Rove Still in the Spotlight (A "Rovian Ploy?")

And Kos is giddy about it.

Well, Roberts bought Rove all of what, 24 hours? I hope he got some sleep in, because he's got no reprieve.

I don't quite understand why.

Also, Drudge is reporting leading lefties are handing down marching orders instructing their minions to keep the heat on Rove.

ROLL CALL reports: "In a set of talking points issued Wednesday morning, the Senate Democratic leadership urged rank-and-file Senators to continue spotlighting Rove's involvement in the leaking of CIA operative Valerie Plame's identity. 'A Supreme Court nominee will not distract the country from the growing credibility problem at the White House,' Democrats were told to echo."

Most on the right like the nomination of Roberts and will be thrilled to have a 50 year old conservative (pretty on the record on everything except abortion) skate through confirmation as leftists focus on Rove.

This is great news to me. Pound on Rove all you want, tear him to shreds, the President has no more elections to win, only a legacy left to leave. Two or three staunch, young conservatives and a shift of the Court to the right is a pretty good place to start.

Lefties are claiming Bush released his nominee early to take the heat off of Rove, I disagree. It seems to me President Bush nominated Roberts in the midst of a leftists driven firestorm knowing they don't let go of a bone once they gets their jaws on it. This manufactured Rove story paves the way not only for a smooth Roberts nomination, but it sets a tone for future nominations, of which President Bush will surely get at least one, probably two more.

From the looks of it, and from the obvious way this is going to shake out, Rove will be battered a bit, Roberts will skate through, and a precedent will be set. Conservative are okay. Fillibusters are not.

I applaud the administration for using the rabid left to get a good man what looks to be an easy Supreme Court appointment.

Javon Needs a "Decent Wage"

Thank you, Mr. Rosenhaus, for putting things in perspective. I mean, it's not like Javon is asking for anything unreasonable. How do you expect a man to live on a measley half million a year? Javon has needs too people.

Seriously, if Tom Cruise is making $50 million a movie, surely Javon can get paid a decent, livable wage.

It's all relative, baby. It's OK for Tom Cruise to make $50 million a movie? But a guy who risks his life can't get paid a decent wage? B.S. I'm not standing for it."

No you idiot, your line of reasoning is bullshit, and Wisconsin won't stand for it. Perhaps you thought this time around Green Bay would buckle since new management was in town. Well as long as Thompson stays strong and keeps you and your meal ticket in limbo, I will put up with a thinner receiving corps. I will put up with two years of mediocre football to ensure that this never happens again.

At some point there has to be a massive backlash against people like Rosehaus, but first we need to find us some decent human beings who are willing to play football.

My email to a jackass...

As inspired by GBfan.

Finally, we get a glimpse into the men and women who write the editorials at the Journal Sentinel.

It is no longer shocking to me how you folks can be so incredibly stupid. It seems you simply are, in fact, incredibly stupid. I honestly hope you are an old codger a la Andy Rooney, because if you’re not you really need to get a life. I can’t wait to read your next complaint about Summerfest (I can’t sleep with that racket) the Milwaukee Mile (honestly can’t you find something quiet to enjoy, like a ballet?) or the NAACP convention (I couldn’t find a parking spot anywhere).

On pins and needles waiting for your next banal bitching,

I eagerly await his response.

Google Moon: Very Cool

Thanks again Lifehacker

In honor of the first manned Moon landing, which took place on July 20, 1969, we’ve added some NASA imagery to the Google Maps interface to help you pay your own visit to our celestial neighbor. Happy lunar surfing. More about Google Moon.

How stupid do you think we are?

From Barbara Boxer:

"Without prejudging the nominee, I do believe Judge Roberts' record raises questions about his commitment to the right to privacy, protection of the environment and other important issues."

So, without prejudging the nominee she goes ahead and prejudges the nominee? Why even begin the sentence that way you stupid hag?

NYT on Roberts, quick and dirty hit

In an interesting editorial, the New York Times suggests that Senators take their time and wait for hearings before passing judgement, and then promptly passes judgement on what type of SC Justice Roberts WILL be.

The far right is on a drive to resurrect ancient, and discredited, states' rights theories. If extremists take control of the Supreme Court, we will end up with an America in which the federal government is powerless to protect against air pollution, unsafe working conditions and child labor. There are reasons to be concerned about Judge Roberts on this score. He dissented in an Endangered Species Act case in a way that suggested he might hold an array of environmental laws, and other important federal protections, to be unconstitutional.

That's right ladies and gentlemen, John Roberts wants America to have forced child labor. How do we know? Because he dissented in an Endangered Species Act case.

Are there really that many homeless insane in New York that the liberal press is forced to employ them? Who the hell wrote this insane bit?

Luttig in DC (Bench Memos)

KLo is reporting that CNN has shown Luttin family in DC shots, and that the kids are in "uncomfortable-for-D.C.-in-July kinda clothes."

I think this would be astounding, and fantastic. A Luttig/Edith Hollan Jones pick would be great.

Check out the DU thread already!

RedState.org: Bait and Switch

The folks over at Red State are claiming they are getting tips that President Bush will actually be nominating Edith Jones, whom they call "the female Scalia." I like that idea.

However as they say themselves:

Reminds me of the Novak generated Rehquist retirement frenzy of two weeks ago, but with more credible people participating this time.

Blowing CIA Cover, NYT Style

Remember when extraordinary rendition was the outrage of the day amongst pacifists and defeatists? They couldn't believe that we would send prisoners to foreing countries to be interrogated. They went so far in arguing this point that on May 31st of this year, Scott Shane, Stephen Grey and Margot Williams, in a NYT article written by Scott Shane, OUTED THREE CIA FRONT COMPANIES.

Central Intelligence Agency has rapidly expanded its air operations around world since 9/11, using rural hideaways, front companies and shell corporations to conceal its ownership of at least 26 planes; planes, regularly supplemented by private charters, are operated by real companies controlled by or tied to CIA; companies are Aero Contractors Ltd, Pegasus Technologies and Tepper Aviation

Where is the outrage? I am curious as to whether or not these companies had trouble flying their aircraft into "places American military craft would not be welcome" which is the reason the article gives for using these front companies?

cap tip econopundit

Boom Goes the Dynamite

President Bush will announce his first nominee to the Supreme Court at 8 o'clock tonight. Most likely wil be Judge Edith Clement.

More on her here, here, and here.

I assume Bench Memos over at NRO will continue their fantastic coverage.
I'm gonna head over to DU to see what they have to say about it.

Bomb Mecca? I Like It

Perhaps Tom Tancredo would be a good Presidential candidate after all!

WASHINGTON: A Republican congressman said in a radio interview aired by a Florida station that if a multiple-city attack happened in the United States in the next 90 days, as predicted by an Israeli expert, and was found to be the work of extremist Muslims, then “we should take out their holy sites.” Congressman Thomas G Tancredo, Republican from Colorado, was being interviewed by AM 540 WFLA radio host Pat Campbell, who asked him what the response of the United States should be were terrorist attacks on US cities to take place and were attributable to extremist Muslims. The Congressman replied, “ ... then we could take out their holy sites.” Asked if that meant Mecca, Tancredo answered, “Yes.”

Could there be a more appropriate response? Maybe not Mecca, perhaps other sites would be more appropriate, but if terrorists want to strike at our way of life why should we not retaliate in kind?

Hitchens on Rove: Good stuff

Christopher Hitchens, quickly becoming the intellectual version of Dennis Miller, writes a great piece in today's Slate (how long will they let him keep working there?). He has managed, throughout this ridiculous witchhunt, to look at the entire thing from a rational and detached point of view, at least compared to leftists at Time and the NY Times.

He manages to put Joe Wilson into perspective:

First, the most exploded figure in the entire argument is Joseph Wilson. This is for three reasons. He claimed, in his own book, that his wife had nothing to do with his brief and inconclusive visit to Niger. "Valerie had nothing to do with the matter," he wrote. "She definitely had not proposed that I make the trip." There isn't enough wiggle room in those two definitive statements to make either of them congruent with a memo written by Valerie Wilson (or Valerie Plame, if you prefer) to a deputy chief in the CIA's directorate of operations. In this memo, in her wifely way, she announced that her husband would be ideal for the mission since he had "good relations with both the Prime Minister and the former Minister of Mines (of Niger), not to mention lots of French contacts."

And the law which nutters everywhere claim Rove has broken:

OK, then, how do the opponents of regime change in Iraq make my last sentence into a statement of criminal intent and national-security endangerment? By citing the Intelligence Identities Protection Act of 1982. This law, which is one of the most repressive and absurd pieces of legislation on our statute book, was a panicky attempt by the right to silence whistle-blowers at the CIA. In a rough effort to make it congruent with freedom of information and the First Amendment (after all, the United States managed to get through the Second World War and most of the Cold War without such a law), it sets a fairly high bar. You must knowingly wish to expose the cover of a CIA officer who you understand may be harmed as a result. It seems quite clear that nobody has broken even that arbitrary element of this silly law.

While I am not entirely sure that the protection of covert CIA operatives is a "silly law" I do agree that it is absurd to think Rove broke this law. Any attempt to say such a thing is ludicrous on its face.

