If you happened to watch the re-run of Saturday Night last night, you may have noticed that NBC has discretely airbrushed the Democrat fatcats Herb and Marion Sandler out of their now famous “bailout” sketch.

Here is the new airbrushed version, via Saturday Night Live’s own website:

The gap begins at about 1:05 in. (If your browser refuses to play the clip, watch it via the SNL link above.)

Here is the dialogue that has now been removed:

C-SPAN BAILOUT

NANCY PELOSI: This is Herbert and Marianne Sandler, tell us your story.
HERB SANDLER: My wife and I had a company which aggressively marketed sub-prime mortgages and then bundled them as “securities” to sell to banks, such as Wachovia. Today, our portfolio is worth almost nothing. Though at one point, it was worth close to $19 billion.
NANCY PELOSI: Oh my God, I’m so sorry. Were you able to sell it for anything?
HERB SANDLER: Yes. For $24 billion.
NANCY PELOSI: I see. So, in that sense, you’re not actually “victims,” as such.
HERB SANDLER: No. That would be Wachovia bank.
NANCY PELOSI: Uh-huh.
MARION SANDLER: Actually, we have done quite well. We’re very happy.
(GRAPHIC: HERBERT AND MARIANNE SANDLER: PEOPLE WHO SHOULD BE SHOT)
HERB SANDLER: We were sort of wondering why you asked us to come today.
MARION SANDLER: Anyway, it’s delightful to see you, Nancy.
NANCY PELOSI: And thank you, Congressman Frank, as well as many Republicans, for helping block Congressional oversight of our corrupt activities.
BARNEY FRANK: Not at all. There’s an important social contract here. When deceitful housing lenders play by the rules, and bribe members of Congress with campaign contributions, they have a right to expect that we will protect them from losing money. Now let me say something else here. Many of you are probably wondering, where did that $700 billion missing from our economy go? To help answer that, let me introduce our good friend, billionaire hedge fund manager, George Soros…

At the point where the Sandlers had been introduced there is now a flash, as if from a camera, and the sketch jump cuts ahead to Barney Frank’s wrap up. It is a very obvious edit.

According to the New York Times, the Sandlers threatened to sue NBC for using them in a sketch — so NBC immediately capitulated and cut them out of the sketch.

Can you imagine NBC cutting Sarah Palin, Mel Gibson or Rush Limbaugh from a comedy sketch because they complained about it? (Indeed, none of them would complain, much less threaten to sue.)

That they had complained (let alone sued) would be all over the news.

But we are talking about Democrat uber fatcats here.

As we have noted previously, the Sandlers (along with George Soros) used their ill gotten gains from their Wachovia shenanigans to launch the now uncountable army of DNC 527 front groups.

So we will hear nary a peep from our watchdog media.

In the rush of events and the holiday we almost allowed the Holy Land Foundation verdict to pass by without comment.

From an outraged Associated Press:

Flanked by supporters Valley Reed, left, and Hadi Jawad, Noor Elashi speaks about the guilty verdict rendered against her father, Ghassan Elashi, in Dallas, Monday, Nov. 24, 2008. A Muslim charity and five of its former leaders were convicted Monday of funneling millions of dollars to the Palestinian militant group Hamas, finally handing the government a signature victory in its fight against terrorism funding.

Holy Land charity and leaders found guilty on all 108 counts

Michael Ainsworth / Associated Press

By Paul J. Weber
November 25, 2008

Reporting from Dallas — A Muslim charity and five of its former leaders were convicted Monday of funneling millions of dollars to the Palestinian militant group Hamas — a long-sought victory in the government’s fight against terrorism funding.

U.S. District Judge Jorge A. Solis announced the guilty verdicts on all 108 counts on the eighth day of deliberations in the retrial of the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development, once the nation’s largest Muslim charity. It was the biggest terrorism financing case since the Sept. 11 attacks…

After Monday’s verdict, family members showed little visible reaction until the jury left. Several women sobbed loudly…

Ghassan Elashi, Holy Land’s former chairman, and Shukri Abu Baker, the chief executive, were convicted of a combined 69 counts, including supporting a specially designated terrorist, money laundering and tax fraud.

Mufid Abdulqader and Abdulraham Odeh were convicted of three counts of conspiracy, and Mohammed El-Mezain was convicted of one count of conspiracy to support a terrorist organization. Holy Land was convicted of all 32 counts…

Holy Land was accused of giving more than $12 million to support Hamas. The seven-week retrial ran about as long as the original, which ended in October 2007, when a judge declared a mistrial on most charges…

The U.S. designated Hamas a terrorist organization in 1995 and again in 1997, making contributions to the group illegal. Government officials raided Holy Land’s headquarters in December 2001 and shut it down.

Prosecutors labeled Holy Land’s benefactors — called zakat committees — as terrorist-recruiting pools. The charities, the government argued, spread Hamas’ violent ideology and generated loyalty and support among Palestinians…

Bizarrely, many of the articles about this verdict did their best to portray it as a show trial and to make these terrorist enablers as sympathetic as possible.

But there is an ancillary part of this story that is of particular interest to us here at S&L.

For, lest we forget, one of the Holy Land Foundation’s staunchest supporters and defenders is Hadi Jawad:

John Wolf, left, and Hadi Jawad hold signs supporting the Holy Land Foundation defendants while standing outside the federal courthouse in downtown Dallas, Texas, Thursday, Oct. 18, 2007.

Longtime readers of this site should recognize the names John Wolf and Hadi Jawad.

They are the founders and owners of the “Crawford Peace House,” the organization that first sponsored Cindy Sheehan’s peace vigil in Crawford.

