Moe Lane

Texas.

As God is my witness, that’s the title of the article (Via The Sundries Shack, via RS McCain). After you’re done laughing, though, note why he quit before taking the oath of office: “[Former Mayor] Lown told the Standard-Times he chose not to take the oath of office while “aiding and assisting” a person who was illegally in the country.” That’s why he’s currently in Mexico; Lown’s trying to get a new visa for his partner, and won’t come back until then.

Assuming that the article is correct, you have to admit that this shows some basic respect for the concept of secure borders.

Moe Lane

Crossposted to RedState.

(I turned this into a caption contest, over at RedState.)

Yes, I know: as Lord of War kept pointing out, the top five arms dealers in the world all have permanent seats on the UN Security Council. And I don’t mind selling arms to the Lebanese government, assuming that they don’t end up firing them off at Israel and/or Turkey. I don’t even mind doing so as part of, as Andrew Malcolm rather sardonically notes, a rather heavy-handed hint that it might be best if the freely-expressed electoral will of the Lebanese people freely expresses itself as not liking Hezbollah quite so much this time around. But…

Did you have to send Biden, Mr. President? I mean, there were high explosives around; don’t you think that was a little, you know, unsafe?

Moe Lane

Crossposted to RedState.

I’d say that John Scalzi* clearly does not feel like blogging anything substantial on a lazy Friday afternoon, except that he wrote this last Friday at 7:23 AM.  So I guess that I’m just the one feeling unsubstantial right now.

Via Glenn Reynolds, who apparently is suffering from the same condition.

Moe Lane

PS: Ha!  I’ve already been outside today.  Took the boy to the park.  There were ducks.  They went ‘quack.’  Put that in your pipe and smoke it, Mr. Lecture-The-Blogger-About-Fresh-Air.

*Old Man’s War? Good stuff. Read it.

Odd reason why I like this song:

Lola, The Kinks

It was because Nick from the sitcom Family Ties wanted that song for his and Mallory’s elopement. I can’t reliably remember my wife’s birthday without sneaking a look at her driver’s license, but I somehow remember that.

And, of course, once I heard this: (more…)

If you saw this story about how midshipmen’s ceremonial swords were on the prohibited list for graduation ceremonies, you were probably not pleased about it.  Neither was I – but I checked with the Public Affairs office for the Naval Academy, and they informed me that this policy was put into place in response to 9/11.  It is, bluntly, a stupid policy – if our midshipmen cannot be trusted to not assassinate the President, we’re in much worse trouble than we thought – but it’s also not the administration’s fault.

I encourage President Obama to change this policy and give his officers their swords back.  We are citizens of a Republic, after all – they are not subjects, and he is not a king.

Crossposted to RedState.

Another good bit from Liz Cheney:

Allahpundit is a little surprised that Liz’s popularity with the base has risen so quickly; I’m not. For whatever reason, a full-throat defense of Bush’s decisions on how to fight the GWOT were few and far between during the Bush administration itself, and that grated with Republicans. It grated on me, in fact, and I take the position that Bush actually didn’t have much choice in the matter. So, when Liz showed up last month and casually obliterated Norah O’Donnell… water to thirsty soil, my droogies. Like water to thirsty soil.

I will note one thing, however: while it would have been nice to have this conversation during the last campaign, it wouldn’t have happened even if Cheney had somehow been running for President. Based on the actual campaign and extrapolating, the Democrats would have instead run on a platform that equally highlighted Cheney’s age, his aim, and his lesbian daughter.

Moe Lane

Crossposted to RedState.

Charles Lollar is the chairman of the Republican Party’s Charles County Central Committee in Maryland. Businessman, major in the Marine Reserve (served in Kosovo), involved in the Tea Party movement: he’s not yet declared for next year’s gubernatorial race, but his name keeps coming up in local discussions. There’s also now a Draft Charles Lollar site. Generally, this guy sounds like he’d be at least a candidate for consideration. Embarrassingly, while I live in Maryland myself I am not as checked out on local politics as I should be (an error that I’m in the middle of rectifying), so that’s about all I know on the subject. Local readers are welcome to fill in the gaps of my ignorance.

On this, at least.

Moe Lane

Crossposted to RedState.

