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[Article first appeared at Red County.]

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Scozzafava, who currently represents District 122 to the New York State Assembly, is what you would see when looking up RINO (Republican In Name Only) if an American encyclopedia of political zoology were to exist. If the GOP selected its nominees the way that eHarmony identifies potential soul mates, her pro-choice, pro-gay marriage, and pro-card check positions alone would almost certainly have returned a response of ‘incompatible.’

The list of those endorsing Scozzafava is, to put it politely, eclectic, and includes:

• the Wish List, a PAC devoted to electing pro-choice Republicans the House and Senate
• Markos Moulitsas Zúñiga, founder and published of the Daily Kos
• the Working Families Party, a self-identified “progressive political party” that has close ties to scandal-wracked ACORN

[Shame on Newt Gingrinch and House Minority Leader John Boehner for their support as well.]

Were Scozzafava’s status as a Republican solid, some of us who look at the chess board and recognize that there is safety in numbers might see the wisdom in party luminaries backing a candidate even if they do reject so many of the GOP’s core principles. But when New York Democratic party chair June O’Neill reveals that Scozzafava’s husband was pimping her out as a Democrat-in-waiting shortly before she accepted the Republican nomination, the “R” beside her name looks more like an accessory that might be changed depending on her mood. From the New York Daily News:

Her husband spoke with several Democratic officials and, you know, people who are aligned with the Democratic Party," O’Neill said. "There was some discussion about whether or not Dede might switch parties…

According to O’Neill, this isn’t the first time the Democrats have spoken to Scozzafava about switching sides.

Furthermore, it is painfully ironic that after months of scathing criticism from GOP leadership regarding the Obama administration’s conga line of of tax cheats, and the White House’s nonexistent vetting process for high-level staff and appointment, Red State’s reporting in July that three of Scozzafava’s companies had a total of $192,000 in outstanding tax liens.

Current polling indicates that Scozzafava is splitting the Republican vote with Doug Hoffman, who sought the GOP nomination early on but on losing to Scozzafava picked up the banner of the Conservative Party of New York. The Democratic party nominee Bill Owens, leads in the latest polls by a slim margin. In the two consecutive polls, taken less than three weeks apart by Siena Research Institute, only Scozzfava has been losing ground while her two opponents have made significant gains.

Hoffman has almost certainly benefited from the endorsement of prominent conservatives such as Michelle Malkin, Bill Kristol, Rush Limbaugh, former Sen. Fred Thompson, as well as groups like the American Conservative Union and the Club for Growth. They are only a subset of the list of the third party candidate’s supporters.

No matter what the vote tally indicates on November 3rd, continued support for Scozzafava by establishment Republicans will send a chill through the ranks of only recently awakened conservative grass roots networks. Now is the time for Republican strategists to consider drawing up escape routes for Scozzafava’s withdrawal from the race or for the GOP to distance themselves from the candidate.  The potential sea change that could manifest from the mixture of an invigorated choir of conservative voices and growing disillusionment about President Obama’s radical left-wing agenda will be made monumentally more difficult if morale is low in the conservative base during these critical fundraising months. It is time for the captains of conservatism in the Republican party to steer the ship into the fight, instead of sailing away to fight another day.

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No matter what a person’s personal feelings may be on homelessness – its causes, its effects, what our public policies should be with regard to – at this time of year a sense of decency overcomes the coldest perspective.  Even those of us who see homelessness, in the big picture, as a social ill that inhabits the individual, not an individual for whom an ill society has failed, even our hearts thaw paradoxically when the temperatures drop below freezing.  The befuddling landscape of Seattle politics and activism provide us with a way to laugh and maintain our objectivity.

As city-run and privately-operated emergency shelters open to give warmth to as many of our city’s homeless as possible, the homeless themselves are organizing a protect outside of City Hall.  From KOMO television’s Bryan Johnson:

Emergency shelters at City Hall, the Seattle Center and the Frye Hotel will remain open to help the homeless, according to the Mayor’s Office. So far 471 people have been helped, but the homeless say that’s just not good enough.

