There’s more news on the rapidly deteriorating relationship between Mr. Obama and Latinos. A constituency that, just two years ago, handed over 67 percent of their vote to Obama is now protesting in the street, as occurred during President Obama’s recent trip to Los Angeles.He then goes on to list six points about why wise Latinos might stay home in November 2012.
Storms Kill Over 250 Americans In States Represented By Climate Pollution Deniers.I wonder if the folks over at Think Progress believe, as say the Rev Pat Robertson might believe, that these tornadoes are an act of an involved and caring God, trying to chasten His children?
On the Democratic left, non-factual statements about campaign finance reforms abound. Some reflect ignorance or misunderstanding of complicated campaign finance legislation and equally complicated systems for funding campaigns. But sometimes, advocates of campaign finance restrictions simply misstate simple facts of which they have every reason to be aware. Recently, Nation editor Katrina vanden Heuvel declared that liberal Democrat Russ Feingold lost his 2010 Senate race because of corporate spending unleashed by the recent Supreme Court decision striking down key provisions of campaign finance laws that restrained corporations. To substantiate this claim she linked to an interview with Feingold in her own magazine in which he directly contradicted her, explicitly stating that he did not lose because of spending unleashed by the Court’s ruling. When I pointed out this bold and shameless misstatement of fact, she repeated it, noting that Feingold’s statement should not be taken at face value: he denied being defeated by corporate spending because he didn’t want to ‘complain’. In other words, vanden Heuvel suggested, Feingold was not intending to make a factual statement.But, then, they are politicians. Having said that, I would go with Senator Feingold's view, his having been fetched up in Janesville, Wisconsin.
The prevailing outlook of austerity is not neo-liberalism but green anti-capitalism. Mainstream notions of environmental restraint are far more influential than belief in the free market. Anyone wishing to defend popular living standards first needs to challenge this Malthusian dogma, even when - or rather especially when - it is dressed up in the language of Marx.A chance to broaden one's horizons and pick up new debating points.
As the sentient world well recalls, on the morning of September 11, 2001, “agents of the al Qaeda terrorist organization hijacked commercial airplanes and attacked the World Trade Center in New York City and the national headquarters of the Department of Defense in Arlington, Virginia.” Hamdan v. Rumsfeld, 548 U.S. 557, 567-68 (2006).Thus reads part of an opinion from the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, on the Ms April Gallop suit, decided 27 April 2011.
African Americans attest that it's race-based. White Americans sympathetic to birthers' other politics deny the possibility. I have to believe one of two things:The argument put forward by Kad Barma is a strong one. It is rooted in what some call "America's Original Sin".
Either almost half of republicans aren't fit to vote based on their inability to understand the primary source evidence, or birthers are racists. you pick. I'm ok with either one.
Both CBS Evening News anchor Katie Couric and MSNBC host Andrea Mitchell incorrectly asserted that President Obama is the only president in U.S. history who has had his citizenship doubted.I don't watch either one, so I don't know.
Mme. Nhu saw herself as a patriot and revolutionary surrounded by enemies.I think that she was.
CorsiSupplemental question:
Trump
The DNC
Cashil
The White House
The Obama Reelection Operatives
Other
Does this sink the campaign of "The Donald"?Regards — Cliff
Egypt: The Supreme Military Council and Foreign Ministry have discussed opening offices for the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas in Cairo, similar to the offices of Fatah for the Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, several news services reported. A delegation from Hamas will visit Cairo to discuss the idea at a later date.I do think that the interim Egyptian authority is responding to what it thinks the People of Egypt want. The complicating thing is that a disturbance in the political balance that is Near East could result in war and the death of hundreds of thousands. It could draw the United States in, one way or another.
Comment: Under Mubarak, Egypt never permitted Hamas to have representation on an equal footing with the Palestinian Authority, which has international stature. The interim Egyptian administration, which has not been elected or approved in a democratic referendum, is acting as if it has a mandate to craft a new foreign policy that moves Egypt out of the pro-US camp, politically, and more towards the anti-Israel camp, led by Iran, Hamas and Hezbollah.
I have always been proud to be a lawyer, for one reason: even mediocre lawyers fight like hell for their clients. You may not have a friend in the world, but if you hire a lawyer you get his or her undivided loyalty. No matter what the rest of the world thinks of you, your lawyer is on your side. Period. And it is remarkable how often a lawyer's vigorous representation of a client who was despised, and whose position was thought hopeless, has carried the day. When a major law firm like King & Spalding puts politics above its duty of loyalty to its client, it is a sad day for our profession and for our country.Thus wrote John over at Powerline yesterday.
