Redstate

Posted at 11:19pm on Jun. 12, 2007 Bill Richardson unmasked

By AnonCon

http://www.tnr.com/doc.mhtml?i=20070618&s=lizza061807

In the linked piece, Ryan Lizza (the journalist who helped touch off George Allen's demise) paints a portrait of a true waffler, a man whose anti-ideological approach convinced him to put his name on the letterheads of both Freedom House and Kissinger's private sector consulting firm. In the anecdotes Richardson comes across as either uninterested or incapable of intellectual preparation for a campaign. Lastly, he seems to have a bizarre fascination with putting his hands on people. I don't know that this will be as devastating to Richardson as it was to Allen, but this could prove to be the touchstone that sinks the candidacy of the odds-on favorite for the bottom half of the Democratic ticket.

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Posted at 7:44pm on May 15, 2007 Jim Webb Fights for Veterans

By AnonCon

As a Virginia Republican, I had mixed feelings about Webb. I didn't vote for him but I generally perceived him as a Republican in Democrats' clothing. And he has undoubtedly charted his own course. Some of his proposals, even if they scarcely go beyond the level of thinking aloud, are quite appealing, namely his rhetoric about expanding the GI Bill to the point that it funds education in full. I haven't been a fan of his rudeness toward the President, but the "Washington outsider" persona has a certain appeal.

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Posted at 8:01pm on Apr. 16, 2007 Condolences to the victims and the families of the VT tragedy

By AnonCon

Perhaps we can save the recrimations for the future and take the present time to express our thoughts and prayers about the tragic events that took place in Blacksburg today. Today, this is not a partisan issue, nor one of gun control, nor one of media bias but rather one of healing and remembrance. The fact that the "other side" is doing it (politicization) is a pithy excuse; we should aspire to an independent standard rather than simply being as good or better than our opposite number.

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Posted at 10:47pm on Mar. 10, 2007 Abortion in the Modern Era

By AnonCon

To preface this, I saw the movie Amazing Grace this weekend and was struck by some of the similarities between the two conflicts. I am not suggesting that the ragtag bunch of pro-lifers, ranging from fanatical to lukewarm in sympathy, constitute a new batch of John Browns and Harriet Beecher Stowes; I am neither that presumptuous nor that wedded to the illustrative analogy. Still, I thought it worth sounding out.

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Posted at 12:53pm on Feb. 25, 2007 Introduced without comment

By AnonCon

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070225/ts_alt_afp/useconomypoverty;_ylt=Ak...

A report suggesting that poverty rates have skyrocketed introduced without even token criticism. Suffixed with this paragraph, lest we forget.

"US social programs are minimal compared to those of western Europe and Canada. The United States has a population of 301 million, but more than 45 million US citizens have no health insurance."

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Posted at 9:54am on Feb. 21, 2007 Update from Walter Reed

By AnonCon

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/02/20/AR200702...

In the wake of the two-part story by Dana Priest over the weekend Army brass are falling over themselves to improve conditions for outpatients at Walter Reed. There is no doubt a temptation among some on the right to assail the liberal Priest and the left-leaning Washington Post for running with this story, but the fact remains that centrist and conservative news outlets did not do the digging and remained frankly shocked at such revelations because the troops that they visited in Ward 57 or in the hospital did not mention squalor or administrative morass.

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Posted at 7:37pm on Feb. 18, 2007 The Oft-Neglected Side of Supporting the Troops

By AnonCon

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17160574/

Typically I am loathe to quote much of anything from MSNBC, but in this case the article is pretty spot-on and in some cases barely scratches the surface. I know a number of the individuals featured in the article and I wish I could say their experiences are atypical, but sadly they are not. These men come home from war and are ultimately shunted into substandard housing, often accessed through dangerous neighborhoods where uniformed men missing limbs have been mugged and severely beaten, and forced to navigate an administrative morass that would drive the best among us to drink. A handful of uniformed and civilian heroes are surrounded by piddling careerists who can't be bothered to do even their prescribed job, much less over and above, no matter whether the soldier is in a wheelchair, missing an arm, or nine months pregnant and on crutches. The command structure is so perverse only the army could dream it up; it manages to be over and underintrusive at the same time. Few if any would complain about their medical care, by virtually all accounts some of the best in the world, but almost all have some horror stories about the rest of their Walter Reed experience.

Update: The Post ran the second part of this story today. The author descends into editorializing on occasion and in this case the problems highlighted are not universals, at least to the extent that these soldiers face, but hopefully the attention will help to catalyze changes.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/02/18/AR200702...

Read on . . .

