Month: April 2009

On the Specter switch.

I have nothing really to add to either this or this, except to note that:

a) I’m not particularly surprised;
b) The Republican primary in PA next year just got a lot more straightforward, while the Democratic one is now going to be significantly less so;
c) The Democrats are rapidly running out of reasons why they can’t pass their hearts’ desires.

And, oh yes:

d) Elections have consequences, and we’re about to have a year and a half of some. Please keep that in mind in November 2010.

Moe Lane

Crossposted to RedState.

Half the country thinks that Congress has rigged the system.

Rasmussen has a poll out that argues against the “people hate Congress but love their own congressman” meme.  Essentially, that explanation is beaten out 2-to-1 by “the fix is in:”

…23% believe members of Congress get reelected because they do a good job representing their constituents.

However, 50% believe the high reelection rates result from election rules that are “rigged to benefit members of Congress.” It is worth noting that the word “rigged” is a strong term included in this survey question. The fact that half the nation’s voters believe the election rules are “rigged” is a testament to the high levels of distrust in the country today.

28% aren’t sure, which is probably too high a number for comfort either way.
Continue reading Half the country thinks that Congress has rigged the system.

Today is my son’s birthday.

He is two today.  No picture, yet, as he is still blessedly asleep.

I will spare you a cutesy child-themed day – you don’t want me trying to warp fiscal policy or zombie haiku so that it fits any more than I really want to do it – but if you have kids they’ll love this book:

…and it might keep you sane, as Terry Pratchett is hardly a cruel man.

No, Tycho, they never get any better…

…and most of the people that are making you aghast are probably legally able to vote. Frankly, if YouTube, gaming, and/or online newspaper comment threads didn’t exist naturally we’d in the political ‘sphere would have to subsidize them… because I remember what life was like before the really messed-up people had those places to go.

It wasn’t pretty.

Moe Lane

PS: I can’t really have a public opinion on the entire trachea thing.

PPS: Child’s Play rocks.

PPPS: Gratuitous Penny Arcade link.

*Second* flyby photo shoot now being ‘reconsidered.’

[UPDATE] And welcome, Instapundit readers. Did you know that bacon sandwiches cure hangovers?

“(Updates with sources saying White House plans for a second photo shoot in Washington, D.C. being reconsidered)”

Italics mine.

Background here; video here.

And to answer Glenn Reynolds: You think that they were actually thinking?

How droll.

Moe Lane

Crossposted to RedState.

Bacon sandwiches cure hangovers?

There is apparently nothing that bacon cannot do. Via AoSHQ:

Bacon sandwich really does cure a hangover

A bacon sandwich really does cure a hangover – by boosting the level of amines which clear the head, scientists have found.

You see, this is the kind of science we need more of. Bacon-themed science.

Moe Lane

[PS: Laptop replacement drive now in its final stages:]

Schumer video bragging about cutting pandemic fund surfaces.

Hey, who here thinks that the Nation, ThinkProgress, Washington Monthly, Firedoglake, and the rest of the Journolist stenographers are going to reference this?

(For those who can’t see it: it shows Democratic Senator Chuck Schumer bragging about cutting out the very funding that a good number of ostensibly-unrelated Left-bloggers and writers are trying to pin on the GOP, in the person of Senator Susan Collins.  And never mind the fact that the cutting was done as a spectacularly unsuccessful attempt to bribe the GOP into signing on to the Democrats’ debt bill; or that it was an incredibly tacky unsuccessful bribe in the first place.  Reality-based thinking is somewhat… flexible for the Online Left.)

Yes, neither did I. Even the ones that aren’t overtly obediently writing whatever they get told to write are busy with their uncritical willingness to accept Democratic talking points as gospel truth (as if it’s our fault that it takes a Cabinet appointment to make a Democrat pay his taxes). So it’s almost certainly foolish to expect that the dogs linked above will even dare bark at their masters. Never a good idea to make those who feed you angry, right?

Anyway, see Michelle Malkin, Don Surber, Protein Wisdom, The Sundries Shack, Legal Insurrection, Q & O, AoSHQ, Hot Air, and my unworthy self for more details of what is proving to be all the evidence that you need that not only is the Left-sphere being fed its points: it’s being fed its points sloppily. Frankly, any of the above could have done a better hit job, even if you assume (as well you should) that we’d be intending to sabotage it…

Moe Lane

Crossposted to RedState.

Senator Chuck Schumer: pandemic funding ‘little porky things.*’

[UPDATE]: And I thought that I was being harsh.

Back in the day, Senator Schumer bragged about removing the funding, in fact. He thought that it was “bipartisan.”

He said the compromise hammered out between Senate Democrats and moderate Republicans – which has enough support to get it past any threat of a filibuster – was far better than that passed by the House on Jan. 29.

“All those little porky things that the House put in, the money for the [National] Mall or the sexually transmitted diseases or the flu pandemic, they’re all out,” Schumer said.

(H/T: AoSHQ)

“Bipartisan” being defined as “three Republicans and the Democratic party,” of course. Now that there’s a question about said funding, suddenly they feel like they need to pin it all on the Republican party, and never mind that the stripped-out appropriations was part of a failed attempt to bribe the GOP. Note, “failed”: if they had wanted to do a real cut, they would have axed things that would have hurt across the board; instead, they went with what they themselves considered extraneous or meaningless, and it’s just Schumer’s bad luck that the swine flu decided to break out in Mexico. So, as Don Surber notes, we’re going to get the default option from the Democrats again: blame it on the GOP somehow.

Of course, the people that will scream loudly about this will say not a word about Schumer if they can possibly help it. That’s because they don’t actually care about swine flu. Well, that’s not quite true: after all, the more people that die, the more they’ll feel justified and righteous about screaming about the Republican party. Sure, it’s a tragedy, but the really important thing for them is to elect more Democrats.

Moe Lane

Continue reading Senator Chuck Schumer: pandemic funding ‘little porky things.*’