They were celebrated back in 2005 by the Dallas Peace Center:

Hadi Jawad, speaking on behalf of the Crawford Peace House, Friday Nov 25th, 2005.

John Wolf and Cindy Sheehan uncover a memorial to Cindy’s vigil in Crawford for the first time, Friday Nov 25th, 2005

Hadi Jawad and Johnny Wolf

You would be hard-pressed to find two more honorable, spiritual, and dedicated men than Hadi Jawad and John Wolf. They have very diverse backgrounds, and yet agree that their values and morals are so close that they could have been raised in the same family. Jawad and Wolf are being honored by the Dallas Peace Center on December 1 as 2005 Peacemakers of the Year for their tireless work for peace and justice…

[O]n August 5th of this year, Jawad heard that Cindy Sheehan wanted to go to Crawford. He sent her an e-mail inviting her to the Peace House, and the next day drove her down to Crawford. The CPH became the in-town connection for the month long vigil at Camp Casey. The Peace House in Crawford is a busy place these days, with renovations, meetings, and a “homecoming” for Sheehan on Thanksgiving. Jawad says, “How easy it is to feed hundreds of people is the essence of what we do.”

Jawad and Wolf feel that the efforts of the Dallas Peace Center and the Crawford Peace House have raised the consciousness of this whole area…

Jawad and Wolf’s vision for the Crawford Peace House post-Bush is that it will be a center for community. Wolf states, “The Peace House is so much more than President Bush – it is a centralized location where we perform miracles, offering hope to humanity to counter the cult of war.” Jawad adds, “I’d like it to be a permanent memorial to peace and justice, with an historical marker which says, ‘Peace began here’.”

We often wondered who was funding Ms. Sheehan’s noble mission, and now we know. (Though, to be fair, we knew it at the time as well.)

It was a natural enough fit, given Ms. Sheehan’s oft-expressed anti-Semitism.

But, gee, why would Muslim terrorists want the US to leave Iraq? And why would they help fund someone who was leading the charge for our withdrawal?

Aren’t these the kind of inquiries that our watchdog media should be making?

And while we are asking questions, why aren’t Messrs Wolf and Jawad in jail for their own tax problems with the “Crawford Peace House” anyway?

From the New York Post:

SHOPPING MAUL - COPS LEFT WAL-MART JUST BEFORE TRAGEDY

By TAYLOR K. VECSEY, CAROLYN SALAZAR and LUKAS I. ALPERT

November 30, 2008

The chaos that led to a rampaging mob storming a Long Island Wal-Mart - and trampling a worker to death - erupted just after a pair of police cruisers pulled from the parking lot, witnesses said yesterday.

“Once they left, it started getting rowdy,” said Jason Ortiz, 32, who came from East Flatbush in Brooklyn to get an early jump on post-Thanksgiving Day shopping. “The crowd got restless.”

Worker Jdimytai Damour, 34, of Queens - who had been hired from a temp agency just for the holiday rush - went to open the door, but hesitated when he saw how unruly the crowd had become, police said.

Then he opened it anyway, and the frenzied horde stormed through, knocking the door off its hinges and crushing him…

Law-enforcement officials said police had patrolled the mall throughout the night, but that shopping lines are “not something we would normally police.”

“You have to remember that this is private property,” Nassau County Police Detective Lt. Kevin Smith said. “The onus is on the store to provide security.”

Officials with Wal-Mart say they did just that, adding additional security personnel and erecting barricades, but now admit it wasn’t enough…

Jordan Hecht, a lawyer hired by Damour’s sisters, said the family was mulling a negligence suit…

Whenever a crime like this happens it is always attributed to the lack of security.

As if there could ever be enough policemen to watch everyone.

But the same people who complain about the lack of police protection are the same ones who carp about police harassment and being profiled.

Some of the comments posted at the Post’s site are very telling:

royfrowick wrote:

these shoppers were virtually all on WELFARE. they all have cell phones, $200 sneakers, and spend approximately $600 a month on braiding and hair extensions. They were all rushing in to buy $800 flat screen TVs with WELFARE money. Do you know any working people in this economy who are considering buying new, expensive electronics. END WELFARE NOW. no more food stamps, no more checks, no more school lunch programs, head start, all that HIP-HOP garbage.

ablesch wrote:

Well Bush and his mishandling of the economy has increased the human depravity factor in the US. Did he cause this specific act of depravity? No — but he is in part responsible.

What a world.

From where else but the New York Times:

Tuy Sobil, or K.K., a former gang member from Long Beach, Calif., founded the club after being deported in 2004.

U.S. Deportee Brings Street Dance to Street Boys of Cambodia

By SETH MYDANS

Published: November 29, 2008

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia — It may be the only place in Cambodia where the children are nicknamed Homey, Frog, Floater, Fresh, Bugs and Diamond.

And there are not many places like this small courtyard, thumping with the beat of a boom box, where dozens of boys in big T-shirts are spinning on their heads and doing one-hand hops, elbow tracks, flairs, halos, air tracks and windmills. And, of course, krumping.

It is a little slice of Long Beach, Calif., brought here by a former gang member by way of a federal prison, an immigration jail and then expulsion four years ago from his homeland, the United States, to the homeland of his parents, Cambodia.

The former gang member is Tuy Sobil, 30, who goes by the street name K.K. The boys are Cambodian street children he has taken under his wing as he teaches them the art he brought with him, break dancing, as well as his hard lessons in life.

K.K. is not here because he wants to be. He is one of 189 Cambodians who have been banished from the United States in the past six years under a law that mandates deportations for noncitizens who commit felonies. Hundreds more are on a waiting list for deportation. Like most of the others, K.K. is a noncitizen only by a technicality. He was not an illegal immigrant. He was a refugee from Cambodia’s Khmer Rouge “killing fields” who found a haven in the United States in 1980.

