tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-53461722011-04-21T16:55:22.282-07:00A blog about politics, news, science and whatever else strikes my fancy. -- A member of the Reality-based Commmunity.Morathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08229170001959387776noreply@blogger.comBlogger17481100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5346172.post-1133991217989968312005-12-07T13:29:00.000-08:002005-12-07T13:33:38.006-08:00

Just an FYI: This blog is on something of a haitus in favor of grad school. My company has kindly agreed to pay for the bulk of it. And I mean bulk -- tuition, all books -- recommended ones too -- and class related fees. Even if it's not work related. I have to pay for parking, student services, and a few other fees but I'm paying roughly 400 a semester for two classes a semester. In return, I

Morathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08229170001959387776noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5346172.post-1129663744038446482005-10-18T12:28:00.000-07:002005-10-18T14:16:18.883-07:00

Without going into detail, it appears -- rather, it is certain -- that someone listened in on a phone conversation between two people I know. Let us call them "Girl A" and "Girl B", "Stalker" and talk about the chain of events. Some noteable facts:1) Girl A met Stalker. He went from "nice, if codependent" to "cut off for being creepy". Subsequently, "Stalker" has managed to access phone numbers

Morathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08229170001959387776noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5346172.post-1128362381856928242005-10-03T10:57:00.000-07:002005-10-03T10:59:45.590-07:00

Go see it. Even if you haven't watched the series. Just go see it. It's really good, from any perspective.

Morathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08229170001959387776noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5346172.post-1128115650399519622005-09-30T14:26:00.000-07:002005-09-30T14:27:30.406-07:00

I'll be seeing Serenity tonight. I'll let you know what I think come Monday. ** Besides the fact that it should never have been cancelled. But hell, Fox cancelled Family Guy, so I wasn't surprised when they did....

Morathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08229170001959387776noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5346172.post-1127926713604953312005-09-28T09:58:00.000-07:002005-09-28T10:00:30.123-07:00

Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus: A Texas grand jury on Wednesday charged Rep. Tom DeLay and two political associates with conspiracy in a campaign finance scheme, an indictment that could force him to step down as House majority leader. For those unfamiliar with the investigation, let me give you the short version: It's pretty frickin' undeniable that Delay's PAC illegally funneled

Morathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08229170001959387776noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5346172.post-1127569715927864372005-09-24T06:41:00.000-07:002005-09-24T06:48:36.526-07:00

I made it through fine. Neither I nor my Dad lost power, and other than cleaning up some broken branches, no damage at my father's. My house has a single large branch down over my back fence, but the fence is fine so I only need to drag it out to the curb. No damage there either. I'll be moving my things back to my home (computer towers, mostly) later today, once the rain dies down. I hope

Morathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08229170001959387776noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5346172.post-1127496999265354612005-09-23T10:28:00.000-07:002005-09-23T10:37:08.586-07:00

Just an update here -- I live in Houston, so Rita has been very heavily on my mind. My wife and family evacuated early, so they weren't caught in the current nightmare of traffic. I had planned to leave yesterday morning, but one look at the traffic convinced me I was much better off staying home or in the local shelter. With Rita continuing to move eastward, I'm breathing a little easier. I'm

Morathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08229170001959387776noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5346172.post-1126889564214323422005-09-16T09:48:00.000-07:002005-09-16T09:52:44.223-07:00

Was it any good? I didn't watch it. Rummaging around various blogs, it appears a LOT of people -- even the politically addicted -- either didn't watch it or didn't find it worth spending much time on. I think that's rather a bad sign for Bush. It's hard to sell that contrition to the American public if the American public has not only got fairly hard opinions on your performance and then

Morathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08229170001959387776noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5346172.post-1126033646793862022005-09-06T11:42:00.000-07:002005-09-06T12:07:26.866-07:00

I don't doubt there is plenty of blame to go around on Katrina, and that failures occurred on all levels. However, I think the primary blame rests with the federal government, for several reasons:First and foremost, the federal government took the lead when they designated the area a national emergency before landfall. That's an absolute admission that state and local resources were insufficient

Morathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08229170001959387776noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5346172.post-1126026362023074742005-09-06T10:06:00.000-07:002005-09-06T10:38:47.036-07:00

I believe this is known as "Pulling an OJ": Buffeted by criticism over the federal response to Hurricane Katrina, President Bush said Tuesday he will oversee an investigation into what went wrong and why -- in part to be sure the country could withstand more storms or attack. You know, this could start a real trend. Why not let corrupt officials investigate themselves? It'd save so much money,

Morathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08229170001959387776noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5346172.post-1125693411303269232005-09-02T13:34:00.000-07:002005-09-02T13:36:51.310-07:00

Just a friendly reminder: Sure, we couldn't afford the hundreds of millions for levees and flood control structures in New Orleans, but we COULD afford 250 million to build a bridge in Alaska! Remember, 50 Alaskans needed that quarter-of-a-billion dollar bridge far more than New Orleans needed those pesky levees!

Morathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08229170001959387776noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5346172.post-1125678490859865402005-09-02T09:28:00.000-07:002005-09-02T09:59:04.880-07:00

Take a look at this: And Lt. Gen. Steven Blum of the National Guard said 7,000 National Guardsmen arriving in Louisiana on Friday would be dedicated to restoring order in New Orleans. He said half of them had just returned from assignments overseas and are "highly proficient in the use of lethal force." He pledged to "put down" the violence "in a quick and efficient manner." "But they are coming

Morathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08229170001959387776noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5346172.post-1125608607019870472005-09-01T13:59:00.000-07:002005-09-01T14:03:27.030-07:00

Having watched this clusterfuck unfold in real time, I don't see those thousands getting out of New Orleans in the next day or so. Which means, in addition to dealing with lack of food and water, we're going to start seeing disease. The sewers don't work, and sooner or later they're going to be reduced to trying to drink the flood waters -- probably without any means of purifying them (can't even

Morathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08229170001959387776noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5346172.post-1125602208489168952005-09-01T12:06:00.000-07:002005-09-01T12:16:48.546-07:00

There's a particularly nasty sort of human who finds delight in catastrophe and death. With Katrina, you'll find them among those who smugly state that those stuck in New Orleans "chose to stay" and thus their suffering and death really isn't anyone's problems but their own. Whatever reasoning they choose to mask their contempt for the rest of humankind (those not family, friends, or potential

Morathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08229170001959387776noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5346172.post-1125336439671039712005-08-29T10:23:00.000-07:002005-08-29T10:27:19.680-07:00

I just got a really nice, close-up look at it. Damn, those OCC guys are artists. I don't know bikes well enough to explain it, but I'm certainly going to catch that episode of American Chopper (I believe it airs in October). It's gorgeous -- from the wheels, to the exhaust (modeled after the main engines) to the placement of the NASA symbol and the Columbia flight patch....

Morathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08229170001959387776noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5346172.post-1125332904224442022005-08-29T09:24:00.000-07:002005-08-29T09:28:24.233-07:00

My wife has a cold. So I went to the store for the express purpose of buying one box of Advil cold and sinus. After showing six forms of ID, signing multiple pages in triplicate, and solemnly swearing I was not going to make me some sweet, sweet meth, I was allowed my single box of Advil. I can buy a gun with less hassle. It wasn't quiet that bad, but it took two or three minutes to show my ID

Morathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08229170001959387776noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5346172.post-1125004125473974322005-08-25T14:01:00.000-07:002005-08-25T14:08:45.500-07:00

I've started school again. In fact, I'm committing educational incest -- I am rudely and against all the rules of propriety getting a higher degree from the same school I got my bachelor's from. I expect it doesn't actually count for a Master's, though. What prompted my triumphant return to college, and my sudden and burning desire to upgrade my worn BS in Computer Science into the shiny

Morathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08229170001959387776noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5346172.post-1124911947504086262005-08-24T12:32:00.000-07:002005-08-24T12:44:31.686-07:00

Eugene Volokh wants everyone to know that he can't be homophobic, some of his best friends are gay. See? Look at all those examples of him being pro-gay. That means nothing he ever writes on homosexuality could EVER be badly written, though out, or expressing bias because he's on record -- for instance -- already as being all for same-sex marriage, provided it's the will of the people no matter

Morathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08229170001959387776noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5346172.post-1124905186163696222005-08-24T10:39:00.000-07:002005-08-24T10:45:00.346-07:00

Athenae identifies Volokh's real problem with his recent writings on gay: And it all sounds very reasonable and normal and really, in comparison to some of the freaks on Volokh's side of the political fence, almost tolerant for a minute. Until you realize it's built around the central conceit that ALL GAY PEOPLE THINK ABOUT GAY SEX AS MUCH AS RIGHT WING STRAIGHT PEOPLE DO. Volokh's post presumes

Morathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08229170001959387776noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5346172.post-1124904217004684912005-08-24T10:23:00.000-07:002005-08-24T10:28:02.526-07:00

Wait, Larry King actually asked: KING: All right, hold on. Dr. Forrest, your concept of how can you out-and-out turn down creationism, since if evolution is true, why are there still monkeys? I thought that was a joke. Jesus Christ, no wonder are country is full of morons. I mean, I thought Larry King was a twit to begin with, but good lord. Have some standards, man. That's like asking a

Morathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08229170001959387776noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5346172.post-1124902229321688152005-08-24T09:50:00.000-07:002005-08-24T09:59:20.250-07:00

Well, Eugene Volokh hasn't actually surpassed "I Love Torturing Criminals" post, but he's decided that this week is anti-homo week. His logic is a wonder to behold -- first he defines "homosexual" as "male-to-male sexual contact". Apparently lesbians are in a league of their own, and I'm not sure whether Volokh is actually aware of the existence of bisexuals or the drunken fooling around we

Morathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08229170001959387776noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5346172.post-1124737726769961862005-08-22T11:55:00.000-07:002005-08-22T12:08:46.856-07:00

So I've been looking around -- in my copious spare time -- at the Iraqi Constitution process. As you no doubt know (and I am far to lazy to link to at the moment), the Iraqis are writing themselves a Constitution. This, of course, is the pinnacle of the "Bringing Democracy to Iraq" process -- which replaced the defunct "Saddam had WMDs" theory, which itself was merely a repackaging of the "Saddam

Morathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08229170001959387776noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5346172.post-1123535859067248642005-08-08T14:05:00.000-07:002005-08-08T14:17:39.076-07:00

Work has me really busy, and away from my computer. Add in the fact that I'm working much longer hours, don't have weekends free, and am on a weird schedule (about 2:00 PM to midnight or so), I haven't had time to blog at all. However, once Discovery lands, I'll share some thoughts about the whole thing. I've spent my entire professional life working for NASA (as a contractor), and I've seen

Morathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08229170001959387776noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5346172.post-1122490160225280732005-07-27T11:43:00.000-07:002005-07-27T11:49:20.250-07:00

I've seen a lot of people complaining about the heat (Steve Gilliard bitching about it in New York, for instance). That is one nice thing about living in Houston -- I'm not only used to insane heat with high humidity, but my home and lifestyle are arranged around it. I remember, not too long ago, when I was looking for another car and happened to mention it to a relative. He was appalled that I

Morathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08229170001959387776noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5346172.post-1121882439046780172005-07-20T10:47:00.000-07:002005-07-20T11:00:39.080-07:00

Well, since we all know it's Roberts, I felt I'd weigh in not on "Roberts the Judge" (I'm not really qualified, and the bulk of his record is advocacy work -- you shill for what your clients pay you to shill. His judicial philosophy is better revealed on the bench, and it's not like he's got decades of decisions under his belt) but on "Roberts choice and the politics of". First, it's pretty

Morathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08229170001959387776noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5346172.post-1121702756117912272005-07-18T09:04:00.000-07:002005-07-18T09:05:56.130-07:00

You know, I could tell this was going to be a crappy day within minutes of waking up. The next two hours just reinforced it. And now, it's 11:00 o'clock and I'm officially pronouncing this a shitty day. Expect excess snark over the next several days, with an increased chance of ranting.

Morathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08229170001959387776noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5346172.post-1121441257643084042005-07-15T08:27:00.000-07:002005-07-15T08:34:41.206-07:00

This NYT story is as clear as mud: Karl Rove, the White House senior adviser, spoke with the columnist Robert D. Novak as he was preparing an article in July 2003 that identified a C.I.A. officer who was undercover, someone who has been officially briefed on the matter said. However, after reading it about a gazillion times (and being pointed to this version at the Post) it becomes pretty clear

Morathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08229170001959387776noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5346172.post-1121358684916386032005-07-14T09:31:00.000-07:002005-07-14T09:33:48.536-07:00

This ridiculous bullshit is why not Hillary. And why not Lieberman, for that matter. Get a goddamn clue, Hillary -- the Righties like it when Republicans get all purient about sex and culture because they believe Republicans share their values. When lefties get that way, all they see is pandering and nanny-stateism. Why? Because they don't believe you share their values, or else you'd be a

Morathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08229170001959387776noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5346172.post-1121276229639689872005-07-13T10:35:00.000-07:002005-07-13T14:21:17.216-07:00

Looks like a one-day scrub on Discovery. Hopefully tomorrow will see a smooth launch.Update: Looks like the scrub is more than 24 hours. It appears the launch won't be until Friday or -- more likely -- Saturday. At the earliest. Update II: Looks like as late as Monday.

Morathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08229170001959387776noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5346172.post-1121100590738053482005-07-11T09:49:00.000-07:002005-07-11T09:55:36.140-07:00

Atrios has the best explanation of this NYT article I've come across: This New York Times article on the Rove case is typically clear as mud, but after reading it several times and consulting with a handful of liberal intellectuals, I've gained new respect for Matt Cooper. Basically, he got fed up with Rove's lawyer lying to the press, and figured that combined with the waiver he'd previously

Morathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08229170001959387776noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5346172.post-1120753992327765222005-07-07T09:32:00.000-07:002005-07-07T11:00:55.793-07:00

My sympathies to those in England -- and my deepest hopes that your response to this tragedy is more fruitful than ours was.

Morathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08229170001959387776noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5346172.post-1120681692753191522005-07-06T13:28:00.000-07:002005-07-06T14:07:11.240-07:00

Have fun, Judy!: Judith Miller, New York Times reporter, was ordered to jail by a US district court judge for refusing to tell prosecutors the name of her source in a case revolving around the leak of a CIA operative's name. Let me take a moment to elaborate on "journalistic privilege". As best I understand, of the 40-odd states that have such shield laws, not one would have exempted Miller and

Morathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08229170001959387776noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5346172.post-1120234165844302672005-07-01T08:57:00.000-07:002005-07-01T09:09:25.916-07:00

Well, with O'Conner retiring, the fight is going to be nasty. If I was leading the Democratic party right now -- and speaking from a purely pragmatic standpoint -- I'd start talking loudly about how Gonzalez is an excellent choice for the bench. The first hispanic justice in 70 years, a man who obviously has the President's respect and on whose judgment the President has relied....really play it

Morathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08229170001959387776noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5346172.post-1120066857096570292005-06-29T10:40:00.000-07:002005-06-29T10:40:57.200-07:00

Good for Canada: The Liberals' controversial same-sex marriage legislation has passed final reading in the House of Commons, sailing through in a 158-133 vote. When God doesn't rain firey death upon our northern neighbors for their decision to treat gays just like everyone else, maybe some of the idiots here will get a clue. But probably not. Bigots want SOMEONE to hate -- it makes them

Morathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08229170001959387776noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5346172.post-1119974033237852392005-06-28T08:53:00.000-07:002005-06-28T09:06:01.003-07:00

Kevin Drum needs to get a damn clue: Despite that, I agree 100% with Garance Franke-Ruta and Armando that liberal blog readers ought to change their tune on this issue posthaste. You either support the right of reporters to shield their sources or you don't, and your opinion shouldn't vary based on whether (a) you dislike the reporters in question or (b) you'd like the information they're hiding

Morathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08229170001959387776noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5346172.post-1119041666326530702005-06-17T13:53:00.000-07:002005-06-17T13:54:26.346-07:00

I know that I've really been on vacation for the last few months, but I'm actually going to be computer and internet free for a week. I'll be back on the 27th, and hopefully less grumpy.

Morathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08229170001959387776noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5346172.post-1119028241758405582005-06-17T10:10:00.000-07:002005-06-17T10:10:41.860-07:00

And I thought George was the stupid one:Gov. Jeb Bush asked a prosecutor Friday to investigate why Terri Schiavo collapsed 15 years ago, calling into question how long it took her husband to call 911 after he found her. In a letter faxed to Pinellas-Pasco County State Attorney Bernie McCabe, Bush said Michael Schiavo testified in a 1992 medical malpractice trial that he found his wife

Morathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08229170001959387776noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5346172.post-1118866524016600532005-06-15T13:15:00.000-07:002005-06-15T13:16:24.993-07:00

I think Michael Schiavo is about to sue some people: An autopsy on Terri Schiavo backed her husband's contention that she was in a persistent vegetative state, finding that she had massive and irreversible brain damage and was blind, the medical examiner's office said Wednesday. It also found no evidence that she was strangled or otherwise abused. Happily, most of the people making the really

Morathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08229170001959387776noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5346172.post-1118775125621095892005-06-14T11:52:00.000-07:002005-06-14T11:56:43.730-07:00

Americablog has the list of the pro-lynching US Senators: Lamar Alexander (R-TN)Robert Bennett (R-UT)Thad Cochran (R-MS)Kent Conrad (D-ND)John Cornyn (R-TX)Michael Crapo (R-ID)Michael Enzi (R-WY)Chuck Grassley (R-IA)Judd Gregg (R-NH)Orrin Hatch (R-UT)Trent Lott (R-MS)Lisa Murkowski (R-AK)Richard Shelby (R-AL)John Sununu (R-NH)Craig Thomas (R-WY)George Voinovich (R-OH) Now, I'm not surprised that

Morathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08229170001959387776noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5346172.post-1118774691933579412005-06-14T11:44:00.000-07:002005-06-14T11:47:23.393-07:00

And this is why I'm adding Driftglass to my blog list: Out in the middle of the Big Empty (OK, yes, there's no 'middle'. Fuck you, ya picky bastards) these little guys just bang! into existence and then vanish. Always a pair -- a particle and an anti-particle of various denominations -- they pop in for a visit and then annihilate each other and disappear.In fact, they're the little jobbers that

Morathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08229170001959387776noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5346172.post-1118774370201511132005-06-14T11:39:00.000-07:002005-06-14T11:42:27.143-07:00

If you've ever read Powerline, you owe it to yourself to read this.

Morathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08229170001959387776noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5346172.post-1118773914247719322005-06-14T11:17:00.000-07:002005-06-15T12:43:08.680-07:00

I thought I'd weight in -- a week or so late -- on the whole Kos pie-fight ad thing. I'm not going to bother recapping it, because I don't care. I don't care about the ad. I don't care about Kos' comments or his later apology. I don't care if the ad offended you, if Kos' original response or his apology offended you, or even if you're frickin' Kos and the original slew of complaints offended

Morathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08229170001959387776noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5346172.post-1118683952452449262005-06-13T10:32:00.000-07:002005-06-13T16:21:30.986-07:00

A really good look at Dean: Transformative politics is not for sissies. If you're to really change political trends, and put bottom rail on top for a generation, you can't be gentle about it. You can't cajole. You can't seduce. You have to go right for the throat. And you have to be ready for the whole of the old order to come down on you for it.So let's be clear about this right now. Love him or

Morathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08229170001959387776noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5346172.post-1118682285608410422005-06-13T10:04:00.000-07:002005-06-13T10:25:32.483-07:00

This can only mean one thing: 'My view is FOX News is a propaganda outlet for the Republican Party and I don't comment on FOX News,' Dean said. That was in response to vice president Dick Cheney calling Howard Dean 'over the top' on Fox News on Sunday. Biden and the DLC are going to have to go on Fox news and apologize. I just can't see any way around it. Goddammit, Dean! Stop it with your '

Morathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08229170001959387776noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5346172.post-1118681827572494852005-06-13T09:57:00.000-07:002005-06-13T10:05:03.840-07:00

I saw this on Daily Kos: Other Republicans on television talk shows joined Democrats in criticizing the administration for playing down the insurgency, while overestimating the ability of Iraq's fledgling forces to fight without U.S. soldiers in the lead and failing to plan for the post-invasion occupation.'The insurgency is alive and well. We underestimated the viability of the insurgency,' Sen.

Morathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08229170001959387776noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5346172.post-1118337323316862522005-06-09T10:11:00.000-07:002005-06-11T17:14:51.106-07:00

Given Dean's recent...lack of support...from Congressional Democrats (the "pansy-ass brigade", as my grandfather would call them), I thought I'd reenable my DNC ePatriots buttons. Everything I've read about what Dean's doing at the DNC -- building up ground organizations in long neglected states, allowing states more autonomy on their own organizations, and basically breaking the Democratic

Morathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08229170001959387776noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5346172.post-1118335559245707292005-06-09T09:45:00.000-07:002005-06-09T09:47:34.440-07:00

Daily Kos had a link to a story in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer wherein, apparently, a United States Marine Corp. recruiter did a damn good imitation of a press gang. Oh, not quite abduction -- but given the Marine Corps. reputation for having to beat away recruits with a stick, the fact that they were resorting to sleep and food deprivation, coupled with aggressive recruitment tactics that

Morathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08229170001959387776noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5346172.post-1118263190278850172005-06-08T13:39:00.000-07:002005-06-08T13:42:18.390-07:00

I can understand Garance's point: The issue is not whether or not violent video games -- or TV shows, or movies -- have the same kind of impact on youth violence that the crack epidemic did. Just because something doesn't end in murder or assault or other significant physical consequences doesn't mean it can't be a real problem. Perceived cultural problems may not be considered real problems

Morathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08229170001959387776noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5346172.post-1118260953267890662005-06-08T13:02:00.000-07:002005-06-08T13:14:56.900-07:00

Kevin Drum dips his toes into the issue of "worried parents and those nasty videogames". Let's cut the crap, shall we? You can make cogent arguments that violent video games have no effect on crime and moral decay. Ditto for stupid TV shows, internet porn, gangster rap, and cigarette ads. But it's the first sentence of Garance's paragraph that's the key one.The point is not that we shouldn't make

Morathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08229170001959387776noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5346172.post-1118250584757449732005-06-08T10:09:00.000-07:002005-06-08T10:17:50.603-07:00

I'm shocked: Even after reducing its recruiting target for May, the Army missed it by about 25 percent, Army officials said on Tuesday. The shortfall would have been even bigger had the Army stuck to its original goal for the month.On Friday, the Army is expected to announce that it met only 75 percent of its recruiting goal for May, the fourth consecutive monthly shortfall in the number of new

Morathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08229170001959387776noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5346172.post-1118249219261127892005-06-08T09:46:00.000-07:002005-06-08T11:20:07.536-07:00

Damn, this is the scandal that keeps on giving: Democrats were screaming "cover-up" yesterday after state officials admitted that a high-risk hedge fund that the embattled Ohio Bureau of Workers' Compensation had invested in had lost $215 million in just a few months last year.The bureau acknowledged that the fund, managed by a Pittsburgh-based investment firm, lost the money between February

Morathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08229170001959387776noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5346172.post-1117818674830270502005-06-03T10:11:00.000-07:002005-06-03T10:12:45.666-07:00

I'm going to predict that this discovery will not stop a single fundamentalist from screeching about the "gay agenda" and "gay recruitment".When the genetically altered fruit fly was released into the observation chamber, it did what these breeders par excellence tend to do. It pursued a waiting virgin female. It gently tapped the girl with its leg, played her a song (using wings as instruments)

Morathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08229170001959387776noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5346172.post-1117211575351034442005-05-27T09:32:00.000-07:002005-05-27T10:03:27.306-07:00

I'm lucky in that my housing market hasn't gone TOO insane, but even looking around Houston I can see the signs Krugman is talking about: Even Alan Greenspan now admits that we have 'characteristics of bubbles' in the housing market, but only 'in certain areas.' And it's true that the craziest scenes are concentrated in a few regions, like coastal Florida and California. But these aren't tiny

Morathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08229170001959387776noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5346172.post-1117051498892506882005-05-25T13:04:00.000-07:002005-05-25T14:33:59.306-07:00

I thought the election had changed everything. U.S. Marines clashed with and killed at least 10 suspected militants here on Wednesday as more than 1,000 American troops raided yet another city in western Iraq, launching a major operation against insurgents and foreign fighters thought to be infiltrating from Syria Guess not. Oh, we also killed an Imam (doesn't really matter whether he was or

Morathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08229170001959387776noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5346172.post-1115920092325210522005-05-12T10:48:00.000-07:002005-05-12T10:48:13.356-07:00

Wow. My hometown paper REALLY lays into Bill O'Reilly:The 19th century American writer and philosopher Ralph Waldo Emerson once said of a man, "The louder he talked of his honor, the faster we counted our spoons." Were he alive today, Emerson might be thinking of television host Bill O'Reilly. [...] O'Reilly claims his show is free of spin. Spin is when someone casts the facts in such a light

Morathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08229170001959387776noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5346172.post-1115658699407860282005-05-09T10:10:00.000-07:002005-05-09T10:11:39.416-07:00

I do plan to return to regular posting soon. However, I've been utterly and totally swamped for awhile. I look to resume sometime this week or next -- especially now that blogger is behaving.

Morathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08229170001959387776noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5346172.post-1114455256732492632005-04-25T11:54:00.000-07:002005-04-25T11:54:16.733-07:00

Wow. The phrase 'cool' doesn't really seem to sum up the potential here. Scientists have induced a state close to suspended animation in a mammal for the first time, a long-sought achievement that could lead to a host of medical advances for people. By exposing mice to hydrogen sulfide gas, the researchers managed to place the animals into a condition equivalent to hibernation, which could be

Morathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08229170001959387776noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5346172.post-1114203009924382652005-04-22T13:46:00.000-07:002005-04-22T13:59:31.000-07:00

I just saw the Showtime version of the Reefer Madness musical (no links, I'm lazy and about to head home). Short response: Fricking HILARIOUS. Good music, perfect casting, excellently put together. It is not -- as I had to point out to my brother -- pot humor. It is a musical version of the original 1936 "Reefer Madness", but in a firmly tongue-in-cheek style. The lyrics are clever, the music

Morathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08229170001959387776noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5346172.post-1114027697670034862005-04-20T11:27:00.000-07:002005-04-20T13:08:17.670-07:00

Sorry it's been so slow. Blogger has been giving me nothing but grief. Hopefully posting will resume soon, as I once again have access to blogger.

Morathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08229170001959387776noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5346172.post-1113592410146370222005-04-15T11:51:00.000-07:002005-04-15T12:13:30.150-07:00

I play Galaxies. I like it -- many of my friends don't, preferring the EQ2 or WoW system. To me, there's little not to like. I'm not forced into PvP, so no worries about griefers. I can solo OR group and still access most of the game. Because it's skill based, not level based, if I get bored with one profession I can give it up and move towards another. Heck, I'm a weird mix of Tera Kasi,

Morathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08229170001959387776noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5346172.post-1112883430574200492005-04-07T07:17:00.000-07:002005-04-07T07:23:42.730-07:00

This (especially the part I bolded) should be on the lips of every Democrat whenever Social Security comes up: This is the first time that a President of the United States has declared that we, the United States Government, will not put the full faith and credit of the federal government behind the Social Security trust fund. What this President is saying is, we have two kinds of debt. Let's see

Morathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08229170001959387776noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5346172.post-1112881406697763552005-04-07T06:43:00.000-07:002005-04-07T06:44:41.690-07:00

It's nice to see Florida continues to err on the side of life: Florida's legislature has approved a bill that would give residents the right to open fire against anyone they perceive as a threat in public, instead of having to try to avoid a conflict as under prevailing law. You'll have to read down to find out how the NRA feels about the law (I'll give you two guesses, and the second doesn't

Morathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08229170001959387776noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5346172.post-1112711753327747122005-04-05T07:35:00.000-07:002005-04-05T07:54:04.526-07:00

Big Media Matt has about the best response to Cornyn's idiocy I've see, as well as the various defenses offered for it. Back to Cornyn -- who's kidding whom here? I've already seen some folks on the right try to explain this away. He was just offering an analytic point, noting the existence of anger about some judicial decisions, some anti-judge violence, and offering some speculations. Sure he

Morathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08229170001959387776noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5346172.post-1112625359328398062005-04-04T07:31:00.000-07:002005-04-04T07:35:59.330-07:00

Having flipped through several news channels over the last hour, I thought I'd save you the time: The Pope is still dead and they're still planning on burying him. Apparently, this is a point of some debate, as every frickin' channel appears to offering in-depth coverage, complete with teams of researchers and live reporters. Why, I don't know. He's dead. I don't think there's a single person

Morathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08229170001959387776noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5346172.post-1112370742955070742005-04-01T07:52:00.000-08:002005-04-01T08:00:07.343-08:00

Well, I was right. Tom Delay isn't going quietly into the night -- he's going to fight his party tooth and nail if they try to usher him out. No wonder he's become buddy-buddy with the fundies. They've known him for longer. This explains the whole Shiavo mess, though. Delay needed some serious cred with the radical base and didn't care about the political damage -- he was already hurting. The

Morathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08229170001959387776noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5346172.post-1112295443779833862005-03-31T10:57:00.000-08:002005-03-31T11:01:59.863-08:00

Well, I think this means Tom Delay isn't going to quietly into the night: Mrs. Schiavo's death is a moral poverty and a legal tragedy. This loss happened because our legal system did not protect the people who need protection most, and that will change. The time will come for the men responsible for this to answer for their behavior, but not today. Today we grieve, we pray, and we hope to God

Morathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08229170001959387776noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5346172.post-1112284554160951932005-03-31T07:55:00.000-08:002005-03-31T08:13:25.420-08:00

Rest in Peace. And hopefully Delay's craven use of your name and image has convinced many Americans to avoid the same fate.

Morathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08229170001959387776noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5346172.post-1112108939378631842005-03-29T07:08:00.000-08:002005-03-29T16:16:38.216-08:00

It's nice to see some of this finally getting noticed: Everyone knows about the attempt to circumvent the courts through 'Terri's law.' But there has been little national exposure for a Miami Herald report that Jeb Bush sent state law enforcement agents to seize Terri Schiavo from the hospice - a plan called off when local police said they would enforce the judge's order that she remain there.

Morathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08229170001959387776noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5346172.post-1111679692197056422005-03-24T07:54:00.000-08:002005-03-24T10:05:48.290-08:00

Wow, the Times has an editorial that's remarkable straightforward: Fortunately, the unpoliticized numbers in yesterday's report are not overly dire. Using a 75-year time horizon, the trustees project that the system will be able to pay full benefits until 2041, at which time it will be able to pay 74 percent of the promised benefits, falling to 68 percent by 2079. That works out to a gap of $4

Morathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08229170001959387776noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5346172.post-1111510729695169192005-03-22T08:58:00.000-08:002005-03-22T09:38:25.880-08:00

Activist Legislators - The boundless overreaching behind Congress' new Schiavo bill. By Dahlia Lithwick remains the only person on Slate that's a 'must read': And what is the overwhelming constitutional value that supersedes each of these centuries-old legal notions? Evidently, Congress has a secret, super-textual constitutional role as the nation's caped crusaders -- its members authorized to

Morathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08229170001959387776noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5346172.post-1111075193165272612005-03-17T07:59:00.000-08:002005-03-17T08:02:26.110-08:00

You'd think, by now, we'd have abolished this sort of petty vengeance: I am being perfectly serious, by the way. I like civilization, but some forms of savagery deserve to be met not just with cold, bloodless justice but with the deliberate infliction of pain, with cruel vengeance rather than with supposed humaneness or squeamishness. I think it slights the burning injustice of the murders, and

Morathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08229170001959387776noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5346172.post-1111074566902184942005-03-17T07:49:00.000-08:002005-03-17T08:00:30.303-08:00

I'd like to second Rich's comment here: The enduring legacy of Enron can be summed up in one word: propaganda. Here was a corporate house of cards whose business few could explain and whose source of profits was an utter mystery - and yet it thrived, unquestioned, for years. How? As the narrator says in 'The Smartest Guys in the Room,' Enron 'was fixated on its public relations campaigns.' It

Morathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08229170001959387776noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5346172.post-1111072225483366852005-03-17T07:10:00.000-08:002005-03-17T07:27:38.610-08:00

Poor Jon Chait: I've gotten several emails from readers who claim they won't read me, or won't read TNR, because of this or that disagreeable position we've taken. To be perfectly frank, if you think like this I pity you. Why on Earth should anybody confine their reading to those writers with whom they agree on everything? The best way to learn is to read arguments you disagree with. I

Morathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08229170001959387776noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5346172.post-1110988787758971202005-03-16T07:59:00.000-08:002005-03-16T08:22:02.500-08:00

You know, the sad thing is....I'm not surprised: At least 26 prisoners have died in American custody in Iraq and Afghanistan since 2002 in what Army and Navy investigators have concluded or suspect were acts of criminal homicide, according to military officials.The number of confirmed or suspected cases is much higher than any accounting the military has previously reported. A Pentagon report

Morathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08229170001959387776noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5346172.post-1110924058664676302005-03-15T13:57:00.000-08:002005-03-15T14:00:58.666-08:00

You know, it occurs to me that Kilgore's little response actually reads better if you imagine him as a Goth. You know -- those sullen little 15 year olds in the black eyeshadow with their whole "I'm so dark and mysterious and smart. I shall suffer in silence so that when you finally come to appreciate my magnificance and genius, you shall also marvel at my noble and gracious attitude towards your

Morathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08229170001959387776noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5346172.post-1110922145705367082005-03-15T13:29:00.000-08:002005-03-15T13:37:32.286-08:00

