posted by The Pajama Punditat 09:22 filed in: Personal, Schwag
So, The Pajama Family is recovering from a long Thanksgiving weekend -- filled with turkey, stuffing, pumpkin pie, and all of the usual trimmings. TPW and The Boy both have the day off, so blogging will be hit 'n' miss (at best).
A (gentle) reminder: today is Cyber Monday (the younger sibling of Black Friday) and you can receive a handsome discount on some nice merch at The Store
I will be ordering my Pajama-gear today as well (and will post the contents of my order later).
posted by The Pajama Punditat 09:04 filed in: Schwag
...but don't forget about Cyber Monday!
Visit The Store today through Monday and receive 25% off of your order of $40.00 or more!
Why stand in long lines and wait for lame merchandise when you get cool Pajama-styled schwag at a great discount from the comfort of your home computer! Use the coupon code "CYBER29" to get your discount.
Remember when conservative members of the Republican National Committee tried to pass a party resolution labeling Democrats the "Democrat Socialist Party" and RNC Chairman Michael Steele succeeded in toning down the language to merely state that the Democratic Party is "dedicated to restructuring American society along socialist ideals"?
Well, it's back--sort of. Jim Bopp, the same committeeman who pushed that resolution, is now pushing another--one that calls for "Republican solidarity in opposition to Obama's socialist agenda" and, perhaps more significantly, would prevent RNC money and endorsements from going to candidates who disagree with more than two of 10 tenets of the GOP's platform, prescribed by Bopp for the 2010 election cycle.
Emphasis mine.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't there some more pressing issues to which some attention should be paid? This is simply more partisan nonsense that plays to the far-right base. I would say that this is typical politics, but I'm not aware of Democrats trying to 'relabel' the Republican party. Can anyone point me to instances of this behavior that would make it bipartisan-douchebaggery?
Former governor and presidential candidate -- and current Fox News talking head -- Mike Huckabee posits how being 'PC' let slip a radical fanatic who killed thirteen people:
Let the universities provide the ideological playground for academics to put forth the high-minded plans of people management to give us all a "feel-good" for being so tolerant, but our soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines deserve to be surrounded by the best of their peers, not misfits who are protected because of their religion, gender, sexual orientation, race, ethnicity or their cereal preference for that matter.
There is room in the military for people from all kinds of backgrounds and diversity, but the common denominator ought to be devotion to country, honor and duty. Too much is at stake to cover for someone to keep from offending the political sensitivities of anyone.
The military sacrifices enough for us. We shouldn't ask them to sacrifice common sense so as not to offend anyone. The military is trained to not merely offend an enemy, but destroy it.
Civility? Sure; but trifling niceties at the expense of their best interest? Never.
I'd rather kill political correctness than good American servicemen and women doing their jobs while at their post.
I get it Huck; you think that the 'liberal-effete-eating-elitists' are behind the attack at Fort Hood. But I have one question...
You say that "there is room in the military for people from all kinds of backgrounds and diversity, but the common denominator ought to be devotion to country, honor and duty. Too much is at stake to cover for someone to keep from offending the political sensitivities of anyone." -- but did it ever occur to you that perhaps Nidal Hasan acted as if he were devoted to country, honor and duty? Did it ever occur to you that terrorists (if that is indeed what this guy was) might, I don't know, lie to get to places that they might do the most damage? Just a thought.
Less than two weeks after announcing his departure from the cable network — and after a series of interviews in which Dobbs encouraged speculation about his political plans — the anchorman known to fans as "Mr. Independent" finally made his presidential ambitions explicit on former Sen. Fred Thompson's radio show Monday.
Asked if he might make a run at the White House in 2012, Dobbs answered flatly: "Yes is the answer."
"I'm going to be talking some more with some folks who want me to listen in the next few weeks," Dobbs told Thompson. "Right now I'm fortunate to have a number of wonderful options."
Dobbs's political future, however, remains shrouded in question marks. He has left open a variety of paths to public office — in addition to toying with a presidential campaign, Dobbs hasn't ruled out a bid for the Senate in 2012 in New Jersey — and also left his party affiliation a mystery.
Hmmm... I think the most interesting aspect of this story is the question that it begs; would Lou Dobbs run as a Republican? An Independent? A Libertarian?
Doug Hoffman will not contest the results of New York’s 23rd District special election, the state Conservative Party candidate announced in a release Tuesday afternoon.
After “un-conceding” the race last week and stirring talk of an election challenge, Hoffman acknowledged that the final count of absentee ballots, completed Monday, “re-affirm the fact that Bill Owens won.”
Owens, the Democratic nominee, was sworn in as a member of Congress Nov. 6 after Hoffman conceded the hotly contested race on election night.
