Voter ID now a requirement

But not in Wisconsin. In UGANDA!!!

That's right. This photo was taken by someone I know who was in Uganda last year and just had to snap the picture.

There's something seriously wrong when third world countries are ahead of the United States in ballot integrity and security.

10 Ways Dick Cheney Can Kill You

All jokes aside, I got to see Cheney two years ago and was extremely impressed. I expected to be bored and wasn't at all. He's actually very engaging and intelligent, regardless of how he's portrayed in the media.

Missing my brothers

I recently ran across an email from earlier in the summer from my mom. She was sending me the marketing outline that my 17-year-old brother was using for his summer job, which consisted of working with my dad. My brother was handling some sales and marketing.

Here's a portion of the marketing outline he was using.

Ask if customer currently has any jobs that they would like us to possibly handle

Avoid yes/no questions…They’re worthless

Of course, immediately following this last piece of instruction from my dad, my brother added the following:

• Inform customer that I work in the same office room as the big cheese

• Maybe sing a sweet rhapsody

• End every conversation with “Peace out”

Nice. Peace out Blonde Bomber.

More Reuters photoshopping in Lebanon

Remember the post a two and a half weeks ago about Reuters doctoring photos in Lebanon to make the situation look worse than it really is?

Well, this short video shows not only those photos, but a number of other blatant, flagrant abuses of photo editing by the media.

Watch it! Believe me, it's worth it.

Garfield sums it up

I love Garfield. It's my daily dose of humor.

Today's edition is very fitting.


Okay, so my mom didn't exactly faint. Did she?

Being a pro-choice Christian

Todd Friel has a good article called "How To Be A Pro-Choice Christian." It deals a little more with liberation theology than it does the political issue of abortion. The abortion issue is more of a link to the issue of liberation theology than it is the focus of the article.

Either way, check it out.

Here's a snippet

Liberation theology has roots in Marxism (you cannot be happy under capitalism with one person living better than another). Dietrich Boenhoffer believed that theology must start with a "view from below." In other words, taking care of our fellow man is THE most important aspect of Christianity. “Forget salvation and correct theology, we gotta do stuff.”

He closes it by saying:

We don’t need to have a political debate with our neighbors; we need to start witnessing to them.

Very, very well-said.

The night watchman is gone

This comes via my dad via my grandpa, if you can follow that.

How Government Works

Once upon a time the government had a vast scrap yard in the middle of a desert. Congress said someone may steal from it at night, so they created a night watchman position (GS-4) and hired a person for the job.

Then Congress said, "How does the watchman do his job without instruction?" So they created a planning position and hired two people: one person to write the instructions (GS-12) and one person to do time studies (GS-11).

Then Congress said, "How will we know the night watchman is doing the tasks correctly?" So they created a Q.C. position and hired two people, one GS-9 to do the studies and one GS-11 to write the reports.

Then Congress said, "How are these people going to get paid?" So they created the following positions, a timekeeper (GS-09) and a payroll officer (GS-11) and hired two people.

Then Congress said, "Who will be accountable for all of these people?"

So they created an administrative position and hired three people: an Admin. Officer (GM-13), an Assistant Admin. Officer (GS-13) and a Legal Secretary (GS-08).

Then Congress said, "We have had this command in operation for one year and we are $18,000 over budget, we must cutback overall cost," so they laid off the night watchman.

It's very, very true.

Thoughts from keithslady...

...on the issue of profiling Muslims in airport security screenings.

I wanted to know what she thought, and here's what she wrote to me.

Here’s a thought.

The Americans won the Revolutionary War in part because they didn’t “play by the rules”. The British soldiers were confounded by the renegade soldiers who didn’t follow the gentlemanly rules of war.

The Japanese killed thousands of American soldiers in the Pacific battles because they didn’t “play by the rules”. They fought to the death for the sake of honor, which in the American rulebook was erroneous. However, because we didn’t see things in the same light, they were able to take advantage of us and kill soldiers who were expecting their thinking to be more like ours.

So, the Muslim terrorists now have the opportunity to play by their own rules, which are different for our own, and they will take advantage of our refusal to change our thinking. If we believe it is unfair to single someone out due to race or religion, they have the opportunity to step in and hit.

If the British had been willing to abandon their “fair play” they may have won America. Now, perhaps is a time for us to abandon our “fair play” to save our country.

I'd say I've got pretty good roots.

I Am Woman, Hear Me Roar

We've been having problems with the internet at the office all day today and now I've got a meeting that I'm not as prepared as I'd like to be for.

That said, I was just cleaning out my email inbox and found one from my chemist friend Jeremy from two weeks ago.

Subject: Just Had To Let You Know

I'm sorry, but I just had to let you know that my coworker Dave is currently blaring "I Am Woman, Hear Me Roar" from the CD player in our lab.

