PA-12: Diana Irey on Fox

DB Light has video of Diana Irey on Fox & Friends up on his blog.

Topic for discussion was Congressman Jack Murtha's Haditha accusations. She's asking for an apology. Some of her would-be 12th District constituents want him to resign.

Posted just for you JK, because I know you're interested! ;)

Freedom of Speech?

Ben Stein

there are already immense exceptions to the doctrine of free speech. What occurs to little me is that if we can tell a man he'll go to jail for calling a black man a name that any child can hear a thousand times a day on rap radio stations, why can't we say it's also a slur to people's feelings -- especially veterans' feelings -- to burn the flag?

If we can tell people that it's obscene to show pictures of children having sex (and it is), why can't we say it's obscene to burn the flag that is the symbol of this shining city on a hill, a flag for which many brave men and women have died? If it hurts women's feelings to hear sex jokes at the office and if that's illegal, doesn't it also hurt patriots' feelings to see the flag burned?

I don't get it. Why is protecting the flag less of a priority than banning song lyrics or dirty jokes or pornography?

What am I missing here? The flag is sacred. There is more than enough state interest in protecting to keep it from being burned. Can we reconsider this, please?

I really have a problem with hate crime legislation, but is burning a flag a hate crime?

French Apple Pie

Yahoo/AP

French lawmakers gave final approval Friday to legislation that could force Apple Computer Inc. to make its iPod and iTunes Music Store compatible with rivals' music players and online services.

Both the Senate and the National Assembly, France's lower house, voted in favor of the copyright bill, which some analysts said could cause Apple Computer Inc. and others to pull their music players and online download stores from France.

The vote was the final legislative step before the bill becomes law — barring the success of a last-ditch constitutional challenge filed last week by the opposition Socialists.

Currently, songs bought on iTunes can be played only on iPods, and an iPod can't play downloads from other stores that rival the extensive iTunes music catalog from major artists and labels — like Sony's Connect and Napster.

In a just world, Apple would stop selling iPods in France out of spite.

But alas, I predict capitulation.

Post-W America

James Pinkerton reviews Superman Returns for TCS: Zeitgeist in Tights. I had to admit that I am a lot more interested in the movie as politics (Truth Justice...) than in the movie as film.

Pinkerton addresses the points well

Are Americans ready for a post-George W. Bush "Superman"? You know, a sensitive guy, more thoughtful and reflective than the 43rd president -- but also better looking than John Kerry? If so, then "Superman Returns" might be the perfect post-Bush-era movie.

Or maybe not. Because it's always a question as to whether or not a movie succeeds in reflecting -- or, in rare cases, actually shaping -- the Zeitgeist, the spirit of the times.

Yet another Superman dramatization becomes more notable for what changes than what it does. Superman has gotten younger and trimmer through the years, and obviously less into American exceptionalism.

So we come to yet another bit o' Zeitgeist that "Superman Returns" wishes to bite off: the 2006 movie as a metaphor for 2006 America. The superpower -- I mean superhero -- is shown as good, but flawed. He has made mistakes, most notably, not being sufficiently, er, multilateral with Lois. And he has paid a price for his go-it-alone unilateralism; he is now isolated from the ones he loves, and from those who love him, or should love him -- as seen in this poster. Whereas the old Superman blasted into our face with America-saving energy, the new Superman is pensive, even existential. He is not only alone, he is also unsure of himself; no cocked fists for him, his arms are extended and his hands open, as if he is trying to feel his way to a new place.

Of course, in the end, Superman discovers his true place -- his heroic place. Speaking of his solitary vigilance, he says, "I hear everything." And yet he has no choice but to stay on duty, to protect the world: "Every day I hear people crying for me." So Americans can see the movie and be reassured: The world might not like us as much as it once did, but the world still needs us. That ought to be a good box to check off on the box-office Zeitgeist checklist.

So there you have it, Mr. and Ms. America: The latest Superman has a little bit of Jesus in him, but actually, not too much. He digs women, and they dig him right back, dammit. And now that he has learned a little, including a little humility, he would make a heckuva next president of the United States. Will you buy it? Will you make Singer and Superman richer than ever, in response to their retooled Super-script and focus-grouped Super-message? We'll know in the next few days.

My bet is that they have gotten it right -- or enough of it right. Supermoney awaits Superman.

Here I must confess that I have never seen any Superman movies. I caught a hunk of a Reeve one on TV several years ago. I just watch other people watching Superman. Creepy, but the franchise never caught me as a lad, teen or soi disant grownup.

NC - 13th District

Vernon Robinson is running in North Carolina's 13th CD, against Congressman Brad Miller, whom he labels "ultra-liberal."

Here's the kind of political ad you almost never see, so it's bound to get national attention.

The Twilight Zone.

Freedom Babes

Ohhhhhhh yeahhhhh.

Unfit to Print

The Wall Street Journal Editorial Page explains the decision of its news pages to publish details of the SWIFT tracking story for which the New York Times and Los Angeles Times are in so much trouble.

It's an interesting look at the story, the decisions, the difference between the two papers, and a speculation of how they would have handled the story. It's an interesting read and a free link.

The problem with the Times is that millions of Americans no longer believe that its editors would make those calculations in anything close to good faith. We certainly don't. On issue after issue, it has become clear that the Times believes the U.S. is not really at war, and in any case the Bush Administration lacks the legitimacy to wage it.

So, for example, it promulgates a double standard on "leaks," deploring them in the case of Valerie Plame and demanding a special counsel when the leaker was presumably someone in the White House and the journalist a conservative columnist. But then it hails as heroic and public-spirited the leak to the Times itself that revealed the National Security Agency's al Qaeda wiretaps.

Mr. Keller's open letter explaining his decision to expose the Treasury program all but admits that he did so because he doesn't agree with, or believe, the Bush Administration. "Since September 11, 2001, our government has launched broad and secret anti-terror monitoring programs without seeking authorizing legislation and without fully briefing the Congress," he writes, and "some officials who have been involved in these programs have spoken to the Times about their discomfort over the legality of the government's actions and over the adequacy of oversight." Since the Treasury story broke, as it happens, no one but Congressman Ed Markey and a few cranks have even objected to the program, much less claimed illegality.

Perhaps Mr. Keller has been listening to his boss, Times Publisher Arthur Sulzberger Jr., who in a recent commencement address apologized to the graduates because his generation "had seen the horrors and futility of war and smelled the stench of corruption in government.

"Our children, we vowed, would never know that. So, well, sorry. It wasn't supposed to be this way," the publisher continued. "You weren't supposed to be graduating into an America fighting a misbegotten war in a foreign land. You weren't supposed to be graduating into a world where we are still fighting for fundamental human rights," and so on. Forgive us if we conclude that a newspaper led by someone who speaks this way to college seniors has as a major goal not winning the war on terror but obstructing it.

Mushrooms After A Rainstorm

Reuters

The U.S. military has found more Iraqi weapons in recent months, in addition to the 500 chemical munitions recently reported by the Pentagon, a top defense intelligence official said on Thursday.

Lt. Gen. Michael Maples, director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, did not specify if the newly found weapons were also chemical munitions. But he said he expected more.

"I do not believe we have found all the weapons," he told the House of Representatives Armed Services Committee, offering few details in an open session that preceded a classified briefing to lawmakers.

These things turning up this month is very odd.