So, I guess that is a concession, right? Or a re-concession?
posted by The Pajama Punditat 15:31 filed in: Quote, Sarah Palin
"There’s been a lack of acknowledgement by our president in understanding what it is that the American military provides in terms of, obviously, the safety, the security of our country. I want him to acknowledge the sacrifices that these individual men and women — our sons, our daughters, our moms, our dads, our brothers and sisters — are providing this country to keep us safe." -Sarah Palin, in an interview with Fox News.
posted by The Pajama Punditat 14:58 filed in: Health Care
Ross Douthat, who has thankfully returned to the blogosphere, has some very poignant words for conservatives regarding the debate over health care reform:
In the health care debate, too, conservative and libertarian policy thinkers have floated a number of plans to expand insurance coverage. Some are incremental and some are sweeping; some build on the existing system and some would essentially replace it. But any of them would be better than that threadbare plan House Republicans actually put forward, which would hardly expand coverage at all.
True, these ideas won’t sell millions of books, or excite the crowd on Huckabee’s talk show. But they’re what the Republican Party needs if it’s going to be more than just a brake on liberalism’s ambitions. And they’re what voters are going to be looking for, in 2012 and beyond, as proof that conservatives can be trusted once again.
This means that there are substantial political rewards awaiting the politician who becomes the voice of an intellectually vigorous conservatism. It probably won’t be Mike Huckabee or Sarah Palin. If Republicans are lucky, though, it will be somebody who shares their charisma — but who prefers the responsibilities of leadership to the pleasures of celebrity.
1) As we enter the countdown to Thanksgiving, I must apologize in advance for the sporadic nature that my posting will surely become.
Today is a half-day for the Boy, due to parent-teacher conferences at his school (with ours taking place this evening -- yay). Tomorrow, I will be taking both of my kids to my parents' house for the entire day (the Boy has no school until next week). Thursday is Thanksgiving Day and we will be spending it with TPW's family. Friday is Thanksgiving II, which will be spent here at ThePajamaPundit.com World Headquarters with my family. Saturday is our family's annual 'Christmas Tree Trek' wherein we all trudge out to the Middle Of Nowhere to get a Christmas tree -- and I usually document the trip in some way.
2) Nominations for the 2009 Weblog Awards are now closed. A big thank you to everyone who nominated ThePajamaPundit.com! We were nominated in two categories (Best Large Blog and Best Political Blog). Finalists for each category will be posted by the Weblog Awards staff on December 28th.
[side note: nominations are still open for several categories including Best Celebrity Twitterer, Best Technology Blog, Best Military/Gun Blog, Best Business Blog, Best Medical/Health Issues Blog, and others]
So, to recap -- the next few days will be a bit crazy for The Pajama Family. Please bear with me as I attempt to be pulled in eight to ten different directions.
Oh, and have a safe and happy Thanksgiving. Natch.
President Obama has finished gathering information about troop options in Afghanistan and will likely announce his decision in an address to the nation next Tuesday, Dec. 1, administration officials said.
"After completing a rigorous final meeting, President Obama has the information he wants and needs to make his decision and he will announce that decision within days," White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said in an e-mailed statement early Tuesday.
While Gibbs did not specify a date, another administration official -- speaking on condition of anonymity because no official announcement has been made -- said the president would likely explain his thinking to the American people Dec. 1. Administration officials also said that the top U.S. general and the U.S ambassador in Afghanistan have been told to prepare to testify as early as next week before the congressional committees that would consider additional war funding requests.
Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal and Ambassador Karl W. Eikenberry have not been given a date for their congressional appearance, officials said, but have been told that their testimony would quickly follow Obama's announcement, so that they could offer details and support for the president's strategy for how to proceed with the eight-year-old war.
Opinion polls show that most Americans believe the war is no longer worth fighting.
[Palin's daughter Bristol is] spectacular. She's amazing. Still doesn't get a lot of sleep because Tripp is a light sleeper through the night and Bristol's got him all the time. But she's going to college, she's working and taking care of the baby. She's got her hands full. But very, very strong, very optimistic. She teaches me good lessons through all of this, too. She keeps things in perspective. She is realizing that her good decisions today will bear fruit, perhaps years down the road, but she's seeing now that it's worth it to take the high road when it comes to the [custody] controversy with Levi [Johnston] and him doing his porn stuff [posing for Playgirl]. It's all about the baby, it's all about what he is going to grow up with, and she knows she has to pull even more weight to make sure Tripp has a good upbringing. That's why she's getting her college education, plus working. She's quite independent, wants to make sure she's paying for Tripp, all the diapers and formula. That is her commitment.