Jeremy

It's not every day you get that one...

NEWSFLASH: Pluto NOT a planet

It's true.

PRAGUE, Czech Republic (AP) -- Leading astronomers declared Thursday that Pluto is no longer a planet under historic new guidelines that downsize the solar system from nine planets to eight.
...
Much-maligned Pluto doesn't make the grade under the new rules for a planet: "a celestial body that is in orbit around the sun, has sufficient mass for its self-gravity to overcome rigid body forces so that it assumes a ... nearly round shape, and has cleared the neighborhood around its orbit."

This was a long time coming, really. What I found to be rather hilarious was how serious these astronomers are about this stuff.

The decision on Pluto at a conference of 2,500 astronomers from 75 countries was a dramatic shift from just a week ago, when the group's leaders floated a proposal that would have reaffirmed Pluto's planetary status and made planets of its largest moon and two other objects.

That plan proved highly unpopular, splitting astronomers into factions and triggering days of sometimes combative debate that led to Pluto's undoing. In the end, only about 300 astronomers cast ballots.

"Splitting astronomers into factions" along with "combative debate." I'd have loved to have watched that!

29th Assembly candidate websites up

All of the Republicans running in the primary to replace Andy Lamb in the 29th Assembly District have their websites up and running.

(The 29th Assembly includes Menomonie, Glenwood City, New Richmond, Baldwin, Woodville, Hammond, Roberts, and Spring Valley.)

I believe Isaac Weix was the last to get his up and going. He can be found at www.weix4u.info.

Rob Stafsholt is at www.rob4assembly.net.

I think John Murtha was the first to go online. He's at www.murthaforassembly.com.

According to the Eau Claire Leader-Telegram (8/16/06), Stafsholt is leading the fundraising race by a landslide. Here are the numbers for all candidates, including the two Democrats, Kerry Kittel and Craig Mohn.

Isaac Weix (R), $325; Kerry Kittel (D), $1,429; Craig Mohn (D), $258; John Murtha (R), $1,088; Rob Stafsholt (R), $20,450.

I'm curious to find out how much of Stafsholt's money is his own and how much was raised.

I personally have a favorite in this race, but I'm withholding public endorsement at this point.

UPDATE: According to his July filing, Safsholt loaned himself $20,000. I can't find a similar filing for Weix, Murtha, Kittel, or Mohn, so I'm not sure where the Leader-Telegram got their numbers.

Killer raccoons on the loose

Strike that..."Psycho killer raccoons".

Psycho Killer Raccoons Terrorize Olympia

OLYMPIA, Washington -- A fierce group of raccoons has killed 10 cats, attacked a small dog and bitten at least one pet owner who had to get rabies shots, residents of Olympia say.

Some have taken to carrying pepper spray to ward off the masked marauders and the woman who was bitten now carries an iron pipe when she goes outside at night.
...
The attacks, all within a three-block area near the Garfield Nature Trail in Olympia, are highly unusual, said Sean O. Carrell, a problem wildlife coordinator with the state Department of Fish and Wildlife, adding that trappers may be summoned from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to remove problem animals.

"I've never heard a report of 10 cats being killed. It's something were going to have to monitor," Carrell said.

Meanwhile, residents have hired Tom Brown, a nuisance wildlife control operator from Rochester, Washington, to set traps, but in six weeks he has caught only one raccoon. He and Carrell said raccoons teach their young - and each other - to avoid traps.

Brown said he had seen packs of raccoons this big but none so into killing.

"They are in command up there," he said.

I'm impressed with the feat of putting the words "psycho," "killer," and "terrorize" in the same sentence in reference to a rodent.

How dumb do you have to be?

To hijack an 18-wheeler.

And lead police on a 3-hour chase through downtown, residential, and highway roads.

And hold a hostage for four hours.

And conduct a live interview with a TV station complaining about injustice towards people of your race while on the run with the 18-wheeler.

And allow yourself to get lured into custody...by offers of cigarettes.

And hijack and flip a Lexus shortly before hijacking the 18-wheeler.

And hijack an Infiniti from a good Samaritan after you've flipped the Lexus and immediately prior to hijacking the 18-wheeler.

And conk the engine of the Infiniti, forcing you to steal the 18-wheeler.

Must be pretty dumb.

21 straight innings later

And we were the church softball league champions.

It was pretty grueling. We were in the loser's bracket for the postseason to begin with. We won the final game in the loser's bracket, which set up a championship game with the team in the winner's bracket. We had a 1-1 regular season record against them.

We won the first championship game 8-7. The second was a blowout.

Of course, with three 7-inning games in a row, we lost pretty much all of our fans after the second game. That means pretty much no one got to see my best game of the year except, well, my teammates.

A tiring evening, but a lot of fun.

(And yes, I'm still disgusted enough with a number of things politically that I'm refraining from blogging about it for now.)

