Cynthia McKinney for President!

Yes, folks, the nuttiest thing to come out of Georgia since the President who farmed them is thinking of making a run for the White House in 2008. Cynthia McKinney is floating her name around here and there.

This woman will make little Dennis Kucinich and Mike Gravel look like serious candidates.

God bless the woman for trying, but she is among the lowest kinds of race-baiting bigots out there and I anxiously await if and how the Democratic establishment (or the folks who do the General Election debates, if she forgoes her party and runs as an indy/third party candidate) treat her entrance into the debates. My money is on cries of racism within 5 minutes of being kept out.

Turn the lights down, the party just got wilder.

Not Sure How This Bodes for the Junior Senator from New York

Hillary is not looking so hot, head-to-head with some GOP trailers.

Democratic frontrunner Hillary Rodham Clinton now leads former
Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee (R) 48% to 43%. Senator Clinton also leads
Republican Senator Sam Brownback 49% to 41%.

Why Mitt Romney is Leading in the Polls

I never thought I'd see the day when I cite a Michael Douglas movie in support of a claim, but these are strange days.

I watch this campaign in partial bewilderment of the the recent successes of the Romney campaign. Fortunately, some new polling data show that McCain and Giuliani are breathing down his neck and my next-best-hope, Fred Thompson, is not losing much by sitting on the sidelines waiting for the call to step in and save the game.


The American President is a movie that always kind of chokes me up. While it makes buffoons of the GOP (what else can we expect of Richard Dreyfuss?), it's dramatic, patriotic and inspiring.

Towards the end, the Douglas and Michael J. Fox characters are arguing about whether to get in the mud with Dreyfuss' character. While Romney is not a mudslinger, he's an empty suit, speaking the script, but bringing nothing real to the table.

I probably sound incredibly Pollyana-ish, but I really hope something better comes along. I can't stomach seeing this guy as our representative for the next howevermany years.

SHEPHERD (Douglas) Look, if people want to listen
to Bob Rumson--

LEWIS (Fox)They don't have a choice! Rob Rumson's
the only one doing the talking. People want leadership. And in the absence of genuine leadership, they will listen to anyone who steps up to the microphone. They want leadership, Mr. President. They're so thirsty for it, they'll crawl through the desert toward a mirage, and when they discover there's no water, they'll drink the sand.

SHEPHERD (Douglas) (evenly)
Lewis, we've had Presidents who were beloved, who couldn't find a coherent sentence with two hands and a flashlight. People don't drink the sand, 'cause they're thirsty, Lewis. They drink it 'cause they don't know the difference.

Script from The American President

It's Not Screw as I Screw...

Tom "the hammer" DeLay comes out with guns blazing in the latest issue of the New Yorker.

Among other things, he's happy to comment on the liklihood of a Newt candidacy.

Since he had already repented and come back to the Lord (after getting his fill of extramarital nookie earlier on), you see, his role in the Clinton impeachment trial was on a different moral plane than that of Newt Gingrich who was banging his soon-to-be-third-wife-if-it-weren't-for-that-damned-second-one!

These assholes are just about as funny as a couple of Democrats on the debate stage arguing about who has screwed more.....environmentally-friendly lightbulbs in their office.

Will Artie Leave the Stern Show?

Stern fans are starting to weigh in on Artie's future with the show.

Viva Assad!

In a stunning victory for the righteous cause of Middle East Democracy (could this be a residual victory of the Mission in Iraq?), President Bashar Assad earned a landslide re-election victory, earing 97% of the vote.

Amazing!  Another 7 years in office!

Hopefully the peanut farmer will weigh in on this soon.

Google Under Scrutiny

The Google buyout of Doubleclick is under anti-trust investigation by the Federales.

Could this be the start of a bad news cycle for the boys out west?

While I have no way of knowing what the outcome will be, I am glad that this is getting a second look.  The scary thing to me (and others, obviously) about the buy was not so much the consolidation of money at Google, but of information.

Anyone who thinks that *someone* is not paying attention to their surfing and purchasing behavior at any point in time is insane.

Think of it like walking through a shopping mall or big city.  At any moment, there are anywhere from a handful to dozens of people with you at least in their line of sight.  This does not trouble most people who might spend an afternoon at a shopping mall.

Consider now, though, if a single person or group followed every step you took through that mall and inspected everything you picked up, how often you went to the restroom, when you decided to sit down for a pretzel....

This is what the Google deal does since it would increase its reach so much into customer/surfer information-gathering.

Is there anything illegal about that?  I don't know.  But I'm very interested to see how the FTC interprets what's going on here.  I'll be watching this story while they watch me.

Mrs. Sheehan Goes to Washington

Anti-War-Mom turned shill-of-the-left, Cindy Sheehan is leaving the so-called peace movement.

She says that the movement betrayed her as well as ruined her health, marriage and finances.

I wish her well.

