5:45 p.m. — Here are the two transcripts, both hard-drive savers:
- “Senator Reid: You Win, Rush” (backup link for when the original goes behind Rush’s firewall)
- “Betty Casey Wins Smear Letter at $2,100,100; Rush Matches Bid; MC-LEF Will Get a Total of $4.2M” (backup link)

After this, and the barely-veiled threat to ABC to pull its broadcast license (full text here) over its airing of “The Path to 9/11″ (or did you forget?), anyone who doesn’t see the Senate majority as a collection of thugs willing to use intimidation and threats at every available opportunity is blind in one eye and can’t see out of the other.

5:00 p.m. — Allah has linked to the Reid video originally linked to by Drudge. Oh, is it ever painful to watch. It’s “Mark Mays,” sir, not “Mark May.” What a maroon. And I can see why Rush is offended by this “we” crap. Zheesh.

1:10 p.m. — Rush says the winning bidder’s name is Betty Casey, who is apparently a noted philanthropist. I’ll post some of links to Rush’s program transcript (he is on a roll) this evening when it becomes available.

In the meantime, I want to personally thank you, Sherrod Brown, for your pro rata role, amounting to over $102,000 ($4.2 million divided by 41) in this blatant and historic abuse of power. You must be sooooo proud. The Marine Corps - Law Enforcement Foundation, a registered charity which provides financial assistance to the children of fallen Marines and federal law enforcement officers, is clearly thankful too.

1:05 p.m. Congrats to bettyc588 on her winning bid:

12:55 p.m. — I understand the Harry Reid is attempting to glom on the astounding Ebay auction of the letter sent to Clear Channel Chairman Mark Mays for the sole purpose of intimidating Rush Limbaugh. That letter was also signed by Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown, Hillary Clinton and Barack “BOOHOO” Obama.

Limbaugh has the letter up for bid, and as of 12:58, the bid is $2.1 million. Rush is matching the winning bid amount. Reid, who you couldn’t find with a search warrant on this issue until now, apparently made a speech (on the Senate Floor, I think — yes it was) at about noon.

Rush’s interpretation of what Reid said, “You win, Rush.”

This IS “more fun that a human being should be allowed to have.”

Specifically, it was crosspatch at NewsBusters.

Technically, it’s “Temporary Assistance for Needy Families” (TANF), which before Welfare Reform, was called “Aid for Families with Dependent Children” (AFDC).

Following up on this post, here’s what has happened (go to end at link), which is pretty good news, at least since 2001:

That’s an 18% drop in real terms from 2001 through 2007 as proposed. I don’t know what was actually spent in FY 2007, but the above is enough to show that the trend has been in the right direction.

Oh, to see this replicated in other areas of “discretionary” spending.

Impossible to ignore:

BERKELEY — Flag-waving demonstrators far outnumbered a group of peace advocates who were protesting a U.S. Marine Corps recruiting center in downtown on Wednesday.

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$2 million and climbing — Harry Reid’s, Sherrod Brown’s, and 39 other Senators’ failed attempt to intimidate Rush Limbaugh is helping a worthy cause. Scroll down at the link to see how high the Ebay bidding has gone for the actual letter the 41 Thought Police wannabes, who also include Hillary Clinton and BOOHOO (Barack O-bomba Overseas Hussein “Obambi” Obama), sent to Clear Channel CEO Mark Mays.

Forty years ago, the act of attaching one’s signature to such a letter would have been an automatic disqualifier for presidential consideration in the minds of voters. It should be now.
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Stark, Raving Mad — Everyone except Old Media (per Michelle Malkin) seems to be talking about Pete Stark’s miles over-the-line House Floor statement statement yesterday:

You don’t have money to fund the war or children. But you’re going to spend it to blow up innocent people if we can get enough kids to grow old enough for you to send to Iraq to get their heads blown off for the president’s amusement.

This would appear to be part of a longer-term pattern –

In May of 2004, Congressman Pete Stark left a demeaning voice message to Staff Sgt. Dowd, a member of the California Army National Guard, life member of the Veterans of Foreign Wars and a member of the American Legion. Dowd faxed a complaint to Stark condemning a recent vote he made on prisoner abuse.

Here was the “honorable” Mr. Stark’s dishonorable voicemail response:

“Dan, this is Congressman ‘Pete’ Stark, and I just got your fax and you don’t know what you’re talking about. So if you care about enlisted people you wouldn’t have voted for that thing, either. But probably somebody put you up to this, and I’m not sure who it was, but I doubt if you could spell half the words in the letter. Somebody wrote it for you so I don’t pay much attention to it, but I’ll call you back later and let you tell me more about why you think you’re such a great G–damn hero and why you think that this general and the defense department who forced these poor enlisted (bitter laughter) guys to do what they should shouldn’t be held to account. That’s the issue. So if you want to stick it to a bunch of enlisted guys have your way, but if you want to get to the bottom of people who forced this awful program in…Iraq, then you should understand more about it than you obviously do. Thanks.”

