Well, I’m off for a mini-vacation from today to Sunday night. Me and my better half are taking a short trip to Undisclosed Location, USA.
It’s been a while since I’ve had a vacation. The closet thing I can remember is my two trips out to Las Vegas in 2006, and those were really working vacations with Mark to write our book.
I’ll be back at blogging on Monday. Nice and refreshed.
7 comments September 26th, 2008
Bold decision by the McCain campaign.
Here is the statement from the campaign:
America this week faces an historic crisis in our financial system. We must pass legislation to address this crisis. If we do not, credit will dry up, with devastating consequences for our economy. People will no longer be able to buy homes and their life savings will be at stake. Businesses will not have enough money to pay their employees. If we do not act, ever corner of our country will be impacted. We cannot allow this to happen.
Last Friday, I laid out my proposal and I have since discussed my priorities and concerns with the bill the Administration has put forward. Senator Obama has expressed his priorities and concerns.This morning, I met with a group of economic advisers to talk about the proposal on the table and the steps that we should take going forward.I have also spoken with members of Congress to hear their perspective.
It has become clear that no consensus has developed to support the Administration’ proposal. I do not believe that the plan on the table will pass as it currently stands, and we are running out of time.
Tomorrow morning, I will suspend my campaign and return to Washington after speaking at the Clinton Global Initiative. I have spoken to Senator Obama and informed him of my decision and have asked him to join me.
I am calling on the President to convene a meeting with the leadership from both houses of Congress, including Senator Obama and myself. It is time for both parties to come together to solve this problem.
We must meet as Americans, not as Democrats or Republicans, and we must meet until this crisis is resolved.I am directing my campaign to work with the Obama campaign and the commission on presidential debates to delay Friday night’s debate until we have taken action to address this crisis.
I am confident that before the markets open on Monday we can achieve consensus on legislation that will stabilize our financial markets, protect taxpayers and homeowners, and earn the confidence of the American people. All we must do to achieve this is temporarily set politics aside, and I am committed to doing so.
Following September 11th, our national leaders came together at a time of crisis. We must show that kind of patriotism now. Americans across our country lament the fact that partisan divisions in Washington have prevented us from addressing our national challenges. Now is our chance to come together to prove that Washington is once again capable of leading this country.
CNN is reporting that Obama sees no reason to suspend his campaign…
So is ABC.
Bold.
UPDATE: Here is Fox News write-up.
NOTE: You know this is a brilliant stroke when the Obamabots and NetRoots Nuts get their action alerts to spam the comments section. I flattered guys. Really.
BTW: It’s 4:24pm and I’m just waiting for the inevitable Obama flip-flop. While McCain shows leadership, Obama keeps looking for ways to vote “present”
UPDATE: Harry Reid flip-flops:
Does Harry Reid want it both ways when it comes to John McCain showing up for Senate votes?
This afternoon, Reid dismissed McCain’s sudden move to parachute in on Washington and help solve the economic crisis.
Let’s compare today’s statement …
“It would not be helpful at this time to have them come back during these negotiations and risk injecting presidential politics into this process or distract important talks about the future of our nation’s economy. If that changes, we will call upon them. We need leadership; not a campaign photo op.”
… With Reid’s statement from July, when Obama showed up for a vote but not McCain (quoted in The Washington Post):
“I should mention how glad my fellow Democrats and I were to have our nominee for president here to vote on these important bills. Senator Obama has come to work and taken tough stands. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for Senator McCain,” Reid said. “Perhaps taking tough stands on important issues is not part of Senator McCain’s campaign strategy. Perhaps he’s just too busy on the campaign trail to do his day job.”
UPDATE: Dick Morris calls the move by McCain “brilliant.”
UPDATE: Obama flip-flops?
224 comments September 24th, 2008
And it doesn’t matter if McCain or Obama is in the White House, we’ll still go at this hammer and tongs:
n the Holy See Press Office this morning, the presentation took place of an upcoming international conference entitled: “Biological Evolution: Facts and Theories. A Critical Appraisal 150 years after ‘The Origin of Species’”. The conference is due to be held in Rome from 3 to 7 March 2009.
The congress has been jointly organised by the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome and the University of Notre Dame in Indiana, U.S.A., under the patronage of the Pontifical Council for Culture and as part of the STOQ Project (Science, Theology and the Ontological Quest).