I can't even begin to comprehend what it's like to walk in Ms. Sheehan's shoes for a day knowing her son was killed in a war, let alone a war that most evidence concedes is a sham or mistake.  So I was always willing to give her a pass that I might not grant to others.

The salt in the wound for Sheehan, though, is how she was so thoroughly exploited by people who really had no interest in her or what she seems to have been after.  It's a real shame how folks just zoned in on her like vultures.  

Democrats running for office in '06 had no problem being associated with her cause but when it came time to belly up last week, they were no more interested in making the hard decision than I was in passing up another fudge brownie this weekend.

Associating with pimps like Jesse Jackson should have been a dead giveaway.

Sicko

I'm anxiously awaiting the release of Michael Moore's Sicko later this summer.  Apparently, it rips a new a-hole for the health insurance industry in America.  As noted in the clip below, it doesn't so much go after the millions of Americans without healthcare as much as give voice to the contention that even those with insurance are on the short end of a crooked stick.

While I think he does take some cheapshots in some of his movies (like taking advantage of a clearly not-all-there Charlton Heston in Bowling for Columbine), he gives you something to think, talk and act about.  Compared to most of the crap that comes out of Hollywood in the last 10 years or so, at least Moore challenges his viewers a little bit.

He appeared on the season finale of Real Time w/ Bill Maher last weekend.  Here's the interview.

New Masthead at HuffPo

Looks a little more newspaper-ish.  No immediately-apparent content changes.

Speaking of mastheads, Instapundit notes that Google again chooses not to observe Memorial Day, but Ask does.

The More Things Change...

Sweet Jesus, I'm glad Hillary is running.  This campaign is becoming like a scenario where the cast from M*A*S*H decided to get together for one last season....but it didn't suck as bad as After M*A*S*H.

Two new books about the ice queen came out recently.  One's by Carl Bernstein and the other by NYT reporters Jeff Gerth and Don Van Natta.  Without summarizing the books' entiriety, they each present Hillary as someone who's ambitious, smart and has really learned how to dance close to ethical boundaries.

My favorite part of the story, of course, is how the Hillary campaign responds to this.  They fall back to another move that always worked for her spouse.

"The news here is that it took three reporters nearly a decade to find no news."

Howard Wolfson, Clinton campaign spokesman on new books portraying his boss as a calculating bitch

Addendum:  The Politico is all over this classic Clintonian damage control tactic.

Navel-Gazing at the New York Times on Fox Debates

The New York Times, who I usually have higher regard for, wastes a lot of front-page real estate this morning dissecting the decisions of Hillary Clinton, John Edwards and Barack Obama to skip a joint-sponsored Congressional Black Caucus / Fox News Democratic Presidential Debate this September.

While the history lesson on how the debate began (Fox gave the BCC its most reasonable offer in 2003 when they pitched the debate),  speaks well to Fox's strategy, the rest of the article just carries on way too long in overstating what should be obvious.

The candidates who have so far declined have more to gain in street cred by standing up to the evil Republican bastards at Roger Ailes' network than they do from the extra TV coverage.  Since the Democratic party already has the black vote in its back pocket, what's to gain from showing up?

On the issue of Fox's objectivity, I tend to side more with Al Franken's view of the counter-argument (that the Mainstream Media shifts left).  

Asking whether there is a liberal or conservative bias to the mainstream media is a little like asking whether al Qaeda uses too much oil in their hummus. The problem with al Qaeda is that they're trying to kill us.

Al Franken in Lies (and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them)

A similar argument can be made for Fox.  While they certainly have a higher proportion of conservative-leaning commentators than most of the other major news outlets, the thing that I find most annoying about their coverage is the tabloidy nature of it.  

The screaming, gratuitious argumentative nature of their questioning and the almost-obscene amount of flag-waving they do for certain news segments cuts through any illusion that they are there for any other purpose than to rile people up rather than to inform them.

But cheers to the Democrats for winning some easy political points in deciding not to show up.  While I think that it's childish, I have to bear in mind that three of the four Republican candidates in the South Carolina debate last week denied believing in evolution.

You gotta dance with them what brung you.

I've Lost Part of My Reason to Watch the Indy 500 Today

I was never a huge sports fan, but I do find it somewhat un-American to not tune into the big ones, like the Super Bowl, the Masters, the Kentucky Derby, at least one game of each World Series (MLB and Little League) and the Indianapolis 500.

As a native Hoosier, I still get a little nostalgic (even though I did not grow up in a rural community) hearing Jim Nabors sing, "Back Home Again."

Even if was not going to watch the cars go round in circles all day, I made a concerted effort every year to tune in to hear his rendition.

Sadly, Nabors will not be in Indy this year.  He's had some health issues lately and is out at his Macadamia nut farm in Hawaii.

Gomer will be appearing via satellite, though, so expect the crowd to wish him well.

As of the time of this posting, though, the weather in Indy does not look too promising, though.

Does Anybody Smell Bacon?

