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Saturday, March 03, 2007
Ann Coulter WinsShe's once again got everybody talking about her. "I was going to have a few comments on the other Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards, but it turns out you have to go into rehab if you use the word "faggot," so I — so kind of an impasse, can't really talk about Edwards." Rolling my eyes here. Could she be any more obvious? She's gotten hold of the news cycle for a day, and is the top news story on Memeorandum. I've assumed she was a little unbalanced ever since she made the notorious, "The only thing I have against Tim McVeigh is that he didn't blow up the New York Times building" comment. She's plainly a narcissist, and sadly, she's getting the attention she desires. I wish that groups like CPAC would stop giving her a platform for her nuttery. Labels: Ann Coulter
Friday, March 02, 2007
Out of Town TodayI suggest that you check out the interesting posts that John Hawkins has highlighted over at Conservative Grapevine. Also, be sure to check out John's poll of center-right bloggers on several key issues of the day. Some interesting results there, including one that should make Al Gore weep. Labels: Conservative Grapevine, Right Wing News
Thursday, March 01, 2007
Dick Morris Should Stick to Getting His Toes SuckedOkay, now that I've got that out of the way, how about this trenchant piece of analysis from Morris on John McCain? That is, if trenchant means pulled out of a trench. Morris claims, and the headline states, that John McCain's campaign has collapsed: The John McCain candidacy, launched amid much hope, fanfare, and high expectations, may be dying before our eyes.
Even worse, it may go out with a whimper instead of a bang. Now, gee, pardon me for not being shocked that Townhall, which features Hugh Hewitt, might be a little less than impartial with regard to McCain. But get the slim reed that convinces Morris that it's all over for the Arizona Senator: Throughout all of 2006, McCain sat atop the polls right next to Rudy Giuliani. In the Fox News survey of December, 2006, he was getting 27 percent of the Republican primary vote to Rudy's 31 percent. But, after Giuliani announced that he was running, the Arizona senator fell to 24 percent while Rudy soared into the stratosphere at 41 percent of the primary voters. So to Morris, collapsing is the loss of 3 percentage points, which is probably below the margin of error. And Giuliani's rise is to 38%, according to Time. Obviously the real story in this poll is that Mitt Romney, who, by the way, Townhall's Hugh Hewitt has been pumping, has vanished: In addition to McCain's swoon, the other possible top contender, Mitt Romney has stalled and is falling backwards. His flip-flop-flip from pro-life to pro-choice and back to pro-life again is not winning him any converts. Again, McCain's "swoon" is the loss of three percentage points, from 27 to 24. Mitt Romney? Down to 7%. Obviously, Giuliani's strength has to be of some concern to McCainiacs like me. Some conservatives are reacting to Giuliani's undeniable heroics on 9-11. Dick Morris said something on Medved's show about how it may come down to who Americans want in charge in the first seven minutes of a crisis. Morris is an entertainer, which is not a knock, but no president in history has needed to be amazing in the first seven minutes of a crisis, and God willing, none ever will. Giuliani will enjoy a honeymoon with the national press, but sooner or later the sine wave of political coverage demands that he'll get pressured about his second divorce and his pro-choice beliefs, and somebody will remember that hey, wasn't Rudy about to get beaten by Hillary Clinton in 2000 when he dropped out of the race because of the former? McCain fans should be happy that the race is evolving into a two-man showdown, especially given that the usual complaint I hear about McCain is that he's not a true conservative. Compared to Rudy he looks pretty good. Oh, and the "wasted" comment was clearly a mistake. Unfortunate, but nobody can say that John McCain's a quitter, either on Vietnam or Iraq. And in order to believe those lives will be really be wasted, you have to think John McCain's going to quit on Iraq. Labels: Dick Morris, John McCain, Rudy Giuliani
A Laughable Piece of AnalysisBy Margaret Carlson. With no Secretariat in the stable, there's room for a dark horse. Galloping in is Nebraska Senator Chuck Hagel. I went to a small dinner with Hagel last week to see how he's faring, which is well, despite bags the size of steamer trunks under his eyes. They make him look sad when he isn't.
As Bush-Cheney Enemy No. 1, he's the go-to anti-surge Republican who, although he voted for the war, warned President George W. Bush from Day One about the peril of governing Iraq.
If party activists could see past his sharp criticism of Bush's foreign policy, they would like his life story. Hagel's father died when he was a teenager, and young Chuck helped look after the other children and worked as a carhop at a hamburger joint. He and his younger brother joined the infantry and nearly died in Vietnam. He worked several jobs before starting a hugely successful cell-phone company. It made him a millionaire. Let me just point out that if a conservative pundit were to pen a column suggesting that Joe Lieberman was the best candidate for the Democrats, he or she would get a horselaugh, and would be considered toast as a political analyst. Margaret Carlson used to be a White House reporter for Time Magazine, and will probably be feted for this effort. Hagel's a dead horse, not a dark horse, and no amount of whipping from Carlson is going to get him anywhere near the finish line. Labels: Chuck Hagel, Margaret Carlson
Wednesday, February 28, 2007
Pork Train DerailedI've talked about this ridiculous proposed loan before. Looks like it's dead, although I wouldn't bet that it's dead for good. Labels: DM And E Railroad, Pork Train
Screwing the Military at the University of IllinoisOur buddy John Ruberry has a terrific and compelling piece about how a program to offer 110 MBA scholarships to our military fell apart: What happened next is shocking. Ghosh, DeBrock, Admissions Dean Sandy Frank and Ikenberry decided to take matters into their own hands. So they got a copy of the admissions database from the Executive MBA program, studied it, and in an ex post facto manner, put in new procedural deadlines for the completion of application materials in order to reduce the number of military veterans in the program.
