Moe Lane

And they’ll just let him?

So it seems, so it seems.

One week after deciding to side with Senate Republicans, a key architect of the state Senate coup says he’s coming home. A source close to Senator Hiram Monserrate says he will stay with the democratic caucus.

First off: feel free to take him back, Democrats. No. Really. You never really wanted him gone, anyway.

Second: this makes the entire NY Senate thing exceedingly complex. A 31-31 split will mean GOP-plus-Espada keeps control of the Senate… if his appointment is confirmed. That’s up in court today, and if the courts rule against Espada, the lack of a majority by either side puts the NY Senate back into chaos. There’s no Lt. Governor to break ties, you need 32 votes for a quorum, former Senate President Malcolm Smith’s being replaced as caucus leader… it is, in fact, going to be a glorious mess.

It’s even got a national implications: Democratic state senator Darrel J. Aubertine has been talked up to run for NY-23′s upcoming special election. The idea is probably giving his fellow-Democrats heartburn right now…

Moe Lane

Crossposted to Moe Lane.

Do you know what worries me about the current US response to the stolen Iranian election?

What worries me is that once we hear the official response, this (via @magnolia_tree):

Unfortunately, no focus group needs to be taken on one sad fact. America is to blame for this. The President and I would like to send our apologies to the Iranian people and government for our past action, which has led many to believe that this is how you react after a contested election. For those of you who don’t follow me, I have 3 words: Remember the Florida election!

Now I want to make one thing clear. All investigations after the fact showed that George W Bush was victorious. However, our actions during that recount were outrageous and set an example that the Iranian government is now following. I still have nightmares about watching the news from Florida as countless innocent people named Chad were hung. Night after night this took place while I watched in stunned silence at how we reacted to that election. I never knew Chad was such a popular name in Florida until then. So many of them were killed that the media even came up with a catch phrase for it, Hanging Chads. Disgusting. I never was able to track down one of their family members to express my condolences. It was as if they never existed. Scary indeed.

…won’t sound half bad.

I’d give the President’s response to this, but he was out golfing yesterday while Iranian thugs were beating people to death in the streets.  Unlike, say, his predecessor, he apparently wasn’t taking comments, either.  That being said, the administration is firmly on track to consider a plan to focus on a response to Iran’s reported human rights violations, which apparently excludes the concept of a ‘fair election.’  I suggest that people keep a good eye out for those who’ll reflexively endorse this decision as the received wisdom of the ages; it’ll be a helpful calibration.

Meanwhile: it’s clumsy and repetitive, but it’s real-time.

Crossposted to RedState.

Yeah, I did one today already. So?

All Around My Hat, Steeleye Span

It was a weird weekend.  Sue me.

In tune with the generally-more-serious-than-I-personally-like kind of weekend that we’ve had here, we now replace Death from the Skies!: These Are the Ways the World Will End . . . with The Persian Night: Iran under the Khomeinist Revolution.  Personally, I’d have preferred something a bit less unfortunately pertinent to current events, but Michael Totten insists that people need to read this, and he’s one of the go-to new media guys on the region.

Moe Lane

While Jon Henke is correct – at this time the Carter Center remains completely silent regarding yesterday’s Iranian election fraud – the former President has made a statement on the topic.  One that is incompatible with any stance that considers what’s happening over there to be election fraud.

Carter said US policy would remain the same “because the same person will be there” in brief remarks after he met Palestinian officials in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

[snip]

Carter — who was president during Iran’s 1979 revolution that toppled the US-backed shah and the hostage crisis that followed — said the strength of the opposition during the campaign may push Ahmadinejad to “modify” his policies.

“I think this election brought a lot of opposition to his policy in Iran and I am sure he will listen to this opposition and may modify (it).”

If by “modify” one means “crack down on, violently attack, isolate (along with the rest of Iran) from the rest of the universe, and place under house arrest.”  Which, knowing Carter, cannot be ruled out: he gets just a little less tolerant of people contradicting his narrative every year.

Moe Lane

PS: You can keep up with this situation here.

Crossposted to RedState.

Who did you vote for, Marty?

Crossposted to RedState.

…but it’s Sunday, and it’s a nice day out, and I’m going to take a nap now. Watch a video, or something.

Toni Basil – Hey Mickey

Mickey, Toni Basil

…OK. You know, I remember growing up in this time period; I just don’t remember it being that weird. Then again, Wayne’s World had the right of it: nobody actually remembers anything from that song except the chorus.

Guess that means that they’re still worried about it.

Anyway, intentionally or not, Cynthia Yockley reminds me of this great piece of folk wisdom:

Don’t get mad.
Get even.

Probably intentionally: her post on bullying is likewise spot-on.

Crossposted to RedState.

Elections have consequences.

A failed state.

While its electoral history allows it some pretense to claiming a democratic system of government, its current one-party regime has resulted in crumbling infrastructures and drastic budget shortfalls. Its supposedly high-minded ruling caste keeps getting embroiled in scandal after scandal, ranging from ordinary corruption to substance abuse; their highest figures are especially notorious about violating their own (loudly-proclaimed) religious principles when it suits them. When faced with an increasingly-popular and populist movement drawing on a glorious revolutionary past, the regime seems alternatively derisive and frightened – but cannot seem to find an answer past the standard nonsense that everything is all right, despite the evidence of one’s eyes. And ruling above all is an already deeply unpopular leader whose own lackeys privately worry about how he can win a legitimate election.

All in all, the Massachusetts Democratic Party has seen better days. (more…)

Am I anticipating?

Yes.

Right Here Right Now, Jesus Jones

You gotta hope sometime, though.

I mean… that bad?  The authors of that piece did everything except formally declare kanly on Stephenie Meyer.  Certainly this guy was likewise unimpressed:

Since I’m bringing up vampire books, people may want to try these two by Barbara Hambly instead: Those Who Hunt the Night and Traveling with the Dead. They’re horror/fantasy novels set in the Victorian time period, and are remarkably free of sentimentality about the implications of vampirism as it’s portrayed in historical myth.  Which is to say, it’s a condition whose sufferers are apex predators who have no option but to eat human beings on a regular basis to survive, and who possess a set of abilities that allow that to be done easily.  Or, more shortly: monsters.

Monsters who can think.

Moe Lane

…which means that I just also pretty much lost my last fragment of pity for these four particular DC Summer Interns.  The expectation of entitlement chewed up a lot of it; the attempt at intimidation got most of the rest, and the clear misjudgement by that one guy over who was going to win a battle of wits acted as a high-pressure anti-sympathy wash.  Nonetheless, I am at heart a sentimentalist and an optimist, so I still felt just a little pit sorry for the poor kids…

But to go through all of that for Pabst Blue Ribbon?

Heathen.