Republican lawmakers, some facing tough election battles amid growing anti-war sentiment, called the discovery of the weapons significant.

Republican Rep. Curt Weldon of Pennsylvania suggested the munitions were in fact the weapons of mass destruction that former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein lied about, leading the United States to war.

"For those who claim that these weapons are not the weapons of mass destruction that the United States went to war over, I would refer them to 17 United Nations Security Council resolutions that Saddam Hussein violated," Weldon said. "It didn't say pre-'91 chemical weapons. It didn't say post-'91 chemical weapons. It said chemical weapons."

But Democrats dismissed such arguments and said the weapons were not the "imminent threat" used to justify the war.

"It's very difficult to characterize these as the imminent threat weapons that we were told we were looking for," said Rep. Ellen Tauscher, a California Democrat.

Ugh. For the thousandth time...

Some have said we must not act until the threat is imminent. Since when have terrorists and tyrants announced their intentions, politely putting us on notice before they strike? If this threat is permitted to fully and suddenly emerge, all actions, all words, and all recriminations would come too late. Trusting in the sanity and restraint of Saddam Hussein is not a strategy, and it is not an option.

That's the 2003 State of the Union.

jk Endorses VP Gore

I don't know that I get to endorse a Democrat for the 2008 Nomination, the Internet pundit charter is pretty ambiguous on this. But I very much hope it is Vice President Gore

First, it would make a lot of leftists happy and I am all about making people happy. Seriously, the left is disenchanted with Senator Clinton and I am not hoping for millions to hold their nose as they vote (even though I may). To that end, here's Martin Peretz on The Plank at TNR, admitting "OK, I'm a Gore Flack."

I confess: I did buy five copies of Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth. But that doesn't explain why the book is on nearly every one of the important best-seller lists in the country. This coming Sunday, it's number one on The New York Times paperback best-seller list. Last week, it was already number one on the best-seller lists of The Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, and Denver Post. Book Sense, the weekly report of the Independent Book Sellers Association, also has it in the top place.

Do I think this should worry Hillary Clinton? Yes. Not because she hasn't written a book that was on the best-seller list. She may have even written two: It Takes a Village and Living History. But let's face facts. In contrast to Gore's writing his own three books, she didn't really write any of hers herself. And, frankly, they are not serious books anyway, although It Takes a Village is a warm and fuzzy volume purporting to be about children's policy. All you have to do is to take a look at her website to see how scattered her steely mind really is.

Beyond a happy Marty, and many friends who feel the same, I yearn for an ideological election. Senator Clinton would moderate her positions as her handlers dictated to secure 270 Electoral Votes. She would not likely call for socialized medicine, she'd likely be more of a Senator Kerry: hard to pin down for an explicit debate.

VP Gore would ameliorate a little but would "let his freak flag fly." (I use that as a compliment, by the way, as did Jimi Hendrix.) We could discuss Global Warming, and the War on Terror among some number of candidates with explicit positions. Nobody could tell you the difference between the Kerry and Bush Iraq positions in 2004, though most harbored a suspicion.

Go Gore! Let's have a real election. And please oh please oh please have Secretary Rice run. I don't want him to win or anything.

Making Lemons

John Hawkins @ Right Wing News wants to make lemons of this morning's Gitmo SCOTUS decision.

So we can't put them in front of a military tribunal, but we can still hold them indefinitely.

Also, if the reasoning here is supposed to be that Congress hasn't approved of military tribunals, then let's put it up for a vote. My suspicion is that most Democrats would favor putting these terrorists through the American court system, which would mean long drawn out trials, the risk of classified intelligence sources being revealed, and lots of acquittals. On the other hand, Republicans would favor military tribunals, which would sidestep all of those problems.

So basically, we'll have the Democrats who'll be so concerned about the terrorists rights that they'd favor letting them beat the system and get loose to kill more Americans. On the other hand, the Republicans won't be very concerned about the right of foreign terrorists and their first priority will be protecting America. Protecting the rights of Al-Qaeda or protecting America?

That would make one hell of a 2006 campaign issue.

You Write The Headline

Here are the facts:

The U.S. economy grew at a 5.6% rate in the first quarter, stronger than previously thought and the fastest pace in nearly three years, but two gauges measuring inflation were lowered. Initial jobless claims rose slightly

.
I'm thinking the headline is:

"Unemployment Soars"

But I'm open to suggestions.

Treason

Ann Coulter writes about the NY Times' recent behaviour and famous traitors like Tokyo Rose & Axis Sally.

There was no evidence that in any of these cases the treasonable broadcasts ever put a single American life in danger. The law on treason doesn't require it.

The federal statute on treason, 18 USC 2381, provides in relevant part: "Whoever, owing allegiance to the United States ... adheres to their enemies, giving them aid and comfort within the United States or elsewhere, is guilty of treason and shall suffer death, or shall be imprisoned not less than five years and fined under this title but not less than $10,000."

Thanks to The New York Times, the easiest job in the world right now is: "Head of Counterintelligence — Al-Qaida." You just have to read The New York Times over morning coffee, and you're done by 10 a.m.

The greatest threat to the war on terrorism isn't the Islamic insurgency — our military can handle the savages. It's traitorous liberals trying to lose the war at home. And the greatest threat at home isn't traitorous liberals — it's patriotic Americans, also known as "Republicans," tut-tutting the quaint idea that we should take treason seriously.

As usual, it's good points mixed with Ann Coulter's "wit."

But I'm wondering... according to 18 USC 2381, it presupposes owing allegiance to the United States. What if you're an admitted post-nationalist? Are you exempted?

Oil Prices Going Down?

Kudlow says we're going to be surprised.

The Energy Department just announced that crude oil supplies rose 1.4 million barrels to 347.1 million for the week ended June 16. Analysts had been expecting a drawdown, so this news caught them by surprise. More, crude oil supplies in the U.S. are now at their highest levels since May 1998, when oil was trading around $15 a barrel. Add in the fact that Canadian oil inventories are fully stocked, and the more imminent reality is of a sizable oil-price decrease -- not a huge increase.

Recently I interviewed four oil-tanker executives who control a combined 85 percent of the oil coming into the United States. They confirmed market rumors that the amount of oil being stored on large carriers on the high seas is abnormally high. One of the CEOs even predicted the possibility of $40 to $50 oil in the next 6 to 12 months. In another interview, Chevron CEO David O'Reilly suggested that gasoline and energy demands have flattened in the U.S., and may be showing signs of decline.

Dummest. Move. Ever.

al-Reuters

A spokesman for gunmen in the Gaza Strip said they had fired a rocket tipped with a chemical warhead at Israel early on Thursday.

The Israeli army had no immediate comment on the claim by the spokesman from the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, an armed wing of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah movement.

The group had recently claimed to possess about 20 biological warheads for the makeshift rockets commonly fired from Gaza at Israeli towns. This was the first time the group had claimed firing such a rocket.

"The al-Aqsa Brigades have fired one rocket with a chemical warhead" at southern Israel, Abu Qusai, a spokesman for the group, said in Gaza.

Israel is denying it, but if true, this is the end of the Palestinian "government."

East Coast Flooding

In southeast Pennsylvania, the local rivers & creeks are nearing record level flooding.

The NBC 10 area is battling its worse flooding situation in decades, as the rapid rise of the Delaware River threatens parts of cities from Easton to Trenton.