The homeless have set up tents outside City Hall to protest the city sweeps through homeless camps. They want to deliver a message: there are thousands who need help.

Of course, the protest is just a continuation of what has been dubbed ‘Nickelsville’ by many, an nomadic ‘tent-in’ demonstration to protest what many homeless and homeless activists see as Mayor Greg Nickels’ failure to cure Seattle’s homeless problem.  The Seattle Times’ illuminates:

Nobody is expected to be turned away from indoor shelter, said Maj. Myles Plummer, director of the Salvation Army’s William Booth Center that houses homeless men.

The agency provided shelter Sunday night for some 300 of the homeless.

If more of the homeless arrive during the freezing weather, said Plummer, "you close the gaps. Where you might have a 6-inch gap between you and the next guy, now everybody gets closer."

At Nickelsville, residents said they liked the freer life, even if it means putting tents on top of wooden pallets so they don’t sleep right on top of a cold, paved surface.

So, in Seattle, the community rallies to provide shelter when most needed but the homeless choose their path.  This has, and always will be, the reason that many of us will never jump on board spending large amounts of money on programs to benefit the homeless until those programs include money for psychological diagnosis and treatment.  There is nothing dignified about refusing help and placing yourself in peril.  When one has demonstrated that one’s own survival is forfeit to preserving the delusion of independence, such a person has crossed the line into insanity and we must deal appropriately with that malady.

Dozens may die needlessly in this stretch of frigid weather.  If we would only get serious about dealing with this problem as what it is – the manifestation of mental illness, in many cases – many of those lives might be spared.

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This house must break into the gigawatt range for the season, but it is truly beautiful.  Please do not forward this to Al Gore unless you want to be buried in a verbal avalanche on the subject off carbon offset credits.

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Winston Smith has entered the building.  Just as many had feared, in the response to the first real scandal in the history of the Office of the President-elect, the agents of Obama’s Ministry of Truth have been activated.  Of  course, there is little precedent for comparison.  Our government never even had an Office of the President-elect before now.

In the wake of the Blagojevich arrest and subsequent political chaos, the web has been cleansed of some damaging material efficiently and effectively.  It shows us the fleeting nature of truth in a digital world.  It also presents the best case for bailing out our nation’s failing newspapers.  Despite liberal tendencies, the relative permanence of paper information serves as an archive that can not be subjectively white-washed when expediency dictates necessity.

Most of us bloggers consider ourselves to be the town criers of the Digital Age.  Maybe – if we’re really good – we can evoke reactions from our readers similar to those of Nellie Bly or Upton Sinclair, dragging nare-do-wells into the light of day for the public to exact justice.  Or, maybe, if we haven’t achieved the critical mass of a mega-blog like HotAir.com or MichelleMalkin.com, what we write only lives until it crosses the line from opinion that someone doesn’t like to become substance that could be damaging to someone. 

Servers can be compromised, systems hacked and archives deleted.  In this sense, most blogs are no more reliable for our society than the ancient oral tradition.  (No, former President Clinton, not your cue.) 

A culture of moral determinism is now poised to hold court now that the capital of our nation’s political spirit has moved from Washington, D.C. to Chicago, Illinois.  Finding a way to give our political conversations permanence is not a pursuit that can be left to hobbyists; it is an imperative of survival.

The handing over of power to a Chicago cabal was an enormous mistake made by the American people who know not what they have done.  But it is a mistake that must be respected because it is, after all, our system.  So, too, must the cabal respect the laws they will soon be bound to uphold. 

Perhaps it is not voluntary as idealized by philosopher John Locke, but in the absence of the social contract he describes, in which we submit to the rule of law – not to be altered based on our temporary needs or wants – only anarchy exists.  The erosion of any sense that a record exists of someone’s actions, or that common sense should guide our judgments about the actions taken by our elected representatives, intensifies the chaos currently in crescendo.