"In reviewing this assignment further, I determined that the process used for vetting this engagement was inadequate," Hays wrote. "Ultimately, I am responsible for any mistakes that occurred and apologize for the challenges this may have created."They were facing a protest by Human Rights Campaign and Equality Georgia and there was a full page ad set to run in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. I am betting they would never touch a defense of anyone publishing the Muhammad Cartoons of Jyllands-Posten.
"I resign out of the firmly held belief that a representation should not be abandoned because the client's legal position is extremely unpopular in certain quarters. Defending unpopular clients is what lawyers do... I recognized from the outset that this statute implicates very sensitive issues that prompt strong views on both sides. But having undertaken the representation, I believe there is no honorable course for me but to complete it."That is from Law Professor Ann Althouse at her eponymous blog, in which she quotes herself from a previous blog post:
I would like to see the Defense of Marriage Act go, and I encouraged the Obama administration to decline to defend it, but I don't think it's "indefensible," and in fact, it deserves to be defended, and the House Republicans did the right thing in hiring Clement. The country deserves a well-briefed, well-argued case presented to the Supreme Court. The other side is already represented by Theodore Olson, another former Solicitor General. I hope Olson wins, but not because he's the better lawyer. It is absolutely fitting that he be matched with a lawyer of equal stature, skill, and will to prevail.And Law Professor Glenn Reynolds is all over this subject, which is only right. It is the job of professors to teach and this is a "teachable moment".
There is a group … that has come through South Carolina. They are trying to tell me how they are going to win. I don't care how they are going to win, I want to know how they are going to fix our country.Probably not the person to emerge in 2012, but in 2016 she may be a player.
I try to remember all of these good Texas holidays. They really bring home how unique the state–and future Republic—truly is. This one is a real holiday, not like Cinco de Mayo. I mean, if you have a holiday to celebrate beating the French, then every day would be a holiday!Actually, that is a little harsh toward the French. We will have to judge after we see how Libya works out.
an act of selecting or making a decision when faced with two or more possibilities: the choice between good and evil.So, it seems to me there is only one choice and two possible responses.
I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live:Or not. Frankly the New American Bible isn't much different.
And if it seem evil unto you to serve the LORD, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.Here the New American Bible uses the word "decide".
Kloppenburg also called on the board to appoint a special investigator to probe the "actions and words" of Waukesha County Clerk Kathy Nickolaus.Her opponent in the race was Justice David Prosser, who is seen as being favorable to the actions of the Legislature.
I have no reason to think the President's speech on Wednesday will do any less.Fair and balanced, you know. Speaking of fair, it would be fair to note that my letter was finally published after the President's speech.
Well—it turns out my wife was right—and the NDU library came through. A researcher there found a book written in 1921 which described the origins of the term. It came, like many of our military traditions, from the British Army. It seems that when a member of the British Army was assigned abroad and could take his family (mostly in India), the family went with the member in an Admin status entitled: BRAT status. It stands for: British Regiment Attached Traveler. Over the years, it was altered to refer only to the children of the military member (the wives of the British Army [who were all males] objected to the term referring to them). And the term not only stuck, but in many cases was adopted world-wide.I am betting I know the researcher and thus am not surprised that they found the answer.
Quick survey from Afghanistan: I just asked four Americans, two Canadians, two Brits, and two Australians, who happen to be in my immediate vicinity here right now. All but one have children, two are themselves the children of servicemen. The result: 100% of the Americans, Aussies, and Canadians (and that includes the Quebeqois Canuck) use, or acknowledge (if they don't personally use the term) the term as common parlance. (One Canadian variant: Base Rats)But, from my time in Italy I noted that service members tended to not move around as much and families tended to not go with the Service member when he did change assignment locations. While not an iron-clad rule, wives from Northern Italy did not accompany their husbands to a staff assignment in Naples, Italy, such assignment being of a relatively short duration of one, two or three years.
Interestingly, the term in the British Army is now "Pad Rats."
And most curiously, the Norwegian term for children who grow up moving base to base, because their father is in the service, is "NATO bairn" (Pronounced, by my Norwegian Major, something like, "Naaaahtoe Barn". Which means, "NATO Kids" (As in North Atlantic Treaty Organization.)
Italy and Romania apparently, have no similar term.
