Month: February 2014

Former House Majority Whip Steny Hoyer counsels: run on #Obamacare!

I think that I saw this film in 2010.

House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer, D-Md., reminded vulnerable Democrats that they can’t “hide” from the Affordable Care Act in the 2014 elections, after a fundraising trip on behalf of one colleague whose allies portrayed her as an Obamacare whistleblower in a recent campaign ad.

“The Affordable Care Act is ours,” Hoyer told the Arizona Republic. “You’re not going to hide. You’re not going to duck. It is ours. We promoted it. We believe in it. Sell it. It is good for the country. It is good for Arizona.”

Continue reading Former House Majority Whip Steny Hoyer counsels: run on #Obamacare!

I am very sorry to tell you that Harold Ramis has passed.

He passed this morning.

Ramis, a longtime North Shore resident, was surrounded by family when he died at 12:53 a.m. from complications of autoimmune inflammatory vasculitis, a rare disease that involves swelling of the blood vessels, his wife Erica Mann Ramis said. He was 69.

Egon Spengler was one of my heroes. He made looking like a dork look cool. And by all accounts Harold Ramis himself was one heck of a guy.  And one heck of a movieman: his IMDB rap sheet is pretty impressive, in at least three categories.

RIP.

Moe Lane

Jim Clyburn (D, South Carolina) accuses his fellow-Democrats of racism! …We *think*.

(H/T: Weasel Zippers) Oh, dear.

Bless his heart, U.S. Rep. Jim Clyburn (D-SC6) has the unfortunate affliction of speech. In a recent article in The State newspaper, the 73 year old, seven-term congressman claims there are “barriers” in South Carolina that prevent black candidates from winning statewide office;

One of them, he said, is the state law that requires a candidate to win 50 percent plus one of the votes cast in a primary election. Often, that requirement forces black candidates into runoff elections that are harder to win, he said.

Continue reading Jim Clyburn (D, South Carolina) accuses his fellow-Democrats of racism! …We *think*.

Chuck Hagel wants to kill the Warthog, once and for all.

(Via Instapundit) Why not?  After all, it’s only the single most useful all-around plane in our arsenal.

The New York Times reported late Sunday that Hagel’s proposal, which will be released to lawmakers and the public on Monday, will call for a reduction in size of the military that will leave it capable of waging war, but unable to carry out protracted occupations of foreign territory, as in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Under Hagel’s plan, the number of troops in the Army will drop to between 440,000 and 450,000, a reduction of at least 120,000 soldiers from its post-Sept.11 peak.

Officials told the Times that Hagel’s plan has been endorsed by the Joint Chiefs of Staff and protects funding for Special Operations forces and cyberwarfare. It also calls for the Navy to maintain all eleven of its aircraft carriers currently in operation. However, the budget proposal mandates the elimination of the entire fleet of Air Force A-10 attack aircraft, as well as the retiring of the U-2 spy plane, a stalwart of Cold War operations.

Continue reading Chuck Hagel wants to kill the Warthog, once and for all.

John Dingell (D, Michigan)… retires. Or perhaps ‘abdicates’ would be a better word?

Sorry, but even I can’t say ‘cuts and runs’ with a straight face.  Fifty-eight years in the House is fifty-eight years in the House.

Well, actually seventy-eight: Dingell inherited the seat from his father.  And he wants to pass it along like it was a title of freaking nobility: Continue reading John Dingell (D, Michigan)… retires. Or perhaps ‘abdicates’ would be a better word?

The @nytimes has a somewhat provincial audience itself, methinks.

I can’t say that I’m either particularly jubilant that Piers Morgan is going to lose his CNN gig, or obscurely depressed that the gun control movement will effectively lose such a particularly unhelpful spokesman for its cause.  It is a thing: I don’t watch CNN anyway and there’s always going to be somebody else who comes along with Morgan’s gift for negative PR.  Continue reading The @nytimes has a somewhat provincial audience itself, methinks.

I may never really forgive Chris Farley for ODing. #robford #hydrant #groin

Don’t do drugs, kids.  If for no other reason than doing drugs might end up denying you the chance to do the role of your life:

Somewhere, out there, there might be a universe where Chris Farley made better life choices. In that universe, he’s enjoying the renaissance of his comedic career right now, and the world is a better place for it.