Month: January 2012

Penny Arcade & SOPA/PIPA.

As in, they’ve noted it today.  Interesting take on the whole thing, as seen through the lens of video gamers: more specifically, on how “odd” it was that the Entertainment Software Association managed to support a bill that its individual member companies all opposed.  Funny how that seems to happen a lot?

Now, I like PA quite well – more to the point, I have a healthy, perfectly reasonable fear of their wrath – so I am just going to note that there is in fact a reason why it seems like every politician who is explicitly disavowing this legislation has an R after their name, while pretty much all of the ones weaseling about it have Ds after theirs. It’s because blackouts are fine, but threatening primary challenges works a heck of a lot better.  Assuming, of course, that you have the reputation of following through on that sort of thing.  Which, well, the VRWC does.  And the netroots does not.  Something for the digital folks to think about, the next time that they need reliable allies for something.

Here endeth the lesson.

Moe Lane

#rsrh General primary observation.

If Iowa is the caucus where everybody has to suddenly pretend to be an isolationist who likes corn dogs and ethanol subsidies; and New Hampshire is the primary where everybody has to introduce themselves to every Republican voter in the state; then South Carolina is the primary where everybody gets the ‘let’s say horrible things anonymously about the other primary candidates’ out of their systems.  Which means that if you are hearing awful things – and I mean awful – being said, written, emailed, Tweeted, or anything else about the various candidates, take some comfort in knowing that it’ll be over after Saturday evening.

For the next four years, at least.

#rsrh Operation Fast & Furious Fallout: Patrick J. Cunningham takes the Fifth.

Executive summary: Patrick Cunningham is the Criminal Division chief of the Arizona US Attorney’s office; and recently he was subpoenaed by Congress over his role in Operation Fast & Furious, which is of course the disastrous program where the federal government put guns in the hands of Mexican narco-terrorist gangs without anything like proper safeguards.  The thing is, Cunningham apparently thinks that he’s about to be thrown to Darrell Issa’s wolves by a Department of Justice trying to deflect scrutiny from Attorney General Eric Holder, and Cunningham has no intention of being the fall guy.  So he’s sent a letter to Oversight indicating that he refuses to answer questions, on the grounds that it might incriminate him.

Or, more accurately, he refuses to answer questions under the current circumstances.  Cunningham feels that “he now finds himself caugbt in the middle of a dispute between the Legislative Branch and the Executive Branch,” to quote the letter; which implies that if the Legislative Branch would be inclined to, say, be reasonable about certain things then Cunningham might be likewise reasonable about testifying.

If all of this sounds baroque: well, yes, it is.  I’d call it ‘fun,’ except of course that the Justice Department got people out and out killed with this stupid Fast & Furious project of theirs.

Moe Lane

Supreme Court smacks lower courts in TX redistricting case.

Details here and here: the short version is that the USSC decided that a lower court erred because it had, to quote the New York Times, “not paid enough deference to the Legislature’s choices and had improperly substituted its own values for those of elected officials.”  The underlying issue is that there is an ongoing dispute over how the new Texas federal Congressional map should be drawn; Texas got four more seats in the latest round of redistricting, and the beleaguered Democratic minority in Texas has been using Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act as their excuse to tie the entire process up in legalistic knots.  As primaries are, well, looming at this point, the aforementioned lower court (in San Antonio) had put together an interim map that more or less ignored the elected legislature’s wishes in this matter; and the Supreme Court just unanimously smacked them down for it.

This does not mean that the original Texas legislature’s maps will be used; that’s up to the currently Democratic-controlled Justice department, or else an ostensibly impartial three-judge tribunal in DC.  What it does do is reaffirm the principle that lower courts should take into account the original wishes of the legislature in emergency situations – and with an effective deadline of February 1st, this qualifies as an emergency situation – such as these.  In other words, the courts may still create interim maps (which will apply for at least the 2012 election cycle) while the final maps are being resolved; what they can not do is ignore the original wishes of the legislature, to the extent that the San Antonio court did. Continue reading Supreme Court smacks lower courts in TX redistricting case.

#rsrh Meh. A debate.

I’m going to go against consensus here and give it to Romney by default: Ron Paul is irrelevant, Rick Santorum reverted to being whiny, and while Newt Gingrich had an excellent start to the night he’s going to have to come to terms with the fact at some point that, no, [most]* people don’t want Lincoln-Douglas debates anymore.  Sitting through three hours of this stuff would tax me, and I’m a motivated New Media partisan blogger.  Romney continues to benefit from his opponents not punching at him directly: which is maddening, of course, but somewhat distantly so, given that my favored candidate is currently waiting for the TX legislative season to start and wondering which candidate will end up calling him about the VP slot.

I do now think, however, that Mitt Romney will not win South Carolina.  Which means that this is going to go on for a while longer.

Moe Lane

[*I’ve had at least one commenter indicate a desire for Lincoln/Douglas-style debates. Fair enough.]

#rsrh QotD, I DRINK YOUR MILKSHAKE! Edition.

I should watch that movie at some point.

Anyway, via @Yousefzadeh here’s a tasty, tasty bit of pain from FireDogLake to feast upon.  The topic of discussion: SOPA/PIPA, and why it is that pretty much all of the politicians that unambiguously confirmed that they were abandoning their support of either were Republicans. Continue reading #rsrh QotD, I DRINK YOUR MILKSHAKE! Edition.

Swear to God, this Arkham City thing is driving me nuts.

Is there a patch? A cheat that will let me skip the damned final boss? In fact, I’m almost ready to find somebody who will come over and beat the aforementioned damned final boss for me.  I’m almost at the point where I’d pay money. Continue reading Swear to God, this Arkham City thing is driving me nuts.

#rsrh Perry Press Conference about to start.

Via here.  I understand that he’ll be dropping out and endorsing former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich… which I will not be automatically doing, any more than I automatically endorsed Mitt Romney when Tim Pawlenty endorsed him after dropping out.  My formal endorsement will take place after the nomination contest is concluded, but you may safely assume from my oft-stated opinion that we must nominate a Governor this go-round effectively limits my choice to one candidate, and that it’s not Buddy Roemer.