He was an infant when he arrived. In fact, he was born in a refugee camp in Thailand and had never seen Cambodia before he was deported. But K.K.’s parents were simple farmers who failed to complete the citizenship process when they arrived.

Like some children of poor immigrants, K.K. drifted to the streets, where he became a member of the Crips gang and a champion break dancer. It was only after he was convicted of armed robbery at 18 that he discovered that he was not a citizen.

Like many deportees, he arrived in Cambodia without possessions and without family contacts. He was a drug counselor at first and then founded his break dancing club, Tiny Toones Cambodia, where he now earns a living teaching about 150 youngsters and reaching out to hundreds more.

With the financial support of international aid groups like Bridges Across Borders, based in Graham, Fla., he has expanded his center into a small school that teaches English and Khmer and computers in addition to back flips, head stands and krumping, or crazy dancing…

The boys and girls leaping and spinning here are the children of Cambodia’s underclass, like thousands who fill the slums of Phnom Penh — children who spend their evenings, as K.K. put it, “begging and digging through garbage to find food.”

K.K., whose youth was not so different from theirs, said he teaches them to find pride in who they are. A wall of his center is marked with students’ graffiti: “I want to be a rapper,” “I want to be a D.J.,” “I want to be a doctor.” …

His journey between identities reached a point of strangeness when he was invited last December to perform with some of his students at a Christmas party at the United States Embassy…

The ambassador at the time, Joseph A. Mussomeli, recalled the performance as “great fun,” but he said the piquancy of the moment had not been lost on him.

“You are right that there is a certain wonderful irony to him being ‘rejected’ or at least ‘ejected’ from the U.S. and still landing on his feet — or shoulders and head — dancing,” Mr. Mussomeli said in an e-mail message.

“While watching him I was reminded of that great patriotic speech by Bill Murray in ‘Stripes,’ ” he added, “where he talks about Americans as being rejects from all the good, decent countries of the world! K.K. is/was an American in everything except in law — and he has shown this by his creativity, tenacity, and undying optimism.”

Now another irony is in store for K.K. His club has been invited to send dancers to perform in the United States — Cambodian boys who speak no English and have never left their country.

The real American among them, K.K., deported and excluded from the United States for the rest of his life, must stay behind.

“I can’t go,” he said over the thump of the boom box, as his boys jumped and bounced around him like tiny springs. “I can understand that they deported me here. I’d like to go visit — only visit, because I live here now. I have a brand new life.”

Gosh, what a beautiful story.

Mr. Sobil is not only passing on the highly marketable craft of break dancing to these otherwise disadvantaged youths, but he is teaching these children the gentle art of graffiti, as well.

This young thug is sewing the seeds of more thuggery to a new generation. What a boon he must be to Cambodian society.

What a gift this must be to a country so long deprived of its own dances and dancers. And just try to imagine living in a world without boom boxes, break dancers or graffiti.

Thankfully there is a group of crackpots tax exempt cultural organization to fund Mr. Sobil’s well-poisoning noble work.

Of course the real reason for this uplifting story is that the New York Times is on its own jihad against all forms of deportation.

After all, what a loss it is to our country to lose even one break dancer/armed robber.

Think of all of the wisdom he could be imparting to our fellow citizens here.

From India’s Rediff:

Doctors shocked at hostages’s torture

Krishnakumar P and Vicky Nanjappa in Mumbai | November 30, 2008

They said that just one look at the bodies of the dead hostages as well as terrorists showed it was a battle of attrition that was fought over three days at the Oberoi and the Taj hotels in Mumbai.

Doctors working in a hospital where all the bodies, including that of the terrorists, were taken said they had not seen anything like this in their lives.

“Bombay has a long history of terror. I have seen bodies of riot victims, gang war and previous terror attacks like bomb blasts. But this was entirely different. It was shocking and disturbing,” a doctor said.

Asked what was different about the victims of the incident, another doctor said: “It was very strange. I have seen so many dead bodies in my life, and was yet traumatised. A bomb blast victim’s body might have been torn apart and could be a very disturbing sight. But the bodies of the victims in this attack bore such signs about the kind of violence of urban warfare that I am still unable to put my thoughts to words,” he said.

Asked specifically if he was talking of torture marks, he said: “It was apparent that most of the dead were tortured. What shocked me were the telltale signs showing clearly how the hostages were executed in cold blood,” one doctor said.

The other doctor, who had also conducted the post-mortem of the victims, said: “Of all the bodies, the Israeli victims bore the maximum torture marks. It was clear that they were killed on the 26th itself. It was obvious that they were tied up and tortured before they were killed. It was so bad that I do not want to go over the details even in my head again,” he said.

Corroborating the doctors’ claims about torture was the information that the Intelligence Bureau had about the terror plan. “During his interrogation, Ajmal Kamal said they were specifically asked to target the foreigners, especially the Israelis,” an IB source said…

Given that this is based on anonymous doctors via an Indian media outlet, who knows how reliable the information is.

But it certainly wouldn’t be any surprise.

Since happy days are here again, we thought it might be instructive to look at the official Democrat Party platform of 1932:

Democratic Party Platform of 1932

In this time of unprecedented economic and social distress the Democratic Party declares its conviction that the chief causes of this condition were the disastrous policies pursued by our government since the World War, of economic isolation, fostering the merger of competitive businesses into monopolies and encouraging the indefensible expansion and contraction of credit for private profit at the expense of the public.

Those who were responsible for these policies have abandoned the ideals on which the war was won and thrown away the fruits of victory, thus rejecting the greatest opportunity in history to bring peace, prosperity, and happiness to our people and to the world.