Some folks seem to have an interesting take on how the city of Los Angeles should increase the size of its police force.

The LA Times weighs in.

Hello, Hello (Part 2/2)...Watch post below first!

The theory of tooth-a-tivity continues....

Hello, Hello!

I'm feeling lazy on this rainy Sunday morning, so just going to post up part I of one of the funniest radio bits of all time.

The Bababooey Apology Tape.  I was in grad school in Minneapolis at the time and remember taking the morning off to listen to this live and laughing so hard I had stomach pain for several days.

Check out this horse-toothed jackass try to get the girl back!

Al Gore Denounces Our Entertain-News Culture

Former Vice President Al Gore (seen above during a skit when he hosted Saturday Night Live), is out on a book tour to support The Assault on Reason, criticized the "destruction of the boundary between news and entertainment" on Friday.

This is a great move and the public will buy it.  While Newt Gingrich and Fred Thompson are taking on a slower-paced version of the same strategy by giving enough serious speeches and appearances in the hopes of being pushed into the race by supporters, Al Gore is playing it masterfully, to date.

He's saving money by not having to do the ad spends and other obligatory Iowa/New Hampshire ass kissing that the other announced candidates are doing.  With the increasingly-compressed primary season next year, the time and money spent in I/NH should bring back lower electoral dividends than they ever have in the past.  

Rather, he's opting for free, or actually profitable press, since he's out pitching his movie and book.   On top of that, he can build an illusion of taking the high road, of speaking out because he loves the country and the planet, not because he has something like the Office of the President to personally gain by doing so.

Let Obama and the Junior Senator from New York duke it out while he reaps all the benefits of not having to engage them directly as a candidate.

Bring it on!

Funny Cartoon of the Day

thanks, Bartop.

Backlash at Duke

I didn't follow the Duke Lacross debacle very closely, but am familiar enough with it to know that it followed the 21st centruy American tragedy script:

• Some kind of human tragedy takes place
• There are acts of varying degrees of immorality on both sides
• People from various existing political persuasions take advantage of the situation, the cloudy facts and the morals to exploit innocents and further their own agenda.
• For reference, see Columbine, Terri Schiavo and the "Global War on Terror"

After we found out that much of the hype was a complete scam, some conservatives on the Durham campus are not letting folks off the hook that easily. Powerline has it all covered and linked up.

Hats off.

E-tailer Recommendation...Omaha Steaks

I've been familiar with Omaha Steaks for some time, but had not tried them until this week.

I have to say that I am thoroughly impressed and plan to shop there again....and to speak highly of them to others!

I placed my order on Saturday and it was delivered, as promised, on Wednesday. When I got home from work, there was a well-packed styrofoam container with some filets and brie/cheddar/apple-stuffed chicken breasts, all on dry ice.

I (am starting too many sentences in the first person!) made a filet the other night and threw a chicken breast from the freezer to the oven last night. Both came out perfectly.

Making the delivery of highly-perishable foods has to be a fairly exact science and Omaha Steaks delivered on their promise.

Do yourself a favor and try them out.

Quasi-Catholics

David Brooks' column this morning again proves why the NY Times Opinon page continues to be an every-day must-read and why he's one of the reasons for that.

He walks through evidence of the changing status and mindset of American Catholics over the last generation or two. The skinny is that they've become better off in a socioeconomic sense by retaining the good elements of Catholicism but not blind obedience to its more ridiculous ones.

To put it succinctly...Always try to be the least believing member of one of the more observant sects.

Reminds me of a few people who I admire.

Interesting John Edwards Item

As I admired the Clintons for never trotting Chelsea out as a campaign prop when she was growing up, I held at least equal admiration for John Edwards for refusing to publicly make much of his son's death before Edwards was elected to the Senate.

It would seem, at the very least, in bad taste to do so and his choice to keep this tragic episode in his life private was a breath of fresh air for me.

(Compare this to Al Gore's hypocrtical speech about the tobacco lobby at the 1996 Democratic Convention.)

However, an item in yesterday's Washington Times about a new Bob Shrum book makes Edwards out to be...downright creepy!  As Shrum tells it, Edwards had a little bit of a penchant for making several people 'one of the only people' he told about how he embraced his dead son's corpse on a slab and gave him a posthumous promise to make the world a better place.

He tried this on John Kerry, telling him the same story, with the same "you're one of the only people I've told this to" schtick twice.  It stunned even him!

Finally We Get a Chance to See HIM Get Crapped On!

A Commitment to Excrement

Having lived in the Bay Area for a time, and seeing the "Raider Nation" crew buying copious amounts of grain alcohol early in the morning when even those with a well-developed love of drink are opting for orange juice and the People's Daily to see what the Politburo is up to, I don't find this one hard to believe.

Convicted murderer John Robert Comer was about to be put to death this week in Arizona for a 1987 campground murder/rape rap.  

When given the opportunity to offer up his last words, he said it all.

