Month: May 2011

#rsrh Annnnnnd now it’s finally sunk in…

…for our stunningly brilliant President’s that pre-1967 borders in Israel means bringing back East Jerusalem.

Oopsie?

The president, however, told the BBC that he wasn’t discussing Jerusalem, saying “our argument is let’s get started on a conversation about territory and about security, that doesn’t resolve all the issues, you still end up having the problem of Jerusalem and you still end up having the problem of refugees, but if we make progress on what two states would look like, and a reality sets in among the parties, that this is how it is going to end up, then it becomes easier for both sides to make difficult concessions to resolve those two other issues.”

Two things about this:

  1. To build on what I told Jake Tapper, this is like advocating that Germany be split back into East and West Germany and then look surprised when somebody brings up Berlin.
  2. Dear God, but even the summaries of what the President says are tedious.

Goodwin Liu nomination to Ninth Circuit Court blocked.

Almost a pity, in its way: the Ninth Circus has a certain reputation of being where we put the more… awkward… liberal judges.  You know: the ones who might as well write their decisions in crayon and/or Comic Sans, because they’re just going to get overruled on appeal anyway.

Background here: suffice it to say that Liu had issues with both his judicial philosophy and, frankly, his experience.  The final score was: 52 for cloture, 43 against, 1 present, 4 not voting.  The vote split along party lines, with Murkowski voting for cloture, Hatch voting present, and Vitter/Moran/Hutchinson not voting on our side; I don’t know if the last three have a legitimate excuse for not being there.  Note, though, that of that list only one (Hatch) is actually up for re-election in the near future…

Good job to everybody that called on this one.

Moe Lane (crosspost)

Geh kak afen yam, Barack Obama.

You did not speak for me when you said this today:

The borders of Israel and Palestine should be based on the 1967 lines with mutually agreed swaps, so that secure and recognized borders are established for both states.

Do not pretend that you do.  One side (Israel) is a functional, prosperous, and legitimate democratic republic which also happened to be (prior to you) an ally; the other (the PA) is run by terrorists who cheer when their supporters sneak into people’s homes and murder babies.  I can tell the difference: I am disgusted, yet, unsurprised, that you cannot.

Moe Lane

PS: I only rarely regret RedState’s profanity policy.  Absent said policy, there would be a front-page post there consisting of two words: the second word would be “you.”

Koch Brothers Soviet Disco Madness!

Not much to say about this one, except: yup, this is exactly how all those duckspeakers freaking out over the Koch Brothers sound.  And look.  And act, except that the people in the video are at least happy.

Tells you a lot of about 1970s-era Soviet society, huh?  Disco looked good to those poor people.

Moe Lane (crosspost)

#rsrh My PitA observation for the day.

Having watched Soylent Green again recently*: sometimes it seems that the people most exercised over the entire ‘greenhouse gas’ thing seem to have completely forgotten what it is that we use greenhouses for.

Moe Lane

*A shaping-up-to-be-quite-comprehensively-wrong film which was based on Harry Harrison’s Make Room! Make Room! – a novel that was equally (and equally hysterically) wrong in its predictions.  I mention this largely because it is apparently required that we take seriously the predictions of 2010 for 2050… and ignore the pesky detail that the equally-dire predictions in 1970 or 1985 for 2010 (and increasingly-likely, 2020, or 2025) turned out to be, frankly, crap.  Not to mention the other pesky detail that in 2030 I’ll probably be able to write the same damn post about all those people out there fear-mongering 2070…

Rachel Maddow makes the case for electing Republicans.

Remember, Rachel Maddow is supposed to be one of the smart ones over at MSNBC.

Maddow, on the Hoover Dam:

This is a project of national significance. We’ve got those projects on the menu right now. And we’ve got to figure out whether or not we are still a country that can think this big.

Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Interior Deanna Archuleta:

You will never see another federal dam.

So… that would be a ‘no,’ then.  At least, not under Democratic administrations.  Thanks for clarifying the problem for us, Rachel!

Moe Lane (crosspost) Continue reading Rachel Maddow makes the case for electing Republicans.

Boston Herald shut out of press pool.

Let us set the scenario.

  • On March 8, former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney wrote an op-ed for the Boston Herald.  Title: “Obama Misery Index hits a record high:” it’s about jobs, unemployment, and how this is lousy at encouraging the former and good at encouraging the latter.
  • The Boston Herald decides to put said op-ed on the front page.  Again: former governor.  The Boston Herald doesn’t hate Republicans: after all, it endorsed McCain in 2008 (primary, too, so it’s not like they’re in the tank for Romney).
  • As it happens, the President visited Boston at about that time for a fundraiser for the DCCC (note that this was before his official announcement that he was running for re-election.
  • The White House was not happy about how the Boston Herald covered that particular event.  Which is to say, the President’s appearance at a fairly generic DCCC meet-and-greet did not get front-page coverage, apparently.
  • You know where this is going, don’t you?

Continue reading Boston Herald shut out of press pool.

#rsrh DSK / HIV.

Well, now.

Dominique Strauss-Kahn may have more to worry about than a possible prison sentence.

The IMF chief’s alleged sex-assault victim lives in a Bronx apartment rented exclusively for adults with HIV or AIDS, The Post has learned.

It is, in fact, a shame – for the woman, of course.  But if DSK actually did commit rape (read the article for why I’m calling it that now) then I am forced to note that my sympathy is muted.  Particularly since even though it’s unlikely that he’ll catch the disease himself (or so I’m told) AND even if he gets off of the charges somehow the man’s ‘love’ life just took a nosedive anyway.

#rsrh I get taken in by Esquire.

I freely admit it: I believed this parody article about WND dumping the print run of Corsi’s Birther book.  Mostly because I damn well think that WND should.  It’s over, guys.  Obama is a natural-born citizen. I know that the true believers won’t let it go; but we’re not really planning to humor any of them on this.

Look on the bright side; the President wanted to release this stuff next year, probably – but he had to accelerate the process.  So all y’all got that, at least.

Moe Lane

PS: Hi, this is me “suppressing your free speech” on this site, on this topic.  I ain’t interested, sorry.