Grading Day, so Link

Blast! I begin each term with such an effective schedule--no course assignments overlap, due dates are spread out, and so on. Blast! Each term's schedule ends up collapsing about week four. Granted, "collapse" is a bit hyperbolic, but it's inevitable that something will occur to shake up the term's choreography. Yes. I am behind schedule.

Anyway, I've been responding to student work all week, and the end approaches: I sit with 50 papers before me. I will meet with half of the authors in conference tomorrow and Friday. The remainder I will respond to via email today and tomorrow.  As much as I'd love to spend today writing about SCOTUS and WKRP in Cincinnati, I've my priorities. Instead, I'll leave a link to Lawyers, Guns, and Money, where you'll always find insightful challenging posts on a number of issues (academia, politics, ideology, pop culture, etc). Love that blog.

Fabulous

I am obsessed with Mad Men (aside: I don't have cable--I see new episodes via Roku and Amazon streaming. That little Roku is a Godsend). My obsession forces me, after viewing an episode, to read other people's takes on whatever has occurred to the people of Sterling Cooper Draper Price. One of my favorites is "Mad Style," written by Tom & Lorenzo at their eponymous blog. Among their varied commentaries on pop culture and media, Tom and Lorenzo analyze Mad Men's clothes, accessories, etc. to show how something as insignificant as a small scarf can provide great insight into a character's emotional state. Give it a go,

R.I.P. Jon Swift

The great Jon Swift, blogger and satirist, passed away on 27 February.

Thank you, "Jon." May angels sing thee to thy rest.

Remember This Guy?

Larry Sinclair--who roused a gaggle of anti-Obama folks a year ago with lurid stories that included drugs, sex, and murder--filed a defamation suit against three anonymous bloggers, known only as OwningLiars, TubesockTed, and MzMolly, for defamation. Individually, the bloggers had either taunted Sinclair online or had re-posted Sinclair-oriented material posted on other websites. The case has dragged on since March of last year, but the courts dismissed it completely last week.

From Citizen Media Law Project:

the court held that Sinclair's complaint was facially invalid because it did not plead facts necessary to establish the court's subject-matter jurisdiction or personal jurisdiction over the pseudonymous defendants. In addition, the court ruled that Sinclair's defamation claims failed as a matter of law because he did not plead either actual malice or special damages, and because section 230 of the Communications Decency Act protected mzmolly and Owningliars for "simply summarizing and reporting information obtained from" a third party.

Unfortunately, the bloggers weren't awarded any damages either.**

And Sinclair? The story has gone stale. He's still peddling his tales somewhere, but he's still not produced any substantiating evidence. Meanwhile, many of his followers have moved onto other Obama conspiracies (e.g., the birth certificate), and his attorney has been suspended in Washington DC and in Florida.

** A reader emailed the following correction: "the motion that was denied was to sanction Sibley (I think for filing motions while suspended, if I remember correctly). The bloggers could still theoretically ask for damages or lawyer's fees." Thank you, reader.

Added: I came to this news via the CMLP, but I'd like to note that The Regulator was the first blog to report the CMLP's report.

Thanks, Jonathan Martin

Reading Jonathan Martin’s blog at Politico has been one of my more pleasant daily rituals, but, alas, he’s taken the “Change” meme to heart and has brought his blog to a close.

Dang

Blog Toy

Go to Typealizer, enter a blog address, and receive an analysis of that blog.

Apparently, MP&GS falls under the category of “The Mechanics,” which Typealizer describes as:

The independent and problem-solving type. They are especially attuned to the demands of the moment are masters of responding to challenges that arise spontaneously. They generelly prefer to think things out for themselves and often avoid inter-personal conflicts.

The Mechanics enjoy working together with other independent and highly skilled people and often like seek fun and action both in their work and personal life. They enjoy adventure and risk such as in driving race cars or working as policemen and firefighters.

The analysis includes a breakdown of “parts of the brain that were dominant during [blog] writing."

I’m hesitant to proclaim accuracy (apparently I’m unemotional and lacking idealism), but it’s not a bad way to waste time whilst waiting for something to print/download/whatever.