They basically looked at military candidates' application data and came up with new deadlines that they knew military candidates hadn't met. Sort of like betting on a horse a couple days after the race...or moving the goalpoast before a field goal attempt.
They told van der Hooning to implement the new policy. They e-mailed him a letter to send military candidates and told him to sign it on official College letterhead. He refused. Eventually, Ghosh sent DeBrock to meet with van der Hooning. DeBrock came armed with a list of about 35 military veterans to rescind from the MBA program. Again, van der Hooning protested on grounds of ethics and discrimination, so DeBrock added one civilian to the list of rescinded candidates. This is a terrific piece of reporting by John, and I highly recommend reading it all. Labels: John Ruberry, MBA, Military, University of Illinois
Tuesday, February 27, 2007
Al Gore An Energy Hog? Say It Ain't So!It's so. In his documentary, the former Vice President calls on Americans to conserve energy by reducing electricity consumption at home.
The average household in America consumes 10,656 kilowatt-hours (kWh) per year, according to the Department of Energy. In 2006, Gore devoured nearly 221,000 kWh--more than 20 times the national average.
Last August alone, Gore burned through 22,619 kWh--guzzling more than twice the electricity in one month than an average American family uses in an entire year. As a result of his energy consumption, Gore's average monthly electric bill topped $1,359.
Since the release of An Inconvenient Truth, Gore's energy consumption has increased from an average of 16,200 kWh per month in 2005, to 18,400 kWh per month in 2006. Labels: Al Gore, Global Warming
Monday, February 26, 2007
A Prayer for Third Wave DaveAndrea Shea-King has info about his recent hospitalization. Our thoughts and prayers are with you, Dave! Labels: Third Wave Dave
Sunday, February 25, 2007
The Amazing Race: Team Coal Miner to Go It Alone?As with Survivor All-Stars, I couldn't help wincing some times at the thought that these were supposed to be the best teams. Some astoundingly bad mistakes in this episode that make one wonder. As the teams are pulling out, One and a Half Women get stuck in ditch. Team Coal Miner pulls them out, and a bond is (apparently) formed. Team Baldy also gets stuck, but one of the guys harnesses himself to the vehicle and helps to pull it out. Hilariously, his partner then almost kills him by not stopping. First task: Fly to Santiago Chile. Rob & Ambuh get an earlier-arriving flight as do the Young Gays, but the rest of teams get the second plane. However, as always connections are dicey and in fact the other eight teams get to Santiago before they do. However, given that the times were middle of the night, I figured that there would be some sort of bunching obstacle--a building that wouldn't open until a particular time in the morning. Instead, teams were given no break--they went right into the Roadblock. This one involved using your powers of observation to notice the letters of the alphabet shown in a boardroom, and then use those letters to spell out one of the places on the wall. Joyce & Uchenna arrived at this task first, and Uchenna (DOH--Joyce) decided to tackle the task. Because the task is difficult, the teams all get bunched up here anyway. The Beauty Queens are the first to solve the puzzle, and teams start getting it after that. David and Mary solve the puzzle and help out One and a Half Women. In the end, only Uchenna (DOH--Joyce) and one of the baldies are left, and she idiotically helps him out by spelling the clue for him. The next task is the detour, at a Copper Mine. Teams must choose between tightening the lug nuts on a giant mine car, or using a backhoe to cover a stake with dirt. Rob and Ambuh arrive first and Rob is experienced in construction. They make short work of the backhoe task and take an easy lead. The Old Gays also do this task, while the rest choose to tighten lug nuts. It sounds easy, but there are something like 50 and they have to be properly positioned, so it does seem a difficult task. Of course, One and a Half Women are disadvantaged because they cannot try the backhoe. But still, somehow they finish just before the Beauty Queens, with Team Baldy and Team Coal Miner slipping behind. And then comes the really stupid part. One and a Half Women have hired a guy to drive them to the next location, but they don't want the Beauty Queens to piggyback off their effort. So they stop and try to get the BQs to chip in on the cost of the guy. Finally the BQs decide to pass them by, followed by several other teams. Now One and a Half Women are in last place in the final drive to the Pit Stop. Next stupid part comes at the entrance to the Valley of the Moon. Teams are instructed to go no more than 40 klicks per hour on dirt, but they can go 50 klicks once the paving resumes. Team Baldy decides to skip past this advice, which seems to serve them well until they get on the pavement, where everybody passes them by. They insist on sticking to the 40 kph limit. Along in here, too, One and a Half Women pass Team Coal Miner. Why after all we've done for them.... it is clear that Team Coal Miner has finally decided to stop trying for the Team Congeniality prize. A bunch of teams zig when they should have zagged. Rob & Ambuh finish first (again) followed by the Old Gays. Team Baldy's insistence on driving their (incorrect) limit of 40 KPH ends up costing them at the finish, and they are Phil-liminated. Labels: The Amazing Race
The Sins of the Great-Great-Grandfathers....What a stupid article this is: While Mitt Romney condemns polygamy and its prior practice by his Mormon church, the Republican presidential candidate's great-grandfather had five wives and at least one of his great-great grandfathers had 12.
Polygamy was not just a historical footnote, but a prominent element in the family tree of the former Massachusetts governor now seeking to become the first Mormon president.
Romney's great-grandfather, Miles Park Romney, married his fifth wife in 1897. That was more than six years after Mormon leaders banned polygamy and more than three decades after a federal law barred the practice. Who cares about this crap? As Mitt Romney has noted, he's one of the few Republicans in the race who hasn't had more than one wife. Look, what matters is what Mitt has done in his own life. If his great-grandfather broke the law, that's mildly interesting but completely and utterly irrelevant.
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