Heh.
In Thanksgiving Tradition, Bush Pardons Scooter Libby In Giant Turkey Costume
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funny,
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Whatever old man. You are losing it.
The Second Amendment says: "A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed." Until June, the question was: Is the right guaranteed to individuals and unconnected with military service, or guaranteed only to states as they exercise their right to maintain militias? The court held, 5-4, for the former view.An obviously mentally impaired columnist then goes on to assert that without this ambiguity, state legislatures are now burdened with having to conform to some weird kind of 2nd Amendment that only has one true meaning, not the old tried and true what-the-hell-ever-we-want-it-to-mean, meaning.
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2nd amendment,
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It's all around us.
California is now a valuable touchstone to the country, a warning of what not to do. Rarely has a single generation inherited so much natural wealth and bounty from the investment and hard work of those more noble now resting in our cemeteries—and squandered that gift within a generation. Compare the vast gulf from old Governor Pat Brown to Gray Davis or Arnold Schwarzenegger. We did not invest in many dams, canals, rails, and airports (though we use them all to excess); we sued each other rather than planned; wrote impact statements rather than left behind infrastructure; we redistributed, indulged, blamed, and so managed all at once to create a state with about the highest income and sales taxes and the worst schools, roads, hospitals, and airports. A walk through downtown San Francisco, a stroll up the Fresno downtown mall, a drive along highway 101 (yes, in many places it is still a four-lane, pot-holed highway), an afternoon at LAX, a glance at the catalogue of Cal State Monterey, a visit to the park in Parlier—all that would make our forefathers weep. We can’t build a new nuclear plant; can’t drill a new offshore oil well; can’t build an all-weather road across the Sierra; can’t build a few tracts of new affordable houses in the Bay Area; can’t build a dam for a water-short state; and can’t create even a mediocre passenger rail system. Everything else—well, we do that well.
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America,
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From the office of the President-Elect:
Urban Policy...Don't worry, because he doesn't have the votes. Wait, what?
Address Gun Violence in Cities: Obama and Biden would repeal the Tiahrt Amendment, which restricts the ability of local law enforcement to access important gun trace information, and give police officers across the nation the tools they need to solve gun crimes and fight the illegal arms trade. Obama and Biden also favor commonsense measures that respect the Second Amendment rights of gun owners, while keeping guns away from children and from criminals. They support closing the gun show loophole and making guns in this country childproof. They also support making the expired federal Assault Weapons Ban permanent.
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2nd amendment,
BHO
I'm not saying that's a good thing. But I think there are good things that come with an Obama presidency. For one, when you hear people shout things like Amerikkka!, they are now demonstrably full of shit.
I didn't sleep well last night, and I woke up this morning, went to the New York Times and fully expecting to see something that would make me ill, I saw in big bold blue letters O-B-A-M-A. I thought I would cringe. But I smiled. America did pick an underdog, a horrible underdog, but still. As if that was not enough, now the Times is pimping a blue map of the U.S.; almost every state voted more for Democrats than four years ago. Good for them. Doesn't bother me. John McCain was no inspiring conservative. Say what you want about who's to blame, but our voters stayed home last night. By contrast, Obama was inspiring to many, and his turnout reflects that. Now that I mention it, McCain was like Kerry, in terms of his inability to inspire.
Obama won on all fronts. That is inspiring even to a libertarianish conservative like me. With any luck, we can put up a worthy and formidable opponent in another four years. We need to start working on the groundwork for such a monumental task today.
Final update for this post: Iowa called for Obama. Looks like a big victory for Obama. I'm swallowing my anger, and there's plenty of it justifiably so, but if these projections are accurate, I congratulate Obama. But the truth squads, the bitter-clingy remarks, and the hubris better be nowhere insight after tonight. Or it's going to be a brutal four years.
Update 4: New Mexico called for Obama, Florida still not looking good for McCain so it's getting harder and harder for a McCain miracle.
UPDATE 3: ABC, NBC, and yes, FOX calls Ohio for Obama. If PA and OH are Obama's it's over for McCain. There is no realistic way to win, not even if McCain wins Florida, Iowa, Colorado, Nevada, and New Mexico. Then again, it's not over until it's over.