Chill out

I've had enough of politics for one week. I'm sick of politics. Why? That's not the question. Rather, the question is, why not? What is going right at the moment?

Let's face it: Republicans are a wash right now. I'm fed up with them. Do I want them to maintain the majority this fall? Yes. But that's primarily because I don't want to have a Howard Dean on the Supreme Court in three years. We elected the current batch of Republicans in Congress on a socially conservative platform. Let's be honest: without social conservatives, Bush wouldn't be in office, and neither would many others. They're some of the hardest-working volunteers. They don't have money, but they do have time to give.

But what has that socially conservative platform gained us? Roe v. Wade is still law. Every anti-abortion amendment and law gets shot down in the courts. Gay marriage is legal in one state, but has remained illegal in all of the others. What have you gained from the social conservative platform?

Don't get me wrong. I'm a social conservative. I haven't given up on overturning Roe v. Wade. I'm not sure I could support a pro-abortion candidate. I believe abortion is murder. What I'm saying, though, is there is a whole lot more to government than just social conservatism.

Like fiscal responsibility. That's a term Republicans in Congress have never heard of.

Or how about enforcing our laws? Do Republicans know what it means to do that? Because from what I've seen, they're just playing politics with issues like illegal immigration, worrying about how their positions may influence various demographics such as the Hispanic vote.

Can we please quit worrying about what the latest polls say and whose feelings might be hurt by our next statement and just do what we do because we believe it's right? Can we act on a principle for once?

My little brother (pictured at the top) needs assistance to survive at this point in his life. In fact, being that he has down syndrome, he may need assistance for the rest of his life.

The Republican Party seems to think that the rest of us are like my little brother; we are helpless infants. In turn, we need to be helped by those who are "smarter" than us. We need to be educated concerning reality, because as political infants, our brains must be hard-wired by the Republican Party. We're stupid to think that border security and illegal immigration crackdown is necessary. We're idiots for thinking that federal programs should be cut. Those are "system errors" - much like a baby failing to find the toilet (or even know what a toilet is) - that must be corrected.

Well, I don't need the riff-raff of, "Our polls say this, therefore we must do that." What I do need is for you to get a backbone.

I think my little brother sums up my feelings better than I could.

No, I don't know what he really means either. But then, does anyone know what the Republican Party means these days?

Didn't think so. Which is why I'm going to step away from politics for the moment and just chill out.

Stupid driver #52

You don't have to be behind the wheel of a car to be driving.


I just feel bad for the poor ass!

Drowning in chocolate

Well, almost.

Man Trapped Waist-Deep in Chocolate

KENOSHA, Wis. (AP) -- It might sound like a chocoholic's dream, but stepping into a vat of bubbling chocolate became a two-hour nightmare for a 21-year-old man Friday morning.

Donovan Garcia, an employee of a company that supplies chocolate ingredients, said he was pushing the chocolate down into the vat at Debelis Corp. because it was stuck. But it became loose and he slid into the hopper.

"It was in my hair, in my ears, my mouth, everywhere," said Garcia, who has worked at the company for two years. "I felt like I weighed 900 pounds. I couldn't move."

The chocolate was 110 degrees, hotter than a hot tub, said Capt. Greg Sinnen of the Kenosha Fire Department.

Co-workers, police and firefighters tried to free the man but couldn't get him loose until the chocolate was thinned out with cocoa butter.

"It was pretty thick. It was virtually like quicksand," said police Capt. Randy Berner.

Garcia was treated for minor injuries at a nearby medical center and released.

That had to be miserable! I just want to know what those "minor injuries" were? Chocolate-covered eardrums?

Another Katrina lawsuit...but this one has some validity

I'm very hesitant to support any lawsuit and honestly, this is no different. The wrong can't be righted, so why make it an issue?

Still, I have to agree that this was pretty ridiculous. Do you remember this woman?



It's the woman from Hurricane Katrina who had died slumped over in her wheelchair and was left there, just outside the convention center with just a poncho covering her face, for four days (along with a body that was in a bag next to her).

Her son is suing the city and state.

I intended to read the article and post this as a scathing criticism of another frivolous lawsuit. However, as I read the article and tried to put myself in his shoes, I think I'd have been pretty upset over some of the details. Sure, she was 91 and was probably about ready to die. It just seems like there are details that should have gone differently. Way differently.

I still don't think he should sue. I just don't think it's right. It accomplishes little or nothing. But you've got to admit: if you were in his shoes, you'd be pretty upset too.

Sick and twisted

But true.

UPI - July 3, 2006

A young man was on holiday in Kenya after graduating from college. While he was walking through the bush, he came across a young bull elephant standing with one leg raised in the air.

The elephant seemed distressed so the man approached it very carefully. He got down on one knee and inspected the elephant's foot. There was a large thorn deeply embedded in the bottom of the foot.