Palin's inability to leave a grievance un-aired is quickly becoming the stuff of legend. But the feud with Johnston is one of the more egregious, and ongoing, self-inflicted political injuries I can ever recall seeing. (The irony of her applauding her daughter's decision to "take the high road" in the same sentence in which she throws her "porn" dig is almost too much.)
The obvious, immensely easy play here would be for her to make up publicly with the boy. But even if that's too much--as it obviously is--you'd think she could manage some high-road blather when asked about Johnston ("We've had our disagreements, as you all know, but he's good kid and I hope it all works out for him in the end") and could avoid bringing him up altogether when she's asked about something else, as in this case. But, no, she somehow seems to believe--and no one close to her can evidently dissuade her--that if she can win a war of words with a semi-employed, 19-year-old high-school dropout, it will amount to an actual victory for her.
posted by The Pajama Punditat 10:40 filed in: Iran
Simply unimaginable in America -- and yet it happens routinely in countries like Iran:
The interrogator sat me in a wooden chair. It had a writing arm, like the chair I'd had in primary school. He ordered me to look down, even though I was already blindfolded: "Never look up, Mr. Bahari. While you are here—and we don't know how long you're going to be here—never look up." All I could see from under the blindfold was the interrogator's black leather slippers. They worried me. He had settled in for a long session.
"Mr. Bahari, you're an agent of foreign intelligence organizations," he began. I had gotten a look at him when he and his men had dragged me out of bed and arrested me a few hours earlier. He was heavyset—I later learned that the guards called him "the big guy"—taller and wider than me, with a massive head. His skin was dark, like someone from southern Iran. He wore thick glasses. But I would know him now only by his voice, his breath, and the rosewater perfume used by men who piously do their ablutions several times a day before prayers, but rarely shower.
I could see Mr. Rosewater's slippers right in front of my foot. He was towering over me.
"Could you let me know which ones?" I mumbled.
"Speak louder!" he shouted. He bent toward me, his face an inch away from mine. I could feel his breath on my skin. "What did you say?"
"I was wondering if you could be kind enough to let me know which organizations," I repeated.
"CIA, MI6, Mossad, and NEWSWEEK." He listed the names one by one, in a low but assured voice.
Reihan Salam runs down the list of pros and cons for the Man From Minnesota:
Recent months seem to have vindicated this brand of cost-conscious Sam's Club Republicanism. The hope among conservatives is that Chris Christie and Bob McDonnell, the newly elected governors of New Jersey and Virginia, are a harbinger of major Republican victories in gubernatorial races next year. Both candidates won in states that President Obama won in 2009, suggesting that at least some independent voters have soured on the expansive and expensive Democratic agenda. Next year, the RGA is paying particular attention to races in Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Florida, all Obama states that have been hit particularly hard by rising unemployment. It's easy to see how a governor with a proven track record and a focus on bread-and-butter issues could do well. There are at least four sitting Republican governors who are considered potential presidential contenders. But only Tim Pawlenty of Minnesota is doing the hard work of gathering his forces, hiring consultants, and raising his national profile.
On paper, Tim Pawlenty's appeal is clear. As the two-term governor of Minnesota, he has a demonstrated ability to win the votes of Democrats and independents. To defeat Barack Obama, Republicans will have to break out of their demographic box, and that means winning races in the Upper Midwest and other regions that have proven inhospitable terrain for at least the last decade. As the first member of his working-class family to graduate from college, Pawlenty has a compelling personal story. Pawlenty also has a reputation as a likable and even gentle campaigner, who isn't inclined to use scorched-earth tactics against his opponents, a break with the anger to tea-party activists who've energized the conservative base but who might also turn off swing voters who like their leader even-tempered.
I think that Pawlenty could be is fast becoming a powerhouse in the Republican party. With whom Mike Huckabee, Mitt Romney, and any other 2012 Republican Presidential candidate will -- sooner or later -- be forced to contend.
Here's a Black Friday reality check: Of the hordes of pre-dawn shoppers who line up for hours outside stores on the day after Thanksgiving, most will not bag the best bargains that appear in merchants' circulars.
Look at the fine print that appears next to an advertised "doorbuster deal" at the bottom of the page in this year's circulars.
It will either say "While supplies last," "Minimum 2 per store," "No rainchecks" or "All items are available in limited quantities."
A quick scan through a few of this year's Black Friday circulars show quantities as low as a "minimum of 5 per store" on some models of large plasma and HDTVs and popular brands of home appliances such as a washer-dryer pair.
Wow.
Usually, TPW and I don't bother with 'Black Friday' insanity as Friday is what we refer to as 'Thanksgiving II'. On 'Thanksgiving I', we celebrate with TPW's family and on number II we celebrate (and eat a lot more) with my family.
