News Roundup for 4/27/12

It's a nice portrait anyway...

-Headline of the day-
"New Mexico Politician Frolicked In Philippines Sex District."

Bonus fun; his name is Michael Weiner, so we can use a lot of those jokes again.

Ok, so here's the deal; this guy who's New Mexico's Bernalillo County commissioner got his picture taken with prostitutes in the Philippines. You probably have no idea who the hell this guy is and you're wondering why you should care. You should care because it's funny, that's why.

See, according to the report, "Wiener was spending time in the Angeles City red light district when he apparently stopped a photographer on the street to take a picture of him posing with a quartet of scantily clad women in an area well known as a hub of prostitution." The above artwork was the product of that request.

But here's the fun part, the photographer -- John Keatley -- was in town "documenting the sex tourism industry." Turns out he wasn't a tourist, he was working. And he's not extremely supportive of men who engage in sex tourism. In fact, he's kid of against it.

"You can’t assume anyone there on the street is there for sex,” Keatley said. “But my encounter with Michael Wiener was very different... It was very obvious to me that he was not respectful to women. He was there to have a good time."

So when Weiner got home, the photo followed him. "Albuquerque, N.M., television station KOB-TV confronted the Republican commissioner with the photograph this week and gave him a chance to respond," the report tells us. "Wiener acknowledged he was the person shown in the picture but denied he was there to pay for sex. He said he was in the area with his girlfriend and that the two of them were waiting to catch a plane to visit his daughter in a nearby city." Oddly, his girlfriend accounts for exactly none of the nice ladies pictured in the photo.

And this isn't the first time Weiner's awesomr decision-making skills have got him into trouble. He was cleared in an investigation involving dirty jokes and female employees and in 2010 "forced to apologize in 2010 after sending out an email with a joke that 'makes reference to President Barack Obama, African-Americans, showers and prisons.'"

Way to go Bernalillo County, New Mexico. You've chosen a real winner. (Talking Points Memo)


-Wal-Mart bribery scandal in a nutshell-



(McClatchy)


-Bonus HotD-
"Regular Guy Scott Brown Has Twice As Many Houses As Mitt Romney."

But he drives a truck, so he's automatically just like you. (Wonkette)