Update 2: Ohio and Florida are still not looking good for McCain. Frankly, even if McCain wins those two, good chance it will still hinge on Colorado. Iowa looks to go to Obama, but also an important state as things are now. I'm still keeping an eye on Pennsylvania as not many precincts have reported yet.. If PA changes to red, it's a whole new ballgame. But it's not looking good either.
Update: Obama gets all New England, and most networks have called PA for him as well, despite a complete lack of precinct reports. If that's true, McCain cannot afford to lose Florida AND Ohio, otherwise Obama safely wins with all his other solidly blue states. And Ohio is not looking good.
Spot on, I'd say.
Really, though, I can't predict this one for nothing. I have been avoiding polls this whole season for two reasons: a) Most are probably flawed and hence wrong, and b) Despite that I still can't stomach the results.
One thing I do know, is that I regret not getting involved as much as I should/could have. It took me a while to get over (and to some extent I still haven't gotten over) my objections to McCain. One question I always mull over is compromise or principle. Can a man compromise his principles and still be considered a principled man? I think theoretically no. But the real world tends to throw theory out the window (often with pleasure it seems).
Not again will I waste such opportunities for some trivial dilemma. I will fight with and for allies despite disagreements without giving up the fight for my principles. Not every battle is zero-sum. Call me a hack I frankly don't care, but principles aren't worth shit without results.
Vote McCain. And kick the Democrats out of Congress.
D'oh. I always forget to give credit where I get stuff from, although I doubt Glenn really needs another link.
i did not say i deceived the afghan soldier. on the contrary, both i and the taliban commanders i was with told the afghan soldiers that i was a journalist and in fact i showed him my passport. of course there is nothing wrong with deceiving anybody if its going to protect you...Background here.
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afghanistan,
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The question is, why now, after so long?
DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) - U.S. military helicopters attacked territory inside Syria close to its border with Iraq Sunday, killing eight people in a strike the Syrian government condemned as "serious aggression."We should do the same thing in Iran. As to why we keep pretending there is no double standard and no Iranian cross-border activity is beyond me. No, it's just insane.
A U.S. military official said the raid by special forces targeted the foreign fighter network that travels through Syria into Iraq in an area where the Americans have been unable to shut it down because it was out of the military's reach.
"We are taking matters into our own hands," the official told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because of the political sensitivity of cross-border raids.
The attack came just days after the commander of U.S. forces in western Iraq said American troops were redoubling efforts to secure the Syrian border, which he called an "uncontrolled" gateway for fighters entering Iraq.
A Syrian government statement carried by the official Syrian Arab News Agency said the helicopters attacked the Sukkariyeh Farm near the town of Abu Kamal, five miles inside the Syrian border. Four helicopters attacked a civilian building under construction shortly before sundown and fired on workers inside, the statement said.
The area is near the Iraqi border city of Qaim, which had been a major crossing point for fighters, weapons and money coming into Iraq to fuel the Sunni insurgency.
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iran,
iraq,
syria,
war
He's obviously supported Obama for some time now. Why else would he feel the need to defend Obama as if he was another talking head on the Obama campaign PR circuit. As for his uneasiness with the Republican party's shift to the right... I think the fact that McCain is the nominee puts the idea to rest. Notta word though, 'bout the Democrats' shift to the left.
A lot of people respect General Powell's words, which is why Obama and Powell are banking on just that, hoping this gives Obama a much needed cushion.
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I wasn't too impressed given all the potential humor they had going with look-a-like celebrity Tina Fey, but maybe it's just me.
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elections,
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Good stuff.
Obama got a turn himself:
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democrats,
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That is to say, Obama didn't lose badly enough. McCain performed well, put Obama on the defensive, had a few good one liners, some gotchas, all that went over rather well for McCain. On substance and yes, style I think McCain won. Obama was good, but he was tortured when he had to explain his nuance for policies McCain said were not good for America.
That's where Barry suffered a lot. Every time he felt the necessity to explain why his policies were good, he went into detail, which normally would be a good thing, but it came off like a complicated story from a kid who explained his way out of trouble, a complicated story full of nuance for all 13 instances of trouble. It's like they say; when you're on defense, you're not scoring.
One place where McCain had trouble was with potential Roe-supporting judicial nominees. But it wasn't much. It's not like the country hasn't elected a president who was against abortion before.