This year, however, is different. We have decided to purchase... wait for it... a Nintendo Wii for our kids. Tah-dah! Now, the console has already been purchased -- primarily because there were no good 'BF' deals for the gaming system. But, we did find some juicy nuggets to be had in the way of games and accessories for the Wii.
So, it is with much hesitation and trepidation that TPW and I will both be braving the cold, the lines, and the overall suck-i-tude that is 'Black Friday' shopping. If I could get my hands on a some kind of wireless device with Internet access, I would blog the whole experience for you. But alas, who would read that crap?
Postscript: If anyone knows of any super-awesomely-awesome deals on any of the Guitar Hero or Rock Band series for the Wii, please pass it on to me. The kids will each be getting a game (likely the Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga for the Boy and Dora Saves The Snow Princess for the Girl), and TPW is getting a game (Wii Fit Plus -- sshhh! don't tell her!), so I'm thinking that Daddy needs something cool to play as well.
Nate Silver shows us what happens to a sitting senator who gets heavily involved in the debate over health care reform. Money:
[Senators Jon Tester and Max Baucus are from the] Same state, same party, same position -- more or less -- on health care reform. But vastly different approaches: one senator seeking the spotlight, and the other shunning it. And vastly different trajectories of public opinion.
Baucus, indeed, is not alone in this department: virtually everyone who has tried to play a dealmaker role in health care has seen their approval ratings decline, from Chuck Grassley to Olympia Snowe to Harry Reid to President Obama.
If I were Blanche's Lincoln's Chief of Staff, my advice to her would be as follows:
1. Vote for cloture. 2. Vote against the bill itself. 3. Articulate this position clearly. 4. And then Shut The Hell Up.
Governor Palin discusses religion and politics with the famed reverend:
Sarah Palin, the hottest name in the Republican Party, took a detour from her book-signing tour Sunday to dine with Billy Graham at his mountaintop home in Montreat.
"He's followed her career and likes her strong stand on faith," said son Franklin Graham, who was present for the 2 1/2-hour get-together. "Daddy feels God was using her to wake America up."
The former Alaska governor and 2008 GOP vice presidential candidate told Billy Graham about how she came to faith in God as a girl in Bible camp.
She quizzed him on the presidents he's known and wanted his take on what the Bible says about Israel, Iran and Iraq, Franklin Graham reported.
I'd be interested to hear what 'the Bible says about Israel, Iran and Iraq' -- or at least what Graham's (and Palin's) interpretation of it is.
posted by The Pajama Punditat 14:32 filed in: Joe The Plumber
Trying to find any way to insert his name back into the mainstream political dialogue, JtP still occasionally appears as a tiny blip on my radar screen:
Forever a part of American electoral history, [Samuel] Joe Wurzelbacher--better known as "Joe the Plumber"--is hitting back at the media for its coverage of him over the past year, telling Editor & Publisher the reporting has been "poorly done."
In a wide-ranging interview with E&P, Wurzelbacher also shared his thoughts on Sarah Palin (he hopes she doesn't run for president in 2012), Palin's references to him in her new book, and the charge that he has capitalized off the publicity that has come with being Joe the Plumber. He also called President Obama's ideology "unAmerican."
Regarding Palin, the former Republican vice presidential candidate now making her rounds across the country on a book tour, Wurzelbacher told E&P he hopes she is not a candidate for president in 2012.
"I hope she doesn't (run) because I think she could do a lot for America outside of office," Wurzelbacher said. "And I think she could rally Americans to get together and make some changes from the grassroots level. I think she could be an incredible rallying point, and I think that's where she could serve America best."
Wurzelbacher said he's been disappointed with the press coverage overall. "Mainstream media really painted me as a fool," he said. "They did their best to discredit me as a tax cheat, a wife beater, a racist. You know, they said a lot of nasty things about me, and all of them untrue."
[snip]
To those who charge Wurzelbacher has "capitalized on my 15 minutes of fame," he disagrees, telling E&P, "I'm a year into this, and I am not rich by no means. My book is out of print. I'm selling the last remaining copies. I did not expect enormous dollars from it. It's just what it is. I haven't gotten behind any merchandise. I haven't sold out."
"I grew up a Democrat in a Democrat family. My husband and I both worked on Jimmy Carter's presidential campaign. The first time I ever came to Washington was to dance at Walter Mondale's inaugural ball. It was a thrill for my husband and me, and we were both happy to work on behalf of Walter Mondale and Jimmy Carter. We really believed in them when we were in college. So in some ways I don't understand why the Democratic Party would be opposed to me, because I stand for the same values that my parents stood for when we were Democrats." -Representative Michele Bachmann (R-Mn), puzzled as to why Democrats don't like her.
