which gave Rico Rodriguez his usual chances to shine as Manny), and in the main plot, I enjoyed both Claire's growing affection for Scout and Luke unintentionally acting like a dog.

But as to the main part of the main plot, I think I find Fred Willard a little too perfect in his casting as Phil's dad, if that makes sense. If you wanted to cast someone who'd be Phil plus a few decades, you go get Willard, who's made a career out of playing men who think they're much funnier than they actually are. But the idea that Phil is the way he is because his dad is exactly like him, while logical, was maybe too on-the-nose to click for me, and I spent a lot of the Willard scenes waiting for the episode to swing around to someone else's story.

Still, very funny overall ("What's up with 21 Jump Street?"). What did everybody else think?

Alan Mollohan: Perpetual Money Machine Cranks out Donations

WHAT'S IN HIS WALLET?

West Virginia Watchdog has been keeping an eye on that incorrigible rogue, Rep. Alan Mollahan ($-WV).

The Incredible Mollohan Money Machine keeps on pumping out good stuff to all those in the loop: donations for Mollohan, federal earmarked millions for those in the loop and sweetheart deals for all.

It's springtime and roads in WV are full of potholes--but the Mollohan Money Machine chugs along.

---

Originally posted at DBKP: Alan Mollohan: Incredible Perpetual Money Machine Fills Campaign Coffers

---

FROM Mollohan Business Allies Continue Donations:

Campaign donations from business allies of 1st District Rep Alan Mollohan (D-W.Va.) continue despite the controversy the cycle of earmarks and donations have raised over the years.

The big donors to Mollohan last quarter, which ended on March 31, 2010, were those he has steered earmarks to or leased office space to at the Alan B. Mollohan Innovation Center in Fairmont, W.Va. This includes $19,200 from Mr. and Mrs. Robert Hytner and Mr. and Mrs. James Cava with Information Manufacturing Corp. For the entire 2009 year the Hytner’s donated a total of $16,900.

IMC received over $84 million in Mollohan-directed earmarks between 2000 and 2008. The contracts were for work with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, whose budget Mollohan controls. IMC has received over $300 million in federal contracts between 2000 and
2009. Mollohan also received $4,800 from the National Interest Security Company, which bought IMC in 2007.

Northrop Grumman, which maintains offices at Mollohan Innovation Center, donated $10,000 to Mollohan. The company received nearly $151 Billion in federal contracts between 2000 and 2009.

SWEET!


[ABOVE: Mollohan's beachfront home is a sweet deal. Just part of the perks]

For more on the curious circumstances surrounding Mollohan's property purchases--as a partner with the same people who got millions of earmarked money; What a coincidence!--see:

* Alan Mollohan: Corruption, Cronies and Crocks of Earmarks in WV
* Monday Money Mollohan Report: Alan Mollohan Weekly News

Mollohan's campaign coffers may be filling up with crony-itized donations and the Justice Dept might have dropped its four-year-long probe into Mollohan's money machine, but the Congressman still is rated one of Washington's Most Corrupt--for the fifth year running!

Mollohan was cleared of any wrongdoing by the U.S. Justice Department, while details of the investigation have not been made clear. Ethics questions brought to light by the National Legal and Policy Center focused on Mollohan’s rapid rise to wealth, as well as the earmarks he steered towards five non-profits agencies in West Virginia he helped form and who are ran by former staffers and business partners. Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington named Mollohan as one of the 15 most corrupt politicians in Congress.

Check it out: CREW's 15 MOST CORRUPT.

Meanwhile, the questions surrounding the "Overnight Millionaire"--as the 22nd-richest member of Congress is known--have taken their toll. Mollohan is now being challenged in the 1st District Democrat primary and a host of Republican challengers have also come forward.

Historically, Mollohan has gone into elections unopposed.

Are WV-1 consituents finally ready to throw some sand in its gears?


by Mondo Frazier
image: DBKP file