(Via Drudge) Who do they have in charge of visitor relations for that place, anyway?

…Actually, do they have somebody in place for visitor relations?

Sobbing Kindergarteners Snubbed for Steelers?

Thursday was supposed to be the highlight of the year for more than 100 kindergarteners from Stafford County, Va. They got up early and took a chartered bus to the White House for a school field trip. But when they arrived, all the 5-year-olds got was a lesson in disappointment.
The buses from Conway Elementary arrived at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue a little later than planned, and they were locked out.

“We were going to the White House, but we couldn’t get in so I felt sad,” 5-year-old Cameron Stine said.

Parents say they were just 10 minutes late for their scheduled tour. School officials say White House staff said they needed to get ready for the president’s luncheon with the Super Bowl champion Pittsburgh Steelers, so they couldn’t come in.

Incredibly, White House staffers attempted to push back on this story, in flagrant ignorance of the elementary political truth that a politician cannot win any argument with a crying five-year-old child. I will be merciful and not reproduce their justification, although I will note that it strongly implies that the parents of a busload of crying five-year-olds are all liars.

Video after the fold.

(more…)

Jump In The Line, Harry Belafonte

True, the Da Vinci’s Notebook version may actually be better. And, of course, Beetlejuice is how most of us know it.  But this has its charms.

Deadliest Warrior

Via Right Wing News. The depressing thing is, I used to have conversations on the same theme as that video. The really depressing thing is, I didn’t stop having them because I outgrew it; I stopped having them because I don’t sit around drinking until 2 AM anymore.

And I want a pony.

The moral of this story?

Rep. Alan Grayson was standing in the middle of Disney World when it hit him: What Americans really need is a week of paid vacation.

So on Thursday, the Florida Democrat will introduce the Paid Vacation Act — legislation that would be the first to make paid vacation time a requirement under federal law.

Don’t let Congressmen go to Disney World. As Allahpundit put it, “One fun ride on the teacups and they’re ready to lay down a mandate for 300 million people.”  Particularly when we’re in the middle of an economic downturn and a rising unemployment rate – and if you don’t get why either’s important in this context, I suggest that you give Rep. Grayson’s office a call; he may be hiring.

Moe Lane

PS: You know how you know when you’ve said something dumb in this business?  When even a reliably Democrat-friendly media entity like Politico can’t help but snark.  From later on:

So far, no group has come out in opposition of the bill. Nor has anyone announced opposition to roller coaster rides, cookouts on the beach or salt-water taffy on the boardwalk.

You can almost see the Politico ruffling Grayson’s hair and telling him what a big Congressman he’s getting to be, there.

Crossposted to RedState.

Starting with the background: AR-01 is one of those districts that is… interesting. It is currently rated as R +8 in the Cook Political Report, but is held by a soi-disant ‘Blue Dog Democrat’: in this case, Marion Berry. Berry has been in that seat since 1997: he won the 2006 election with 69% of the vote; and he was unopposed in 2008.

However, he will not be unopposed this term.  Rick Crawford is going to be challenging him; it’s reported that the NRCC is looking at him as part of their planned campaign against selected ‘Blue Dogs’ that did not get challenged in the last election cycle.  Rick is a business owner (AG Watch, a radio agricultural network) and military veteran (Army, bomb disposal) with strong roots in the area; he’s pro-life, pro-Tea Party, ready to run on an agricultural platform and is just as exceptionally happy to see the back of Arlen Specter as most of the people reading this, particularly after what Specter did to Kemp’s memory.

The NRCC is taking a challenge to this district seriously, and it’s no surprise why: while Barry has been comfortably winning elections lately – and didn’t have a challenger last cycle – the district itself has shifted on the national level (Gore in ’00, Bush in ’04, McCain in ’08).  Plus there’s the entire agricultural subsidy thing, which Berry is notorious for (and, apparently, has set up an arrangement to allow himself to continue to benefit from personally).  Then there’s the ongoing neutering of the Blue Dogs in general; as this NRCC radio ad (H/T: ARRA News Service) points out, Barry’s voting for what Pelosi’s proposing.

As noted above, Rick’s website is here, this is his current donation link, and here’s his Facebook page.  We will no doubt see more campaign-related items as time goes on.

Moe Lane

Crossposted to RedState.