Moe Lane

That was Rep. Stupak’s (DEMOCRAT) blunt response to David Axelrod’s assertion that the pro-life language currently in the health care rationing bill would be ‘adjusted.’ Stupak’s having none of it:

Rep. Bart Stupak (D-Mich.) pledged on Tuesday morning to defeat healthcare reform legislation if his abortion amendment is taken out, saying 10 to 20 anti-abortion-rights Democrats would vote against a bill with weaker language.

“They’re not going to take it out,” Stupak said on “Fox and Friends,” referring to Senate Democrats. “If they do, healthcare will not move forward.”

See Hot Air for the video. Stupak claims to have more than enough votes to shut down any final version that removes his amendment, which is both false and true. It’s false because the closeness of the original vote reflected a lot of horse-trading on the individual Member of Congress level; theoretically, the Speaker of the House could simply pressure the Democrats who got to vote ‘no’ last time to vote ‘yes’ this time.  It’s true because one of the reasons that they were able to get a final vote was because while the Stupak amendment was scored by NRLC, the final bill was not.  Strip out Stupak, and a vote for health care rationing becomes a vote for federal funding of abortions.  The NRLC pretty much cannot not score that appropriately.

I close with this observation: this situation for the Democrats is pretty much entirely due to the decision by House Republicans to oppose the health care rationing bill en masse.  They’re doing that because the Congressional Democratic leadership decided to shut out everybody except themselves and various outside lobbyists when it came time to put this monstrosity of a bill together.  And because the President didn’t intervene when it became clear that the process was disrupting his narrative, we’re now at the point where the Democratic party has to decide which side of the abortion debate is safer to infuriate.

But don’t feel bad for them: after all, they didn’t learn a blessed thing from their mistakes over the ‘stimulus’ and cap-and-trade.

Moe Lane

Crossposted to RedState.

…today’s topic will probably be “So. Days, week, two weeks?” – which is possibly why I’m going to this one. I’m not sure; the last pregnancy taught me the value of smiling and nodding at strategic points, and we’re going with that. After that, food shopping.

Shorter Moe Lane: less posting this morning.

Drift Away, Dobie Gray

It was on the radio.

Thanks to the kindness of my readers, I now have the Olympus Digital Voice Recorder (VN 6200PC) – which means I’ll be actually able to record interviews away from the computer and be able to download them directly. Most cool.

Alas, no Democratic party operatives have taken the hint and bought me a Wii to destroy my productivity. Cheap at twice the price, folks. Cheap at twice the price.

There are not 75.  Hey, everyone else is looking up their state, so I might as well do so, too.

(more…)

Somebody in the regular media was whining about what the point of Twitter was, a few days ago.  The answer?

Rerouting around obstacles.

hey Chinese government – i found a way to sneak around your firewall on my laptop to get to twitter. Dont fear freedom, Chinese government.

He’s also commenting on the ChiComs’ attempt to stop American media from interviewing students. Sounds like there may be some juicy stuff on ABC tonight.

Moe Lane

Crossposted to RedState.

…is by definition a BAD TREATY.

WELLINGTON, New Zealand — A beverage company has asked a team to drill through Antarctica’s ice for a lost cache of some vintage Scotch whiskey that has been on the rocks since a century ago.

The drillers will be trying to reach two crates of McKinlay and Co. whiskey that were shipped to the Antarctic by British polar explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton as part of his abandoned 1909 expedition.

…

The New Zealanders have agreed to try to retrieve some bottles, although the rest must stay under conservation guidelines agreed by 12 Antarctic Treaty nations.

A human being put that whiskey there; human beings should be able to dig it back up. And then drink it – except for the sample needed for SCIENCE!, so that we can then reverse-engineer the process and have it whenever we like.  Because that’s what AMERICA is all about.

And, err, SCOTLAND.

Via @baseballcrank.

Moe Lane

PS: I’m not seeing a consensus online about how the stuff will taste after a century frozen in the Antarctic, but damned if there aren’t a lot of people prepared to volunteer to be test subjects.

Good luck on that.

It’s been two years since Peter Berg confirmed he was attached to direct the third adaptation of Frank Herbert’s seminal science fiction novel Dune. Of course, the first adaptation was auteur David Lynch’s avant-garde, torpid 1984 film, the second being Sci Fi Channel’s miniseries in 2000. But little has been said about this third attempt to corral the story of Paul Atreides and his family amidst a futuristic feudal interstellar empire as they take control of the lone source of spice melange, the most valuable resource in the universe. It’s no wonder Dune has proved a worthy foe when condensed into film form.