The Schuylkill will crest at lower-than-expected levels in Philadelphia. Big local creeks like the Perkiomen, Neshaminy and Brandywine have crested after soaring over their banks Wednesday.

A hundred miles north in Wilkes-Barre 150 to 200 thousand are being evacuated.

Here are a few pictures of the Perkiomen Creek River.

This is of Park Road at the Perkiomen in Schwenksville. The low spot in the road is a bridge.... well, used to be a bridge.

This is Perkiomen Bridge at Collegeville, taken from the parking lot of the Collegeville Inn. Yes, that's their parking lot. The bridge itself dates back to the 1790s, when the Pennsylvania legislature authorized a lottery to raise funds for its construction. The stone bridge was actually widened to three lanes in the early 1900s to allow for trolley traffic.

Thanks to my wife Rachael, who braved the deluge, while I'm out of town!

PA - 12

Robert Novak:

Rep. John Murtha (D.-Pa.) appears to be suffering "Daschle-itis," a figurative disease which makes entrenched incumbents become national celebrities and, in the process, risk alienating the voters that put them in office.

Since seizing his party's anti-war mantle, Murtha has become a great draw for Democratic fundraisers, helping his party boost its prospects for a congressional takeover. Naturally, this helps his party-leadership bid as well.

But at the same time, his outspokenness made him a huge target for the Internet right. His district went for John Kerry with only 51% in 2004. What originally seemed like a long-shot bid by Diana Irey (R.) to unseat Murtha has taken on new credibility as she raises money from the Internet and as Murtha makes more and more outrageous statements.

One of the downsides of a vocal leadership role for Congressman is that the local voters still have to cast their ballots.

Inside the 12th district, opinion is mixed.

Ruth Ann Biesinger-Sliko, 55, a physical education teacher who came to see a fellow teacher and six of her former students return from Iraq, said Murtha has lost her vote because of his negativity about the war.

"I think that makes the guys feel terrible when he starts, you know, bashing. I think you need to support the guys," Biesinger-Sliko said. "I think it's created a lot of bad feelings for the people whose families are over there."

and

"I just believe everything he says is very true," said Cindy Saylor, 49, whose 19-year-old son was among those who returned home. "I think we need to get out of there. People are getting killed needlessly."

.. and finally.

Tom Geiger, a 79-year-old World War II veteran, said he thinks Murtha is "50 percent right and 50 percent wrong."

"Maybe they should have searched a little bit more" for weapons of mass destruction, Geiger said. "But once you're into it, you're stuck with it."

UT-03

Wall Street Journal's Political Diary asks "Are Tom Tancredo's 15 minutes up yet?"

Yesterday's primary in Utah's Third Congressional District was positioned by the Rep Tancredo wing as a referendum on immigration. It is not clear that it remained clean after gambling and Satan entered the race, but Rep Tancredo's on a roll to challenge Kos and MoveOn.org for electoral irrelevance. All three of them want their whole party to follow them in the woods.

Holman Jenkins, in Political Diary, says:

The argument promoted by the anti-immigrant forces was that the Cannon race, in a district that remains strongly Republican and pro-Bush, would demonstrate that any Republican who voted for an immigration bill not focused solely on border enforcement was ingesting political cyanide. Late revelations that Mr. Jacobs had gambled in Las Vegas and hired an illegal Chilean couple undercut the clarity of his trumpet. And not helping was his complaint, confided to a newspaper editorial board, that "Satan" was militating on the other side. But Mr. Jacobs and his national supporters insisted the race was a referendum on guest worker proposals. So let's give them that.

Polling in the district showed the split between the candidates exactly mirrored the 44-40 split between voters who wanted a soft approach on immigration and those who wanted a border clampdown. In the event, Mr. Cannon took the race by a wide 56-to-44 margin. The anti-illegal immigrant cause is nothing if not the property of a passionate, noisy minority whose clout might be expected to be magnified in a lightly-attended primary vote. What happened?

Bad economics, bad politics.

UPDATE: Cannon won 63-33% in 2004 but trailed President Bush's 77-20%

Truth, Justice ...

... and all that stuff.

Mike Dougherty and Dan Harris, the two credited screenwriters for 'Superman Returns' have changed Superman’s famous motto, "Truth, Justice and the American way", to "Truth Justice and ... all that stuff". Seriously. No, really.

Dan: "I don't think 'the American way' means what it meant in 1945." Mike: "He's not just for Metropolis and not just for America." Dan: "He's an alien, from Krypton; he has come to Earth to be kind of a savior for this world, not our country . . . And he has no papers." Mike: "What would happen with the immigration laws we have now?" Dan: "I'd like to see someone kick him out!"

Yes, yes, good for you two jackasses. Aren't you just so clever. I bet Stalin and Kim Jung-il couldn't be prouder.

... and there's more.

Pew Poll: Hail Madam Speaker!

No, it doesn't suggest Rep Pelosi's party will prevail -- but it doesn't look too good. The new Pew poll highlights Democrat advantages in voter enthusiasm and in "who should control Congress?" Pew also invokes 1994:

Anti-incumbent sentiment has risen since April, and is on par with surveys taken on the eve of the critical 1994 midterm twelve years ago. Nearly a third of voters (32%) say they do not want to see the representative in their district reelected, up from 28% two months ago. And 57% say they would like to see most members of Congress replaced this fall, up from 53% in April.

While criticism of Congress is hardly unusual, the level of explicit anti-incumbent sentiment - against both individual members and Congress as a whole - is substantially higher than in most previous midterms. In 1998 and 2002, just 20% and 23%, respectively, wanted to see their member of Congress not returned to office, well below the 32% who take that view today. In those elections only about four-in-ten said they did not want to see most members reelected; currently, 57% of voters express that sentiment.

Hat-tip: Sixers (Some guy named Alex)

Givin' It Away

The Wall Street Journal Editorial Page and TCSDaily have both taken some whacks at Warren Buffett for fervently supporting the death tax while evading it for his own fortune.

Mr. Buffett can do what he chooses, indeed that's the best benefit of having billions, is it not? I think he has the "lock the door behind me" mentality that has infected America's wealthy for centuries. I'll look the other way on that, but does anybody believe they'll do half as much good giving away $30 Billion than he did making it? I suppose some believe that, but they're in pretty short supply around ThreeSources.

The WSJ Ed Page goes a little deeper today. They mention the death tax, but also discuss the focus of the foundation and the probability of keeping it after the Gateses and Buffetts have become eligible to pay estate taxes.

Which is all the more reason to watch how well the two men now deploy their gifts. We can't think of two people less in need of our two cents than Messrs. Buffett and Gates. But since giving free advice is our business, we'd suggest that they put at least a smidgen of their money back into strengthening the foundations of the free-market system that has allowed them to become so fabulously rich. There's something to be said for reinvesting in the moral capital of a free society and trying to sustain and export free-enterprise policies.

Capitalism has done very well not just by Mr. Buffett but also by the world's poor, as several hundred million Chinese and Indians might attest. African nations in particular need property rights and a rule of law as badly as they need vaccines. On that score we were encouraged by a report this week that the Gateses thanked Mr. Buffett for his gift by presenting him with a book from their personal library: Adam Smith's "The Wealth of Nations."

That's an auspicious start, but I am still not hopeful.

UPDATE: I forgot to lnk to another great post from Josh at Everyday Economist.

