The New York Times yesterday featured an article about Barack Obama's voting record as an Illinois Senator -- and his penchant for voting "present" instead of yes or no on controversial bills.

Why does someone vote "present" instead of yes or no?

Because it takes affirmative votes to pass legislation in the Illinois Senate, a "present" vote is tantamount to a "no" vote. A "present" vote is generally used to provide political cover for legislators who don't want to be on the record against a bill that they oppose.

When I asked the Obama campaign about those votes, they explained that in some cases, the Senator was uncomfortable with only certain parts of the bill, while in other cases, the bills were attempts by Republicans simply to score points.

I think he voted present to dodge the political bullet a "no" vote would have caused with some constituents or organizations. If he believed a bill was bad, like the bill banning partial birth abortion, why not take a stand and vote it down?

For example, in 1997, Obama voted "present" on two bills (HB 382 and SB 230) that would have prohibited a procedure often referred to as partial birth abortion....

....In his book, the "Audacity of Hope," on page 132, Obama explained his problems with the "born alive" bills, specifically arguing that they would overturn Roe v. Wade. But he failed to mention that he only felt strongly enough to vote "present" on the bills instead of "no."

This leads to the question, will he have the courage of his convictions as President? Unlike in Illinois, his options if elected to the Oval Office will be "yes" or "no." Can we count on Obama to take a stand?

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When we last checked in with Vincent Margera, better known as MTV's "Don Vito," he was on a suicide watch at the Jefferson County, Colorado jail following his conviction for groping two teenage girls at an autograph signing event.

When the verdict was announced, Margera, 51, fell on the floor, saying: “Just kill me now. I can’t spend my (expletive) life in prison. I didn’t do anything.”

Magera was facing from 2 to 6 years to life on the charges. Judge MJ Menendez today sentenced him to 10 years probation, during which he can't appear on television or act as his Don Vito character.

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Three current and former Duke lacrosse players who were not among those indicted in the failed criminal case, have filed a civil lawsuit against 45 defendants, including Duke University, DA Mike Nifong, the Durham police department and several individual officers, the Duke medical center and the SANE nurses, the DNA lab and its owner in a 400 page complaint filed in federal court.

The introductory paragraph of the complaint states:

This action arises out of a combination of actors and entities that, from time to time, we refer to herein as the Consortium. The Consortium included a world renowned University, its faculty, its police department, its medical center, and a SANE nurse; a city, its city manager, its police department, and a rogue officer; a private DNA lab, its lab director, and its owner; and a prosecutor who was disbarred, and subsequently convicted of contempt and incarcerated for certain of his acts in furtherance of the Consortium’s conspiracy.

The complaint alleges a conspiracy to railroad the team members:

Plaintiffs’ claims arise out of the Consortium’s conspiracy to railroad 47 Duke University students as either principals or accomplices based upon the transparently false claim of rape, sexual offense, and kidnapping made by a clinically unreliable accuser on March 14, 2006. The conspiracy was facilitated by overt acts and by the refusal to intervene on the part of those in the Consortium who knew of the wrongs conspired to be done to Plaintiffs, had the power and authority to intervene, and refused to do so.

The complaint is available in three parts, here, here and here (pdf.)

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I always thought that the Obama (and Edwards) moralizing on lobbyists was utter nonsense. Now we see just how nonsensical it was for Obama:

Three political aides on Sen. Barack Obama’s (D-Ill.) payroll were registered lobbyists for dozens of corporations, including Wal-Mart, British Petroleum and Lockheed Martin, while they received payments from his campaign, according to public documents. The presence of political operatives with long client lists on Obama’s campaign contrasts with his long-held stand of campaigning against the influence of special interests. Obama has even refused to accept contributions from lobbyists or political action committees (PACs).

Of course Obama accepted money from lobbyists, but not from current lobbyists (just past and future lobbyists) and the clients of current lobbyists. It was all hypocritical nonsense. And this makes it absolutely clear it was nonsense.

This is a bad development for Obama.

Two former South Carolina prison executioners have sued the state's top prison officials in federal court alleging they were forced to conduct executions even though they were not trained to do so. They also claim that had they refused, they would have lost their jobs or been demoted.

Neither man was trained or prepared for using the electric chair, the suits allege, "with its shocking smell and scene of agony." And neither man was offered counseling, the suits allege.

"Although these executions were barbaric, gruesome and repulsive to the plaintiff, he continued to perform them under the implied threat by the defendant Ward that such service was necessary if he was to continue to act as team leader and to receive the salary supplement and other benefits of his major’s position," Baxley’s suit alleges.

You can read their complaints here and here (pdf.)

Bump and Update: Tancredo's out of the race and gives his support to Mitt Romney.

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Tom Tancredo Might Withdraw from Presidential Race

Update: Not so fast. His wife says he's first going to meet with other Republican candidates and will withdraw only if he can support one of them on immigration.

Jackie Tancredo said the situation has “changed hourly,” and on Wednesday night there still was a “slim” chance that her husband would continue his uphill battle, which now finds him near the bottom of the polls in Iowa and nationally.

