Archive for March 16th, 2011

Raymond Davis update.

Wednesday, March 16th, 2011

We have previously noted and commented upon the case of Raymond Davis.

By way of various sources, we have learned that Mr. Davis has been released from custody in Pakistan and has left the country. Apparently, this took place after the payment of some sum of money (one source states $2.3 million) to the families of the two men Mr. Davis shot. The United States Government denies payment of any compensation to the families.

Poorly edited NYT article here. Better edited, but less detailed and buried deep in the website LAT article here. WP coverage, which seems to be the best overall, here.

Posted in Clippings, Guns, Politics | Comments Closed

How do you kill a ZunePony?

Wednesday, March 16th, 2011

I had not originally planned to comment on this story, figuring that I would leave it up to Mr. ZunePony himself.

However, I was just mucking out the Akismet spam filter, and got to wondering; does this mean an end to the endless Zune/iPod comparison spam? Those of you with WordPress blogs and Akismet know what I’m talking about.

(ZunePony explained here.)

Posted in Clippings, Geek, Music | Comments Closed

L’update Bell.

Wednesday, March 16th, 2011

As noted previously, the mayor and much of the city council of Bell lost the recall election.

Ah, but there’s a catch: the city of Bell is losing their shirts on this deal, but they’re looking for audiophiles who need high quality cassette tapes. has to certify the election results. Under ordinary circumstances, that would be a non-issue. But a judge has ordered three of the current city council members to stay at least 100 yards from City Hall, as well as ordering them not to conduct city business. So there’s nobody available to do the certification. The answer: special emergency legislation.

And what of Robert “Ratso” Rizzo? The latest news from his hearing on conflict of interest charges is that, as city administrator, he hired an engineering firm owned by Dennis Tarango to do various environmental studies. Tarango was also the city’s planning director. And, even better, Tarango and Ratso were business partners in a horse-racing venture.

Somebody’s going to get a great true crime book out of this.

Edited to add: Wow. Just wow. Google Books, making it possible to hattip references from the early 1980’s.

Posted in California Über Alles, Clippings, Law | 2 Comments »

Invest in our company or we’ll shoot this dog.

Wednesday, March 16th, 2011

The chief executive officer of National Lampoon Inc., the comedy brand behind “Animal House” and the “Vacation” movie franchise, was arrested early Wednesday in West Hollywood in connection with an alleged $200-million Ponzi scheme, federal authorities said.

The LAT link above contains a great photo of Timothy Durham being perp-walked by two FBI agents. Also worthy of note:

Durham became CEO of National Lampoon in 2009 after his predecessor, Donald Laikin, was arrested and charged in 2008 with allegedly manipulating the stock of the Los Angeles-based company.

Posted in Clippings, Law | Comments Closed

Soy un perdedor.

Wednesday, March 16th, 2011

Overslept. Running behind. Quick note: Carlos Alvarez, mayor of Miami-Dade County, lost his recall election yesterday.

Voters favored removing the mayor by 88 percent to 12 percent.

Apparently, Mr. Alvarez managed to alienate people by raising property taxes 40 percent, while giving various county workers (including his “top aides”) raises. And his taxpayer-subsidized BMW didn’t help much.

Edited to add: The NYT article touches very briefly on this, but Commissioner Natacha Seijas also got kicked out of office. Here’s a longer article from the Miami Herald on Ms. Seijas and her loss. And here’s the Herald’s coverage of Mr. Alvarez and his loss.

(Hattip: Ace of Spades.)

Posted in Clippings, Loser, Politics, Schadenfreude | 1 Comment »