As carefully and as gently as he could he worked the thorn out with his hunting knife, after which the elephant gingerly put down its foot. The elephant turned to face the man and with a rather stern look on its face, stared at him. For a good ten minutes the man stood frozen -- thinking of nothing else but being trampled.

Eventually the elephant trumpeted loudly, turned and walked away.

The man never forgot that elephant or the events of that day. Twenty years later the man was walking through the zoo with his teenaged son. As they approached the elephant enclosure, one of the creatures turned and walked over to where they were standing at the rail. The large bull elephant stared at him and lifted it's front foot off the ground, then put it down. The elephant did that several times, all the while staring at the man. The man couldn't help wondering if this was the same elephant.

After a while it trumpeted loudly; then it continued to stare at him.

The man summoned up his courage, climbed over the railing and made his way into the enclosure. He walked right up to the elephant and stared back in wonder.

Suddenly the elephant trumpeted again, wrapped its trunk around one of the man's legs and swung him wildly back and forth along the railing, killing him.

Probably wasn't the same elephant.

True. I do find it funny. Does that make me sick and twisted?

Racial/religious profiling is gaining acceptance

How many non-Muslims have been apprehended for airline-related terrorism charges?

That's the question people are increasingly asking themselves. And slowly but surely, people are accepting the idea that it just might be okay to do thorough searches on anyone coming through an airport who can be determined to be Muslim.

The [British] Government is discussing with airport operators plans to introduce a screening system that allows security staff to focus on those passengers who pose the greatest risk.

The passenger-profiling technique involves selecting people who are behaving suspiciously, have an unusual travel pattern or, most controversially, have a certain ethnic or religious background.

The system would be much more sophisticated than simply picking out young men of Asian appearance. But it would cause outrage in the Muslim community because its members would be far more likely to be selected for extra checks.

Officials at the Department for Transport (DfT) have discussed the practicalities of introducing such a system with airport operators, including BAA. They believe that it would be more effective at identifying potential terrorists than the existing random searches.
...
Sir Rod Eddington, former chief executive of British Airways, criticised the random nature of security searches. He said that it was irrational to subject a 75-year-old grandmother to the same checks as a 25-year-old man who had just paid for his ticket with cash.

Call me whatever you want to, but that last sentence sums up why I've been saying this for the last year as well. Political correctness has got to be done away with. If white Christians over 6 feet tall were flying planes into Tokyo and were continually being arrested for plotting to do so, I'd expect to be frisked (if not strip-searched) a little more thoroughly than my Asian comrades on my next flight to Japan.

What's in a breast implant?

First, they're lame.

Second, they can apparently save your life.

Jerusalem - An Israeli woman's breast implants saved her life when she was wounded in a Hezbollah rocket attack during Israel's war with the Lebanese group, a hospital spokesperson said on Tuesday.

Doctors found shrapnel embedded in the silicone implants, just inches from the 24-year-old's heart.

"She was saved from death," said a spokesperson for Nahariya Hospital in northern Israel. The woman has been released from the hospital.

Crazy. I still think they're lame though. Not that you asked for my opinion. But then, you did come to my blog....

(By the way, this has apparently happened before. Multiple times.)

Poll: Van Hollen or Bucher?

I posted a new poll in the right column a couple of days ago. Vote!

Current results: Van Hollen - 8, Leaning Van Hollen - 2, Bucher - 1.

Dr. Reuters takes a photograph

And takes it so much further than it was originally taken.

Some are calling the Reuters news service into question over photos of Beirut they say have been doctored to make the situation appear to be worse than it really is.

Little Green Footballs has the details, with an in-depth analysis along with the photos.

Why support Israel?

Having trouble finding a reason to support Israel?

Here's one.

Do you drive a '96 or '98?

If you do, you have likeminded fellows reading this blog.

Here are the results from the latest Wide White poll that asks, "What year is your primary vehicle?" (Only years receiving votes are included. There were a total of 50 responses, so if you want to know the percentages but can't figure them out because you don't know how to multiply by 2, go back to middle school.)

2006 - 4
2005 - 3
2004 - 1
2003 - 5
2002 - 1
2001 - 2
2000 - 5
1999 - 5
1998 - 6
1997 - 3
1996 - 6
1994 - 3
1993 - 1
1991 - 2
My car is ancient and is a sweet collector! - 3

50% of all readers who voted have models betwen 1996 and 2000.

I thought all conservatives were really rich, wealthy oil tycoons though? Okay, so not all readers are conservative, but still, the majority are. I wonder how this poll would shake out on a blog with a wider audience like Boots and Sabers.

Thanks to all of you who voted, and be sure to vote in the new poll!

Reagan quote #21

I don't want to know!