Just in case you thought hackery was limited to the right, Ed Kilgore over at "New Donkey" demonstrates left-wing hackery. I'll yank the highlights: The crowning "outrage," apparently, is the recent suggestion by Al From and Marshall Wittman that maybe the leadership of MoveOn doesn't speak for the Democratic Party as a whole, a suggestion Kos chooses to interpret as a call for the party to "

Morathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08229170001959387776noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5346172.post-1110905070797131002005-03-15T08:44:00.000-08:002005-03-15T08:52:50.126-08:00

Shorter Christopher Hitchens: "All news from Iraq -- no matter what -- proves I was right. Or at least, everyone else was more wrong." Casually glancing over his piece, where he bitches about the UN weapons inspectors, MoveOn, the media, and politicians, one can't help but come to the conclusion that he's a frickin' tool. After all, how else could one come to the conclusion that widespread

Morathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08229170001959387776noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5346172.post-1110903942601490012005-03-15T08:25:00.000-08:002005-03-15T08:51:18.376-08:00

I don't think Matt quite does this justice: This is clearly true and it's not exactly unimportant. At the same time, from the perspective of early 2005 a split that occured in late 2002 over an invasion that wound up happening in early 2003 isn't the most important thing in the world. On forward-looking issues there are, to be sure, disagreements among Democrats. But in my experience those

Morathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08229170001959387776noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5346172.post-1110901894185938142005-03-15T07:51:00.000-08:002005-03-15T08:27:57.070-08:00

More good news: "A trial court judge ruled Monday that California's ban on same-sex marriage is unconstitutional, comparing it to archaic laws that once blocked interracial marriage and promoted 'separate but equal' segregation. If upheld on appeal, the decision could lead to California becoming the second state in the nation -- after Massachusetts -- in which gay men and lesbians have the same

Morathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08229170001959387776noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5346172.post-1110899361900593602005-03-15T07:09:00.000-08:002005-03-15T07:33:18.580-08:00

Jonathan Chait (writing for Josh Marshall) screws up in the middle of an otherwise good post taking Marshall Wittmann to task:So Marshall responded by launching a counterattack on "dogmatic idealogues" and "hyperspace lefties" who gang up on Lieberman. That's fine as far as it goes. I actually agree with Marshall and the DLC on the suicidal purity of the Democratic party's left wing, embodied by

Morathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08229170001959387776noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5346172.post-1110814246437787992005-03-14T07:30:00.000-08:002005-03-14T07:54:47.783-08:00

DeLay Ethics Allegations Now Cause of GOP Concern: House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Tex.) has dismissed questions about his ethics as partisan attacks, but revelations last week about his overseas travel and ties to lobbyists under investigation have emboldened Democrats and provoked worry among Republicans. With some members increasingly concerned that DeLay had left himself vulnerable to

Morathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08229170001959387776noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5346172.post-1110394634346246602005-03-09T10:57:00.000-08:002005-03-09T11:16:36.856-08:00

Hubris tends to bring down the assholes sooner or later: Remember USANext's smear job on AARP -- the internet-only ad that tried to marginalize the AARP out of the Social Security debate by suggesting that the group has something against American soldiers but loves gay marriage? Rick Raymen and Steve Hansen haven't forgotten. They're the Oregon couple shown kissing in the USANext ad. Today in

Morathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08229170001959387776noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5346172.post-1110302033227994882005-03-08T09:13:00.000-08:002005-03-08T09:19:03.296-08:00

Fred Kaplan is SO cute. His latest offering at Slate promises that Bush will "regret" his appointment of Bolton as UN Ambassador. Isn't that the cutest thing? It's even more cute than those papers that endorsed Bush because he'd "do everything different in his second term". How Kaplan can -- after four years of watching Curious George -- think that Bush will regret snubbing the UN is beyond

Morathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08229170001959387776noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5346172.post-1110220741336202822005-03-07T10:39:00.000-08:002005-03-07T10:49:05.113-08:00

PZ Myers was talking about Horowitz and other idiocies and something caught my eye (the bolding is mine): It's an interesting tactic. I'm sure that if you looked through a list of invited speakers to our science department, there's a noticeable deficiency of creationists, perpetual motion machine inventors, and anti-environment crackpots. This is discrimination, in the sense of discernment, since

Morathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08229170001959387776noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5346172.post-1110215711029174222005-03-07T09:15:00.000-08:002005-03-07T10:14:18.450-08:00

Oliver Willis sums up the Krugman/Klein "Meet the Press" conversation better than anyone else: There was an exchange on this morning's Meet The Press that was so symptomatic of the acrimony between the two camps within the Democratic party. Joe Klein, after getting through a bunch of nonsense slamming the Democratic position on social security, tried to paint Paul Krugman's tepid sentiment

Morathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08229170001959387776noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5346172.post-1110214664037538582005-03-07T08:57:00.000-08:002005-03-07T09:15:48.600-08:00

This is where Grover's "starve the beast" plan runs smack into reality: President Bush and Republican lawmakers are being forced to temper their anti-tax ambitions, as the party that consolidated power in Washington by promising to shrink government grapples with the high cost of its efforts to expand the Defense Department and the nation's two largest entitlement programs. The president's only

Morathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08229170001959387776noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5346172.post-1109960125137803182005-03-04T10:15:00.000-08:002005-03-04T11:30:42.450-08:00

Well, looks like Greenspan's myth is starting to get hammered. Krugman states: Four years ago, Alan Greenspan urged Congress to cut taxes, asserting that the federal government was in imminent danger of paying off too much debt.On Wednesday the Fed chairman warned Congress of the opposite fiscal danger: he asserted that there would be large budget deficits for the foreseeable future, leading to

Morathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08229170001959387776noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5346172.post-1109871083364598972005-03-03T09:31:00.000-08:002005-03-03T09:48:06.176-08:00