Hitchens doesn't let the journalists covering this story off the hook either:

But the coverage of this non-storm in an un-teacup has gone far beyond the fantasy of a Rovean hidden hand. Supposedly responsible journalists are now writing as if there was never any problem with Saddam's attempt to acquire yellowcake (or his regime's now-proven concealment of a nuclear centrifuge, or his regime's now-proven attempt to buy long-range missiles off the shelf from North Korea as late as March 2003). In the same way, the carefully phrased yet indistinct statement of the 9/11 Commission that Saddam had no proven "operational" relationship with al-Qaida has mutated lazily into the belief that there were no contacts or exchanges at all, which the commission by no means asserts and which in any case by no means possesses the merit of being true. The CIA got everything wrong before 9/11, and thereafter. It was conditioned by its own culture to see no evil. It regularly leaked—see any of Bob Woodward's narratives—against the administration. Now it, and its partisans and publicity-famished husband-and-wife teams, want to imprison or depose people who leak back at it. No, thanks. Many journalists are rightly appalled at Time magazine's collusion with a prosecutor who has proved no crime and identified no victim. Far worse is the willingness of the New York Times to accept the demented premise of a prosecutor who has put one of its own writers behind bars.

In the end, the left is going to be left holding the bag on this one. The only chance they are still clinging to is that Rove purjured himself before the grang jury, but if we learned anything from Bill Clinton, its that purjury isn't a crime if you work in the White House.

Happy 36th Anniversary Teddy-Boy

On this day, 36 years ago, Teddy Kennedy caused the death of one Mary Joe Kopechne. This is not disputed. He drove the car into the Chappaquiddick, causing his companion to drown. Not disputed.



Was he drunk? Was she is pregnant girlfriend? Is there, as Mr. Kennedy claimed in 1973, "one system for the average citizen
and another for the high and mighty?"

Sure seems that way. At the least, manslaughter seems appropriate, if he was drunk as is widely believed, vehicular homicide.

So, how did a drunk, womanizing known killer become the voice of a political party? I honestly have no idea. These days the media goes wild over the thougth a President may have "inahled" or unfounded rumors that another did coke in college. How the heck does a guy who kills his pregnant girlfriend in a drunk driving accident avoid scrutiny?

It's a mad mad mad mad world.

Cheers Teddy, tip one back for your victim on this, the anniversary of your deed.

Well, It is Friday...

I could have used this as a kid when I used to try and read magazines while simultaneously trying to go to the bathroom. Inevitably, the magazine wound up wet.

This thing would have held mt attention, of course it would have led to competitive pissing...is that bad?



Thanks Gizmodo!

PSA: Fish Tank for Sale

This may be a little tacky but I figured since it's there, I might as well let people know in as many ways as possible. I'm selling a real nice plexiglass fish tank over at eBay. If anyone is in the market, check it out.


Now forget that I am such a shill and thanks for your time.

Once Again, the Laffer Curve is Working

Larry Kudlow over at RCP. It's really fantastic commentary.

have long believed that stock indexes reflect the health, wealth, and security of individual nations. That explains why stock markets are standing tough in the face of al Qaeda’s latest attack. Worldwide investors are telling the enemy they have long-term confidence that the war on terror will be won, just as they believe in the resiliency and flexibility of free-market economies and the outlook for pro-growth policies, which are in action across nations.

Ben Bernanke, the former Fed governor and new chairman of the Council of Economic Advisors, told a Washington group that “We are in the midst of a healthy and sustainable economic expansion.” He’s got that dead right. Besides rising share prices, appreciating real estate and declining unemployment are boosting family wealth and incomes, allowing consumers to withstand higher energy prices. Meanwhile, sales at stores open at least a year are surging at better than 5 percent; corporate profits, which are the lifeblood of business expansion and investor class wealth, have soared to record shares of gross domestic product; and recent surveys by the Institute for Supply Management show both the manufacturing and service economies to be strong.

Though President Bush’s critics will never admit it, his supply-side tax reforms of two years ago are working brilliantly. With new incentives to work and invest, the economy is expanding, the income base is widening, and businesses and individuals are producing an unprecedented surge of tax collections. All this is occurring at lower marginal tax rates. Once again, the Laffer curve is working.

The budget deficit is shrinking to roughly 2.5 percent of GDP in line with the average of the past four decades. As for the claim that trade deficits are bad for U.S. workers, consider this thought from Café Hayek blogger Russell Roberts, a professor at George Mason University: “The U.S. has run a merchandise trade deficit for every year since 1976, trillions of dollars of deficits. And since 1976, the U.S. economy has created over 50 million jobs.”

Round of Applause: Greg Oberdorf

Pertaining to the proposed smoking ban in Milwaukee, the problem I see is: How are the police going to enforce this law? As it is, they can't handle the current laws. How many more murders will Milwaukee have this year? What about illegal guns and gangs?

The police can't control the smoking of crack, use of other drugs, crime, prostitution, murder, robbery, rape. Or the simple things like litter, jaywalking, unlicensed dogs, street bums panhandling, unsafe and unlicensed vehicles, domestic problems.

Now the police could be using that time going into bars and giving tickets to law-abiding citizens doing nothing wrong but enjoying a cold drink and a cigarette after a hard day's work so they can pay their taxes.

Greg Oberdorf
Milwaukee

The Urinal Exposes the Tactics of a Nanny State

The Urinal editorial board has exposed the tactics that it hopes to employ in order to dominate our everyday choices.

From a practical standpoint, that's the problem. Davis has the right idea, but he's trying to do too much too fast, especially when it comes to banning smoking in taverns in a city in which neighborhood bars have long been a part of the social fabric.

A more incremental approach, banning smoking in restaurants to begin with and later expanding it to other public places, such as bars, would give Milwaukee bar owners and those who smoke more time to adjust to a total ban.

More important, it would also have a far better chance of being approved.

What is the next step after banning smoking in public? Banning smoking around family? Outlawing smoking? Incrementalism is the key. They accepted banning smoking in bars? shit, lets expand it. They accepted banning smoking in all public places? Shit, lets keep pushing...

Then what, once smoking is abolished, what is next? Cheeseburgers? After all, we allowed them to dictate our personal choices on "health reasons" in regards to smoking. Overindulgence in cheeseburgers can be bad. Are we going to give vouchers for burger purchases, so we can regulate how many a person can eat in a week? How about some sort of bracelet that tracks calories so the government can stop us from overeating?

Based on the health of not just yourself, but of others around you, I think it is imperative we next ban cell phone use in public. After all, there are one or two studies that show cell phones cause cancer. Is it possible they cause second-hand cancer by walking near a cell phone user? I don't know, but I'm sure Rob Reiner can pay a scientist to whip up a "study" proving it.

As a matter of fact, we should all be assigned out own personal watchdog, paid for by the state of course, to make sure that we aren't doing anything to endanger ourselves or those around us.

Welcome ladies and gentlemen to the world of the future. The only things you may ingest are dry salad and filtered water. Driving and bike riding are illegal, as is walking without the proper body armor. We will all ride ultra armored public transportation to and from low-stress, government approved jobs. A permission slip from the State is required for sexual intercourse, and is only approved for reasons of reproduction, which labs hope to eliminate the need for altogether soon. We will sleep strapped to our beds in padded rooms surrounded by rounded and padded furniture so as to not stub a toe or bang a shin. Glass, stoves, microwaves, and knives have been outlawed.

Enjoy your day, but not too much since it might lead to adrenaline, which can lead to stress, which may lead to heart failure.

We won't live longer, we won't be happy, but shit, at least the overprotective asshole left-coasters won't have anything left to bitch about.

WSOP Day 5

For those who care, the $10,000 no-limit hold 'em championship (the Big One) is going on day 5 today.There are 185 players left, and it is probable that today will be the last day befre the final table.

Greg Raymer, the much maligned winner of last years tournament, is currently the chip leader with 1,064,000 chips and is playing well it seems. Some other notable include Phil Ivey in 7th, Howard Lederer in 31st, Mike Matusow in 39th, John Juanda in 59th, JC Tran in 93rd, Dutch Boyd in 165th, and Paul Darden in 179th.

Over at Tao of Poker he is running fantastic updates live. Check it out if you care.

TheWisconsinSportsBar

I have a new place to post my anger and jubilation about the one and only Crew. GBfan has set up a new blog to discuss Wisconsin sports. I am hoping to post my thoughts after every game, especially ones I got to.

Should be fun, stop by and check it out.

(By the way, by blogrolling thing isn't working, hence the dearth of updated links to the left. Hopefully I will get this kinked out soon)

WHACK (McCain)

via Drudge

Who is this man, and when did he become a Republican?

Sen. John McCain [R-AZ] Strong Words On Surpeme Court Nomination At Dallas Fundraiser: 'During the campaign, President Bush said he will appoint judges who will strictly interpret the constitution...thinking anything else is either amnesia or ignorance...elections have consequences....whomever he nominates deserves an up or down vote and no filibuster....and an up or down vote is what we will have'...

Damn right John, better round up that motley crew of 14 and whip em into shape.

Laurie David is hyperventilating

If we do not sign the Kyoto Treaty we will be udner constant threat of "Non-stop flooding, killer heat waves, energy and food shortages." What's more "millions of people [will be] displaced from coastal cities..."

She goes on to make an extraordinary link.

Munich Re, the worlds largest reinsurer, recently said that the frequency of weather disasters has tripled since the 1960s and insured losses have risen ten-fold. WeÂ’re talking hundreds of billions of dollars -- soon to be trillions of dollars -- and thatÂ’s a bill that gets handed right back to the American people in the form of higher premiums. In other words, weÂ’re already paying the price for global warming.