Flag Burning Amendment in Flames

Yahoo/AP reports:

WASHINGTON - A constitutional amendment to ban flag desecration died in a Senate cliffhanger Tuesday, a single vote short of the support needed to send it to the states for ratification a week before Independence Day.

The flag is sacred, not because of what it is, but because of the freedom for which it stands. Venerating your symbols more than freedom is a bad slope down.

Know that I support the right of a Teamster, Veteran, or other patriot to punch the mouth of a flag burner. But as far as legal protection, put me down with Taranto and Instapundit.

UPDATE: Attila at PillageIdiot agrees and proposes a defense of flag protectors from assault charges.

DEFENSE FOR ASSAULT ON FLAG-BURNERS: It shall be a defense to a charge of simple assault that the person assaulted was burning or attempting to burn the American flag.

Mooooovin' On Up!

ThreeSources's own AlexC was noticed at SantorumBlog and has now been invited to blog with Sixers on National Review Online "The Right Eyes on the 2006 Elections"

I will add Sixers to the blogroll. Very cool, bro'. Don't forget us.

Mega Mergers!

There's bullish news in the Wall Street Journal news pages today: Blizzard of Deals Heralds an Era Of Megamergers

There's no end in sight for this year's parade of megamergers.

In less than 100 hours starting last Friday, around $110 billion in acquisition deals were sealed world-wide in sectors ranging from natural gas, to copper, to mouthwash to steel, linking investors and industrialists from India, to Canada, to Luxembourg to the U.S.

The deals -- which included the marriages of Arcelor SA to Mittal Steel Co., Phelps Dodge Corp. to both Inco Ltd. and Falconbridge Ltd. and Johnson & Johnson to the consumer-brands division of Pfizer Inc. -- provided striking evidence that 2006 is on pace to be the most-active merger year in history, as measured in absolute dollars. The year-end tally could top $3.5 trillion, based on Thomson Financial figures.

Heightened merger activity is a better measure that Ann Arbor’s bogus "Consumer Confidence Level." Folks paying attention are willing to play with real money. This augers well for continued economic expansion.

Wal*Mart Voters

Move over Soccer Moms and NASCAR Dads and "Queer Eye" Uncles (okay, I made one of those up), the new "it" voter is the Wal*Mart voter. This is according to John Zogby.

A Ryan Sagar piece in RealClearPolitics portends bad things for the GOP in this new, large, block.

Zogby finds that while 85 percent of frequent Wal-Mart shoppers voted for President Bush's reelection in 2004 (and 88 percent of people who never shop there voted for Sen. John Kerry), Wal-Mart voters have turned on the president dramatically. In a poll taken earlier this month, they gave Bush a 35 percent approval rating -- compared to a 45 percent positive rating from born-again Christians, 49 percent from NASCAR fans, and 54 percent from self-identified conservatives.

I have wondered just who is turning away from President Bush and find this a plausible explanation. These folks are not juiced by the SCOTUS picks and the tax cuts.

Wal-Mart voters are simply not a viable, reliable conservative constituency. When Pew looked at the opinions of those pro-government conservatives in a 2005 study, it found that 94 percent favor a higher minimum wage, 63 percent favor the government guaranteeing health care to all citizens, and fewer than half favor drilling in ANWR. What's worst: more than half of pro-government conservatives held positive views of both Bill and Hillary Clinton.

This is clearly not a voting bloc that Republicans can count on in 2006 or 2008.

I had posted about "The Party of Sam's Club" last December. Zogby's got more data but it is the same story: making room for populism in the GOP. Sadly, the shift away from basic, Republican principles we have seen can be attributed to this. The high spending incumbents we love to beat up on around here have a very large constituency here that can be developed with gay marriage bans and flag burning amendments. All of which are much easier than limited government.

Hat-tip: Insty

Defining the Mainstream

I think the size of the mainstream has been determined!

Atrios:

As another Tapped commenter stated, "I'm no believer in astrology, or in virgin births, transubsantiation, or any number of very mainstream religious beliefs..." And, indeed, belief in astrology is quite mainstream. In 2003, 31% of the population, including 27% of Christians were believers (down from 37% in 1998 with 37% of Christians believing). I'm not entirely sure how to classify astrology, but presumably it falls under the general umbrella of religious/spiritual beliefs.

For an agnostic/atheist like myself lots of religious beliefs sound pretty nutty to me, but as Amy Sullivan keeps telling us we keep losing elections because people like me aren't sufficiently respectful of religious beliefs even though, you know, we generally are. And, now, from left to right, from Tap to TNR to the wingnutosphere, people are falling all over themselves to mock someone who had a perfectly mainstream belief apparently shared by millions and millions of Americans.

In related news, liking George Bush's job performance, might just be mainstream.

President Bush's approval rating rebounded from its lowest point a month ago and now stands at 38 percent. That is five points higher than it was in May, though still weak enough to cause Republicans to worry about their electoral chances in November.

38% is right in line with 1998's definition of mainstream and way better than contemporary definitions of mainstream.

It's so good to be back in the mainstream again. Despite my disagreement with federal spending lately (really for a while), the line-item veto stuff has brought me back. Let's hope it passes.

Fool Me Once?

If this is true, Rush is done.

Sources have confirmed to CBS4 News that conservative talk show host Rush Limbaugh has been detained at Palm Beach International Airport for the possible possession of illegal prescription drugs Monday evening.

Limbaugh was returning on a flight from the Dominican Republic when officials found the drugs, among them Viagra.

Not sure what Viagra has anything to do with it. Other than a cheapshot.

Maybe he's got a prescription.

It would be odd for him to fly somewhere for the price break.

Update: Move along, nothing to see here.

While going through routine Customs inspection of luggage at Palm Beach International Airport upon his return from an international trip, Rush Limbaugh was detained by customs agents after they noticed a non-narcotic prescription drug, which had been prescribed by Mr. Limbaugh's treating physician but labeled as being issued to the physician rather than Mr. Limbaugh for privacy purposes. After a brief interview, Mr. Limbaugh was permitted to continue on his journey.

Khobar Towers

The Wall Street Journal reminds us that it's been 10 years since the Khobar Towers were bombed by pig-tailed girl scouts.

Oh, I'm sorry.

Iran.

It soon became clear that Mr. Clinton and his national security adviser, Sandy Berger, had no interest in confronting the fact that Iran had blown up the towers. This is astounding, considering that the Saudi Security Service had arrested six of the bombers after the attack. As FBI agents sifted through the remains of Building 131 in 115-degree heat, the bombers admitted they had been trained by the Iranian external security service (IRGC) in Lebanon's Beka Valley and received their passports at the Iranian Embassy in Damascus, Syria, along with $250,000 cash for the operation from IRGC Gen. Ahmad Sharifi.

We later learned that senior members of the Iranian government, including Ministry of Defense, Ministry of Intelligence and Security and the Spiritual Leader's office had selected Khobar as their target and commissioned the Saudi Hezbollah to carry out the operation. The Saudi police told us that FBI agents had to interview the bombers in custody in order to make our case. To make this happen, however, the U.S. president would need to make a personal request to Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah.

So for 30 months, I wrote and rewrote the same set of simple talking points for the president, Mr. Berger, and others to press the FBI's request to go inside a Saudi prison and interview the Khobar bombers. And for 30 months nothing happened. The Saudis reported back to us that the president and Mr. Berger would either fail to raise the matter with the crown prince or raise it without making any request. On one such occasion, our commander in chief instead hit up Prince Abdullah for a contribution to his library. Mr. Berger never once, in the course of the five-year investigation which coincided with his tenure, even asked how the investigation was going.