The blog community is the Fifth Estate, checking the Fourth Estate, which watches over the government for the protection of the people.  When the media steps out of line, it is the blogs that sound the alarm; the media, on occasion, return the favor.  In the coming years, bloggers will need to find more creative ways of preserving their communal record, arriving at some forms of consensus and establishing measures to gain credibility with the public.

Our country can survive anything, as long as the free flow of opinion and information exists.  This latest dark episode in our political history shows us that blogs serve a valuable role and they should ensure their ability to do so eternally, for the preservation of our free republic.

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[This review was first published December 12, 2008 on Blogcritics web site at http://blogcritics.org/archives/2008/12/12/194914.php]

In the genre of computer-animated films, Japanese and American studios have previously maintained superiority in both technical skill and storytelling.  Dragon Hunters, the newest animated release from Futurikon Films, will delight audiences but also put Hollywood and Tokyo on notice that France is ready to compete as a peer instead of an aspiring student of the craft.

Dragon Hunters tells the story of four characters, three of whom will be familiar to anyone who has seen the animated television series that made a brief run on United States television via Cartoon Network.

Rob Paulsen is the voice of Gwizdo, an enterprising fellow, short on generosity but long on initiative.

Lian-Chu (voice provided by Oscar-winner Forest Whitaker) is a skilled slayer of dragons, built like a mountain, but possesses delicate sensibilities (not limited to a love of knitting) that cause him to question why he does Gwizdo’s unscrupulous bidding as they roam their world slaying dragons and shaking down local people for monetary reward. 

Hector, whose mish-mash language of grunts and growls is brought to life by Dave Wittenberg, rounds out their rag-tag band, a precociously ferocious blue-haired dog-like creature who is Lian-Chu’s partner-in-attack and provides the majority of the laughs that are dispersed throughout the 82-minute movie.

Fans of the television show will notice that a new female character joins the cast of regulars.  Zoe, whose terrifically cute and exuberant character is voiced by Mary Mouse, is a young girl whose life has been spent in the safety and seclusion of her uncle Lord Arnold’s fortress.  Her fantasies of knights and dragons – fueled by her uncle’s experience with such adventures – are made real when Lord Arnold begins to see signs that have foretold the coming of a great dragon known as the World Gobbler. 

Desperate, Zoe sneaks from the castle, lands herself in mortal danger, and is rescued from peril by Lian-Chu.  Now a group of four, they make their way back to Lord Arnold’s fortress where the original trio convinces Lord Arnold that they are, in fact, knights.  Afflicted by blindness, Lord Arnold believes them and offers a mission of great importance – to slay the World Gobbler – a task that Gwizdo is more than glad to accept, for a fee.  Zoe accompanies the trio on their journey to the ultimate destination – the end of the world.

Throughout the ensuing encounters with dragons and danger, Zoe’s belief in heroism (and Gwizdo’s denial of it) gives rise to the conflict within Lian-Chu about the path he has chosen.  This theme is a good one that could have been introduced sooner and drawn in bolder strokes within the script.  More films aimed at children with the message that doing good is a choice that each of us must make would have to be considered a good thing.

In many ways, the main character is the scenery.  The story takes places in a world that exists in the sky, where massive forms of earth and stone float like lily pads on a placid pond.  One of the great challenges to any animator – computer-aided or not – is to invent a setting that carries the story without leaving the audience scratching their head in disbelief.  Dragon Hunters’ creators achieved this admirable feat, creating – in some moments – a world of that surpasses the imagination of Japanese animation genius Hiyao Miyazake.  It accomplishes this even while it drawing from Miyazake’s visual catalog.  In spite of this apparent homage, the film will take audiences to places they have never been.