Woman Mugged/Assaulted by Obama Supporter? Not. So. Fast.

A McCain-Palin campaign volunteer, Ashley Todd, claims to have been mugged and beaten by someone who objected to her "McCain for President" bumper stickers, and who then scratched a backwards "B" onto her cheek. Drudge broke the story. Bloggers, conservative and liberal alike, have expressed a good deal of skepticism about the woman's claims. It looks like they were spot on.

You see, the police aren't so sure about the young woman's claims. And Salon has discovered some additional information that casts a shadow over her story; for example, a webpage on which she asserts that "lying is the most fun a girl can have [. . . .]." She's also changed her story a number of times. See Salon for the updates.

As Kevin K has pointed out in his excellent post on the "mugging"(which he's been updating regularly), this case seems strikingly familiar to that of Francisco Nava. In 2007, Nava, a conservative Princeton student claimed, to have been sent threatening emails and then physically assaulted due to his socially conservative views and his participation in on-campus conservative groups. He made it up.

Update: Confirmed: Todd made it up. But why? A craving for 15 minutes? Attention from McCain-Palin? Some insane political motivation? Who knows. The police aren't saying much. It is clear, however, that this young woman needs help.

A larger question is whether or not this will affect, in some way, the McCain campaign. John Moody, an executive Vice President at Fox News, certainly thinks so. In a blog post written yesterday, Moody mulls over Todd's claim in light of the overall political context, and he concludes: "[i]f the incident turns out to be a hoax, Senator McCain’s quest for the presidency is over, forever linked to race-baiting." Here's the entire post. It's worth your time.

Update Two: Greg Sargent at Talking Points Memo reveals that the McCain campaign's communications director for Pennsylvania told the PA press "an incendiary version of the hoax story about the attack on a McCain volunteer well before the facts in the case were known of established." That is, before the police issued any information.

The communication director's version of events were published by KDKA and WPXI; both sites have removed the director's comments. TPM, however, captured them before they were scrubbed. Opus Hussein X at TPM writes that the McCain campaign, "denied the campaign gave out those quotes." It looks like the communications director took it upon himself to make some political hay out of Todd's story.

One interesting point: according to Sargent, the reporters contacted the communications director after "seeing the story--sans details--teased on Drudge" (Sargent). Where did Drudge get the story?

Collecting the Conspiracies for Posterity

Excellent reading: "Great Moments in Election-Year Blogging," by Jon Swift, runs down some of the more inflammatory Obama-centric conspiracy theories propelled via the web. Yup, the "Whitey tape", the Berg nonsense, and Larry Sinclair make an appearance.

Mind the Rumors, Yeah?

Just dropping a link to a valuable article from across the pond: Nick Cohen's "When Barack's Berserkers Lost the Plot."

Significant quote:

In an age when politics is choreographed, voters watch out for the moments when the public-relations facade breaks down and venom pours through the cracks. Their judgment is rarely favourable when it does. Barack Obama knows it. All last week, he was warning American liberals to stay away from the Palin family. He understands better than his supporters that it is not a politician's enemies who lose elections, but his friends.

Rumor Central: Obama's Paid Bloggers

Where did this urban legend about Obama paying bloggers start? We’re assuming it’s an urban legend because we’ve never seen any support for the claim—just hearsay and and retorts to “Google it!" (when, of course, we have and still come up blank).

It looks as though the rumor started on or around May 15 this year. It originated at Hillbuzz and was quickly distributed across the Internet. Here’s one example:

According to Fox News, so question the source, but posted on Hillbuzz:

"The Obama campaign has hired 400 bloggers to influence the public discourse and sway Hillary voters to "remember we are all Democrats", to give up Clinton's cause, and to become dutiful citizens of the Obama Nation.

The poster was right to consider the source. Guess what? There is no record of such a story being pushed by “Fox News.” Fox is innocent.

Hillbuzz actually added a caveat after the story broke out:

Apparently, according to FOX News (EDITED TO CLARIFY: FOX News information scroll running during FOX News broadcast, NOT FOXNews.com).