Please read all of former FBI Director Louis Freeh's op-ed.

Questions

Via Email:

A West Texas cowboy was herding his cows in a remote pasture when suddenly a brand-new BMW advanced out of a dust cloud towards him.

The driver, a young man in a Brioni suit, Gucci shoes, Ray Ban sunglasses and YSL tie, leans out the window and asks the cowboy,

"If I tell you exactly how many cows and calves you have in your herd, will you give me a calf?"

The cowboy looks at the man, obviously a yuppie, then looks at his peacefully grazing herd and calmly answers, "Sure, Why not?"

The yuppie parks his car, whips out his Dell notebook computer, connects it to his Cingular RAZR V3 cell phone, and surfs to a NASA page on the Internet, where he calls up a GPS satellite navigation system to get an exact fix on his location which he then feeds to another NASA satellite that scans the area in an ultra-high-resolution photo. The young man then opens the digital photo in Adobe Photoshop and exports it to an image processing facility in Hamburg, Germany. Within minutes he receives an email on his Palm Pilot that the image has been processed and the data stored. He then accesses a MS-SQL database through an ODBC connected Excel spreadsheet with email on his Blackberry and, after a few minutes, receives a response.

Finally, he prints out a full-color, 150- page report on his hi-tech, miniaturized HP LaserJet printer and finally turns to the cowboy and says, "You have exactly 1,586 cows and calves."

"That's right. Well, I guess you can take one of my calves," says the cowboy.

He watches the young man select one of the animals and looks on amused as the young man stuffs it into the trunk of his car.

Then the cowboy says to the young man, "Hey, if I can tell you exactly what your business is, will you give me back my calf?"

The young man thinks about it for a second and then says, "Okay, why not?"

You're a Congressman for the U.S. Government", says the cowboy.

"Wow! That's correct," says the yuppie, "but how did you guess that?"

"No guessing required." answered the cowboy.

"You showed up here even though nobody called you; you want to get paid for an answer I already knew, to a question I never asked. You tried to show me how much smarter than me you are; and you don't know a thing about cows. Now ... give me back my dog."

Proud to Stand for Nothing

Jonathan Chait reprints a Los Angeles Times column in TNR online today.

He contends that Democrats don't need sweeping policy, or written manifesti. They are just swell guys who make all the right decisions at the right time. I appear to be putting words in his mouth but I am really not.

Alas, this is inherently a losing game for liberals. Here is the problem: Conservatism and liberalism are not really mirror images of each other.

Conservatives venerate the free market and see smaller government as an end in itself. Liberals do not venerate government in the same way, and we do not see larger government as an end in and of itself. For us, everything works on a case-by-case basis. Should government provide everybody's education? Yes. Should government manufacture everybody's blue jeans? No. And so on.

Now, it's true that conservative Republicans have done an awful job of limiting government. But that doesn't stop Republicans from communicating their ideology. Everybody knows what they stand for. They're for lower taxes, strong defense and less spending--even if they habitually fail at the spending part and have royally screwed up the defense portion of late.

But nobody knows what Democrats stand for because you cannot, and should not, formulate sweeping dogmas when you're operating on a case-by-case basis.

Maybe one should send Mr. Chait a copy of Star Parker's book, "You Have to Stand for Something or You'll Fall for Anything "

This is exactly what drives me insane about Bill O'Reilly. He has no centering philosophy, proudly (and loudly) boasting that "I'm not ideologue." Well I am, and I've spent a lot of nice days reading very dull books to get here, William. When I vote for somebody, I want to have a good idea what he or she believes. I may be disappointed but we both acted in good faith.

And I realize that I do not appear philosophically rigid enough for a certain wing of ThreeSourcers. But the day I proudly argue -- as Chait does -- that I have no coherent, codifyable positions, just trust me to make good decisions, you can just shoot me.

Global Warming Consensus

Global Warming advocates like to claim that "the science is settled" and that "there is a consensus in the scientific community" which believes in man-made climate change. To disagree engenders quizzical looks and assumptions that you must be a creationist and a flat-earther as well.

The TCS scientists and columnists are faulted for the substantive funding they receive from petroleum companies. Perhaps that's legitimate, but I do not understand why the converse isn't true: government scientists have an equal or greater stake in perpetuating research.

So, my new buddy is the Alfred P. Sloane Professor of Atmospheric Science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. I don't think anybody ever accused MIT of hiring professors who don't know their science because they're right-wingers. I have quoted Richard Lindzen before, but today he writes in the WSJ Ed page about this consensus which is not a consensus.

When Mr. Stephanopoulos confronted Mr. Gore with the fact that the best estimates of rising sea levels are far less dire than he suggests in his movie, Mr. Gore defended his claims by noting that scientists "don't have any models that give them a high level of confidence" one way or the other and went on to claim -- in his defense -- that scientists "don't know… They just don't know."

So, presumably, those scientists do not belong to the "consensus." Yet their research is forced, whether the evidence supports it or not, into Mr. Gore's preferred global-warming template -- namely, shrill alarmism. To believe it requires that one ignore the truly inconvenient facts. To take the issue of rising sea levels, these include: that the Arctic was as warm or warmer in 1940; that icebergs have been known since time immemorial; that the evidence so far suggests that the Greenland ice sheet is actually growing on average.
[...]
So what, then, is one to make of this alleged debate? I would suggest at least three points.

First, nonscientists generally do not want to bother with understanding the science. Claims of consensus relieve policy types, environmental advocates and politicians of any need to do so. Such claims also serve to intimidate the public and even scientists -- especially those outside the area of climate dynamics. Secondly, given that the question of human attribution largely cannot be resolved, its use in promoting visions of disaster constitutes nothing so much as a bait-and-switch scam. That is an inauspicious beginning to what Mr. Gore claims is not a political issue but a "moral" crusade.

Lastly, there is a clear attempt to establish truth not by scientific methods but by perpetual repetition. An earlier attempt at this was accompanied by tragedy. Perhaps Marx was right. This time around we may have farce -- if we're lucky.

At War With America

Michael Baron says the New York Times is at war with America.

Bush administration officials asked the Times not to publish the story. Once again, the Times went ahead anyway. "We have listened closely to the administration's arguments for withholding this information, and given them the most serious and respectful consideration," Bill Keller is quoted as saying. It's interesting to note that he feels obliged to report he and his colleagues weren't smirking or cracking jokes. "We remain convinced that the administration's extraordinary access to this vast repository of international financial data, however carefully targeted use of it may be, is a matter of public interest."

This was presumably the view as well of the "nearly 20 current and former government officials and industry executives" who were apparently the sources for the story.

But who elected them to make these decisions? Publication of the Times' December and June stories appears to violate provisions of the broadly written, but until recently, seldom enforced provisions of the Espionage Act. Commentary's Gabriel Schoenfeld has argued that the Times can and probably should be prosecuted.

The counterargument is that it is a dangerous business for the government to prosecute the press. But it certainly is in order to prosecute government officials who have abused their trust by disclosing secrets, especially when those disclosures have reduced the government's ability to keep us safe. And pursuit of those charges would probably require reporters to disclose the names of those sources. As the Times found out in the Judith Miller case, reporters who refuse to answer such questions can go to jail.