Without any proof or attempt at forming a logical and provable link, Laurie David says conclusively that every weather disaster since 1960 is caused by global warming.

How did a guy like Larry David get mixed up with a nutter like this?

Redstate.org: REHNQUIST TO RETIRE TODAY

At 4:50 (i assume 3:50 our time), when the President lands, Chief Justice Rehnquist will, supposedly, hand in his walking papers.

The interesting thing is that this is getting some conservatives wound up, because they think it will make it harder to "pack the courts." I don't know, seems to me President Bush hasn't exactly been the great compromiser. I expect great things from these nominees in the way on constructionists. Whether or not they are willing to overturn Roe, well, that isn't high on my list right now of "litmus tests."

A source close to the White House tells me that the White House is operating under the assumption, based on presumed knowledge of Novak's source, that this will, in fact, happen. Yes, keep in mind that I am not being told that the White House is confirming this, but that the White House has a good idea it should trust Novak's source.

Interestingly, it seems the same sources are saying Justice Stevens will also retire at the end of this year. If Rehnquist indeed hangs up the robes this afternoon, this source may be on to something.

Third party sources are now telling me that the John Paul Stevens rumor is true and that the White House is now planning for a third vacancy, but not until the end of the year. Third party sources, who I treat as credible, say that Stevens has begun taking actions in his personal life to make arrangements for personal affairs. It is presumed that Stevens is taking steps to retire.

World Series of Poker Started Today

More specifically, the "main event," the $10,000 no-limit hold 'em tourney started today. It's gonna go something like a week, with 5661 entrants/

If anyone cares, this guy is liveblogging it. Gotta be bustin his hump.

And it seems this guy is taking the ballcap and shades thing a touch far.

"Unfortunately, the Europeans' devastating urge to do good can no longer be countered with reason."

A rising star in the world of economics (at least in my eyes after this interview) James Shikwati explains why aid to Africa is, literally, killing Africa. Read the interview, it is both incredibly insightful (where else are you going to hear the truth, that handouts are what is killing these people, not apathy) and funny. The interviewer has no freaking idea what to say when Mr. Shikwati shoots down every notion this guy holds true.

SPIEGEL: Even in a country like Kenya, people are starving to death each year. Someone has got to help them.

Shikwati: But it has to be the Kenyans themselves who help these people. When there's a drought in a region of Kenya, our corrupt politicians reflexively cry out for more help. This call then reaches the United Nations World Food Program -- which is a massive agency of apparatchiks who are in the absurd situation of, on the one hand, being dedicated to the fight against hunger while, on the other hand, being faced with unemployment were hunger actually eliminated. It's only natural that they willingly accept the plea for more help. And it's not uncommon that they demand a little more money than the respective African government originally requested. They then forward that request to their headquarters, and before long, several thousands tons of corn are shipped to Africa ...

SPIEGEL: ... corn that predominantly comes from highly-subsidized European and American farmers ...

Shikwati: ... and at some point, this corn ends up in the harbor of Mombasa. A portion of the corn often goes directly into the hands of unsrupulous politicians who then pass it on to their own tribe to boost their next election campaign. Another portion of the shipment ends up on the black market where the corn is dumped at extremely low prices. Local farmers may as well put down their hoes right away; no one can compete with the UN's World Food Program. And because the farmers go under in the face of this pressure, Kenya would have no reserves to draw on if there actually were a famine next year. It's a simple but fatal cycle.

SPIEGEL: If the World Food Program didn't do anything, the people would starve.

Shikwati: I don't think so. In such a case, the Kenyans, for a change, would be forced to initiate trade relations with Uganda or Tanzania, and buy their food there. This type of trade is vital for Africa. It would force us to improve our own infrastructure, while making national borders -- drawn by the Europeans by the way -- more permeable. It would also force us to establish laws favoring market economy.

What comes next is the most ridiculously condescending question I have read in a loooong time. Well, since the previous, "if we didn't help the people would starve" question.

SPIEGEL: Would Africa actually be able to solve these problems on its own?

Wow. So this knucklehead thinks that Africans can't figure out how to trade. Moron.

The discussion then turns to AIDS, and Mr. Shikwati is actually able to have an intelligent discussion with a total idiot. Of course the discussion is one sided.

Shikwati: If one were to believe all the horrorifying reports, then all Kenyans should actually be dead by now. But now, tests are being carried out everywhere, and it turns out that the figures were vastly exaggerated. It's not three million Kenyans that are infected. All of the sudden, it's only about one million. Malaria is just as much of a problem, but people rarely talk about that.

SPIEGEL: And why's that?

Shikwati: AIDS is big business, maybe Africa's biggest business. There's nothing else that can generate as much aid money as shocking figures on AIDS. AIDS is a political disease here, and we should be very skeptical.

SPIEGEL: The Americans and Europeans have frozen funds previously pledged to Kenya. The country is too corrupt, they say.

Shikwati: I am afraid, though, that the money will still be transfered before long. After all, it has to go somewhere. Unfortunately, the Europeans' devastating urge to do good can no longer be countered with reason.

And that, as they say, is the money shot.

Unfortunately, the Europeans' devastating urge to do good can no longer be countered with reason.

via Will over at Vodkapundit

DU Post of the Day (for amusement purposes only)

Titled: The ultimate revelation is still 9/11

Gangsters in government. Media covers for them. That is the problem.

The only solution is 50 million of you out in the streets shutting it all down until they topple. People Power. Like Moscow '91, like Venezuela '02.

Oh yes, let Junior's little segment of the Bush mob be brought down by Plame or some such, but remember: on Watergate followed Reagan, just six years later, and it all continues through Bush, Clinton and Bush.

Nothing will have been won unless the whole ball of wax is exposed -

9/11 as the inside job it so obviously was, an arranged Reichstag fire event to seize the Zeitgeist and brainwash all of you into submission.

Vote fraud 2000 and 2004.

Drug-dealing, money laundering and plunder by the thousand tentacles of the Bush Family Evil Eempire.

Inexcusable war of aggression on the people of Iraq, nuclear threats to the whole world, a history of genocide in Central America...

Only if these become common knowledge and the perpetrators are actually pursued for criminal prosecution. Only then might we see an end to the real problem:

- the centralization of power in the hands of a few thousand owner-emperors, the protection of their "interests" through "national security" institutions that operate above the law and in secrecy;

The self-appointed powers who remain "in government" no matter who plays president, who pick the president and lay the ground for the next war, the next crime.

For a start, if the whole Bush crime family has not been acknowledged as the morally cross of the Corleones with the Hitlers on a global scale... if this just ends up being the scapegoating of a few figures for their personal mistakes and petty crimes (Rove? Who the fuck cares about Rove?!) we will never get out of this nightmare.

The next Bush (under whatever name) will be brought in just a few years hence.

This, ladies and gentlemen, is what we are dealing with. These people live amongst us, we probably buy coffee from them in the morning, get cab rides from them, and tip them for delivering our pizza. They are normal folks...on the surface. I have yet to meet an open DUer here in Milwaukee, but I have no doubt they exist. Of course, it could just be Michael Moore and Howard Dean having elaborate third, fourth, and fifth person conversations with each other...

Joseph Duncan's chilling, disgusting weblog

Chilling...the aformentioned beast who kidnapped the two Idaho children and brutally murdered their family has a web log. Truely disturbing stuff.

My intent is to harm society as much as I can, then die...was in prison for over 18 years, since the age of 17. As an adult all I knew was the oppression of incarceration. All those years I dreamed of getting out...And getting even. Instead, I got out and I got even, but did not get caught. So, I got even again, and again did not get caught.

What a disgusting shame. Anyone have a spare island where we can send these disgusting, unforgivable pederasts to rot and die? Not in my back yard is damn right.

Props to Jawa Report

Barbara Bush...Volunteering in Africa?

I often hear and read complaints about those "spolied" Bush daughters. A fun rallying cry for leftists nutters is "why aren't the Bush twins in Iraq?" (funny, they never mention Chelsea, after all Hillary did/does support the war). Well, it seems that Barbara Bush is doing her part, and a lot more than most of us.

It is here, say some doctors and nurses, that Barbara Bush, one of President Bush's twin daughters, has been working in near anonymity as a volunteer.

While no one disputes that she has been in Cape Town for the last six weeks, nearly everything about her stay is shrouded in mystery. Hospital officials yesterday refused to confirm her presence, and many hospital workers ducked questions about Barbara Bush's role at one of the premier health facilities in Africa for children with AIDS and other ailments.

A White House official, Peter Watkins, confirmed yesterday that her mother, Laura Bush, will visit Barbara in South Africa later this week, after the Group of Eight summit in Scotland where President Bush and other leaders of the industrialized world will consider how they can help ease poverty in Africa. The official said Laura Bush and her other daughter, Jenna, will spend five days with Barbara and then will travel to other African countries to speak about AIDS relief and education initiatives.

Bravo.

Convictions can carry the death penalty (Idaho Kidnapping)

Honestly, that was the only reason I wanted to read the story. I wanted to know that this sick prick would be killed. Not spending a life in jail where he can get his kicks with other sicko sex offenders, but put to death.

The intent of the crimes, the documents say, was to rape, seriously injure or commit a lewd and lascivious act on a child under 16 years old. Convictions can carry the death penalty or life in prison.

Duncan, who was raised in Tacoma, Wash., had spent more than a decade in prison for sexually assaulting a 14-year-old boy at gunpoint and was a fugitive at the time of his arrest for allegedly molesting a 6-year-old boy in Minnesota. Wayman on Tuesday ordered him held on $2 million bail on the fugitive charge.