They have ruined our foreign trade; destroyed the values of our commodities and products, crippled our banking system, robbed millions of our people of their life savings, and thrown millions more out of work, produced wide-spread poverty and brought the government to a state of financial distress unprecedented in time of peace.

The only hope for improving present conditions, restoring employment, affording permanent relief to the people, and bringing the nation back to the proud position of domestic happiness and of financial, industrial, agricultural and commercial leadership in the world lies in a drastic change in economic governmental policies.

We believe that a party platform is a covenant with the people to have [sic] faithfully kept by the party when entrusted with power, and that the people are entitled to know in plain words the terms of the contract to which they are asked to subscribe. We hereby declare this to be the platform of the Democratic Party:

The Democratic Party solemnly promises by appropriate action to put into effect the principles, policies, and reforms herein advocated, and to eradicate the policies, methods, and practices herein condemned. We advocate an immediate and drastic reduction of governmental expenditures by abolishing useless commissions and offices, consolidating departments and bureaus, and eliminating extravagance to accomplish a saving of not less than twenty-five per cent in the cost of the Federal Government. And we call upon the Democratic Party in the states to make a zealous effort to achieve a proportionate result.

We favor maintenance of the national credit by a federal budget annually balanced on the basis of accurate executive estimates within revenues, raised by a system of taxation levied on the principle of ability to pay.

We advocate a sound currency to be preserved at all hazards and an international monetary conference called on the invitation of our government to consider the rehabilitation of silver and related questions.

We advocate a competitive tariff for revenue with a fact-finding tariff commission free from executive interference, reciprocal tariff agreements with other nations, and an international economic conference designed to restore international trade and facilitate exchange.

We advocate the extension of federal credit to the states to provide unemployment relief wherever the diminishing resources of the states makes it impossible for them to provide for the needy; expansion of the federal program of necessary and useful construction effected [sic] with a public interest, such as adequate flood control and waterways.

We advocate the spread of employment by a substantial reduction in the hours of labor, the encouragement of the shorter week by applying that principle in government service; we advocate advance planning of public works.

We advocate unemployment and old-age insurance under state laws.

We favor the restoration of agriculture, the nation’s basic industry; better financing of farm mortgages through recognized farm bank agencies at low rates of interest on an amortization plan, giving preference to credits for the redemption of farms and homes sold under foreclosure.

Extension and development of the Farm co-operative movement and effective control of crop surpluses so that our farmers may have the full benefit of the domestic market.

The enactment of every constitutional measure that will aid the farmers to receive for their basic farm commodities prices in excess of cost.

We advocate a Navy and an Army adequate for national defense, based on a survey of all facts affecting the existing establishments, that the people in time of peace may not be burdened by an expenditure fast approaching a billion dollars annually.

We advocate strengthening and impartial enforcement of the anti-trust laws, to prevent monopoly and unfair trade practices, and revision thereof for the better protection of labor and the small producer and distributor.

The conservation, development, and use of the nation’s water power in the public interest.

The removal of government from all fields of private enterprise except where necessary to develop public works and natural resources in the common interest.

We advocate protection of the investing public by requiring to be filed with the government and carried in advertisements of all offerings of foreign and domestic stocks and bonds true information as to bonuses, commissions, principal invested, and interests of the sellers.

Regulation to the full extent of federal power, of:

(a) Holding companies which sell securities in interstate commerce;

(b) Rates of utilities companies operating across State lines;

(c) Exchanges in securities and commodities. We advocate quicker methods of realizing on assets for the relief of depositors of suspended banks, and a more rigid supervision of national banks for the protection of depositors and the prevention of the use of their moneys in speculation to the detriment of local credits.

The severance of affiliated security companies from, and the divorce of the investment banking business from, commercial banks, and further restriction of federal reserve banks in permitting the use of federal reserve facilities for speculative purposes.

We advocate the full measure of justice and generosity for all war veterans who have suffered disability or disease caused by or resulting from actual service in time of war and for their dependents.

We advocate a firm foreign policy, including peace with all the world and the settlement of international disputes by arbitration; no interference in the internal affairs of other nations; and sanctity of treaties and the maintenance of good faith and of good will in financial obligations; adherence to the World Court with appending reservations; the Pact of Paris abolishing war as an instrument of national policy, to be made effective by provisions for consultation and conference in case of threatened violations of treaties.

International agreements for reduction of armaments and cooperation with nations of the Western Hemisphere to maintain the spirit of the Monroe Doctrine.

We oppose cancelation [sic] of the debts owing to the United States by foreign nations.

Independence for the Philippines; ultimate statehood for Puerto Rico.

The employment of American citizens in the operation of the Panama Canal.

Simplification of legal procedure and reorganization of the judicial system to make the attainment of justice speedy, certain, and at less cost.

Continuous publicity of political contributions and expenditures; strengthening of the Corrupt Practices Act and severe penalties for misappropriation of campaign funds.

We advocate the repeal of the Eighteenth Amendment. To effect such repeal we demand that the Congress immediately propose a Constitutional Amendment to truly represent [sic] the conventions in the states called to act solely on that proposal; we urge the enactment of such measures by the several states as will actually promote temperance, effectively prevent the return of the saloon, and bring the liquor traffic into the open under complete supervision and control by the states.

We demand that the Federal Government effectively exercise its power to enable the states to protect themselves against importation of intoxicating liquors in violation of their laws.

Pending repeal, we favor immediate modification of the Volstead Act; to legalize the manufacture and sale of beer and other beverages of such alcoholic content as is permissible under the Constitution and to provide therefrom a proper and needed revenue.

We condemn the improper and excessive use of money in political activities.