Problem: The link that Hilbuzz provides, which implies a source, offers nothing on the “Fox New/paid bloggers” story. In fact, the site Hillbuzz guides you to, Lavender Liberal, features this post, written after the site began attracting those who thought that Lavender Liberal kickstarted the rumor when it clearly didn't:

How HillBuzz made that nonexistent connection [between the 400 bloggers story and Lavender Liberal], I don’t know, but, frankly — while I don’t have anything against HillBuzz — it’s pissing me off. Sites all over the Web keep pointing to the Lavender Newswire as the source of this rumor — even though HillBuzz, thankfully, has since edited their original post to clarify that the rumor was started by a scroll at the bottom of the screen during a Fox News broadcast. Whether that’s true or not, who the hell knows? It is Fox News, after all — and yet nobody knows who first saw this alleged scroll in the first place.

Just as it says: "nobody knows who first saw this alleged scroll in the first place." So we arrive at another dead end.

As an example of how quickly this unsourced allegation became accepted fact, let’s look at The Washington Post. On May 18, a columnist wrote on an Obama speech at a fundraiser. Following
the article, we get reader comments such as:

"As many of you know, Obama has hired hundreds of paid bloggers to surf the net and spread his lies and propaganda...."

Is it a surprise that this poster, and others who pursue this line of argument, offer no evidence? After all, most of us know.

All in all, from what we’ve seen, we can only conclude that this is an urban legend. It persists because it’s a useful, albeit simple, way to dismiss alternate views:

“you’re being paid to write that!”

Um, no.

"But we can't believe you because we know you're a paid Obama blogger!"

And so it goes.

Aside: It’s also interesting to note that the number of alleged “paid bloggers” keeps changing. Here the number is 300, here it’s 400 (the most common number), and here it’s 800.

You can read a rundown of how the “paid blogger” story got kicked around the ‘nets at Yes To Democracy.

Clintons4McCain Blogger News

Following Cristi Adkins's Hardball fracas, the 'net exploded with bloggers seeking out further information on Clintons4McCain and its members. Circuit Boy has published a story that reveals Anne Franklin's alleged donations to Bob Dole and George W. Bush's campaigns (information courtesy of Open Secrets), and Robin Carlson, who stood beside Adkins in the Hardball clip (and who a poster identified for me. Thanks Anonymous!), may have given $300.00 to the Michigan Republican Party in October last year. I say "may" as some have posited that Ms. Carlson is actually a California resident.

Now these women may well be sincere Clinton supporters (although you have to wonder why they disapprove of Obama's stance on issues, such as "choice," when his position is often parallel to Clinton's). But the more that is revealed the more tempting it is to suppose that maybe someone decided to enlist these women to propel disinformation. But that's conspiracy theory time, and I tend to steer clear of conspiracy theories. But it sure is suspicious, isn't it? This collection of Republican-turned-"independent" Hillary supporters--especially considering the vast ideological and policy differences between Clinton and McCain. . . .

Sinclair Loses Blog No. Two

Larry Sinclair's most recent site has been removed completely, and, according to his site host, there will be no return. Again, there's no coming back to Hostmonster for Larry Sinclair. See the details and communications with Hostmonster at The Mitch and Nan Show.

It should come as no surprise; he's consistently violated their terms of service by publishing personal information of those he claims are attacking him (including home addresses and residential and business phone numbers), he encourages his posters to investigate anonymous bloggers who post at sites that oppose or debunk Sinclair's activities and accusations, and he posts recordings of telephone calls that he makes to retaliate against his harassers (any hypocrisy there?). Anyway, he went all out on one woman, she complained, and Hostmonster said "enough is enough. Bye." Once again, Mr. Sinclair confirms that he is his own worst enemy. He deliberately ignores the host's terms of service, so naturally they'll disable or remove his blog. He cannot place this at the feet of any public authority or private blogger: this is his own doing.

Will he resurface? Of course he will. At the very least, he'll appear by proxy on sites by supporters Citizen Wells and Cao. The notoriety, the donations, and the winks of approval from groups such as PUMA and Clintons4McCain are probably too satisfying to surrender. Moreover, at this point, Sinclair has nothing left to lose. He's due in New Castle County superior court (DE) in a week or two, and after that, who knows?