Gov. Sarah Palin talks with a woman who's looks resemble that of Gov. Sarah Palin at Borders bookstore during the third "Going Rogue" book signing event Thursday, November 19, 2009, in Noblesville, IN.
------ Photo: Shealah Craighead
Head nod: Doug Mataconis, who titles his post "The Cylons Were Created By Man. They Evolved. They Rebelled. There Are Many Copies..."
The Democrats still have an uphill battle ahead of them:
After the Senate narrowly voted to beging [sic] debating Democrats' health care reform legislation, President Obama said he now looks forward to "a thorough and productive debate."
But many hurdles lie between here and the finish line -- a "significant, formidable and never-ending list," one top Senate Democratic aide says.
First come the amendments. Moderate democrats have already said they oppose the public option in the bill right now to compete with private insurers with the goal of driving down costs.
"Let me be perfectly clear," said Sen. Blanche Lincoln, D-Ark., who looks to have a tough reelection context next year. "I am opposed to a new government-run insurance option."
But other Democrats have said the bill wont be true reform without the public option, and they may not vote for a bill without it.
If nothing else, it will be really interesting to watch the debate that takes place in the Senate...
Authorities at Pennsylvania's Three Mile Island nuclear plant were investigating what caused a weekend radiation leak that resulted in 150 workers being sent home, officials said Sunday.
An airborne radiological contamination alarm sounded about 4 p.m. Saturday in the Unit 1 containment building, according to a statement from Exelon Nuclear, which operates the Three Mile Island plant near Middletown, Pennsylvania. The unit had been shut down since October 26 for refueling, maintenance and steam generator replacement, the company said.
"A monitor at the temporary opening cut into the containment building wall to allow the new steam generators to be moved inside showed a slight increase in a reading and then returned to normal," the company said. "Two other monitors displayed normal readings."
Three Mile Island was the scene of the worst U.S. nuclear accident, a partial meltdown in 1979 that resulted in the plant's second reactor being shut down permanently.
Tests showed the contamination in Saturday's incident was confined to the building itself, and none was found outside, Exelon said. There was no threat to public health and safety, but the workers were sent home because they could not continue until the area was cleaned, Bill Noll, Exelon vice president, said in the Saturday statement.
I have to say that TMI has always made me a little bit uneasy. Especially when I lived and worked a mere 15 minutes away from the facilities there...
"We've got to recall our country, the election. This guy [President Obama], is illegal. The cavalier attitude taken by Mr. Obama towards the enemy within us is absolutely horrible. If I had a snake in the house, I would kill it." -Phil Wolf, owner of Wolf Automotive used car dealership, in Wheat Ridge, Colorado. 'The enemy within us' is a reference to the Fort Hood shootings.
Google today unveiled more details of Chrome OS, a lightweight, browser-based operating system for netbooks.
With a strong focus on speed, the Chrome OS promises nearly instant boot times of about 7 seconds for users to login to their computers.
"We want Google Chrome OS to be blazingly fast ... to boot up like a TV," said Sundar Pichai, vice president of product management for Google.
The first Chrome OS netbooks will be available in late 2010, Pichai said. It will not be available as a download to run and install. Instead, Chrome OS is only shipping on specific hardware from manufacturers Google has partnered with. That means if you want Chrome OS, you'll have to purchase a Chrome OS device.
While a seven-second boot time sounds intriguing (and awesome), I'm wary about having my entire computer's memory stored on-line in one of Google's servers. I agree with what Fury says:
I’m not sure I want stuff stored on Google's hard drives via the internet. I can also see the FCC (or any other Federal Agency) making laws that Google would have to release info that could be dangerous to someones life or anything you can think of really.
It’s sketchy. I have nothing to hide, so I’m not worried, but I would definitely like to have some things private. This is kind of the reason I don’t use Gmail for my personal email. Google never deletes any email that you have. It’s saved permanently.
I'll second that (except that I do have a Gmail account).
On the flip-side of the coin; watch out Microsoft. The Google is gunnin' for ya...
A new Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of likely 2010 Republican Primary voters in Arizona finds the longtime incumbent in a virtual tie with potential challenger J.D. Hayworth. McCain earns 45% of the vote, while Hayworth picks up 43%.
Former Minuteman leader Chris Simcox gets four percent (4%) support, while two percent (2%) prefer some other candidate and seven percent (7%) are undecided.
Hayworth, a conservative former U.S. congressman who now is a popular radio talk show host in Phoenix, is reportedly interested in the race but has not formally declared for it. He captures 59% of the male GOP vote, while McCain wins 58% of female voters.
Younger GOP voters like Hayworth more than their elders. McCain has a solid lead among the relatively small number of moderate and liberal Republicans in the state while Hayworth picks up a plurality (48%) of conservatives.