We condemn paid lobbies of special interests to influence members of Congress and other public servants by personal contact.

We condemn action and utterances of high public officials designed to influence stock exchange prices.

We condemn the open and cover resistance of administrative officials to every effort made by Congressional Committees to curtail the extravagant expenditures of the Government and to revoke improvident subsidies granted to favorite interests.

We condemn the extravagance of the Farm Board, its disastrous action which made the Government a speculator in farm products, and the unsound policy of restricting agricultural products to the demands of domestic markets.

We condemn the usurpation of power by the State Department in assuming to pass upon foreign securities offered by international bankers as a result of which billions of dollars in questionable bonds have been sold to the public upon the implied approval of the Federal Government.

And in conclusion, to accomplish these purposes and to recover economic liberty, we pledge the nominees of this convention the best efforts of a great Party whose founder announced the doctrine which guides us now in the hour of our country’s need: equal rights to all; special privilege to none.

There are some are good ideas here, which weren’t followed.

But alas, so many of the bad ones were.

From a press release by George Washington University’s Campaign Finance Institute:

REALITY CHECK: Obama Received About the Same Percentage from Small Donors in 2008 as Bush in 2004

11/24/2008

Obama also raised 80% more from large donors than small, outstripping all rivals and predecessors

It turns out that Barack Obama’s donors may not have been quite as different as we had thought. Throughout the election season, this organization and others have been reporting that Obama received about half of his discrete contributions in amounts of $200 or less. The Campaign Finance Institute (CFI) noted in past releases that donations are not the same as donors, since many people give more than once. After a more thorough analysis of data from the Federal Election Commission (FEC), it has become clear that repeaters and large donors were even more important for Obama than we or other analysts had fully appreciated…

To look more fully at presidential candidates’ fundraising during this cycle, CFI conducted an extensive analysis of FEC records to identify repeat donors and to categorize each donor’s giving according to the cumulative amount he or she gave over the course of a full election cycle.

Although an unusually high percentage (49%) of Obama’s funds came in discrete contributions of $200 or less (see Table 3), only 26% of his money through August 31 (and 24% of his funds through October 15, according to the most recent FEC reports) came from donors whose total contributions aggregated to $200 or less. Obama’s 26% compares to 25% for George W. Bush in 2004, 20% for John Kerry in 2004, 21% for John McCain in 2008, 13% for Hillary Clinton in 2008, and 38% for Howard Dean in 2004.

After merging the donor records, combining multiple records from those who gave more than one disclosed contribution, CFI concluded that about 403,000 different people had given enough money (more than $200) by August 31 to have their names disclosed. This increased to about 580,000 by October 15. By comparison, CFI found that about 475,000 discrete donors gave disclosed contributions to all candidates combined in 2003-2004.

Obama raised 27% of his money from people whose aggregated contributions fell in a middle range ($201-$999). John Kerry, who also relied on Internet fundraising after clinching the nomination, raised an almost comparable 24% from mid-range donors. McCain’s mid-range supplied 20% of his total. Bush received only 13% from this group.

Many of the repeat donors who started off small ended up in the $201-$999 middle range. Among Obama’s total pool of 403,000 disclosed donors on August 31, more than half (about 212,000) started off by giving undisclosed contributions of $200 or less. About 93,000 of these repeaters gave in cumulative amounts of no more than $400 for the full primary season. Another 106,000 repeaters ended up between $401 and $999. By comparison, Clinton and McCain each had about 100,000 donors in the entire $201-$999 middle range, and for them the number included both repeaters and one-time givers…

We know less about people who stayed at $200 or below because $201 is the trigger for FEC disclosure. Obama’s staff says that more than 3 million people contributed to his campaign. We cannot verify this number independently but we consider it to be plausible…

None of these findings denies the importance of either Obama’s appeal to repeat donors or his innovative use of online social networking tools to interweave appeals for contributions and critically important campaign volunteers. In particular, Obama did attract repeaters who have not been part of the traditional large-dollar, reception-attending fundraising crowd. The fact is that Obama’s financial juggernaut broke records at all contribution levels. The reality does not match the myth, but the reality itself was impressive.

It’s a bit hard to follow the point of this study. But, despite reports to the contrary, Mr. Obama got contributions from “small donors” who only gave $200 or less at nearly the same rate that other candidates have in the past.

The big difference is that so many of Obama’s supporters gave him numerous contributions of $200 or less. Donors who ended up giving him more than $201.

It turns out that Obama got a far greater number of such “repeat” contributors than anyone ever has since such records have been kept.

Why is that?

As the article notes, $201 is the trigger for FEC disclosure.

Which begs the question: Did a large number of his contributors want to be under the disclosure limit?

Mr. Obama’s very own aunt, Zeituni Onyango, is a prime example. The Obama campaign admits that she gave $260 to her nephew’s campaign (despite it being illegal for illegal aliens to do so).

But because she gave her donations in increments smaller than 200 her contributions do not show up via the FEC search engine, or even Newsmeat’s. Though, oddly enough, they do at Zsa Zsa Huffington’s Fundrace 2008 site.

(Bear in mind, as the article also notes, these numbers are from the Obama campaign itself, since they concern donors who were below the disclosure threshold.)

Still, isn’t the real news from this study that a highly unusual number of donors gave contributions to Obama of more than $201 dollars, but did so in a way to keep from having their names disclosed?

Why did they do that?

Weirdly, the supposedly non-partisan Campaign Finance Institute does not seem curious about that angle at all.

From those champions of the gorgeous mosaic at the Associated Press:

A president named Obama changes the name game

By DEEPTI HAJELA, Associated Press Writer

Sat Nov 29

NEW YORK – Zenas Ackah has heard it all his life: What kind of name is that? You must not be from here. You must be foreign.