"Go Raiders."

Terrorists are a "threat to your children, David."

In response to a question from NBC's David Gregory about why he was a credible source of information about terrorism, Gee Dub decided to switch the answer into a dramatic overstatement of the obvious to drown out the lack of evidence that he knows his ass from a hole in the ground.

Sirius to Launch Grateful Dead Channel

While I was disappointed earlier in the week to hear that XM is entering a joint venture with CSPAN to cover the Presidential campaign, my spirits were raised this week when Sirius one-upped them.

This summer, Sirius will be launching a Grateful Dead channel! It'll have a mix of stuff from their vaults as well as audience tapes.

Fire up, Johnny....we're ready for some crispy tapes!

Kennedy and Heidi

This is a late post, but after Steven Van Zandt was on Stern the other day and this came up, I had to do a bit more research.

The episode in which Christopher dies is named, "Kennedy and Heidi" which I didn't give too much thought to, but now find really interesting.

I won't rehash everything this fine blogger puts out there, but a very nice analysis of the reasons these names may have been chosen...for the two teen drivers who swerve around Christopher right before he dies.

Best Political Line of the Day

Hat tip to Hotline for calling this one to our attention.


Quote Of The Day

"Remember, this is a state that started the Civil War."

-- SC GOP Chair Katon Dawson, on not allowing FL to leapfrog SC's primary, Washington Times, 5/23

"...The most honest, ethical, and open Congress in history."

These were the words of Madame Speaker not too long ago.

But the more things change....

Seems that it might take a woman to clean up some houses, but the one in the Capitol is a bit too dirty even for this big-mouthed broad from Baltimore via San Francisco!

Really, though, only the idiot is surprised that Dems are having trouble pushing through their promised measures for ethical reform (namely lobbying and campaign funding items).

Addendum: Predictably, the boys over at Redstate are all over this....

Oh Brother!

Well, the Idiot-in-Chief is at it again.

Now, OBL had plans to use Iraq as an attack base against US interests.

Of course, one has to wonder what happened to make Iraq a place where he could get in the first place.

The president also is expected to mention in the speech declassified
intelligence that says bin Laden planned in 2005 to use Iraq as a base from
which to launch attacks in the United States, according to White House spokesman
Gordon Johndroe.

CNN Article today

Done Deal, Pal! Done Deal!

Ronny the Limo Driver...Only GD Jew on the Block!

Dee Snider Kicks Some Ass

Some doubts about authenticity, but this was apparently taken in the early 80s in England before Twisted Sister became famous.  Dee talked about it on Howard Stern last week.

Who's a Rat?

Interesting article in the Times this morning about a website that's getting some more notoriety lately....Whosarat.com is a website devoted to publicizing people who have become 'confidential' government informants.

With my on-again-off-again fascination with the mafia, especially the bio of noted rat hater and Las Vegas Mayor, Oscar B. Goodman, the article caught my eye.

The site relies on sunshine laws to get its information, but there's a move on by law enforcement to limit this somehow as it could have a chilling effect.

That damned first amendmant, huh?

Rudy Slips to 3d in Iowa Polling

I noticed last night that Boston is in first place in the AL East...but I'm not throwing down a lot of scratch with my bookie on the fall classic yet. I know better than to rest it all on any bum from New England...whether they wear a Sox uniform or special undies when he's with his wife.

Depending on how you frame the question, and whether you include the unannounced candidacies of Newt and Fred Thompson, Mitt Romney is doing very well these days and Rudy has measurably slipped in the latest Des Moines Register poll.

Bush and Dick

I don't know where Drudge got this picture, but with his position in the polls, Bush sure could use a little bit of.....

Teaching Today

In a past life, I taught undergrad classes and enjoyed it quite a bit. Since then, I've moved off to the real world, but have the opportunity to get my little fix a few times a year.

Today's the big day. I've been pretty nervous about it for some reason....moreso that usual. (And know that I blew off some weekend phone calls, Drs K and O....I will rectify that). But I'm usually good 30 seconds in. Just the buildup is quite nerve wracking!

So probably no posts till later.

A Show I Completely Missed the Boat On

Thanks to the wonder of Netflix, I've recently started to catch up on a boat I missed in the 90s...The Larry Sanders Show.

While I was familiar with the basics of the show (a behind-the-scenes look at a late night talk show hosted by Garry Shandling), I guess we can write this off to my having been a poor, HBO-less student at the time it was on.

They recently released a 4-disc Best-of compilation of the show and I have been working my way through it.

As the show was on HBO, they could have situations and language that would not cut it on network television, but it never really goes the point of being gratuitious or vulgar.

Since ShandlingSanders hosts a late night show, there's a built-in opening for numerous cameos and they take full advantage of contemporary stories of the time (the real-life Late Night wars with Letterman/Leno, Sharon Stone's leg crossing and Ellen Degeneres' penchant for rug munching, to name a few.)

