Moe Lane

Search your heart; you know it to be true.

It is April of 2011.  We do not actually need to have everybody and his/her brother/sister declaring for the freaking Republican nomination, simply because Barack Obama needed to declare as early as possible that he was running so that he can get a head start on raising money.

I understand that you’re bored with Obama already, ABC – even if you’d rather gargle lava than admit it.  But that’s not my party’s fault. We’ll get around to having a nomination race on our own terms, and in our own sweet time.  Until then, go report on inflation/Syria/high energy prices/high food prices/unemployment… ah.  I see the problem, there.

Sheesh.

Moe Lane

PS: And if you don’t like reporting on Donald Trump, well, stop.

Not that I disagree that the relationship between the Democrats (not just the President) and business (and not just business!) can be adequately mapped out using battered-wife syndrome as an analogy; but it’s usually not polite to use that analogy in public.  However, hedge-fund operators like Daniel Loeb (major Obama bundler in 2008) apparently feel less… constrained.

“I am sure, if we are really nice and stay quiet, everything will be alright and the president will become more centrist and that all his tough talk is just words,” Mr. Loeb wrote in an email about four months ago expressing frustration with the president’s posture toward Wall Street. “I mean, he really loves us and when he beats us, he doesn’t mean it.”

The hedge fund industry pumped a lot of money into Democratic coffers in ’08: I’m getting the impression that Obama’s going to miss it in ’12.  And their bundlers.  And their downticket support, particularly in New York (Gilibrand’s going to be up for re-election; hopefully, this time we’ll be taking the election more seriously this time).  And yes, you can tell that I am totally broken up about this.

Gallows Pole, Led Zeppelin

As your attorney, I advise that you crank that puppy up.

Admittedly, the big words are hard; but that’s no excuse.  Anyway, in this specific example… paranoia is a condition where someone has an irrational fear of persecution. What avowed Commie* Don Giljum of Operating Engineers Local 148 was describing in the how-to-plan-out-union-violence-and-intimidation video below:

…was the perfectly natural reaction of a man who is the target of an organized conspiracy to intimidate and persecute him. I’m not surprised that Giljum’s not intelligent enough to understand the distinction, though: after all, Marxism is intellectualism for stupid people.

And the naturally vile, of course.

Moe Lane

*I had tacked on a ‘scumbag’ after that, but I decided below that it was kind of redundant.

[UPDATE: The screenshot is from the IMDb database entry; possibly they got scammed?]

…on this shipwreck of a film that does it for me:

Don’t tell me that’s accidental.

Via @lileks.

Moe Lane

PS: Mind you, I have no shame.

To summarize: Ken Cuccinelli, Attorney General for Virginia, requested that the US Supreme Court expedite its presumed-inevitable review of the Virginia Obamacare suit currently wending its way through the lower courts (this is the suit that found the individual mandate both unconstitutional, and severable, from the rest of Obamacare*).  The court has declined to do so; which means that the issue will probably not be actually addressed until the summer of 2012.  This decision is of note for two reasons:

1. The eventual Supreme Court decision will be – no matter what it actually is – a burning issue in the 2012 Presidential election.  The White House apparently thinks that this will end up helping the President; to which I respond that the White House should stop and think about its to-date track record when it comes to predicting popular opinion.  Or, more accurately, that it should not, as so far said track record has been very helpful for the Republican party.
2. Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan apparently did not recuse herself from this particular situation – this, despite evidence that suggests that she should recuse herself, given her possible involvement in the Department of Justice’s original plans to challenge Obamacare (remember, Kagan at that time was Solicitor General).  There was a FOIA request made on these issues; it may not be wise for the White House to let that go unfilled until the summer of 2012, too.

(more…)

While I agree with Instapundit that the point of this story should be as much “Cops should be more damned careful about accusing people of being child molesters” as it is “People should consider the implications of offering up unsecured Wi-Fi connections,” I’m forced to admit that the following:

In Germany, the country’s top criminal court ruled last year that Internet users must secure their wireless connections to prevent others from illegally downloading data. The court said Internet users could be fined up to $126 if a third party takes advantage of their unprotected line, though it stopped short of holding the users responsible for illegal content downloaded by the third party.

…doesn’t really upset me all that much. God forgive me, but 126 bucks sounds like it’s about the right amount of a natural-born damned fool fine to impose on people who don’t pay attention to felons borrowing their Internet connection.

Yes, I’m getting old.

Moe Lane

…And it’s a shame that more people on the Right read Larry Niven, because they probably have no idea just how insulting it is to compare the President of the United States to a Pierson’s Puppeteer*.  Which is what an Obama supporter has just inadvertently done:

One of his advisers described the President’s actions in Libya as “leading from behind.” That’s not a slogan designed for signs at the 2012 Democratic Convention, but it does accurately describe the balance that Obama now seems to be finding.

Leading from behind.  Man, that’s perfect. As John Podhoretz, who is also licking his chops in anticipation, recognizes:

The crystallizing phrase “leading from behind” may not be something you’ll see on a sign at the 2012 Democratic convention, but it will almost certainly be in the acceptance speech of the nominee of the Republican party at its 2012 convention, and will be thrown in Obama’s face during the presidential debates by his GOP rival, and will be the centerpiece of the critique of Obamaism going forward.

You know, this may be the first moment where I am actually starting to look forward to this election.  Oh, the fun we will have…

Via @baseballcrank

Moe Lane (more…)

This is pretty good:

“Lightning striking at White House on Easter night.”  Heh: nicely understated, but you get the subtext immediately.

More pictures here, although I can’t imagine that the author is going to be particularly welcoming of a Drudge link…

Moe Lane

I started off putting a post together on this video:

…under the assumption that Wayne Rogers (who used to play Trapper John on television) was the ‘liberal elitist douchebag‘ mocking the poor, telling people concerned about higher energy/food prices to get a better job, and generally acting like a complete and utter [expletive deleted].  Hey, former Hollywood actor: seems reasonable enough to assume, right? (more…)

Simplicity.