If a war-supporting congressperson had left a similar demeaning message on the answering machine of a Code Pinker three years ago, we’d still be hearing about it.

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“We should not be just like them” report — “According to a report from the Belgian Economy Ministry one in seven Belgians lives in poverty.” That would be 14-plus %. After 50 years of neo-socialism, it has a poverty rate higher than ours, even though our threshold of what defines poverty is probably higher.

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If there really isn’t a recession, just decide that there is one (bold is mine):

“This is the latest CNN-Opinion Research poll, between October 12th and 14th. Get this: 46 percent of Americans think the economy is in a recession – 46 percent. Nearly half of all Americans think that we’re in a recession,” Velshi said.

However, Velshi told viewers the economy isn’t in recession by textbook definition.

“[T]his is interesting, because by official standards, we’re not in a recession,” he said. “Recession is a sustained decline in economic growth. We haven’t seen any decline in economic growth. We’ve seen some decline, but not a sustained decline.”

That doesn’t matter according to Velshi. He has incorporated the left-of-center mantra that suggests “how you feel” trumps facts – in this case, basic economic fundamentals.

“But, the bottom line is to most Americans, a recession is what it feels like to you,” he said. “Whether it comes to your expenses, what you’re earning, how secure are you about your job, the value of your house – things like that.”

If the above sounds like a Hillary Clinton campaign commercial, there’s a reason (excerpt is at end of this previous BizzyBlog post):

A separate question that warrants a thorough vetting is why InfoUSA, led by “Friend of Bill” (Vinod) Gupta, went out and bought Opinion Research Corporation (ORC), a leading polling firm with a large government and business consulting subsidiary.

On January 12, 2007, a little more than a month after infoUSA acquired ORC, it established a very interesting relationship (link is to a PDF):

Opinion Research Corporation will become CNN’s new polling partner as the network moves toward the 2008 elections. Beginning in 2007, polls released by the network will be identified as CNN/Opinion Research Corporation surveys.

….. Clinton-friendly CNN and its new partner appear to have the opportunity, and motivation, for manipulating its polling topics and results.

I’d say the manipulation has begun.

Here’s some info about Gupta (from the same link):

A frequent donor to Bill’s campaigns, Gupta stayed in the Lincoln Bedroom in the Clinton years. He admits donating $1 million to the Clinton Library and in 1999 gave $2 million for Hillary Clinton’s Millennium New Year’s Eve bash. He has raised over $200,000 for Hillary’s Senate campaigns and given thousands to other Democratic funds.

It’s fair to say that CNN is now literally “the Clinton News Network.”

This last item is posted in longer form in a separate entry at Wide Open.

From Seattle (HT Daily Good e-mail):

Man carves more than 300 for those with disease
Last updated October 1, 2007 9:19 p.m. PT

It all began when he needed a cane and a way to occupy himself.

After Mike Hunter, 56, was diagnosed seven years ago with multiple sclerosis, it progressed faster than he thought it would. The disease attacks the brain and spinal cord, affecting muscle control and strength, vision, balance, feeling and thinking. Hunter soon had to give up much of his active lifestyle. Hunting, fishing and hiking became almost impossible. Traveling six months out of the year for his sales job had to end when his weakening legs collapsed under him at airports.

When he no longer could walk without using a cane, Hunter didn’t like the options for sale and decided to make one. He used a four-wheeler to navigate through the woods he once easily walked and gathered branches. He took them back to his home near Wenatchee and began to carve and sand and treat the wood. Soon, he had several smooth, unique canes to choose from.

During a visit to his doctor at Evergreen Medical Center in Kirkland, nurses in the multiple sclerosis clinic admired his cane. So he donated what he had for other patients to use.

For the past two years, Hunter has carved and donated more than 300 canes for the clinic, each one different, and each one with Hunter’s own special touch.

Monday, the medical center and the multiple sclerosis clinic surprised him with two awards to thank him for helping so many patients.

“It was depressing for me to wind up with MS after all these years,” he said. “My intent was to help people, and it’s helping far more than I thought.”

Hunter’s wife, Terri, said the hardest part of her husband’s diagnosis was when he had to stop working, and doing something that can help people gives him a new sense of purpose.

“The challenge of what he faces now has turned him into a different person I didn’t know was in him,” she said. “I’m happy he’s able to do something for people and is being recognized for it.” …..

Go here for the rest of the story.