This show is futher evidence that HBO, per capita, has by far the best writing in television and should keep up the good work.

Cleveland Marathon Today

It's in the high 50s and overcast at the moment...so good weather for a marathon, I reckon.

My boss and a bunch of other people at my company are running in it.

Again, no Web 2.0 plug-ins to allow me to show the results here, but there is online tracking.

There'll be some sore folks at work tomorrow.

He used a curse word associated with chickens...

So says Paul Kane's writeup in the WashPo last night about a little tiff that John Wayne McCain got into with Senator John Cornyn about the new immigration bill being paraded through Washington.

This is not the first time that McCain's temper has been an item of interest for the press corps.  There was a whispering campaign about the old man's temper (allegedly started by GeeDub supporters) during the 2000 campaign in which the former POW's emotional stability was called into question...and attributed to his stay at the Hanoi Hilton.

I Agree with Paul Krugman

I find myself in unfamiliar territory agreeing with Paul Krugman's Times column today, but I've been in stranger pickles before.

In a sarcastically-penned opinion piece he says that Bush really isn't doing anything we should not have expected. He's being a loyal current-day Republican. And the current crop of '08 candidates continue to prove where the party base was.

He cites an incident at the other night's GOP debate from South Carolina that I found particularly disturbing at the time. Brit Hume posed a hypothetical situation to the candidates that was very close to a "24" secnario.

Imagine that you are the President and we know that we have some suspects in custody who have knowledge of an imminent blowing-up of several shopping malls. Would you condone torture to get the information out of them that could prevent this?

John Wayne McCain proved to be the only one not willing to throw red meat to the crowd and endorse just about free-reign to stop the hypothetical plot.

First, to use this question itself as some sort of indicator of job fitness is about as ridiculous as asking me what I would do in the hypothetical case of being in a position to end world hunger if I would just cut off my own left arm. The situation is so absurd (to actually have enough information to know that an attack is coming and who the individual is that we can pry the information from) that it was beneath even Fox. I can only think that they used it as a not-so-subtle ad for the television show owned by the network.

All the other candidates used this as an opportunity to give broad endorsements of just about anything that can be justified as patriotic defense of the country. Frankly, I'm surprised that one of them didn't just go ahead and call the enemy "towel heads" since they seem to think that, anyway.

Back to Krugman's column today....he points out that, based on the applause the candidates received for their moronic answers to this equally stupid question, the GOP base is a bunch of neanderthals, so who can blame Bush for feeding them what they want.

Unfortunately, I'm starting to agree. My party left me behind.

Screw XM

The suspension of radiots Opie and Anthony has had more than its share of press.

I hope that this netroots movement to cancel subscriptions and make the company pay for being such pansies works.

I'm no fan of these tools, but it doesn't bode well for the medium if they bill it as a censorship-free environment, but then start to cave just like a commercial outlet when people who are more equal than others are the butts of their jokes.

Where Not to Meet Mr. Right

The New York Times, in its comfort zone of picking on so-called empowered classes, has an article this morning about the frustration some single women feel that they can't find Mr. Right at self-improvement classes.

When I see the followup lamenting that men can't find cool chicks at the local Hooters, I'll start to buy the NYTimes view of the world.

GOP Debate from South Carolina

Conventional wisdom, which I am jumping in with, seems to say that Rudy Giuliani was the big winner on Tuesday night in South Carolina. His risky strategy of trying to get the party base to overlook his out-of-step social views on the 3 G's, and instead consider him a leader on defense and terrorism issues, may have temporarily paid off.

There wasn't a hell of a lot of news coming out of the debate, so I thought I'd post up a few of my favorite zingers.

* 'I've often said that this Congress spends money like a bunch of drunken sailors. Well I recently got an email from a man who told me, "as a former drunken sailor myself, I resent being compared to this Congress.!" '

Paraphrasing John McCain

(The author hopes that McCain realizes that this joke has by now lost its luster and it's time to be retired)

* “I trust those conversions when they happen on the road to Damascus, not on the road to Des Moines.”

- Tom Tancredo

* “We’ve had Congress that’s spent money like (John) Edwards at a beauty shop.”

- Mike Huckabee

* “I don’t think I’ve ever heard that before and I have heard some pretty absurd explanations.”

- Rudolph Giuliani on Ron Paul's belief that the US brought 9-11 upon itself

Will Paris be Freed

Time for Ms. Hilton to pay the fiddler for her misdeeds....

But I did find this petition to Arnold amusing.

This one, too.

Sorry for the slow posting...have been quite busy here in the saltmines saving the world and all....it shall pick up again.

I Love Right Wing Radio

In preparation for tonight's GOP debate from South Carolina on Fox, I turned on the Fox talk channel on Sirius while making dinner.

As if I didn't have enough with my tasty veal parmesan, the red meat was just flying...albeit a bit spoiled.

Professional fool John Gibson was able to explain to me why Bush is unable to do anything about Iran getting 'the bomb.'