Preemptive strike against SCOTUS nominee

Yeah, I am guessing that this will be a nice quiet confirmation process, well, until a name gets named. PFAW is already circulating a fundraiser to block any Bush nominee, and they don't have the slightest clue who it will be.

We hope President Bush will select a consensus nominee after consulting Senators from both political parties, but given his track record, the odds are good that he will nominate someone who threatens our rights and liberties — in which case you and PFAW will have to mount a tireless campaign this summer to keep that nominee from being confirmed by the US Senate.

So, PFAW opposes anyone Bush nominates. How does anyone donate to this group? Isn't this a "preemptive strike" against a potential nominee? I thought leftists hated preemptive strikes?

It Starts! O'Connor to Retire

And you thought last nights Summerfest fireworks were good. Wait til next week!!

Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, the first woman appointed to the Supreme Court and a key swing vote on issues such as abortion and the death penalty, said Friday she is retiring.

O'Connor, 75, said she expects to leave before the start of the court's next term in October, or whenever the Senate confirms her successor. There was no immediate word from the White House on who might be nominated to replace O'Connor.

It's been 11 years since the last opening on the court, one of the longest uninterrupted stretches in history. O'Connor's decision gives Bush his first opportunity to appoint a justice.

"This is to inform you of my decision to retire from my position as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, effective upon the nomination and confirmation of my successor. It has been a great privilege indeed to have served as a member of the court for 24 terms. I will leave it with enormous respect for the integrity of the court and its role under our constitutional structure."

The White House has refused to comment on any possible nominees, or whether Bush would name a woman to succeed O'Connor. Her departure leaves Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg as the only other woman among the current justices.

Possible replacements include Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales and federal courts of appeals judges J. Michael Luttig, John Roberts, Samuel A. Alito Jr., Michael McConnell, Emilio Garza and James Harvie Wilkinson III. Others mentioned are former Solicitor General Theodore Olson, lawyer Miguel Estrada and former deputy attorney general Larry Thompson, but Bush's pick could be a surprise choice not well known in legal circles.

Another prospective candidate is Edith Hollan Jones, a judge on the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals who was also considered for a Supreme Court vacancy by President Bush's father.

The interesting thing here is that it changes the makeup of the court if a decent person is appointed, instead of one of those Godless liberals.

Also this means that President Bush will more than likely get two nominations.

Funding Religion

Anne Coulter's column over at Townhall.com got me thinking. Why isn't the ACLU suing the Army? After all, the taxpayers are definitely promoting a specific religion down at Gitmo. Shouldn't we be distributing books about science and self-help books by Dr. Phil instead of the Quran? After all, the Guran mentions God! The horror! Sounds like promoting religion to me. I plan on writing ACLU-WI to file a suit on my behalf. I'll let you know if I get a response.

State Office
ACLU of Wisconsin
207 E. Buffalo Street, Suite 325
Milwaukee, WI 53202-5774
Phone: 414.272.4032
Fax: 414.272.0182
Email: liberty@aclu-wi.org

Legal Department
ACLU of Wisconsin
207 E. Buffalo Street, Suite 325
Milwaukee, WI 53202-5774
Phone: 414.272.4032 ext.16
Fax: 414.272.0182
Email: inquiries@aclu-wi.org

Madison Office
ACLU of Wisconsin
122 State Street, Suite 507
Madison, WI 53703
Phone: 608.469.5540
Fax: 608.255.2688
Email: DRiley@aclu-wi.org

It's Called A Bunt!!

For two years I have been harping about Yost and his seeming inability to call for a sac bunt. Finally, he has started calling for it. Sadly, the Brewers players are totally unable to come through.

I finally get why he was so hesitant to move runners over, no one on the team can bunt!

Square around, face the pitcher, direct your bat to the left or the right and deaden the ball 20 or 30 feet away from the plate. That's what we call a bunt...For some reason, that basic skill has eluded the Milwaukee Brewers too often this season, and it played a role in another close defeat Wednesday to the Chicago Cubs. Todd Hollandsworth decided the issue with a one-out, run-scoring single in the bottom of the ninth to give the Cubs a 3-2 victory at Wrigley Field.

"You have to get bunts down and you have to get big hits," manager Ned Yost said after his club its third consecutive game. "We didn't do it."

Brewers pitcher Ben Sheets failed to get down a sacrifice bunt in the third inning against Kerry Wood, rendering Clark's two-out single meaningless. The one that really hurt came in the ninth, when Geoff Jenkins led off with a walk, only to have rookie J.J. Hardy foul off three consecutive bunt attempts against reliever Roberto Novoa.

The Gambler Goes Wild

Obviously, Kenny just didn't know when to walk away. Check out the story and video here. I love sports!

The 40-year-old left-hander first shoved Fox Sports Net Southwest photographer David Mammeli, telling him: "I told you to get those cameras out of my face."

Rogers then approached a second cameraman. He wrestled the camera from Larry Rodriguez of Dallas-Fort Worth television station KDFW, threw it to the ground and kicked it.

Rodriguez filed a formal police report against Rogers on Wednesday night, claiming assault. Police went to interview Rodriguez at about 9 p.m. ET at the Medical Center of Arlington where the cameraman was being examined for possible injuries.

We Need A Marquette Deep Throat!

Or maybe some Wells Street Memo's. Either way, I want this conspiracy uncovered. I want the paper ballots. I want an independent source to count the number of Warriors votes.

They really expect me to believe this?

n the first round of voting, 12,180 people voted for Golden Eagles, and 9,298 voted for Hilltoppers. In addition, the school disclosed that 5,587 people made a write-in vote selection. Of those people, 3,264 chose to write-in Warriors, even though the school had said in advance that any vote for the old nickname would not be counted as valid.

Bullshit! Four times as many people voted for Golden Eagles?!? Nope, didn't happen. These are totally arbitrary numbers.

This was all a nice plan after they realzied how stupid they looked after "Gold." Hey, we can save face and make Golden Eagles look beloved...I know, a fake online vote!!


Nice work Fr. Wild, you look like an idiot, the university looks like a bunch of idiots.

I hope I get a chance to talk to you in person about this at the Milwaukee BRAVES game! For this reason alone, I will go to as many MU Basketball games as I can and start the FSU Chop and wear full indian regalia. I might even see if I can't sneak a teepee in and recreate the sccene from Major League.

For shame...

Byron York asks a solid question

Where do our Federal Representatives get all this free time?

There was a scene in Fahrenheit 9/11 when Michael Moore asked Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.), "Um, how could Congress pass this Patriot Act without even reading it?" Conyers leaned across his desk and answered, "Sit down, my son. We don't read most of the bills..."

What Conyers meant, I think, was that lawmakers have more to do than they have time to do it. Members of Congress, at least in the public mind, are very, very busy men and women who -- burdened with things like drafting bills and attending endless committee meetings -- delegate a lot of communications and PR tasks to staff.

Does that include writing for The Huffington Post? It started with Conyers himself, but the Huffington Caucus has now come to include Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.), Rep. George Miller (D-Calif.), Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. (D-Ill.), Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill), Rep. John Tierney (D-Mass.), Rep. Ellen Tauscher (D-Calif.), Rep. Jim McDermott (D-Wash.), Rep. Ed Markey (D-Mass.), Rep. Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.), Sen. Evan Bayh (D-Ind.), Sen. Russ Feingold (D-Wis.), Sen. Jon Corzine (D-N.J.), and perhaps others I have missed. Some of their entries seem to be personal statements, while others read a bit like press releases. So my question to each of the busy lawmaker-bloggers on this site is: Is that really you? Are you actually writing the posts that appear under your name?

I eagerly await the answer!

More on the Economy

From David Malpass (via Econopundit)

So This Is a Weak Economy?

The U.S. expansion has been strong and steady despite the warnings of fragility, the repeated claims of a slowdown, and the fear of China (as intense as the Japan fears of the 1980s). U.S. growth has averaged a fast 3.9% pace since the initial 7.4% tax-cut-related growth celebration in the third quarter of 2003. Thanks in large part to smaller businesses, U.S. unemployment has fallen to 5.1%, with wage and salary income growing at a 10% annual rate in the revised fourth-quarter data. Beyond housing, household liquid assets have increased more than both total debt and foreign debt, helping build solid resources for the future. Add to that the nation's biggest unrecorded asset -- a robust system of innovation, market-based capital allocation, and decentralized decision-making.

Yet the litany against the U.S. economy is so ingrained and familiar that few disputed this spring's "slowdown." When strong data on income, employment, consumption and profits showed 3.5% first-quarter GDP growth and a continuation into the second quarter, the headlines shifted to other attacks -- adjustable-rate mortgages, a housing "bubble," the distribution of income -- rather than revising the slowdown story.

The recent decline in bond yields is being presented as a likely economic slowdown and a justification for the Fed to stop hiking rates. But similar yield declines gave way to solid growth and higher yields in both 2003 and 2004. Rather than a "conundrum," bond yields in the U.S. and abroad are probably being held down by the extraordinary U.S. monetary accommodation since the 9/11 attacks and an underestimate of its inflationary consequences.
...

One of the most needed steps in finding good policies is to marshal more understanding and confidence in our own economic system's strengths and weaknesses. The first issue facing policy makers (and investors) is whether current growth is a fragile interim between the deflation crisis of 2001 and a new crisis; or, more likely, a durable expansion in which each quarter's strong growth argues that we're on the right path, with an urgent need for more structural improvements.

