Weds open thread

I’m in the midst of several things at once, but I’ll be back later today or evening to blog extensively about the John Edwards’ hired bloggers controversy, which is getting big play in the blogosphere and some mild attention in the press. These various links should get you up to speed on what the issue is, in case you’re not aware of it already.

10 Responses to "Weds open thread"

G-Monster says:

February 7, 2007 at 3:19 pm

First Joseph Biden blows his campaign, and now John Edwards. He either knows very well what this blogger is all about, or he is dumb for not checking into her background. Kind of like when he found out about John Kerry’s past, halfway through thier campaign together. For an attorney, he is not very inteligent.
benning says:

February 7, 2007 at 4:14 pm

I love how Dems can hire these loons to spout horrid things, and then when the heat turns up they can coyly disavow any control. What crud!

Edwards has always been a lying scum-bucket. I hope this sinks him for good! Yeesh!
Severian says:

February 7, 2007 at 4:28 pm

I love how Dems can hire these loons to spout horrid things, and then when the heat turns up they can coyly disavow any control.

I think that’s called implausible deniability.
Norma says:

February 7, 2007 at 4:49 pm

I think hiring bloggers is just fine. Democrats only think it’s bad if Republicans do it. It’s like having gay friends–OK only for Dems. It’s no different than radio or TV ads, and is probably cheaper. But everyone should do it (and let us know who they are blogging for).
NC Cop says:

February 7, 2007 at 5:04 pm

Ahh, Edwards………I’m so glad we got rid of his butt.
geezer says:

February 7, 2007 at 8:32 pm

Maybe John E. should take up smoking…
benning says:

February 8, 2007 at 11:29 am

DHS lied to Congress? Check out the news!
Severian says:

February 8, 2007 at 2:01 pm

No open thread for Thurs yet, so I’ll just put this here. Interesting ain’t it?

Link

Before the United Nations can save the planet, it needs to clean up its own house. And as scandal after scandal has unfolded over the past decade, from Oil for Food to procurement fraud to peacekeeper rape, the size of that job has become stunningly clear.

But any understanding of the real efforts that job entails should begin with a look at the long and murky career of Maurice Strong, the man who may have had the most to do with what the U.N. has become today, and still sparks controversy even after he claims to have cut his ties to the world organization.

From Oil for Food to the latest scandals involving U.N. funding in North Korea, Maurice Strong appears as a shadowy and often critically important figure.

Strong, now 77, is best known as the godfather of the environmental movement, who served from 1973-1975 as the founding director of the U.N. Environment Program (UNEP) in Nairobi. UNEP is now a globe-girdling organization with a yearly budget of $136 million, which claims to act as the world’s environmental conscience. Strong consolidated his eco-credentials as the organizer of the U.N.’s 1992 environmental summit in Rio de Janeiro, which in turn paved the way for the controversial 1997 Kyoto Treaty on controlling greenhouse gas emissions.

But his green credentials scarcely begin to do justice to Strong’s complicated back-room career. He has spent decades migrating through a long list of high-level U.N. posts, standing behind the shoulder of every U.N. secretary-general since U Thant . Without ever holding elected office, he has had a hand in some of the world’s most important bureaucratic appointments, both at the U.N. and at the World Bank. A Canadian wheeler-dealer with an apple face and pencil mustache, Strong has parlayed his personal enthusiasms and connections into a variety of huge U.N. projects, while punctuating his public service with private business deals.

Along the way, Strong has also been caught up in a series of U.N. scandals and conflicts of interest. These extend from the notorious Oil-for-Food program to the latest furor over cash funneled via U.N. agencies to the rogue regime of North Korea, which involves, among other things, Strong’s creative use of a little-known, U.N.-chartered educational institution called the University for Peace. Above all, the tale of Maurice Strong illustrates the way in which the U.N., with its bureaucratic culture of secrecy, its diplomatic immunities, and its global reach, lends itself to manipulation by a small circle of those who best know its back corridors.
Severian says:

February 8, 2007 at 2:03 pm

Forgot to add, this is a long article, but worth a read. So, the godfather of the greenies and a major force behind Kyoto is as dirty as original sin. Why does this not surprise me.
Baklava says:

February 8, 2007 at 10:40 pm

Old lying Joe Wilson

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