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Posted at 3:25pm on Feb. 13, 2007 A Global Warming Anecdote

By AnonCon

Myron Ebell, the director of Energy and Global Warming Policy at the Competitive Enterprise institute, was scheduled to speak at UVA Law today, with a rebuttal from an adversarial professor. The Federalist Society was the sponsor, and it seemed an appropriate sort of thought-provoking event for the intellectually curious. UVA Law, like most law schools, leans a bit left, but there is a strong presence of right-leaners, originalists, textualists et al on the faculty and among the student body. There is a strong tradition of collegiality, even on issues as controversial and divisive as gay marriage and abortion, and respectful disagreement is the abiding norm both in and out of class.

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Posted at 5:05pm on Nov. 28, 2006 Why Negotiations Will Fail

By AnonCon

There is growing momentum in support of some sort of Paris Peace Talks (Vietnam era, not WWI) style negotiation with Iran and Syria as an attempt to convince the neighboring states to refrain from interference in Iraq, potentially as part of a long-term extrication strategy. This is the reputed centerpiece of the Baker-Hamilton Report. It seems like a sensible idea at face, but even a cursory glance at the regional context suggests this is a shallow and almost certainly futile solution.

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Posted at 1:13am on Nov. 15, 2006 A postmortem...

By AnonCon

It is difficult to forge any sort of coherent picture of the events of last Tuesday. In some races, the war clearly the decisive issue. In others, the candidates' own failings did them in. It was not a rejection of partisanship or concilliation; we lost races where we ran moderates (Chafee) and we lost races where we ran conservatives (Santorum). The President was an albatross in some races (such as Cardin vs. Steele, where the best smear the Democrat could come up with was to tie Steele, a lieutenant governor, to the Prez) and a buoy in others (without the help of the Administration I can't see Burns closing on Tester like he did).

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Posted at 9:20pm on Oct. 31, 2006 Allen staffers scuffle with heckler

By AnonCon

Today at an Allen event a heckler asked Allen why he spit on his first wife. He was subsequently wrestled to the ground. The heckler, Michael Stark, is talking about pressing charges. A little background about the individual in question; Stark is a late thirty-something New Yorker currently a 1L at UVA Law School who served in the Marine Corps decades ago and considers this somehow pertinent to his role as a self-described "citizen journalist." He maintains a poorly worded blog on which he recounts his glorious attempts to call into right-wing talk radio and pick fights with the hosts. Stark was reputedly escorted out of another Allen event in August. On his blog, www.callingallwingnuts.com, Stark professed an intention to "Roger and Me" George Allen. I doubt there were ties between Stark and the Webb campaign; anyone who has met the individual would be similarly skeptical. A sad, bitter man makes a spectacle of himself and threatens to press charges. Shocking. The only solace is the possibility he'll represent himself; judging from the testimony of those who know him his prospects for success are dubious. View the below links for more information.

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Posted at 7:40am on Oct. 13, 2006 Grameen Bank wins Nobel Peace Prize

By AnonCon

In spite of the brief fright/start/laugh Cindy Sheehan gave us by announcing that she was a finalist, the actual winner was Muhammad Yunus and his brainchild, the Grameen Bank. The right should laud this for all it is worth; an indigenous investor utilized his own money for a development project in his country predicated on personal responsibility and accountability. For those who don't know, Grameen offers microcredit to those who cannot otherwise get it because they have little collateral.

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Posted at 9:25pm on Oct. 9, 2006 Allen/Webb

By AnonCon

My initial impression was that it was roughly a draw. Webb came across as intelligent but a bit combative and occasionally evasive. He did have a bit of a funny moment when he pointed out that he had never voted for a tax increase; not sure he wanted to highlight the fact that he has never before run for elected office. Allen came across as a bit 'aww shucks' hokey, but by and large he asked the questions he was answered and scored a few solid points.

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Posted at 10:17pm on Oct. 5, 2006 Disaffection

By AnonCon

The deeper we get into this election cycle, the more alienated I feel from politics. I am deeply disappointed in my own party, my own President, and in the general tenor of politics in this country. Will I vote? Sure, but voting is something that I generally view as an honor; now casting a ballot for the GOP is akin to taking out the garbage or washing the dishes. I grin and bear it. And I have to think that if someone as ideological as myself has become disenchanted, the casual GOP voter will be that much moreso.

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Posted at 8:42pm on Sep. 25, 2006 Anatomy of a Political Hatchet Job

By AnonCon

Until recently, Virginia Senator George Allen was one of the Republican Party's favorite sons and was talked about as a, perhaps the, frontrunner for the 2008 nomination. In the span of a few short months he has gone from a Presidential hopeful to fighting for his political life. Most news outlets will tell you he did it to himself, but aside from an offhand remark at a stump speech he has done little to precipitate this recent slide.

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