Scrapbook
Scrapbook Al Gore's Attack Judge The morning of the Supreme Court's ruling in Bush v. Gore, the New York Times trotted out the story of Clarence Thomas's potential "conflict of...
...Raised under what circumstances, one wonders...
...We trust Ms...
...Especially not when the remedy the appellate judge proposes might directly benefit him...
...Altman's movies of late have become downright silly...
...Most equatorial paradises rely on American tourism dollars...
...Gore campaign dissembler Mark Fabiani made a brief appearance in the Thomas story...
...Chambliss has been serving as the committee's vice chairman and functioned as chairman for much of the past two years—first while Kasich was running for president and, later, when Kasich was focusing on his post-congressional career (he did not seek reelection...
...Still, if House speaker Denny Hastert blesses Nussle, it will be because of seniority and would mark a return to pre-Newt traditions in the House...
...Judge Merritt himself would seem ripe for "some kind of investigation in the Senate," don't you think...
...There are disadvantages, of course, to living in France (the French live there, for one...
...These circumstances, the Times made clear way down at the bottom of its story...
...The grimacing Pearl Jam singer, who promised USA Today he'd leave the country if "little Damien II gets elected," will especially enjoy France's no-bathing culture...
...Chambliss also enjoys good relations with the Appropriations Com-mittee—a famously difficult bunch— and raised $500,000 for his colleagues this year...
...She did, however, vow to leave in 1992 if "George Bush" won the election, and we don't want to disqualify her on a hyper-technicality...
...Alec said the claim was hogwash (and perhaps not coinci-dentally, the Star tabloid now has the two on the verge of divorce...
...Before We Move On...
...Circuit Court of Appeals...
...Nussle, despite sitting on the Ways and Means Committee, where members are showered with campaign contributions, raised just $151,000...
...But this was the substance of the complaint that the Times reported...
...Nor did the Times quote any of the legal experts one would normally expect to see in such a story...
...Nussle, famous for once appearing on the House floor with a paper bag over his head, has been trying to boost his prospects by telling colleagues, and reporters, that he's the most senior member of the committee...
...In the pantheon of the Baldwin brothers, Alec used to be known as the Talented Baldwin...
...The Battle for Capitol Hill A group of House Republicans will be meeting behind closed doors this week to choose the new chairmen of a number of committees...
...But after a string of mediocre movies and a lack of quality time with the StairMas-ter, he is now simply Tubby Baldwin...
...Off to France with the following: *Robert Altman...
...Seeking the top job are Saxby Chambliss, Jim Nussle, Nick Smith, and John Sununu (son of the former New Hampshire governor...
...To assist our celebrity friends, we've researched flight information...
...Eddie Vedder...
...Anyone catch Pret-a-Porter...
...Beijing, a colleague mordantly comments, has, in its rush to modernize, skipped liberalism and moved directly to secularism...
...Streisand's offer is still good...
...Thomas's wife, Virginia, works at the Heritage Foundation, and she's involved in a project sorting the resumes of low-level, conservative wannabe Bush administration staffers...
...It's settled, then...
...In fairness, The Scrapbook must point out that Merritt is hardly a nobody...
...He's a judge on the Sixth U.S...
...Barbra Streisand...
...But it is precisely Merritt's qualification to pronounce on such a matter of judicial ethics that makes the pronouncement irregular...
...All of these mean he'll do in France what he's never done in America: good box office...
...To properly nurse one's anti-American animus, one must move to France...
...Thomas, the Times's source was quite sure, should have recused himself from deciding on Bush v. Gore...
...A federal appellate judge doesn't accuse a Supreme Court justice of misbehavior every day, after all...
...Strictly speaking, Streisand didn't promise to leave this time...
...So Virginia Thomas stands to gain . . . well, The Scrapbook's not sure what exactly she stands to gain, but that hardly matters...
...And since Clarence Thomas didn't so recuse himself, why then he violated...
...Judge Merritt offered his views about Justice Thomas after someone in the Gore campaign provided the New York Times with his name and telephone number...
...But where else can one enjoy licorice-flavored cocktails, infrequent bathing, and Mickey Rourke movies that haven't gone straight to video...
...Of course, you're always welcome to come back and fight, but for now, it's time to do what the French do best: surrender...
...Earlier this year, Baldwin's wife, Kim Basinger, told Focus magazine that Alec would become an expatriate if Bush became president...
...well, The Scrapbook's not sure about that, either...
...The allegation of the conflict was made by a certain Gilbert S. Merritt of Nashville, Tennessee, who thinks "some kind of investigation in the Senate" of Thomas would be in order...
...Eat," They Ordered China is cracking down on fasting in East Turkistan, the province where Muslim Uighurs who chafe at Beijing's dictates are now trying to observe the prescribed fasts of the Muslim month of Ramadan...
...One of the most important races will determine who succeeds John Kasich as Budget Committee chairman...
...We feel we must hold them to their promise...
...that distinction belongs to Nick Smith...
...In addition to being silly, did we mention pretentious, formless, and badly in need of editing...
...As they say on the Riviera, Eddie: "Don't let the door smack your cut on the way out...
...Helpful suggestion for Alec: Leave your hot wife here and go to France, where you'll have four years to find a decent script and work off some of that water retention...
...The crotchety director has already selected France as his destination if Bush won, to which we say, a la prochaine, Robert...
...We have only Merritt's opinion to go on...
...Which would have reduced the presumptive pro-Bush faction of the court to four justices...
...Didn't think so...
...He's not...
...We can't see why the Times ran so one-sided a story at all, but we'll credit them at least for not omitting this key fact: "Judge Merritt . . . has long association with the Gore family and was considered a leading contender for the Supreme Court early in the Clinton administration...
...Alec Baldwin...
...The vice president is too classy and responsible a guy to go near such a controversy, Fabiani intoned: "The vice president has the highest regard for the independent judiciary, so we're not going to comment on the various questions that have been raised...
...The temptation of course will be to repair to some place tropical, to which we say: Resist...
...According to our records, several celebrities vowed to vacate the country if George W. Bush was elected...
...If you fly Swissair out of JFK airport on the first of the year, you can get dinner and a snack in business class for the reasonable one-way fare of $2,992.24...
...Scrapbook Al Gore's Attack Judge The morning of the Supreme Court's ruling in Bush v. Gore, the New York Times trotted out the story of Clarence Thomas's potential "conflict of interest...
...Smart money says the top two are Chambliss and Nussle...
...While the country looks forward to being united, not divided, by the Reformer with Results, The Scrapbook has to resolve some unpleasant housekeeping matters...
...Concurring in Merritt's judgment, the New York Times quoted . . . well, nobody...
...Then there's this...
...In the name of "public health," schools have arranged mandatory lunches for Uighur students, and businesses are demanding that their Uighur employees not fast...
Vol. 6 • December 2000 • No. 15