Mr. Malpass is chief economist at Bear Stearns.
Copyright 2005 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved

read the entire article if you get a chance, it was in today's WSJ but Steve at Econopundit got it straight from the horses mouth, as such I think (hope?) it is okay t link to.

China rails against evils of market intervention

A freaking communist country is lecturing the US on market interference?? (via Drudge) Something is definitely wrong with this picture.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao said that China National Offshore Oil Corporation's $18.5 billion offer for Unocal was "normal commercial activity between enterprises."

Liu said "economic cooperation between China and the U.S. serves the interests of both sides and commercial activities should not be interfered in or disturbed by political elements."

Stunning.

Scientology, A Study

What Is Scientology (seems like a good place to start, at their home page).

The aims of Scientology are a world without insanity, without criminals, without war, where the able can prosper and where Man is free to rise to greater heights.

And if you were to ask any Scientologist they would tell you it is a practical religion, with practical answers — tools that can be applied to achieve greater awareness and purpose in the here and now.

Or, as we say it, when you have the answers to life's questions — there is virtually no part of existence it cannot be applied to for the betterment of life itself.

Seems like a utopian ideal, okay, normal enough.

As it turns out there is a branch (Church of Scientology Mission in Milwaukee) at 6806 W Wedgewood Dr. Check it out...if you dare!

Okay, scientology.org is boring. I'm gonna check out Wikipedia.

Wikipedia's scientology section here.

Central Beliefs:

The central beliefs of Scientology are that:

* a person is an immortal spiritual being (termed a thetan) who possesses a mind and a body, accompanied by a lesser "genetic entity";
* that the thetan has lived through many past lives, stored memories of which can cause problems in the present day;
* and that a person is basically good, but is "aberrated" by the memories of past traumas.

The Church states that the goal of Scientology is a world without war, criminals, and insanity, where good decent people have the freedom to reach their goals.

Another basic tenet of Scientology is that there are three basic interrelated (and intrinsically spiritual) components that are the very makeup of successful "livingness": affinity, reality (or agreement), and communication, which equate to understanding. Hubbard called this the "ARC triangle". Scientologists utilize ARC as a central organizing principle in their lives, primarily based upon the belief that raising one aspect of the triangle increases the other two.

Scientology claims to offer an exact methodology to help a person achieve spiritual and ethical education, awareness, and improvement, so that he or she may achieve a level of spiritual purity as well as greater effectiveness in the physical world. The ultimate goal of Scientology is to "rehabilitate" the thetan, restoring its superhuman abilities to control "matter, energy, space and time" (MEST).

Past lives...hmm, okay, not quite overly strange but nearing weird.

Xenu, where things get incredibly odd..

Most famously, those who reach OT level III will learn about Xenu, the galactic tyrant who stacked hundreds of billions of his frozen victims around Earth's volcanoes 75 million years ago before blowing them up with hydrogen bombs and brainwashing them with a "three-D, super colossal motion picture" for 36 days. The traumatised thetans subsequently clustered around human bodies, in effect acting as invisible spiritual head lice that can only be removed using advanced Scientology techniques. Reportedly, the cost of reaching OT III approaches $360,000.

Controversies

* Scientology's harassing and litigious actions against its critics and "enemies."
* Differing accounts of L. Ron Hubbard's life, (critics charge Scientology with being a cult of personality, with much emphasis placed on the alleged accomplishments of its founder). Scientologists claim that government files, such as the FBI, are loaded with forgeries and other false documents detrimental to Scientology.
* Deaths of Scientologists due to mistreatment by other members.
* Scientology's disconnection policy, in which members are encouraged to cut off all contact with friends or family members critical of the Church.
* Criminal activities by some members of the Church of Scientology.
* Claims of "brainwashing" and mind control.
* Accounts of L. Ron Hubbard discussing his intent to start a religion to make money.

A religion to make money...noooo.

Here is a list of famous scientologists including Jason Lee (for shame), Courtney Love, Charles Manson (shocking), Patrick Swayze and Greta Van Susteren (I did not know that)

Moving on (The Secrets of Scientology)

Crazy brainwashing

The crazy Xenu space alien story (from L Ron Hubbard himself).

The head of the Galactic
Confederation (76 planets around
larger stars visible from here)
(founded 95,000,000 yrs ago, very space opera)
solved overpopulation (250 billion
or so per planet -- 178 billion on
average) by mass implanting.
He caused people to be brought to
Teegeeack (Earth) and put an H Bomb
on the principal volcanoes (Incident 2)
and then the Pacific area ones
were taken in boxes to Hawaii
and the Atlantic Area ones to
Las Palmas and there "packaged."
His name was Xenu. He used
renegades. Various misleading
data by means of circuits etc.
was placed in the implants.
When through with his crime Loyal Officers
(to the people) captured him
after 6 years of battle
and put him in an electronic
mountain trap where he still
is. "They" are gone. The place (Confed.)
has since been a desert.

That's all I can handle, these people are nuts. NUTS.

ECONOMIC GROWTH BETTER THAN EXPECTED

Since nobody else in the media is talking about it, i figured I wouldp oint ou to the dozens that come here daily, the economy is doing well, despite the oil prices. In a strange, recent phenomena, oil prices and the markets are not relating inversely. Oil has been up and up and until Thursday and Friday of last week, the markets had been climbing steadily.

Today offered more good news, as the "economy logged a solid 3.8 percent growth rate in the first quarter of 2005."

The new reading on gross domestic product, released by the Commerce Department on Wednesday, marked an improvement from the 3.5 percent annual rate estimated for the quarter just a month ago and matched the showing registered in the final quarter of 2004.

GDP, the broadest gauge of the economy's health, measures the value of all goods and services produced within the United States.

Stronger spending on housing projects, more investment by business in equipment and software, and a trade deficit that was less of a drag on economic growth all played a role in the higher first quarter GDP estimate.

I feel a Eugene Kane column coming on...

Hmmm. The Bucks fire their black coach and pick up three white players, while vowing to resign Tony Kukoc...







C'mon Eugene, lets hear what a racist bastard Larry Harris is.

The Speech

Here is the text.

Here is the video.

As far as I am concerned, this is the gist:

The terrorists know that the outcome will leave them emboldened, or defeated. So, they are waging a campaign of murder and destruction. And there is no limit to the innocent lives they are willing to take.

We see the nature of the enemy in terrorists who exploded car bombs along a busy shopping street in Baghdad — including one outside a mosque. We see the nature of the enemy in terrorists who sent a suicide bomber to a teaching hospital in Mosul. And we see the nature of the enemy in terrorists who behead civilian hostages and broadcast their atrocities for the world to see.

These are savage acts of violence — but they have not brought the terrorists any closer to achieving their strategic objectives. The terrorists — both foreign and Iraqi — failed to stop the transfer of sovereignty. They failed to break our Coalition and force a mass withdrawal by our allies. They failed to incite an Iraqi civil war. They failed to prevent free elections. They failed to stop the formation of a democratic Iraqi government that represents all of Iraq’s diverse population. And they failed to stop Iraqis from signing up in large numbers with the police forces and the army to defend their new democracy.

The lesson of this experience is clear: The terrorists can kill the innocent — but they cannot stop the advance of freedom. The only way our enemies can succeed is if we forget the lessons of September 11 … if we abandon the Iraqi people to men like Zarqawi … and if we yield the future of the Middle East to men like Bin Laden. For the sake of our Nation’s security, this will not happen on my watch.

UPDATE: Roenick still a classless A* Hole

In his first comments since insulting hockey fans everywhere, Jeremy Roenick doesn't apoligize. Instead he says simlpy "show the whole interview."

"Before I went into my rant, I was talking about the game of hockey, about getting it back on the ice, about what we have to do for the fans and telling people it's not about who wins or loses, it's about the game," Roenick told the paper.

"But the media picked out the negative stuff ... Don't show snippets of the interview; show the whole interview, the whole message. My message during the interview was: How do we make the game more appealing to the fans?"

Telling fans to kiss your ass multiple times then telling them to stay away isn't the best way to "make the game more appealing to fans...moron.

I've seen the whole interview, it changes nothing. Jeremy Roenick is a classless prick.

By the way, ESPN now has video of this jag pulling a Sheffield and forever killing his image.

More Like Europe? Really?

Europe's socialist democracy is failing. The economy cannot sustain the convoluted system of "work if you want, we'll cover you if you don't." Tino over at Truck and Barter breaks down why "old Europe" is failing, almost irreversably so.

By all relevant measures the Western European economies are not doing well compared to America. GDP per capita is some 40% higher in the US than among the EU 15. Unemployment for many of the welfare states is stuck in double digits, and even higher using comprehensive measures.

The relative poverty is reflected in many areas, such as lower private consumption, and lower quality of public services despite higher taxes. One would expect a vivid debate in Europe of their economic problems, especially given how resentful many Europeans are of America’s superior wealth and power. But Europe has chosen a much more painless approach: Denial.

“Who says the Europeans economy is doing badly? Our enlightened system is burying the McAmericans! Haven’t you heard of “Balanced Growth”?

There seems to be an entire industry devoted to making up more or less fanciful arguments why Europe is really doing better than the US. I want to exemplify and debunk some of those myths. In the process I also hope to convince you that Americans work less and have more free time than Swedes.

Forgive an econo-porn post every once in awhile.