That will be a lot of fun.
45 comments September 17th, 2008
Have at it, boys and girls…
UPDATE: Stories of note:
Obama Tried To Stall GI’s Iraq Withdrawal
Gallup Daily: Race Stabilizes With McCain Up by Two
Records Show McCain more Bipartisan
Palin jolts U.S. Capitol, energizes Republicans…
More Errors For Rep. Rangel; Hires New Account
58 comments September 15th, 2008
Just one big mess:
Rescue crews navigated flooded and debris-strewn streets Saturday to search for those who insisted on staying and riding out a fierce Hurricane Ike, which shattered skyscraper windows, cut power to millions and flooded thousands of homes as it sloshed across the Texas coast.
About those who stayed behind - I do wonder if we should cite them? I mean, by staying behind they risk danger to police and fire personnel, as well as increasing the cost of hurricane recovery to States and municipalities. I’m not talking about jail time - but maybe a $1,000 “Idiot Fine”? And we should allow their insurance carriers to cancel their policy…and, of course, deny them any government aid in rebuilding. You have a right, in America, to be an idiot - but you don’t have a right to be rescued from your idiocy.
One other point - there are stories of gas prices in various places being 5, 6 or more dollars per gallon - all States should enact laws, if they already haven’t, against this sort of thing…its un-American, un-Christian and inhuman to jack up prices like that during a crisis.
5 comments September 13th, 2008
On the seventh anniversary of September 11, I encourage our readers to put politics aside for the day and share your thoughts and stories from 9/11 here.
Those of you who can’t, please come back tomorrow.
UPDATE, by Mark Noonan: Sadness in things remembered, joy in triumphs resultant. Its been a long, busy 7 years.
76 comments September 11th, 2008
O Heavenly Father, all the elements of nature obey Your commands, including hurricanes. Calm the storms that threaten us and turn our fear of Your power into praise of Your goodness.
Amen.
The evacuations are done, the resources are ready to go - now lets hope and pray that it all ends up an excellent exercise and the storm fizzles.
16 comments September 1st, 2008
Within the parameters of what Obama might say, does say or has said in the past, have at it, boys and girls.
Errrmmm….you can also make fun of any other Democrat who comes to mind…
UPDATE, 10:12 PM ET: Obama takes the stage.. let the crazy talk begin.
UPDATE, by Matt Margolis: From reading the prepared remarks… I see the same talking points we’ve heard the past few days… the same lame attacks on McCain and Bush…
Guess what Obama, the economy was doing just fine until your party took control of congress.
He’s spent more time attacking John McCain then explaining why he can do anything he claims to do.
UPDATE, 11:28 PM, by Matt Margolis: What sticks out the most about the speech was the negativity. I think it was a major mistake for him to be so negative. He lacked specifics. He attacked John McCain and Republicans endlessly, then claimed to be able to unite the country. Obama could never unite this country.
UPDATE: Media Lizzy posts the McCain campaigns reaction to Obama’s speech.
Associated Press Analysis: Obama spares details, keeps up attacks
UPDATE: From Obama’s speech: “If you don’t have a record to run on, then you paint your opponent as someone people should run from.”
Umm, yeah, that pretty much describes what Obama has been doing during his campaign. He has no record to run on, and he’s trying to make people afraid of John McCain. The RNC and McCain campaign should jump on that line.
88 comments August 28th, 2008
I just got off the phone with Andy Barnett, who informs me that he just recently spoke with Pawlenty Press Secretary, Alex Carey. While Mr. Carey did not actually state that Pawlenty was the choice, there was excitement in his voice, and he did state that Governor Pawlenty “cleared his schedule” for the weekend.
Meanwhile, according to Barnett, a source very close to the Romney campaign stated that Governor Romney had not heard anything with regard to VP plans within this past hour.
…developing
35 comments August 28th, 2008
Day Three, boys and girls - have at it.
UPDATE: Slick Wiily takes the stage.
UPDATE: Biden is making a fool of himself.
