Moe Lane

Because I’ve read The Cat in the Hat a lot this week.

Over.
And over.
And over.
And over.
And over.
And over.

Have I mentioned ‘over?’

And so, adieu to Ghosts of Manhattan.

As part of their ever-so-slightly incredulous reaction to the story of David Williams – a man who took the time offered to him in prison to design and create several innovations in firearms technology (ones later used in the M-1 carbine*), they wrote:

If you think it’s a little scary that convicted murderers are allowed to manufacture and sell weaponry to the military from prison, please realize this was truly the best-case scenario. Because when you hear the phrase “invented a new super-rifle in prison” it’s usually followed by the phrases “bloodbath the likes of which the world has never seen” and “vowed revenge on Captain America.”

Although that’s more Marvel than DC.

Moe Lane

*There is a dispute over this, but then there is a dispute about everything involving military history, technology, tactics, and/or methodology.  You get used to it; you’d better, because you don’t really have a choice anyway.

This essay (via Nodwick) is too good to skip and really can’t be excerpted. Suffice it to say that it will explain:

• Why you feel like a fraud when otherwise intelligent and observant people praise you for competence;
• Why there are two types of ignorance; and
• Why only one of those types is a type that you should worry about.

No.  Really, it will.  I promise.  To give a hint, the essay (approvingly) quotes Donald Rumsfeld’s most famous poem (possibly to the author’s bemusement).

Hickpolitics for the one and Pejmanyousefzadeh.com for the other. Check ‘em both out; I’ll update the blogroll when… well, when I get around to it, really.

Nice work, if you can get it:

The family of Democratic U.S. Senate nominee Alexi Giannoulias stands to collect more than $10 million in federal tax refunds even if its Broadway Bank fails, which Mr. Giannoulias said this week is likely.

A $75-million loss at the struggling lender last year generated tax benefits potentially worth between $12 million and $15 million to Mr. Giannoulias, his two brothers and his mother. As the sole owners of a subchapter S corporation that controls $1.2-billion-asset Broadway, they pay the taxes on the bank’s income and reap tax deductions on its losses.

The possibility of family members pocketing millions in tax refunds as Broadway slides toward insolvency and federal receivership is likely to fuel more controversy for Mr. Giannoulias, who is already under fire for his role in the bank’s downfall.

(Via Hot Air) Of course, not being in a rich banking family linked to Chicago’s culture of political corruption… oddly enough, that’s precisely the kind of work that I can’t get. And then there’s this little gem:

Asked whether he would advise his family to put the tax refunds back into the bank to help recapitalize it, Mr. Giannoulias said, “We’ll do everything we can to keep the bank going. . . .You’ll have to ask management of the bank what the best course of action is.”

Translation: “No.” Mind you, if they took this money and added it to the 70+ million in dividends that the Giannoulias family pulled in from the failing bank from 2006 to 2008, the bank would probably be able to avoid closing. But that would hurt them; so better to let the bank fail, let the FDIC take it over, and let the taxpayers take the blow. Much better, all around.

After all, the Giannoulias family got their refund.

Moe Lane

PS: Mark Kirk for Senate.
He doesn’t get paid three times for failure.

Crossposted to RedState.

I’m going to miss laughing at that notion, starting January 2011.

Forget ‘outraged’: if anyone is surprised, then they haven’t been paying attention.

Lobbyists and corporate officials talked bluntly in e-mail exchanges about connections between making generous campaign donations and securing federal funds through members of an important House Appropriations subcommittee, according to not-yet-public documents reviewed by ethics investigators.

In summer 2007, for example, senior executives at [Innovative Concepts] tried to figure out which of them would buy a ticket to a wine-tasting fundraiser for Rep. James P. Moran Jr. (D-Va.), a member of the Appropriations subcommittee on defense. At the time, the company sought help from Moran’s office in securing contracts through special earmarks added to the defense bill.

[snip]

The fundraiser was hosted by the PMA Group, a powerful lobbying firm whose unusual success in obtaining “earmarked” contracts from members of the military subcommittee was a key focus of a recent House ethics investigation.

Moran raked in $91,900 in campaign checks to his personal campaign and leadership PAC that day. He secured an $800,000 earmark for Innovative Concepts in the 2008 defense appropriations bill.

Or they don’t really want to. Which I can sort of understand; after all, the revelation that one has not only been lied too, but that one has enthusiastically participated in being lied to in order to get… nothing at all? Yes, that would strike someone squarely in the self-worth. I’d feel sorry for that, except that I have to live in the same corrupt political atmosphere.

At any rate, feel free to read the whole article, particularly the bits where the Democratic-run legislature let off the all-but-one Democratic appropriators, despite the fairly clear understanding that money was expected, and that money would be taken. Also, note that Jim Moran has at least two people on the GOP ready to replace him: Matthew Berry, who just picked up the uber-critical Volokh Conspiracy endorsement (via Instapundit); and Patrick Murray, who I just missed interviewing at CPAC. I would say that they’d both be superior to having Moran in that seat, and it’d be true: it’d also be implicitly insulting to either to suggest that they wouldn’t automatically clear that particular bar anyway.

Moe Lane

Crossposted to RedState.

I so totally want him to have Rahm Emanuel’s job, too.

Of course, in my case that’s because I’ve always wanted to see us elect a Republican Congressman from MI-15.

Moe Lane

PS: Aren’t they cute when they bluster, though? You’d never know that Michael Moore’s got a track record somewhat worse than the Detroit Lions.

I’m trying not to be too eager to see Dragon Age: Origins Awakening – after all, sequels/expansions often don’t measure up; but, really… I kind of miss playing with my Elven Mage. I got nothing against my Dwarf Noble Fighter, but I’m an arcane sort of roleplayer.

Also, there’s some redesigns I want to do.

YES.  That Police Academy.

New Line is looking for recruits for a relaunched “Police Academy” movie. Original producer Paul Maslansky is back for the new iteration, which has no writer or director attached.

[snip]

And we’ll most probably retain the wonderful musical theme.”

‘Most probably.’ Ye gods and little fishes.  Allahpundit cannot bear to go on; but I quote Berkeley Breathed in response.

Driving down to Virginia for an event.  Seeded the site with a couple of posts, though, just for the heck of it.  Free ice cream back online by Sunday night.

You’ll understand why, tomorrow.

Police Academy

Treasure this last night of peace.

You know, I had a fairly elaborate rant planned out over this bizarre Leno/Palin applause faux-scandal Allahpundit found (no direct link: frankly, the original ‘revelation’ was porn – and boring, over-specialized porn at that) and was likewise gobsmacked over – but I realized that my last paragraph was all that you needed for a response.  So here it is:

So, how far into Crazyland has the netroots gone when it comes to Sarah Palin?  Let me put it this way: I now wait in breathless anticipation for the day that someone in the Online Left announces that they’re about to be given incontrovertible evidence that she’s secretly a Jew.

The 2008 election is over, people.  When can we expect to start seeing that the Other Side has, you know, moved on?

Moe Lane

Crossposted to RedState.