Actually, no. Born in the United States, the 22-year-old college senior with the Greek first name and the Ghanian last name grew up in Philadelphia.

But Ackah is hopeful that change is coming, that the idea of an “American” name will expand beyond monikers like Tom and Harry and Sally and Jane and Smith and Jones. He figures he’s got a strong weapon on his side — for at least the next four years, when people look to the most powerful American in the country, the “uber-American” if you will, they’ll be looking at President Barack Hussein Obama.

“I think it will help people understand that people in America aren’t just John, Jack, Mary,” Ackah said. “They’re Zenas and Barack.”

Obama’s name gave him his share of trouble during the campaign. He acknowledged its unfamiliarity to most Americans, and there were times when supporters of his opponent made a point of using his middle name, which was seen as an attempt to cast doubt on his background and faith.

But the next four years will ensure that his name is no longer unfamiliar.

People have already named their infants after him.

The more people hear it, the more mainstream it becomes, said Don Nilsen, a professor of English linguistics at Arizona State University and co-president of the American Name Society.

“Who is more American than the president of the United States?” he said. “There’s no question it will have a ripple effect, because of the power of the position.”

Names traditionally considered “American” tend to be “British-sounding stuff,” said Cleveland Evans, professor of psychology at Bellevue University in Nebraska. “We are still basically an English-culture country. We really are still in many ways at our base an Anglo-Saxon culture.”

He and Nilsen pointed out that immigrants have long had a history of changing their names to fit in more with the United States, or have even had others change it for them.

Obama, born in Hawaii and named after his Kenyan father, went by Barry for some years before deciding to use his full first name.

Ackah can understand. He still finds the comments about his name irritating, along with the assumptions people make upon hearing a name they’re not familiar with.

“People start talking down to you because they think you’re foreign,” he said.

Electing someone named Barack Obama president reflects a shift in attitudes about names that’s been going on in American society for the past few decades, says Laura Wattenberg, a name expert and author who runs the blog The Baby Name Wizard.

“As a group, American parents are naming much more creatively and are striving to be distinctive with the names they pick,” she said, pointing out that shift started in the 1960s when Obama was born and has only accelerated in the last 25 years or so.

So while certain names may be more popular and prevalent than others, it’s not by much, she said. In 2007, Jacob was the most popular name for boys. But Wattenberg pointed out that only 1 percent of boys were given that name.

In contrast, a century ago, 7.5 percent of parents chose the top name, John.

A president named Obama could break down the perception “that there is such a thing as a ‘normal’ name,” said Wattenberg.

“It’s a powerful symbol of breaking down barriers where it wasn’t that long ago where kids with a non-English name would go to school and teachers would routinely change it. The president having a non-English name is a sign that we’re not squeezing everyone into that box,” she said.

My, aren’t we all terribly backward chauvinists for wanting our language and common names to be familiar or even pronounceable ones?

What a better country this will be when Deepti Hajela is as common a name as Jorge Hernandez.

And no one ever asks how to spell it.

This thread is for the busy bees of S&L to post news items themselves.

In order to make the articles as readable as possible, please try to stick to the format described in the first of these weekly editions here.

Of course articles that fit under the topic of a recent thread should be posted there. As always, remember to excerpt heavily and to provide a link to the original source.

From those defenders of the faith at the Associated Press:

Indian forces fight last gunmen in Mumbai hotel

By RAVI NESSMAN

MUMBAI, India – Indian forces fired grenades at the landmark Taj Mahal hotel Friday, the last stand of the suspected Muslim militants, just hours after elite commandos stormed a Jewish outreach center and found six hostages dead.

More than 150 people were killed in the violence that began when gunmen attacked 10 sites across India’s financial capital Wednesday night. Fifteen foreigners, including five Americans, were among the dead…

Authorities scrambled to identify those responsible for the unprecedented attack, with Indian officials pointing across the border at rival Pakistan, and Pakistani leaders promising to cooperate in the investigation. A team of FBI agents was ordered to fly to India to investigate the attacks…

CNN reported the government had cut off their live transmissions from the scene in Mumbai. Authorities have asked not to show live broadcasts of the battle because they believe the gunmen were monitoring the news. Most channels largely obliged…

In the most dramatic of the counterstrikes Friday morning, masked Indian commandos rappelled from a helicopter to the rooftop of the Chabad Lubavitch Jewish center as snipers laid down cover fire.

For nearly 12 hours, explosions and gunfire erupted from the five-story building as the commandos fought their way downward, while thousands of people gathered behind barricades in the streets to watch.

The assault blew huge holes in the center, and, at one point, Indian forces fired a rocket at the building.

Soon after, elated commandos ran outside with their rifles raised over their heads in a sign of triumph.

But inside the Chabad House was a scene of tragedy.

Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak told Israel’s Channel 1 TV that the bodies of three women and three men were found at the center. Some of the victims had been bound, Barak said. “All in all, it was a difficult spectacle,” he said…

The gunmen were well-prepared, apparently scouting some targets ahead of time and carrying large bags of almonds to keep up their energy during a long siege. One backpack they found contained 400 rounds of ammunition…

Meanwhile, authorities were working to find out who was behind the attacks, claimed by a previously unknown group calling itself the Deccan Mujahideen…

India’s foreign minister said the blame appeared to point to Pakistan.

“According to preliminary information, some elements in Pakistan are responsible for Mumbai terror attacks,” Pranab Mukherjee told reporters.

Indian home minister Jaiprakash Jaiswal said a captured gunmen had been identified as a Pakistani. Patil, the Maharashtra state official, said: “It is very clear that the terrorists are from Pakistan. We have enough evidence that they are from Pakistan.” …

The gunmen apparently came to Mumbai by boat. Authorities stopped a cargo ship off the west coast of Gujarat that had sailed from Saudi Arabia and handed it over to police for investigation, said navy Capt. Manohar Nambiar.

