I should probably take it easy today: we just crammed a month’s worth of tabloid news into a week, and it’s maybe taking its toll.
But imagine how the Weekly World News must be feeling right now. They’re in serious danger of drowning in their stock-in-trade: no respectable online tabloid should have to cover Michael Jackson’s funeral AND Mark Sanford’s Sasquatch lover AND Ahmedinejad moonwalking at the same time. There’s just not enough space on one front page.
Like RS’s Erick Erickson and TNR’s Ironman, I instinctively shy from a boycott of the NRCC because they had eight members out of one hundred and seventy eight who flunked a test vote. Some of the names on that list hurt to see, and a couple are exercises in teeth-grinding; but perfect is the enemy of the good, and Congressional Republicans have done a good job in using our lopsidedly minority status to the best effect possible. Nobody’s pretending that this was passed with bipartisan support. Nobody’s even trying. That’s better news for next year’s elections than what I was frankly expecting, back in December 2008.
That being said: this was a test vote, and these eight represent eight ‘Blue Dogs’ that could safely vote No on this bill and keep pretending to their constituents that they believe in fiscal responsibility, and there needs to be some sort of response to that.
I have a modest suggestion along those lines, and his name is Anh “Joseph” Cao (LA-02). Continue reading Rewarding party loyalty: Kirk, Castle, and Cao.
Let’s take it easy for the rest of the night; it is Sunday, after all.
Moe Lane
PS: That being said, if you feel like hitting the tip jar I won’t tell you no.
[UPDATE]: Welcome, Instapundit readers – but really, this story’s been covered by Fausta better than by myself.
(Background here)
They had a court order. Fausta updated:
1:50PM
Indeed, Honduras’ La Prensa states that (My translation: If you use this, please credit me and link to this post)An official statement of the Supreme Court of Justice explained that the Armed Forces acted under lawful grounds when detaining the President of the Republic, and by decommissioning the materials to be used on the illegal poll which aimed to bring forth Executive Power against a judicial order.Other sources verified that the president of the Congress, Roberto Micheletti, will assume the presidency of the republic in a few hours.
…
Honduran president Manuel Zelaya was detained this morning by the military in compliance with an order of the courts of law.
Meanwhile, the foreign policy experts over at State and the White House* have gone into, bluntly, full Ugly American mode: they’re currently declining to recognize the right of the Hondurans to remove their own head of state on constitutional grounds. Apparently, when it’s a choice between a chief executive on the one hand and said chief executive’s country’s judiciary, legislature, military, and own political party on the other… well, it all apparently depends on what Hugo Chavez thinks.
Let’s just hope that they don’t ask Chavez what he thinks about the Jews.
Moe Lane
PS: Let me expand on that just a little. I don’t think that this administration is slavishly following Chavez’s lead: I think that they care so little about South American affairs that accommodating their stance to that of a darling of the radical Left seems to them to be a no-brainer. If the White House is worried about getting the answer to this wrong, it’s not immediately obvious.
*H/T: Gateway Pundit, Hot Air.
Crossposted to RedState.
In one of my odder switches, I’m replacing You Can Do Anything, Daddy
That’s a lot of meeting there, really.
[UPDATE] Crisis averted. Whew!
By two points or dots, or whatever the terminology would be. This is unfortunate, not to mention a violation of the secret provisions of several international treaties: the sport of soccer exists of course for the sole purpose of giving the rest of the world something to feel superior to when it comes to the United States. Beating Brazil at the Worl…
What do you mean, the “Confederation Cup”? They have other competitions besides the World Cup? And we’re stuck with going to them? Who ordered that?
…anyway, obviously this is dangerously close to being a problem at the level of ‘diplomatic incident’ – so I apologize in advance if we win.
Moe Lane
AoSHQ linked to this piece mostly to highlight the Warren Buffet quote on cap and trade:
“it’s a huge tax and there’s no sense calling it anything else. I mean, it is a tax. So it — and it’s a fairly regressive tax.”
– Real quickly, Mr. Buffet: how did you vote in the last election, again? –
…but I wanted to actually highlight the following exchange between George Stephanopoulos and Obama crony David Axelrod. In the interests of fair use, I am going to executive summary this one; feel free to compare it against the original. I think that I’ve captured the sense accurately, at least. Continue reading ‘Read my lips: no new tax increases?’
Via Fausta’s Blog:
Soldiers arrest Honduran president: AP+
MECIXO CITY, June 28 (AP) – (Kyodo)—Soldiers on Sunday arrested the Honduran president and took him to an air force base just before voting was to begin on a disputed constitutional election, according to the Associated Press.
President Manuel Zelaya’s private secretary told the AP that Zelaya was arrested and brought to a base on the outskirts of the capital, Tegucigalpa.
[snip]
Zelaya had pledged to go forward with a referendum on constitutional reform despite the opposition of the Supreme Court, the military, Congress and members of his own party.
Fausta has background here: if you don’t have time to read it, note that proto-dictator Hugo Chavez (and whoever’s channeling Fidel Castro this week) is spitting nails on this. Given that, as the Wall Street Journal notes, this entire thing got started over President Zelaya’s attempt to set up a referendum* in opposition to pretty much the opposition of the rest of the Honduran government, civilian and military… well. A man is known by his friends, and I wish I knew what the equivalent Spanish idiom is.
Moe Lane
*One that would allow him to run for re-election. The Honduras Constitution forbids that; given of what I know of South American history, this isn’t exactly surprising.
Crossposted to RedState.
As in, trying to incite the populace against a long-established demon figure.
The British government is “deeply concerned” at the arrest and detention of British Embassy employees in Tehran, the foreign secretary said today.
David Miliband said Britain had protested to the Iranian authorities about the arrests made on Saturday.
He described the detentions as “harassment and intimidation of a kind that is quite unacceptable”. He added: “We want to see (them) released unharmed.”
Iranian media reported today that authorities had detained eight employees of the British Embassy in Tehran for an alleged role in postelection protests, signaling a hardening of Iran‘s stance toward the west.
No, it’s not always about us. Continue reading Iranian regime falls back on old tricks.
I’d say send one to your Representative, too – but that ship has sailed.
(Scrappleface, via Vodkapundit)
Besides, either you’re in a GOP district, which means (with eight unfortunate exceptions) your legislator is already clued in – or you’re in a Democratic one, which means that you were planning to vote against the person anyhow.
Right?
Moe Lane
Crossposted to RedState.
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