APNIC has just 16.7 million remaining IPv4 addresses which it said were reserved for “essential connectivity” with the superseding protocol IPv6.In it's way, this is another argument against a too rigid central planning function. Markets don't always expand the way Central Planners think the will or should. The millions, the hundreds of millions of consumers sometimes want to go a different way, and that should be their right.
Rationing was part of APNIC’s “Final /8” plan to deal with IPv4 exhaustion, which many Australian operators had already accounted for by stockpiling IPv4 addresses. Optus recently told iTNews that it had a reserve for business continuity purposes.
The allocation that finished off APNIC's dwindling pool occurred this week, after it issued nearly 500,000 IPv4 addresses to the Chinanet Fujian Province Network, according to Davidson.
There were signs earlier this month that IPv4's D-Day was near after APNIC knocked back Microsoft's request for temporary addresses to support its annual TechEd conference.
"There is no IPv4 address space available for temporary allocation," APNIC told Microsoft.
Hamas found the body Friday of a pro-Palestinian Italian activist who was killed by al Qaeda sympathizers in the Gaza Strip, raising questions about Hamas's control over the beleaguered enclave. Two men were arrested and others were being sought for the abduction and killing of Vittorio Arrigoni, 36, who was found strangled in an abandoned house Friday, Hamas officials said.The kidnappers claimed to want the release by Hamas of their leader and gave a 30 hour deadline. But, the autopsy suggests the death was 24 hours before the deadline expired.
A group of strict Islamists aligned with al Qaeda, known as Salafists, had threatened Thursday to execute Arrigoni unless their leader, detained by Hamas last month, was freed.
It was an unprecedented challenge for Hamas, an Islamist group whose diehard hostility to Israel has deepened the isolation and poverty of Gaza, home to 1.5 million Palestinians.
The University of Waterloo in Canada has suspended a team of students who built a racecar after a female member was photographed posing next to the car in a bikini and high heels.After you look at the picture at the second link you will doubtless agree with me that it is the hidious colors that prompted the suspension.
University spokesman Michael Strickland said the temporary suspension is in response to an "inappropriate and denigrating" photograph that appeared online, as well as in Tuesday's edition of the Waterloo Region Record.
Why don't you consider blogging on this: since once Obama steals the deficit issue from the Republicans (whether or not it is via Stockholm, it will be like Clinton stealing the issues of welfare reform and other things to grab the center and keep the left) there is no chance for a Republican presidential nominee, so why bother to spend the money, alienate the population, fill the air waves, and come up a loser? Is it only because of tradition? Do you have a campaign so that you get money and publicity for Congressional and Senate contests? Do you do it to raise the money? Does it help you impact the state elections? Do those things balance out being a losing party on the national level with perhaps less than 40% of the vote?Since I have been blogging along about how it is going to be hard to beat President Obama in 2012, this seems to be a natural follow-up.
choosing a soundtrack: i'll give you "crippling"Do you think that the 9.0 Earthquake and Tsunami might be the thing to bring the Japanese economy back? If it does it could give us a Lord Keynes 2.0. I am of the opinion the 1.0 Version is not working, either in Japan or here.
So, if Obama is on the right, where does that leave the left? “This proposal is in the center,” Sachs maintained. “We have the far right, we have a president that is to the right of center, and we have a broad center that is represented by this proposal.”A little later the President spoke. The President quickly made the point that the budget is the execution of the agreed strategy to achieve the nation's vision of the future.
What we’ve been debating here in Washington over the last few weeks will affect the lives of the students here and families all across America in potentially profound ways. This debate over budgets and deficits is about more than just numbers on a page; it’s about more than just cutting and spending. It’s about the kind of future that we want. It’s about the kind of country that we believe in. And that’s what I want to spend some time talking about today.Here is the President's big picture:
So this is my approach to reduce the deficit by $4 trillion over the next 12 years. It’s an approach that achieves about $2 trillion in spending cuts across the budget. It will lower our interest payments on the debt by $1 trillion. It calls for tax reform to cut about $1 trillion in tax expenditures -- spending in the tax code. And it achieves these goals while protecting the middle class, protecting our commitment to seniors, and protecting our investments in the future.From The New York Times (Blog) we have Nobel Laureate Paul Krugman talking about Medicare reform and "death panels" (his words). The President calls for enhancing the role of the Independent Payment Advisory Board in controlling Medicare costs.