I have wondered at times about what the Ten Commandments would have looked like if Moses had run them through the U.S. Congress.

My problem with sperm donation

This probably seems like a stupid issue to pick on. I should first clarify that I'm not going so far as to say that it's wrong for someone to go through a sperm donor. However, I have serious concerns with it, and here's why.

The idea behind finding a sperm donor is to find the perfect "specimen" (or donor or whatever you call them). The donor gives his profile...height, weight, health condition of his past three generations in his family, job, education level, etc. This is supposed to help you design the child of your choice.

The women who went through sperm donor 3066 decided to meet one another. Apparently two of them had kids with autism and two had kids with signs of autism. This, of course, would NOT be a "child of your choice."

So, what happens when you don't get the "child of your choice"?

Well, here's what happens.

"Pretty much you're thinking this person has a perfect medical history," said Jorgenson, who lives in Sacramento, Calif. "And then later I find out that some of the other siblings have other disabilities that are or are not attributed to the donor. I wouldn't have chose him had I known this had existed."
...
The mothers who used sperm from 3066 said they want more information from sperm banks, not just for themselves but for other mothers trying to figure out why their child is falling ill or acting differently.

"They want to know: `Why did this happen to my child?'" Jorgenson said.

Um, it happened because your specimen child is human. If you want to know more about your specimen's child's biological ancestors, you'd have to have you specimen child the old fashioned way.

I have a problem when we reduce our kids to statistics. It reminds me of Gattaca, and I don't like it at all.

Listen to the AG debate yourself

Yesterday I mentioned the debate that went crazy between Republican Attorney General candidates Paul Bucher and JB Van Hollen.

That's what I'd read about it anyway. I got to listen to it today. It did get a bit crazy.

If you want to listen to it yourself, here are the links to the audio bits.

Part 1
(During this break JB apparently says, "You suck as a leader...." At least that's the best that I've come up with from what I've read and listened to.)
Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Part 1 is more or less a shouting match. Part 2 is where Bucher brings out the "you suck" card around 1/4 of the way through this part, retorting with the oh-so-effective comeback of, "You know what? I don't suck." It's by far the worst comeback I've ever heard in a political debate, especially considering it was a comeback to something that was said OFF THE AIR. I also thought JB's response when Charlie asks him 3/7 (specific enough?) of the way through it, "Did you by the way say he sucks?" provided a good explanation as to what they were actually talking about when the comment was made and why it was made.

I also found Bucher's closing statements (halfway through part 4) to be very odd. Here's how Bucher began his opening statement:

"Uh, Governor Tommy Thompson is a friend of mine, JB, Governor Tommy Thompson appointed me. Governor Tommy Thompson indicated publicly that I would make an effective and powerful attorney general, so Governor Tommy Thompson is a friend of mine and I'll take his kind comments any day, uh, if we want to compare endorsements that's fine, uh, you know, the closing is, you know, the citizens of this state are going to have a choice, you know, Governor Dreyfus has said that I'm a pitbull and I'm a reformer."

I can't tell what he's trying to say. It's like he's trying to neutralize the fact that Governor Tommy Thompson endorsed JB.

Oh well. Having listened to the whole thing, I thought JB won it hands down. Bucher was extremely disruptive, especially during the first half. Not that JB wasn't ever disruptive either and wasn't at fault for the fact that it was a pretty rough debate. But, my humble opinion is that Bucher is swinging for the fences because it's the bottom of the 9th, he's down by 4 with 2 outs and the bases loaded and that's his only prayer to stay in the game.

But, that's just my humble opinion based on objective observation from the west side of the state.

"Hi, here’s my rap sheet,..."

"...and I represent you on the County Board"

That's the headline on the River Falls Journal's editorial this week. The rap sheet of this Pierce County board member is intriguing.

Possession of marijuana and drug paraphernalia

Drunk driving

Contempt of court

Having sex with an underage girl

Felony charge of possession of methamphetamine

Numerous traffic citations, including inattentive driving, driving while revoked and speeding

That's a record that would make Ted Kennedy proud!

What's even better is there were only 10 people who voted for Ben Plunkett, including Ben Plunkett.

The seat had no one running for it, so he was elected as a write-in candidate.

I actually know the guy. He used to have a radio show on which I've been a guest. I always thought he was a little loopy, even for a liberal. I also always thought he was at least in his mid-40s, so to find out he's only 33 was a big surprise. Of course, I then found out he's been busted for meth, and it became much less of a surprise.

Just goes to show that no matter who you are, you CAN get elected!

(And by the way, he's putting all of his experience with the police to good work...as a member of the Pierce County Board Law Enforcement Committee. Wow.)

Gore's own "inconvenient truth"

He's an energy hog. Shocking, I know, but true.

AG race in the national spotlight

The story that's second from the top in the "Elections" section of Yahoo! News is on today's debate between Paul Bucher and JB Van Hollen.