Palestinian WMDs

Plenty of WMD's in the news this week.

The Aksa Martyrs Brigades announced on Sunday that its members have succeeded in manufacturing chemical and biological weapons.

In a leaflet distributed in the Gaza Strip, the group, which belongs to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah Party, said the weapons were the result of a three-year effort.

Ed Morrissey @ Captain's Quarters writes on what might happen next.

Once the first chemical or biological weapon gets launched against Israel, that decision will have been taken out of their hands. The Israelis will almost certainly launch a massive strike against the Palestinians in both directions -- and while Hamas and Fatah do moderately well at targeting unarmed civilians, the IDF will slice through them like butter. And if the Palestinians expect the West to stop them, they will have miscalculated badly.

The question will be where they acquired these weapons. They do not have the research facilities to have developed WMD on their own. If they actually do possess them, it seems a probablility that someone supplied Fatah with WMD.

Who has WMD? What country stocked them, until three years ago? And where does Hamas and Islamic Jihad, at least, have themselves established? Syria -- who has long rumored to have received the Iraqi stockpiles in 2002 and 2003, just ahead of the American invasion.

The Palestinians have just tipped us off to where the WMD went, and now we know where at least some it may have ended up. The Israelis may not be alone in marching through Gaza and the West Bank.

No telling what prompted the Palestinian terrorists to reveal their posessions, (it's a stunningly stupid bluff) but it's been a busy week on the WMD front.

The Case Against Ethanol

Jeffrey Alan Miron

The first alleged benefit is, in my view, routinely overstated. There is no "oil weapon" because Middle East oil producers must sell their oil somewhere. In a world market any refusal to sell to the U.S. is irrelevant.

The second and third alleged benefits are also likely emphemeral. Given that ethanol production requires substantial energy use, any reduction in pollution or greenhouse gases has to be minor.

So who benefits from ethanol subsidies? Corn farmers in the Midwest and the politicans who have caved to their interests. Taxpayers and the economy are the losers.

The greater Philadelphia area has recently had a 10% Ethanol blend introduced into the system. What does that mean?

Gas is still about $3.05 for the cheap stuff. In neighboring Berks County, but "outside" the area, I paid $2.83. I've always attributed the discrepancy due to the boutique blends, but it's never been so large.

Not to mention since the switch, our Mini Cooper has had trouble on it's first start in the morning. So much so that we switched from Premium to Midgrade on recommendation from Mini. I'm also convinced that my highway mileage in the Magnum has dropped from 27-ish to about 24.

Schadenfreude

With all the hullabaloo breaking out over Jerome Armstrong and Kos, my question is, "How come Jerome didn't see it coming?

Supporting the Troops

Next time a liberal huffs and puffs about Ann Coulter sticking her foot in her mouth, point to this "cartoon" in the Atlanta Journal Constitution.

(tip to Blonde Sagacity)

Review Corner

See I can too like an action picture! (punctuate that sentence)

When I think of "action pictures" I group them into two, pejorative types. First is the insane premise. Watching "Speed," or "Red Eye," or "Firewall" I cannot suspend disbelief that far; there's insufficient foundation for the plot. The other type is the exploding buildings movies like Tom Cruise's "War of the Worlds." All special effects, no plot.

Yet I can name a pile of movies with strong action that I enjoyed. Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings Trilogy ranks among my favorite movies ever. His "King Kong" was good if not quite up to LOTR standards. "Pulp Fiction," "48 Hours" -- even the "Blues Brothers" movies had car chases.

Last night I watched "16 Blocks" with Bruce Willis and Mos Def. It has a quorum of shooting and a manic bus blast through New York City. It also has a strong plot line, great acting, and a gritty urban noir feel even though it all happens in morning daylight.

Action pic, buddy pic, redemption -- this film has a lot of heart. jk gives it four-and-a-half.

Politician In A Car Accident

No, not a Kennedy.

Police cast doubt on congressional candidate Gary Dodds' story that he crashed his car in an accident, wandered away in a daze, swam across a river and huddled in the woods for warmth until he was found a day later, according to documents released Tuesday.

Dodds, 41, of Rye, has not been charged with any crime.

The unsealed documents, which total more than 100 pages, pointed out that Dodds' clothes were dry, yet his shoes were soaking wet when he was found in April. He spoke of a head injury, but showed no bumps or bruises on his head and there was no damage to the car indicating that he had hit his head, police said. Also, no one saw or heard him cross the Bellamy River.

Of course, it's not until paragraph fifteen or so that you find out he's a Democrat.

I'm Joining the ACLU

No. Really.

Here's why.

"The revelation of the CIA's financial spying program is another example of the Bush administration's abuse of power. The invasion of our personal financial information, without notification or judicial review, is contrary to the fundamental American value of privacy and must be stopped now. It seems the administration feels entitled to flip through all of our checkbooks. How many other secret spying programs has the Bush administration enacted without Congress, the courts or the public knowing? We need a full accounting of what information has been demanded by the U.S. government, how they have used it, with whom it was shared, and how they intend to repair this grave breech of trust. This program is a glaring example of how this government thinks nothing of widespread abuse of power.

Death to INCOME TAXES!

Australia, The Brave

Krauthammer.

with action comes bravery, from the transcendent courage of the doomed at Gallipoli to the playful insanity of Australian-rules football. How can you not like a country whose trademark sport has Attila-the-Hun rules, short pants and no padding -- a national passion that makes American football look positively pastoral?

That bravery breeds affection in America for another reason as well. Australia is the only country that has fought with the United States in every one of its major conflicts since 1914, the good and the bad, the winning and the losing.

Why? Because Australia's geographic and historical isolation has bred a wisdom about the structure of peace -- a wisdom that eludes most other countries. Australia has no illusions about the "international community'' and its feckless institutions. An island of tranquility in a roiling region, Australia understands that peace and prosperity do not come with the air we breathe, but are maintained by power -- once the power of the British Empire, now the power of the United States.

Australia joined the faraway wars of early-20th-century Europe not out of imperial nostalgia, but out of a deep understanding that its fate and the fate of liberty were intimately bound with that of the British Empire as principal underwriter of the international system. Today the underwriter is America, and Australia understands that an American retreat or defeat -- a chastening consummation devoutly, if secretly, wished by many a Western ally -- would be catastrophic for Australia and for the world.

1914? I did not know that.

Teacher's Union Endorsement

A friend of mine, James Babb, is running for a neighboring State House seat as a Libertarian.

He blogs, too.

Recently, he was seeking the endorsement of the Pennsylvania State Educator's Association PAC...

As you can imagine, it was a fun time.

Did I mention he blogs too?

They asked me what I would like PSEA to do for me. I mentioned that I had heard that Ed Rendell had just received a sizable contribution ($235,000, his largest this reporting period) and that I would be happy to receive a similar contribution. I let them know that my commitment to improving education in Pennsylvania was at least as great as Ed's. They said state rep candidates usually receive $0 to $1,500 each.

But wait there's more.

The ring leader took offense at the term "government school" preferring the term "public school." I explained that the Friends School is also open to the public. Funny that leaders of the STATE education association would take offense at the word government. I guess even whores prefer the term "lady of the evening."