UPDATE: John McCain has selected a running mate…
UPDATES:
THE HILL: Biden fumbles military terms
AP: Biden hasn’t always had kind words for running mate
AFP: McCain camp gleefully mocks ‘temple of Obama’
68 comments August 27th, 2008
In 2004, I was one of a dozen bloggers given credentials to the Republican National Convention in New York City. It was an incredible experience… being a part of George W. Bush’s reelection… bumping shoulders with members of Congress, the media… and of course, it was great to meet all the other bloggers. In short, it was a great time and I’ll never forget it.
Four years later, I have once again been given credentials for the Republican National Convention. I’ve been asked many times if I was going… So, now is the time to reveal my intentions…
After careful thought and consideration I have decided not to attend this year’s Convention in Minnesota.
As you may remember, I recently moved to New York from Massachusetts, and various factors resulting from that move have contributed to my decision, particularly the time I’d need to take off from my new job.
It was not an easy decision… in fact, it was one I avoided making. But, the decision had to be made. And while I may always regret not going to the convention, today, it is the right choice.
I am pleased to report, however, that Blogs For Victory will have a blogger at the convention. Katherine Morrison, who blogs at our McCain blog, will be there, covering the convention on the scene. During the convention, we’ll be keeping an eye on her blogging, as well as the blogging of the other convention bloggers. I know many of the bloggers who will be there, and I’m sorry I won’t get to be there with them.
Anyway, that’s pretty much all there is to say about this.
6 comments August 24th, 2008
A poem to start the morning:
The Strange Music
Other loves may sink and settle, other loves may loose and slack,
But I wander like a minstrel with a harp upon my back,
Though the harp be on my bosom, though I finger and I fret,
Still, my hope is all before me; for I cannot play it yet.In your strings is hid a music that no hand hath e’er let fall,
In your soul is sealed a pleasure that you have not known at all;
Pleasure subtle as your spirit, strange and slender as your frame,
Fiercer than the pain that folds you, softer than your sorrow’s name.Not as mine, my soul’s annointed, not as mine the rude and light
Easy mirth of many faces, swaggering pride of song and fight;
Something stranger, something sweeter, something waiting you afar,
Secret as your stricken senses, magic as your sorrows are.But on this, God’s harp supernal, stretched but to be stricken once,
Hoary time is a beginner, Life a bungler, Death a dunce.
But I will not fear to match them - no by God, I will not fear,
I will learn you, I will play you and the stars stand still to hear.Gilbert Keith Chesterton
Have at it, boys and girls.
42 comments August 22nd, 2008
At 59 years old:
Pioneering Ohio Congresswoman Stephanie Tubbs Jones died Wednesday evening after suffering a brain aneurysm while driving on Tuesday night.
According to a statement from the Cleveland Clinic Tubbs Jones passed away at 6:12 p.m.
The statement read:
“Throughout the course of the day and into this evening, Congresswoman Tubbs Jones’ medical condition declined. Medical doctors and neurosurgeons from Huron Hospital and Cleveland Clinic sadly report that at 6:12 p.m. Congresswoman Stephanie Tubbs Jones died.
She dedicated her life in public service to helping others and will continue to do so through organ donations.
Please keep her family and friends in your thoughts and prayers during this very difficult time.”
Our prayers for the family and friends of Mrs. Tubbs Jones - and a timely reminder to say “I love you” each time you part, because you never know when your time is up. We’ve lost a number of people at relatively young ages recently, and we must always remember that none of us are promised tomorrow.
3 comments August 21st, 2008
Governor Rendell (D-PA) says he’ll vote for Hillary at the convention.
Operation Rescue puts out a flier entitled, “Is it Immoral to Vote for Obama for President?”.
Scrappleface demonstrates how unfair the Saddleback forum was for Obama:
That interchange clearly demonstrates how the event was biased against Sen. Obama, according to his spokesman.
“Of course McCain looked good,” the anonymous Obama aide said. “He didn’t have to worry about how his answer would be perceived. He didn’t have to work to recall his talking points. He didn’t have to think, or even try to look like he was thinking. All he had to do was blurt out what he believed. Clearly, this gave him an unfair advantage, and we think the American people will see this for what it is…another Republican smear tactic.”
The oil bubble continues to burst.
New blog: New Catholic Politics. We’re taking over, ya know? Promise we’ll only make you recite the Creed once.
Nevada Pundit notes that the National Security issue is wide open, again, and it works for McCain.