They also stopped a cargo ship that had arrived from Karachi, Pakistan, but released it when nothing suspicious was found on board…

Funny, all was supposed to be (ahem) sweetness and light, with the removal of the hated dictator Musharraf.

What happened?

From the New York Daily News:

Worker dies at Long Island Wal-Mart after being trampled in Black Friday stampede

BY JOE GOULD

Friday, November 28th 2008

A Wal-Mart worker died after being trampled when hundreds of shoppers smashed through the doors of a Long Island store Friday morning, police and witnesses said.

The 34-year-old employee, a temporary maintenance worker, tried to hold back the unruly crowds just after the Valley Stream store opened at 5 a.m.

Witnesses said the surging throngs of shoppers knocked the man down. He fell and was stepped on. As he gasped for air, shoppers ran over and around him.

“He was bum-rushed by 200 people,” said Jimmy Overby, 43, a co-worker. “They took the doors off the hinges. He was trampled and killed in front of me. They took me down too…I literally had to fight people off my back.”

The unidentified victim was rushed to an area hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 6:03 a.m., police said.

The cause of death wasn’t immediately available pending results of an autopsy.

A 28-year-old pregnant woman was knocked to the floor during the mad rush. She was hospitalized for observation, police said. Early witness accounts that the woman suffered a miscarriage were unfounded, police said.

Three other shoppers suffered minor injuries, cops said.

Wal-Mart spokesman Dave Tovar called the incident a “tragic situation.”

“The safety and security of our customers and associates is our top priority,” Tovar said.

“Our thoughts and prayers are with them and their families at this difficult time.”

Before police shut down the store, eager shoppers streamed past emergency crews as they worked furiously to save the store clerk’s life.

“They were working on him, but you could see he was dead, said Halcyon Alexander, 29. “People were still coming through.”

Only a few stopped.

“They’re savages,” said shopper Kimberly Cribbs, 27. “It’s sad. It’s terrible.”

[Daily News caption:] Scene at the Green Acres Mall in Valley Stream walmart. Nov. 28, 2008. These pics were taken bedore the Walmart store opened and people pushing there way through.

[Daily News caption:] Scene inside at the Green Acres Mall in Valley Stream walmart. Nov. 28, 2008.

Savages sums it up nicely.

(And what’s with the Daily News captions?)

From those defenders of the faith (Islam) at Reuters:

Vatican thanks Muslims for returning God to Europe

Fri Nov 28, 2008

By Tom Heneghan, Religion Editor

PARIS (Reuters) - A senior Vatican cardinal has thanked Muslims for bringing God back into the public sphere in Europe and said believers of different faiths had no option but to engage in interreligious dialogue.

Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran, head of the Catholic Church’s department for interfaith contacts, said religion was now talked and written about more than ever before in today’s Europe.

“It’s thanks to the Muslims,” he said in a speech printed in Friday’s L’Osservatore Romano, the official daily of the Vatican. “Muslims, having become a significant minority in Europe, were the ones who demanded space for God in society.”

Vatican officials have long bemoaned the secularisation of Europe, where church attendance has dwindled dramatically in recent decades, and urged a return to its historically Christian roots. But Tauran said no society had only one faith.

“We live in multicultural and multireligious societies, that’s obvious,” he told a meeting of Catholic theologians in Naples. “There is no civilisation that is religiously pure.” …

The “return of God” is clearly seen in Tauran’s native France, where Europe’s largest Muslim minority has brought faith questions such as women’s headscarves into the political debate after decades when they were considered strictly private issues.

Tauran said religions were “condemned to dialogue,” a practice he called “the search for understanding between two subjects, with the help of reason, in view of a common interpretation of their agreement and disagreement.” …

Dialogue participants could not give up their religious convictions, Tauran said, but should be open to learning about the positive aspects of each others’ faith.

“Every religion has its own identity, but I agree to consider that God is at work in all, in the souls of those who search for him sincerely,” he said. “Interreligious dialogue rallies all who are on the path to God or to the Absolute.” ..

An Indian prelate, speaking after the Mumbai attacks began, said in Rome that a lack of courage to meet across faith lines was often behind religious violence in his country.

Archbishop Felix Machado of Nashik diocese, just east of Mumbai, told Italian priests the violence was caused by “inequality, a lack of justice and understanding and, above all, a lack of courage to dialogue,” the Vatican daily reported.

Yes, it is the “lack of courage to dialogue” that causes terrorism like Mumbai.

Right.

But Tauran said no society had only one faith.

Really? Is Cardinal Tauran saying that Saudi Arabia is not a society?

It sounds like he is asking for some head-separating dialogue.

From the ‘Top Of The Ticket” at the Los Angeles Times:

Now that Obama’s won, Fox News can’t seem to catch his eye

Back in October then-Sen. Barack Obama granted a then-rare campaign interview. That time, not surprisingly, it went to the N.Y. Times Magazine and the candidate reportedly whined to the writer:

“I am convinced that if there were no Fox News, I might be two or three points higher in the polls. If I were watching Fox News, I wouldn’t vote for me, right?

“Because the way I’m portrayed 24/7 is as a freak! I am the latte-sipping, New York Times-reading, Volvo-driving, no-gun-owning, effete, politically correct, arrogant liberal. Who wants somebody like that?”

It’s not unusual for public figures to feel mis-portrayed or even abused by media organizations. John McCain and his people expressed some strong concerns several times about the same Times newspaper.