I asked them to support my plan to remove the compulsory nature government schooling. This seamed to horrify them. The ring leader informed me that the Pennsylvania constitution guarantees a free (and presumably mandatory) education. When I read her the actual wording: (The General Assembly shall provide for the maintenance and support of a thorough and efficient system of public education to serve the needs of the Commonwealth.), the ring leader got very defensive and ended any discussion of the constitution.

Read the whole thing.

CrashingtheGateGate

That stings.

Starbucks Killing Their Employees

TCS joins me in criticizing the latest attack on Starbucks for having the temerity to serve products that people like.

Stop Doing What I Said is a good takedown of the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI). It includes an amusing look at the effort the company made years ago to force restaurants to switch to the trans-fat heavy oils they are trying to ban today.

Best is this gem about CSPI's teaming up with the Starbucks Union. (Baristas Local 17 perhaps?)

For the Starbucks campaign, CSPI teamed up with the union of Starbucks employees, which at the moment is all of about a dozen strong. The idea of suing a company that serves a beverage loaded with a stimulant for obesity is rather absurd on its face. There's nothing fattening about coffee. Of course, adding whole milk, sugary flavoring, and gulping it down with a toffee-almond bar is another story. But that's a decision Starbucks customers make, is it not?

My favorite line from the Starbucks story concerns the union, which apparently is concerned about the increasing heft of the Starbucks staff:

"The union contends that Starbucks staff gain weight when they work at the chain. They are offered unlimited beverages and leftover pastries for free during their shifts."

Good thing we have organized labor around to complain about companies who give employees free stuff (the typical "obesity's costs to society" arguments don't even fly here, given that Starbucks gives its employees comprehensive health insurance).

They're killing those people! Giving them pastries! What can be done about this scourge?

More Right Wing Kookiness

I'll stop soon, but the Kos attacks have given me new pleasure reading TNR. The fabled right wing organ today discredits tax cuts, supply-side economics and The Laughter Curve

The supply-siders are back! OK, they never actually left. But they did seem to slink away for a while, as they habitually do when their predictions fall to shambles. Now, the economy is booming and they are claiming victory. William Kristol, editorializing in The Weekly Standard, exults the "wildly successful supply-side tax cuts." Wall Street Journal editorial page writer Stephen Moore gloats, "Tax collections for the past 12 months have exploded by 14.4%." It seems we have all died and gone to voodoo economic paradise.

They make the same argument that famed new-ager AlexC did:

Halving a deficit you inherited would be something to brag about. Halving a deficit you created, not so much. You don't see Bush's former chief domestic policy adviser Claude Allen boasting that he has returned half the merchandise he filched from Target.

Next, a little revisionism: "Second, it's not true. In 2004, the Bush administration released a suspiciously high deficit projection for 2004."

I don't remember everything, mind you, but I think I would have remembered Administration opponents' claiming that they had inflated the deficit numbers. They list some think tanks that did, but the WaPo and Times were pretty happy to do President Bush's bidding and trumpet the huge predictions.

What does work? Why Rubenomics of course:

The supply-side crowing presumes that, without deep and permanent tax cuts, the economy would have stayed in a recession forever. The "class-warfare groups," according to The Wall Street Journal's Moore, "pretend that this robust expansion would have happened without the investment tax cuts." How does Moore explain the fact that we had an even more robust expansion before the Bush tax cuts took place? (In case the Journal needs a reminder, it reacted to the 1993 Clinton tax hike with a series of hysterical editorials under the rubric "the class warfare economy," each illustrated with a guillotine.)

And what will happen when the economy does slow down? Don't expect the supply-siders to confess that the tax cuts failed after all. Instead, they'll just return to their argument of four years ago--namely, that you can't raise taxes during a recession. That's the beauty of having a theory that can't be proved wrong. You never have to go away.

Hope Kos shuts down those crazy right wingers before they cause too much trouble.

Meddling Politicians

Why?

Assemblyman Patrick Diegnan Jr., a Democrat from Middlesex County, has introduced legislation requiring youths under age 18 to use only wood bats.

The measure comes after a 12-year-old from Wayne was seriously injured when hit in the chest by a line drive off a metal bat.

Diegnan said, "We cannot protect every player against on-field injury, but we can correct a balance of power that has swung disproportionately in favor of hitters using increasingly lethal bats."

I'm in favor of the sound of a wooden bat, or the phony baloney "tink" of an aluminum bat, personally.

Call me "pro-choice" on bats.

But a line drive is a line drive is a line drive. Getting hit in the chest (or the face, i was) is part of the game. Keeping your eye on the ball is part of the game!

Up next is a bill to prevent hard tackling in football or checking in ice hockey.

Stupid. On a hundred levels.

Speaker Tancredo

Don’t even joke about it! The WSJ Ed Page points out that "On immigration, Mr. Tancredo is now the real speaker of the House."

The lead editorial (free link) today points out that Tancredo Republicans' do-nothing strategy is not a winner. Looking at the vulnerable races, it is more likely to hurt than help. And that's just the 2006 politics.

Even if all of this somehow works this election year, the long term damage to the GOP could be considerable. Pete Wilson demonized illegal aliens to win re-election as California Governor in 1994, but at the price of alienating Latino voters for a decade. The smarter Republicans--President Bush, Karl Rove, Senator John McCain, Colorado Governor Bill Owens and Florida Governor Jeb Bush--understand that the GOP can't sustain its majority without a larger share of the Hispanic vote. Making Mr. Tancredo the spokesman on this issue is a surefire way to make Hispanics into permanent Democrats.

Every poll we've seen says that the public favors an immigration reform of the kind that President Bush does. That's because, whatever their concerns about border security, Americans are smart enough to know that immigrants will keep coming as long as they have the economic incentive to do so. They also don't want the social disruption favored by the deport-'em-all Tancredo Republicans.

On policy, the country could do worse than pass nothing this year on immigration. We've muddled through for years, and at 4.6% unemployment the U.S. economy is easily absorbing the illegal workforce. But having turned the immigration issue into a rallying cry, Republicans have put themselves at political risk if they do nothing. If the GOP finds itself in the minority next year, we trust its restrictionists will stand up and take a bow.

I disagree with the WSJ Ed Page that this is unprecedented. The Democrats thought obstructionism on judges was a winner. If you catch former leader Tom Daschle in a coffee shop in South Dakota, you can ask him how that worked out.

Much Ado About Korea

It would appear that the North Koreans have a missile all fueled up on the launch pad. All ready to go.

What do we do?

1) Blow it up on the pad.

2) Shoot it down from with our new-fangled missile defense system.

3) Let diplomacy have a chance. (again)

4) None of the above.

Right Wing Shill!

TNR Editor-in-chief Martin Peretz comes out for VP Al Gore: Why Al Gore is the Democrat's best bet for 2008

I was first for Al Gore for president when he ran in the primaries in 1988. He lost to Michael Dukakis in that year's suicide of the Democratic Party, an ignominious campaign by a smug and utterly disconnected governor from the only state that had voted for George McGovern. Jesse Jackson was the celebrity candidate, with his hip-hop language that some patronizing folk will still tell you is eloquence. Had Al Gore been the nominee in 1988, he likely would have defeated George Herbert Walker Bush, and the nation would have been saved the grim experience of his unlikely and uncomprehending dynasty.

Yet the Kos Kids cannot tell the difference between TNR and The Weekly Standard. The Weekly Standard has yet to make a formal endorsement in '08, but I have a hunch it ain't gonna be Gore...

Good Doggie!

