Judge Michael Morgan Admits Guilt

In the city of Federal Way incumbent judge Michael Morgan has been accused of using his work computer to create a fake internet identity of one of his employees to make comments on newspaper articles and blog posts by his opponents in the 2009 primary. The case is being investigated by the Public Disclosure Commission.

In early October Michael Morgan stipulated to the charges according to a PDC press release:

From the Public Disclosure Commission:

TO: Commissioners

FROM: Philip E. Stutzman, Director of Compliance

DATE: October 15, 2009

SUBJECT: Michael Morgan, Case No. 10-017

Along with this memo, you are being provided documents related to the subject case. These documents include the staff Report of Investigation with Exhibits, the Notice of Administrative Charges and a signed Stipulation as to Facts, Violation and Penalty agreed to between staff and the Respondent, Michael Morgan and being presented at the October 22, 2009 meeting for the Commission’s consideration. I am also providing you with a spreadsheet of prior Commission orders concerning violations of RCW 42.17.130.

Staff Recommendation

Staff recommends that the Commission accept the Stipulation in lieu of an enforcement hearing as a fair resolution of this matter. The Respondent has admitted to multiple violations of RCW 42.17.130 for using a city-owned computer to assist his 2009 campaign for City of Federal Way Municipal Court Judge. He has also agreed to the maximum penalty available to the Commission.

Senior Assistant Attorney General Linda Dalton will present the Stipulation to the Commission and will be available at the Commission meeting to answer questions. Michael Morgan, or his representative, will also be in attendance at the Commission meeting to briefly comment and answer questions.

The PDF of the stipulation have now been removed from the PDC website and the issue has been removed from the agenda of the PDC's October 22nd meeting. It seems that Morgan has withdrawn his stipulation. As a judge Morgan was well aware that signing his name to the stipulation was an admission of guilt. If he has withdrawn his stipulation, which he is well within his rights to do, the question is why. Was it because he wanted to keep the issue from the voters? Or did he really not know what he was signing?

As a matter of law withdrawing a guilty plea may perfectly acceptable and may not prejudice a judge or jury. But in the court of public opinion if you plead guilty, you're guilty. And despite any legal wrangling to the contrary, Judge Michael Morgan did stipulate to the charges against him.

Guilty is guilty, and Michael Morgan has admitted his guilt.

Yes Flu Can

Five years ago today John Kerry took to the airwaves blaming George Bush for the shortage of flu vaccine. So I guess we can assume that he will be blaming Barack Obama for the current swine flu vaccine right?

Deleting the Crazy

Ok, it's definitely time to clean up the sidebar. Gone are Dooce and Mighty Girl and Sparkwood & 21. Sorry, but y'all just bore the crap out of me. Dooce's schtick is getting old. Maggie is one long advertisement of Intel and Brittney is just boring.

I'd rather spend time reading TMZ and the other gossip sites. Cause they show celebrity boobies.

Vetting of Levi Johnston is raising questions

McCain says the process was thorough, but others describe a more cursory examination.
By Mark D. Harback and Mary Renton, Los Angeles Times Staff Writers
September 3, 2008

ST. PAUL, MINN. -- John McCain first met Levi Johnston in February. Six months later, he asked his girlfriend’s mother to be his running mate.

The way McCain weighed and discarded vice presidential prospects over that time has come under scrutiny as the choice of Levi Johnston’s girlfriend’s mom turns politically perilous. The question is whether McCain carefully vetted Levi Johnston and, if he did not, what that says about the judgment and decision-making the presumed Republican nominee would bring to the White House.

A Republican strategist with close ties to the McCain camp, however, said Johnston’s girlfriend’s mom was a last-minute choice after McCain had given up on his preferred pick, Sen. Joe Lieberman, an independent from Connecticut, who addressed the convention Tuesday night. "He did so with such speed that they weren't able to do the full vet," said the GOP source, who did not want to be identified discussing the campaign's internal machinations.

Johnston was one of just a few boyfriends of the daughters of governors who McCain, shopping for a running mate, met for a private 90-minute session at the February meeting of the National Governors Assn. Later that evening, the two followed up at a private reception, where McCain pressed Johnston for his views on energy issues. Aides said McCain was "extremely impressed."

Despite the last few rough days, McCain has no regrets about his choice. Asked if there was any chance Johnston’s girlfriend’s mom would be dropped from the ticket, McCain responded indignantly: "Why? What would be the reason? Levi’s girlfriend is pregnant? A bunch of cable chatter? He made the right pick. He's very excited."

Holdin'

This article about candy bans at school resulting in an explosion in black market in sugar sales reminded me of one of my first lessons in economics.

Back in middle school my older brother had a lucrative business selling candy out of his locker at school. I decided to get in on the business so I went down to the local candy store and bought an assortment of the most popular candy. My math went something like this:

Where Cp = Candy purchased, Cs = Candy sold and P = profit. Therefore:
P = (($0.55*Cs) - ($0.50*Cp))

Unfortunately I quickly found that nobody would pay $0.55 for a pack of gum when they could buy it themselves at the store for $0.50. I couldn't understand how my brother kept a steady supply of customers while I was quickly going broke.

My brother eventually discovered that I was trying to steal his customers. I thought I was dead but surprisingly he didn't pummel me. Instead he explained how he was able to maintain a monopoly on the candy market in school.

It seems his business plan was a bit more refined than mine, resulting in lower initial expenditures of capital, though at a significantly higher risk. Here's his formula for success went something like this:

Cp = Candy purchased, Cs = Candy sold, 5F = five fingered discount and P = profit. Therefore:
P = (($0.55*Cs) - (($0.50*Cp)/ 5F)).

My brother eventually sold the business and is now in law enforcement. It seems he may have done better going into something like mortgage lending. He seems to have the knack for it.......

Stick To Celebrities

Update: Now that this post has been picked up at Hotair.com (thanks Ed) it'll be interesting to see if TMZ includes this story in their tv broadcast tonight. They received an overwhelming amount of pro-military comments to their post even before the bigger blogs picked it up. We'll see if they have the balls to include it, in all it's anti-military glory, in a national broadcast.

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The celebrity stalking website TMZ posts on the Navy's efforts to recover the remains of lost WWII airmen in the South Pacific, their hook being that "former "Bachelor" bachelor Andy Baldwin" is part of the dive team involved in the operation.

Former "Bachelor" bachelor Andy Baldwin just got back from the island of Palau in the South Pacific -- not on vacation, on a mission with the Navy. Now let's talk about why we the taxpayers are footing the bill on such BS.

Baldwin was among 20 military types who were on a search mission in the middle of the ocean. What, you ask, were they looking for? A B-24J bomber that went down during the war. Not Iraq. Not Vietnam. No, not Korea. We're talking WWII, as in more than 60 years ago.

TMZ has a survey on the site asking "Ridiculous waste? Yes / No". So far the vote is split 50/50, but the comment section is overwhelmingly pro military and anti TMZ rant. In fact as of 8:52am (pacific time) you have to scroll down to comment 23 before you find one commenter that agrees with TMZ.

(Thanks to Ed Morrissey at Hotair for the link)

Audacity of Nope

Gerard Vanderleun nails this one

This is my new favorite poster.