Tancredo confirms an announcement is coming and says he wouldn't hold a presser without something important to say. Will it be just a withdrawal or a withdrawal and declaration of support for another candidate? Or, is it a stunt where he says he's staying in because all the other Republican candidates are too soft on immigration? Tomorrow, by the way, Tancredo turns 62.

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Kevin Drum and his Beltway correspondent have very bad memories:

A member in (extremely good) standing of the VSP community emails to suggest a delicate topic for the liberal blogosphere to take a second look at:

One thing you might write about — if only because nobody else has, I think — is how that whole dust-up over the O'Hanlon/Pollack op-ed looks in retrospect. I mean, clearly they were on to something — the relative quieting down of stuff that has taken place in Iraq over the last several months, etc. -- it's not like the caricature of them put forth in the blogosphere at the time . . . holds up, does it?

Hmmm. Yes.

Hmm, no. O'Hanlon and Pollock were ripped for LYING that they were critics of the Iraq War and Surge. I wrote this:

[G]ive [Congressman Brian] Baird his due, he is not lying when he says he was a war and Surge critic. Michael O'Hanlon IS lying when he says he was an Iraq war and Surge critic. One argument merits respect. It is not the one made by the dishonest Michael O'Hanlon.

Kevin Drum and his Beltway friend have very poor memories. On the merits of course, they are also wrong. But I will leave that for another post.

When I last checked in on Kenneth Richey, the British citizen was 40 years old and had been imprisoned in Ohio since he was 22. He had just had his death sentence overturned but not been released, even though not only did he not commit the crime, it is likely there was no crime and the fire he was accused of setting was accidentally started.

Amnesty International visited Richey on death row and said he was treated like a rabid animal. Amnesty described Richey's case as “one of the most compelling cases of apparent innocence that human rights campaigners have ever seen.”

The Government appealed to the Supreme Court which remanded the case for reconsideration of procedural issues. In August, 2007, his conviction was set aside again. The 6th Circuit opinion is here (pdf).

Yesterday, the TimesOnLine reported Richey is about to be released. He'll be home for Christmas. In a "no contest" plea bargain, Richey will get time served.

“The State wanted him to plead guilty and he would not do that. They have agreed to drop murder, to drop the arson and took the most basic minor face-saving deal of no contest. There was nothing left for them to fight about.”

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Last month I chronicled the adventures of FBI informant and Bernie Kerik pal Larry Ray. I ended the last post with,

A lingering question is, what did Rudy know about Ray and Bernie (not just Interstate and Bernie) and when did he know it?

The Washington Post addressed that question yesterday. Larry Ray, who is now in jail on a probation violation, contacted WaPo reporters and shared Berie's e-mails (pdfs), photos of himself and Gorbachev in Rudy's office when Rudy was Mayor, as well as other documents previously shared with the feds when he cooperated against Bernie.

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Katie Couric asked the major presidential candidates about whether marital infidelity should impact voters and when was the last time they lost their tempers and why.

The videos are here. I thought the temper one was very interesting....take a look. Who do you think was fudging and who told the truth? Which one was the most likeable? Or, put another way, which one would you feel most comfortable chatting with, say over dinner? And who would have you looking at your watch, counting down the minutes till you could leave?

I thought Obama, Giuliani, Biden and Hillary were the least genuine. I thought Edwards and Huckabee were the most affable and truthful. Romney started off in denial and then changed horses and ended up pretty likeable. Thompson was honest but very boring. McCain was genuine in that "your father's oldsmobile" kind of way. Richardson was a toss-up to me, I wanted to believe him, but his example was a stretch of the imagination.

Jane at Firedoglake asks whether Huckabee is fibbing about not having a gastric bypass.

I wondered the same thing months ago, but after reviewing all of his statements on his weight loss, concluded he didn't because he's been so vocal in his denials and it would be too easily uncovered if he were lying.

But, I do suspect he may have had a lapband wrapped around his stomach.

Via Meteor Blades, the Dems proved themselves liars when they said they would not fund the war without timelines:

Congress approved $70 billion Wednesday for military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, a bitter finish for majority Democrats who tried to force a change in President Bush's war policy.

The House's 272-142 vote also sent the president a $555 billion catchall spending bill that combines the war money with money for 14 Cabinet departments.

Bush and his Senate GOP allies forced the Iraq money upon anti-war Democrats as the price for permitting the year-end budget deal to pass and be signed. But other Democrats were eager to avoid being seen as not supporting troops who are in harm's way — and avoid weeks of bashing by Bush for failing to provide that money.

"This is a blank check," complained Rep. Jim McGovern, D-Mass. "The new money in this bill represents one cave-in too many. It is an endorsement of George Bush's policy of endless war.

Steny and Rahmbo have their wish - Iraq is officially no longer a campaign issue for 2008.

Personally, I will not be working to elect Dems in Congress this cycle. It is obvious that the only office that matters now for ending the war is the Presidency.

Rubber Stamp Democrats. Pelosi and Reid are now on my ignore list. You will not be hearing about them from me anymore.