I didn't listen to it, but I've read a few things from other bloggers like Fred, James, and Owen.

Here's a little bit from the Yahoo! story.

MADISON, Wis. - That great sucking sound you hear ... just might be coming from the race for Wisconsin attorney general.

A radio debate Tuesday between two Republicans running for the office plunged into personal attacks, with J.B. Van Hollen, a former federal prosecutor, telling his opponent during a break that "you suck ... because you only listen to people who agree with you."

Paul Bucher, a Waukesha County district attorney, shot back on the air: "I don't suck!"

After the debate, Van Hollen issued a statement accusing Bucher of throwing temper tantrums and interrupting him. He later apologized, saying he had stooped to Bucher's level.

"The voters deserve an honest debate on the issues that matter and I regret that I lowered myself to his level with my language," Van Hollen said.

Bucher replied in a telephone interview: "He's digging himself a hole and we're moving on. That's not an apology. So be it."

The two face each other in the GOP primary Sept. 12 in an effort to unseat incumbent Democrat Peg Lautenschlager.

From what I've read on the blogs, JB said a whole lot more than "you suck." I guess you have to read between the lines of the "..." in the story. Some of the comments I've read on the blogs have said that JB simply said that Bucher's leadership style sucked.

Either way, was it unprofessional? Maybe. If his leadership style really is bad and JB feels the need to call him out on it, it's hard to blame him. If it was a personal attack and he really did just say, "you suck," I'd have to agree that it was a little low. Considering JB apologized later, that may have been the case. But, like I said, I wasn't listening to it, so I don't know.

Regardless, JB's comments were made off the air to Bucher personally. Bucher is the one who brought them back on the air. From what I've read, Bucher didn't do real well during the first half, so he probably felt he had to do something to bring JB down and paint him as being immature.

Politically, it looks like Bucher's move was pretty good. Bucher went from losing to basically neutralizing the debate.

But then, this is all from the perspective of someone who didn't listen to the debate, but has simply read commentary. Take it for what it is....

Homeland Security on red alert

Homeland Security is now on red alert after the British foiled a new plot to blow up planes flying across the Atlantic from the U.K. to the U.S.

LONDON (AP) -- British authorities said Thursday they thwarted a terrorist plot to simultaneously blow up several aircraft heading to the United States using explosives smuggled in carry-on luggage. Security was raised to its highest level in Britain, and carry-on bags were banned on all flights. Huge crowds backed up at London's Heathrow airport as officials searching for explosives barred nearly every form of liquid outside of baby formula.

This marks the first time since the terror level alert system that it has gone to code red.

I hate to bring politics into this, but let's face it: all current events affect politics. Politically this is great for Republicans. With guys like Ned Lamont - a guy who's been compared politically to French Prime Minister Jacque Chirac - winning the endorsement of Democratic Senators from Harry Reid to Hillary Clinton to John Kerry to Ted Kennedy, it will be very difficult for the American public to take them seriously on the issue of defense.

In other words, the more terrorists the free world captures, the better for Republicans in November.

Does this mean I'll get to blow up France? And would they resist?

I've speculated before that I think there's a real possibility that WWIII could break out in the relatively near future.

France is encouraging that possibility by joining the Arab states against Israel. In other words, they've decidedly broken alliance with the United States over the Middle East crisis.

We have France to thank for our independence from Britain. If they hadn't come to help George Washington and the rest of the patriots at Valley Forge, the colonies would, well, still be colonies.

But France has undergone major changes since then. First, they became spineless. We saved their butts in WWI. We saved their butts in WWII. We're still saving theit butts by having a military that would actually defend them if they were attacked. We're generally pretty nice like that.

But I've had enough with France. Any country that sees major riots and death because it wants to - forbid the thought! - make it legal for people under the age of 25 to be fired within their first two years of working deserves to be destroyed. Enough said. Something has gone so morally backwards in that kind of a country that it's impossible to right the ship.

I'm not saying we should be the ones to destroy it. However, if this whole Mideast alliance thing means a WWIII with us against France, I'm all in! Send me to Normandy man, and I'll be sure to save Private Ryan along the way!

What language do you speak?

It makes sense.

Your Linguistic Profile:

75% General American English

10% Upper Midwestern

5% Dixie

5% Yankee

0% Midwestern

What Kind of American English Do You Speak?

My Mom is a Yankee, my Dad is from Dixie, and I grew up in the Upper Midwest.

When I worked in Yosemite National Park for a summer in college I'd ask campfire groups to guess where I was from based on my accent (or lack thereof). No one ever guessed it (without 5 to 10 tries, at which point they're just shooting in the dark).

H/T: Randomview.