It's because the New York Timese has weakend him to the point where he has no more mojo.

Interesting.

I have to hand it to him, though...his Howard Stern-ish use of sound effects while making his profound points was kind of entertaining.  I think I'll tune in again.

Not sure if I'll be able to stay up late enough to catch all the debate live, but I shall do my best.

Don't Forget the GOP Debate Tonight on Fox!

Sorry, it's been a really busy work day!

Rudy's 9-11 Campaign

While the gist of the story is not exactly new news to anyone who's been paying attention, a front-page article in today's New York Times brings back the health issues around the 9-11 cleanup that Rudolph Giuliani likes to emphasize in his campaign to become the GOP nominee for President.

I'm guessing that Rudy has not joined the half dozen or so loyal readers of Musings, but he should.

If he wants to make the aftermath of 9-11 the centerpiece of his campaign, then he has to be ready to explain whether sidestepping Federal and commonsense practices about the use of protective gear in the name of getting New York back up and running fast was worthwhile.

I hope that the Fox boys are ready to grill him a little bit on this point when the GOP gathers in South Carolina for the second televised debate of this season that's shaping up to be a fun one!

Item From the Sunday Shows

I haven't caught up on the podcasts of the Sunday shows yet (ABC and Fox affiliates here in Cleveland run theirs at the same time and the latter usually wins out for me on which to watch first, leaving This Week for listening on the way to work).

But I to have to give a tip-of-my-dusty-ballcap to Chris Wallace (shown above with his famous old man), host of Fox News Sunday.  He had Mayor Happy Pants on this morning for the first half hour and during a generally-good interview, finally pressed Giuiliani on a point that I've been waiting years for someone to get a little heat on.

Rudy's standard line on abortion is very close to the practically-patented Clintonion stance that abortions should be 'safe, legal and rare.'

The first item is meant to satisfy...everyone.  No one wants to think of women relying on clothes hangers to do anything but hold up a shirt.

The second is to pacify those who, obviously, believe that there is some right, whether from God, the Founders or the Burger Court, that allows for some degree of reproductive freedom once pregnancy has commenced.

But the third part has always irritated the hell out of me in its escape from scrutiny.

While he didn't push him too far into the hole, Wallace did press Rudy on why abortions should be rare.  Are they morally wrong?  Is it more morally-correct to opt for adoption or raising a child that you might not be willing or fit to raise?  Why is it not the moral equivalent of the options often on the table?

My point here is not so much to sit in judgement of one's stance on this, but to beg the media to go after Hillary and anyone else who attempts to use this lame cop-out without fully atriculating why they believe that abortions should be rare if already legal and safe.

Sam Brownback...He's No Howard Cossell

While he didn't encourage us to "look at that little monkey go," GOP Presidential hopeful Senator Sam Brownback (R-KS) had best lay off the football analogies for the time being.

Brownback sounded as dumb as a stump during a speech of the same name on Friday in Lake Geneva, WI. He referred to Peyton Manning as perhaps "the greatest quarterback" of all time in the NFL.

Packer Backers in Brett Favre's adopted state were less-than-impressed.

Thanks for the heads up, Mom.

Holy Cow

I'll probably start paying a little more attention to basketball than I had been (what was that number for the smallest non-positive #?) now that the playoffs have started to warm up.

Here's an amazing dunk by Golden State's Baron Davis.

"There's nothing discriminatory about me at all."

Poor Tommy Thompson.

The former Wisconsin Governor and Bush head of Health and Human Services keeps showing us that he's really not ready for prime time.  His days  are numbered.

At the Simi Valley debate last week, he was asked whether an employer who found homosexuality to be immoral had the right to fire a gay employee for that reason.  Thompson conceded that the employer did or should have the right to make that kind of determination.

Since then, it 's been one misstep after another as this poor yokel tries to talk himself out of the hole he dug.  

First, he misinterpreted the question.  Then, on Bill Maher's show last 
weekend, he said that his hearing aid had been acting up and he misheard the question.

Now, he had to make poops and peeps!

Apparently Thompson has been sick lately and he really, really, really had to go!  So all his blood was trying to control the havoc in his bowels and bladder...leaving none in his brain to properly handle the question.

It'll be a shame to see him go, but this really is a Bush league screw up.

Only Two Things Come out of Vegas!

This guy makes the Swedish Chef sound smart.

Ron and Sam's Drive to Save Internet Radio

While he's by no means a back-bencher, I didn't anticipate posting anything in the near-term about lispy U.S. Senataor Ron Wyden (D-OR).  He appears to be a decent enough guy and not overly combative when I scan past CSPAN, but I never really latched on to something he had to say.

Until this week.

As you may be aware, the Recording Industry Association of America recently started to move on a plan that would basically crush small internet broadcasters (including public/community radio stations) by upping the royalties they pay on music between 300 and 1200 percent.  Shame on them.

