Month: November 2012

Just finished reading “The Last Policeman.”

The premise of The Last Policeman: A Novel is pretty interesting: the world is doomed (they’re expecting an asteroid hit in six months, on at least a Chicxulub-level), and society is only functioning out of a more or less automatic reflex.  But there’s still a police detective; and he’s still got a suicide case to clear that just doesn’t feel quite right…

Pretty good stuff; the author (Ben Winters) also did Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters, which I liked a bit more than some folks did.  It’s a pretty dang grim hard-boiled police procedural – not surprising, given the premise – but with a terse philosophical message throughout.  For three bucks on Kindle it’s well worth your time; interestingly, it’s also apparently going to be the first of three books in the trilogy – which is probably unlikely to bloat.  I mean: given said premise, I’m not sure that the author will be able to squeeze in a fourth…

…Wait, where have I heard this ‘Rallying Obama for America’ story before?

You know, this one?

With lawmakers scheduled to return to work on Monday to begin intense discussions before a looming fiscal deadline, Mr. Obama’s aides are trying to harness the passions that returned him to the White House, hoping to pressure Republicans in Congress to accept tax increases on the wealthy. The president’s strategists are turning first to the millions of e-mail addresses assembled by the campaign and the White House.

Already, supporters are being asked to record YouTube videos of themselves talking about the importance of raising taxes on the rich. Aides said those videos would be shared on Facebook and Twitter and would be forwarded to centrist Democrats, as well as to mainstream Republicans, who they hope will break with their Tea Party colleagues.

Continue reading …Wait, where have I heard this ‘Rallying Obama for America’ story before?

US Supreme Court reaffirms right of people to videotape cops. …Freaking *Illinois*.

Nice to see that the ACLU isn’t completely useless:

The Supreme Court has rejected an Illinois prosecutor’s plea to allow enforcement of a law aimed at stopping people from recording police officers on the job.

The justices on Monday left in place a lower court ruling that found that the state’s anti-eavesdropping law violates free speech rights when used against people who tape law enforcement officers. The law sets out a maximum prison term of 15 years.

Here’s a really good, really useful rule of thumb for handling any Constitutional situation not explicitly spelled out in the document in question: if the question at hand is Would the Founders have trusted federal, state and/or local government to do X without some kind of oversight then the default answer is going to be The answer is going to not just be “No.”  It’s going to be “HELL, NO.” 

Idiot.

Moe Lane

QotD, No, Glenn Is Being Deadly Serious Edition.

Glenn Reynolds, reacting to the news that Egypt’s ‘democracy’ is turning into ‘one man, one vote, one time:’

If you’re a fan of liberal democracy in Egypt, it’s probably time to start shooting people. If you’re not up to that, you might as well leave.

It always comes as a surprise to some people that democracy will go away, if you let it.  Or if you support the people who want to speed it along on its journey.

Moe Lane Continue reading QotD, No, Glenn Is Being Deadly Serious Edition.

Obama’s would-be Egyptian puppet Mohammed Morsi is… not working out.

You know, when GEORGE W. BUSH propped up a puppet strongman…

…then by GOD that strongman stayed both propped up and a puppet.  There was none of this nonsense where the strongman would go off in a wild tangent with the sudden emergency powers and the apologetics for terrorist attacks against an ally and the counter-rioting/nascent revolutions.  No, the understanding was simple. Keep the country stable; don’t shoot down people in the street and don’t lock up the non-violent opposition; and don’t embarrass that nice Uncle Sugar – and his even nicer no-limit credit card.  Do that, and the not-kings got to keep their not-thrones*.

Honestly, rocket science this is not.  If you had told me, back in 2007, that even a Democratic President would be unable to pass Realpolitik 101 in 2012, then I would have… well, honestly, first I would have wondered if Hillary Clinton had had a stroke or something.  But I’d still would have been incredulous at the idea that such simple concepts as the above could have been so thoroughly mucked up.  I sometimes wonder what infuriates the American Left** more: that their self-anointed Messiah Barack Obama doesn’t seem to have a foreign policy more sophisticated than Do whatever Bush did, or that Obama’s so incredibly bad at even that…

Continue reading Obama’s would-be Egyptian puppet Mohammed Morsi is… not working out.

Let us hoist Harry Reid on his own ‘bipartisan’ petard.

My original title was rather more direct. Only three words, too: two of which were “Harry Reid.”

Harry Reid, 11/02/2012:

Harry Reid Dismisses Mitt Romney’s ‘Fantasy’ of Bipartisanship

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said today that Democrats would try to block Mitt Romney’s agenda next year if he wins the presidency on Tuesday.

Harry Reid, 11/24/2012:

Reid faces task of mending fences with Republicans after campaign attacks

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) infuriated Republicans during the campaign with his harsh partisan attacks and now faces the delicate task of mending his relationship with the GOP.

Well, you know what they say: “what goes around, comes around.” Also… now would be a good time for Democrats to ask themselves if they really think that Harry Reid is going to get them anything that they want in the next two years, given that for the last two years he’s gotten them nothing, up to and including an actual budget.

Moe Lane

Hey, it’s Cyber-Monday! (Plus, charity links.)

If you were planning to order something on Amazon.com anyway, well… that link is set up through my affiliate program. I’ll cheerfully take my cut (I’ll also cheerfully note that if your favorite blogger* is making noises about money these days than s/he would probably dearly love to get his/her cut, too).

Moving on: charities!  Child’s Play, The Salvation Army, Toys for Tots: feel free to add worthy other examples in comments.

Moe Lane

*This applies to lurkers, btw: from what I can tell the Left-sphere has precisely zero in the way of support networks and is about to be disproportionately hit with the Mighty Karmic Hammer of Maximum Obamacare Fun.  This would merely make me chuckle, except that even liberals have kids who won’t understand why there’s no Christmas this year.