(H/T: @MelissaTweets) I don’t know why people hate the David Lynch Dune so much. Yes, turgid. Have people read the blessed book? Half of the action is going on inside people’s heads.

Moe Lane

[UPDATE] Welcome, Instapundit readers.

(This post has been updated to reflect a conversation with Matthew.)

Matthew Berry. Not the ESPN guy: the former Clarence Thomas clerk/DoJ/FCC guy. He’s running on a fiscal conservatism/national security/ethics platform; and opposing the infamous Jim Moran, believer in Israeli conspiracies.  His statement about Moran’s blathering* on the NYC show trials works for me:

“It is wrong for Congressman Moran to question the patriotism of the millions of Americans who believe that terrorists such as Khalid Sheikh Mohammed should be tried by military commissions rather than in civilian courtrooms. Furthermore, Congressman Moran’s comment reflects a basic ignorance of American history. Military commissions were used to try war crimes during the Revolutionary War, Mexican War, Civil War, Spanish-American War, and World War II. The use of a military commission to try Khalid Sheikh Mohammed would have been entirely in keeping with American history and tradition.”

For those wondering: VA-08 is a D+16 district that includes Arlington, Virginia, which makes Matthew’s oppositional stance on the hot-button topics of the stimulus, cap and trade, and the health care rationing bill all the more notable.  He’s also supportive of the Tea Party’s objectives of more citizen involvement in government, particularly from a fiscal point of view.  Lastly; Matthew happens to be gay, and is making no attempt to hide his sexual orientation.  Which, given the way that minority conservatives routinely get viciously targeted by the Other Side, deserves particular mention.

The race itself is in its early days; Matthew appears to be the first candidate to declare for the primary (the VA GOP**, while not involving itself in primaries, did note that “it would be of great benefit to the Commonwealth of Virginia if Jim Moran were to lose his seat;” they look forward to supporting the eventual candidate).  All in all, a fiscon and natsec hawk sounds like a definite trade-up to the guy that we have in there now.

Moe Lane

*Apparently, objecting to show trials in NYC is now somehow un-American.  I’d note the irony, except that I’m more bemused at the irony that a ‘show trial’ has become the best possible outcome for this administration.

**Who did a nice job with the last election, by the way.

Crossposted to RedState.

Many Bothans died to bring us this information.

Via @simpson316.

Moe Lane

PS: Seriously, the President needs to start listening to his protocol droids office.

Crossposted to RedState.

Free tip for Missouri Democrats: when you’re trying to find a replacement for the third state legislator from your party who’s been caught up in a federal corruption case… find one who already pays her taxes.

ST. LOUIS — A day before she clinched the nomination to fill a vacancy in the Missouri House of Representatives on Saturday, St. Louis Democrat Hope Whitehead paid a visit to City Hall.

Not to mobilize supporters, but to pay hundreds of dollars in outstanding taxes.

Her trip downtown was more than just civic duty. Under state law, candidates with overdue tax bills are ineligible for the ballot.

(H/T: @TheAnchoress) Why does Missouri have to have this be an actual law? This should be elementary common sense for prospective legislators.  Brush your teeth.  Wear your underwear inside your pants. Pay your taxes.  These should not be difficult concepts to grasp.

Apparently not.

Moe Lane

Crossposted to RedState.

Patriots over-thinking a 4th down and the Jets trying to hand a touchdown to Jacksonville.

Heh.  This reminds me of the football pool that I was in once where my objective was to lose every week.  I was doing it ostensibly for the long-term payoff: the argument was that if I could demonstrate that I consistently was doing worse than random chance, then my picks were actually very valuable (just reverse them, and win!).  Truth be told, the shtick I was getting out of it was easily worth the five bucks a week – and it was fun while it lasted.  I was getting no more than two or three wins every week, and people were starting to believe that I was some sort of weird anti-football prophet.

Then one week the NFL had seven upsets.  As I mentioned to my wife during the hastily-convened sudden night out, while I ended up far ahead of the game I hadn’t exactly planned on this particular outcome.  And the look in the football pool organizer’s eyes when he realized that I hadn’t even known that I had won that week…

Moe Lane

PS: But the mojo was lost; for the rest of the season my picks were… mediocre.