, 
…what? It was on the Daredevil
Month: May 2009
I cannot do this Volokh Conspiracy evisceration of Dahlia Lithwick justice.
(Via Instapundit) Not without repeating the entire thing, at least. So just go read it, and marvel that Slate apparently has a regular writer who doesn’t understand that nothing ever goes away on the Internet.
I’m flabbergasted, really.
Moe Lane
Crossposted to RedState.
The Wisdom of Mr. T.
This is several years old, but it speaks to me. For real: there’s some genuine philosophy there.
QUESTION: Mr. T, why do you pity the fool?
MR. T: That is a good question. That is a good question and a legitimate question. And I’m the man to answer it. You pity the fool because you don’t want to beat up a fool. You know, pity is between sorry and mercy. See, if you pity him, you know, you won’t have to beat him up. So that’s why I say fools, you gotta give another chance because they don’t know no better. That’s why I pity them.
Burris promised a campaign contribution to Blagojevich.
Ace of Spades (H/T, by the way) has kindly given me permission to use the Flaming Blagojevich Skull for this, so I shall:
Sun-Times exclusive: Burris promised Blago campaign a check by mid-December
In a November conversation caught on an FBI wiretap, Roland Burris promised Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s brother that he’d write the governor a campaign check by mid-December, Burris’ lawyer said today.
That was about a month before Rod Blagojevich appointed Burris to the U.S. Senate.
But lawyer Timothy Wright told the Chicago Sun-Times today that his client never sent the check because he believed it wasn’t a good idea given Burris’ interest in the U.S. Senate seat appointment. Wright said Burris’ decision not to send the check had nothing to do with Blagojevich’s Dec. 9 arrest.
Continue reading Burris promised a campaign contribution to Blagojevich.
OK, I’m *for* SSM, but this is just dumb.
And I normally don’t bother linking directly to the Online Left anyway – still, regarding today’s completely unsurprising California Supreme Court decision on Proposition 8, Taylor Marsh writes:
The first thing you have to ask is how Californians allowed the referendum to pass in the first place. How does a civil rights campaign in California fall to the bigots? Because many people don’t vote in off election cycles, and the most committed wins. The anti civil rights crowd is wrong on this issue, but they are determined.
Leaving aside for the moment the advisability – or indeed, the basic morality – of attacking same-sex marriage opponents* in such a fashion, I am forced to ask: in what alternate universe was the 2008 Presidential election an ‘off election cycle’?
Moe Lane
*Particularly given the demographic breakdowns – and yes, I am aware what the Left’s pet astrologer told them.
Crossposted to RedState.
Blagojevich/Burris wiretap to be released.
It’s been a while since we visited the Matter of Blagojevich, but one thing that you can always count on: there’s always going to be something new coming out from that glorious trainwreck.
Judge OKs release of wiretap of Burris
CHICAGO (AP) — A federal judge said Tuesday he would allow the U.S. Senate Ethics Committee to have a federal wiretap of former Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s brother having a phone conversation with U.S. Sen. Roland Burris.
To summarize why the Senate might want to listen to this recording: Burris, in the course of getting the US Senate to seat him…
- Signed an affidavit indicating that he never talked to Blagojevich’s aides.
- Admitted in his testimony that he actually talked to one of the Governor’s unofficial aides.
- Said in the same testimony that he didn’t remember talking to anybody else.
- Signed another affidavit later on – after he officially became Senator – that he actually had talked to some of Blagojevich’s aides.
- Admitted to reporters that he tried to do some fundraising for Blagojevich.
At this point, as the AP remarked:
Then he stopped answering questions, letting others speak on his behalf.
I’ll let Vice President Joe Biden, who is himself no amateur at this sort of spin control, provide the Democratic response:
Succinct, that.
Moe Lane
Crossposted to RedState.
The search parameter records of Amazon.com must be strange and terrible.
Approaching, in fact, the level of SAN loss. First, take a look at Three Wolf Moon T-Shirt
Somebody’s mucking about with their search parameters; I’m sure of it.
Moe Lane
PS: What? Please. I have more couth than that. Besides, everybody knows that it’s not size that matters; it’s rotary speed.
The President roils the NY-SEN race.
The White House decided to make personally certain that an unelected New York Senator with publicly-stated views on gun control and immigration contrary to the rest of her party was not challenged in the primary by a solidly-liberal Representative who is well respected in his caucus. This has caused a good deal of tension in the rest of the New York delegation:
Confusion, conflict mar Gillibrand’s run
WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama’s effort to squelch plans by a New York congressman to run in next year’s Democratic primary against Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand apparently succeeded.
In fact, the president’s call to Rep. Steve Israel asking him not to run may rank as a pivotal moment in Gillibrand’s effort to hang onto her seat.
But Obama’s phone call also has angered members of the state’s congressional delegation, who see it as heavy-handed intrusion reminiscent of Tammany Hall party machine politics.
The behind-the-scenes maneuvering has the makings of a political soap opera with some lawmakers feeling pressured to endorse early, some dissatisfied with Gillibrand’s views on key liberal issues, and some too upset to even break bread together.
To begin with, this isn’t ‘Tammany Hall Machine politics.’ Your standard Tammany Hall machine politician would have sneered at the way that the internal conflict between the state and federal power structures ended up in the local papers. As a practical hint: you don’t start this sort of thing by telling a politician not to run. You start by seducing his supporters away, then have them tell him not to run. Sure, it costs more – but it also avoids newspaper articles with headlines like ‘Confusion, conflict mar Gillibrand’s run.’
Continue reading The President roils the NY-SEN race.
Meet Martha Roby (AL-02).
Already making the right sort of enemies.
I was going to wait until Ms. Roby had a campaign website up – she only announced last week, and this was Memorial Day weekend – but apparently the local Democrats are already beginning to play the “create multiple accounts and go after her for being a mom*” in local comment sections, so best to get this up now.
So. AL-02. R+16 in the Cook Political Report; Bobby Bright won this one by something like 1800 votes. Against an incumbent and/or a Democratic President’s coattails, he would have lost. Bright claims “Blue Dog” status; he has slightly more reason than some, given that he did break with his party to vote against the ‘stimulus‘ package. The DCCC has him on their list of Representatives to protect, so he’s almost certain to get away with that, too. They may even drop more money on him this time, assuming of course that they have it to spare.
But enough about this calculated insult to progressive Democrats by their own party; let’s look at Martha Roby. She’s young (32 years old), currently on the City Council for Montgomery, where she apparently represents a majority-minority constituency (if this report is correct, in her last election she won majorities among both white and African-American voters in her city district). She’s popular in her home area, plans to run as a conservative, and it can be safely assumed that her candidacy is going to be supported by the NRCC. Continue reading Meet Martha Roby (AL-02).
Today’s vicious time-suck should have been brought to you by the The New Ledger.
[UPDATE] Finally.
…except that I’ve yet to see a link to “The Cryptic Canvas: 50 Movies Hidden In a Painting” pop up on their site. Given that I was sent the link by their Editor-in-Chief, I’m disappointed: it’s good blog-fodder, and the Maw of Content is never filled.
I got to 15/50 pretty quickly, but I’ve probably gotten all of the low-hanging fruit at this point. Or else I’m not as checked out on either modern movies, or pattern recognition, as I flatter myself being. Probably the latter: I may be the only person in North America who would have gone to see Lost in Translation
Moe Lane
*Yes, I’m sure that it’s a perfectly lovely genre film. But if it isn’t going to have explosions, Hellmouths, extensive CGI, starships, and/or gun fu**… well, I’m afraid that my taste for something that outre is somewhat limited.
**God. Imagine all of that at once.