La Shawn Barber takes on the notion that race will be a big factor in whether Obama wins or loses.
Other than that, not much to talk about this morning.
41 comments August 19th, 2008
Threats of war in the Caucusus, prospects of large US withdrawals from Iraq with victory secured, probably a necessity of sending 15,000 or so additional troops to Afghanistan, oil bubble might have burst, Democratic jitters over Obama’s clear weaknesses…
Yeah, not much to talk aobut…
36 comments August 11th, 2008
At 50 years old:
CHICAGO - Bernie Mac, the actor and comedian who teamed up in the casino heist caper “Ocean’s Eleven” and gained a prestigious Peabody Award for his sitcom “The Bernie Mac Show,” died Saturday at age 50.
“Actor/comedian Bernie Mac passed away this morning from complications due to pneumonia in a Chicago area hospital,” his publicist, Danica Smith, said in a statement from Los Angeles.
She said no other details were available and asked that his family’s privacy be respected.
The comedian suffered from sarcoidosis, an inflammatory lung disease that produces tiny lumps of cells in the body’s organs, but had said the condition went into remission in 2005. He recently was hospitalized and treated for pneumonia, which his publicist said was not related to the disease.
Recently, Mac’s brand of comedy caught him flack when he was heckled during a surprise appearance at a July fundraiser for Democratic presidential candidate and fellow Chicagoan Barack Obama.
Toward the end of a 10-minute standup routine, Mac joked about menopause, sexual infidelity and promiscuity, and used occasional crude language. The performance earned him a rebuke from Obama’s campaign.
He was a funny man, and his humor will be missed.
6 comments August 9th, 2008
I am pleased to announce the launch of our first local politics oriented blog… Virginia Blogs For Victory.
5 comments August 8th, 2008
At 89 years old:
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, whose stubborn, lonely and combative literary struggles gained the force of prophecy as he revealed the heavy afflictions of Soviet Communism in some of the most powerful works of the 20th century, died late on Sunday at the age of 89 in Moscow.
His son Yermolai said the cause was a heart ailment.
Mr. Solzhenitsyn outlived by nearly 17 years the Soviet state and system he had battled through years of imprisonment, ostracism and exile.
Mr. Solzhenitsyn had been an obscure, middle-aged, unpublished high school science teacher in a provincial Russian town when he burst onto the literary stage in 1962 with “A Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich.” The book, a mold-breaking novel about a prison camp inmate, was a sensation. Suddenly he was being compared to giants of Russian literature like Tolstoy, Dostoyevski and Chekhov.
Over the next five decades, Mr. Solzhenitsyn’s fame spread throughout the world as he drew upon his experiences of totalitarian duress to write evocative novels like “The First Circle” and “The Cancer Ward” and historical works like “The Gulag Archipelago.”
The great man is gone, and may God give him the reward he long ago earned - in an age of lies, especially those all too modern and cynical lies from liberals and sundry leftists who insist, in the face of all evidence, that it is they who are wise and caring and who fight against oppression. Solzhenitsyn left us the warnings:
To do evil a human being must first of all believe that what he’s doing is good… Ideology - that is what gives devildoing its long-sought justification and gives the evildoer the necessary steadfastness and determination. That is the social theory which helps to make his acts seem good instead of bad in his own and others’ eyes, so that he won’t hear reproaches and curses but will receive praise and honors…
…I hope that no one present will suspect me of offering my personal criticism of the Western system to present socialism as an alternative. Having experienced applied socialism in a country where the alternative has been realized, I certainly will not speak for it. The well-known Soviet mathematician Shafarevich, a member of the Soviet Academy of Science, has written a brilliant book under the title Socialism; it is a profound analysis showing that socialism of any type and shade leads to a total destruction of the human spirit and to a leveling of mankind into death…
..We do not err because truth is difficult to see. It is visible at a glance. We err because this is more comfortable…
3 comments August 4th, 2008
Did I forget to mention that I was going? Oh, sorry…but, hey, there was fishing to do, or at least some alleged fishing…one friend caught 2, another friend caught 5…but the fact that I came up with zero was only bad because the friend who caugh five? Well, his four year old caught three…
Shoulda just stuck with the beer drinking part of “fishing”….