#rsrh Another NJ corrupt politician (D) sentenced.

Via Dan Riehl I see that another corrupt politician (Leona Beldini) nabbed in last year’s roundup has been sentenced:

A former Jersey City deputy mayor has been sentenced to three years in prison in the largest federal probe of political corruption in New Jersey.

[snip]

The Democrat was arrested last year in a sting that resulted in charges against her and 45 others. Twenty defendants have pleaded guilty or been convicted so far, including a defendant Monday.

You know, I think that it was this event that actually let me believe that maybe, just maybe, Christie was going to win the election.  I mean, really believe it.  The thought that there were limits to what New Jersey was going to tolerate in the Democratic party, that is.  Living in that state as I did until 2001, I had to wonder, sometimes.

Moe Lane

So, how bad was the Obamaspill speech last night?

Well, don’t ask me*: ask Jason Linkins of the Huffington Post.  Yes.  The Huffington Post.

President Barack Obama took to the Oval Office to address a nation worried to death over the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, a location used so much more often by Saturday Night Live than by actual presidents that my brain actually released a small dollop of dopamine in anticipation of comedic parody. And then, over the next seventeen minutes, nothing much happened to challenge my brain’s autonomic preconceptions.

There’s some really good quotes in there; heck, even the obligatory swipe at the Republicans was tolerable, if rather rough language (hey, Jason, at least my side has a plan). More seriously, the White House should now really start acting like this crisis is going to hurt them long-term, because from what I can tell the Democratic base is fuming at how badly the Obama administration is handling the spill.  Olbermann & Matthews were particularly entertainingly distraught, disbelieving, and distressed over the whole thing – and if they’re having moments of clarity, so are a lot more progressive activists.

Unfortunately for the White House, their standard solution problems like this is to have Obama give a speech.

Moe Lane

PS: Hopefully, somebody will give this Andrew Malcolm reaction the attention it deserves.  Andrew does some really good blogging work for the LA Times, which is another way of saying that he’s a pilgrim in an unholy land. Continue reading So, how bad was the Obamaspill speech last night?

Gov. Bobby Jindal (R, LA) gives up on waiting for BP/WH.

(Via Hot Air Headlines) Given that the leak hasn’t been plugged yet, and given that the Gov. Jindal has a state to look after, this isn’t surprising.

Eight weeks into the oil spill disaster in the Gulf of the Mexico, Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal has told the National Guard that there’s no time left to wait for BP, so they’re taking matters into their own hands.

In Fort Jackson, La., Jindal has ordered the Guard to start building barrier walls right in the middle of the ocean. The barriers, built nine miles off shore, are intended to keep the oil from reaching the coast by filling the gaps between barrier islands.

Continue reading Gov. Bobby Jindal (R, LA) gives up on waiting for BP/WH.

Day Two of the Etheridge Incident.

I’m not particularly surprised that the Etheridge Incident is perturbing the Beltway. It has all the elements that one needs:

  • A genuine, newsworthy scenario (Congressman attacks cameraman);
  • An easily-accessible narrative (Congressman attacks cameraman);
  • A clear video record (note: two cameras, with footage spliced together);
  • A hint of scandal (Was the Congressman drinking?);
  • And a hint of conspiracy (Was the Congressman set up?).

Plus, of course, there’s the barely-veiled outrage that if the Congressman was set up then he was done so in a manner that Left-activists have been trying to do to Right-politicians since George Allen’s so-called ‘macaca’ moment.  Republicans have been dealing with this kind of game-playing for four years, now: which is another way of saying that we’ve had four years to learn how to do unto others as they have been enthusiastically doing unto us.
Continue reading Day Two of the Etheridge Incident.

Red to… well, Blue to Red, and maybe one of them will flip back.

Not a catchy title, I know.

There’s a good deal of laughing going around about the DCCC’s latest quote-unquote ‘Red to Blue’ announcement, mostly because it’s fairly clear that they’re kind of doing it wrong.  Generally speaking, it’s not really considered newsworthy that you’ve managed to find a candidate for a seat that you’re already holding, but the current officeholder is abandoning like a scared little puppy; and yet the DCCC has seven of their eleven new ‘challengers’ doing precisely that.  The list is below:

Race Notes
AR-01 Open (D)
AR-02 Open (D)
IN-08 Open (D)
MI-01 Open (D)
WA-03 Open (D)
WV-01 Open (D)
WI-07 Open (D)
HI-01 Tossup R
MN-06 Likely R
PA-06 Likely R
MO-08 Safe R

Continue reading Red to… well, Blue to Red, and maybe one of them will flip back.

Dammit, the soccer thing is perfectly understandable.

Ace and Allah and Stacy* to the contrary.  The real reason why Americans don’t watch or particularly want the damned game is simple:

You can’t use your damned hands to play it unless you’re the damned goalie.

Remember that movie Victory? Yes, the supremely silly one* about the WWII Allied prisoners of war that had a match with the Germans?  Remember how they had to give Sylvester Stallone the goalie position?  And do you know why they did that ?  Because Stallone was an American action hero at the time, and the audience would not accept an American action hero that did not have the use of his hands.

This is just the way that it is.  Soccer is a perfectly fine sport.  For other people.

Moe Lane

*Look, I’m sorry, but shoehorning Pele into that plot was an egregious assault on historical accuracy in a WWII film that was only approached by… well, pretty much everything in U-571… twenty years later.