As I understand it, it would force the board to come up with ways to put Medicare on what amounts to a budget — growing no faster than GDP + 0.5 — and would force Congress to specifically overrule those proposed savings. That’s what cost-control looks like! You have people who actually know about health care and health costs setting priorities for spending, within a budget; in effect, you have an institutional setup which forces Medicare to find ways to say no.That there would be medical providers outside "the system" would be a good thing, but would "single payer" allow it? The Progressive Budget calls for "Single payer".
And when people start screaming about death panels again, remember: you can always buy whatever health care you want; the question is what taxpayers should pay for. And compare this with a voucher system, in which you have insurance company executives, rather than health-care professionals, deciding which care won’t be paid for.
A billion here, a billion there, pretty soon it adds up to real money.
Senator Everett Dirksen
US politician (1896 - 1969)
I don’t think Barack Obama will have a hard time defeating his Republican opponent in 2012, barring a financial meltdown or a major foreign crisis. It’s a Democratic opponent he should worry about.Mr Simon talks about the options on both side.Regards — Cliff
"If you get shot at, you can have a shot." That's the rationale behind Alaska State Representative—and Vietnam veteran—Bob Lynn's effort to establish a drinking age of 18 for active-duty service members.Professor Reynolds notes that over 130 college presidents have joined together to propose lowering the drinking age, through the Amethyst Initiative.
It's an idea that has gotten consideration in other states, and it makes sense. Unfortunately, Mr. Lynn's proposal would violate the 1984 Federal Uniform Drinking Age Act, costing Alaska federal highway money. This is a battle that Republicans—and fair-minded Democrats—in Congress should join.
The "old enough to fight, old enough to drink" argument has force. In fact, 18-year-olds in America are old enough to do pretty much everything except drink. Along with joining the military, 18-year-olds can vote, marry, sign contracts, and even take on a crippling lifetime burden of student loan debt in pursuit of an education that may never land them a job. Yet we face the absurd phenomenon of colleges encouraging students to go into six-figure debt—which can't be discharged in bankruptcy—but forbidding them to drink on campus because they're deemed insufficiently mature to appreciate the risks.
Still, these are not numbers that guarantee a loss in 2012. The base may be unenthusiastic, but they will have nowhere else to go in a 2012 general election. If their disaffection starts bringing down Obama’s approval numbers in a serious way, it could provide a signal for a primary challenge in the fall from a Democrat more aligned with the anti-war Left, perhaps especially if the GOP forces Obama to start proposing significant cuts to entitlements. These numbers make that a remote possibility, though, and there isn’t any significant national figure among Democrats who could run to Obama’s left — certainly not Hillary Clinton, who ran to his right in 2008 and is most responsible for the decision to start a war in Libya that isn’t going terribly well now. Bill Richardson may be the only non-fringe candidate on the scene with enough credibility to make Obama sweat, or perhaps Russ Feingold, who would be much less inclined to try it.On the other hand, my wife thinks Hillary Clinton could pose a serious challenge to President Obama in the primaries.
It remains unclear whether the structural differences cause the divergence in political views, or are the effect of them.Put another way, we don't know which way this thing flows. And, of course, this little fact is buried.
Jack Mitchell has left a new comment on your post "MoDo and Bob Dylan":Dealing first with "land grant" colleges (schools like MIT and UMass Amherst), those are the predominant colleges out across the fruited plain and are distinguished from those Ivy League schools which provide us much of our Government "leadership" (Judge that for yourself). I do think that a graduate of a land grant college is more likely to have heard about and understand Pearl Harbor that graduates of some other schools—land grant colleges require ROTC.
Yo, Cliff.
Based on our City Life talk were I called those fearmongers over at CAGW "scumbags," I figured I'd try to flesh out your point that China does not hold much of our debt.
Sorry, I leaned of The Wiki-
Foreign ownership
Composition of U.S. Long-Term Treasury Debt held by foreign states, Nov. 2005-Nov. 2010. June figures are results of comprehensive Treasury Department surveys. As of January 2011, foreigners owned $4.45 trillion of U.S. debt, or approximately 47% of the debt held by the public of $9.49 trillion and 32% of the total debt of $14.1 trillion. The largest holders were the central banks of China ($1.1 trillion) and Japan ($885 billion).[28][29] The share held by foreign governments has grown over time, rising from 25% of the public debt in 2007[30] and 13% in 1988.[31]
If'in I kalkalates rightly, that means China holds $1.1 Trillion out of $14.1 Trillion or 7.8% of our debt. Japan holds 6.2%. Yet, no scary commercials about the Japs? Why not?