Kohl Talks Some Sense

I am shocked by the senators remarks in the Stevens Point Journal today.

U.S. Sen. Herb Kohl on Monday broke from fellow Democrats who are demanding President Bush set a date for bringing troops home from Iraq...Kohl joins Republican Reps. Mark Green of Hobart, Tom Petri of Fond du Lac and Jim Sensenbrenner of Menomonee Falls, who say a timetable would encourage the insurgents to continue their fight until after the pullout..."The president needs to tell us where he's coming from - what his expectations are and what is his approach," Kohl said, referring to Bush's televised speech tonight. "People in Congress as well as people around the country are wondering where is this going."
A timetable, he said, might make the situation "worse for our goal, which is to provide a stable democracy there.

I can't believe it, but I couldn't agree more. I think we need to know what steps are being taken to advance Iraqi training, and if it is known, why the training has been seemingly slow. However, a timetable and benchmarks just give the terrorists and murderers solid and important targets. Timetables and benchmarks do nothing but aid the terrorists in planning.

Not surprisingly, Dave Obey (socialist - Wausau) has already declared defeat.

"There will be no victory in Iraq," Obey said. "The question is whether there is some way of salvaging the situation."

Dave Obey, socialist, democrat, and speaker for Iraqi terrorists.

Cross posted at BBA

In Your Eye Souter (KELO)

(from Drudge)

This is just plain fantastic.

On Monday June 27, Logan Darrow Clements, faxed a request to Chip Meany the code enforcement officer of the Towne of Weare, New Hampshire seeking to start the application process to build a hotel on 34 Cilley Hill Road. This is the present location of Mr. Souter's home.

Clements, CEO of Freestar Media, LLC, points out that the City of Weare will certainly gain greater tax revenue and economic benefits with a hotel on 34 Cilley Hill Road than allowing Mr. Souter to own the land.

The proposed development, called "The Lost Liberty Hotel" will feature the "Just Desserts Café" and include a museum, open to the public, featuring a permanent exhibit on the loss of freedom in America. Instead of a Gideon's Bible each guest will receive a free copy of Ayn Rand's novel "Atlas Shrugged."

Hey Kerry, save it...

Senator (yeah, still a senator, you lost the election sir) seems to think it is his duy to tell the President what to say when he addresses the nation tonight. Thankfully he didn't take the opportunity to again denegrate America's troops by claiming (untruthfully) that he witnessed atrocities. Nice to see the senator has grown up a bit.

Interestingly the Senator takes this opportunity to do something he never did during his presidential campaign, namely propose a different strategy for the war in Iraq.

The administration must immediately draw up a detailed plan with clear milestones and deadlines for the transfer of military and police responsibilities to Iraqis after the December elections. The plan should be shared with Congress. The guideposts should take into account political and security needs and objectives and be linked to specific tasks and accomplishments. If Iraqis adopt a constitution and hold elections as planned, support for the insurgency should fall and Iraqi security forces should be able to take on more responsibility. It will also set the stage for American forces to begin to come home.

Yes, the administration must draw up a plan with clear milestones and dealines so that the terrorists can plan better and only strike at important times in important places.

It is also telling that Kerry insists on calling the terrorists Jihadists (a euphemism for religious freedom fighter). Why doesn't he call them the murderers and thugs that they are, he didn't have a problem calling the men and women in Viet Nam war criminals, why does he sugar coat these disgusting human beings. I guess blowing up weddings and beheading journalists isn't quite as low on Kerry's list as Viet Nam.

I also like how part of his plan requires "United Nations Security Council approval." Yeah, keep touting the decrease of American sovereignty, US citizens love that...jackass.

A Walton Dies, DU celebrates

In a truly disgusting display not seen since, well, I guess this is the reaction everytimes someone they disagree with dies, the DU thread lit up at the news a Walton died.

This is sickening.

Maybe he will be re-incarnated as a slave laborer...

We may hope that he reincarnates as a slave.

Yep, these people do not get much of my sympaty..as a union person. I doubt that this will change much in the payment structure of WalMart, but not sheading any tears here I can tell you.

*walmart jingle* "Smile!.... Put on a happy face!"..."Put on a happy face! We're slashing our prices planes all over the place... so put on a happy face!" Walmart, always low prices altitudes, always.

I wonder what he had on Bushco...and if he was getting ready to reveal it. I wouldn't be paranoid if they weren't out to get me.

one down.......four to go....

His plane went "rolling rolling rolling...."

Fuck him and his family.

A truely disgusting group of people.

Sutton the Scribe

I was at the game on Saturday night (I'm at almost all the games, so I'm not one of those who isj ust saying "I was there", although, I went with a group of twenty or so, and only eight of us made it into the park, those drunks in the lot were kicking themselves when they realized what they missed) so I missed Sutton and Uecker's reactions to the blasts. Luckily I have since heard them and they were awesome. Sutton follows that great night up with this entry into his blog:

There were amazing comebacks last season, Ben Sheets' 18 strikeout performance, Scott Podsednik's 100th run scored on a homer, but being able to call the first long balls of Prince and Rickie in the same night rank high on my list of memorable games. It was an honor to call the two blasts Saturday night that turned out to aid in winning a very exciting game. P and R, thanks for letting me share it with you. Here's hoping this is just the first step in what may be a long exciting journey with the two of you.

USA Today offers up a quick and dirty hatchet job (SCOTUS "short list")

In what seems like a piece written by the lefty war rooms that are amassing at the gates to smear any individual put fort hby the President, USA Today (albeit on the editorial page) goes through a list of people they think are likely to be nominated by President Bush.

Tellingly, they rate them based on Rove's (ideological purity) and hack away where they can.

Samuel Alito "called Scalito"

Emilio Garza "what he lacks in intellectual fervor he makes up for in ideological purity"

Alberto Gonzales only pluses are that he is a young hispanic from Texas.

Edith Jones "consistently hard right. You can set your conservative clock to her"

J. Michael Luttig "darling of the conservative bar," "decreased rights of criminal defendants" (is that bad?)

Expect this to be a bit of a primer for leftists and to be quoted early and often in literature and multimedia commercials.

Roenick IS a spoiled jerk

Jeremy Roenick is a prick. A spoiled prick. After watching the video this morning on FOXNews I was hoping they would play the video of Roenick getting hit in the jaw with a puck. Is that out of line? When someone calls me out as personally as he can (a hockey fan who feels the owners AND players had behaved like spoiled children) and tells me to kiss his ass, well that's the kind of guy who DESERVES to have his jaw wired shut.

"Everybody out there who calls us spoiled because we play 'a game,' they can all kiss my (butt). They can all kiss my (butt) because we have tried so hard to get this game back on the ice."

Honestly, the doctor who unwired this fools jaw can kiss my butt.

"I will say personally, personally, to everybody who calls us spoiled, you guys are just jealous, and screw you guys because we have tried so hard to get this game back on the ice to make it better for the fans," he said. "And if you don't realize that, don't come. We don't want you in the rink, we don't want you to watch hockey. Period."

Hmm, I wonder if Al MacInnis is available to wind one up? I would think ol Al could permanently shut this chucklehead up.



I was really stunned to hear Roenick acting like this. I know the guy is outspoken and I know he has a profound love of hockey, but to have such contempt for the average guy who has been denied a sport he loves because millionaires can't decide how to divvy their millions? Seems a tad "spoiled" eh Jeremy?

DU Celebrates: "the war is lost."

Democratic Underground - The Dam Breaks! Republicans are using the "lose" word now about Iraq.

The post speaks for itself, we'll see how the nutters respond.

I love language! It never fails to reveal what the zeitgeist of the times is.

Bill O'Reilly blames Air America for the U.S. losing the war in Iraq.

Republican Senator Lindsey Graham now utters the "losing" word regarding the war.

And there have been others in the last week.

Folks, the damn has broken. The public has soured.

The war is lost.

Support the troops and bring them home.

Firm and Patient Realism Needed in Iraq (Heritage Foundation

I just wanted to point out this great article from James Phillips of the Heritage Foundation. In it he lays out the reasons why we must not cut and run like Clinton and Feingold want. We must stay the course and show that we are not only strong militarily, but posess an iron national will as well.

Devised according to considerations in Washington rather than the situation on the ground in Iraq, a pullout would send a dangerous signal of weakness and fecklessness to our allies and enemies in Iraq and elsewhere. Iraqi government forces would be demoralized and could begin to hedge their bets by making deals with, or even defecting to, the insurgency. Insurgent groups would be emboldened to redouble their efforts against Americans to strengthen their claim to a military victory and attract more recruits. Many Iraqis who have been sitting on the fence, particularly in Sunni Arab areas, would have little choice but to support the insurgents in order to insure themselves against reprisal.

In addition to laying out an intelligent and reasoned argument for seeing this endeavor through, Mr. Phillips also manages to debunk the Vietnam comparisons so popular among leftists.

Iraq is not Vietnam. The Iraqi insurgents do not have the military strength, popular support, political unity, ideological cohesiveness, great power assistance, charismatic leadership, or alternative political program that the Vietnamese communists possessed. The insurgents are divided by ideology, religious affiliation, and factional rivalries into separate groups, including remnants of Saddam’s Baathist regime, Sunni Islamic radicals, Shiite Islamic radicals, tribal forces, and foreign Islamic radicals, such as Abu Musab Zarqawi’s Al Qaeda faction.