The world of Dragon Hunters is rich with its own personality, a place in which all man-made things are old and all organic things are exotic.  Everything seems in its place, despite the fact that nothing, except the basics of man-made architecture, is recognizable from the world in which we live and there is an incredible variety of landscapes, giving the world that these character live in a feeling of depth and realism.  The rendering and detailing of natural surfaces creates the experience of looking at a painting, not as jarring as the hyper realistic or cartoonish appearance of lesser productions.  Dragon Hunters represents more evidence that there is a French school of animated artistry.  If so, I would like to see more of it.

At times the scenes and their composition achieve such peaceful beauty as to suspend the need for dialogue.  In the greatest achievement for this genre, the animated characters, without speech, still deliver a performance.  Yet the faster-moving sequences are equally masterful in their choreography, and visual pop.  The scene in which we meet Lian-Chu, Gwizdo, and Hector – a carefully choreographed battle involving Hector, Lian-Chu, and a dragon called the Mamularus that resembles a large caterpillar – is the funniest, most energetic and well-composed action scene I have ever seen in an animated film.  Without so much as an utterance about hope and change, a tingle was felt up my leg.  The final battle scene will also serve as a wake-up call to American studios that their supremacy will henceforth be challenged.

Anyone making early guesses about how the story ends won’t be wrong, but the journey there is worth spending the time.  The superb score by composer Klaus Bedelt (composer, Pirates of the Carribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl, Constantine), pushes all of the right buttons, and the script moves the story along at a fast pace toward its inevitable conclusion.

In some ways, however, the film depends too much on its visual impact.  It seems to be infatuated with its own beauty and doesn’t afford enough time to the development of the characters that are so important in making a connection with a young audience.  There are places in which the action is difficult to follow, and American children will not understand that the filmmakers decided to use the term dragons to generically describe all beastly and dangerous creatures. 

Nevertheless, families with small children and fans of computer animation should definitely make a point of seeing the film.  It is currently showing at the Laemmle’s Grand 4 Plex, 345 S. Figueroa Street, in Los Angeles, California in order to be eligible for an Academy Award nomination in the categories of Best Score and Best Animated Film.

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According to ABC News’ Senior White House Correspondent Jake Tapper, who was nimble enough to transcribe a November 23, 2008 appearance by David Axelrod on Fox News Chicago before it "disappeared" from YouTube, Axelrod had the following to say about communication between President-elect Obama and Blagojevich:

While insisting that the President-elect had not expressed a favorite to replace him, and his inclination was to avoid being a "kingmaker," Axelrod said, "I know he’s talked to the governor and there are a whole range of names many of which have surfaced, and I think he has a fondness for a lot of them."

Axelrod has since recanted those statements, as reported by our friends at Hot Air, but the cat’s out of the bag. 

So, can we find a thread between Axelrod and Blagojevich? 

My research turned on up from an article published November 12, 2008 in Bond Buyer, a trade publication. (See full citation below.)  I’ll skip the fluff – you can read the story yourself for the less relevant portions.  Here’s the nut:

In early 2007, Blagojevich elevated Filan to a senior advisory position with the title of chief operating officer overseeing state agencies that manage capital planning, infrastructure, and economic development…

Some have speculated that Filan’s ties to President-elect Barack Obama’s chief political strategist, David Axelrod, may help land him a Washington job.

He didn’t get that Washington job, he landed a position as the executive director of the Illinois Finance Authority.  The IFA is integral in the current scandal for its role in the financing of the construction of the new Wrigley Field ballpark.

So, it seems that John Filan may be the link between David Axelrod, top campaign advisor to Obama and slated to be a senior advisor to in the White House, and Blagojevich.

Although Reuters reported December 9 that Filan denied knowledge of the charges against Blagojevich, it is Filan’s possible ties to Axelrod that should cause some to deny Obama’s top advisor the right to wriggle off the hook so quickly.

