ACORN Videomaker James O'Keefe's Funder: Facebook Investor Peter Thiel

I'm really glad this aspect of the story is out now.

Leftovers from the reported volume of money "Paypal don" Peter Thiel gave O'Keefe for his previous stunt in February could have easily been used to fund the ACORN videos filmed this summer.

There's just no way that the February "Taxpayers Clearing House" thing cost $30,000. [via The Village Voice; another fun story about Thiel's politics here at Valleywag]

Crash Into Me, Former Presidential Hopeful and Ongoing Trainwreck John Edwards

There's a piece in the Times today about recent developments in the John Edwards secret affair and paternity scandal. I don't think you have to be a music snob to find this part amusing:

The notion that Mr. Edwards is the father has been reinforced by the account of Andrew Young, once a close aide to Mr. Edwards, who had signed an affidavit asserting that he was the father of Ms. Hunter’s child.

Mr. Young, who has since renounced that statement, has told publishers in a book proposal that Mr. Edwards knew all along that he was the child’s father. He said Mr. Edwards pleaded with him to accept responsibility falsely, saying that would reduce the story to one of an aide’s infidelity.

In the proposal, which The New York Times examined, Mr. Young says that he assisted the affair by setting up private meetings between Mr. Edwards and Ms. Hunter. He wrote that Mr. Edwards once calmed an anxious Ms. Hunter by promising her that after his wife died, he would marry her in a rooftop ceremony in New York with an appearance by the Dave Matthews Band.

[Via NYT]

Jones/Winfrey/Hamm

[via slocker]

Aw.

Wasting My Time: 9/11 Edition

Question: Why did I take the time to weigh in (again) on this unsatisfying film adaptation of Jon Ronson's book The Men Who Stare At Goats?

Answer: I'm probably avoiding real life issues a bit.

[Gawker Repost] "Adorable Literary Hoax Goes Entirely Unnoticed"

In a 2004 issue of academic journal Modernism/Modernity, David Foster Wallace's short story collection Oblivion was reviewed by Jay Murray Siskind, a professor at Blacksmith College, and a fictional Don DeLillo character. And no one noticed!

[Full Gawker Post Here]