UPDATE: He's back, and this time with StartLogic. Terms of service here. I wonder how long it will take before he (or is supporters) violate the company's terms of service, for certainly it was for this reason that Sinclair was asked to leave Wordpress and Hostmonster. If he could leave the overtly racist and the publishing of people's private information aside, he might have a permanent online home. While he might argue that others "out" various netizens, I'd suggest that "when others do it" he or the outed parties contact authorities and avoid retaliation.

Special thanks to "Anonymous" for the heads up...I was at work and unaware that Sinclair's blog had gone dark.

Fresh Astroturf for the Presidential Campaign

To think that this all began with an a minister of the church of Metallica.

Once we began to look into America's Hope Foundation, we were lead to look into other anti-Obama organizations--most disguised as pro-Hillary sites--and we've learned that there's some serious astroturf being laid out. Curiously, much of it originates from beyond the USA's borders, including Canada and Madeira.

We'll be relating our findings soon (admittedly, there's so much material that it takes some time to sort through it all), but rest assured--the GOP is involved. The RNC's hand isn't always in this jar, but it surely seems as though some dedicated Republicans and social conservatives (not at all the same thing) have gone out of their way to blanket the Internet with blogs and pacs to give the impression that all of the 18 million people who voted for Hillary Clinton in the primaries, plus a million or so more, are telling the wicked DNC (insert devil laugh) to nominate Hillary OR ELSE.

Caveat: This does not imply that the majority of Hillary Clinton's supporters are GOP operatives; rather, many are "true" Democrats whose anger or frustration has been channeled and manipulated by groups organized along the lines of Rush Limbaugh's Operation Chaos.

Sinclair: Blog No. Two Goes *poof*

While messing around on the Internet this a.m., I wandered over to Larry Sinclair's new site (he was booted off of Wordpress last week). To my surprise, the following message appeared:

This Account Has Been Suspended Please contact the support department as soon as possible, and please have your site name ready.

Admittedly, I haven't been checking in to see what Sinclair's been up to this week, at least not regularly, so I can't say why he's been shut down. My guess? Threats, posting someone's private information, revealing confidential information (e.g., the attorney Richard Wier; Sinclair placed his phone message online), inciting his regular posters to investigate and disrupt people's private lives, etc. Take your pick. Naturally, I'll offer a caveat: this could well be something inconsequential, like a software goof.

It's doubtless that we'll soon hear why the site went down; Sinclair will resurface somewhere, somehow. And after complaining that his site was sabotaged by bloggers, or that the DNC was trying to silence him, he'll confess, sooner or later, that Hostmonster suspended the site due to some error in Sinclair's own judgment or abilities.

UPDATE: Sinclair's site now displays the announcement:

This Domain (larrysinclair0926.com) Has Been Disabled

As the banner also includes instructions for restoring the the site, I'm assuming that Hostmonster has not terminated Sinclair's account, so we can expect him to amend his site and return any time now.

FYI: Hostmonster's terms of service.

UPDATE2: It's back! And this is a good thing because DBKP has been preparing a three part, detailed debunking of Sinclair's story, and they'll be needing his site for research purposes. If you haven't reviewed their library of Sinclair-related articles, I recommend that you head on over there and take a look at what Little Baby Ginn and MondoReb have cooked up for you.

Dominant Inconsistencies and Anti-Obamites

The Internet has grown heavy with the proliferation of anti-Obama groups. Some of these coalitions are, at least ostensibly, pro-Hillary Clinton. Some are bluntly anti-Obama while others play at concerned neutrality.

You might think that these groups, organized to make a splash in the ’08 election, would aim to make their online presence as transparent as possible so as to avoid any accusations of "dirty tricks," of being GOP front groups (a la the Cristi Adkins / Clintons4McCain story), or of "faking" their numbers (e.g., astroturfing) and thereby being dismissed by the media and/or the electorate.