I'm sure even folks that graduate "land grant" colleges have heard of Pearl Harbor.
Lying scumbag fearmongers must be renounced.
NARRATIVE FAIL (CONT’D): “According to the caricature, the tea partiers elected a group of freshmen Republicans who want government slashed right now, can’t compromise, and are ready to let the heavens fall for the sake of ideological purity. They are, to use E. J. Dionne’s unfortunate phrase in his column today, ‘fire-eaters.’ In reality, most freshmen voted for the continuing resolution. Most of them voted for the last one, too–the one that the Club for Growth, Heritage Action, and other conservative groups were whipping against. Maybe you’re disappointed by the way the freshmen are behaving, or maybe you’re pleased, but either way they’re not conforming to the storyline.”In a way, I am happy with the Freshmen, because we have to start walking this deficit and this debt back. Politics is the art of the possible. And, it is about encouraging the other side to move. We will hear from the President on Wednesday about his plans to deal with the growing debt issue.
I wish that E.J. Dionne were right — but, really, how likely is that?
"I can hardly wait for The Althouse Woman to tear Maureen Dowd a new one today on MD's put down of Bob Dylan performing in China."Professor Althouse gives me a whole new appreciation for Singer Dylan.
An RAF inquiry into the crash revealed that the location to which he had been told to fly was completely wrong, and he had mistakenly been sent instead to the no man's land between the Allied and Italian forces.And, from Professor Althouse we learn that often history is mis-remembered.
The creativity of humans in lousing up instructions is infinite.Or so says William M Briggs, Statistician. He was talking about the recent election in Wisconsin, where a late discovery of votes gave the incumbent, Justice Prosser. The Professor was going on about this and that at this blog post, "Wisconsin Election Statistics".
Some in the media took the updated results like a man, but the dejection in many of their voices was evident when asking Nickolaus “How?” and “Are you absolutely sure…?” Earlier, I argued that all journalists should preface their questions by naming their party affiliation or by admitting who they wanted to win, e.g., “Bob Boberts, ABC, Democrat, Kloppenburg hopeful. Do you think…?”I like the idea.
A linguistics professor was lecturing to his English class one day. "In English," he said, "a double negative forms a positive. In some languages, though, such as Russian, a double negative is still a negative. However, there is no language wherein a double positive can form a negative."Regards — Cliff
A voice from the back of the room piped up, "Yeah, right."
THURSDAY, APRIL 14THAt least according to House Majority Leader Eric Cantor.
On Thursday, the House will meet at 10:00 a.m. for morning hour and 12:00 p.m. for legislative business.
Begin Consideration of H.Con.Res. __ - Establishing the budget for the United States Government for fiscal year 2012 and setting forth appropriate budgetary levels for fiscal years 2013 through 2021 (Subject to a Rule) (Sponsored by Rep. Paul Ryan / Budget Committee)
FRIDAY, APRIL 15TH
On Friday, the House will meet at 9:00 a.m. for legislative business. Last votes for the week are expected no later than 3:00 p.m.
Complete Consideration of H.Con.Res. __ - Establishing the budget for the United States Government for fiscal year 2012 and setting forth appropriate budgetary levels for fiscal years 2013 through 2021 (Subject to a Rule) (Sponsored by Rep. Paul Ryan / Budget Committee)
Establishing the Budget for the United States Government for fiscal year 2012 and setting forth appropriate budgetary levels for fiscal years 2013 through 2021.On the Democratic Party side this is about the kind of society we have grown to be and are becoming (Health Care Insurance reform, Planned Parenthood and NPR, cf., Senator Harry Reid). On the Republican Party side it has become about saving the nation by getting the debt under control (e.g., Portugal).
The United States may consider sending troops into Libya with a possible international ground force that could aid the rebels, according to the general who led the military mission until NATO took over.That would be the Commander of US African Command, Army General Carter Ham. He was speaking before a Congressional Committee.
Ham said recent bad weather and threats from Qaddafi's mobile surface-to-air missile systems hampered efforts to use aircraft like the AC-130 and the A-10 to provide close air support for friendly ground forces. He says those conditions contributed to the stalemate.I wonder what he meant by mobile surface-to-air missile systems? Are these hand held or are they larger systems, systems that one might have expected to have been taken out by an organized SEAD (Suppression of Enemy Air Defenses) effort?