I apologize, Tom Cruise is in fact, an insane troll

I hastily defended Tom Cruise earlier in the week. It turns out, Tom Cruise is a crazy little troll who, frankly, scares the hell out of me.

I finally got a chance to watch Tucker Carlson's new show (a very good show actually, even with that idiot Max Kellerman having a segment) and when the subject of scientology came up, everyong shut up. They seemed genuinely frightened by the prospect of a mob of angry celebrity scientology wackos attacking them. I was a little stunned. Then I read Drudge today and see this incredibly odd excahnge between Cruise and Matt Lauer.

I know i know, I really don't care about celebrities, but this was just too odd.

Absolutely Brilliant Point in Hard Green

So I just started reading Hard Green. I struggled through the intro which waxed poetic about the great Theodore Roosevelt and ol' T.R.'s love of the wilderness and his idea to start conserving areas untouched by the hand of man.

Anyway, pretty dry stuff. Mr. Huber then goes into computer technology and I was lost. I had no clue where he was going with it, then he made it all crystal clear and I laughed out loud.

Standing shoulder to shoulder all the people on Earth would scarcely fill Delaware. All our copper, zinc, tin and deuterium could be culled from one billionth of the Earth's oceans. All our energy requirements for two thousand years could be supplied by one-quadrillionth of the thermal energy produced by radioactive decay in the core of the Earth. Suitably stacked and compressed, all our trash would fit in a pyramid just two miles high in southern Connecticut..

Mr. Huber goes on to list other illustrative figures meant to dillute the arguments from environuts. Then he slams the hammer down.

Where did I get all these numbers? I made them up. I could have dug up real ones from the extant Hard Green literature, and they would have looked much like the ones I invented, but why bother? People aren't going to live shoulder to shoulder in Delaware, or build pyramids in southern Connecticut. Exxon knows how to find gasoline, not deuterium. Annaconda knows how to extract copper cheaply from a mine in Utah, not from the sea, so forget about it. So that is what Forrester [a pioneer in computer modeling the environment] he forgot about it... He based his models on known technology, known mines, known reserves, known quantities of land...

Brilliant, absolutely brilliant.

Basically what Huber is saying, and what I assume much of his book will focus on (I haven't gotten past this fantastic tenth page) is that current environmental doomsday theories base their outcomes and messages on current technologies, without allowing for advances in not only technology but in efficiencies and alternative uses that may be developed in the future. It is conceivable (to me at least) that someday there may be a contraption that turns automobile emmisions into usable energy that can automatically be sent right back to the cars engine thus creating a constant, automatically renewed source of energy for that engine. I have no idea how that would work, but that is why we have teams of 40 year old virgins with pocket protectors locked to their desks crunching numbers. Thank you engineers.

The point is that we have no clue, literally no clue, what types of innovations the human mind will come up with. Undoubtedly these innovations will stretch oil further, or perhaps invent cars that use zero oil. Personally, as long as I can slap on some dubs and hit my switches, I don't care what my whip is runnin on, just keep me bumpin.

Word.

Odd

I tried using that Qumma ap but it seems I or the program somehow screwed up. I'm trying to figure it out now.

Pissing Everyone Off

The Supreme Court managed an incredible feat today. They pissed off EVERYONE!

DUmmies, Freepers, and the good folks at BBA.

I agree with alll of them. This is a terrible ruling that opens the door for a myriad of things.

The first thing I thought about, strangely, was City News and NOvelty in Waukesha. It was a porn store, and seemingly a fairly popular one. The city didn't want the strore downtown anymore so it kept hassling it and revoking permits and what not, until the store finally moved to a different location.

Now, if I am looking at this ruling correctly (and thats what it is, a ruling, not a "vote") then governments can simply buy a busniess because they don't like it. The "emminent domain" idea has been expanded greatly. Governments can take a porn store or strip club they don't like, and give that land to a puppy store or ballerina clothing factory.

A country with no stip clubs and porn stores? The Judges are NAZI's!


Obviously I am being a little facesious but you get the idea. This seems far too broad and far too "big gov't" for me. It's odd to see that the country (this will poll at like 80% against) will side overwhelming with Justices Thomas and Scalia.

 

 

Today, I have experienced a broad spectrum of entertainment experiences that I feel compelled to convey.  I already promised a review of South Park Conservatives, which will follow in this post since I finished that particular book today.  In addition to finishing that book, I took the afternoon off to head out to the Ballpark for a fantastic game (a rare, enjoyable, Jenkinless game!) attempted to watch a Ben Affleck movie, and watched a bit of Senate floor fun.

 

Let me just say I am going to go from worst to first.

 

Surviving Christmas is literally one of the most pointless films I have ever attempted to view.  I tried watching it once when it first came out and was totally under whelmed.  However, since I was watching it on my computer (and having nothing else to do this evening after the ballgame) I watched a half hour or so of it on HBO.  Terrible.  At no time during this rambling, obnoxious completely unbelievable movie did I ever feel drawn in.  I'd rather watch the awful Frontline "expose" on Wal-Mart that oddly enough, I am watching right now.

 

Second. the senate floor was pretty interesting today.  Durbin was called a commie bastard (at least that's what the lefties and media will probably claim tomorrow) Kennedy tried to back Rumsfield into a corner and Rumsfield performed admirably, and Kerry opened his monstrous lower mandible and drawled something about Karl Rove.  I fell asleep just waiting for him to unfold his gangly self into an upright position so I missed the point of his remarks.

 

Somehow I doubt we'll be seeing a teary eyed namby pamby beg for forgiveness (from now on lets just call it a Durbin) from Mr. Rove. 

 

I don't have to tell you folks how much I enjoyed the ballgame,  I think my passion or the Brewers has come across in previous posts.  Stuart Scott still sucks.

 

On to the important point of this post.  I finished South Park Conservatives, an enjoyable book by Brian Anderson.  It wasn't exactly intellectual, it wasn't long, and it didn't really make me any smarter.  However, the book is still worth while.  It goes through the entire media spectrum and points out where conservatives can be found.  It doesn't cheerlead for the right, it merely point out where one can go to find conservative views.  The most uplifting chapter to me as the Campus Conservatism.  Despite much of the recent political blunders Marquette was fairly balanced when I went there.  Obviously the lit department was leftist through and through (I was way ahead of Coulter in trying to rehabilitate the legacy of Sen. McCarthy which didn't go over so well in Freshman Engish) but the Econ department (my home) was fantastic in it's unbiased, and often right-leaning (Prof. Brush in particular is a great anti-tax economist) instructors.  However, it seems that throughout the country conservative movements are growing throughout the nations Universities.  The chapter on "anti-liberalism" is fantastic, funny and informative for those who don't really know what South Park or Matt Stone and Trey Parker are about.  Overall, I enjoyed the book.  I may do a more in-depth review (doubtful) later on, but for now suffice to say that it is a good, quick read.

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Fans of Dark Humor and Satire

This is unbelievable. Funny and disturbing all at once.

Interesting Observation (Barnes and Noble)

So I am browsing the web looking for new reading material and I head on over to Barnes and noble, something I don't often do. Anyway, I went to the nonfiction section (lately reading fiction seems like a waste of time) and am a little stunned by the "Featured New Releases " page. Did the website somehow decide I was a leftist who would want to read leftist drivel, or is this the same "featured" page for everyone?

Twelve books are featured on the first page. Secrets of the Kingdom, The Plot Against Social Security, Return to Greatness, Promises Betrayed, The Interrogators, and Don't Eat This Book are all to one extent or another leftist screed's with many attempting to denegrate the current administration.

Strange indeed. There is more of the same on the second (and last ) page of books recommended by Barnes and Noble.

A quick jump over to buyblue.org shows that this is no mistake. Barnes and Noble is given a 100% rating by the kooks at BuyBlue.org.

Barnes & Noble currently has a 100% BuyBlue rating due to political contributions for the 2003-2004 election cycle. Barnes & Noble executives contributed heavily and exclusively Democratic in the past election contribution over $78K in total. Barnes & Noble does not have a political action committee.

Hmm, that explains it.

Stossel offers wage gap ammo

I like John Stossel. His book is on my Amazon wish list. With his most recent article over at Town Hall, John discusses something few dare to touch; no not Marth Burke's naked body but the gender wage "gap."

Suppose two people have equal potential, but one takes on more demanding, consuming, lucrative jobs while the other places a higher priority on family. The one who makes work the focus will be more productive for an employer than the one who puts his or her home life first. The latter will get more of the pleasures of family. So he (and it tends to be "he") will make more money, even though she would be equally productive and equally rewarded if she made the same choices.

"Women and men look at their life," said Farrell, "and women say, 'What do I need? Do I need more money, or do I need more time?' And women are intelligent enough to say, I need more time. And so women lead balanced lives. Men should be learning from women."

One irony is that some people, especially young women, may make the choices that lead to the pay gap precisely because they have been taught the job market shortchanges women. Women who see the market as hostile may put their hearts into their homes instead of their careers -- thus making less money.

That cyclical argument is one I have not heard before. It makes sense however. If a woman assumes she is going to make less money why would she demand to be the breadwinner, when she thinks her husband will be compensated better for the same efforts?

But the market isn't hostile. The market is just. It rewards you for the work you do, not for the work you choose not to do. If men want the family time many women have, we must accept lower financial rewards -- and if women want the money, they have to work like money-grubbing men.

Amen.