Wyden and Republican Darling-of-the-Social-Conservatives Presidential hopeful Sam Brownback (R-KS)  introduced a bill that would basically neuter the RIAA's hemlock.

As someone who really got hooked on community radio when I lived in the Twin Cities (KFAI's 'different station every hour' is wonderful!), I don't want to see them go the way of the Edsel and will pretend, for the moment, that I don't usually prefer a hands-off government.

It's my blog and I'll be a hypocrite if I want to!

Happy Saturday....I'm out to buzz some bushes.

Rudy, Standing Alone on Social Issues

There's a front-page article in the New York Times national edition today on Rudolph Giuliani's stance on the GOP's three G's, Guns, God and Gays.

The former mayor is manning up and saying that the GOP should live up to the big-tent aspirations that some like to claim the party is.  He nuances the gay marriage and abortion decisions a bit.  He's personally opposed to it, but allows room for individuals (women) most affected by it to make their own decisions, difficult as it may be.

He allows no room for confusion on his 2d amendment creds.

“I believe that the Constitution of the United States gives a personal right to bear arms."

Rudolph Giuliani

His increased clarity on the abortion issue, after the debacle at the Reagan Library debate, may spell bad news for the hardcore abortion voters on both sides of the aisle.  The Christian Coalition types on one side and the NARAL folks on the left find it much easier to raise funds when they have 
a clearly-identified enemy of their position.

When people like Rudy admit that it's not always black and white on abortion, and Joe Lieberman shows that all democrats are not pussies when it comes to the use of military force, it more accurately reflects the state of the country and hurts people who don't want that.

If you don't believe me, go back to how clear life seemed in the spring of 2003 when Saddam = Bad, Liberation of Iraq = Good and Bush = Worthy of Trusting.

I'm not the biggest fan of Rudy's overall campaign strategy, but I anxiously await the next debate.

Up or Down Vote

One of the problems that congresspeople always complain about is that so-called up-or-down votes are not often allowed. Too often they have to vote on larger funding bills that water down the ability of the representative to clearly show where they stand on the issue.

Today, before the current Obey (D-WI) funding bill vote, members will get a chance to make a statement and vote on an effectively-immediate pullout measure proposed by Jim McGovern (D-MA).

Good for them. I'm all for them being able to vote on what they really want to do before moving on to what's possible. While it won't result in any action, it will allow members to distinguish themselves from one another.

Playing Games with Bubba

It's widely known that former President Bill Clinton is a crossword buff.

He provided the clues for this NYT puzzle.

Whatever you think of the puzzles, it is a nice little plugin they give you to be able to work on the page like that. I remember in the past having to install and launch Across-Lite to do Times puzzles online.

Fred Thompson Wins GOP Straw Poll in Washington

Non-candidate Fred Thompson won a small straw poll sponsored by the Washington (State) Republican Party on Saturday.

This is only slightly more newsworthy than what he had for breakfast that day, but this, in addition to the speech he gave in California last Friday keep adding momentum.

I'm excited about a Thompson run. I'm hoping he's done all the propper vetting so it's not an exercise in futility because we find out about the 19 year old he keeps on the side, though.

The results:

Fred Thompson, 50 percent

Mitt Romney, 16 percent

Rudy Giuliani, 15 percent

Duncan Hunter, 10 percent

John McCain, 5 percent

Tom Tancredo

Tommy Thompson, Mike Huckabee and Newt Gingrich, 1 percent each.

Where Have You Gone, Rudolph Giuliani?

I was one of...just about everyone...who said that if the Al Gore who gave the concession speech after the Supreme Court verdict had been the one who ran against Gee Dub in 2000, he'd probably be tapping the Tipper on Pennsylvania Avenue right now.

But he got too ambitious, lost his way, and let others guide him through the campaign.

And  we ended up with a shell of the man who I really don't have an enormous problem with.

I've posted here before that I think it's a mistake for Rudy to run on this terrorism platform, especially one that calls into question the dedication or ability of those on the other side of the aisle to deal with as well as Republicans.  History has little support for his contention.

Thanks to my friend, Cody, I have linked up a speech Rudy gave when he was Mayor of NYC in 1994 on crime at a NY Post seminar.

Read through it and comare the decisive Rudy then to the one who, when asked about Roe v. Wade the other night, sounded like a nervous junior high kid trying to decide if he likes or Likes-Likes a girl.

Come back, Rudy.  Be your own man again.  Even if you lose, you won't have to live the rest of your life wondering what would have happened if you hadn't sold out.  Just ask former Vice President Al Gore how it feels.

There are many, many things that can be done in law enforcement to protect us better. There are many things that can done to create a government that is more responsive and more helpful. The fact is that we're fooling people if we suggest to them the solutions to these very, very deep-seated problems are going to be found in government. . . .