Wow. And to think that I was worried about Chris Simcox...
posted by The Pajama Punditat 15:23 filed in: Quote, Republican
"One of the things that really does separate this Republican Party from the Republican Party of 1993 is that this one is utterly devoid of ideas. You can say a lot of things about Newt Gingrich, you can say a lot of things about the Republican Revolution; one thing you can't say is that it lacked some kind of ideological base or agenda." -Nathan Daschle, executive director of the Democratic Governors Association, giving some backhanded praise to Newt Gingrich and the 1994 GOP.
WASHINGTON — In a display of populist anger toward the Federal Reserve, a House panel voted on Thursday to let Congress carry out sweeping new oversights of the central bank’s policy decisions and operations.
The House Financial Services Committee approved a measure proposed by Representative Ron Paul of Texas that would allow Congress to order audits of all the Fed’s lending programs as well as of its basic decisions to set monetary policy by raising or lowering interest rates.
If the measure becomes law, it would expose the Federal Reserve to far more political pressure than it has faced for decades. Fed officials have adamantly opposed the measure, saying it would undermine the central bank’s political independence and gravely threaten its credibility as a bulwark against inflation.
The vote on Thursday occurred despite the opposition of Representative Barney Frank, Democrat of Massachusetts, who had wanted to shield the Fed’s decisions on monetary policy from political pressures.
Mr. Paul, a libertarian Republican who has called for abolishing the Fed entirely, has introduced a version of his bill in every session of Congress since the early 1980s and never made any progress. But the Fed’s trillion-dollar efforts to bail out major banks and rescue the financial system provoked a popular firestorm that ignited both right-wing Republicans and left-wing Democrats.
Mr. Paul’s amendment would instruct the Government Accountability Office, the investigative arm of Congress, to carry out audits of all the Fed’s operations. Those include an array of emergency lending programs, bailouts of giant financial institutions, dealings with foreign central banks and the central bank’s efforts to drive down interest rates by intervening in bond markets.
There are much larger hurdles yet to come, but as the article says, Congressman Paul has 'introduced a version of his bill in every session of Congress since the early 1980s and never made any progress'. Well, this is definitely progress...
It appears that the U.S. Senate hopeful has a temper:
During a heated forum for U.S. Senate candidates Thursday at a Kentucky Association of Counties conference, Secretary of State [Trey] Grayson criticized Bowling Green eye surgeon [Rand] Paul for supporting President Obama's policy of closing the $200-million detention facility for terrorists at Guantánamo Bay in Cuba.
Grayson's supporters distributed copies of a page on Paul's campaign Web site in May that said Paul "couldn't agree more" with a comment by U.S. Military Chief Mike Mullen that Guantánamo should be shut down.
Paul, the son of Republican U.S. Rep. Ron Paul of Texas, who ran unsuccessfully for president last year, responded that Grayson should learn how to read.
Oh snap! Of course, he walked that statement back:
Paul also apologized for saying Grayson should learn how to read.
"I lost my temper," Paul said. "He was just saying things about me that were not true."
No problem Rand. The story made national headlines, which puts more emphasis on your race in Kentucky. Which, in turn, will likely lead to more donations to your campaign.
Also, this type of banter shows just how intense (and captivating) the 2010 mid-term elections are going to be...
"When [President Obama] was at Dover the other day, and went there to pay respect for soldiers, I heard a lot of people on the right say 'Aw, that's just a cheap photo-op.'
No, I think it was the Commander-in-Chief of our military paying respect to a dead soldier, and I'm grateful that he did that, and I was proud of him for doing that. And I think we all -- as Americans -- should give him credit for doing that.
When he and Michele hosted the trick-or-treaters on Halloween, quit finding something wrong with that.
Say 'Good, I'm glad that he and the First Lady are treating children to an experience at the White House', and I just find it deplorable that some people on my end of the aisle want to find everything wrong and nothing right about the man as a man." -Mike Huckabee, speaking to the Hudson Union Society.
It’s now mathematically impossible for Doug Hoffman to take the lead in the New York special election, with his deficit now larger than the number of outstanding ballots left to be counted.
Hoffman trails Rep. Bill Owens (D-N.Y.) by 3,105 votes – with only 3,072 left to be counted, according to the Watertown Daily Times’ updated re-canvassing count. Hoffman has only netted a total of 71 votes so far in the tally of absentee and military ballots.
Despite his now insurmountable odds, Hoffman announced Wednesday night that he was revoking his concession, and preparing to contest the election results – a stance that’s received no support from leading Republican party officials within the 23rd Congressional District.