I've noticed lately that many--indeed, the majority--of the anti-Obama but pro-Dem/Hillary groups share similar GoDaddy and Earthlink registrations. For now, I'd like to discuss the latter as it ties into something I've been rambling on about for the past month: that's right. We're back to America's Hope Foundation and Obama Hate Speech, which have recently joined the Just Say No Deal coalition.

The person who registered both sites has several other similar domains going, some of which have folded, some haven't gone live, and some are withering. The following material intrigues me as it forces the question, "why?" Why register so many websites, and under rather shady circumstances? Here are some of Jonathan Davis's/Jdawg's anti-Obama/pro-Hillary websites listed by their date of registration, domain name, and current status:

5/26 Votergate08.com (last updated 5/24)

5/26 Countallvotes.org (last updated 5/27)

6/05 Drafthillary2008.com (welcome message)

6/09 Americahopefoundation.com (welcome message)

6/09 Americashopefoundation.com (live)

6/09 Operationnobama.com (welcome message)

6/09 Usahopefoundation.com (welcome message)

6/18 Ohiofightsback.com (welcome message)

7/03 Obamahatespeech.com (live)

Each of these websites share the following registration information:

Organisation Name.... Jonathan Davis

Organisation Address. 166 blue mountain rd

Organisation Address. front royal

Organisation Address. 22630

Organisation Address. VA

Organisation Address. UNITED STATES

Admin Name........... Jonathan Davis

Admin Address........ 166 blue mountain rd

Admin Address........ front royal

Admin Address........ 22630

Admin Address........ VA

Admin Address........ UNITED STATES

Admin Email.......... jdawg2008@earthlink.net

Admin Phone.......... +1.540[redacted]

Points:

1. The organization address, “166 Blue Mountain Road, Front Royal, VA,” does not exist.

2. The phone number for the registrant (504-xxx-xxxx) does not match the registrant’s name. Instead, the number belongs to a woman, V. I. Givens, who does live in Front Royal.

3. The email address is invalid.

The above, along with AHF's employment of a questionable (at best) "Reverend" prompts me to consider their motivation: why all the dissimulation if they're only concerned about Hillary's success? What other reasons might underlie their deception? And did they intentionally select the name of a KORN member for the registrant? Of course, this assumes that the registrant's name was fake, but there hasn't been much to cast doubts on that possibility.

Finally, as a source pointed out to me, the telephone contact information offered on Count All Votes does not belong to the name listed on the site: “Count All Votes” lists “Aaron McCauley” as their contact along with a Seattle-area telephone number. No Aaron McCauley exists at the telephone number. It belongs, instead, to a person named McCathern, who is, according to comments left on various blogs, a Clinton supporter. But to mismatch a name and number, well...perhaps they weren't really expecting anyone to call.

As I'm still pursuing some points, I've resisted drawing conclusions for the moment. I'm just sharing information for now and looking forward to building on this material. But I'd like to note: a zillion websites devoted to a cause does not equate with a zillion people being devoted to that cause. It doesn't even give the appearance of a zillion people being devoted to a cause. And people know you can "fake" a website, just as you can "fake" signatures on an online petition. So, again, why do it if you run the risk of discrediting your movement?


On another note: As I browse the anti-Obama sites, I keep coming across a line reasoning that equates with the thesis that "because 18 million voted for Hillary, none of them will vote for Obama." Either/or fallacy, folks. Look it up.

I'll return to the "GOP front group" issue soon.

Special thanks to questing horse--the anti-Rocinante.

A Virtual Sticky Note

I've been putting together a longish piece on the sites America's Hope Foundation and Obama Hate Speech; I'm fairly sure that I have conclusive evidence that a GOP front group, featuring some familiar names, is behind the two Virginia-based efforts. I say "fairly sure" because I'm awaiting final confirmation on a few items.

I also have some evidence that the people behind these groups include themselves among Larry Sinclair's supporters. However, although they might back his efforts, whether they actually believe him or not is another question entirely. They're more interested in bringing Obama down than vindicating Sinclair, which explains what happened earlier this week. America's Hope Foundation withdrew its Sinclair ads (just about the same time as the Ricki Lieberman noise was kicking off. Hmmmm). Of the cutting of ties, well, let's simply say that America's Hope Foundation incurred Sinclair's displeasure.

