Ed FitzGerald heads further toward joke territory

The Ohio State Troopers Association, a public-safety union, yanks its endorsement of Ed Fitzgerald. Excerpt:

On its Facebook page, the union said it was "the candidate's inability to give any reasonable explanation of his failing to secure a valid Ohio operators permit for years while continuing to drive on Ohio's highways that drove its decision.

"TSO noted that Troopers cite drivers for invalid licenses and for driving without a license or under suspension and the failure to secure a license is a serious breach of civic as well as the political responsibility of an elected official."

They would probably rather endorse FitzGerald than not after the SB5 fiasco which hurt Kasich with the public-safety unions to a seemingly irreparable degree. However "serious breach" is the key phrase. They really can't endorse someone who is such an incredible scofflaw. If he'd let his license or registration lapse once or twice before he held elected office it would be one thing. But the whole ten-year period coupled with the Westlake-woman-who-wasn't-wife incident is pretty hard to overlook.

My guess is that there is a lot of info on that event that hasn't been made public. But cops talk to each other.

Est Quod Est Phrase of the Week

The phrase of the week, IMHO, is "free-range dog meat." I found it in this HuffPo piece from December 2009.

Within Thailand, this no-stoplight town known as Ta Rae evokes free-range dog meat the way Memphis conjures thoughts of hickory-smoked ribs. The village does not showcase its signature industry, which relies on bribery and crime. Nor does it openly embrace dog eating, regarded by mainstream Thai society as hickish and uncivilized. The local dog meat vendors operate on a dusty side street, outside the town's sanctioned outdoor market. But the village's discretion is for naught: Ta Rae is regionally known as a nerve center in Southeast Asia's stray dog meat trade. Here, Northeast Thailand's seemingly infinite supply of wild dogs are corralled, graded, crammed into wire cages and prepped for export. The destination: Vietnam, where demand for grilled dog sells for triple the price of pork.

So the remaining questions. Is eating a free-range dog a sacramental thing to do (reference)? I mean this meat has got to be organic, right? Even if it is a bit diseased.

If you watch the video on the HuffPo page, you'll probably laugh at the line "[A]nimal welfare advocates... think the dog trade taints Thailand's reputation." What reputation is that? Give me a break.

She knew what she was doing...

...and she knew she'd get away with it. Excerpt:

FIRST LADY CAMPAIGNS INSIDE POLLING PLACE
Thu Oct 14 2010 16:19:25 ET

First lady Michelle Obama appears to have violated Illinois law -- when she engaged in political discussion at a polling place!

The drama began after Mrs. Obama stopped off at the Martin Luther King Center on the south side of Chicago to cast an early vote.

After finishing at the machine, Obama went back to the desk and handed in her voting key.

She let voters including electrician Dennis Campbell, 56, take some photos.

"She was telling me how important it was to vote to keep her husband's agenda going," Campbell said.

According to a pool reporter from the CHICAGO SUN-TIMES at the scene, the conversation took place INSIDE the voting center, not far from the booths.

Illinois state law -- Sec. 17-29 (a) -- states: "No judge of election, pollwatcher, or other person shall, at any primary or election, do any electioneering or soliciting of votes or engage in any political discussion within any polling place [or] within 100 feet of any polling place."

This is the part that really burns me:

A top Ilinois State Board of Elections official tells the DRUDGE REPORT that Mrs. Obama -- a Harvard-educated lawyer -- may have simply been ignorant of the law and thus violated it unintentionally.

"You kind of have to drop the standard for the first lady, right?" the official explained late Thursday. "I mean, she's pretty well liked and probably doesn't know what she's doing."

No, no, no. You "drop the standard" for people like janitors and store clerks if you do for anyone. Tell me: are we supposed to "drop the standard" for her because she's black? I refuse. She knew she wasn't supposed to do this, but she's an Obama, and no one is going to stop her for fear of repercussions.