Anti-incumbent primaries nationwide

For those of you not political-junky inclined (which begs the question, how do you possibly read this blog and remain interested?), there were primaries in five states tonight. Here are a few rules of primaries.

A. Incumbents don't lose. Only four U.S. Senators have lost primary battles since 1980. Sorry, I don't have numbers on U.S. Congress, but they can't be much better.
B. No one cares. Unless it's an open seat, people hardly ever care about the primary.

Here's how it went down tonight.

Connecticut: Joe Lieberman, the incumbent Democrat who ran for vice president in 2000 with Al Gore (some of you may have heard of him, or not...cbass...), lost in the primary to Ned Lamont, a political nobody who ran on one issue: the war in Iraq. Lieberman's picture with Bush and him, well, kissing after a State of the Union address became a major stumbling block for Lieberman. My prediction: Lieberman will run as an independent (which he's strongly indicated already that he'll do) and will win handily (polls have him slaughtering everyone else as an independent). Remember, Connecticut has around 600,000 Democrats, 400,000 Republicans, and 800,000 independents. Independents can't vote in a partisan primary, and the vast majority will likely support Lieberman, as will many Republicans. (The Republican candidate is a gambling-crazy nobody.)

Michigan: In a Congressional GOP primary moderate Republican incumbent Joe Schwartz lost to staunch conservative Tim Walberg in a strongly Republican district. Walberg was backed by Pat Toomey's conservative group. Pat Toomey, you may remember, was a Congressman who came achingly close to knocking off liberal Pennsylvania Republican Senator Arlen Specter in 2004. However, President Bush put politics above principle and campaigned for Specter and Toomey lost. Bush supported the moderate in this one as well in stumping for Schwartz, but this time, the conservative came out on top anyway. Nothing like the voters giving what can only be accurately described as a big "screw you" to Bush.

Georgia: Lunatic Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney got spanked in a primary challenge from Hank Johnson. Apparently her lunacy was something upon which both Democrats and Republicans could agree.

This only reinforces my belief that this is an anti-incumbent year. It's true, two primaries were more of a case of the party deciding the incumbent wasn't loyal enough to the party principles, while one was simply a case of the incumbent being crazy. However, I still think it's very significant.

But we really won't know for another 91 days. (Not that I'm counting.)

Americans now too fat for X-rays

Sadly, it's true of many of us.

The nation's rising obesity problems mean many citizens are not only too large for scanners but they have too much fat for the rays to penetrate.

Ouch.

Reagan quote #20

This gives new meaning to the term "no bull."

"Here's my strategy on the Cold War: We win, they lose."

The deficit is decreasing

Of course, it's down to $260 billion, which is still a number that's a bit too high to fathom. But hey, it's lower than the $423 billion that was predicted.

Never mind that the Bush administration intentionally predicted a high number so that it would look better.

Still, it's the lowest it's been in four years. I guess we'll take what we can get.

Reagan quote #19

Classic Reagan.

"I hope you're all Republicans." -speaking to surgeons as he entered the operating room following a 1981 assassination attempt.

Do you know all ten of the Ten Commandments?

That's what Stephen Colbert, host of Comedy Central's "The Colbert Report," asked Mississippi Representative Lynn Westmoreland, a Republican who has been a strong advocate for having the Ten Commandments posted in public buildings.

If you haven't seen any of Colbert's "Better Know A District," you're really missing out!



While Colbert is obviously going for humor first, his questions are actually often really good. I find myself wondering why "real" journalists don't ask those kinds of pointed questions. I also find myself wondering why Congressmen keep allowing themselves to be interviewed by Colbert. Thankfully though, they do!

The future of high school baseball

Thank you Barry Bonds for all you've contributed to the sport of baseball, including, well, this.

The big rigged memo

This just might call for an "I told you so."

Just over a week ago I declared my skepticism over the memo that supposedly revealed that Big Dig supervisors had been told the bolts that have now given way and killed one motorist were weak. My skepticism centered around the whole journalistic frenzy over these supposed memos that come out of nowhere.

Now, it looks like that memo may have been falsified.

You've got to be black!

Why is it that no one has a problem when a black person represents a district with a black minority population, but as soon as the district has a black majority population, the representative must be black? Am I the only one who doesn't follow that logic?

Iran to Israel: DIE!!!

I've said before that I thought Iran was going to be directly involved in the Israeli-Lebanese conflict within the next few months.

I could be right, or Iran could just be all talk and no action. But if they do mean what they say, look for them to be in Israel very shortly.

Ahmadinejad: Destroy Israel, End Crisis

PUTRAJAYA, Malaysia -- Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Thursday the solution to the Middle East crisis is to destroy Israel.
...
"Although the main solution is for the elimination of the Zionist regime, at this stage an immediate cease-fire must be implemented," he said.

Just shoot the illegal immigrants!

Okay, so that's extreme. Very extreme and totally uncalled for.

