Today is the fortieth anniversary of the Apollo 11 launch (landing is, of course, the 20th), and it is the defining event of my era.
And I’ve found nothing that’s ever said it better for me than this.
That… is an exceptionally large freshwater catfish.
(Via Drudge) Not much else to say, except that cooking up this sucker would probably be a test to destruction of The World’s Best Catfish Cookbook
Some quick Rasmussen polls.
Virginia Governor: McDonnell 44%, Deeds 41%. Expect that one to be volatile.
New York Democratic Senate Primary: Maloney 33%, Gillibrand 27%. Guess Paterson picked the wrong Representative to elevate to the Senate. Speaking of which…
New York Democratic Governor Primary: Cuomo 61%, Paterson 27%. Does anybody have any idea at all why Cuomo hasn’t just announced already?
Texas Republican Governor Primary: Perry 46%, Hutchison 36%. That lead’s increased, but I believe that KBH is going to still run anyway.
And last, but not least: today is not the day that POTUS drops below 50% in Rasmussen’s daily poll. He’s still holding out at 51%.
Crossposted to RedState.
Peter Singer thinks that he should have a say in your health care.
[UPDATE] If only.
If that title doesn’t frighten you, nothing will.
You have advanced kidney cancer. It will kill you, probably in the next year or two. A drug called Sutent slows the spread of the cancer and may give you an extra six months, but at a cost of $54,000. Is a few more months worth that much?
I’ll save you the trouble of reading: his answer is “The decision should not be up to you.”
Actually, if that doesn’t frighten you, then nothing will.
Continue reading Peter Singer thinks that he should have a say in your health care.
Jack Murtha(D, PA)-linked companies in Florida corruption probe.
It’s a lovely morning today. The sun is shining down from a brilliantly-azure sky. The birds are singing counterpoint to the steady rumble of people getting up, going to work and living their lives. Somewhere, a child laughs with innocent delight as a sudden breeze stirs the grass, and sends dandelion seeds dancing through the air. And Air Force investigators are charging that various-and-sundry companies linked to Rep. Jack Murtha (and his lobbyist brother Kit Murtha) improperly received and used earmarks funneled to them by him.
When an Air Force command in north Florida sought new battlefield technologies, Rep. John P. Murtha (D-Pa.) steered millions in federal dollars its way to hire defense contractors.
The research effort at the Pensacola Air Force base fell apart, however, when investigators found evidence that it was used to improperly pay a series of companies linked to Murtha. A handful of defense firms were paid for work that was never done or not called for in the contracts. Some of the companies involved, based in Wyoming, Florida and Murtha’s district in Pennsylvania, had hidden owners, prosecutors allege; one was secretly owned by the Air Force official who helped approve the payments.
As prosecutors reveal new details of their criminal probe into the $8 million earmark that Murtha arranged for the Air Force project, one familiar player is never mentioned by authorities. Several of the companies had hired the lobbying firm of the lawmaker’s brother, Robert C. “Kit” Murtha.
They’ve already flipped one of the defendants: Richard Ianieri (formerly of Coherent Systems International, one of the companies involved) will be cooperating with the authorities on this and a probably-related kickback case. In other words, this is the point in the ongoing investigation timeline where the investigators have finally taken hold of the loose thread and are prepared to give it a good, hard yank – just to see what happens. This is also the point where people start mumbling things like ‘no wrongdoing has been proven on the part of my client’ rather than confidently shouting it: it’s not yet the point where sitting politicians start discovering a burning need to spend more time with their families, but there’s time for that. Continue reading Jack Murtha(D, PA)-linked companies in Florida corruption probe.
“Stairway to Heaven.”
So, they gave Robert Plant a CBE. Makes tonight’s choice easy.
I originally had linked to something else…
…but then I realized that it wasn’t actually funny.
So here’s a link to the Multiple Sclerosis Society instead. When I was a kid I used to participate in their Readathons. Nobody would sign up with me twice, though; I’ve always been a fast reader, so I’d rack up easily a hundred, hundred fifty books in the time elapsed.
That adds up. Especially if I had gotten you to agree to a quarter per book.
Movie of the Week: Grosse Pointe Blank.
It is Wednesday, and so we replace National Treasure
Yes. Precisely because of the song.
Blogtalk Radio w/Fausta: 07/15/2009.
We talked a bit about Sotomayor and cap-and-trade and whatnot; the highlight was probably me offering to trade Honduras for Beverly Hills.
Oh, don’t tell me that you wouldn’t make that trade, either. Fausta would, in a heartbeat.
Profiles in fear: ‘conservative’ Democrats and THAT WOMAN.
Politico apparently has a sadist running its assignments, because he or she sent out reporters to interview a bunch of ‘conservative’ Democrats to find out whether they’d be willing to let that woman campaign with them – and got everything from uncomfortable silences to Congressmen actually running away. At least, that’s what I’m going to characterize ‘lunging for elevators’ and suddenly remembering that they had meetings that they had to get to right now. And why would this be? Because there’s no right answer to that question:
For these Democrats, many of them part of the right-leaning Blue Dog Coalition, Palin presents a quandary: She’s deeply unpopular within their own party, but in the socially conservative, often rural districts or states they represent, the plain-spoken, wader-wearing Alaska governor has a following.
…hence the running away. There are a lot of Democrats who will be relying on both the largess of the national party and the forbearance of their majority-Republican districts to stay in office past next November. Embracing that woman will infuriate the former, but too-vehemently rejecting her (as in, rejecting her at all) will hurt them with the latter. Even if you buy into the professional pundits*’ narrative on that woman, it must be admitted that she is popular with precisely the voter demographic that is currently sending a lot of ‘conservative’ Democrats to Congress. So… well, nobody ever died of shame, right? So Running Away really is the best answer, especially if you’re not actually mentioned by name.
I’m not going to claim that this was that woman’s plan all along. In fact, I actually think that the original story got garbled. But it’s funny to watch them scatter like this.
Moe Lane
*Who also, by the way, were usually astounded about how that man could keep getting his way on the war, not to mention re-elected.
Crossposted to RedState.