Blonde Sagacity links to the story of a beagle who dialed 911 and saved its owner. ALa asks Would a Cat Do This...?

The dog was trained to detect potential diabetic attacks by licking and sniffing Mr. Weaver's nose to check his blood sugar levels and pawing him. Belle resorted to dialing for help when Mr. Weaver fell unconscious.

The dog used her teeth to press the number nine key, which the phone was programmed to interpret as a "911" call to emergency services. Ambulance workers answered the phone and, hearing nothing but barking at the end of the line, rushed to the caller's house in the city of Ocoee in Florida state.

TNR is Dead! Long Live TNR!

Latest CrashingTheGateGate news:

DailyKos: TNR's Defection to the Right Is Now Complete

It is now beyond clear that the dying New Republic is mortally wounded and cornered, desperate for relevance. It has lost half its circulation since the blogs arrived on the scene and they no longer (thank heavens!) have a monopoly on progressive punditry. We have hit their bottom line, we are hitting their patron saint hard (Joe Lieberman) and this is how they respond. By going after the entire movement.

Sad, perhaps. But this is apparently the price one pays for crashing the gate.

MyDD: Who Owns The New Republic?

Unlike the progressive netroots, which is primarily a network of independently owned and operated websites and email lists, The New Republic is owned by wealthy right-wingers. One quit the DLC in 1996 because he thought Bill Clinton was too liberal (seriously). The other is the chairman of a right-wing think tank. I can only imagine that because those two men probably know every rich Republican in the country, that everything The New Republic writes should be considered Astroturf from now on.

That's interesting in light of the second outing of the Townhouse group. Which sets the course of the left wing blogs.
Of course, Jonathan Chait of The New Republic is forced to respond.

Kos announces in his headline, "TNR's defection to the Right is now complete." If this sounds vaguely familiar, it's because it is. More than two years ago, Kos launched what he called his "anti-TNR campaign," in which he declared us to be enemies of the people. Wait, sorry, wrong jargon--I meant, enemies of the people-powered movement. Some examples of the anti-TNR campaign can be found here, here, and here.

He has refused to link to our stories--except of course the minority that attack the left, all the better to display our enemy status--and declared us irrelevant and buried in the dustbin of history. Except now, two years after having unleashed his most terrible weapons, he has to bury us all over again. And so, he urges his readers, "If you still hold a subscription to that magazine, it really is time to call it quits." This is like the Catholic Church digging up the heretic it had already burned at the stake so it can excommunicate the corpse a second time.

I know JK subscribes to the New Republic, because he is a sensitive New Age guy. I'm tempted now to do so.

Heh.

Irey for PA-12

Rep Jack Murtha has it all. In addition to his new leadership of cut-and-run, Robert Novak reminds us that he's a man with a past.

Murtha's Okinawa answer embarrassed Democratic House members who would not dream of criticizing publicly the former back-room pol who became an icon to the party's antiwar base last November by calling for an immediate troop withdrawal. His performance on ''Meet the Press'' reinforced dismay inside the party that Murtha, at age 74, has announced his candidacy for majority leader if the Democrats regain control of the House.

Murtha proves there are second acts in American politics. I had forgotten that federal prosecutors designated him an unindicted co-conspirator in the Abscam investigation 26 years ago. I was reminded of it after Murtha became a candidate for majority leader, not by a Republican hit man but a Democratic former colleague in the House. In a long political career, Murtha has made bitter enemies inside his party who are alarmed by his new stature.

I gave a small contribution to his 2006 challenger, Diana Irey, it's the longest of shots but to quote Animal House: "This calls for a pointless gesture!"

Murtha may draw a few more targets on his back before November, who knows?

Hat-tip: Taranto

Crashing the Gates

So... how long until "Blogola" or "Kosola" gets renamed "Crashing The Gate-Gate"?

Jerome Armstrong and Markos Moulitsas did write the book afterall.

I bet when the mainstream media picks up on it.

Everything is a "gate" with them. Reliving the glory days.

WMDs

Allow me to shamelessly link whore my other blog.

Rick Santorum Says We Found WMDs

Comeuppance

Remember "back in the day" when Republicans were stressing out over the 60 votes needed to invoke cloture on a bill, just to get a vote on it?

It was in regards to judges. But it really meant that any topic was open for this form of blockage.... and really for any reason.

Witness.

The federal minimum wage has been $5.15 an hour for almost 10 years, and is worth less now that at almost anytime in the last 50 years. Adjusted for inflation, the minimum wage in 1968 would be worth $9.09 today, 75% more than the current wage.

These 46 Senators who are blocking the will of the majority of the Senate on the minimum wage are such famous up-or-down screamers as Orrin Hatch, John Kyl, Rick Santorum, and John Cornyn. Note also the "no" votes of Conrad Burns, Jim Talent, Kay Bailey Hutchison, and John Ensign. How is that going to play in this election year in their home states? Other notable no votes are would-be presidential candidates John McCain and George Allen.

Breaks my heart.

Really.

I Can't Quit You

Here's a horror story of someone trying to quit AOL.

There's too much to the transcript to post it. But it's annoying.

Good for him for posting it online.

Blogola

What's the first rule of Blogola?

Don't talk about Blogola.

Here's an excerpt of an email sent by Markos Moulistas to the Townhouse, an email list of elite liberal bloggers.

My request to you guys is that you ignore this for now. It would make my life easier if we can confine the story. Then, once Jerome can speak and defend himself, then I'll go on the offensive (which is when I would file any lawsuits) and anyone can pile on. If any of us blog on this right now, we fuel the story. Let's starve it of oxygen. And without the "he said, she said" element to the story, you know political journalists are paralyzed into inaction.

Iraqi Withdrawl

Eventually Murtha and Kerry will hit the withdrawl with their ever extending list of "six months."

Iraq's National Security Advisor has an op-ed in the Washington Post about coalition withdrawl.

Nobody believes this is going to be an easy task, but there is Iraqi and coalition resolve to start taking the final steps to have a fully responsible Iraqi government accountable to its people for their governance and security. Thus far four of the 18 provinces are ready for the transfer of power -- two in the north (Irbil and Sulaymaniyah) and two in the south (Maysan and Muthanna). Nine more provinces are nearly ready.

With the governors of each province meeting these strict objectives, Iraq's ambition is to have full control of the country by the end of 2008. In practice this will mean a significant foreign troop reduction. We envisage the U.S. troop presence by year's end to be under 100,000, with most of the remaining troops to return home by the end of 2007.

Big Box Shadows

I recommneded a recent issue of The American Enterprise Magazine. Among other things, it presented a contrarian picture of the effect of Wal*Mart on an area's other retailers.

The Detroit News takes up the torch today in Thriving in Wal-Mart's shadow

Conventional wisdom says that once mega-retailers such as Wal-Mart, Home Depot, Starbucks and other mega-brand juggernauts roll into town, mom-and-pop stores on Main Street are bound to get crushed.

That's news to Trish Wolfbauer.

The 26-year-old entrepreneur says business at her Roseville coffee shop has never been better since java giant Starbucks came to town. The fact that two of them opened within miles of her Trixi's Coffee shop only helped get Macomb County residents hooked on gourmet lattes, espressos and cappuccinos.

"Now that Starbucks is around, more people are willing to pay $4 for a cup of coffee," Wolfbauer said.
[...]
Independent specialty stores, boutiques and cafes are surviving -- and even thriving -- in