Mayor Rudolph Giuliani in 1994, before losing his way

And Remember, Wednesday (?) Is Hawaiian Shirt Day, So You Can Go Ahead and Wear a Hawaiian Shirt if You Want

Lucikly, my boss is not a Lumberg by any stretch and my company is not like Initech.  So, with the weather out here starting to regularly pop close to the 80 degree mark, today's the day we break out some of the more casual summer clothing.

Now I have to go.  I have a meeting with the Bobs.

Life's Short, Get a Divorce

This billboard, for a law firm in Chicago's famed "Viagra Triangle" is causing a bit of a stir in the Windy City.

Who Are the Grateful Dead and Why Do They Keep Following Me

I guess the Dead are back on my mind as we gear up for a Ratdog show in Cleveland next month.

Today is the 30th anniversary of what is considered by some to be the best Grateful Dead show of all time.

I'll have to dig out my show from Barton Hall when I get home tonight....

In honor of this event, today has been designated Grateful Dead Day in Ithaca, NY.

Set List (Set I)
New Minglewood Blues, Loser, El Paso, They Love Each Other Jack Straw Deal, Lazy Lightnin' -->Supplication, Brown-Eyed Women, Mama Tried, Row Jimmy, Dancin' In the Streets
Set List (Set II)
Scarlet Begonias -->Fire on the Mountain, Estimated Prophet, St. Stephen -->Not Fade Away -->St. Stephen -->Morning Dew
Encore:
One More Saturday Night

In Memory of the I-Man

Just a little funny from the past to remind us what race-baiting bigot Jesse Jackson thinks is acceptable...

Karl Rove...Atheist or Devil?

I always knew that some on the left thought that presidential advisor Karl Rove was the devil, but now the plot thickens. Blogosphere is heating up with a Christopher Hitchens line about him being an atheist.

Happy Birthday, Billy Kreutzmann

The Grateful Dead drummer turns 61 today!

Speaking of Terrorism

Someone wanted to off an employee of the Luxor in Las Vegas over the weekend, so they rigged up a bomb in a parking garage.

Shame that the media has to point out that this is not a "terrorist" attack.

This word is going to start to annoy me more and more, I can tell.

Agreement with Handsome John and Big Mouth Biden

While it's by no means the first time we've had a semantics debate on what exactly the "war on terror" is, perhaps its resurgence is another benefit of the early Presidential cycle this time around.

Joe Biden and John Edwards get a write-up on this topic in the Politico today.

At issue is whether there actually is a "war on terror" going on and if we are, what exactly that means. The two Democrats would like to see the term go the way of the Edsel.

I, for one, agree with them.

It's no more intellecually honest to say we are at war with terror now than it would have been for FDR to declare a war on surprise attacks in December 1941.

"Terror is a tactic. Terror is not a philosophy."

Joe Biden, probably quoting someone else ;-)

If you happen to believe that we're at war with a bunch of backward-thining theocrats who are frustrated with how the world has passed them and their antiquated way of life by, then be a man and say it. Don't hide behind this insulting term that both allows you to not really say who you are at war with, but also allows you to do just about anything you want to any group or idea that can be broadly classified as "terrorist."

Me Too

Viva La France

Link to New Zawahiri Video

I was able to find a downloadable copy of the al-Zawahiri tape in which he mocks the bill Congress just passed that had the withdrawl timetables in it.

The tape is an hour long and the subtitles are a bit hard to read, so dl only if you're really committed or curious.

Actually, this Laura Mansfield has a pretty cool site w/ lots of translated terrorism-related material.

The Old Grey Lady on the Visit of an Old Grey Lady

Leave it to the New York Times to just tell it like it is.

This was on the cover of the print edition we got out here in Cleveland this morning.

WASHINGTON, May 4 — How does George W. Bush, a towel-snapping Texan who puts his feet on the coffee table, drinks water straight from the bottle and was once caught on tape talking with food in his mouth prepare for a state dinner with the queen?

Hollywood Republicans?

From the man-bites-dog files, there's an AP story showing up in some outlets today on notable left-coast folks donating to the Giuliani campaign. Names you'll recognize are Adam Sandler and Cheers/Frasier star, Kelsey Grammer.

Everybody have fun tonight.  Everybody Wang Chung tonight.

Hopefully the Only Time I'll Post an American Idol Clip

Dennis Miller used to have a bit (I can't remember what he was referring to) where he said something like, '...the last time I saw choreography that stiff was at the Lee Harvey Oswald prison transfer....'

That seems appropriate here.

A Rare Moment of Agreement with Eleanor Clift

On this weekend's McLaughlin Group, one of the middle segments was on Thursday night's Republican Debate from the Ronald Reagan Library in California.

Ms. Clift, who I usually have little use for beyond a target for an empty bag of chips, agreed with the assessment here.  

The Ice Queen of the left also found Romney's use of cloning to rationalize his changing life/choice position to be pathetically "slick."

They don't have the transcripts for this show up yet, but it should be on its way.

BYE BYE!