I will be searching for confirmation of the relationship between Axelrod and Filan.  Perhaps someone in the credentialed media would like to ask Axelrod or Filan directly?  Something like this should be put on the record.

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Source:  Yvette Shields. "Illinois Fiscal Chief Filan to Lead IFA. " Bond Buyer  [New York, N.Y.] 12  Nov. 2008,1. ABI/INFORM Trade & Industry. ProQuest.  King County Library System, Bothell, WA.  10 Dec. 2008.  Direct URL: http://0-proquest.umi.com.catalog.kcls.org/pqdweb?did=1597235831&sid=7&Fmt=3&clientId=13518&RQT=309&VName=PQD.

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I don’t even have a comment about the CNN.com story‘s content.  Any time a sitting governor is taken into federal custody on suspicion of bribery there is something serious going on.

What I want to know is, why did I have to go to other sources to confirm that Governor Rod Blagojevich is a Democrat?  Nowhere in the story is it stated that Blagojevich is, in fact, a Democrat.

Contrast with a story appearing on CNN.com following Ted Steven’s conviction on corruption charges names him as a Republican in the second paragraph:

"WASHINGTON (CNN) – Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens vowed to fight his Monday conviction on federal corruption charges, a verdict he attributed to "repeated instances of prosecutorial misconduct."

"I will fight this unjust verdict with every ounce of energy I have," the 84-year-old Stevens, the Senate’s longest-serving Republican, said in a written statement after the jury came back Monday afternoon. "I am innocent."

How much reporting do you think the Atlanta news giant will give to the relationship between Blagojevich and President-elect Obama considering this subtle attempt to de-politicize a criminally-charged Dem?

UPDATE: Another blogger noticed this omission, as well as the shocking omission among other news carriers, although I didn’t know it at the time I was writing my post.

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Speaking on MSNBC’s "Morning Joe" program last Friday, Dan Rather volunteered to act as an unelected editor of the Constitution.  According to Rather, the nation would be better served by ignoring the Twentieth Amendment to allow President-elect Obama to take the office early.

Rather said (transcript carried by the Media Research Center web site):  

"What we need out of the President is focus on the job at hand. We can’t afford to waste an hour, much less a day or a week or a month. … I’d be in favor of moving [the inauguration] up to December 1st. Get the election over. Get a new president in December 1st."

"But, we’re in possibly, possibly the biggest crisis we’ve been in since December 7, 1941 and maybe since the time of the Civil War. So, we can’t afford to have this interregnum. The old order is gone. The new order is not yet in place."

Perhaps Rather did not study his U.S. history thoroughly.  The Twentieth Amendment to the Constitution has established the inauguration thus:

Amendment XX.  Section 1. The terms of the President and Vice President shall end at noon on the 20th day of January, and the terms of Senators and Representatives at noon on the 3d day of January, of the years in which such terms would have ended if this article had not been ratified; and the terms of their successors shall then begin.

Is Rather suggesting that we amend or suspend the supreme law of the land?  Someone should tap him on the shoulder and remind him that there has never been a national emergency – even those cited, World War II and the Civil War – in which the nation found any justification to alter the time table for the lawful succession of the office of President.

I’m certain that Rather is anxious to get President Bush off-stage as quickly as possible.  Maybe then his shame for the collapse of his professional ethics in the Air National Guard letter scandal can begin to dissipate.

The strength of our system comes, in part, from its yeoman-like dependability.  When we begin pulling, tweaking and skewing our laws to fit the circumstances of the moment they lose their meaning and cease the reflect a solid framework from which we can all determine how to behave in society.  A learned man like Professor Zbigniew Brzezinski, sitting near Rather on the Morning Joe panel, should leaned over and smacked Rather as a proxy for the nation.

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In a shockingly logical response to the prevalence of organized crime in the industries supporting gambling, prostitution and drug sales, the city of Amsterdam has introduced plans to close many of the establishments that presently peddle those wares.  The plans announced are a step even further than those already underway to close many of the city’s world-famous brothels and cafes in an effort to confront Amsterdam’s use as a haven for money-laundering operations used by criminal enterprises.