Anyways, check back tomorrow and things ought to be laid out nice and precisely for you.

Aside: It's a Friday night in July. I wonder if Reverend Tim L. Donovan has a gig?

Not One Shred of Dignity

Tonight, Larry Sinclair appeared on Hal Turner's show to repeat the same tired claims.

Turner mocked Sinclair by playing "songs" about gay men and freeloaders; he played "jokes" about homosexuals. He told Sinclair that he hates him "on principle."

Mr. Sinclair, you worry about bloggers, and you define them as enemies out to destroy you and your credibility. Look in any available mirror. There's your enemy.

Maybe you should have listened to your supporters who actually preferred that you maintain dignity by skipping Turner's program. The rest of them? I'm sure you did them proud.

Addition: Sure enough

[ZZZZ] Says:
Larry, great interview — I am really proud of you —

Added two days later: a Sinclair supporter, JoAnn Bjorkman, reconfirms the nexus of Sinclair's believers and unbridled racism when she sends her thoughts to The Mitch and Nan Show:

Obama is a nigger, a fag, a shame to our country and to that hag of a wife. Take that and stuff it in your mouth cause it seems that is all you can do….run that mouth.

I'm sure that Ms. Bjorkman was pleased as punch with Sinclair's Hal Turner interview. She probably had a good laugh at his expense (all those gay jokes) while simultaneously thrilling to the idea that Hal Turner can somehow help put that uppity candidate back in his place.

Are you really, truly, sincerely just fine about this, Mr. Sinclair?

Sinclair to Lose Blog?

Wordpress might well yank Sinclair's blog if recent rumors (from trusted sources) bear out. It seems he has consistently violated the company's terms of service by requesting that his posters research information on private individuals and then posting that information on his site.

Sinclair often responds that his actions are only fair; after all, don't people post his information online? This is true. However, Sinclair himself posts documents and personal details online; he's done so since January 2008. In other words, he has placed that information in the public eye.

I'm not so worried about whether or not Sinclair posts information on convicted felons, but I do think he steps over the line by posting unfounded accusations against certain private citizens and then revealing that person's identity, home address, place of work, and telephone numbers. This is an incitement to harassment.

Apparently, Wordpress has had enough. Will Sinclair resurface with a new site? Possibly. Until then, if you follow this story, you'll know where to find him in the downtime.

UPDATE: When I initially posted this item, I was under the impression that Wordpress had actually pulled Sinclair’s blog. My reasons for believing this:

1. Earlier today, Sinclair began posting back-and-forth emails between himself and Alex at Wordpress. Alex asked Sinclair to either confirm his sources for individuals’ personal information Sinclair had posted, and Sinclair responded that Wordpress had ignored his own complaints about others posting information about him.

2. Sinclair announced he was leaving Wordpress as of Monday, 7/14/08, but that his Wordpress blog would remain up and running (albeit with no new posts) until that time.

3. At approximately 6:00 pm EDT, the site went inactive.

4. At approximately 6:45 EDT, the blog reappeared, and Sinclair posted the following:

Larry Sinclair Says:
Friday, July 11, 2008 at 5:47 pm
WordPress was asked to reactivate the blog long enough for me to retrieve my files and images. We will still be moving to LarrySinclair0926.com

I will not publish any further articles on this site.

As the blog had actually gone dark, and Sinclair later asserted that he'd asked Wordpress to reactive the site for archival retrieval, we might assume that Wordpress did, indeed, pull the site--I rather doubt that Sinclair pulled the site, and his "moving announcement," voluntarily before setting up elsewhere.

By the way, there's a slight update on the Delaware situation; see DelawareOnline for the details.

Added 7/12: I'm thinking that this will be my final commentary on the whole Sinclair situation. It's gone from being shockingly silly to absolutely ludicrous, and there are far better stories to waste my time on. No matter its value as an example of Internet-driven conspiracies, there's simply no need to discuss each foolish new addition to the story. Of course, I might just change my mind if something truly silly hits the 'nets.