Kenneth Tomlinson (a fact the left tries to hide)

I was watching FOX News last night (leftists just tuned out) and learned something I hadn't known before. "Embattled" CPB (PBS's purse) chairman Kenneth Tomlinson, was appointed to the board by none other than the Big Dog himself, Bill Clinton! So the left's new whipping boy was appointed by the do-no-wrong hero of the neosocialists. Fantastic.

I read the story that Drudge links to in the New York Times and they do a nice job of sneaking in this important nugget of info.

"Mr. Tomlinson was first nominated to the board by the past administration and was renominated in 2003," said Erin Healy, a White House spokeswoman.

As Kornheiser might say, that's it, that's the list. That is the extent to which they venerable NY Times goes to reveal the truth. Not even a mention of Clinton, just quoting a White House spokesperson six or seven paragraphs into the story saying he was nominated by "the previous administration."

Stay Hot Ned Yost (Not for children)

Please, if crude language and cursing turn you off, don't read on.

This is a picture of folks sitting next to me at the game tonight, don't scroll past the picture if you don't want to read curse words.



UPDATE: I was unaware Mr. Sykes was kind enough to link to me earlier today until after I posted this. So again, fair warning. This is warning number three. The F-word is used numerous times in the following paragraphs. Sometimes, sheer unadultered anger is the only way to express rage at someone who has dissapointed you and crushed your will. That is how I feel about Ned Yost right now. Again, DO NOT READ ON IF YOU ARE OFFENDED BY CURSING.

Oh, and thanks Mr. Sykes.

2-0. Man on third, nobody out. The best all around hitter coming to the plate. The guy has been clutch beyond belief. Easy call, you walk Derek Lee. Ned Yost is a fucking moron who deserves to be fired. I am not easily upset like this, at least not to this level. Yost seems to be a good enough motivator and leader of men that he has ducked my ire til this point.

The man cannot manage during a game. He doesn't know when to sac bunt, when to send Brady Clark (NEVER YOU FREAKING IDIOT!!) and when to plunk a guy (more on that later). I have no idea what happens, but their are situations where either he gets caught up in the game or lost in his own thoughts of 1982 or just spaces. I don'w know, but he checks out.

The best (realistic) case scenario for pitching to D. Lee is he hits a fly ball and drives in the run. In a 2-0 ballgame where the team isn't hitting, WHY THE FUCK PITCH TO HIM???

Smarter, more positive potential outcome move: WALK LEE, PITCH TO BURNITZ. Burnitz has been pretty hot, but you let the third or fourth best hitter on the team beat you, YOU DON'T EVER LET THE BEST HITTER IN ALL OF BASEBALL BEAT YOU!! Walk Lee, pitch to Burnitz. Hopefully he K's (likely) or hits into a double play. Either way, the positive expectations are better. If Burnitz strikes out then you can pitch to ARam and hope he grounds into a double play, ending the inning.

That is the smart move.

I don't know if Yost hasn't been paying attention to MLB stats since he seems to have had his nose buried in AAA Indianapolis or what, but he obviously forgot that Derek Lee is hitting nearly .400. Fucker.

Second, maybe even larger, point. WHY WAS RAMIREZ OR LEE NOT HIT? Not even brushed back. If the pitchers on this team don't have the pride to hit a guy after drilling two game changing home runs in two nights, the manager should order it. If the players on this team don't have enough pride to try and take back Miller Park, Ned Yost should order it. Hit Lee in the back. Hit Ramirez in the hip. Hit fucking Dusty Baker in that god damn toothpick chomping kisser. I don't care how you do it, just show me you have some pride and don't like being shown up in YOUR ballpark.

Mainly this goes out to Ricky Bottalico. Yost may not have the balls to hit a guy, but Ricky has been in the league long enough to know that something has to light a fire under these guys, what better than a bench clearing brawl? I'm not asking for head shots (those should be reserved for Gary "i tanked on purpose cause I hate Milwaukee" Sheffield, another guy who Ned Yost was too big a pussy to have drilled) just let them know you're there.

Tonight was my last straw, I'm throwing at Yost's neck.

Ned Yost needs to be replaced.

Again, apologies for the language.

A Fool and His Money (Let Leftists Pay More aka H.O.T. Tax)

Big fan of this idea. As idiots on the left are banging the drums for Republicans to enlist their children since "the love the war" why not put forth the same philosophy to taxes? Lefties want socialist government, pay more for it.

Just look at the money the government would rake in, hell Ben Affleck practically pledged a million and a half by himself!

“Because of Bush’s tax cuts, I saved a million and a half in taxes last year. Does anyone think that’s fair?” Ben Affleck asked at a July 2004 John Kerry fundraiser.

How it would work:

The H.O.T. Tax would ease these statists’ pain. The IRS simply would add a small box to the 1040 tax form beside these words: “If you believe you should be taxed at a rate above that assigned to your income bracket, please indicate here the higher rate you prefer. Kindly calculate your tax liability, and send it in.”

With that easy step, congressional liberals and residents of Malibu and Martha’s Vineyard no longer would have to keep the tax cuts conservatives keep throwing their way. Instead, they could send 50, 75, or even 99 percent of their incomes to Washington, so the GOP, Congress, and President Bush can spend it even better than they can.

DOWNING STREET MEMO!!!!!

Christopher Hitchens (a man I despise for his role in the disgusting "documentary" about Henry Kissinger) writes an interesting (finally) and intelligent piece about the DOWNING STREET MEMO!!!!!!!! which not only shows (God only knows how) the President is a liar and a murderer, but it will also darn your socks and pick up your dry cleaning. Also, if you give it enough playing time I hear it will also win the triple crown.

But the main Downing Street document does not introduce us to any hidden or arcane or occult knowledge. As Fred Kaplan wrote in Slate last week, it explains no mystery. As protagonist Jim Dixon observes in another context in Lucky Jim, it is remarkable for "its niggling mindlessness, its funereal parade of yawn-enforcing facts, the pseudo-light it threw upon non-problems." On a visit to Washington in the prelude to the Iraq war, some senior British officials formed the strong and correct impression that the Bush administration was bent upon an intervention. Their junior note-taker committed the literary and political solecism of saying that intelligence findings and "facts" were being "fixed" around this policy.

Anyway, it's a good article on this latest leftist MacGuffin.

Who Is Thomas Frederick? (what liberal bias?)

And why the hell does his LTTE get printed in bold on the Urinal's web editorial page?

A war on schools

Several years ago, under the leadership of Gov. Tommy Thompson, the Republican Party declared war on public education in Wisconsin. While millions of dollars in voucher payments are going to unregulated private schools in Milwaukee, the public schools in Milwaukee and around the state are constantly being forced to cut their budgets.

The debate going on now in Madison over education funding should come as no surprise. The Republican budget increases for schools do not come close to matching the costs of running the schools. Instead of working at controlling health care costs - a key reason for many of our budget problems - the Republicans are more worried about closing down a few schools in Milwaukee or seeing class sizes increase or allowing athletic programs or other extracurricular programs be cut.

The Republican Party war against our public schools wages on.

Tom Frederick
Chippewa Falls

Funny, I don't see any letters about what a great education voucher kids are getting displayed in bold on the Urinal's web page?

UPDATE: Tom Frederick is, in fact, the head of the Social(ist) Studies Department at Chippewa High School. Seems the Urinal is printing the entire offensive from WEAC. Check out more at Badger Blogger. Seems he is also involved in athletics.

McCain: You other 86 may as well go home

I watched John McCain (D-AZ) on Meet the Press this Sunday. The show is on early and I had a big Saturday, so I thought I was a little hazy and misheard some things. I reread the transcript and was shocked to find out that McCain (D-AZ) really did say this in regards to a Supreme Court nominee:

But, in all due respect, it's not up to 45 Democrats or 55 Republicans. It's up to the 14 that made this agreement.

So basically, those of us who thought we had terrible representation from Russ Feingold and Herb Kohl, we in fact have no representation. Basically, we have just been relegated to zero say in who will be sitting on the Supreme Court. John McCain (D-AZ) has taken that into his own hands as the leader of the Gang of 14.

He does salvage this incredibly arrogant statement later on by agreeing that the "Gang" would indeed confirm (can you believe that, now instead of the senate confirming nominees, we have the John McCain (D-AZ) gang...what a crock) Justice Scalia, or a likeminded individual. I can only guess that in their underhanded negotiations they discussed the current justice and possible nominees to the SCOTUS, and that McCain (D-AZ) knows his gang has his back.

As a side note, when he made the "it's not up to them" comment I thought "wow, you are a condescending asshole." I spoke with thirteen of my friends and we concluded John McCain (D-AZ) is in fact a condescending asshole, therefore he IS, period. If you like him I am sorry, that is no longer an option. Honestly, liking McCain (D-AZ) is an extremist position and therefore, I will not allow you to have it.

Tom Cruise Goes Nuts!!!!

Actually, I think the video shows a very calm and collected reaction to getting squirted in the face. He doesn't really show any anger and just sort of shames the prankster. Imagine if it were Russell Crowe or Al Franken, there would have been a fistfight.

As much as I just want this nut to go away, I do have a newfound respect for the way he handled this situation. He didn't big time the guy and say "do you know who I am, I could have you sacrificed to the Scientology Gods with no repercussions!" He just told him it was a dick move and didn;t even give the guy good fodder for his prank TV show.

Personally, I blame Ashton Kucher, he should be tarred and feathered, and as his flesh is slowly melting from the boiling tar, every rational human being should be able to slap him and the face and shout "You got T&F'ed!!"