As quoted in a CNN.com article, Lodewijk Asscher, an Amsterdam city council member speaks to the goal of his city’s program.

Asscher underlined that the city center will remain true to its freewheeling reputation.

"It’ll be a place with 200 windows (for prostitutes) and 30 coffee shops, which you can’t find anywhere else in the world — very exciting, but also with cultural attractions," he said. "And you won’t have to be embarrassed to say you came."

Under the plan announced Saturday, Amsterdam will spend €30 million to €40 million ($38 million to $51 million) to bring hotels, restaurants, art galleries and boutiques to the center. It will also build new underground parking areas.

It should be noted that marijuana possession or sales is not legal in the Netherlands.  The existence of marijuana cafes persists under a don’t ask, don’t tell attitude of local law enforcement as long as sales and use occur within the same walls.

The Netherlands’ laws legalizing prostitution are not being repealed and the new plans will only affect 20% of Amsterdam’s "coffee shops".

The recognition by an icon of the legalized vice trade that there will always be a blackness that infects those exchanges, no matter how much a society attempts to sanitize them through legalization and tolerance, will be seen by other places around the world.  Seattle, for example.

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If the decision of Seattle city planner Andrew McKim stands, the city of Seattle could have its newest strip club placed within tobacco-spitting distance of the field used by the city’s major league baseball franchise.  Read what the Seattle P-I had to say on December 3rd here.

The owner of the Pike Place-area Deja Vu club, Roger Forbes, applied for a permit to locate another one of his establishments at a location on First Avenue South that is only 400 feet away from Safeco Field, the home of the Seattle Mariners.

The permit can be challenged legally for a period of 21 days from issuance.  Since a suit would likely only succeed in tagging the baseball park as a community center, thereby providing it an 800 foot buffer zone in which no nude dance establishments can locate, let’s just assume that a location one block further away from the field of play will be found and subsequently approved by the city.

I’m not even going to start on a rant about how this reflects on the cultural state of a city that continues to become less and less family-friendly.  I won’t even take the perfunctory shot at Mayor Greg "Claudius" Nickels.  With precedent established on how cities may and may not deal with nude dancing clubs even the Pope would be reduced to quixotic measures.  Because of the costly legal challenge the city would most certainly have faced in either rejecting the permit application or creating zoning restrictions, the permit issuance was a fait accompli from the moment the ink on the application was dry.

My fiancee and I take my son to at least three or four games every season, and we attend another three or four on our own of with friends.  These are outings in which – strictly speaking – nudity is neither expected or welcome.  Our plans (pertaining to both frequency or attendance and our clothing required policy) will not change next season, nor will they be altered in whatever season the Deja Vu club opens its doors.

The point at which our plans will change, and the Mariners organization will lose out on close to $1,000 our little family spends at the field in an eight-game, will be when I hear discussions of what goes on behind the doors of the strip club while I am trying to enjoy an idyllic American pastime with my loved ones.  It is already disturbing to listen to loud conversations on topics that my mother would have scolded me for speaking about in public.

When does tolerance of differences cross the line of becoming intolerance of our fellow citizen’s right to have public spaces that reliable preserve some semblance of decency?  Our society is based on democratic principles, that the people affected by something are the best fit to determine whether that something should proceed or be halted or be altered in some fashion of compromise.  This manifests in the institutions of trial by peers, in school boards, in city governments themselves and so many others mechanisms though which local people make decisions on issues that affect their environment. 

There are indigenous business and residents in these areas who will be affected, and they should not have to mount a legal argument to prevent this from happening.  The club owner is the interloper, and should have the burden of proving that they will not do harm to the social and economic environment they wish to enter.  They should make that case to the people, not to a bureaucrat who feels no direct impact from the decision they make.

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