The Washington Independent’s Dave Weigel suggests that his allegations of dirty tricks as a post-election fundraising tool could be intended to recoup some of the personal money he spent on the campaign.
posted by The Pajama Punditat 10:23 filed in: Entertainment
It's the end of the world as we know it:
The queen of daytime talk shows, Oprah Winfrey, plans to end her highly rated The Oprah Winfrey Show in 2011 after 25 years, her spokesperson said Thursday.
"The last day will be Sept. 9, 2011," the spokesperson says. "She will speak about it on (Friday's) live show."
Winfrey, 55, whose current program reaches about 7 million viewers a day, is preparing to start her own cable channel, and it has been widely rumored that she would bring her program to OWN: The Oprah Winfrey Network, a joint venture with Discovery Communications.
Well, for B-Diddy at least (yes, did I mention that he watches her show daily?).
Nate Silver is more concerned about unemployment and jobs creation than he is about health care. At least from a good-politics perspective:
Indeed, the most troubling problem for the Democrats may be that government interventions into the economy -- meaning the bailout and the stimulus -- are increasingly perceived as having failed, which in turn increases skepticism about government intervention overall, in health care and other areas. I'm just not sure where this is headed: perhaps when the jobs picture recovers, so too will perception of these other programs, which will rob Republicans of much of their ammunition (although since employment is unlikely to recover significantly before 2010, they'll have plenty of fun in the shooting gallery in the meantime). But perhaps instead, the damage will be medium or even long-term: if the economy takes too long to recover, it may be perceived as being in spite of, not because of, programs like the stimulus. If that's the case, the 2010s could be a lost decade for liberalism.
To channel my Inner Krugman: it's a political imperative for the Democrats of the highest order to get some sort of jobs bill to Obama's desk -- the sooner and the bigger the better. Suppose you could create jobs at a price of about $40,000 per, which is higher than the figure suggested by empirical research on highly targeted jobs programs. A $200 billion bill would then create 5 million new jobs, which would reduce unemployment by about 3.3 percent (e.g. from 10.2 percent to 6.9 percent).
[snip]
Might it even be worth tabling health care to get the jobs bill passed? Probably not when health care is so close to the finish line, and when the House can start working on a jobs program while the Senate deliberates health care. But if it looks like health care doesn't have the votes, this would be the exit strategy for the Dems -- for Obama to intervene and say: "we need a jobs bill first." Either way, a couple million more jobs would make everything much smoother for the Democrats; the economy remains the primary way that the public evaluates their success.
I couldn't agree more. One could even argue that growing the job market would lead to a much more positive outlook on health care reform and government programs in general.
I've felt that, since the very beginning of President Obama's term earlier this year, the administration has been overly focused on health care. I get it; health care reform is important to Obama (and Democrats in general), as it should be. Health care in America needs to be fixed. However, I think that the economy has been and IS much more pressing an issue right now. A public option may be great to offer for those who cannot afford health care -- but if you have no job, you won't be able to afford even a government sponsored health care plan. No job = no money.
In my opinion, the President and his advisers should have sat down on Day One and said, 'Okay, the economy is our first goal. Let's take care of that first, and then tackle the rest of our agenda.'
Health care, while important, should have been 'tabled' (as Silver put it) until the economy had stabilized and started to grow again.
President Obama should have taken Oscar Rodgers' advice; FIX IT!
posted by The Pajama Punditat 16:31 filed in: Health Care, Quote
"I'm getting tired of saving Obama's can in the White House." -Congressman John Conyers (D-Mi), commenting on the concessions that the White House has made on health care reform.
...because I done heard some host say it on the teevee box!
According to the latest Public Policy Polling results, more than one-quarter of Americans think that ACORN stole (yes, stole) the 2008 Presidential election. With the help of Barack Obama, of course:
Do you think that Barack Obama legitimately won the Presidential election last year, or do you think that ACORN stole it for him? 62% Legitimately won the election, 26% ACORN stole it
...of the Empire State. This is likely good news for David Paterson -- but not necessarily for the Republican party:
Former Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani has decided not to run for governor of New York next year after months of mulling a candidacy, according to people who have been told of the decision.
His decision is a blow to many Republican leaders, who had viewed Mr. Giuliani as the strongest potential candidate in a year in which voter anger and anti-Albany sentiment appeared to be swelling.
Contenders from both parties have been waiting for months to hear what the former mayor would decide.
It was not clear what prompted the decision, but the prospect of potentially facing Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo, who is quietly planning his own run for governor on the Democratic ticket, may not have appealed to Mr. Giuliani, who suffered a bruising defeat in the 2008 Republican presidential primary. While many political analysts believe Mr. Giuliani would have comfortably beaten Gov. David A. Paterson, he would likely have faced an uphill battle against Mr. Cuomo, one of the most popular politicians in the state.