Now that the campaign is over and Obama is president-elect, his reticence to talk with the media is gone. Now, he’s eager to spread the impression of abundant pre-oath energy and activity.

So, he’s held four news conferences and two sit-down TV interviews since election day, including three news conferences three days in a row this week. He’s broken the news conference record for all recent presidents-elect.

At these news sessions since Nov. 4, the future commander in chief has answered a total of 22 questions from different reporters. Wednesday, it was NPR, the N.Y. Daily News and CNN.

But not once has the election victor called on a representative of Fox News. He just hasn’t seemed to spot them waving their hand for recognition…

Note that the New York Post has also been stiffed by the ‘Great Unifier.’

What a shock, eh?

Because the way I’m portrayed 24/7 is as a freak! I am the latte-sipping, New York Times-reading, Volvo-driving, no-gun-owning, effete, politically correct, arrogant liberal.

Mr. Obama does have a point.

He doesn’t drive a Volvo.

We posted President Washington’s proclamation back in 2005. But we thought it might be an appropriate time to dust it off again:

George Washington’s 1789 Thanksgiving Proclamation

Whereas it is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and humbly to implore His protection and favor; and Whereas both Houses of Congress have, by their joint committee, requested me “to recommend to the people of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer, to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many and signal favors of Almighty God, especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness :”

Now, therefore, I do recommend and assign Thursday, the 26th day of November next, to be devoted by the people of these States to the service of that great and glorious Being who is the beneficent author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be; that we may then all unite in rendering unto Him our sincere and humble thanks for His kind care and protection of the people of this country previous to their becoming a nation; for the signal and manifold mercies and the favorable interpositions of His providence in the course and conclusion of the late war; for the great degree of tranquility, union, and plenty which we have since enjoyed; for the peaceable and rational manner in which we have been enable to establish constitutions of government for our safety and happiness, and particularly the national one now lately instituted’ for the civil and religious liberty with which we are blessed, and the means we have of acquiring and diffusing useful knowledge; and, in general, for all the great and various favors which He has been pleased to confer upon us.

And also that we may then unite in most humbly offering our prayers and supplications to the great Lord and Ruler of Nations and beseech Him to pardon our national and other transgressions; to enable us all, whether in public or private stations, to perform our several and relative duties properly and punctually; to render our National Government a blessing to all the people by constantly being a Government of wise, just, and constitutional laws, discreetly and faithfully executed and obeyed; to protect and guide all sovereigns and nations (especially such as have show kindness to us), and to bless them with good governments, peace, and concord; to promote the knowledge and practice of true religion and virtue, and the increase of science among them and us; and, generally to grant unto all mankind such a degree of temporal prosperity as He alone knows to be best.

Given under my hand, at the city of New York, the 3d day of October, A.D. 1789.

You see, it was largely intended to thank the Almighty for our new Constitution.

Alas, those were the days.

We also want to take the opportunity to thank you, the members of our happy band, for your support and contributions over the past year.

Happy Thanksgiving to all.

And God bless the United States, our brave soldiers around the world, our elected leaders (well, some of them), and people striving for freedom everywhere.

First, what the President Select told Barbara Walters, via the Associated Press:

Obama: bank execs shouldn’t get bonuses this year

By SARA KUGLER

CHICAGO (AP) — President-elect Barack Obama thinks bank executives should forgo their bonuses this year to show they are taking responsibility amid difficult economic times.

In an interview with Barbara Walters to air Wednesday, Obama also said he’s trying to keep his BlackBerry or find another way to “break through the isolation and the bubble that exists around the president.” …

According to excerpts of the interview released by ABC, Obama said bank executives should make sacrifices because so many other people are struggling as the nation’s economy slips further. Some financial firms, including Goldman Sachs, the Swiss bank UBS and the British bank Barclays, have said they aren’t handing out annual bonuses to top executives, and Obama encouraged more to follow.

“I think that if you are already worth tens of millions of dollars, and you are having to lay off workers,” Obama said, “the least you can do is say, ‘I’m willing to make some sacrifice as well, because I recognize that there are people who are a lot less well off, who are going through some pretty tough times.’” …

But lest we forget, we informed by Lynn Sweet of the Chicago Sun-Times that even Michelle Obama is not immune to bonuses:

Barack and Michelle Obama earned $991,296 in 2006

By Lynn Sweet
on April 16, 2007

WASHINGTON — White House hopeful Sen. Barack Obama and his wife, Michelle, reported $991,296 in income in 2006, boosted by a $506,618 payout in advances and royalties for his books, according to returns released by his campaign Monday.

The Obamas have four main sources of income:

• • Obama’s Senate salary of $157,082.

• • Book income of $506,618. Obama’s second book, “The Audacity of Hope” was released last fall and soared to the best seller lists.

• • Michelle Obama’s income of $273,618 from the University of Chicago Hospitals. She will get paid less in 2007 because she cut back on her job because of the campaign. She made more in 2005 because of a signing bonus from the U. of C. given when she was promoted to vice president of community and external affairs in January 2005, just as Obama was sworn in as senator.

Tax returns from last year showed her total compensation in 2005 went from $122,000 to $317,000, though the higher figure includes a one-time pension payout and the bonus.

• • Michelle Obama’s income of $51,200 from TreeHouse Foods, where she has been on the board of directors since June 2005.

For 2005, the couple reported a taxable income of $1.6 million. The higher figure was due to more money Obama received from book royalties and advances on a multiyear book deal as well as the higher amount Michelle Obama collected from the U. of C.

Interest income on the most recent return totaled $4,590 with $1,188 from dividends…

And who knows what other “bonuses” Mrs. Obama has gotten over the years. Has she ever given any of them back?

Where are the Obamas’ sacrifices?