Let me give you the short version of Kansas' Attorney General Kline's fishing expedition. Before we start, bear in mind two things. First, the old axiom "Watch what a man does, not what he says." Second, that Kline's stated goal in seeking this subpoenas is to prosecute statutory rape of minors. Having taking a look at Kline's words, let's check his actions:NOT asked for the records of any women

Morathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08229170001959387776noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5346172.post-1109866100197480652005-03-03T08:08:00.000-08:002005-03-03T08:35:25.006-08:00

Dahlia Lithwick's latest Supreme Court Dispatch is up -- this one over the 10 Commandments case. Before I dig into that, let me state something for the record: Her column is the only column on Slate worth reading regularly. Whatever the hell they pay her, it's not enough. In any case, she manages to boil down the facts before the court: First, the Lemon test sucks -- but it's the best they've

Morathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08229170001959387776noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5346172.post-1109789908092724862005-03-02T10:58:00.000-08:002005-03-02T11:02:11.603-08:00

Shorter Sebastion Holsclaw: "Byrd is right, but I can't admit it, so I'll call him a racist instead".

Morathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08229170001959387776noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5346172.post-1109700634170952482005-03-01T10:10:00.000-08:002005-03-01T10:10:34.170-08:00

About damn time: The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday abolished the death penalty for juveniles, a major victory for opponents of capital punishment in the last country in the world that gave official sanction to the execution of people who commit crimes as minors. By a 5-4 vote, the high court declared unconstitutional the death penalty those under the age of 18 when they committed their crimes

Morathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08229170001959387776noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5346172.post-1109697178032705242005-03-01T09:12:00.000-08:002005-03-01T09:47:37.416-08:00

U.S. Cites New Bin Laden Plans: Osama bin Laden is enlisting his top operative in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, to plan potential attacks on the United States, U.S. intelligence indicates. Al-Zarqawi, who rivals bin Laden as the nation's public enemy No. 1, has been involved in attacks in the Middle East but has not been known before to have set his sights on the United States. The Homeland

Morathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08229170001959387776noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5346172.post-1109612116974511882005-02-28T09:35:00.000-08:002005-02-28T13:31:54.186-08:00

Well, Josh Marshall thinks Holy Joe is looking to cut a deal on Social Security, and save the GOP from themselves. So in response, I thought I'd write an open letter to Joe.Dear Joe, Hi. I don't live in your state. However, I am an American citizen, a Democrat, politically active, and have some disposable income, so you should probably pay a bit of attention. We're in the middle of a war -- not

Morathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08229170001959387776noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5346172.post-1109360528287684882005-02-25T11:42:00.000-08:002005-02-25T11:48:29.620-08:00

Lookit! Idiots on parade:CNN discovers that Dean's trips to the red states are greeted by Democrats running away from happy-handshake pictures with Howard: I guess they didn't read down to the bit where Howard's rallies are selling out in hours. Last I checked, the Smirking Chimp couldn't fill auditoriums in the reddest of states on his Social Security swing. I don't know what the Corner

Morathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08229170001959387776noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5346172.post-1109352979359615242005-02-25T09:36:00.000-08:002005-02-25T09:42:42.463-08:00

Very. He spews forth about Gannon/Guckert: Just ask yourself: if a Catholic conservative blogger had found out that a liberal-leaning pseudo-pundit/reporter was a gay sex worker, had outed the guy as gay and a 'hooker,' published pictures of the guy naked, and demanded a response from a Democratic administration, do you think gay rights groups would be silent? They'd rightly be outraged. But the

Morathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08229170001959387776noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5346172.post-1109352650127697792005-02-25T09:30:00.000-08:002005-02-25T09:37:17.190-08:00

Apostropher wonders how could Powerline sink so low? Powerline states:Powerline: How Low Will Senate Democrats Sink?Hugh Hewitt directs our attention to this post by Carol Platt Liebau regarding potential Supreme Court nominee Michael Luttig. Judge Luttig's father was murdered, and liberals may be poised to argue that this fact would render him impermissibly biased in death penalty cases (but

Morathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08229170001959387776noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5346172.post-1109351971841374502005-02-25T09:19:00.000-08:002005-02-25T09:32:13.820-08:00

I guess Specter's going to slammed by the wingnuts again: U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee (news - web sites) Chairman Arlen Specter warned on Thursday that an impending showdown over President Bush (news - web sites)'s judicial nominees could lead to turmoil in the Republican-led Senate. Specter said if fellow Republicans invoke the 'nuclear option' by changing the Senate's rules to ban

Morathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08229170001959387776noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5346172.post-1109265591556473802005-02-24T09:19:00.000-08:002005-02-24T09:39:43.483-08:00

I'm shocked: Concluding a yearlong study on the effectiveness of President Bush's sweeping education law, No Child Left Behind, a bipartisan panel of lawmakers drawn from many states yesterday pronounced it a flawed, convoluted and unconstitutional education reform initiative that had usurped state and local control of public schools. NCLB is flawed? I beg to differ! Sure, as a bill designed to

Morathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08229170001959387776noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5346172.post-1109264846802563352005-02-24T09:06:00.000-08:002005-02-24T09:07:26.803-08:00

Sorry for not posting -- it's been hectic. Work goes from nothing to frantic and then back again, and my poor wife has been giving herself an ulcer preparing for TAKS. Thankfully, things are slowly returning to normal. Hopefully I'll post more today and tomorrow.

Morathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08229170001959387776noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5346172.post-1108666490846291522005-02-17T10:54:00.000-08:002005-02-17T11:00:59.783-08:00

Looks like members of the press are starting to get a bit irked that Man-Whore Guckert got so much access. Down complains: I'm still mystified by this story. I was rejected for a White House press pass at the start of the Bush administration, but someone with an alias, a tax evasion problem and Internet pictures where he posed like the 'Barberini Faun' is credentialed to cover a White House that

Morathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08229170001959387776noreply@blogger.com