Exit question: I wonder what George Will would have written about a Giuliani-led government in New York state?
"It really doesn't matter how President Obama divides the Afghan baby, how he splits the difference between McChrystal and Biden. Because the war has been lost. I say this because of one sad and simple fact. The president does not have the will and determination to do what's necessary to win it. His heart's not in it, and never has been. The Taliban knows it. Al Qaeda knows it. Our allies know it. And the American people know it.
"Our enemies are now emboldened and our friends are discouraged. We cannot prevail if the American people are not willing to make the sacrifices necessary for an extended effort. The case has not been made to them to justify this effort. The case can only be made by the president. This president is unable or unwilling to make that case.
"Take your time, Mr. President. Unless you have a total change of heart and mind, it really doesn't make any difference." -former Senator Fred Thompson, on his radio program earlier today.
"I don't care about the Constitution." -Bill O'Reilly
Clearly.
Napolitano has a great point here: there was no Declaration of War against a nation-state (or Al Qaeda for that matter). Therefore, according to The Constitution of The United States, KSM should get a trial where the alleged offense occurred.
Brit Hume says that he hasn't heard a good argument for it. I think Andrew Napolitano has made just such an argument right here.
The 2,074-page Senate bill seeks to reduce the long-term costs of health care for the government, businesses and individuals, while reforming how services are delivered to increase efficiency and effectiveness.
It includes controversial provisions such as a government-run public health insurance option unanimously opposed by Republicans.
The bill would prohibit illegal immigrants from participating in a health insurance exchange created for those unable to afford health coverage and would prohibit the use of federal funds for abortion coverage in the exchange, according to a briefing for journalists arranged by the Senate Democratic leadership.
According to the briefing, the bill includes a range of tax increases and new fees. The Medicare payroll tax on individuals earning $200,000 a year and couples earning $250,000 a year would increase by half a percentage point, from the current 1.45 percent to 1.95 percent. In addition, insurers providing costly health coverage -- known as "Cadillac" plans -- would face a 40 percent tax on policies worth more than $8,500 for individuals and $23,000 for families.
Doug Hoffman will not contest the results of New York’s 23rd District special election, the state Conservative Party candidate announced in a release Tuesday afternoon.
"After completing a rigorous final meeting, President Obama has the information he wants and needs to make his decision and he will announce that decision within days," White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said in an e-mailed statement early Tuesday.
[Palin's daughter Bristol is] spectacular. She's amazing. Still doesn't get a lot of sleep because Tripp is a light sleeper through the night and Bristol's got him all the time. But she's going to college, she's working and taking care of the baby. She's got her hands full. But very, very strong, very optimistic. She teaches me good lessons through all of this, too. She keeps things in perspective. She is realizing that her good decisions today will bear fruit, perhaps years down the road, but she's seeing now that it's worth it to take the high road when it comes to the [custody] controversy with Levi [Johnston] and him doing his porn stuff [posing for Playgirl]. It's all about the baby, it's all about what he is going to grow up with, and she knows she has to pull even more weight to make sure Tripp has a good upbringing. That's why she's getting her college education, plus working. She's quite independent, wants to make sure she's paying for Tripp, all the diapers and formula. That is her commitment. 
This year, however, is different. We have decided to purchase... wait for it... a Nintendo Wii for our kids. Tah-dah! Now, the console has already been purchased -- primarily because there were no good 'BF' deals for the gaming system. But, we did find some juicy nuggets to be had in the way of games and accessories for the Wii.
After the Senate narrowly voted to beging [sic] debating Democrats' health care reform legislation, President Obama said he now looks forward to "a thorough and productive debate."
"We want Google Chrome OS to be blazingly fast ... to boot up like a TV," said Sundar Pichai, vice president of product management for Google.
A new Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of likely 2010 Republican Primary voters in Arizona finds the longtime incumbent in a virtual tie with potential challenger J.D. Hayworth. McCain earns 45% of the vote, while Hayworth picks up 43%.
The House Financial Services Committee approved a measure proposed by Representative Ron Paul of Texas that would allow Congress to order audits of all the Fed’s lending programs as well as of its basic decisions to set monetary policy by raising or lowering interest rates.
During a heated forum for U.S. Senate candidates Thursday at a Kentucky Association of Counties conference, Secretary of State [Trey] Grayson criticized Bowling Green eye surgeon [Rand] Paul for supporting President Obama's policy of closing the $200-million detention facility for terrorists at Guantánamo Bay in Cuba.
The queen of daytime talk shows, Oprah Winfrey, plans to end her highly rated The Oprah Winfrey Show in 2011 after 25 years, her spokesperson said Thursday.
It includes controversial provisions such as a government-run public health insurance option unanimously opposed by Republicans.
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