New Information on Sinclair's Delaware Warrant?

This morning a little item appeared at Delaware Online, but there's no byline except a notice that "[t]he weblog Dialogue Delaware is updated daily by reporters and editors at The News Journal," and I can't locate confirmation. I post it as an element in the ongoing rumor wars.

Facts deflate conspiracy theory

Depending on what blogs you read, Delaware is at the center of a major conspiracy orchestrated to protect presumptive Democratic nominee Barack Obama by silencing a critic.

But like many rumors about a candidate during a presidential election year, this one just isn't true.

While we are certain this will do little to deter conspiracy theorists, we thought it would be worthwhile to inject some verifiable fact where we find it.

The rumor suggested that former Democratic presidential candidate and Delaware Sen. Joe Biden -- who has been named as a possible vice president running mate for Obama -- worked with his son, Delaware Attorney General Beau Biden, to have Obama critic Larry Sinclair arrested at the conclusion of a press conference Sinclair held in Washington earlier this month.

Sinclair, who has been making charges about Obama involving sex and drugs, allegedly was taken away at the conclusion of his remarks by U.S. marshals on an outstanding warrant from Delaware.

Some -- perhaps only those on Sinclair's Web site -- suggested this was concocted to embarrass Sinclair because there had been no record of a Delaware warrant after a detailed background check in January.

Well, yes, but no.

There was no warrant in January because it was issued in February after an October incident at a New Castle hotel involving Sinclair.

According to the Delaware State Police and Delaware Superior Court records, Sinclair allegedly paid for a three-week stay at the Rodeway Inn with $2,400 in money orders. The hotel manager later found they were counterfeit and called police.

In February -- long before Obama became the presumptive nominee -- a New Castle County grand jury indicted Sinclair for felony theft and a warrant was issued.

According to state prosecutors, Sinclair was released on $8,000 unsecured bond this week and is due back in court in July for an arraignment.

If this is true (and we'll find out soon enough), the Delaware allegations fit with a larger pattern of larceny that's emerged due to bloggers, such as those at The Mitch and Nan Show and DBKP, and discussed in Politico.

I do have some questions about this allegation, though, as Sinclair had a Wilmington phone number--a land-line--in autumn 2007 (he has previously given this phone number in support of his claims to have contacted the Obama campaign), so why the need for a three week stay at a Rodeway Inn?

Of course, there are a number of reasons that might explain the need for a hotel room, but I'll leave such hypothesizing aside for the moment. I'm sure there will be updates soon.

Meanwhile, in Sinclair-related news: Overlawyered has the final word on Montgomery Blair Sibley's suspension in DC (which stands), including links to Sibley's 133 page argument against his suspension. What with the Sinclair case floundering and having been removed from acting as Blanche Palfrey's attorney in the lingering "D C Madam" case, Sibley's not doing so well.

UPDATE: A blogger claims to have spoken to the manager of the New Castle, DE Rodeway Inn who confirms the story. Additionally, the blogger reports that, rather than being paid $24,000 for a hotel room, the manager was actually swindled out of $24,000 in cash. Please visit this link for details on the Delaware allegations. Again, I'm sure we'll hear significantly more about this story shortly.

UPDATE TWO: see Delaware Online from 7/12/08:

C30 / C60 / C90 Go (online) !

Here’s a London fellow with an intriguing hobby: the Dalston Shopper.

Dalston Shopper visits local charity shops (primarily, it seems, Oxfam) to dig around in the cassette bins. He purchases the more interesting / curious / bizarre collections (be they mix tapes or studio releases) and uploads tracks and images to Dalston Oxfam Shop--one seriously cool blog. Dalston Shopper’s finds include Indian film music, obscure rave tracks, discarded personal collections. . .

I first read about Dalston Shopper's site in The Guardian, which featured the site in an article on MP3 blogs in its 7/7/07 entertainment guide. You can find it online (with links!) here. Enjoy!


And back to my attempt at dissertating (which seems to become more painful and less fruitful every day. I fear for my ABD status--that is, that I'll never move beyond it).