I think he fumbled a little on Ayers and ACORN. At first he pinned them on Obama pretty good, but he turned it into something like a double 180, not a 360, but 180 degrees one way, and then back. It went like this:
Obama has some serious explaining to do about his connection to Bill Ayers, even though I don't care about him. And he has explaining to do about ACORN. These are important issues the American people should know about, but we shouldn't dwell on them. Obama is a good guy, but these are horrible connections. My campaign is not about this stuff, it's about bigger issues, like taxes...Ace is steamed that McCain didn't bring up Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac or the subprime mess, and I think he should have, although it seemed like the debate was not long enough. Yeah, they could have done without the "MY SUPPORTERS ARE BETTER BEHAVED THAN YOUR SUPPORTERS" garbage at the beginning, although that is a major national issue, at least according to the press.
Debate is over. But you can watch it below in its entirety. McCain came out strong, put Barry 'O' on the defensive more than a few times. Criticism from Obama didn't seem to stick to McCain, probably because it was directed at Bush, who apparently is running for a third term.
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But I've never heard of API. I read this story last night and thinking it was fake, not just fake, but a bad fake at that, so I laughed it off. But now everybody is talking about it so I guess I should mention it. I still think it's crap.
So does Allah at HotAir.
Even if it were true, and the media, succumbing to their urge to redeem themselves and wash away their increasingly guilty consciences for unapologetic Obama cheerleading and decided to cover it, it wouldn't be enough. If Ayers, Wright, Rezko, and Acorn are not enough, then one bad Michelle moment would be a mere drop in the ocean.
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democrats,
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You know, I think I would rather have Al Gore, Hillary Clinton, or John Kerry as president than Barack Obama. In that order. Maybe that explains my recent fervor to support McCain. It's not so much about McCain, but just this urge to fight back the tide of political retards. Sometimes called Obamabots, they're either ignored, or praised by the media, whichever benefits Obama at the time.
All of this factors into tonight's debate. McCain is trailing in the polls, nationally, and in vitally important swing states. Other than energizing much of the base, I don't see the Palin pick paying off, electoral votes from Alaska notwithstanding (yes that was sarcasm). McCain needs a big win tonight, but more than that he needs Obama to lose big.
We can learn a lot from our opponents by their behavior, and recently Obama has been employing surrogates and otherwise reputable allies saying he is a good, trustworthy guy. Whether this is a reaction to McCain's "smears" questioning Obama's links with domestic terrorist Bill Ayers, or filling the holes in the public's perception of Obama, doesn't matter. He revealed his weakness. Obama is not to be trusted, he wont make you feel warm and fuzzy inside, he will take your guns. Your traditional way of life is alien to Obama. His life, his record, his mentors, his associations, and his ideology all show this. Now that he's running for president, he's somehow not who he most certainly was? That's what McCain needs to do tonight. Show that. That isn't Palin's job, she can barely communicate (I love Palin by the way, I just have a hard time listening to her speak), it's the War Veteran's turn to stick it to an arrogant elitist liberal.
Will he do it?
When political discourse gets ugly and personal, it becomes a grave threat to the nation. A grave threat tacitly supported by McCain no less. So of course McCain should suspend his campaign again, 21 days prior to the election, until you know, he gets every last one of his supporters under control. For the nation's sake.
You know, because this sort of thing is never happens on the left. Never.
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elections,
stupid
Virginia Senator Jim Webb does an ad for Obama pretty much saying he trusts the junior Illinois senator on the 2nd Amendment. It goes something like this:
Hi I'm Senator Jim Webb, you can trust me, just like my dad trusted me with the trustworthy rifle he gave me when I was a kid. I'm in the NRA[!] so you know you can trust me when I say you can trust my trustworthy friend Barack Obama with your guns. But don't trust the NRA. Did I mention that I trust Barack Obama?Audio here.
Why was it taken away in the first place? Because she showed bad judgment, by having the audacity to you know, actually carry it.
She had lost the permit after other parents complained last month that she was carrying her loaded handgun in a holster at her daughter's soccer game.The nerve of some people. Yes, I mean the judge. I wonder what he thinks of the holstered guns of his bailiffs?
Judge Robert Eby says even though the law required him to give her the permit back, he questioned whether Hain showed good judgment by ignoring other parents' safety concerns.
