Posted at 7:14pm on Jun. 19, 2008 Arming For Heller
By Dan McLaughlin
Predicting the timing, outcome and authorship of Supreme Court opinions is a notoriously inexact art (I would not dare call it science), but with as much of an educated guess as one could muster, SCOTUSBlog believes that the Court will wrap up its term by next Thursday (the Court has ten cases left on its docket) and that the lead opinion in the Heller vs. DC Second Amendment/gun control case will likely be written by Justice Scalia (although Justice Souter is the other main possibility, and the SCOTUSBlog folks note that the lead opinion may not necessarily command a majority of the Court in a case of this nature). My own best half-educated guess is simply that the Court will probably not hand down Heller on Monday, the next day when opinions are scheduled to be released, but will include it in the last day or two of opinions.
Interesting personal note: Justice Scalia has recounted how in high school he used to carry his rifle to school on the New York City subways. It was a different age, and a different city.
Posted at 5:50pm on Jun. 19, 2008 What's the real point of efforts to mitigate global warming?
By blackhedd
Brother Pejman calls attention to this piece from Patrick Michaels of the Cato Institute. It's an analysis of the futility of a set of proposals to ammeliorate global warming by the Virginia Governor's Commission on Climate Change. Michaels notes that the Commissions policy recommendations will have no effect whatsoever on the climate, and asks "What's the point?" The point couldn't be simpler, and it couldn't have less to do with global warming (or climate change, as global warming is called in the wintertime). The point is to gain a modicum of relief from the moral dilemma that many people feel, which is that humans impose an unsustainable burden on the planet, simply by pursuing happiness in our daily lives. The point is to obtain a small amount of absolution for the sin of being born human.
Posted at 3:11pm on Jun. 19, 2008 F's All Around
By Pejman Yousefzadeh
Both Barack Obama and John McCain have a lot to answer for concerning the economic illiteracy that each of their campaigns have demonstrated on multiple occasions. Good on Karl Rove for taking each candidate to task.
Posted at 3:04pm on Jun. 19, 2008 House Democrats Call For Nationalization Of Refineries
By Pejman Yousefzadeh
No, this is not a joke. The story is here. I recognize, of course, that a basic command of economics is not a prerequisite to being a member of Congress, but it sure would be useful.
Posted at 2:01pm on Jun. 19, 2008 Obama's First General Election Ad
By Erick
He's going to run it in places like Georgia. He's going to try to define himself as . . . wait for it . . . patriotic.
Isn't it hysterical that the man must spend campaign cash to prove he is what he might not be?
Posted at 1:20pm on Jun. 19, 2008 The Brit Press want our President to booze a little (or a lot)
By Mark Kilmer
Bill Blanko of the British lefty broadsheet The Guardian has opined on all the things the British press doesn't like about our President, GW Bush.
Well, for a start, the president doesn't drink.
Huh? For gawdsakes, man, he had a drinking problem as a youngster!
Blanko, where's your dignity?
Of course, Blanko admits that he "can't speak for the White House press corps." Then again, he can speak for David Gregory, who has been known to hit the bottle now and again [YouTube vid].
Posted at 12:44pm on Jun. 19, 2008 Fix in on FISA?
By Moe Lane
I just had a thought: if this makes it past the House tomorrow, will that have anything to do with the fact that Barack Obama dedicated his first email blast to benefit the DCCC? It does have a certain deal-making quality to it: Nancy gets Barry to encourage his acolytes to toss some money the Congressional Democrats' way, and then Nancy gives Barry a ready-made talking point with which squeeze his acolytes further. Win-win all around.
Well, win-win for everybody who matters.
Posted at 11:23pm on Jun. 18, 2008 I don't reckon I got no reason to kill nobody
By absentee
From AOL: "Barack Obama says if Osama bin Laden were captured on his watch, he'd want to ensure he doesn't become a martyr if he were prosecuted. Obama said he's not sure that the terrorist mastermind would be captured alive."
RedState's Mark Impomeni writes at Political Machine that "these latest comments from Obama about the death penalty for bin Laden will not resonate with the majority of the voting public." I couldn't agree more.
Mark's blog entry has a poll asking if Osama should be executed. What do you think?
Posted at 10:28pm on Jun. 18, 2008 Flunking The School Choice Test
By Pejman Yousefzadeh
Neal McCluskey schools Barack Obama. Pointing out that Obama's positions are more "comprehensible" than are those of Eleanor Holmes Norton is, of course, cold comfort.
Posted at 10:25pm on Jun. 18, 2008 Quote Of The Day
By Pejman Yousefzadeh
Commenting on Obama's tax raising plans, Paul Krugman writes: "[I]t would push tax rates on some high-income Americans back to the levels of the 1970s." For those of you unfamiliar with Krugman, he meant that as a compliment.
--Conn Carroll.
Posted at 5:55pm on Jun. 18, 2008 House Democrats call for nationalization of refineries
By Robert A. Hahn
The Socialists call for Socialism:
We (the government) should own the refineries. Then we can control how much gets out into the market.
Posted at 5:36pm on Jun. 18, 2008 Catholic Charities of Richmond
By Feddie
Posted at 2:35pm on Jun. 18, 2008 Amanda Carpenter's Must Read of the Day
By Erick
During the regular process of creating legislation,the chairman of the relevant committee is required to send a "Views and Estimates" letter to the Budget chairman outlining budget requirements for the bill. In this case, Banking Chairman Dodd needed to send a letter to Budget Chairman Conrad. Then, to advance the bill, Conrad must attach needed budget provisions to the bill make sure it can be funded later.
While signing off on this particular bill, Conrad added something called a “reserve fund” to Dodd’s bill which would prevent the bill from later being subjected to a “Budget Act point of order.”
Read the whole thing.
Posted at 1:57pm on Jun. 18, 2008 Your Obamessiah Thought For The Day
By Dan McLaughlin
We were having a discussion among the Contributors in which it was noted that Obama seems to have some appeal to Christians and, unlike many Democrats, some facility with religious language. But here's the thing: Obama does speak the language of Christianity, but unlike most religious politicians, he always seems to use language that places himself in the role of the Lord.
Posted at 11:35am on Jun. 18, 2008 BREAKING NEWS: Tiger out for the season.
By Paul J Cella
This just crossed the wires: "SAN DIEGO (AP) -- Tiger Woods will miss rest of golf season, says a person familiar with the decision." More from MSNBC. ACL damage and stress fracture. Wow. The guy really was playing golf like a hockey player.
Posted at 7:41am on Jun. 18, 2008 I found this old Reid video while looking for a suitable replacement for a retread* post.
By Moe Lane
It's not He-Man in Spanish, but it's too good not to share.
Somebody should ask him about that - both now, and the next time he's running for re-election.
Moe Lane
Posted at 10:25pm on Jun. 17, 2008 Starve The Beast
By Pejman Yousefzadeh
It's a good plan. Let's continue it.
Posted at 10:02pm on Jun. 17, 2008 This Should Frighten Us All
By Pejman Yousefzadeh
Only 47% of those surveyed in a Rasmussen poll oppose nationalizing the oil industry. Clearly, more articles like this one need to get into public circulation.