But I did find this short clip to be funny. Of course, I have a twisted sense of humor.



Yes, it's heartless and mildly cruel. And I laughed. Does that make me a bad person?

Church service or football game?

It's getting harder to tell in today's churches.

Results are in

I know, the contents of my refrigerator are sad.

Ron Kind smokes weed?

That's what Wonkette is reporting. Sort of. (FYI, by nature of the fact that drugs are involved, there is other similarly inappropriate material in that link.)

Of course, with Wonkette's untouchable reputation for accuracy, it must be true!

Right.... A guy who went to Harvard, London School of Economics, and the U of MN School of Law wouldn't actually smoke weed. Would he?

UPDATE: In all fairness to Wonkette, is was commenters who directly implied Ron Kind. The original post simply implied a "Rep. from Wisconsin." Not that anyone over at Wonkette would actually read a blog with 50 hits a day, but you never know....

If you don't think liberals are dirty

Then think again.


Yep. The campaign has hardly begun and they're already at it. (This was up in rural Northern Wisconsin.)


In all fairness, this doesn't represent every liberal out there. Besidesl, I'm sure conservative wackos do this too, right?

I guess. I have yet to see it though. However, at the first sign of it, I can guarantee that you'll see 5 letters to the editor from conservatives apologizing for the actions. Good luck getting that from the left.

ACLU: working hard against black people

Well, sort of. But they're also standing UP for black people.

In this case, they've brought a lawsuit against the mayor of Jackson, Mississippi - a black man who got 88% of the vote in a city that's over 70% black - for racial profiling against - you guessed it - black people.

How twisted is that? Read the details of the story and it looks even more bizarre.

Hey, I'm in the Upper Midwest, not Jackson, MS, so maybe I'm just not informed on the situation. However, from what I can tell, it's just one more example of a black man standing up for what he believes to be right, only to be shot down by the group who claims to be defending his rights.

If that's the case, it's very sad. Not unexpected, but still sad to see.

The chances were one in 2.9 million

But it happened.

A waitress was carding a 23-year-old girl to make sure she was old enough for alcohol. The ID didn't belong to the 23-year-old. It belonged to the 22-year-old waitress.

Crazy.

(By the way, 2.9 million is the population of the Cleveland area. In case a few of you were wondering.)

Welcome to America; please show ID whatever

It seems you don't need a valid ID to get into America. In fact, in some instances, you don't need any ID at all.

Don't you feel safe?

Border security: one of the very, very, very few spending increases I wholeheartedly support!

Our safety doesn't matter

Not to Michigan Sen. Carl Levin, anyway.

He's blocking the appointment of veteran federal prosecutor Kenneth Wainstein to the Justice Department's new anti-terrorism division.

Forget the fact that Democrat after Democrat has come out in support of Wainstein. Forget the fact that both chairmen of the 9/11 commission - one a Republican and one a Democrat - have insisted that it's critical to get him in place. Forget the fact that the anti-terrorism division can't move forward until Wainstein's appointment is approved. Forget the fact that we are less safe with this appointment pending than we would be if it were passed.

Forget all of that. Carl Levin has a political game to play!

I don't always despise political gimmicks. Like them or not, I can understand them. They're pretty much just a part of politics. They always have been.

But compromising the safety of Americans in exchange for those political gimmicks? That's outrageous.

I'll be the biggest fan of whoever is running against Carl Levin in his next reelection bid. Michiganders deserve much better.

Bush Passes Physical, but Adds 5 Pounds

Based on that title/headline, would you guess I'm a conservative or liberal?

Ah, whatever. Bottom line is, that was the headline on this story.

Five pounds? Is that even noteworthy!? I fluctuate up and down by 5 pounds every week. Some people fluctuate 5 pounds every time they hit the toilet.

Good grief.

Smart politics

Picture this:

1. GOP incumbent isn't really popular
2. Democratic challenger is popular, moderate, and has popular father
3. GOP incumbent helps a more liberal candidate get on the ballot to siphon votes from his strong Democratic challenger.

If you ask me, that's just smart politics.

(And just see how anti-choice/options/democracy the Democrats get over this "political ploy." Of course, they're right; it is a political ploy. But, oh, is it a good political ploy!)

Will we finally be drilling offshore?

It looks like it's possible that our representatives in Washington will finally approve offshore drilling. Funny how when gas hits $3 a gallon, people quickly forget about what "environmental stewards" they were and just how much ocean life that drilling would supposedly damage, destroy, and/or end.

Whatever. I think the ocean will survive. Calloused? I don't think so. It's common sense. I don't see ocean life being disrupted by this anymore than I see caribou going extinct if we drill in ANWR. But then, I don't have a heart either, do I? I can't, because I'm a conservative, and I'm pretty sure that's a prerequisite.

Whatever. Just, whatever.